Keep in mind that I am mostly referring here to video blogs setup as social drivers and not “targeted niche” ones. It is possible to strike a balance between the two, but that is for another post.

So in short, there are basically 3 reasons why people will watch you and visit your video blog site, no matter what your subject:

1) they like your primary subject matter (in the case of Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine)

2) they like the secondary stuff you talk and jaw about (Gary V talks about the Jets)

3) they just think you are cool and they connect with your personality on some level

And, of course, then there is the perfect match in a viewer, and that is the person that likes all three listed above. Either way, you can draw an audience to your video blog fairly easily if you are putting out enough content to let people get to know you. In the case of these types of social sites, any audience is a good audience.

(unlike the micro-niche blogs we have talked about before where we only want targeted, buying traffic)

Can you make money with a social video blog? Yes you can, but you have to realize that it will take a lot more time and energy to build it and also to maintain it. Social video blogging and developing a cult of personality is a very good long term strategy, but it is definitely not a passive income strategy.

So if you are looking at getting in front of the camera, you may want to consider a blog like Gary’s Wine Library or check out this little chick, IJustine who has a completely personality driven video blog that has blowed up bit time.

And of course, here is the commercial for Dos Equis if you have not seen it before. Check out the little shitty boat he uses to troll around the girls.. hilarious.

Here’s my advice:
1) un-professional comes across as real and not as “pitchy”
2) being an authority just means you really believe in the product
3) don’t let your persona overshadow the actual product
4) offer products not readily available at “off line” sources and TELL the viewers this fact
5) try to teach or educate just a bit. This is called offering “features and benefits” in the sales world

Your comments are very much welcome, good or bad. In fact, I like the negative ones better because:
1) criticism fires me up
2) once I get over #1 above, I just may learn something

Ok, so here is the idea:

You do video reviews of stuff you use/like/have/buy and then sell that same stuff through your affiliate links. Simple, I know, but do you know of anyone doing this using vid?

Frank over at OpTempo does great product reviews in the old fashioned written style. He is very good at it and uses mostly the Ebay program to monetize the site. Here is an idea of how he writes his titles in this post: Lexmark Multifunction Printer Review

See how detailed that is? It will be much easier to rank for that very very longtail keyword! I would also venture a guess and say that someone looking for “reviews” of that printer, may be in the market to buy a printer!

Now imagine doing that same review with video! That is powerful.

The idea is that you should video blog about products and/or services that you have actually used in your everyday life. This gives you an advantage over a standard pitch man who is paid to just do that, “pitch.”

Here’s a link to Gary Vaynerchuk’s vid blog.

Here is a link to Gary’s Wine Library where he does a vid post with Wayne Gretzky. Watch how he works and keep in mind, the underlying goal is to sell wine over the internet. He is selling something that involves “taste” and he is doing it via the toobs. That is brilliant.

Gary is a great “Pitch Man” for sure. I can’t teach ya’ll “talent” but I can help you realize how to convey your thoughts via video and sell products and other stuff! That’s what it comes down to guys! What are your thoughts?