Can YouTube Boost Your Affiliate Sales?

You tube ImageThe other day I saw an interesting YouTube video, created by AWeber affiliate John Chow. It was a quick demonstration of our recent Twitter integration.

The 2 minute video explained what our Twitter integration does, plus it gave simple instructions on how to use it. At the end, John included his affiliate link (and yes, I did click on it :) ).

With the growing popularity of online video, I think screencasting should be in the arsenal of all serious affiliate marketers.

Let’s take a look at how posting videos on YouTube can drive traffic to your affiliate website, and boost your sales.

What Do I Need To Get Started?

Getting a video up and running on YouTube can be done quickly and easily.

All you will need is screencasting software, your imagination, and you will be ready to become the next George Lucas.

Some screencasting programs I recommend are:

After finding a screencasting program that works for you, you’ll then be ready to work on the content of your video.

What Should My Video Be About?

Remember, the aim of your video should be to show how AWeber can potentially increase someone’s business productivity.

Make sure your content is brief, easy to understand and gives the viewer a good reason to visit Aweber via your affiliate link.

If you are an AWeber customer, a great idea could be a video about a feature that has really helped your business grow in the past.

Some other useful subjects for your videos could be:

With the many features of AWeber, you should have no problem finding one suitable to publish as your next screencast.

How Do I Publish My Video On YouTube?

Founded in February 2005, YouTube is now the most popular video sharing site on the internet. Anyone can sign up for a free account and get started right away.

Once signed up for an account, you can very easily upload your file using ( YES! ) a video tutorial on how to load videos into YouTube.

After your video is loaded, it can then be easily seen alongside the over 150,000 daily uploaded videos.

This is a great way to give your affiliate campaign more exposure and increase your affiliate click-throughs dramatically.

Good luck and happy screencasting!

Not an AWeber Affiliate? There’s no better time to start than right now.

Sign up for free today!

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30 Comments

  1. youtube friend adder

    well thanks for the nice tutorial. It is really good.

    12/11/2008 7:21 pm
  2. Grant Waldman

    YouTube is another way to spread your word on the web! It is all about multi-channel marketing today since your competitors are thinking the same thing.

    12/12/2008 11:57 am
  3. Tobias Fransson

    Another way you can use video is by self host videos on your own website and when you get visitors that looks at the video your Alexa Ranking will drop (which is a good thing) by still uploading some off the videos of youtube you can direct traffic to your website.

    There are several clever ways of using video in order to increase the use value to others.

    12/12/2008 12:33 pm
  4. Chris Desouza

    Kinda late in the game buddy. Marketing on YouTube peaked in early 2008. It’s nice to say "How to?" – But support it with data.

    This herd mentality creates nothing but clutter.

    Every marketer promoting to another.

    When will folks learn?

    12/12/2008 12:48 pm
  5. Lee

    Great article. Thank you for the detailed explanation of how to use youtube. Also thanks for the list of screen casting programs that will help me record the videos. Very helpful information.

    12/12/2008 2:02 pm
  6. Donald - internet money making

    great article on affiliate marketing.. i like the part about the free tools~
    keep them coming please!
    thanks

    12/13/2008 10:20 pm
  7. Winson Yeung

    Great articles.
    I’m sure video is gonna dominate the internet in the near future and video marketing will only get more popular.
    Lastly, thanks for sharing the articles, it’s really great

    12/15/2008 6:26 am
  8. Ron Givens

    Thank you very much for the feedback, guys.

    We always appreciate your input.

    Video is quickly coming to the forefront of affiliate
    marketing practice, and I think all affiliates should be
    aware of this surge of popularity and use it
    to their best advantage.

    Overall, it is quite easy to get up and running
    and given the state of the indsutry right now, there
    is certainly limitless content out there.

    In reference to YouTube, doing a quick search of
    any of the super affiliates in the industry will result
    in many results and instances of these affiliates
    posting videos on a very regular basis. My experience
    is that these affiliates do gain a noticeable increase
    in click-throughs through these video promotions.

    It is better late than never, and once again, all affiliates
    should take advantage of this effective marketing tool.

    12/16/2008 2:48 pm
  9. Dick Green

    Great article! Like the another post mentioned thanx for the freebies!

    12/18/2008 10:52 am
  10. Tony

    Where did you see that pricing on camtasia? All I see on their web site is $299 and it has been that price forever. Would love to pick up a copy cheaper if it’s out there. Thx

    12/20/2008 11:52 am
  11. V

    Great post. This is really important since marketing with video sharing sites like YouTube is the future of internet marketing. Click "Video Marketer Pro" to learn more about how you can optimize any video to get the most traffic out of it. Having a video is only a quarter of the battle… thanks again for the post!

    1/4/2009 9:18 pm
  12. Gley

    Nice tutorial! The most recent medium of getting home business traffic is viral videos. Websites are flooding the Internet with home videos and clips produced by everyone from home business owners to established companies to get the most profits from this free opportunity. So, what you are waiting to get you share of the increasing web traffic due to this new technology that are leading to adding more subscribers and more money in your bank account.

    1/6/2009 12:54 pm
  13. Joe

    Thanks for your affiliate suggestion. YouTube is really dominating the marketplace and for those looking to get an edge, just go to Amazon.com and type in "YouTube". You’ll find a ton of books from "YouTube for Business" to "YouTube – Making Money by Video Sharing".

    There are products better than iMovie on the Mac. For example, Screenflow is excellent for recreating tutorials based on your online actions. You can also do some integration with the new iWork 2009 for some really nice results.

    Good luck!

    1/7/2009 1:05 am
  14. Tom smart

    Youtube itself is a fantastic way to get your site noticed in google.
    We saw a 500% Increase in visitors to The Forgottensite.info after we posted the video
    Of course we use aweber to capture emails so we can keep people up todate about the secret of the secret
    keep it up i say

    1/9/2009 8:49 am
  15. Greg

    Getting traffic to your affiliate site is something that Youtube can do for you. However, getting targeted traffic to your affiliate site is not as cut and dry. If the traffic isn’t targeted, your sales are still going to be flat. I guess it all depends on what your affiliate site is promoting.

    1/15/2009 10:54 am
  16. Joe

    Ron,
    Your article was very interesting, except John did not have his affiliate link at the end of the video? This does not make sense. Why go through all the trouble of creating the tutorial, just to leave out the affiliate link?
    There was a link to his website, but I did not find the affiliate link there either.

    3/23/2009 8:38 am
  17. Ron Givens

    Hey Joe,

    You have made an interesting point.

    Although John does refer to a function within
    AWeber that will assist his readers in tweeting
    their broadcasts, he does NOT have his affiliate
    URL embedded within his video.

    He does have a link to his blog which
    contains many instances of his AWeber affiliate banner
    however I would highly suggest inserting
    that link directly into your YouTube video.

    You can use your AWeber custom sub-domain
    as the link within your YouTube video, which will
    link to AWeber and give you credit if a visitor
    does purchase an account.

    http://www.aweber.com/blog/afftips/affiliate-url

    -Ron

    3/23/2009 10:17 am
  18. Joe

    Hi Ron,
    Thanks for the tips. I was wondering, if I put a link WITHIN the video, then it will not be clickable, right?
    Wouldn’t it be better to put a clickable link beside the video, instead of within it? Or maybe both is the best solution.

    Joe

    3/24/2009 1:09 pm
  19. Ron Givens

    Hey Joe,

    Thanks for your enthusiasm and questions.

    You CAN actually both embed your link in the
    video as well as in the videos description
    on YouTube, however the former is a little
    tougher than the latter.

    I saw a great thread about this over at Warrior Forum

    http://tinyurl.com/cxa7be

    That will get you going in the
    right direction.

    Lately I have seen some very creative videos out there.

    Use your imagination and see what you come up with.

    Happy Marketing!

    -Ron

    3/24/2009 1:46 pm
  20. Li Weng

    I’ve got a couple of videos on there but
    just too lazy to do it on a consistent basis.
    But will look into it some time.

    5/28/2009 7:41 am
  21. F

    As for the person who said youtube marketing is old… think again… major corporations are getting into the mix, as are record labels and entertainment companies. Youtube marketing is just now reaching its potential. I believe youtube and twitter are two mediums that will continue to be great assets for online affiliate marketers for 2010. This was a great article and definitely provided me with some good information.

    11/1/2009 7:17 pm
  22. Ron Givens

    Steve,

    Marketing on YouTube is far from reaching it’s peak.

    Many savvy marketers are now opening their own YouTube Channels. This allows them the freedom necessary to get their info across in a really creative way.

    Plus some of them just look cool :)

    Check out AWeber’s YouTube channel:

    http://www.youtube.com/user/emailmarketing

    Over the past several months I have seen more and more marketers opening their channels and uploading tons of videos that can easily be spread around.

    I also wrote a second article to educate our affiliates a little more about the benefits of opening one.

    http://www.aweber.com/blog/afftips/where-is-your-youtube-channel

    Let us know when yours is up and running!

    11/2/2009 11:46 am
  23. Jacques Ducard

    I think YouTube is obviously a fantastic advertising venue. The only thing is that it has to be extremely targetted and it cannot look like an advertisement. It has to be something viral that somehow manages to get the brand name out.

    11/13/2009 1:34 pm
  24. Peluang Perniagaan

    Great article. Very helpful information and will use this info. Keep them coming please!

    12/8/2009 9:50 am
  25. Dr. Michael Haley

    I’m on it! Got my camtasia. Gonna get those videos up.

    8/13/2010 3:41 pm
  26. cam

    When I send prospects to watch a video tour on this site I want them to go through my affiliate link? Can I do this?

    9/29/2010 8:51 am
  27. Samantha Dermot

    I tried making a video but the results were quite disappointing. After reading this post and the comment, I know I have to try this method again, I am missing many opportunities here!

    1/7/2011 5:42 am
  28. Joy

    YouTube has a huge marketing potential. I think that a short, interesting and innovative videos are a more attractive form of advertising than traditional methods. It’s a sin to do not take advantage of this potential that gives YouTube and its users.

    2/4/2011 9:15 am
  29. Bogart

    Aside from exploiting youtube to earn from affiliate links, I have seen many users are using Youtube to get traffic from their site by posting a fake videos inserting their website links to the video description to get traffic.

    10/7/2011 3:00 am
  30. Mike King

    How to I place a clickable link in my video?

    12/28/2011 11:51 pm

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