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One of the most important aspects of streaming is your stream branding. Having a memorable and recognizable brand image is vital to a streamers career. If you have a look at the top streamers they all have a recognizable brand. Not only will branding help your reputation but it offers great leverage for selling merchandise down the line.

Selling merchandise is a great way to earn extra income as a streamer. However, your merchandise needs to be a strong representation of your brand and personality. This is where logos and overlays can help. In addition to all of this, a strong brand image will make your stream look a lot more professional.

Stream Branding Elements

There are many different elements that make up your stream branding. There is no definitive way to create stream branding. However, there are common elements used that are worth investing in.

To start off you will need a logo. Think carefully about the kind of logo that you want to get. Think about your personality and the kind of image you want to get across. You can find premade logos for sale, or you can get a fully custom-made logo.

Once you have your logo, you can now look into overlays. These overlays should also match the overall theme and colors of your logo, keep this in mind when you buy twitch overlays.

Stream Overlays Setup

Now that you have all your branding elements, you’re probably wondering how to add the overlays to your Twitch stream. In order to do this you will need some streaming software, such as OBS or Streamlabs OBS(SLOBS). This software allows you to fully customize your stream visuals.

Overlays can be added with either an image source or media source. All sources within the software can be placed and resized however you like. An image source as the name suggests is for adding image elements to a stream. This could be a facecam border, stream labels or even a top overlay. Media sources on the other hand are a way to add animated elements to your stream. Animated elements such as “starting soon screen”, or a webcam overlay.

Within the streaming software you can add scenes. Scenes are a way of separating different sources that can be switched between. An example of this would be having a live screen scene and an intermission screen. Having their sources separated allow you to easily switch between the two.

There are a load of great in depth tutorials on using the different streaming software. If you are having any issues setting up your overlays, then always try to find some YouTube tutorials on your specific software.

Channel Branding Setup

If you stream on Twitch then you will have noticed that every Twitch channel has the ability to add branding to it. The main branding elements of a Twitch channel are:

• Profile Picture
• Twitch Panels
• Profile Banner
• Offline Banner

All of these elements are usually included in a stream overlay package, but it’s always worth double checking. Having all of your branding come from the same package is a good way to keep everything consistent. A huge benefit of having channel branding is that viewers can get an idea of what your stream is about even when offline.

By using the Twitch panels you can give a lot of information to potential viewers about your stream, whether it’s your schedule or social handles. All of these elements play an important role in branding your stream.

Conclusion

The benefits of branding your stream are clear. Branding adds a level of professionalism to your stream that tells the viewers that you care about your stream. Overlays are at the core every streamers brand. They tie all the elements of the stream together in a way that also reinforces your brand.

You now know how to add overlays to your twitch channel, giving you a huge leg up on the competition.

Earning money on Twitch is a dream come true for many people. Whether you are looking for a side hustle or want to make streaming your full-time job, there are some conditions to meet before you can monetize your channel. Once you meet these criteria, there are quite a few ways that you can earn money.

How To Monetize Your Twitch Channel

In order to start earning money on Twitch, you will need to become a Twitch affiliate. Becoming an affiliate for Twitch isn’t as straightforward as just applying. You will have to put in some hard work to reach this goal.

The criteria for becoming a Twitch affiliate are as follows:

• Have at least 50 followers
• At least 500 minutes broadcast over the last 30 days
• 7 Unique broadcast days
• An average of 3 or more concurrent viewers

Once you have achieved all of these goals you will receive an email by Twitch, inviting you to the program. You will also receive the notification on your dashboard.

That being said viewers are the ultimate goal and while reaching affiliate is a great milestone, the focus should always be on providing high quality and entertaining stream. Once you do start earning your first bit of money through Twitch, consider investing in elements to give your stream a professional look. Twitch overlays are a great example of how you can level up your stream.

Twitch Monetization Options

Once you join the affiliate program there’s a bunch of monetization options available at your disposal. The most popular one will be subscriptions. You can now have viewers subscribe to your channel and gain all the perks that come with it. Subscriptions come in three different tiers, with the lowest starting at $4.99.

Affiliates can also receive payment in the form of Twitch bits. These bits are virtual goods that viewers can buy to cheer in chat. This method is very similar to donations except that it is regulated by Twitch itself. Affiliates will also now be able to earn revenue from ads that run during their stream. The amount that you earn will completely depend on the size of your audience.

Another way to earn money as an affiliate is through game or in game sales. Affiliates will earn 5% revenue share of any purchase that originates from their channel page. A bonus for viewers who make these kinds of purchases, is that they will receive a Twitch crate.

If you are not yet an affiliate with Twitch, the only way to monetize your channel is via donations. You can add a donation panel to your twitch homepage. Paypal is the most popular way of accepting donations.

Other Monetization Options

There are a few other ways to monetize your streaming channel that aren’t directly associated with Twitch. Sponsors are a great way to earn money. You will notice that many of the top streamers are sponsored by some big brands. These sponsorship deals are usually worth quite a lot of money especially depending on how many viewers you get.

Paid promotions are quite similar to sponsorship, however they are more of a one off deal for a particular stream. A great example of this would be when a new game gets released. Game studios make deals with some streamers to play their game for an agreed length of time. Some of these promotions are worth huge sums of money.

Conclusion

Twitch is a great way to make some extra cash or even turn into a full time career. Before you start earning you will first need to become an affiliate. After you reach affiliate status, you will have quite a few monetization options open up to you

The more your stream grows the more opportunities will open up to you. If you are focusing on putting on the best show possible it won’t be long before you can start earning through Twitch.