Review of YouTube Secret Weapon-Conversions Up 296%

For quite some time, YouTube has been the leader when it comes to online video sharing.  Most know that, but have you looked at YouTube lately? Really, beyond the changes they made in recent months, have you seen some recent market data for online video, and just how dominate YouTube is?  In this post, I’m going to share market numbers with you, my own conversion numbers after implementing some of the strategies and techniques presented in Julie Perry and Paul Colligan’s course, YouTube Secret Weapon, a potential problem for some with this course, and lastly, a 25% (limited) discount code.

Review of YouTube Secret Weapon-Conversions Up 296%

I’m a big believer in market research.  The only thing worse than being in a market where you only hear the echo of your own voice, is being there enthusiastically.  That is why I wanted to share with you some of the market trends I’ve learned when it comes to online video, specifically YouTube.

Online Video – What are the Trends?

Information from a recent comScore press release (screenshot below):

• March 2009 video views were up 11% from February 2009
• Google Sites represent 41% of the views, or 5.9 Billion, 99% of views took place on YouTube
• Next closest market share holder is Fox Interactive at 3%
• Google Sites, average videos viewed per viewer 59.  Next highest was 10.2.

For online businesses social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are exploding but it is obvious (numbers don’t lie) that video is a great opportunity to connect further with your audience.

My Video Review (HD):

Conversion Numbers from YouTube

For marketing purposes, video is a great way to convery your message, but what does it mean in terms of traffic to your site, and targeted traffic?  While I was very pleased with what I learned from Julie and Paul in YouTube Secret Weapon I decided to hold off putting a product review together until I had some tangible evidence of my own.

While additional traffic is nice, I wanted to know if that traffic resulted in conversions.  Were people who visit this site from YouTube.com engaging further by joining and opting in for the Marketers FAQ special report?

Here is a screenshot of data from Google Analytics highlighting referral sources over a 60 day period (with non-essential information blocked out):

The left column is the source of traffic, with Google, Twitter, and YouTube circled.  The middle column is number of visits sorted by most to least.  The right column is the conversion rate for each source.  Those are the percent of visitors who chose to join the site by opting in for the special report.  YouTube out performs Google by a factor of almost 3 (296.8%). While I was hopeful for improvement, I did not expect this type of increase.

YouTube is now the #2 converting source of traffic for the site. This is a result of applying a few of the strategies learned in YouTube Secret Weapon.

Important Note: I hesitated, because I wasn’t keen on becoming a video content publisher.  However, with recent changes at YouTube, I learned that using the sites social features I could engage and get traffic without producing one video. This served as a great starting point, now I see the site as too valuable, and have made YouTube a Part of the Sites Social Marketing Strategy.

More About YouTube Secret Weapon

You might be wondering what is included in this course by Julie Perry and Paul Colligan, (alot…) I don’t want to take too much time to list everything, here are a few items:

• 2 DVDs.  Broken down in to an easy to follow list of contents (I watched on my computer).
• Bonus Webinars (multiple). Just when I thought they were done with one bonus webinar, they came with another one, these online replays deliver great value.
• Tools. They have partnered with some key providers of proven software tools to make both video distribution, and interaction with other YouTube users faster and easier.  This saved me research time and they are affordable.
• Julie is a Pro. As you’ll see on their site, she has testimonials from top online marketers who called her their YouTube Secret Weapon (clever…).  This shows through in the product.

You can get the full scoop over at the YouTube Secret Weapon site, and meet Julie in person (you guessed it, in a video).  At the moment, you will need to optin to the site to get all the details, so keep that in mind.

Potential Issue with YouTube Secret Weapon

No product is perfect, and while I had a hard time finding issues with the product, there is one that might be a problem for some.  It was recorded via webinar, and as such the audio quality isn’t top notch.  There are no lapses in audio, and no content is missing as a result of doing it this way, it is just that the audio quality is not studio grade, it is telephone grade (sounds like a phone recording). Wasn’t a big deal for me, but it might be for some. If that is important to you, you’ll see what I mean when you review the course (call me picky :-p).

Special Offer for MarketingProfessor.com Subscribers (Coupon Code)

I spoke to Julie on the phone, and am excited to announce, I was able to negotiate a special, but limited, offer.  25% savings on the course for the first 10 orders.  I thought that was kind of her, I hope you do too. If you have joined the site, you probably have a message from me in your inbox notifying you of this deal, if you missed it, here is the YouTube Secret Weapn coupon code to use (lower case):

mpdeal

Put that in the “Coupon Code” box in the order form, hit validate, and it will apply the discount (to the first 10). Here’s the YouTube Secret Weapon Page (watch video, optin).

Final Analysis on YouTube Secret Weapon

If you have read this far, you must be serious.  With the direction the market is heading with online video (especially YouTube), combined with the conversion results I’m now experiencing utilizing the strategies I learned from Julie, makes YouTube Secret Weapon an easy choice. I strongly encourage you to get a copy, learn, and implement what she teaches so you can enjoy similar results.

Talk About It: Are you using online video?  Do you have a YouTube account?  Driving any traffic to your site?  Questions or feedback on Julie’s course?  Submit your comments in the form below.
(FYI: Julie on Twitter, MarketingProfessor YouTube Channel)

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