Why doesn’t YouTube have a business channel? They have channels for musicians and experts and journalists and more, yet no place for businesses to upload their content. Why?

Well, it could be that as of the time of this writing, there is hardly any business-type video content in existence. By this I mean that businesses have not begun en masse to create videos for marketing purposes. So it makes sense, right now, that there is no YouTube business channel because there is not any content to fill it.

Another reason that YouTube may not have a business channel is that of the business video content that does exist, most of it is spammy to say the least, and YouTube doesn’t want spammy content in any form.

So here we are, in June 2008 and businesses are beginning to realize that a big piece of the future of marketing online, and search, is having an online video. But YouTube, who owns 77% of all video views, has decided not to create a sandbox for businesses to play in.

If Google Wants To Make Money Right Now, YouTube Has To Stop Thinking Like A Publisher
Recently, much talk has been made about how YouTube cannot make money in their current publisher business model (page views + ads = $$$). I’ll leave the intense debate on that issue to people like Mark Cuban who I agree with. But that’s not what this manifesto is all about.

If YouTube wants to make money right now, they need to create a business channel, or independent brand (Google Video perhaps?) that is built specifically for businesses to put their video content.
Let’s first talk about why they need to do this, then about how it’s going to make them money right now.

Reason #1 YouTube Business Should Exist – Segregate the Prisoners

Business content doesn’t fit with the current content on YouTube. A commercial or training guide or seminar recording does belong next to music videos or skateboarding videos or soft-porn videos.

Ask any Chairman of the board of a Fortune 500 company (I have) about why they aren’t putting their videos on YouTube and you’ll get the same answer. “I’m not putting my brand in the mix next to videos of underage teens dancing in their underwear.”

Good point. Why would they? The answer… they’re simply not going to. Done.

YouTube has to wall-off business content and separate it from the general population. How can this be done? Well, one way would be to take Google Video and turn it into the “business” arm of YouTube. The other way would be to simple create a walled-off section of YouTube called YouTube Business and make that video content exist on its own, not integrated into the general population.

Reason #2 YouTube Business Should Exist – Universal Search is an Empty Cup

Universal search is the future of Google search, and a big piece of that is direct integration of video into the organic results.

But Houston, we have a HUGE problem!

Yep, the reason you’re not seeing Google universal search in action (one of them at least) is that there simply isn’t enough relevant video content in existence to “fill” billions of search results. Let me explain.

Every day millions and millions of people come to Google and look to find high-quality, relevant content that solves their problems. So let’s pretend that one of those searchers comes and searches Google for “skateboarding manufacturers”. It’s obvious that that person is interested in finding a list of companies that sell or product or distribute skateboards.

So when they search, they get some web pages (276,000 or so) with tutorials and probably some image results and maybe some blogs show up too.

Then they get a bunch of videos (17 only to be exact) of kids doing skateboard tricks.

How relevant!!! Not.

There are millions of examples like this. The bottom line is, because of the very nature of the type of content that exists on YouTube right now, there is not enough relevant content to display in universal search.

Google searchers are not going to continue to use Google if they are not receiving the highest-quality, most relevant results, and if they turned Universal search on right now in full it would be a joke.

That’s why YouTube needs, no MUST, have business content!

What Kind Of Content Would Fit On YouTube Business?

Online video is a huge opportunity for businesses. Imagine having the power to put a commercial, or educational guide, or viral video, saying whatever you want to say, however you want to say it, on your website for people to be able to watch 24-hours-a-day, 7-days, etc….

This is reality. Businesses that do not take advantage of online video both on their website and on sites like a YouTube Business will be left behind down the road. Video communicates so much better than bulleted text on a screen, we all know this.

So there is no question that all businesses will be required to produce videos for online consumption. It’s like having a website today that’s easily findable online. It’s no longer something you could do, it’s an expectation. If you don’t have it, there’s something wrong with you in a consumer’s eyes.
This same expectation will happen with online video eventually. It’s that important.

So what kinds of videos should businesses be making and storing on YouTube Business?

Commercials or infomercials
Educational videos
Training videos
Recruiting videos
Website spokesperson videos
Viral videos
And any other type of video you can think of that will help educate or guide or inform a potential customer about

A Big Problem… YouTube Doesn’t Want Those Types of Videos

In case you haven’t noticed, the types of videos mentioned in the list above are NOT videos that exist on YouTube today. In fact, if you read their terms, you’ll understand that YouTube does NOT WANT those types of videos and will remove them if noticed. I know because they took a few of my videos down that had calls to actions on them.

Why doesn’t YouTube want business related videos? Because that’s not their model at the moment. They want a critical mass of user-generated content videos and they’re going to sell ads on and around them.

Fine. That’s great. But it still doesn’t solve a problem for millions of businesses who will need a place to have their videos hosted and served and viewed.

Introducing YouTube Business!

So we’ve talked about why YouTube needs a business section. Now let’s talk about how YouTube is going to make money, immediately, with a business section.

But first off, let’s talk about the huge opportunity that exists. Millions and millions of businesses, from mom and pop stores, to billion-dollar, global corporations will all have the need to have a place to put their videos. Guess what? They don’t have a resource right now to do that.

That’s right. As of right now, there really isn’t any place for a business to quickly, easily and cost-effectively put their business video content. They could invest in third-party hosting, but then they’re going to have to figure out how to create a proprietary flash player to stream their videos, and more importantly, their videos, if not hosted on YouTube, are not going to be indexed into Google universal search.

The bottom line is, even for large companies, it is going to be much easier to simply have a place that is built for business video content that solves all the issues associated with video streaming, compression, quality, etc…

It’s All About Subscriptions

Remember we talked about stopping thinking like a publisher? YouTube needs to forget ads on business content, ok? Keep them on user-generated content if you wish.

Let’s talk about subscriptions. For the sake of this argument, let’s say that there are 1 million businesses ready to sign up today to this new YouTube Business channel. Of course there are millions and millions more businesses in the Global market today, but let’s stick with the 1 million.
(Actually, the U.S. Census reports that there are 5,983,546 businesses in the USA alone in 2005.)

What if YouTube Business charged each business $100/month to host their videos? That’s $1200/year, times 1,000,000 accounts = $1.2 BILLION/year.

Alright, let’s say that they signed up 5 million businesses at that same rate?
That’s $1200/year, times 5,000,000 accounts = $600 BILLION/year.

You think that would pay a few bandwidth bills?

Ahh, yes, but Jim, would a business pay $100/month to have their videos hosted at YouTube? Why yes, they’d pay that in a heartbeat, and here’s why.

1. Universal search integration for videos that meet “requirements”
2. The ability to remove the YouTube branded logo on the player allows the business to both stream the video on YouTube, as well as on their website
3. Full HD capability if wanted
4. Long-form. Allowing videos up to 2-hours in length
5. Maintaining brand equity by segregation from amateurish and inappropriate videos in the general population
6. Unlimited views
7. Trend tracking and analytics
8. Private community
9. Custom-branded business channel pages

Links & Clicks Are Just Gravy

Let’s take this a step further now. So we’ve got all of these businesses paying YouTube a monthly recurring revenue. Now let’s start upselling them.

Want the ability to put clickable links to outside website urls in your videos? Add $50/month to your fee, or charge the business by links or clicks or views.

Example #1: One link per video. And it costs you $1.00 every time that video is viewed.

Example #2: All links in your videos that are clicked cost you $1.00 for every click.

Example #3: You pay for views of your videos on a sliding scale. The more views the more you pay.

There are many combinations YouTube could choose from that the business would pay for.

In Conclusion

Why would any business upload their videos anywhere else? They wouldn’t. A YouTube business channel just makes sense for both businesses and YouTube. Someone from Google give me a ring. I’d be happy to lead this for you. I’m not kidding. Let’s do it.

I’d love to hear your comments. Tell me I’m wrong, tell me I’m right, but make sure you actually read the entire piece above first?

If you own a Wordpress blog and you want a more professional-looking theme, then you might want to check PremiumThemes*. They have over 25 themes available - a handful are for free, while others are for sale (licensing fees for personal or developer use).

I haven’t bought a theme from them yet, but I’m seriously eyeing a couple that I’m considering for my personal blog. And, right now, the owner of PremiumThemes is currently running a contest, where one lucky winner can get a free copy of any premium theme. The contest runs until 30th of June.

Also, if you’re keen to sell some of these Wordpress themes on your blog or site, you might also consider signing up with their affiliate programme. The owner is offering 20% commission per sale. Payout is once a month, with minimum of 2 sales.

See more, if you’re interested.*

Note: Affiliate links included

Image source: PremiumThemes.net

Tags: blogs, contests, premiumthemes, themes, wordpress

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It’s always nice to do a review on a network that isn’t run off the DirectTrack system, just for the case that the whole setup is different and there are usually more features. Today we are going to look at Hydra Network. I’ve been an affiliate with Hydra Network all the way back to 2003, and since their network went live in 2003, they have shown massive growth and continue to be a prominent player in the affiliate network game. Hydra Network is run by Hyrda LLC, and was named 10th in Inc. magazine’s 2007 “The Fastest Growing Private Companies in America“.

Welcome to Hydra Network
Once you log into your Hydra Network account, you are welcomed with full stats for your account, along with the latest offers and updates added to the network. On the right side of the page you are shown a rotation of “News & Events”, along with “Featured Campaigns”, and a quick break down of each.

The main content area of the main log in page features a full list of “News & Updates”, which goes into detail on new campaigns, payout increases and how to promote hot campaigns. Below the main news and updates sections, you have a section for “New Campaigns”, then four recommended “Hot” campaigns currently featured on the network.

Hydra Network Campaigns
There are currently over 600 campaigns available on Hydra Network. Usually when a network had several hundreds of offers, it’s kind of a turn off, just because they seem to take on as many as they can, and don’t focus on quality and pricing. However, this isn’t the case with Hydra Network, because of the 614 offers currently on the network, 302 of them are EXCLUSIVE campaigns. With over 600 ad campaigns, you should not have any problems finding a success campaign to work with. Campaigns on the network range from $1.00 CPA, all the way up to $122.50.

When hovering over the “Campaigns” menu tab, you have the option to search all campaigns on the same page, or you can segregate your search by New Campaigns or Exclusives Only. For any incentive or form based web sites, the option to choose “Incentivized” and “Pre-Populated” campaigns is also just as easy. For an even more choices, use the “Advanced Campaign Search” for a list of campaigns base don their Attributes, Region or Categories.

Several affiliate networks have their own list of exclusive campaigns, but the majority of them are usually ZIP and EMAIL submit campaigns. Hydra Network has their share of these offer types, but also have an awesome amount of exclusive offers targeted towards health, biz opps, diet, financial services and products.

Hydra Network Stats Tracking
The stats area page is very simple and convenient to pull stats reports. Simply select your date range and click the “Go!” button. You also have the option to show stats based on Sub IDs, Actions and any date range. Some networks limit your stats to only 12-24 months of stats, with Hydra Network there is no limitation on pulling up stats all the way back to 2003.

After pulling setting up your requested stats, you will be sent to a stats page that looks something like the one below.

For anyone interested in setting up tracking urls with a sub id, all you need to do is visit your campaign creative page and scroll down til you are at the Sub ID field. Insert your sub id text and it will automatically create your sub id url for tracking. You can easily create hundreds of sub ids, by replacing your original sub id in the url, since Hydra Network does not over write your sub id name with a new code.

Hydra Network Rewards Program
As you continually earn commissions with Hydra Network, you will also be rewarded for your business and partnership. On top of your monthly commissions, you are eligible to receive a 1% monthly reward. Rewards start at $50, which means you will need to earn $5,000 in monthly commissions before seeing a reward.

Hydra Network Payment Options
Affiliates can opt to receive payments by check, ACH, Paypal or Wire Transfer. Payments are sent out on a Net 15 basis and there is a minimum payment amount of $50.

Summary
Hydra Network has been around for several years now and know how to remain a dominant player in internet advertising. If you aren’t currently working with Hydra Network, I recommend you join their network and see what campaigns they have for you to work with. With over 600 campaigns on the network, it would be smart to join them just to make sure you are getting the highest payouts on your current ad campaigns. I’ve been an affiliate with Hydra Network for many years now and have met with them at several conferences and never had problems with receiving payment.

T-SHIRT BONUS: I still have nearly 400 MoneyReign Shirts, bumper stickers, pens and buttons sitting around. If you join Hydra Network through this blog post, send me an email through the contact page, along with your name, address and tshirt size, I’ll be sure to send a gift package your way. (Due to shipping costs, this offer is limited to US signups only)

- Join Hydra Network

Don’t forget to visit www.ZacJohnson.com and comment on new posts! Top Commenters are rewarded with fun prizes every month!

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Good question, eh? I’m willing to bet you suffer from what most people suffer from… devaluing yourself or your business. You know… charging too little, or not making your value known to customers and employers.

Admit it, it’s ok. Everyone does it. But the time to stop is now. You’re never going to get where you want if you continue to devalue your knowledge and experience.

So how do you determine your value as a consultant or employee or as a sales organization? Some people or companies have no idea how to price themselves, or when/if to discount. Today I talk with Duncan Macpherson from Pareto Systems, and co-author of “Breakthrough Business Development”.

We talk about value and negotiating your value. Good stuff the consultant who needs to know how to price or value their work and time.

It seems like it has been a while since I shared a round-up of online business-related links that I’ve enjoyed reading lately. So, here you go…

• eBay Australia Moves to Single Payment System - ZDnet talks about eBay Australia’s attempt to get all its users to make use of Paypal as its payment system. Interesting discussions from different readers follow.
• WordPress Plugin Contest - About $3,500 worth of prizes for people who can develop good plugins.
• Monetizing WordPress Plugins - Just found this old post by Lorelle and thought I’d share it here.
• eShopOwner - Here’s another b5 biz blog. Written by Suzanne, it’s all about making money online through selling.

I was planning on sharing more, but my Internet connection’s really acting up right now. So perhaps, you can fill in here and share some of YOUR favourite links of the week in the comments section? Really great links may be featured in the future!

Tags: eBay, link love, links, online business, plugins, wordpress

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This is a good one today. Listen to the interview below where I talk with Kelly from TheHolisticOption.com. A niche site that operates on a publisher/subscription business model. Kelly provides great insight about how she started the site only 8 weeks ago is already selling ads.

But that’s not all, we talk about all kinds of things that you MUST listen to if you’re a person wanting to build a successful niche website.

Show notes:

Site is 8weeks old publisher/subscription model, free to consumers.

Got initial traffic by sending a direct mailer to 17k people, postcard, offered to test 3 month banner ad on site.

Got ads by bartering with “competitors” or complimentary sites.

Doesn’t run google ads because of competition, or bad sites that would show on her pages.

Promotion - social networking on linkedin, myspace, youtube video/channel, facebook, blog.

Does a podcast - interview experts in fields of holistic medicine, featured on itunes.

Talks about how podcasts are easy, using skype and a headset.

Thinking about doing a documentary - create one to promote site.

We talk about how to choose a pr firm. What does PR firm do for them? They secure offline press and trade pubs.

She’s going to be on Donny Deutsch!

I frequently get emails from affiliates asking how to setup tracking urls for different advertising campaigns. The easiest way to do this, without any outside scripts or software, is to run through the network directly. Many networks are running off the DirectTrack network platform, including MarketLeverage, Copeac, CPAEmpire, Rextopia and Ads4Dough to name a few. Through this walk through for setting up SubID tracking, I will use MarketLeverage as an example, but the same process applies to all previous affiliate networks listed.

- Step 1: Login to MarketLeverage and Select an Offer
No matter what offers you select on MarketLeverage or any of the other DirectTrack powered networks, you can setup an unlimited amount of SubID tracking urls.

- Step 2: Setup SubID Tracking URLs
Once you have selected your offer, you should be looking at the page with all of the creatives and banners. Find the email or banner creative that you want to use, then click on the [Add] link in that creative field.

After clicking [Add], five new text forms will open for you to place your subid tags in there. These can be any type of terms you want to use. For my example I threw in a couple tags which would be recognized for search marketing through Google, Yahoo and MSN. You can use whatever text or terms you like.

Once you place your subid terms, click “Update Click Code“, you will be given a new tracking url like the following:

http://payoutdeal.com/a.php?a=CD###&b=19468&d=0&l=
0&o=&p=0&c=3771&s1=searchgoogle1&s2=&s3=&s4=&s5=

The area in RED is your subid tag that you just created to track campaign performance.

- Step 3: SubID Tracking & Stats
Now that you have your subid tracking urls setup and running, you will want to check their individual stats. To do this, all you need to do is go to your stats page as you usually do, but this time instead of clicking “Display Stats“, you should click the “Get SubID Stats” link on the bottom section. You will then be sent to the reports page for performance on your subid tracking urls.

- Additional Campaign Tracking Options
In addition to the SubID tracking setup above, you also have the option to simply setup a “Name Creative for Deployment“, which is how I usually setup campaigns. To do this, you follow the same process as step 1 above, to find your offer. Skip step 2 above with the [Add] and just look for the form (shown below) at the bottom of each creative. Just place your creative name tag in the form and click “Deploy Creative”. The next page will provide you with your new tracking url. For stats tracking, follow the same process shown above in step 3, but instead of clicking “Get SubID Stats”, you should click “Get Stats for Deployed Creative”.

This SubID tracking process will work with any of the following networks: MarketLeverage, Copeac, CPAEmpire, Rextopia and Ads4Dough. I will follow up to this post with more ways on how to setup tracking ids through other networks, setting up your own tracking scripts, or using another outside service. Feel free to comment with any recommend scripts or services you have used.

Don’t forget to visit www.ZacJohnson.com and comment on new posts! Top Commenters are rewarded with fun prizes every month!

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So, it’s graduation season for some North Americans. A few months ago, there was a post here exploring the issue of new graduates seeking income online rather than going the ‘traditional employment’ route.

Here are what a couple of readers had to say about the question:

“I don’t blame them. Why would you work for somebody else when you can work for yourself from the comfort of home earning three times as much.” - from Joseph

“If asked, I would recommend graduates to do both. Real life experience can not be discounted or substituted. You never know when you may lose the “connection” to the internet (pun intended). There are life skills and business acumen that can only be learned by jumping in and getting your hands dirty. The knowledge a graduate learns in a “real job” are invaluable and transferable to entrepreneurship.

The internet is a phenomenal tool and I would highly recommend that graduates be creative and hang their shingle here too. Do both! The internet business also teaches unique skills and abilities as well as creates a network of people that you will never get going to work at a 9 to 5 job.” - from Darlene

Now, if you were giving additional tips to new graduates who wish to make money online, what would they be?

Image Source: Microsoft Stock Photo; Edits: Shai Coggins

Tags: graduates, graduation, make-money-online

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It has been a while since I shared a “Show Me the Money” type of post. But, in true JMMO fashion, I thought I’d share with you another legitimate way to get paid online.

You see, not so long ago, I shared with you the possibility of making money online using Tradebit, where you can sell files for download. Well, I uploaded 2 of my photos there. And, one of them was downloaded. And, I received my Paypal payment commission just a couple of days ago.

So, I thought you might want to know, in case you’re wondering whether Tradebit does pay or not.

Let me know if you try it out - and if you have any other similar success stories.

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As I mentioned here, b5media is currently having a Blog-Off 24-hour blogathon, where many of my fellow b5ers have been posting one blog entry per hour for 24 hours. Since I was unable to participate here at JMMO, I thought I’d lend a hand by guest posting at another business blog, Interview Chatter, since Darlene McDaniel asked for help. My guest post is: 3 Ideas for Job Hunters on the Web.

Here are other b5 business bloggers who are participating in the Blog-Off:

Business and Blogging (www.businessandblogging.com)

Accounting Solver (www.accountingsolver.com)

taxgirl (www.taxgirl.com)

Doing Biz Abroad (www.doingbizabroad.com)

Home Biz Notes (www.homebiznotes.com)

Everyday Networker (www.everydaynetworker.com)

One Vote Matters (www.onevotematters.com)

Interview Chatter (www.interviewchatter.com)

Biz Chicks Rule (www.bizchicksrule.com)

Buzz Networker (www.buzznetworker.com)

Digital Money World (www.digitalmoneyworld.com)

Franchise Pick (www.franchisepick.com)

Yielding Wealth (www.yieldingwealth.com)

Small Business Boomers (www.smallbusinessboomers.com)

My Organized Biz (www.myorganizedbiz.com)

Viva El Negocio (www.vivaelnegocio.com)

I hope you all visit them and help support the Blog-Off project in some way.

Tags: b5media, blog-off, business, charity, job, job hunting

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