YouTube is the 3rd-highest trafficed web site on the Internet, according to Alexa.com.

That is, by any stretch of the imagination, a ton of traffic. But YouTube is much more than just a place to kill a slow afternoon at work. It’s much more than a place to lose yourself watching home movies of entertaining pets or old music videos from the 80′s.

It’s also a place that offers a great opportunity to make money.

Yes, you can leverage YouTube’s massive traffic and worldwide appeal to generate revenue for YOU. From my point of view, one of the coolest things about Youtube is that it’s entirely possible to use it to build a successful, profitable business or generate some decent “bonus” income without having a web site, selling a product, or providing a service of any kind.

How?

There are two ways I can think of right off the top of my head…

• Monetize your own videos. If you’re already putting up videos of your cats, dogs, kids, or whatever, why not monetize them?  I’m sure you’ve seen the “in-video” ads that appear over top of certain videos while you’re watching? These are Google “Adwords” ads (since YouTube is owned by Google).

  Adwords is Google’s in context advertising solution, and if your account qualifies for monetization, you can agree to have relevant ads placed on your videos. Google will then split the profits of  the ads with you, and mail you a check every month. While it sounds ridiculous, the “everyday” pet videos thrown on YouTube are incredible popular. For example, the one I posted earlier of the German Shepherd puppy has received over 500,000 page views (at the time of this writing). This simple video of a Dobermann guarding a baby, has received 4.7 million views. That’s nearly a million views per year since it was uploaded in 2007.

  Now suppose Google’s ads were displayed on this video. Let’s also assume a modest 2% click through rate and earnings per click of $.50. So… 4,700,000 X 2% X $.50 = $47,000! Not enough to live on when it’s divided up over 5 years, to be sure, but not bad for just throwing a video on YouTube.

• Create a YouTube “Affiliate” Channel: Many people review products on YouTube and include an affiliate link to the merchant in question. For those of you that are not aware, affiliate links contain a special tracking code so that if the person who watches your video decides to buy the product in question, the retailer pays you a percentage of the sale.

  People like to watch video reviews, and Google likes to give YouTube listings prominence in its search results.

  That`s a WIN WIN.

  Of course, you have to perform a genuine review; you have to own and be intimately familiar with the product in question in order to effectively point out its benefits and possible shortcomings. You also have to be entirely genuine and have your viewer’s best interests at heart, or you won’t make a penny. That’s because unless you have chosen a very specific niche/product, lots of other people will be doing the same thing.

  You just have to do it better, or alternatively, do it well, but come up first in the search results.

So there you have it; 2 ways to use YouTube to make money online without having your own website.

Yes, there IS a downside to building an income solely from YouTube; you never truly own your own business. If Google decides tomorrow to stop displaying ads on your videos,  for example, your income disappears. Or, if they stop directing traffic to your videos the same thing happens. For this reason, marketing with YouTube is best thought of as one part  of a more comprehensive plan. You really need to diversify (i.e., get your own web site) if you want to have a secure, dependable income.

I talk a lot about video marketing on this web site.

One resource which I recommend consistently throughout the course of these video-related discussions is Dave Kaminski’s Web Video University (WVU).

I recommend it for a simple reason; it is a fantastic, thorough and extensive resource for anyone serious about creating high quality web videos. I know this because I’ve been a member of Dave’s program for over 6 months now – I discovered Web Video University after purchasing Dave’s Screencast Secrets, which is a program that teaches you how to use the combination of Camtasia and PowerPoint to create incredible screencasts. I was so impressed by the product that I signed up for WVU immediately.

I wasn’t disappointed.

You’ll understand when you see for yourself, but this product really is a labor of love. There are no shortcuts anywhere. All the material is meticulously scripted and presented and every possible topic you could possibly need to know about creating great quality video is covered. Yes, from green screens, to DSLR cameras, to ideal bitrate settings, to two pass flash encoders, to hosting your videos on Amazon S3 and delivering them in a custom player on your web site – all this and a ton more things are covered.

Of course, one thing I should point out before continuing is that this product is not for everybody.

Membership is $99/month (it sounds like a lot but it’s an amazing value – wait until you see the video) and you’re going to have to invest in Sony Vegas video editing software (for Windows machines) or Final Cut Pro (for Mac users). I bought the $120 version of the Vegas software, although the “pro” version Dave uses in the course is about $600. In all the exercises I learned, there were only a handful of occasions when not having the $600 software was limiting. You can download a 30-day free trial of Sony Vegas, but it’s hardly worthwhile if you do not intend to purchase it in the end.

Ultimately, if money is tight and all you want to do is put together some video you captured from your family’s Christmas vacation, make it into a movie and send to Grandma, this is not for you.

If, on the other hand, you want to use web video to leverage your business, your online presence, or to sell more product (either of your own or as an affiliate)…

Then yes – this is for you, because the success of any of these ventures is dependent on delivering quality video content to your audience. The better it is, the better you’ll do. Plus, you’ll earn a significant ROI (return on investment) for the money you invest in the course.

With that said, I figured it made more sense to show you Web Video University, rather than talk about it. Click the image below to watch the video (it’s lengthy – about 15 minutes. I recommend you watch it all!)…

Well, hopefully I’ve done my job and by this point you have a pretty good idea whether Dave Kaminski’s Web Video University is for you.

If you found this review and video helpful and are interested in learning more about the course, you can do so here! Highly recommended!

If you’ve spent any time on this site, you’ll know I talk a lot about link building and my experiences with it. Link building is one of those necessary Internet marketing evils, and for the most part, it’s a big pain in the a**.

Sure, there are all sorts of tools that will automate the link building process (think SE Nuke or EdwinSoft’s Ultimate Demon) and these are fine for getting a base of low quality links. However, obtaining quality in-pointing links is a tedious, hands-on process, that often doesn’t bear fruit.

Webmasters of quality sites guard their links jealously, and won’t hand them out to any webmaster who comes calling, and certainly not one of a low quality website that can’t provide something in return.

Prior to the Panda update, I had a pretty relaxed attitude towards link building; a few blog comments here and there, some directory submissions, link exchanges with relevant sites, a handful of videos posted with their links pointing to the most appropriate pages, and so on.

Mostly I just focused on creating the sort of great content that garners links on its own.

That doesn’t seem to be enough anymore.

Today, in a post-Panda world, it seems to me that a much more aggressive link building strategy needs to be considered – which is why I’ve written so much about link building on this blog.

One of the strategies I’ve always considered but never put into practice is the Web 2.0 strategy; creating high quality material on Web 2.0 sites like Squidoo, Hubpages, Tumblr, Weebly, etc, and then linking those sites either directly to your “money” site, or to each other in a complex link wheel, and then to your money site.

That’s after you build some links to those pages as well, of course.

And, since Web 2.0 sites have a ton of authority with the Search Engines (SEs), the links gained from pages hosted on them can have considerable weight – especially if those pages you created have received links of their own.

I’m not sure I buy into the “linkwheel” strategy: it is manipulative (as far as the SEs are concerned) and too easy to reverse engineer. In other words, to me it looks more deceptive than a straight link. There’s no reason to my mind why a SE would ignore a direct link from any Web 2.0 property to your web site, unless, of course, you have a zillion of them and your page is of extremely low quality. That’s a dead giveaway.

I’ve seen some webmasters argue it makes sense to link your Web 2.0 sites together to further build the authority of the sites in your Web 2.0 network, thus transferring greater “link juice” to your own site in the process. Who knows whether this works or not for sure?

One of the reasons I never bothered with this strategy is that is seemed like a LOT of work. I won’t post crappy content under my name, which means I’d have to create them all myself, and with my regular content creation duties and the sheer number of web 2.0 sites worth considering, I’d never be able to get it all done.

Obviously then – considering the title of this post – this is something I’ve reconsidered. I’m thinking that I should develop quality material on the top 5-10 Web 2.0 sites. Build them, let them “sit” for a month or so, and then add a link or two to my money sites.

Yesterday, for instance, I created my first Squidoo lens – it’s on the subject of body building supplements, and today I created a second one on job training (for my new job training and certification site). It was a fairly painless process, although I imagine it will become less fun each and every time I create a Web 2.0 page.

Since I’ve seriously been considering hiring a virtual assistant this year, this seems like a perfect task to outsource.

In the meantime, stay tuned for updates and results on the Web 2.0 experiment. I’m curious to see how it turns out.

Build My Rank. TrafficKaboom. SEOLink Vine. Unique Article Wizard. Article Ranks. Blog Blueprint.

I could go on, but you get the point. These are all link building networks – large networks of sites and blogs owned by marketers for the express purpose of link building.

Here’s how they work…

You sign up for the service of your choice.

You pay a fee, usually a regular monthly subscription which ranges in cost from around $50 per month and up.

This gives you access to the network.

Now you can post articles, blog posts, and sometimes, short 150 word “snippets” to the network, and include a link back to your site. The specifics of how many posts you can make per day, or how many different sites you can add to the network varies greatly depending on the service to which you subscribe.

For instance, with Build My Rank (which I wrote about some time ago after trying the free trial of the service), you are allowed to add 5 sites to the network, and make an unlimited number of posts. Each post must be a minimum of 150 words, and can contain one link back to your site. All posts must be unique and well written – no spun material is allowed.

On the surface, belonging to a quality network – which can contain sites with a PR (Page Rank) ranging from 0 to 6 (again it varies from service to service) – seems to make pretty good sense. Why bother hunting down blogs to solicit guest articles or make posts on when, for a small monthly fee, you get direct access to tons of such sites that will post your articles without question?

Well, here’s where we get to the part where I tell you what the gurus are not telling you about using blog networks for link building…

There are two main things…

First…

Belonging to a link building network is not something that you can expect Google to reward you for, should they identify the network. At best, the links you have obtained are worthless, and at worst, your site receives some sort of ranking penalty or is dropped from the index.

Additionally, when you subscribe to any network, you are at the mercy of the owners; if they are diligent in policing it, maintaining its quality and scanning the sort of sites they allow in, it’s possible your links may have value for the foreseeable future. If they don’t, well… you may as well flush your money down the toilet.

Second…

To realistically expect results from any blog network, you’re going to have to submit a ton of content to it.

If you’re subscribed to one of the better ones that doesn’t allow spun or inferior content, that means you are going to have to write it all yourself, or outsource it – and that can be expensive. In my opinion then, unless you’re a serious, full time marketer with a VA (virtual assistant) in the Philippines, or you’re targeting extremely esoteric long tail keywords, you are simply not going to be able to create enough content on your own to make subscribing a worthwhile venture.

If you don’t believe me, sign up for the free trial of Build My Rank (which I review here) and create the posts required for your 10 free links. Not as easy as you thought it was, huh? Now imagine having to write 2-5 of these posts every day for a couple of months (yes, really; SEO is a long term affair!).

If you still want to subscribe to a blog network after this little experiment, at least you’re doing so with your eyes wide open.

And that means I’ve done my job.

Dan Kaminski, of Web Video University fame has announced his “end of year” special and it’s a doozy; 3 of his most popular courses (Web Video ABC’s, Green Screen Secrets and Mobile Video Made Simple) for a mere $99.

Normally these courses retail for just over $300, but until Dec 31, you can get them for a third of the cost.

I haven’t done a full review of Dave’s Web Video University (I plan to in the New Year) but I can tell you this; I maintain a membership to it because it is a fantastic resource. If you’ve spent any time on this site you’ll know I have no hesitations about calling things as they are; I never candy-coat things. Dave’s course is simply superb. He’s put a ton of work into his products and it shows.

So if any these courses appeal to you, grab ‘em up now and save!

One of the biggest detriments to online success I have seen over the years is an unwillingness to invest in your business.

This is especially true for newbie marketers, many of whom want to see if the whole “online business” thing is going to pan out for them before they put any of their money on the line.

I can tell you from experience that this simply does not work.

When I started out online in the late nineties, I knew absolutely nothing about the Internet, and even less about marketing, advertising, or any of the net-specific skills required for earning a living online. I figured I could sort of “learn as I earned.”

Not so.

Without any practical background in fields that have “carry over” to the ‘net (like the aforementioned advertising, marketing, or business), I simply floundered around for a couple of years, wasted hundreds of hours of my time, and never made a penny.

Until I got my hands on Ken Evoy’s “Make Your Site Sell” in ’98 or ’99 (the book hasn’t been updated since 2002, but it’s still a great resource and it’s available for free here!).

When I read it, lights went on, bells rang and sirens wailed!

Now I know what to do! And how to do it!

And I have never looked back since.

And yet, reflecting on it now, I kick myself for being so darn stupid.

What the heck was I thinking?

If I would have just handed over $30 or $40 two years earlier on a similar product (MYSS wouldn’t have existed then), I would have saved myself years of aggravation.

The point is, until you make an investment in your business, you are just wasting your time floundering. Playing around.

Your investment is both your “skin in the game.” Without it, you don’t have any real reason to put in the sort of effort you need to succeed, because you’re not really out anything but your time if you don’t (another big mistake; not allotting a value to your time).

It’s also your short cut to the knowledge you will absolutely have to acquire should you wish to ever become successful.

Imagine starting a brick and mortar business; do you think your landlord would allow you to stay rent free until you determined whether or not the business was going to be profitable? Until you “learn the business?”

Do you think your suppliers will let you borrow their products until you generate some business?

Making an investment qualifies you as being committed and serious.

It also means you have a reason to get serious.

Don’t agree?

Think you can learn it all on your own without spending a penny?

I’m sure you can, but how long will that take?

Not only do you have to learn every aspect of building an online business, you have to determine who knows what they are talking about, and who does not. Pick the wrong guru to follow, and it may cost you years of wasted time.

So you have to ask yourself…

Do I have the determination to stick it out through this entire process until I develop some system that works?

Or do I fork out a few dollars, skip the two-year learning curve, and start immediately down the road to internet riches?

Your choice; continue playing, or get serious!

For those who are serious, I recommend SiteSell’s Site Build It! For $29.95 per month, you have access to a complete business building system, plus all the tools you’ll ever need. Check out the site, review the proof, and make whatever decision you deem appropriate.

WordPress Vs SBI! (Site Build It!): What’s The Deal?

How Can You Recommend SBI! (Site Build It!) When This Is A WordPress Site?

That’s a question I received the other day from an individual who obviously found an incongruity in the fact that I actively recommend SBI! here,  whilst this site is built upon the WordPress platform.

To quote a great line from Samuel L Jackson in the movie Pulp Fiction…

“Well, allow me to retort!”

Suggesting that it’s somehow unethical to recommend SBI! when I’m not using it myself on this site, is a bit like saying…

“Hey! How come you recommend we eat apples, when YOU are eating an orange?”

See, apples and oranges are different. You can’t compare one to the other. If someone asks you for a hammer, do you hand them a screwdriver, and expect them to accomplish the task?

I can like both apples and oranges (as can you), and can eat whichever I like, depending on my needs. It doesn’t diminish the value of either.

So what’s the difference between SBI! and WordPress?

How are these “apples and oranges?”

Site Build It! is a system.

WordPress is a platform.

Think of it this way; WordPress is a tool with which you can build web pages. You can build static pages or posts, or a combination of both – whatever suits your fancy.

But as you’ll quickly find out, there’s a big difference between a handful of web pages and a web business – an online presence that actually generates revenue. Any elementary school kid can build a web site. Building a web business that generates a 3, 4, 5, or even 6 figure monthly income – well, that’s an entirely different matter.

Yes, SBI! is also a platform upon which a web site is built and hosted, but that’s where the similarities end.

Site Build It! leads you through the entire “A-then-B-then-C” online business building process. And it’s thorough; heck, it’s even taught at Penn state for heaven’s sake.

One thing I’ve always been clear about in my recommendation of SBI! is that it isn’t for everybody. Advanced marketers who are already successful online, probably don’t need what, to me, is SBI!’s biggest asset: The Action Guide (The Action Guide is an incredibly detailed “step by step”  journey through the entire business-building process. Everything from assessing the profitability of your niche to keyword research to PREselling is covered. Literally, EVERYTHING).

They probably also don’t need SBI! advanced suite of tools, since they would have purchased expensive “stand alone” versions to manage their existing sites. And they’d have the cash flow to buy the premium plugins needed to ramp up WordPress’ performance, if WordPress is what they have opted to use.

WordPress doesn’t.

With WordPress you’re on your own.

It’s not much different than someone handing you a copy of an HTML editor like DreamWeaver and saying, “there you go, go build an online business.”

You have the tool to build web pages, but you still don’t have a clue about how to assess your niche for profitability, perform effective keyword research, drive traffic, convert visitors into income, etc, etc (i.e, the stuff you’ll learn with SBI!).

It’s just a platform, remember.

Yes, but WordPress is free.

And you don’t want to invest in anything until you know whether or not this whole online thing is going to pan out for you.

I hear you.

I did the same thing in the late nineties. And you know what? I spent two years online and didn’t make a cent. I didn’t spend a penny, but I didn’t make one either. And I wasted 100′s of hours of my time. Until I read a beta version of Ken Evoy’s “Make Your Site Sell” in 1998 or ’99.

That’s when the lights went on.

So let’s talk about why I recommend SBI! to build an online business.

It’s because of the Site Build It! process. I hate to sound like a broken record, but it will show you exactly how to earn income from the Internet.

If you’re not interested in making money online, and you just want to throw up a few web pages to highlight your son or daughter’s (or grandson or granddaughter’s) little league soccer team, go ahead and use WordPress. It really is a great tool (I love it, just as I love SBI! for other reasons).

However, for me to recommend WordPress as a business building tool on its own… well, that would be irresponsible. Because unless you already know what you’re doing, well… it’s not the right tool for you.

It’s like handing you a hammer when what you need is a saw.

So…

If you know what you’re doing and you prefer oranges to apples, go ahead and use WordPress.

If not, and you’d like to build a real online business, one that makes money, check out SBI!

The lights will go “on”, I promise.

It’s a darn good feeling.

I love Internet Marketing. I love the experimentation, the testing, the rapidly evolving technology. It was in that spirit that I built this site upon the WordPress platform in 2009 – so I could see what it was all about, and so I could talk about it from a position of authority. And indeed WordPress IS awesome… but as a platform, not a business building system.

Yep, it’s that time of year again.

The time when SiteSell offers its buy-one, get one free door-crasher offer on SBI! (Site Build It!), the premier Internet business building solution on the ‘Net (heck, even respected universities and colleges like Penn State, The Citadel, and The University of Arizona are using SBI! to teach their students how to build a profitable e-business).

If you’ve been struggling to get your online business off the ground and generating income, here’s your opportunity to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress.

Not familar with SBI!?

It’s a suite of online tools and applications that allow you to build a vibrant, profitable online business. I agree; there are plenty of services that claim the same thing (but none that offer near the amount of functionality and sheer number of top notch tools for such a ridiculously affordable price).

So what really makes SBI! stand apart from its competitors?

In three words?

The Action Guide.

The Action Guide takes you step by step through an A to Z business building process so you never have to guess at what it is you need to be doing next. The guide, in conjunction with the online suite of tools, makes building a successful online business as easy as following a series of steps. Sure, it’s hard work – just like building any business – but if you follow the Action Guide, you will succeed.

Who’s SBI! best suited for?

Anyone can use SBI!, no matter what their level of expertise (I login to my girlfriend’s site and use the Brainstormer (a keyword research application) and Monetize It! tools often), but it’s for those who are new to Internet Marketing that will benefit the most.

Incidentally, my girlfriend Marilyn’s Flowers-By-Marilyn web site is tracking about 300 unique vistors a day right now, and looks like it’s well on its way to covering her car payment this month! Excellent news!

Is 2012 the year you start making an income from the Internet?

It could be; use the 90-day risk free trial and see for yourself!

What’s the best Windows screencast software?

That’s a question you’re very likely asking yourself if you’re considering making the leap to delivering video / screencast based information online. There seems to be so many options… what solution are you going to choose?

Let’s take a look at some of the most popular options…

1) Camtasia: Although what constitutes the “best screencast software” will be somewhat dependent on your needs and skill set, TechSmith’s Camtasia is considered the industry standard.

This is what I use, and I can say that for the most part, I have been extremely pleased with the product. It’s fairly easy to use, there isn’t much of a learning curve, and everything is laid out pretty intuitively. There’s lots of help available too – plus loads and loads of instructional videos to get you up and running fast!

Technical support is fast and friendly, although they were not able to resolve the problem I occasionally experience on my 64 bit Windows 7 machine; instead of your screencast, you end up with a recording of a black screen. I never got too worked up about this, since rebooting the computer seems to fix this glitch. The major pain is that you lose whatever work you’ve completed in that last session.

Camtasia, of course, is not free. It costs money to develop and support good products, so it should not surprise you to learn that Camtasia commands a $300 price tag.

Yes, I understand; $300 can be a fair chunk of change if…

• You’re just starting out with video marketing online and you’re not sure of the outcome.
• The current recession has left you cash strapped and hesitant to spend a penny more than you absolutely have to – on anything.

In my opinion, however, investing in good software is always a smart move as it provides you with the tools necessary to do the best job possible – which always pays off in the long run. Most people I have encountered who have an interest in learning how to screencast have some sort of business application or monetization idea in mind.

If this is the case with you, you really cannot afford to do anything “half-assed.”

Creating the best product possible leads to more sales, happy customers, more credibility for you and / or your business, and in the end, more money in the bank. After all, it’s a bit difficult to represent yourself as a professional if you’re creating your screencasts on budget or free software.

That said, TechSmith does offer a 30-day free trial of Camtasia (it’s fully functional), which I highly recommend you investigate, regardless of whether or not you can afford the tool at this time.

If you do decide to go with Camtasia and want to get the most of it as quickly as possible, I highly recommend Dave Kaminski’s Screencast Secrets (which will also teach you the basics of PowerPoint as well, so you can use its features in your screencasts). I own this product, and it’s what I used to create the PowerPoint videos you see on this site. Highly recommended!

2) Screen-O-matic: As a Camtasia user, I really haven’t done much more than play around a little with Screen-o-matic online and watch a few of the instructional videos (of which there are plenty, thank you very much!).

It’s a browser based solution that offers a “free” or a “pro” paid option. At $12 per year for the “pro” version, there’s absolutely no reason to use the free option at all, especially since you’re limited to doing browser-based screencasts and have no access to editing tools.  The “pro” version allows you to use the tool offline, out of the browser, and provides a suite of tools for video manipulation.

From what I can see from my limited noodling, Screen-O-Matic absolutely rocks at this price point.

The problem once again, is that despite the incredible value if offers, it’s nowhere near as comprehensive a tool as Camtasia (nor was I expecting it to be at this price point) which means you won’t have the same flexibility when creating your screencasts.

Nonetheless, Screen-o-Matic is worth a look if you have limited technical requirements or are short of cash. If nothing else, spend the $12 and get the full version. Experiment with it and the trial version of Camtasia and see whether the limited editing options severely hamper your ability to create a great screencast. If they do not, then maybe Screen-O-Matic is for you.

Only one way to be sure though; experiment!

3) Prezi: This one’s a little different. It’s not true screencast software like either of the aforementioned options. It’s more like presentation software. Think of an “easy to use”, “funky” online pseudo-PowerPoint.

If you don’t need live video footage of your screen, but instead want to present your information in a “video presentation” format, have a look at Prezi. Best of all, there’s a free option to experiment with before you commit to a paid membership (prices range from $59 to $159 per year – pretty affordable).

Once again, I don’t have a ton of experience with this tool, but from what I’ve seen of it so far (and heard from friends) it’s a very cool tool for doing what it does!

Hopefully this article has given you some ideas and helped you select the best screencast software for you. If you’re not yet sure of what your requirements are going to be, all three of the above listed options offer a free trial. Be sure to use them to determine which solution is the best for you and your customers.

Once your video is completed you’ll want to market it effectively, by squeezing every last drop of promotional opportunity from it. This might, depending on your situation and the topic of your video, involve submitting it to video sharing sites other than YouTube. There are, after all, all sorts of these online.

YouTube is the king of video sharing sites. By a country mile. Nothing else even comes remotely close to delivering the number of potential eyeballs. But there are TONS of YouTube wannabe’s. Since so many video sharing sites exist, it’s important to keep this truth in the forefront of your mind…

The law of diminishing returns applies very quickly to the video submission process.

While it definitely makes sense to submit your video to the top 3, 4, or perhaps even 5 video sharing sites, after that, your time is probably better off directed to creating new videos (or new content of any sort) rather than wasting time submitting your video to web sites that may deliver a handful of viewers a month.

So what are the video sharing sites worth submitting to?

Aside from YouTube of course, you may wish to consider…

• DailyMotion.com
• MetaCafe.com
• Break.com
• Vimeo
• Revver
• Yahoo Video

Personally, I’ve only ever seen any success from the combination of YouTube, MetaCafe and Daily Motion. To demonstrate this point, check this out (click for a larger view)…

This is a screenshot of the performance reports in my TubeMogul account (more on TubeMogul in a moment). As you can see, almost 95% of the views my posted videos have received have been generated by YouTube. Only two other services (MetaCafe and DailyMotion) have delivered enough views worth mentioning.

To me, nothing more clearly demonstrates the laws of diminishing returns when it comes to posting your videos on other sites.

You can, of course, opt to use a service like TubeMogul, which automates the submission process – it’s a video distribution and tracking service. TubeMogul used to be free, but is now only free for non-commercial ventures, which pretty much rules you and I out.

TubeMogul is a great service and a real time saver, and a must have tool… if you have a ton of quality videos on the sort of topic that generates a lot of interest from viewers.

I have not upgraded to the paid version of TubeMogul (which means any new videos are not submitted from the service), because I don’t have enough videos to generate the number of views required to make it possible to recoup the monthly cost of the service. In other words, if I submit my videos manually to YouTube, DailyMotion and MetaCafe I get 99% of the views I would obtain by submitting to ALL the video sharing sites.

In my opinion, using a service like TubeMogul makes sense when…

• You have enough high performing videos that the extra 5-10% of views gained by submitting to all the smaller video sharing sites generates enough business to cover the $75/month fee.
• You are on the look out for backlinks of ANY sort (most links from these sites are “no follow” but that doesn’t mean they don’t offer any value; Google knows about these links, they just don’t allot any outgoing Page Rank / authority to them) .
• Your product or service has a high profit margin and conversion rate.

Of course, there are always exceptions.

My personal recommendation is to submit manually to DailyMotion, MetaCafe and Vimeo (in addition to YouTube, of course) until such point as a subscription to TubeMogul makes good financial sense.