When YouTube went live in 2005, no one could have truly predicted just how popular it would become. Even in its early days, it was known as “that website with all the cat videos;” most of the postings were amateurish at best.
But today, there are over 1.8 billion people using YouTube each month, and that only includes the ones who are actually logged in, not the ones who just watch a quick video without signing in. This seems like a dream opportunity for businesses and entrepreneurs—and it is! But if that is all you are using to earn money online, you are actually losing time and money doing it.
Instead, you need to diversify and run your YouTube Channel along with a separate website to truly make money.
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Your YouTube Presence
We aren’t saying that you need to completely abandon YouTube for your own site—far from it. Instead, we are suggesting that you develop a hybrid model where you use both YouTube and your own website to really take advantage of your opportunities. Your YouTube presence should be about building your brand and brand name recognition.
It also gives you an opportunity to add subscribers to your content and draw in viewers to your website. But it’s that last part that is key to truly making money with YouTube content.
What Should You Place on YouTube?
When you are creating your content for YouTube, you need to have basic information on the site. Video blogs (vlogs) that present basic information can bring in viewers. For instance, if you are running a YouTube Channel on essential oils, then you might want to do a simple video blog on the uses of the top five essential oils.
Once the viewer sees this vlog, you can then redirect them back to your website and from there the person can order these oils from you. But if you don’t have a website of your own to take them to, then you aren’t going to be able to earn money from these views. Sure, you can potentially get money from your views. But this is not going to be a huge moneymaker.
For every million views that a video gets, you can conceivably earn about $2000 from the ad views. And out of that, YouTube will take their cut which will leave you with about $1000. Unless you plan on becoming a hugely popular YouTube star, which can be very challenging and take time, then your own website is a necessary addition.
What Should You Place on Your Website?
On your website, you will want to feature those products that you can sell based on your vlogs. These can include physical products (such as essential oils or beauty products, for instance) or premium content such as webinars and more extensive, longer, and more detailed videos that are for “power users.”
You can also include your own ad content here and this is where you are better off than with YouTube. Here, you can choose your own ad content and you won’t have to give a cut to YouTube from that revenue.
By having your own text blog, you are also going to be able to attract those website visitors who cannot stream your videos on YouTube (those browsing with limited data or from servers that can’t handle video), but who still would like to read your content.
Expanding on Your YouTube Presence
YouTube is a great means for getting your products in front of an audience, establishing a brand name and brand recognition, and establishing yourself as an expert in your field. Even if you can do this with YouTube, you are still going to need a separate website to truly monetize your brand and become a successful vlogger and businessperson.
