How to Make Easy Money on Youtube?

[admin]

I read this from Videography magazine (online edition) this morning, and it's almost hard to believe.
Can it really be this easy? I'm doubtful.

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YouTube is best known for its viral videos of babies and cats. But there are thousands of decidedly less cute videos racking up the views. How-to videos are extremely popular and some of the creators are actually making serious money. Want to know how to crochet a flower or solve a Rubik's Cube? How about a guide for making a paper airplane? There's even a video with detailed instructions on how to use clip-in hair extensions.

What do you think?

Usually when I see a popular video, it's from doing something non-obvious, like how to apply makeup.
Women love to apply makeup. Teenage girls, too.

Folding airplanes, on the other hand, I almost don't believe.
Yet it has 4 million views across 5 years time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3_VMPkzI8A
And it's not even a good airplane. (Origami doesn't fly well. Imbalanced.)

For that matter, the video is both silent and jerky. Plus his hands are often in the way, so you can't really see what's being done. So 4 million people have watched a terrible low-quality video on how to make a crappy plane? Whatever happened to production value?

And then 5 years to generate 4 millions views on AdSense? I don't think it adds up to much.

I don't get it.

[NJRoadfan]

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Originally Posted by admin

I don't get it.

Never underestimate the taste of the general public, look at reality TV.

Based on my own tracking of a "viral video" that I have posted, most of the impressions come from blog postings, usually "Top 10 Worst" lists. It generates a lot of impressions, but I highly doubt any of it is worthwhile to advertisers. Like blogs, impressions can be artificially boosted by content farms and other well known abusing of the system.

You are right to be critical though. This entire sub-industry around profiting from Google Search/AdSense is ugly and making a once productive tool less and less useful everyday. Its getting as bad as USENet was in the late 90's when the signal to noise ratio was horrid (now its actually quite pleasant because very few know what USENet is these days!). The sad part about it is the one with the keys (Google) isn't very inclined to do anything about it since it makes them money.

Disclaimer: Even though YouTube likes to remind me that my video is eligible for advertising, I will never enable it. Its not my content and its immoral (and likely illegal) to do so. I can't take credit for the sheer amount of bizarre crap Microsoft's marketing department came up with though the years. I'd rather see it preserved then lost to history, I highly doubt too many VHS copies of that video even exist anymore.

[kpmedia]

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The sad part about it is the one with the keys (Google) isn't very inclined to do anything about it since it makes them money.

Well, not exactly.

I guess you didn't hear about the "farmer update" made at the end of February, which de-ranked a large number of content mills? You know, those sites written by unqualified hacks, with crap content and lots of ads? Sites like Associated Content, Examiner, eHow, ezineArticles, Suite101, etc. All the worthless junk sites that used to come up at the top of Google searches, because they were designed around "farming" search engine queries (and writing any old crap for readers) instead of quality content for a purpose. The site seomoz has a full list, including devaluation %'s for the sites.

Crackpot blogs need to go next. I'm tired of accidentally coming across sites owned by insane, tinfoil hat-wearing zealots. (For example, all those 9/11 conspiracy sites run by political/religious kooks.)

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few know what USENet is these days

Blame the ISPs. A lot of them have quit carrying usenet.

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I'd rather see it preserved then lost to history

You think like the members of TVPreservation.com. Retail or homemade, whatever quality can be found, preservation is important to fans, collectors and historians alike.

Take care.