Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Creating Informational Videos for Profit

Nowadays, when people want to learn more about a topic, they might type their question into a search engine such as Google and read up on the topic. Others learn better by having someone explain that topic in a lecture or demonstration format, such as a live tutorial or a PowerPoint slide presentation. With the explosion in popularity for video Web sites such as YouTube, many people who want to see someone explain a topic look for short informational videos on these sites.

Many entrepreneurs are taking advantage of this medium and creating special content for sites such as YouTube and profiting in several ways:

• Embedded advertising: YouTube has a program in which they will insert an advertisement that viewers have to watch to see the video. YouTube shares the revenue from this ad with the creator of the video in a 70/30 split (70 percent for the creator, 30 percent for YouTube). A lot of money can be made here. For more information, check out YouTube's Partner Web site at www.youtube.com/partners.
• Web site referral: Many online videos have an embedded URL that points viewers back to the speaker's Web site. Sometimes, the video is a simple commercial or preview for a more expensive information product on the person's Web site; other times the video is meant to explain the usage of a product for sale on someone's Web site.
• Affiliate and Google ads: You can use videos to promote affiliate products and make money when someone clicks your video ...