Making money on YouTube comes down to videos, and somehow getting your video(s) to rank well. If you can somehow put this two together (YouTube & video) in a way that it can benefit a person, a business or a site, then you can easily make money with YouTube.
Luckily, you don’t have to come up with any ideas on your own. Here is a straight forward step by step method that you can use to make money on YouTube.
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This method is all about going local, though, when you master this method you can take it to the next level, and go national as well. But if you wanna get your share of YouTube money quickly, focus on your local area. Usually ranking locally for a keyword is much easier, and that is why this method works best with local businesses.
We will use YouTube videos to rank well for the keyword, since YouTube videos are hot, and rank easily for their keywords. Here is what you need to do:
1. Find a Local Business
The first step of making money with YouTube is to find a local business. It doesn’t matter what kind of business, it could be a restaurant, car repair shop, hair salon, bar, thrift store or whatever. But this method works best with businesses that can be best presented visually.
For this guide let’s assume you choose a local bar.
2. Make a Promotional Video or Slide Show
Go to the bar owner and tell him or her that you would make a free advertising video for the bar and upload it on YouTube, which will help him gain more business, IF he lets you shoot a short video of his bar.
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Most local businesses will have no problem with that. In fact, they will be happy to let you advertise their business for free.
Take your camcorder and shoot a short video of the bar and what it’s all about. Be creative, you want to make it as interesting as possible. Maybe ask the owner about any special event they may have, like a karaoke night, or free beer for ladies night.
If they do, plan to shoot your video that night to capture how people are having fun and are happy (makes for good ads!). Remember, you want to make people want to come to this place.
What If I Can’t Make Videos?
No worries, you can simply take a few photographs of the bar and the crowd. Capture what you can about this place in a few pictures. Keep it simple and short.
Then use a free tool like Animoto to turn your photos into a professional video slide show. This free tool lets you crate professional looking slide shows easily. You don’t have to be a geek to work with this thing.
You can also use this tool to enhance your video (if you were able to shoot video) to make it more professional. You can also add music, headlines, etc.
Important: Don’t forget to place your name, website, phone number, or any other info in the beginning and at the end of the video. This is how people can find you if they want a similar video made for their business. This is how you will be making your money!
3. Upload Your Video to YouTube
Now, take your video/slide show and upload it to YouTube. After all, the question was how to make money on YouTube!
To get the most out of your YouTube video, use rich keywords that describe the video, like local bars in Chicago, best local bar in Chicago, bar in Chicago, etc.
Next, write a very descriptive summary of the bar and what it is all about. Simply write a review of the bar and link to the bar’s website, twitter page, Facebook Page and etc.
Most businesses have a website and a page on most big social networking sites these days. If your targeted bar doesn’t have it, you just found another opportunity to make some money, offer to create a simple website or Facebook fan page or what have you. But that requires another article. Lets focus back on what we were doing.
4. Build a Few Backlinks to Your Video
Just like many other money making methods that are promoted online, making money with YouTube requires a little bit of link building. Though, in most cases you don’t have to do much.
As I said, ranking locally is pretty easy. So, your video with good keywords and description will likely rank high for its keywords. But to be on the safe side, you can build a few backlinks to the video, to help it rank higher.
All you have to do is write a few articles related to bars, include a link pointing back to your video (of course, with your keyword as anchor text), and submit to a few top article directories.
You can also upload your video to other video sites as well.
5. Competitors Keep an Eye on Each Other!
This is all based on one very important fact, competitors always keep an eye on each other. So, pretty soon your video will be seen by other local bars. And as any sane competitor would want to do, they would want to be the one on that video. That’s where your business info in the beginning and at the end of your video comes to play.
6. You Have Got Clients!
Prepare to receive calls from local bars wanting to pay you to make a video for them to help them promote their business. It really is that simple.
Don’t make it complicated for yourself, Just do it. You can always add things to it, and make changes here and there. You will learn as you go along. The important thing is to get started.
Remember, you don’t have to limit yourself to bars. You can use this method for any other local business, as long as you can make a video of it and put it on YouTube.
This is a method I’ve used and still use from time to time. I used to own a flooring installation business offline. I used this method myself and soon I was getting calls from other floor installers who wanted me to do the same for them.
Again, I just want to emphasize on keeping it simple. It’s all about taking action. This can be a real simple way to make money with YouTube videos.