Ads for Your Business or Services that Pay You Money
You can have ads for your business or service that circulate worldwide, contain exactly the content that you want, stay up forever and pay you money.
Money- generating advertising can have graphic, written, video and audio sections along with still photographs. The ads may use actors, drawn figures, animals, automation or even you to voice or sing your message. They may be shot in color, black and white or false color or even in 3-D. The mix of original content is unlimited, and preexisting content that is your property may be incorporated in updated versions.
The reach of your ad is anywhere the internet is available. It may be produced in any language, although English is a popularly understood increasingly universal language among those who have disposable income. The platform is replacing Google as the preferred search engine for finding information on not only how-to projects, but for services that include lifestyle change, work, life skills, personal relations, religious topics and entertainment of all sorts. The ads may be serious or comic. Even though broaching serious subjects like death , disease, war, poverty, malnutrition, mental illness or depression , an ad employing comedy can highlight a problem and promote solutions about serious subjects.
Self-produced ads may be done by anyone, anywhere and at nearly any time at very little costs. Except for a few pieces of hardware and some mostly free on-line programs, the ads may be entirely designed, shot, produced and distributed by the originator with or without the help of a few friends or passers-by. Your spouse, child or even the kid next door might become your co-producer.
YouTube Videos as Ads
There are few populations in the world today who do not have access to smart-phones and the internet. The great majority of people have been exposed to YouTube videos, and billions of people view some YouTube content every day. YouTube has in many ways supplemented TV as the most frequently used information and entertainment media. Although used by many in conjunction with Facebook and Twitter to provide connections with friends and family , these simple videos can, and increasingly do, have commercial uses.
In order to earn money for the free use of the platform, Google runs ads on YouTube videos. These may be short or long and in some cases the ads may be longer than the videos themselves. Those who generate a sufficient number of videos and followers will receive a small amount of compensation which will be sufficient to upgrade the low costs equipment needed to produce more YouTubes. Additional income may be derived from sponsors by placing display ads on your channel or videos.
An all-ad video very quickly gets flipped through. Individuals cannot often compete with ads produced by large multinational companies who may spend tens of thousands of dollars on a single ad and pay $100,000 for a 30-second TV spot. But interesting and useful content can be provided much less expensively and an ad and/or link to your products or services will be accepted and viewed if it is reasonably connected to the video’s content.
An Example
I am a creative 77-year-old guy who has published 18 books through a combination of self and commercial publishers. Most of my content is related to outdoor and business topics, which may cover everything from wild-game cooking to home repair or even how to start your own business. These topics are also covered in over 725 YouTube videos that have been produced over the past six years. Each of the videos contains ads for my books and consulting services besides providing interesting and useful content for my nearly 6,000 subscribers and over 3,000,000 viewers. I do not have sponsors on my Hovey Smith Channel, but do receive $2,000 a year from Google as income from the videos. I also have another channel, Hovey’s Knives of China, where I feature culinary knives based on 3,000-year-old bronze knives made in China’s Waring States Period, but I now make of modern steels in my shop in Central Georgia.
Six Keys to Being a Successful YouTuber
1. Stay on topic. My personal creative drive disperses my YouTube topics in too many directions. Stay focused on one topic one type of presentation in your Channel and you will attract more followers at a faster rate. Put your personal YouTubes on another Channel and keep your commercial channel focused on your art, product or service .
2. Your channel should not be so much about you, but how what you do can help others improve their lives. Can your YouTube help them repair their car, build something they need, overcome depression
, provide entertainment or help them train their dog?
3. The videos in your channel should have a unique feel to them in content and presentation to differentiate between your products and those made by others. It is easy to be carried away by special effects, but these often detract from your message, rather than enhance it, unless they are really over the top. The music you produce, the types of services that you offer or your products need to have your own stamp. Your channel needs to reflect your creative impulses, rather than being copied from someone else.
4. Regularly produce content. Although it is possible for one video to have millions of hits, the better plan is to make them consistently and make hundreds of them. You may have one that hits the jackpot, but producing a consistent body of work over a sustained period of time will get the job done, attract attention to your product and become noticed by your viewing public.
5. When your fans and detractors comment, reply in a measured, helpful manner. Let your fans go to battle for you. Nothing worthwhile produced by anyone will please everyone. Accept help graciously. Repel attacks with a measured dignified response.
6. Start now. It is very easy to put off any self-improvement program. You may not have exactly the right equipment, you may not feel like you have the talent to speak on camera or you may think, “Who am I to tell anyone anything?” lf you have a heartfelt message about anything, YouTube will give you a way to deliver it and tell the world about you and your products. There is a population that needs to hear what you have to say, and they will reward you for saying it.
The sooner you start posting your distinctive YouTube videos the sooner they can start advertising you and your products to the world. I have some resources than can help including a YouTube video, “Basic YouTube Videoing for Writers, Artists and Creative Content Producers” that you may view at: https://youtu.be/3UqY9pTUKII .
I also have a three-day video coaching program that I conduct in Georgia where I teach you how to make and post your video content. To inquire you can send me an e-mail to hoveysmith@bellsouth.net .
Wm. Hovey Smith is a registered Professional Geologist in Georgia. He is also a member of several writers’ organizations including the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA), the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) and the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association (GOWA). He is the author of 18 books with his most recent title being “Create Your Own Job Security: Plan to Start Your Own Business at Midlife.” He has been a radio host and does public speaking on work and environmental topics with appearances in the U.S., Europe and China. He is an active blogger and the producer of over 725 YouTube videos on outdoor and business topics.