Ash Pearson works as an IT Executive at TravMedia / News4Media, a collection of industry-leading media networks connecting PRs and Journalists together. He helps introduce new products and features to the platform and ensures tough problems get solved. We recently spoke with him about his experience (and struggles) with monetizing his YouTube channel, and how using localized links has helped him to increase revenue. Ash was kind enough to share some of his own experiences, with us below.
I started a product-orientated YouTube channel in 2015. As my views, watch-time, and general engagement increased, my earnings from advertising revenue were decreasing, and today, the ad market is paying even less than it did before.
I knew I needed to find another way to monetize my content. I knew about the Amazon Associates program, but I also knew that it was not a global affiliate system and I needed a way to geo-target my visitors to send them to the right store.
I was Googling around and researching when I came across Geniuslink (Then known as GeoRiot). After reading through the site, I decided this was the service I wanted to invest in to globalize my Amazon Links.
At the time, I was especially pleased that it was a new service because so many custom URLs were still available for my product choices. I now own those links in my account and I can apply them to other products. Some examples of the links I have are http://geni.us/dyson for the Dyson brand, http://geni.us/dash for all the Amazon Dash products, http://geni.us/Panasonic for all Panasonic products, http://geni.us/samsung for all Samsung products, http://geni.us/microphone to promote the microphone I use in my videos.
I look carefully at my YouTube analytics each day, and it shows my traffic was from a variety of countries which have an Amazon Storefront.
I knew my visitors to my Youtube videos were primarily from the US, but I also knew I was getting traffic from other countries as well, such as the UK and other European countries. I wanted to find a way to earn revenue from this traffic because, before using Geniuslink, I was unable to monetize it.
If I couldn’t use Geniuslink anymore, I would be really disappointed. I rely on the service for my custom links. By utilizing Geniuslink Groups, I have been able to create some really complex rules and actions which link to different Amazon pages for different regions that I feel will perform best using advanced targeting.
Losing that would mean that I would lose my revenue. My Geni.us links are getting around a 7% click-through rate and a 3% click-through to make a purchase, which are both conversion rates that I am very happy with. I just wish I could scale my YouTube channel as good as Geniuslink scales with me! The pricing is very good and fair!
I would absolutely recommend Geniuslink to anyone who creates content orientated around products. That might be video content, a blog or even audio content. It’s a revenue stream waiting to be grabbed with open arms. Go get it.