If you asked 10 people which online search engine is the most popular, probably 9 of them would say “Google.” And they would be wrong.

Actually the biggest search engine online is YouTube. In 2011 YouTube had over a TRILLION views! That’s 145 views for every man, woman and child on the planet. Over four billion YouTube videos are viewed every day. Over one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every second! If you are not exploiting YouTube to build a list or to make money you are missing out on a tremendously useful tool. Here are some tips on how to get started.

Creating Content: The Tool

All you need is a video recorder. Most cell phones have a camera that produces quality video and reasonable audio. That would be fine for starters. I have seen good quality stand-alone HD video cameras on sale recently for under $100. That’s a pretty low entry hurdle and I highly recommend creating video in HD if you can afford it. With nothing but a video recorder you can shoot and immediately upload raw video and create a profitable situation.

On a side note, as I outlined here, if you keep your camera with you 24/7, you just might come upon a newsworthy event (fire, accident, natural disaster, etc.) that you can capture and quickly sell to local news outlets. If you do, DO NOT upload it to YouTube until you have exhausted any opportunity to sell it exclusively to a local buyer.

There is a possibility that an event you uploaded, gets discovered by the world and next thing you know, it’s viral. This has happened to people who post something interesting, cute or funny (especially things involving babies or pets or both!) and their video suddenly explodes and gets millions of views. There are some YouTube channels with less than 10 videos that have over 40,000,000 views. Numbers like that will open doors to affiliate partnerships and advertising offers that can create a significant ongoing income. Granted, it’s about the same as hitting the lottery, but it certainly has happened.

Strength in Numbers:

Another method that can be used with nothing but a video recorder and time is simply consistent uploading of short (1 – 10 minute) clips about anything and everything. It can be a short video of high-rise window washers; a jet landing; a quick interview with a veteran; someone creating a dish in the kitchen; anything. There need not be a theme or any connection between your videos. If you make a hobby of it and uploaded say, 6 videos a day, in a year you would have 2190 videos on your channel.

Each video will have keywords attached to it, so anyone who searches for that keyword just might find that video. If each video at the end of the year averaged even 5 views a day, your channel will score almost 11,000 daily views! Those numbers will attract sponsors and affiliate offers and potentially an offer from YouTube to become a partner. With almost 330,000 monthly views, YouTube partner income can potentially reach $990 per month.

Additional Tools:

It’s easy to go beyond the raw video upload and provide content that is professional and polished. Take your raw video and put it on your computer and you can edit it with free video editing applications that are easily found online. If you have a Windows machine, Windows Movie Maker is already there for you.

The audio track can be edited and even enhanced and overdubbed using free audio processing software such as Audacity. These tools can be used if you are looking to build a niche YouTube channel. Many experts in a field build a long term following by creating an ongoing series of informative or entertaining videos that address a popular subject, teach a skill or provide entertainment. This is not an overnight income thing but is the most likely way someone can eventually build significant income through advertising and affiliate partnerships.

Part of a Sales Funnel:

Finally, YouTube is a great source to direct traffic to a sales page on the web. You may not be interested in monetizing the video itself. You may just use it to entice traffic to click your link and move to your sales “squeeze page.” Many affiliate marketers do this because they know their video has more likelihood of appearing on the front page of a Google search for their keywords than their actual page does.

The content of the video can simply be information about the offer or it can actually show a related method or technique (how to install a WordPress blog for example) You can mention your web page URL in the video and overlay it on the screen using Movie Maker. You can even create a slide show in PowerPoint and easily convert it to video.

You may not get lots of traffic from one video, but again we’re talking numbers. You can consistently upload hundreds of short videos to your channel every year; each one keyed to specific keywords in your niche. Once they are there, they will work for you 24/7 forever. They are an effective free source for traffic to your pages and affiliate links and can become a powerful way to grow your income and your online business!

Bruce Clemens makes a significant part of his income online. His web site, http://onlinejobscompass.com offers lots of resources to develop an online income quickly and efficiently. Sign up there and instantly download Bruce’s important eBook that gives lots of starters free.