How To Create a Live Streaming Website

Live streaming has an alluring promise—that you can get close to your audience and win their trust. Making good money, however, is a challenge. 

Popular streaming platforms like Twitch take between 50 and 70% of streamer revenue. TikTok also takes a 50% cut of earnings, if you get access to its Live Gifts feature. 

As live streaming reaches all-time highs, attracting over 163 million US viewers by 2023, sharing all that revenue makes less sense. As a creator, you have other monetization options than just sharing your earnings. 

During a time when people are signing up for subscription services, a membership model can help you make more money. With your own live streaming website, you can get recurring fees from your subscribers and earn a stable income while doing what you love. 

This guide shares how to create a high-quality live streaming website and build a sustainable creator business through video. 

How to make a live streaming website in 7 steps

1. Come up with project requirements 
2. Decide on your monetization strategy
3. Set up your tech 
4. Choose a live website streaming video platform
5. Set up your streaming software
6. Build your own video library
7. Promote your streaming website 

1. Come up with project requirements 

The first step is considering the creative and technical requirements when setting up your live streaming website. The approach you take and the gear you need will depend on it. 

Here are some key questions to answer:

• What type of content will you stream? For example, if you’re streaming live aerobics tutorials, the process is different from streaming live concerts. 
• Who are your target viewers? Decide who you’ll reach with your live streams. Consider their language, location, and ideal times to watch a live stream. 
• How much bandwidth do you need to stream? You’ll need the proper equipment to stream at a 1080p minimum, with an internet upload speed of 10Mbps. 
• How will you engage with viewers? Some creators like to answer questions and talk with viewers through live chat. 
• Will you monetize your stream? There are a few ways to make money from your live streams. The most profitable option is setting up a membership where viewers pay recurring fees and get access to all your live and past streams.

Give these questions some thought. They will help determine what type of video streaming solution and video hosting service is best for your needs. Plus, help you stay within budget while ensuring your own video streaming site meets everything you and your viewers need.

2. Decide on your monetization strategy

There are two main ways you can make money from your live streaming website: 

• Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD)
• Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD)
• Hybrid 

SVOD

Best for: full-time content creators building a membership business. 

With a subscription service, viewers will pay a monthly, quarterly, or yearly fee to access all your video content. This is the most common business model for live streaming websites. OTT services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and HBO use this business model exclusively.

Our data shows that streamers who use Uscreen to create their live streaming website earn an average of $5,800 a month.

Pros:

• Offers the most value to your customers
• Provides you with a stable, predictable income
• Can easily scale and grow
• Has been proven to work time and time again

Take a look at High Vibe TV, for example. They are a subscription-based video streaming service. They create high-quality lifestyle content for people interested in spirituality and astrology.

People can subscribe by paying a monthly, quarterly, or half-year membership fee:

People can access the content as long as they pay their monthly fee. High Vibe TV wins big here. They can:

• Easily predict income.
• Better predict growth. 
• Build stronger bonds with members.

Whether you’re a gamer, a talk-show host, an astronomer, a DJ, or any other kind of live streamer, SVOD offers you the best chance at success.

TVOD 

Best for: one-off live streaming events.

With TVOD, your viewers pay per-view. They purchase or rent individual videos that they can watch anytime, anywhere.

Pros:

• You get paid every time someone watches one of your videos.
• It’s great for one-time events like concerts, conferences, and sports matches.
• You can charge a high fee for exclusive events.

Cons:

• Getting people to pay for each video can take a lot of work.
• It doesn’t create recurring income.

Besides selling subscriptions, creators also monetize live streams by promoting their own products, finding stream sponsors, or accepting Patreon Pledges. You may be interested in our comprehensive guide for Patreon alternatives.

Hybrid

Best for: upselling one-time viewers to subscribers. 

You can make money from one-time purchases and recurring fees by combining SVOD and TVOD. Say, for example, you sell live streams individually or in series, but also offer a big catalog of future and current streams for a monthly fee. 

Imagine someone buys access to one live stream. They love it so much that they visit your membership website and join your email list. Or, they end up subscribing right away. 

Pros:

• Gives viewers a “try before you buy” experience, which builds trust. 
• Helps you build an email list faster.
• Lets you reach a wider audience with your live streams. 
• Can upsell TVOD viewers to your membership program. 

Cons: 

• May not generate as much revenue as a business model that’s focused on one income stream. 
• Can be difficult to manage multiple revenue streams. 

A hybrid monetization model can benefit creators with the right technology. Uscreen lets you accept multiple payment options for your live streams—whether you use SVOD, TVOD, or both— and track revenue in one location.

3. Set up your tech

Instead of streaming to social media platforms like Twitch, Facebook, and YouTub Live, you’ll be streaming to your domain, where you’ll have complete control of what to publish and who can view your content.

• Domain. This is your website’s address on the internet, like example.com. You can buy a domain name from a web hosting company like Namecheap for as little as $13 per year.
• Web hosting. This is where your website’s files and data will be stored. Hostgator and Bluehost are the most popular web hosting providers among creators. You can also go DIY and build your own live streaming server.

4. Choose a live website streaming video platform

If you want to launch your live streaming website quickly and without any headaches, then using an all-in-one solution like Uscreen is the way to go.

With Uscreen, you’ll have access to web hosting, security, and a payment gateway. More importantly, Uscreen has a wide range of customization options, so you can create your site your way.

We recommend you use one of our website templates as a foundation. From there, you can change the…

• Branding
• Color schemes
• Header images
• Copywriting
• Video thumbnails
• Buttons

…and more. Anything your customers will interact with and use on the front end of your site.

And, because our builder is plug-and-play, you can do all of this with zero technical knowledge. You can easily create the most important elements for a streaming site, like:

• Homepage. Where you show off your brand and video content. You can also create a personalized homepage for subscribers who are already logged in.  
• Sign up page. Where subscribers can easily sign up for your membership and create an account. 
• Video categories. People can browse your video archives and look for content they want to see. 
• About page. A place where you can share your story, expertise, and unique selling points of your membership. 

You can learn more about Uscreen’s customization options here. Or, you can take a look at our free lessons on Branding to help you create the right look and feel for your site.

Alternative (and more time-intensive) ways to build a live streaming site include:

• Hire a developer. If you want full control over your live streaming website, then hiring a developer is a good option. You can hire a freelance developer on job boards like Upwork, Fiverr, or Toptal. It may cost you around $10,000 upfront.
• Build a WordPress website. WordPress is an option if you’re ambitious and want to save money. You can do this free with open-source streaming software, but you’ll have to invest a lot of time setting everything up. You’ll also need to find a live streaming plugin that supports HLS or RTMP streams.

5. Set up your streaming server

The process is more straightforward when streaming directly to social media platforms. They take care of everything from capturing your video input to distributing the video to viewers’ devices, such as mobile phones and laptops, in different locations.

There’s a massive technical infrastructure that’s going in the background!

But once you start streaming to your own live streaming platform, you’ll have to choose the streaming protocol, an encoder, and a CDN.

Explore encoder options

Your streaming encoder is the software that captures your video and audio input and converts it into a digital format that can be streamed online. There are many types of encoders on the market, from hardware devices to software applications.

A hardware encoder is a physical device that you connect to your computer. It’s typically more expensive than a software application but is more reliable and secure.

If you want to use a software application, there are many different ones to choose from. Some popular options include OBS Studio, Wirecast, and vMix.

The most popular and easiest option is using a cloud-based solution like Restream, Streamyard, Ecamm. If you’re an experienced streamer, you most likely have used one or all of them.

That’s the great thing about using Uscreen because you can still use these tools to create your live stream. The only main difference in your process is instead of choosing Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch as your destination, you’ll choose your own site.

Here’s how you can schedule a live stream on Uscreen:

1. Sign in to your Uscreen account. 
2. Navigate to Content and then go to Live Events. 
3. Get the Stream Key and Stream URL. 
4. Go to your software encoder. For example, if you’re using Restream, create a broadcast there.

Add a channel and choose Custom RTMP.

Once you have that setup, you can start streaming immediately or during your scheduled stream.

Now, if you’re building your own live streaming software from scratch, you’ll have to think about streaming protocols.

Create your streaming protocol

A streaming protocol is a language that your encoder and media player use to communicate with each other. The 2 most popular streaming protocols are RTMP and HLS.

If you want to build a live streaming website, you’ll need to support both of these protocols because they’re used by different devices. For example, computers mainly use RTMP, while mobile devices use HLS.

• RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol): this is the most common protocol for live streaming. Most encoders and media players, including YouTube Live, Facebook Live, and Twitch support it.
• HLS (HTTP live streaming): this is a protocol developed by Apple that’s designed for low-latency streaming. Many OTT platforms, such as Hulu and Netflix use it.

To learn more about streaming protocols and how video is transmitted through the internet, check out this RTMP post.

Choose a CDN

A CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a global network of servers that deliver content to viewers based on their location. A CDN can improve your video quality and reduce latency by caching your stream content on servers closer to your viewers.

The most popular CDNs are:

• Cloudflare
• Akamai
• Fastly
• Amazon CloudFront
• Google Cloud CDN

You’ll need to think about a few things when choosing a CDN for your live streaming website.

Do you want a self-service platform where you can manage your account and CDN settings yourself? Or do you want a managed service where the CDN provider takes care of everything for you?

Another thing to consider is pricing. Most CDNs charge based on traffic usage, so you’ll need to estimate how much traffic your live streams generate.

To summarize:

• If you want full technical control of your site, then the best option is to build it from the ground up by choosing your encoder, streaming protocols, and CDNs. 
• If you want to focus more on making money, Uscreen is a good option because all those technical requirements happen in the background. You can also continue your existing process and use similar tools like your cloud-based live streaming software. 

6. Build your own video library

You’ve set up your site and clearly know your pricing model. Now, it’s time to build your video library. The easiest way to do that is to use what you already have. 

Upload past live streams

Having a full playlist of previous streams can add a sense of depth and weight to your platform.

In particular, this is important for new users who want to make sure they’re investing in a well-established platform. Your subscribers will likely engage with past streams if they see a large library of content about their favorite topics.

For example, XR+ embeds library past live streams to get more playbacks, going back to 2012:

This helps to give users more than their money’s worth, and they can connect with the emotional moments in a live broadcast whenever they like. Uscreen’s categories feature and functionality can help you to label these videos, making them easy to navigate for users.

Schedule new and paid live streams

Once you’ve uploaded your past live streams, it’s time to create new ones! You’ll have to figure out a new process once you have your own platform. 

Ideally, you’ll use social media platforms to drive traffic to your site. For example, you can stream short live streams and give followers a sneak peek of your full-length live stream.

Fitness influencers have a great funnel for this. They publish 2-minute workouts on their Instagram feed. But to access the full workout, such as the entire Yoga sequence for flexibility, they’ll have to subscribe to your platform where they can: 

• Pay for an individual live class, webinar, or live event.
• Or pay for a monthly or yearly subscription to access a specific live stream and all other live streams in the library.

Once you schedule your new live streams, it’s time to figure out a regular program. 

Create your streaming schedule 

Live streaming is an emotionally-driven experience. People want to be there in real-time when you switch the camera on and start creating; they love live streams because it makes them part of the user experience.

Plan your streams ahead of time and have a clear schedule you work to because it gives your viewers a fixed date to put in their diary. We recommend doing this for at least the coming 4-week period. 

Take Forward Space, for example. They provide dance classes and have a rolling monthly schedule that lets students book a class up to a month in advance.

Doing this helps both the student and Forward Space. Students know what’s coming up and make a real commitment; Forward Space can ensure and prepare for a specific number of viewers.

Take some time to plan out specifics for your streams, such as when you’ll be online and what the content will be about.

7. Promote your streaming website 

Now that your live-streaming website is up and running, it’s time to start promoting it! If you want to get more viewers on live streams, you’ll need to have a marketing plan. 

Here are some ideas for marketing your streaming business:

• Tell your friends. This one is a bit more old-school, but it still works, especially if you’re just starting out. Just let all your friends and family know about your new website. Ask them to share it with their friends and help get the word out there!
• Inform your email list. If you have a list of email subscribers, send them an email letting them know about your new live streaming platform. Your email list is one of the best places to start promoting because your subscribers already know and love your content.
• Partner with other creators. Are you friends with other influencers in your niche? Collaborating with them is a great way to reach a new audience who may be interested in accessing your amazing live streams.
• Talk about it on social media. Build awareness for your streaming site on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn—wherever your audience hangs out. 

If you want to take your live streaming website to the next level, you may want to consider creating a live streaming app. We like to refer to a live streaming app as the intersection of choice and emotion.

It allows you to deliver your live video streams to any customer, anywhere in the world, on any device; Apple TV, iOS phone, Android TV, or Android tablet, you name it! 

Creating your own app may sound too complicated! But with Uscreen, you can easily add OTT to your live streaming platform. You can read more about OTT live streaming.

This is an added value for your subscribers because they’ll be able to access your videos and live streams from any device they own. You’ll also increase the chances of subscribers watching your videos because you’ll be able to send notifications on their phones.

It’s something to think about in the future once you’ve got the basics of your own live streaming platform down. 

Why create your own live video streaming website 

We’re not saying live streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube are bad. They are incredible platforms that can help you connect with billions of people around the world. 

But live streamers are realizing creating their own live streaming website is the only way to secure the long-term future of their business, especially if they rely on the revenue from their content. 

A standalone platform that you own, which allows you to:

• Keep creative freedom.
• Control your income.
• Reach more people (away from algorithms).
• Have something that is yours (with your own branding).

You’re in complete control of the content you publish, the message you want to share with your target audience, and how you make money from your content.

If you plan on making a living from your live streams, having complete control over how you make money is crucial. 

You may think setting up and maintaining your own live streaming site requires a lot of work. And in many ways, this is true. But we believe it’s worth it in the long run if you want to build a sustainable business around your live streams.

Turning your video streaming website into a lucrative business

The live-streaming industry will continue to grow. Now’s the time to build your own video streaming platform so you can control what you stream, who sees it, and how much you make. 

With a membership site platform like Uscreen, you can build a stable and recurring income from your live streams and provide a user-friendly experience for subscribers.

Live streaming site FAQs