If you’re involved in affiliate marketing, one of the biggest challenges you’ll face is getting visitors to your website and attracting people who are genuinely interested in the products and programs you recommend.
There are plenty of ways to generate traffic, including paid advertising, traffic exchanges, safelists and email marketing. But there’s another opportunity that I think far too many affiliate marketers overlook.
YouTube.
Creating your own YouTube channel is free, and it offers an opportunity to attract interested prospects, build your personal brand and develop an audience that becomes familiar with you and what you have to offer.
Yet, whenever I suggest to people that they should start a YouTube channel, I often encounter the same objections.
- They don’t like the way they look on camera.
- They don’t like the sound of their own voice.
- They’re worried about what friends and acquaintances might think if they see them on YouTube.
I understand those concerns because I’ve experienced them myself.
But if you can get past those initial hurdles, I believe a YouTube channel can become one of the most valuable assets in your affiliate marketing business.
YouTube Is a Source of Free, Targeted Traffic
Let’s start with something every affiliate marketer needs: traffic.
You can spend money buying visitors, exchanging credits on traffic exchanges or promoting your capture pages through safelists. These methods all have their place, but they don’t necessarily attract people who are particularly interested in what you’re promoting.
YouTube is different.
Someone searching for information about affiliate marketing, email marketing or a particular online business program might discover one of your videos. If they find your content useful, they may watch another video, visit your website or subscribe to your channel.
These are potentially much warmer leads than people who have simply clicked on an advertisement or encountered your link while surfing a traffic exchange.
They’ve already demonstrated an interest in your subject, and they’ve had an opportunity to become familiar with you before you ever introduce them to an affiliate offer.
Of course, publishing a video doesn’t guarantee traffic or subscribers. It takes time to build an audience, and not every video will attract large numbers of viewers. But unlike paid advertising, you aren’t paying for every visitor who discovers your content.
And there’s another advantage: your videos can continue attracting views long after you’ve published them.
A useful video might generate visitors today, next month or even several years from now.
Build a Personal Brand, Not Just a List of Links
One of the biggest advantages of having your own YouTube channel is the opportunity to build a personal brand.
Affiliate marketing is a competitive business. There are countless people promoting the same products, programs and services. So why should someone pay attention to your recommendations rather than those of another affiliate?
One answer is familiarity and trust.
When people regularly watch your videos, they begin to recognise you. They become familiar with your approach, your opinions and your experience. They can see that you’re an actual person with something useful to share, rather than just another anonymous affiliate link.
You don’t need to be a professional presenter or an established authority in your niche. You simply need to be willing to share what you know, explain what you’ve learned and help other people.
Over time, your videos can help establish your reputation and give people a reason to seek out your recommendations.
That’s something you can’t easily achieve by simply posting affiliate links around the internet.
The Biggest Obstacle? Getting Over Your Camera Shyness!
Here’s where I think a lot of people are missing out.
Whenever I encourage someone to start a YouTube channel, one of the most common responses is that they don’t want to appear on camera.
Perhaps they don’t like the way they look. Perhaps they think their voice sounds strange when recorded. Or perhaps they’re worried about being judged by people they know.
I can relate to all of that because I felt exactly the same way.
When I first considered making YouTube videos, I wasn’t particularly comfortable with the idea of appearing on screen. I didn’t like the way I looked, I didn’t like the sound of my own voice, and I was very conscious of how other people might perceive me.
There was another concern, too. What would people who knew me think if they came across my videos on YouTube? Would friends, acquaintances or former colleagues think I was making a fool of myself?
These concerns actually delayed me from getting started.
Looking back, I realise that I was giving far too much importance to what other people might think.
We tend to imagine that everybody around us is watching our every move, noticing everything we do and forming opinions about it. The reality is rather different.
When I eventually started publishing videos, hardly anybody in my own circle said anything at all!
I discovered that the people I had imagined would be watching and judging me were, for the most part, getting on with their own lives.
And even if somebody did think I looked or sounded a bit silly, so what? I wasn’t making videos to impress my friends. I was creating content for people interested in online business and affiliate marketing.
The funny thing is that the more videos you make, the less self-conscious you become. You get used to seeing yourself on screen and hearing your own voice. What initially feels awkward gradually becomes perfectly normal.
If you’re holding back because of similar concerns, I’d encourage you to give it a try. You might be surprised by how quickly those worries disappear.
You Don’t Need Expensive Equipment to Get Started
Another common misconception is that you need professional equipment to produce videos worth watching.
People imagine they need an expensive camera, an external microphone, studio lighting, a dedicated recording space and sophisticated video editing software.
You really don’t.
I create most of my videos using my cheap old Chromebook, and occasionally my mobile phone. I don’t have an external microphone, professional lighting or a dedicated recording studio.
I simply use the equipment I already have.
Could the production quality be improved with more expensive equipment? Probably. But nobody has complained about it, and I’d much rather spend my time creating useful content than worrying about having the perfect recording setup.
You can always upgrade your equipment later if you feel the need. In the meantime, don’t let the absence of a professional studio become an excuse for not getting started.
For recording and editing, there are reasonably priced options available. I recently returned to using Screencastify, which provides a cheap and convenient way to record and edit videos without having to invest in expensive production software. It also has a Chrome extension, so it works well with my Chromebook.
With Screencastify you can record the page you are viewing on your computer screen. Screen recordings are particularly useful for affiliate marketers. You can demonstrate how a website works, walk someone through a marketing tool, explain a process or share your experience with a particular program.
The important thing is to concentrate on producing useful content. Your first videos don’t need to be polished productions. They need to provide something of value to the people watching them.
What If You Really Don’t Want to Appear on Camera?
Of course, appearing on camera isn’t the only way to create YouTube content.
You can produce useful videos using screen recordings, presentations, slides and voiceovers. You can demonstrate websites and software without ever showing your face.
There are also tools that can turn written blog posts into videos, allowing you to repurpose existing content without recording yourself.
These are perfectly legitimate ways to get started, particularly if you’re extremely uncomfortable appearing on screen.
However, I’d encourage you not to rule out appearing in your videos altogether.
If your objective is to build a personal brand, allowing people to see and hear you can help develop a stronger connection with your audience.
You don’t have to do it immediately. You could begin with screen recordings and gradually introduce yourself on camera as your confidence grows.
The important thing is to start creating content rather than allowing self-consciousness to stop you altogether.
You Don’t Need Expensive Software to Create Thumbnails
Another area where new YouTube creators sometimes overcomplicate things is video thumbnails.
A good thumbnail helps your video stand out and gives potential viewers an idea of what to expect. In the past, creating attractive thumbnails often meant investing in separate image editing software or learning how to use complicated graphics packages.
YouTube is making this easier, too.
YouTube Studio now offers tools for generating thumbnail suggestions, including AI-assisted thumbnail creation through Ask Studio. You can work with the suggestions and refine elements of the design.
YouTube also provides an A/B testing facility that allows eligible creators to compare up to three different thumbnail designs, titles or combinations of both.
The platform then evaluates which version generates the greatest share of watch time.
These features make it easier to experiment with your thumbnails without having to purchase additional graphics software.
You don’t need to become a graphic designer to run a YouTube channel!
My Own YouTube Experience
I’ve been involved in online business and affiliate marketing for many years, and YouTube has become an increasingly important part of how I share information and attract visitors.
My channel is now called David Hurley Marketing to reflect a more focused approach to the subjects I cover.
I’ve recently passed the 1,000-subscriber milestone. It’s certainly not a huge channel, but it represents an audience I’ve built by consistently publishing videos about online business, affiliate marketing, marketing tools and traffic generation.
I don’t have a professional recording studio or an expensive production setup. I create videos with the equipment I already own, and I concentrate on sharing information that I believe will be useful to other people.
I also use my blog to support my videos. A YouTube video can be embedded in a related article, providing additional information for readers while giving the video another opportunity to be discovered.
It’s a simple approach that allows the same content to work in more than one place.
If you’d like to see what I’m doing, you can visit my channel here:
David Hurley Marketing on YouTube
You’ll find practical videos covering affiliate marketing, online business programs, marketing tools and ways to generate traffic.
I’d be delighted if you subscribe to my channel!
Make YouTube Part of Your Affiliate Marketing Strategy
I’m not suggesting that you abandon every other traffic generation method and concentrate exclusively on YouTube.
There are plenty of ways to attract visitors to your website, and a sensible marketing strategy can incorporate several different sources.
However, I do think that having your own YouTube channel deserves serious consideration.
Think about what you could achieve by publishing useful videos regularly:
- Attract people who are actively searching for information about your subject.
- Generate free traffic to your website and affiliate offers.
- Build an audience that becomes familiar with you and your recommendations.
- Develop your personal brand and establish credibility.
- Create content that can continue attracting visitors long after publication.
- Repurpose your videos in blog posts, emails and social media.
And you don’t need to spend a fortune to do any of it.
You don’t need expensive equipment, professional editing software or a perfect recording environment. You don’t even need to appear on camera in your first videos.
What you do need is a willingness to get started, a subject you’re interested in and something useful to share.
Most importantly, don’t let the fear of what other people might think prevent you from doing something that could benefit your business for years to come.
You might not enjoy watching yourself in your first few videos. You might cringe when you hear your recorded voice. That’s perfectly normal.
Make another video. Then another.
Before long, you’ll probably wonder why you waited so long to start.
Your YouTube channel could become one of your most valuable sources of free traffic. Why not give it a go?
Cheers!
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