Over the past 12 months I’ve been experimenting with video a lot and have been getting some very good results, so I decided to share my thoughts on video affiliate marketing on the blog. One of my online marketing buddies from the US, Mark actually got me into video, and together we’ve been testing all sorts of things, which I’ll discuss below.
The main things I’ve been doing with video focus on YouTube and getting more leads on my email list and making affiliate commissions directly from videos also.
The thing I like about using YouTube is that it’s a Page Rank 9 domain, that’s owned by Google, so when you create videos using YouTube, you can ride on the back of this authority and the results are very nice indeed.
We all know that when creating websites to make affiliate sales or get more leads for our email lists, it takes time and a fair amount of work. You have to buy the domain and hosting, get all the content written, build the site, and then of course plan your SEO strategy and hope Google gives you traffic. I do all of this and will continue to do so, as I love managing websites, but my point is that with YouTube videos you don’t have to bother with any of that, which is kind of nice!
You can put up a lot more videos and do it a lot faster than with websites. If you screw up a video, then you can quickly make a new one, and you haven’t lost much at all. I’ve made some websites in my time where I’ve wasted 3 months on them, only to find out it’s a dud and I move onto something else, thankfully this doesn’t happen much these days though.
Furthermore a lot of people like video, myself included, as it’s easier to take in the information than reading a page of text.
Higher Click Throughs
Click throughs on a video are often much higher than a standard website listing on the front page of Google too. If you see a video in the Google results, it’s a thumbnail of the video, and it stands out a lot more than a regular website listing does, so tends to attract more clicks.
I’ve provided an example with the ‘nursery rhymes’ image on the right, something I’ve been getting into more recently, having a 16 month old….some of them are quite good!
What I’ve been doing with great success is creating videos for lead generation purposes, and tracking the opt in rates. My YouTube channels have been doing very well, with some of my highest conversion rates compared to any other traffic source.
Much More Traffic
Once we figured out how to get lots of traffic to our videos quickly, we started to do straight affiliate promotions from the videos. Using the the same techniques for getting traffic to the videos, we experienced impressive results again. For example with a new website, if we targeted a keyword phrase that gets 1300 exact match local searches a month, according to the Google Keyword Tool, it can take months to get to the top for that, depending on the competition. However with YouTube videos we’ve been able to target keywords of this search volume and get to the top in 72 hours!
For example – Mark made a video recently where he targeted a keyword phrase that got 8100 exact match searches a month, and it took 2-3 weeks to get the affiliate video to the front page of Google, where it started making affiliate commissions straight away, and made $500 in it’s first month, for a video that took 15 mins to create.
Now don’t get me wrong, you can’t just go after any old keyword and get this sort of result, as I wrongly assumed when I started doing this, as some keywords simply do not respond to video, because the rules with video is slightly different than webpages. However once we worked out what keywords to target, it then became pretty easy to fly to the top of Google with all our videos. You also need to know the tricks on how Google and Youtube rank videos, as it’s not the same as websites, and more importantly what kind of keywords and offers to promote, which we worked out by a lot of trial and error.
Needless to say, I was getting more and more interested in YouTube videos! My fastest result from time of making the video to first affiliate commission was 36 hours. That’s no lie, it was actually that fast, but it’s only happened that quick once, most take a few weeks.
The key with videos, is to make sure you know how to convert the traffic that watches your videos. Along with my buddy Mark Dickenson, who I’ve been working very closely on video marketing with for the past 12 months, we’ve tested numerous different methods of videos, and finally worked out a formula that converts very well. All I’ll say is that you need to make sure you focus on the benefits of a product, and come across as genuine in your videos, to increase conversions, otherwise the video don’t make a penny!
When I started to get such good results with my YouTube videos, I wondered why I had not got into this earlier, and I really didn’t have a good explanation to give myself. I guess I had a mental block that video was difficult and I put it in the to do list. The truth is that video marketing is actually easier than website marketing, as there are much less technical things to do. You don’t have to worry about hosting, name servers, cpanel, plugins, writing, domains, Google Panda etc… as it all happens with a simple YouTube account.
You also don’t need to have a camcorder or know anything about all those confusing video formats….MP4, MOV, FLV, WMV etc…. can’t we just have one video format for goodness sake!!! Anyway, my point is I don’t understand all that, but I don’t need to either, as with YouTube all I do is use a simple free screen recording tool that spits out a video file which easily uploads into YouTube, end of story.
The videos I’ve had most success with are simple screen recording videos, where I either have a PowerPoint presentation, of about 2 -3 slides maximum, sometimes I only have one slide and an image!
Important News – My New Product
After working out this formula for video marketing success, I decided to partner with Mark, my buddy from Seattle who I’ve been working closely on video with over the past 12 months, and create a product so I can pass on precisely how we have been able to have such great success with video marketing. The product is coming out very soon, might even be later this week, so keep your eyes peeled for that email, as we’re going to do a launch week special discount for you guys, that only lasts 7 days.
That’s all for this update folks,
Related articles
Video is a huge part of marketing online. The fact that YouTube is now owned by google makes it a no brainer to use video in your marketing efforts.
I agree the “thumbnail” images which pop up in the search bar will grab a viewers attention. You won’t have to be #1 with a “thumbnail” to get a good click thru rate.
I agree, the fact that YouTube is now part of Google makes work much easier for affiliates & webmasters in terms of understanding how to analyze the data and stats of your videos.
If one is already familiar with Google Analytic’s for example, its much easier to understand the stats and data from your videos and then make the right adjustments and filters that will lead to better conversion.
Hi Matt, I agree Video Marketing is an excellent way to drive traffic for anything… affiliate sales or just to increase readership on your blog.
I used to use it a lot… but I did run into a challenge with You Tube that kind of gave me a mental block too and I haven’t used it since.
With that said, I’ve thought about it often… and really should hop back on board.
You see four years ago when I started online, I primarily focused on a Business Opportunity I was marketing … and still do to an extent.
I made the mistake (I guess) of giving examples of possible cash flow… and although I never promised anything.. in fact did quite the opposite… You Tube decided one fine day that my video’s did not meet the guidelines… hence they removed them.
It was a shame really because that stream of leads and income dried up and I just felt discouraged and ticked off… that I just lost my trust.
I suppose it really is time to suck it up and get back at her… because it really does make a difference … you just have to make sure you play by ‘their’ rules… because they can always find fault if they want to… as they did with mine.
Jayne
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 6:44 am
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Thanks for your insight Jayne
Regards
Matt
Cool! I’m a great fan of Mark and I’ve bought all his products, so I know this is going to be a good one.
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 6:43 am
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Thanks Andy, yeah it is a good one for sure
Matt
Have been using YouTube as part of indexing.
They get indexed pretty fast most of the time. Never thought of it as a source of traffic. Looking forward to see your new products.
More diversity is always better.
Thanks for sharing.
Eddie
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 6:52 am
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Hi Eddie
Great to hear from you.
I can’t say I have tried using YouTube for indexing purposes, but affiliate sales and traffic yes.
Regards
Matt
Hi Matt
Have you tried trueView in-stream ads in any of your videos?
I’ve got a few videos with a good number of views, so I’m going to give it a try to see how well it works.
Cheers
Peter
PS: When did you move to NZ? I’m an Aussie who saw the light 12 years ago and moved to NZ. 🙂
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 6:53 am
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Hi Peter
I have played with it a bit, but not worth reporting on yet.
Nice to see you moved to New Zealand, most people go the other way. It is nice to be back in New Zealand, although I love Australia also.
Regards
Matt
Hey Matt,
Good article on the power of Video marketing and I couldnt agree with you more. Its a super effective strategy that has proven results for my clients when you have a video which converts well.
That said I would like to offer the following caution… If anyone is planning on trying to rank a video on google.com.au to think again. My experience has shown it is very difficult (if not impossible) to do on google.com.au search engine with any kind of competitive keywords and whats interesting is that google.com.au seems to respond very differently to google.com when it comes to video.
If you or anyone who knows more about this can shed some light on this issue it would certainly be appreciated.
Regards
Daniel
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 6:56 am
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Hi Daniel,
Nice to hear from you, I haven’t noticed any difference with Google.com.au at all to be honest.
CHeers mate
Matt
I have been using video’s for about a year now for local marketing, whenever a wright a post, I make a video with a simular title and usually the video will rank on the first page of Google with the article just below it.
Thanks Matt!
Yea i’ve actually done some testing myself, and got page 1 in google within 3 weeks… video marketing is amazing, and is definitely an added income stream for all of us 🙂
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 7:01 am
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Hey Marc
Thanks for stopping by, and yeah video is pretty cool, especially the speed and ease of results.
Regards
Matt
Matt,
Your killing me!, cant you give it to us now? lol, was going to buy a video course that Guarantees results with all the blah blah blah, but reading this I’m going to wait and see what you guys have, your credibility has allot to do with it of course. 😉
Regards,
Jason Stovall
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 7:16 am
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Hi Jason
The course will be out very soon, hopefully this week even. and yeah I never put out any crap courses so its a good one indeed.
Take it easy buddy
Matt
Hey all, I agree that video is “it” for affiliate mkt. Ranking in Youtube is extremely easy, if you know how! I usually get a vid to rank top 5 in youtube, at least, in 2 to 8 hrs. I only use webpages on a limited basis anymore, mostly video going directly to the sales page. Very easy and works like a charm.
Hey Matt,
This is another amazing post as the other posts of your Blog!
Again,I have to say that I am looking forward to do the Seo Expert Academy.
If you have any news, just let me know.
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 7:45 am
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Thanks
Matt
Matt,
Perfect timing! Just started researching video marketing. Looking forward to your course.
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 8:04 am
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Hi Jerry
Cool, sounds good, I’m sure you’ll like it
Regards
Matt
Matt: Thank you for your informative post as always. I’d like to learn more about how videos can help with lead generation and how to implement.
Thank you,
Chris
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 8:03 am
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Sure thing Chris, I can help with that
Regards
Matt
Hi Matt
Will you be showing how to create videos in your course? This is one thing I have trouble with.
Many thanks
Annerly
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 11:02 am
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Hi Annerly
Yes indeed, there is quite a few videos on how to do this.
Matt
Hi Matt,
I thought you were going to be like the rest of the “guru’s” and tell us how wonderful this “new” way of doing things is, but then NOT give us a chance to learn it for ourselves… I’m so glad YOU are not like the rest! 😀
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 11:02 am
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hi,
Yeah I don’t like the style of those marketers either, if that is what you can call them. You guys are important to me so I will always sheild you from bad content/courses.
Matt
Can`t wait to see it. You and Mark both put out excellent products, so this should be really good
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 11:01 am
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Thanks Kim!
Yeah the course will be top notch for you.
Matt
Hey Matt,
That’s great news.
I too kept thinking I’ll get into it later… and as I was reading this I thought to myself “I’ll comment and encourage you to create a course”… of course that was before I read the last paragraph. lol
Looking forward to the launch.
Don
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 11:00 am
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Ha ha Dan, yeah glad I made a course too.
Regards
Matt
Hey Matt,
Looking forward to seeing your product.
What is your You Tube channel?
Great to see you’re in NZ, if you’re ever around Hastings, be sure you’re welcome to look me up.
Ray
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 11:00 am
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Hey Ray
Nice to hear from you, and I’m in the South Island, in Chirstchurch, not often up your way unfortunately.
Hope all is well
Matt
Hi Mat
I am another one that has just got into video marketing so I am looking forward for your launch.
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 10:59 am
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Hi Lorean
Cool, good to hear that, I’m sure you’ll enjoy what we have to teach on video.
Regards
Matt
Just finished a class on how to create videos for profit, but knowing you there will be great info that adds more targeted ways to do this and rank. Looking forward to your new product.
Regards,
PJ
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 10:58 am
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Thanks PJ
Matt
Matt,
I’m trying to catch up with all I’ve learned from you and your helpers so far. At least with your help I finally feel that I’m on the right path. I’m glad about the video marketing course on the way. Is this something we have to get by today or the world will explode?
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 10:58 am
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HI Fred
Pretty sure the world will not explode if you don’t get the course..ha ha…I’ll most likely be opening it up this week
Matt
Hi Matt,
I was just working on putting together a “Welcome” video for the home page of a brand new affiliate site, when your email came through announcing “Video Marketing” – what great timing! I’m really looking forward to your new course, sounds like fun. Will you be covering any material about “embedding” videos into a website and adding them into the sidebars as well?
Thanks for the great info
Cliff
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 10:57 am
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Hi Cliff
Our course is about YouTube, so not about different types of embedding and stuff like that. More on using Youtube videos to make sales as an affiliate and get leads on your list and then make sales.
Regards
Matt
Thanks Matt, video marketing is the way to go in my opinion. I’m looking forward to your course. I’m sure it will be a good one. I’ll have to grab it this time around before it goes up to the public..Grant
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 10:56 am
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Hi Grant
Great to hear from you again, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the course.
Regards
Matt
Hey Matt great article as usuall.
Been using this method for local business fo some time now and your right you can get to page 1 in a very short time.
people don’t realise though that you still need to backlink, backlink and more backlinks especially for the more competitve keywords.
Any way shouldn’t be telling people about this as you’ll make it harder for us all to rank…lol.
Look forward to taking a look at your course when it arrives.
Simon
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 10:55 am
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Hi Simon
Yeah video is pretty cool
Matt
Had a great laugh at your below comment Matt. I so couldn’t agree more!! Sheesh how many formats do we need?!
MP4, MOV, FLV, WMV etc…. can’t we just have one video format for goodness sake!!!
Looking forward to this next one of yours Matt! I like videos so this will surely help my cause and have been fascinated with ranking them page one. I have done quite a few here because it’s easier I guess with local videos.
Great stuff as always here!
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 10:55 am
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Hi Karen
Yeah videos formats are rediculous! Glad I don’t need to know about all that to get video to work.
Regards
Matt
Hey Matt,
Insightful report regarding video marketing… Quick question: You were saying you can use the page rank 9 of Youtube’s authority and pass that link juice off onto your sites. I guess this will be explained in the course.
Cheers Mate!
Scott
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 10:54 am
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Hi Scott
No that is not what I am saying, I am saying that the video themselves rank better because they are inside such an authority domain.
Cheers
Matt
Hi Matt,
My primary income has been from affiliate marketing with video for the past two years.
I thought I was missing something by not building sites. I spent a lot of time studying and building sites. Time I should have used to build more videos.
I have developed a system to consistently rank videos. Tracking is important. Anyone can now monetize YT videos with adsense and that can bring in a daily stream as well.
Thanks,
Brett
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 11:15 am
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Good stuff Brett!
Matt
HI Matt great article well put together. Thanks very much. But I also heard good news that Market Samurai is getting the tracker to work for videos as well. So if you make a video you can track your progress on a weekly basis, for free if you own the Market Samurai.
Good news I recken.
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
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Hey Michael,
I don’t like Market Samurai as it crashes all the time so I use secockpit myself
Cheers
Matt
It’s true that if a YouTube video shows up in Google results, people will be more inclined to click on it (I know I do!) The page rank 9 link love is something that I hadn’t considered (*slaps forehead*)
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
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Thanks Darren
Matt
Thanks for the tip. Look forward to your video product later this week.
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
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Hi Ken
You’re welcome
Matt
Thanks Matt,I have been reading up on this and I see a lot of people are turning towards this video marketing.
Very interesting post on video marketing matt. I’m really pleased. And the good thing about video marketing is that it ranks very quickly if optimised properly with ow competitive keywords.
Good Job mate.
John
Nice “catch” for your product’s launch, Matt! Now I’d like to get your course for sure. I wonder if there will be any review copies? If so, I will appreciate it to have one 🙂
Thanks,
Andrey
I agree …video is needed today…trouble is I hate the time it takes to create them.
Linda
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 3:54 pm
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Hi Linda
The kind of videos I make only take about 5 mins to make.
Matt
Hey Matt,
Thanks for sharing your views on video marketing. I agree, it is a very powerful marketing tool, and a lot less work than build site after site after site. Plus, if you create a good video, which gives a good detailed product review, and upload it to YouTube, it is pretty much Panda proof.
Really looking forward to your’s and Mark’s new video product, and to see how you get your videos to convert.
Thanks Matt,
Paul
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
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Cheers Paul
Matt
Hi Matt
Thank you very much for ALL your positive and informative suggestions and information. I’ve been following you for a long time now on your blog. Tel me, will this video course be in such a format that newbys can also understand it?
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
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Hi Peet
The course is perfect for newbies, for anyone in fact who wants to make money with video, its not that difficult to do.
Matt
Peet Reply:
March 14th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Thx Matt. I am buing your RAPID REWRITING tool and will also buy your video marketing program. Thx again for all your sincere info.
Hey Matt, i love video marketing and do it almost exclusively right at the moment. I devour any information i can on the subject so i’m looking forward to your product. What i like to do is create landing pages with duplicate content on it and send traffic with videos. Since the website doesn’t need to rank there is no penalty. Go to digg.com or ezinearticles, find a popular article and put it on a lander, reference the source, monetise it, and your good to go. If it has heaps of diggs then you know its good content.
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
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Great stuff Gary
Matt
Matt, look forward to your posts on all manner of topics. Trust today is so important -Thanks and looking forward to another GENUINE release.
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 4:28 pm
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Anytime John
Matt
I just started to get involve with YouTube also, and it’s really interesting…Feedback is really appreciate, please…lol:)
BTW, PowerPoint slides do make good videos, and it helps a lot if someone don’t have a camera or something!
Anyway, thanks for this post, and looking forward for your product.
Regards,
Hamilton
Great post Matt. Looking forward to purchase your video course. Cheers.
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 5:40 pm
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Thanks Berry
Hi Matt:
I’m looking forward to your new product. I’m making room in my schedule this weekend to begin implementing it. (Hope my budget can afford it.☺)
I’ve looked at a few other video marketing products. None of them seemed to be aimed at affiliate marketers which is why I’m so interested in your new course.
The courses that I looked at also didn’t have much advice on scripting. I’m one of those abstract thinkers who needs to know the theory or concept or reason why I’m doing something in order to execute it properly. Does your course have explanations when it comes to scripting?
Renee
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
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Hi Renee
Our course is very affordable at $47!, it will be going up to $67 after the first 7 days though, and yes we have advice how to make the videos.
Matt
awesome topic here! gotta try making videos for marketing. it will be a good strategy! thanks for the tips matt!
Cheers!
Matt Carter Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
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Thanks Rod
Rod Tolentino Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 8:44 pm
Hey Mat,
Thanks for the response. BTW, what do you think about the current rise of traditional brands crossing over to Viral Video mentions like RWJ, EpicMT, FPSRussia to name a few? It certainly provides you with a few more valid evidence regarding your article. It would also be great if there was a study in how these traditional brands are getting more traffic, conversion, and customers with a drop of a name here and a drop of a name there.
Anyway, you’ve got a new reader in me for your blog. Here’s to reading more in the coming days.
Cheers,
Rod
I have done instructional video’s for my plumbing business and actually got some work locally but I have never had any success promoting affiliate products so I am looking forward to the course you are putting together so that I can do it properly. Maybe one day I’ll be able to give up plumbing.
Thanks Matt
As usual things are always changing in Internet Marketing including You Tube Videos used for marketing purposes. Will there be lifetime updates with your product to cover any changes in the future?
Hi Matt,
Your analysis of video “hits the nail on the head”, so obvious which has been around for some time that I am about to try. Does software exist that allows an embedded squeeze or redirect within the video?
Looking forward to your video product.
Kind regards
Patrick
Thanks for the Information, Matt! I will be waiting for this product as it seem to open new opportunities
Hi Matt,
Exciting info on creating and marketing with videos. I have never used or created a video and quite frankly would have no idea how to start so I am very anxious to see what you are rolling out. I’m sure it will be exceptional based on everything else you’ve put out.
Thanks again
Hello, Matt!
I liked this article, and I am already thinking about putting video affiliate products for some time. And this article helped me a lot.
Thank you!
Carlos
Matt Carter Reply:
March 14th, 2012 at 6:01 am
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Thanks Carlos
Matt
Look forward to the product. I have a video doing pretty well which bring in optins almost daily.
I however have had issues converting from video to sales.
Matt Carter Reply:
March 14th, 2012 at 2:40 pm
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Hi Josh
cool, glad you are getting into video!
Regards
Matt
Gone beck to New Zilland? Thet jist secks.
Nice info Matt, thanks. I have a video which is good for 20% of my organic google traffic and I think it can become mouch more for me so thanks for this info!
Grtz from Holland.
Hi Matt,
Can’t wait to see your video course. Very interested in video. Thanks so much!
Matt this is interesting; “The videos I’ve had most success with are simple screen recording videos, where I either have a PowerPoint presentation, of about 2 -3 slides maximum, sometimes I only have one slide and an image!”
Do you think that having a real slick video can backfire? Perhaps then it feels too much like a commercial.
It is obvious that youtube becomes a powerful tool in the Google search engine. More and more videos are positioning themselves! Youtube movements in recent months show that this could evolve in that direction. I think it’s also logic for the future of navigation, with smartphones the videos are really friendly information, they should democratize even more.
Hi,
This looks very interesting. Can this work with authority sites course? Or is it just one or the other?
Thanks,
Matt Carter Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 7:19 am
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This is different from authority sites, but you can use it to get leads to your authority sites.
Matt
Hi Matt,
I bought Mark Dickenson’s WSO “YouTube Bully”, and he shared very good information.
How is this product (Video Commision Formula) different or better than “YouTube Bully”?
Thanks
Matt Carter Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 7:18 am
Hi Frank
There is some overlap, but there is a lot more info also, like building a list, CPA and others things
Matt
Frank Reply:
March 17th, 2012 at 1:13 pm
Thank you Matt.
By implementing the strategies in Mark’s YouTube Bully, I was able to make 91 USD in about 15 days from a 13 sec. video that took me less than 15 min. to make and upload!
So, I will definitively try this product.
Thanks, I will try.