David Jones: "Yes, Youtube seems to fit my niche market very well."
Hi Dave: ...I wasn't aiming to convince you otherwise. If YT is working for you under the model you've described, particular to your market, then perhaps it is the best fit for the content you offer. David Jones: "IMO Youtube is essential and not an option for any blogger starting out." Again, agreed. I do not espouse negating use of YouTube, only that its limitations with respect to (contact) list management are less desirable than other methods. For example; a YT subscriber base cannot be narrowly defined to suit a particular campaign, or generate more focused interest particular to a segment of users. David Jones: "I, and I'm sure others be interested to hear exactly how you've made your living on the web for the last 9 years. I could eventually do the same thing I'm sure, even for my little niche market, all I need is 10 times my current audience and I could probably consider doing it full time." Ok, but can your market sustain "10 times" your current audience? While marketing is an extremely broad subject, slightly outside the scope of this topic... In short; I've never chosen an area without knowing the demographics and market aspects/sentiments, like the back of my hand. I don't select a target market without knowing (absolutely) what the realistic potential market penetration is, irrespective competition. For TailTrex.tv as a CONDENSED example: there are 50 million U.S. dog owners (gross market); approximately 30 million (sub-market) of these engage outdoor activities with their dog(s), at least once per year; 17 million (narrow-market #1) engage outdoor activities with a dog(s), on multiple occasions per year; 9 million of these (narrow-market #2) utilize public lands (parks, recreation areas, forest lands, etc.) often; of the 9 million about 1.5 million routinely buy products and/or services to enhance outdoor activities with a dog(s); and, roughly 500,000 of the latter spend about $475 (or more) per year to facilitate their outdoor dog interests. (There are additional details, but hopefully you get the point.) So while it would seem our target market are the 9 million dog owners who use public lands, the reality is only a fraction of the 1.5 million are motivated enough (based on other criteria) to find what TailTrex.tv offers of CONSISTENT interest. So our sub-target market are roughly 350,000 hard-core dog owners who rigidly fit our model. However, REALISTICALLY, the potential consistent market penetration is only about 200,000. Our TARGET MARKET is then about 750k motivated dog owners, in order to achieve the averaged 200k penetration goal. Of course I'm generalizing things a great deal, but my point is without knowing one's market extremely well products and services (and in the case of a vlog, CONTENT) cannot be crafted to suit that market for revenue generation. Granted, it's my take that most folk on this list don't approach marketing as sophisticated as others (although I could be wrong). And there is nothing wrong with that, per se. Except when one desires to make a solid living online, knowing one's market (intimately) is the foundation upon which everything else SHOULD be built. Hoping, guessing, shooting in the dark is not the path to making money online. Intimately understanding one's market is. And the best way to become more in-tune with a captive market (wants, desires, trends, etc.) is through a CONTROLLED contact list. ...YouTube, cannot facilitate that deal. It's not built to do so, thus trying to make YT fit a sustainable revenue stream is problematic. :D Mark Villaseñor, http://www.TailTrex.tv Canine Adventures For Charity - sm http://www.SOAR508.org
