YouTube is one of those websites that really has taken the internet by storm. So long as you have the right equipment to shoot a home movie (and it isn’t too hard to come by without shelling out loads of cash nowadays) you stand a chance of developing an existing business or starting a new one, purely by signing up to YouTube and putting those movies online.

But that doesn’t explain what kind of videos you should be making. Well relax, because that is what you are about to find out. There is one very good way to make money using this website, you are about to find out what it is.

Let’s start by looking at YouTube as a way to bring in more business for your existing venture. If you can shoot short videos related to your business (making sure you include the URL to your website on the video itself) you can expect to receive more traffic to your website and hopefully more customers as a result.

Let’s say for example you run a website which sells all kinds of craft items. So you might make a video showing people how to make their own home made cards. They would then check out your website to see what you sell. This process can be duplicated no matter what kind of business you have.

The key is to think visually. It’s no good simply sitting in front of a camera telling people about something – you need to show them as well. Always remember this when you are thinking of ideas for videos – you will get a better response to them if you do.

In this sense you aren’t making money directly from YouTube; rather, you are using it as a way to make money elsewhere. It is a great tool for attracting attention and funneling people off the site. You cannot actually tout for business directly on the site anyway, so you are better off focusing on how you can get the attention of people whom you could sell to. Once you figure out how to do that, they will be more than happy to check out your website to see what you offer.

But what if you don’t already have a business to promote? Well, there are a number of people who have been successful in promoting affiliate opportunities on the site – again by inserting the relevant web address on the video itself (if you go on YouTube you will see this appearing time and time again as a kind of watermark effect) and either posting a video that is free for anyone to use and post, or by making their own. Again, so long as you post something that is relevant to what you are selling you should get a decent amount of traffic flowing to your website.

It might take a short while to get used to how uploading videos to YouTube works (particularly if you haven’t done it before) but once you have done a couple you will get the hang of it. More importantly you will have found another stream of income to add to your internet marketing arsenal of ideas!

One final point – be original. You can choose copyright free videos, but if you can make a fairly decent one yourself, why not try and attract more attention with that?

Leave us a comment below to let us know how you intend to use YouTube to make money!