Making Money With Web Video

Before I show you the different ways of making money with web video, let's first have a quick look at some independent statistics from Internet watchdog 'emarketer' to see why you should even bother using video in the first place;

- 72% of online surfers watch at least one video on the Internet every week (65% of the viewers are between 35 and 64 and earn middle to high incomes)

- Videos achieve high ranking in the search engines

- Over 50% of viewers will take action after watching a video advertisement. 12% of those will make a purchase. 12%! Compare that to only 1% reading traditional text advertising copy)

- 65% of viewers will watch a video ad to the end. Compare that to less than 20% who finish reading an online sales page

The results are clear. Google loves video and rank it highly in the search engines.

Visitors love video and it gets results. Your visitors expect to see video on your website, and if you don't have it, you run the risk of losing them to someone who does.

There are many different ways of making money with web video, but even the seemingly 'non-monetizing' videos on your website have a role to play.

The 'introduction' video on your home page allows your visitor to get to know you and relate to you. This is turn creates trust, and we all know we prefer to buy from people we trust.

The free video tutorials on your site offer great unique video content, which means your visitors are going to stay around for longer and come back more often (Especially if you keep adding more). The longer they stay on your site, the more likely they will buy something from you or click on an Adsense ad.

But now let's concentrate on the more direct ways of making money with web video and have a close look at each of them in some more detail;

Making Money With Web Video #1 - Video Opt-In Form: They say the money is in the list, and there is no better way to build a huge list than using a video opt-in form. Just like a regular opt-in form you probably already use on your site, but this one has a video embedded in it promoting your newsletter, free report, free bonuses etc., but most importantly, it calls the viewer to take action.

You can actually point at the opt-in form from the video and 'show' them exactly what to do "Put your name there" "Put your email address there" "Click on that button there". The fact is people love being shown what to.

A video opt-in form is really just some fancy graphics placed around a video and your regular opt-in form, but your opt-in conversion rates will soar using this proven and very powerful tool. One of the most powerful (and little known) tools for making money with web video.

You can hire a freelance programmer to create a video opt-in form for you or buy them ready-made. You can download a free one at Video Opt-in. There's also a video tutorial that shows you how easy it is to add it to your site.

Making Money With Web Video #2 - Sales Videos - Just like on TV, these are commercials promoting your product or service. And just like the commercials on TV, your video ad must show all the benefits your product or service offers within 30-60 seconds. Any more and you'll lose the visitors attention (and the sale), as we are all conditioned to watch commercials in this way.

You can use video footage shot yourself for a sales video, or you can create very effective video ads using royalty-free stock images, video, animation, graphics and music. Royalty-free just means the copyright owner of the image, video, music etc. has given you permission to use it in your video for a fee. Typically, a royalty-free image costs about $5, video $20, animation $8, and music $5.

What you cannot do is use music from your CD collection or video from your favorite DVD for any commercial video, as this breaks International copyright laws and the fines can be severe.

Sales videos promote your product or services BENEFITS, not their features, which is a common mistake. "500GB Hard Drive" is a feature. "You can now store all your HD movies on your computer" is a benefit. People respond to benefits, not features.

Oh, and always make sure you have a 'call to action' at the end of the sales video, like "Go to mysite.com now" or "Click on the link below this video for more information".

Making Money With Web Video #3 - Web Video Ads - You should always host your own videos on your website if you want control and to look professional, but YouTube (and all the other hundreds of video share sites out there) do have a purpose.

They are excellent at getting your website, product or service in front of millions of people. If you do it properly, a video placed on YouTube can bring thousands of hungry visitors to your website.

The secret to a successful YouTube web video ad is to make it short and sell your benefits (Just like in the sales video before), BUT you also need to make sure you add your websites URL to your video during the editing process (normally along the bottom is best) and add your full URl (That includes the http bit) to the video description box at YouTube.

This will make the link live and viewers can click on it and come directly to your site from YouTube. You also need to add your chosen keywords to the title and tags. This is very important, because if you don't do this, no one will ever find your video.

Making Money With Web Video #4 - Affiliate Video Ads - The same rules apply to an affiliate video ad as they do for all sales videos. Keep it short, sell your benefits and have a call to action. Like this:

The only difference with an affiliate video ad is you are sending the viewer to someone else's website to buy their product or service and not your own. The link to their site will include your affiliate info, so you get the commission if they make a purchase at the site.

Another strategy here is to create a short video review of the product or service you promote as an affiliate. People love honest independent reviews. Also don't forget to tell the viewer about the extra bonuses you will give them if they buy through your link. Very powerful stuff, but don't forget to keep it short. 3 mins max!

Making Money With Web Video #5 - Private Members Video - Unless you have a membership site, most of your videos will be free to watch. Having a bunch of unique free video tutorials on your site draws visitors like bees to honey, but you can also offer your visitors the chance to watch some private 'advanced' video tutorials for a fee.

You can use specialist 'membership site' software for this, but the simplest way is to put your "private" video on a password protected page and charge people to view it. Allow limited access and I recommend you change the password every week to avoid people sharing it and watching the videos without paying. I recommend hosting your videos at SBI Tube where you have complete control of your videos.

Making Money With Web Video #6 - DVDs - I have left the best for last. DVDs offer the biggest profit potential of them all and is one of the best ways of making money with web video.

Once you have created your DVD, you can get it professionally duplicated, printed (disc, sleeve and insert), shrink wrapped, barcoded, packed and shipped for just $1.75 each with no minimum order at Kunaki

DVDs have a much higher perceived value than ebooks or CDs, and the average sale price of a How-To DVD is $40. That's a profit of over 2000%! There's not many products that I know of that can boast such a high return.

The other great thing about DVDs is the complete sales/order taking/shipping process can be totally automated by selling on the Worlds biggest online retailer site, Amazon, so you never have to do anything else ever - except collect a fat check every month and of course, make some more DVDs!

Making a How-To, Training or Instruction DVD for your niche market is a lot easier than you think. You don't need piles of expensive video equipment or years of professional training.

All you need to get started is instruction from an experienced video expert (CLICK HERE), a computer, a camcorder and a microphone.

But you don't the latest fancy High Definition model with all the bells and whistles (In fact, you DON'T want that).

A DV (digital video) camcorder that shoots in SD (Standard definition) that has a socket for an external microphone will do the job fine and only cost a few hundred bucks (Less if you buy a used model or even free if you borrow one). You will also need a lavalier or lapel microphone, which costs around $30. Remember that AUDIO is just as important as VIDEO.

You can use free editing and authoring software to get started and you can see it isn't going to break the bank to get kitted out...especially when you consider the potential return on investment ;-)

If you are serious about making your own best-selling How-To DVDs, and want to save yourself a lot of time and money, I recommend you check out the DVD Workshop by clicking HERE

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