It’s also one of the hottest refuges for scammers and BS artists.

I recently made the mistake of doing some pro bono work for a good cause run by amateurs. (Long story and a mistake I will never repeat.)

Throughout the process, I’ve been told I have to meet with this social marketing expert and that one, the implication being they have something of value to bring to the party that’s more important than actually getting the job done. (These folks LOVE meetings. They don’t like work.)

Meanwhile, I patiently try to explain to these wing nuts that the only currency that means anything in Internet marketing is the size of your e-mail list (prospects and customers). Not how many “friends” you have, how many people “follow” you on Twitter, or how much chatter there is about you in the blogosphere.

Hey, I like Twitter and I know people who get some good things from Facebook, but I don’t know anyone who would trade a solid e-mail list to become king of Twitter or Facebook.

Conversely, I know plenty of social media masters who are one step away from living in a “van down by the river.” (Google it. If you don’t know the Saturday Night Live routine that phrase is from, you’re in for some serious laughter.)

Anyway, after listening the the millionth and one social media “genius” I took a look at some of my own social media stats. (My social media weapon of choice being video.)

Here are my numbers:

1. I’ve pushed one video over the 2,800,000 views mark
2. I’ve pushed two over the 1,200,000 views mark
3. I’ve pushed seventeen over the 100,000 view mark (sixteen singehandedly, one in partnership)

Total cash expenditure: zero dollars.

It was all accomplished by viral marketing, also know as “word of mouth” and all these hits were kicked off with mailing to an e-mail list. No Twitter. No Facebook.

I’m sure there are social media “gurus” who could turn these stats into speaking gigs at the latest social media conferences, television appearances, and books on how to “crush it.”

Me?

I’m very unimpressed by my own accomplishments.

Why?

I’m in SALES.

How many leads did I generate? How many sales did I close? How many people did I induce to come back and buy a second and third and fourth time?

Let’s get real folks.

Social media is gravy.

You better have a meal to put it on.

Focus on what matters.

The Internet video revolution has come, saw and conquered. What’s left to say?

Well, occasionally things happen that deserve attention.

Here are two big ones that jumped out at me while I was in the UK:

1. YouTube hits 1 billion video downloads a day

Holy smokes!  There are only about 1 billion Internet users. Does this mean that everyone on the Internet is watching an average of at least 1 video a day on YouTube?

I guess it does and then there are people who watch 50 or more a day. Me, for example. It’s not hard to do.

I don’t watch TV. Why bother when I can call up anything I want whenever I want? TV is doomed.

2. The Internet creams TV

Speaking of the UK, the amount of money spent by advertisers on Internet advertising in that country just exceeded the amount spent on TV advertising. The numbers are 1.75 billion for online advertising vs. 1.64 for TV advertising. More evidence that…TV is doomed.

And this is only the beginning.  Looks like the things I predicted when I started this blog four years ago are starting to come to pass.

Speaking of beginnings, I’ve been going over to the UK occasionally for years but something “clicked” for me on my latest trip and after tidying up some business here, I’m heading right back.

Next year, I’m planning on spending a few months there as I do in New Orleans ever year.

One of the reasons I’m going back to the UK so soon is that a bunch of my Internet marketing friends are attending the UFC fights in Manchester. System grad Lloyd Irvin has a team in the competition. To fill out an already busy week, I’m bringing New Orleans jazz poet Chuck Perkins over to do some gigs in that poetry and music loving city to help open the door for other New Orleans musicians looking for new markets to perform in.

Never a dull moment.

Interestingly, all the guys who are coming over for the fights and the seminar are heavy users of Internet video – that’d be Lloyd, me, Greg Davis and Ben Moskel.

Heavy users of video in our marketing – and we’re all doing well. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Ken

While it was cool to be able to buy a video camera for $29, being able to use it only once was not cool

That's where the hacker came in.

As I reported nearly three years ago, hackers were already at work to unlock the camera's "one use"
limitation so it could be used over and over again.

To its credit, the Pure Digital got a clue, raised the price on its cameras significantly and took over the market for super small, super cheap video cameras beating giants like Sony and Panasonic.

The result is they just sold their company to Cicso for $590 million dollars. Not bad considering all the gloom and doom these days.

What's the message? There are actually lots of them.

1. Listen to your customers – even people who are hacking your products

2. The right idea at the right time executed the right way trumps bad times and big companies

3. You really should be paying close attention to what we're up to at the System. We constantly catch meaningul trends and opportunities long before they appear on the radar screens of others.

They're still time to find out what we're doing at System 2009 this march 27 & 29 in Chicago:

http://www.thesystemseminar.com/inc.html

.

Instead I spent my free time making and promoting videos.

(Hint: Making and promoting Internet videos pays better than blogging.)

Results: We crossed the 11,000,000 video view mark for 2008 yesterday. No one is more shocked than me.

Total costs to host, serve and promote?

Less than $100 for the year.

Net revenue (entirely from AdSense): a hair less than 1 cent per view. 

Total time spent: 15 to 20 minutes per day – every day.

If you do the math on the return on my time (assume 20 minutes a day and 1.2 cents per view), you will discover something interesting.

See? I told you Internet video was for real

It took me two and years of modest, steady effort to get it to this point. Note the word steady. This is not get rich quick. On the other hand, with constant tending, the revenue is virtually bullet proof – and it grows.

The tools I used: YouTube, aweber and a very simple web site. And that's it.

Later when realized what I was doing had promise, I created a custom page creation/content manager program to speed up the page creation process and allow me to track my stats easier.

I explained this unique video publishing system in detail at the Smart Beginners seminar in Chicago and at the UK Intensive in London. The people who attended those seminars were very smart indeed.

I will not be teaching it again in a public setting again until the fall of 2009 at the earliest. Watch this space for details.

A genuine viral video

How about 1,234,411 views for one page in September – with no advertising, no SEO, no nothing? Just raw viral power. 

Just in case you didn’t read that right, that’s over ONE MILLION TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND views for one page in one month.

Now that I am a genuine viral marketing "expert", here’s what I’ve learned…

But first one more number…

Total views for this video so far: 2,336, 649.

How did I advertise it?

I mailed the address to my list of less than 20,000 once – then again a few months later. And that’s it.

Here’s the real beauty of this…

It’s not a YouTube hit. All this traffic is coming to my site. I’m getting opt-ins. I’m selling clicks with Google.  This one page broke five figures net revenue in September (according to Google’s AdSense accounting program.)

So how did I work this piece of Internet marketing magic?

Two words: Dumb luck.

That’s right. I’m throwing my away my chance to be the next Malcolm Gladstone ("Blink" and "The Tipping Point") by cutting to the chase and telling the truth.

That being said, there are a few fine points I can share about how to profit from an occurrence like this when it happens…some things you can do to enhance the chance it will happen…and the "big secret" behind this and all other viral success stories.

Principle #1: It’s all about the list

Give me the right list and I can put a deranged chimpanzee in the White House. Just a sidebar: Did you know that Karl Rove was, and still is, a primo direct mail guy?

(Note to Bush fans: I did not say "George Bush is a deranged chimpanzee." I could have been talking about Bill Clinton. Or Rutherford B. Hayes.  So don’t rat me out to Bill O’Reilly, OK?)

Anyway, having a "hit" on YouTube is the booby prize.

Yes, it might generate some "friends" but all Web 2.0 BS aside, I don’t want friends, I want subscribers (list members) and I want thousands of them. Preferably tens of thousands of them. (Come to think about it, hundreds of thousands of them.)

You want people to come to YOUR site, not YouTube’s and you want to aggressively go for the opt-in. If I hadn’t done that from Day One – and mailed my list a great new video every day – I would not have had a good sized list to launch the video to in the first place.

Now, because I took this approach, creating a 10,000 – a 20,000 – even a 50,000 + views per video, video promotion is no big deal for me. I can do it in my sleep – to my targeted list.

Notice all the qualifications there…I have a targeted list…I mail them something great and relevant every day…I work constantly to grow the list.

By the way, 100% of my list growth comes from word-of-mouth. Friends tell friends. I do a lot to grease the wheels to make this happen, but that’s it. I’ve never spend one second on SEO. I’ve never bought an AdSense ad. I’ve never sought publicity. I’ve never tried to be viral!

I started with a small existing list of less than 500 active people and a little more than two years later, I’m closing in on 50,000 active subscribers. 

There’s enough room in this particular market for me to hit 100,000 easily, probably much more. But being the "one foot in front of the other" kind of guy I am, I’m not thinking about that. Right now, I’m look at 50,000 and then I’ll look at 100,000 and when I get there, then I’ll start thinking about the next milestone. 

So please, if you want to become "Mr. Viral" (Or "Ms. Viral") realize that it’s all about the list. Passively waiting for the magic to happen…or buying expensive "viral marketing" courses…or reading Malcolm Gladstone books… is not going to make it happen.

Principle #2: If you get up to bat enough times, eventually you will hit a game-winning grand slam home run

Since the summer of 2006 when I started the video magazine site that this super hit is on, I’ve posted 436 videos. Four hundred and thirty six (436.)

My big winner was video #325.

Now please pay close attention to the next thing I’m going to say:

"Not only did I have no idea that this video would take off the way it did, I also almost didn’t post it because I didn’t think it was good enough."

Please read that about 10,000 times and then send me a check for $10,000 because that’s what that advice is worth.

I remember distinctly being tired that night and almost blowing off posting a video that day altogether.

If I had done that…well, let’s just say it would have been a five-figure mistake.

Instead of being able to write about what a marketing genius I am, I’d be quietly grumbling about how much darn work this web site is and how all this Internet video stuff just is a lot of hot air.

What’s the lesson: In addition to being focused on list building, I work my ass off.

A new video every day. Every freaking day. Without fail.  Through thick and thin. For better or for worse. I get up to bat every day.

I laugh when certain people tell me how hard they’re working – and then I look at their sites.  No quality. No consistency. No critical mass of content. No commitment. Of course nothing is happening.

Behind every overnight, viral success story, you’ll find a maniac who is probably working a little too hard

Just to put your mind at rest, I don’t create the videos. I just get them from YouTube or Google video, grab the embed code and put the videos on MY site. Perfectly legit. Google wants you to do it (which is why they give away the embed code.)

By the way, here’s another news flash…I never expected this site to be successful financially. It never occurred to me that it was even possible. I built it first for myself, then for some friends, then for all the strangers who started showing up and were really into the topic. 

You can cut me another $10,000 check for that piece of advice too. I just gave you the formula for risk-free business success.

Bottom line: No one knows in advance where their big "hit" is going to come from. You create a hit by putting lots and lots and lots and lots – did I say lots? – of stuff out there.

Ask 1,000 successful people. I’m sure that in 99.9% of the time, the thing that "made" them was only a tiny fraction of all the stuff they’ve done over the years and in many cases it came as a total surprise.

Principle #3: Play a game worth winning

Getting a million people to watch your video of a kitten in a boot on YouTube is sweet.

It’s also the definition of a booby prize – unless you can somehow extract value from being the guy or gal who got one million people to watch a video of a kitten in a boot. (Good luck on that one. Let me know how it works out for you.)

No, no, no. Numbers alone are meaningless.

Focus on two questions:

1. Is this video helping me build a targeted list?

2. Can I monetize the list?

If 10 billion people watch your kitten in a boot video on YouTube, you may get your fifteen minutes of fame, but that’s it.

If you don’t have a targeted list that you can mail to where you know the people: 1) trust and like you and 2) are interested in the topic you cover – you will not make any money on the Internet.

I know, I know, there are all sorts of exceptions to this. If you can pay your mortgage with the hope of being one of the exceptions, great. Have at it.

On the other hand, if you want to treat the whole "video on the Internet" thing like a business, you will think in terms of building an audience.

(Time to write me another $10,000 check. I just gave you the one thing the Web 2.0 people never talk about. They’re always going on and on about "community." I’m all for community, but it’s audiences who pay my bills.)

There’s a second part to this…go after groups that monetize well.

In other words, if you have a choice of creating content for pan handlers who sleep in doorways or a content for people who are wondering where best to invest their 401Ks, go with the latter, or ANYTHING that results in people buying something.

We’re talking about advertising and publishing. That’s the business you’re in if you’re doing this to make money. 

Google AdSense makes the whole process absurdly simple. Let’s pray that they stay in business, maintain the model as it is, and don’t get insanely greedy.

You send your list members to your new video, you surround it with AdSense ads, a percentage of viewers will click on something, and cha-ching, you’ve got cash.

I know this sounds too easy and too unsophisticated to be of any really value, but I’m sorry that’s how it works. No business plan, no cash flow projections, no pitches to investors. You just get checks and you cash them. How embarrassing.

The size of your check?

It’s a very simple formula – another really embarrassingly simple one that will never get me admitted to the "Captains of Industry Hall of Fame":

"Size of list + relationship you have with list + monetization potential of topic = size of check"

No one – not Google, not God, not George Bush – limits the size of the check.

If you can get the formula right, it can be any size you want.

How to learn more

I’ve shared everything I can easily share with you through a keyboard, but I haven’t shown you: 1) the video, 2) the site it’s on or 3) the software I use to create and manage the site.

If I showed you the page that is getting all these hits, you simply would not believe it – until you saw the stats. It looks like nothing. Remember: I almost didn’t post it because it seemed a little boring.

And the site itself? Well, it looks like it was created by a deranged chimpanzee.  Me in this case. I sketched it out on the back of a cocktail napkin two and half years ago and have never changed it since. It’s ugly.

The software? It’s not magic, but it does let me create, publish and promote a new video page in about fifteen minutes day.

If you want to "get under the hood" and see how it all works, plus get additional words of wisdom
on viral marketing (there are a few other things to know), I am going to be sharing this material in two places… Chicago, this November 8 – 9th and London, UK, November 15 – 16th.

I’ll be offering a full blown tutorial on this as a bonus session at two seminars I’m offering on Internet marketing.

No tape recorders. No cell phones in the room. And you’ll have to sign a formal Non-Disclosure Agreement to attend the bonus session where I’ll be covering this.

Here’s the deal:

You can use the info to start your own business, but if you violate the NDA and teach, publish or otherwise share the inner workings of this system, my attorneys will see to it that you put all my nephews through college.

I have three of them and their parents have their hearts set on Ivy League schools for all of them. Did I ever mention that both my brother and sister are attorneys? For real.

I’ve joked about this, but clearly I’m stumbled on a formula that can create a multi-million dollar business starting with zero capital and needing no employees.

It’s worth a lot…and if you join us in Chicago and/or London (truly smart people will come to both), you
can walk home with it in your gift bag. 

Details:

Chicago: http://www.SmartBeginners.com/bootcamp

London: http://www.TheSystemIntensive.com

Ken

P.S. Even if I weren’t sharing my video publishing and promotion system with you, both these trainings would be worth ten times the tuition.

I’m the only person who teaches Internet marketing who can fill a room with people who started with zero and are doing six, seven and in one case over eight figures a year in online sales.

It’s pretty rare for me to offer a small group training these days and in both cases I’m going to be supported by amazing guest speakers.

P.P.S. I’ve been writing about video on the Internet for as long as I’ve been teaching Internet marketing – since 1994.

Doesn’t it make sense that I’d be the first guy to really "crack the code?"

Remember, if you get up to bat enough times, you’ll eventually hit a grand slam home run.

Here’s to yours….

Chicago: http://www.SmartBeginners.com/bootcamp

London: http://www.TheSystemIntensive.com

We took an important subject that the media wants to ignore and put it – and kept it  – at the top of YouTube’s "New and Politics" charts.

As I write this, the video – "The Truth about Katrina" – is the #10 highest rated video in this category of this month. Amazing when you think about what we’re up against – McCain, Obama, Palin, Wall Street melt down, etc. etc. and the fact that the Katrina anniversary and Hurricane Gustav are long over.

The underdog – in this case the people of New Orleans and Southern Louisiana – can win…if the underdog has some Internet savvy.

Speaking of savvy, YouTube is adding so many cool "bells and whistles" that it’s hard for me to keep up.

Can anyone point us to a good online resource (maybe hidden somewhere on YouTubes’s site) that goes into the fine points of creating and customizing a YouTube channel and using all the other new stuff they’re offering (text annotation, automatic transfer to another video, click from video to a web site)

The speed of change in this medium has swamped my ability to keep up. If you’ve got anything to share on this point, I’m sure fellow SystemVideoBlog readers will appreciate it. I know I will.

(Please limit posts to this subject.)

Thanks.

Ken

A friend and I made this video from scratch – from concept, to script, to production, to being seen by thousands online – in just three weeks from start to finish.

All the footage was "found" on the Internet and it was a very part time effort for both of us.

I’d like you to click through to YouTube and rank it (with five stars), favorite it, and comment on it.

If readers of this blog generate at least 20,000 YouTube views, I’ll interview the guy who did the production and post it for you.

If you guys generate 50,000 or more visits, I’ll explain how I get 1 million plus visitors to a video site working just 15 minutes a day.

You have seven days to make your numbers. Good luck – and as you’ll see – this is for a good cause.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wln_iq5bc8k

Better yet, traffic for the test site is growing at 10% per month – and it’s all free -  so next year this time,  the site will be doing well over 2,000,000 views per month, unless I get ambitious and start pushing it a little.

Total time investment to keep the thing going and growing: 15 minutes per day.

More details later, but here’s the screen shot:

Click here for experimental site results

Unfortunately, I already have a full time "job" (actually a couple of them): running a business; organizing and hosting the annual System Seminar; counseling non-profits in New Orleans.

So the number of posts to the blog has suffered, though I do think the quality has been sky high.

In fact, we accomplished the most important thing: alerting Internet marketers to the impending breakthroughs that were on track to put Internet video on the map as a major force in Internet marketing. Folks who took our advice were well positioned when the reality we predicted (with a pretty good degree of precision) arrived.

Now video on the Internet has practically become "business as usual."

With that in mind, let’s talk with a real Internet video veteran, a guy who, while he was at Microsoft, was already looking at video’s online potential seriously TWELVE years ago.

Hundreds of high level, high stakes online video presentations later, he has a lot of practical advice to share with us:

http://www.thesystemblog.com/2008/03/lon-naylor—vi.html