Beven
Elite Member
- Aug 30, 2011
- 1,810
- 938
Okay first of all I don't claim to be some YouTube guru or anything like that. However I have been trying to make my YouTube marketing efforts successful for the last couple of years and after much trial and error and alot of money spent (too much), I'm finally starting to see some success, most importantly, profit. There are various lessons that I have learned over the course of this two years. Some of you may have already learnt all of these things and some of you may not have experienced any of it. I'll try and keep it as concise as possible. To some this post may be useful and to other useless, take from it what you will 
1. Keep Yourself In The Loop.
There has been so many times where my life has taken a sudden turn and my internet marketing efforts have been left aside for other things, resulting in me no longer keeping track of changes in internet marketing; new social sites, ranking algorithms etc... As many of you will already know the internet is a rapidly changing place, and a huge tip I can give to any internet marketer out there is check forums like BHW and other IM forums out there regularly, at least once a week, as if there are any important changes in the internet marketing world, these places will be the first to recognise them. The most recent example in terms of YouTube whereby not keeping myself in the loop has been expensive, was when YouTube changed their ranking to favour high retention views. I knew nothing about this when returning to YouTube marketing a few months ago and spent over $100 on views and wondered why my video didn't rank. I investigated on the BHW forums and realised I had shot myself in the foot.
2. Think - Long Term.
There's no doubt in the world that a hell of a lot of money can be made from 'trends', with keyword targeting such as the 'harlem shake'. However with my experience projects revolving around trends never last. My advice would be to invest the money made from such projects into other long term keywords that people will always be searching for. I realised recently that I should have started targeting long-term keyword earlier as I am now studying at university and am trying to build a long-term income for when I leave.
3. Provide VALUE.
If you hadn't noticed, people using the internet are getting smarter. If you think throwing up 30 second bad quality product reviews for scammy looking products is a good long-term strategy, think again. Sure you can make a sale here or there but over the last few years, in general I have noticed fewer and fewer conversions from such strategies. The absolute KEY for building a long-term business around YouTube is to provide the value first, and then the sales pitch. Information is one of the most valuable commodities in the world, second to time imo. You don't have to go to university to get to know enough about a topic to be seen as an expert. Buy a book, subscribe to a magazine, get creative - monetise your knowledge.
4. Outsource, Outsource, Outsource.
One of the best decisions I have made in my marketing efforts is to outsource tasks such as gaining youtube views, backlinks, articles, graphic design, social bookmarking etc etc etc... the list goes on. Although outsourcing costs money, it saves you something much more valuable - time. Time that you can spend planning for future projects, creating new content, learning new knowledge to monetise and perhaps most importantly, living life outside of your IM world, such as spending time with your family, your friends or your partner. It can be so so easy to get caught up controlling every aspect of your marketing efforts and I've been there and tried to do everything myself before and it just made me unhappy, and unhappy = unproductive. In terms of where to outsource from... You are here, the forums. These forums and others like it are full of people from all kinds of backgrounds with different skills. It really doesn't take long to find financially viable people to work with and although it may cost money and time to experiment with, in the long run it's so worth it. Outsource, outsource, outsource.
5. Be Creative.
This may seem a little vague and it is more of a philosophical tip than a practical one. All the strategies, tips, techniques and methods you learn on this forum and other sources are being used by other people. I'm a firm believer in the fact that there's no need to change the wheel, however if you want to take your marketing efforts to the next level, you need to bring something else to the table that nobody else is doing. This can be something as small as having slightly more knowledge on a certain subject than the average person, or something as large as having a revolutionary idea. Truth is every single person on this forum has experienced a different life, has a different skillset and different experiences. Take a method or a basic idea and make it your own. Do something to stand out of the crowd, whether that's your killer brand, your insanely useful content, your personality or anything else you can think of. Take an idea, add your own twist and scale the fucker up.
TL;DR
Keep yourself in the loop, think long term, provide value, outsource and be creative. If you can take at least one thing away from this post, it was worth writing.
To your success. :beerglass
1. Keep Yourself In The Loop.
There has been so many times where my life has taken a sudden turn and my internet marketing efforts have been left aside for other things, resulting in me no longer keeping track of changes in internet marketing; new social sites, ranking algorithms etc... As many of you will already know the internet is a rapidly changing place, and a huge tip I can give to any internet marketer out there is check forums like BHW and other IM forums out there regularly, at least once a week, as if there are any important changes in the internet marketing world, these places will be the first to recognise them. The most recent example in terms of YouTube whereby not keeping myself in the loop has been expensive, was when YouTube changed their ranking to favour high retention views. I knew nothing about this when returning to YouTube marketing a few months ago and spent over $100 on views and wondered why my video didn't rank. I investigated on the BHW forums and realised I had shot myself in the foot.
2. Think - Long Term.
There's no doubt in the world that a hell of a lot of money can be made from 'trends', with keyword targeting such as the 'harlem shake'. However with my experience projects revolving around trends never last. My advice would be to invest the money made from such projects into other long term keywords that people will always be searching for. I realised recently that I should have started targeting long-term keyword earlier as I am now studying at university and am trying to build a long-term income for when I leave.
3. Provide VALUE.
If you hadn't noticed, people using the internet are getting smarter. If you think throwing up 30 second bad quality product reviews for scammy looking products is a good long-term strategy, think again. Sure you can make a sale here or there but over the last few years, in general I have noticed fewer and fewer conversions from such strategies. The absolute KEY for building a long-term business around YouTube is to provide the value first, and then the sales pitch. Information is one of the most valuable commodities in the world, second to time imo. You don't have to go to university to get to know enough about a topic to be seen as an expert. Buy a book, subscribe to a magazine, get creative - monetise your knowledge.
4. Outsource, Outsource, Outsource.
One of the best decisions I have made in my marketing efforts is to outsource tasks such as gaining youtube views, backlinks, articles, graphic design, social bookmarking etc etc etc... the list goes on. Although outsourcing costs money, it saves you something much more valuable - time. Time that you can spend planning for future projects, creating new content, learning new knowledge to monetise and perhaps most importantly, living life outside of your IM world, such as spending time with your family, your friends or your partner. It can be so so easy to get caught up controlling every aspect of your marketing efforts and I've been there and tried to do everything myself before and it just made me unhappy, and unhappy = unproductive. In terms of where to outsource from... You are here, the forums. These forums and others like it are full of people from all kinds of backgrounds with different skills. It really doesn't take long to find financially viable people to work with and although it may cost money and time to experiment with, in the long run it's so worth it. Outsource, outsource, outsource.
5. Be Creative.
This may seem a little vague and it is more of a philosophical tip than a practical one. All the strategies, tips, techniques and methods you learn on this forum and other sources are being used by other people. I'm a firm believer in the fact that there's no need to change the wheel, however if you want to take your marketing efforts to the next level, you need to bring something else to the table that nobody else is doing. This can be something as small as having slightly more knowledge on a certain subject than the average person, or something as large as having a revolutionary idea. Truth is every single person on this forum has experienced a different life, has a different skillset and different experiences. Take a method or a basic idea and make it your own. Do something to stand out of the crowd, whether that's your killer brand, your insanely useful content, your personality or anything else you can think of. Take an idea, add your own twist and scale the fucker up.
TL;DR
Keep yourself in the loop, think long term, provide value, outsource and be creative. If you can take at least one thing away from this post, it was worth writing.
To your success. :beerglass
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