When we talk about internet marketing we all automatically think about generating a website, or blogging, or creating a Facebook and Twitter presence, and so. However for some reason YouTube never seems to feature that strongly in our internet marketing plans. Is this because we all view this traffic giant as a place just to watch cute animal videos, or a place to watch people from all sides of the globe doing crazy things? Is it because we simply don’t take its power seriously? Why is it that YouTube is not being fully exploited by marketers? Today, any savvy internet marketer should realise what an untapped market YouTube is, and how because of this, it is a prime target for well a thought out marketing strategy.

Let’s firstly analyse YouTube’s traffic. Data taken from Alexa shows YouTube to be the second most trafficked site in the world. It is believed to achieve approximately 70 million unique visitors per month, putting it ahead of giants such as Amazon, eBay and Wikipedia. Studying US visitor demographics, 75% of its US visitors are over 25, spend at least 5 hours at day viewing online, and over 90% of these visitors, it is believed, will go on to buy something online. YouTube is multi-lingual too, and has an extensive following throughout Asia and Europe, which makes it a great opportunity if your market lies overseas. Therefore these analytics alone should tell that YouTube represents a hugely powerful marketing opportunity.

How Best To Market and How to Make Money on YouTube

Right, now we know what a good source of traffic YouTube is, we need to address what strategies an internet marketer should employ to fully optimize YouTube’s potential.

Make Yourself Important

YouTube values human interaction. Therefore make sure you are actively viewing, voting, rating, favoriting, subscribing, and commenting on YouTube on a regular basis. Strive to get this reciprocated on your own videos. Did you know you can even comment on your own videos? Communicate with friends and subscribers regularly. However treat them like you would an opt-in list, and ensure you show respect for their privacy at all times.

Design a Potent Profile

Your profile should send out the right message to your viewers, therefore you need to consider carefully the information included within your profile, as well as the layout, images, and logo you include. Try and make your profile both interesting, and attractive, as this will result in more exposure and consequently more views. Describe what you are all about, and encourage interaction on your channel – consider outsourcing this if you are time poor.

Website Link

Don’t forget to include a link to your website in your profile, and include your contact details. Also make sure your website details are visible directly below your video title.

Keep It Fresh And Clear

Ensure that any videos you generate have a clear message and are easy to understand. Only include your videos that are up to date and of the highest quality. If you have any videos that are old in age but still relevant, then it is a good idea to remove the video from your listings and try re-submitting. This makes the video appear new, and helps it achieve better rankings. Try submitting videos on a regular basis, which is around 1 a week if you can, and don’t be afraid to play around with the placement and order of your videos to see if this affects views.

Be Category Conscious

Remember to submit your videos to the correct categories, as this will make those searching within your subject area more likely to find your video.

Buy Advertising

OK this is probably the most costly way to get your presence felt on YouTube, but it is undoubtedly an effective on. If you budget allows, then consider buying advertising.

Keep An Eye On The Competition

Always keep in mind what the competition are up to. Which of your competitor’s videos have done well? What keywords were they optimized for? What was the format and content of those videos?

Video Annotation Techniques

These are similar to speech bubbles, and are an extra way of adding commentary to your videos. They also allow you to link to your other videos, so are a useful way of keeping your customer within your channel.

Use the Share Option

Make sure you fully utilize the share option feature as this allows you to notify subscribers and friends when a new video has been uploaded. It also allows you to share videos via email, Twitter, Facebook etc.

Clearly from this you can appreciate how powerful YouTube can be in your marketing strategy. However like all forms of internet marketing to make money on YouTube takes time, hard work and patience. By implementing either some, or all, of the above, however, you will be well on your way to getting great results – here’s to your YouTube success.. buy 4000 watch hours on youtube