Now you can see who’s watching your videos at YouTube. Caught this from Mathew Ingram, who linked to Mashable.

YouTube announced the addition of a few new features overnight. Here’s a summary:

Most importantly, YouTube has added an Active Sharing feature, to let you see who’s watching your video, and videos that other users are watching. The last six videos you watched display on your Channel page, and when someone visits one of these videos they may see your name listed in the “who’s watching” box. This history tracking feature can be turned off. Additionally, you can rearrange the order of your favorites videos, and a module that automatically approves comments from friends but requires approval from everyone else.

Any user’s Channel can now be filtered by Most Recent, Most Viewed, and Most Discussed, and gone more lax with comments limits, meaning you only have to type in a CAPTCHA once per login session. You can also unblock users, and browse Partner channels by Most Viewed, or through an alphabetical listing.

This is great stuff. I like being able to see who’s watching my videos, in the same manner that I like to be able to see who’s visiting my blog using MyBlogLog.com.

Or at least that’s what they’re saying this guy did.

He identifies a business niche or a hot growth area like commercial real estate. Then he buys domain names around the topic, saving money by shunning pricey domains for names with hyphens, such as http://www.commercial-property.co.uk/.

He builds the sites, adds content, and waits for customers. Search the phrase “commercial property” in MSN, for instance, and Carter’s site pops up on the first page, advertising that it has people eager to sell and buy commercial property. In truth, Carter has only a few contacts.

In more detail…

1. Identify an overlooked need for services kicked up by, for instance, relatively obscure regulatory changes.

2. Construct a first-rate website with a generic domain name that will draw in prospective customers.

3. With clients in hand, create the business, providing the service yourself or subcontracting to established players.

The thing about this is that it can work, and backfire. I mean, you could spend a lot of time building an audience and hoping that down the road you’re going to find a good referral partner. But what if you don’t?

I’ve always operated from the opposite direction. I first identify a good referral partner who pays what I consider to be competitive. Then I go and find out if the niche has room for growth and is broad enough, or small enough. Then, and only then will I spend time to develop something.

How do you do it?

CNNmoney.com writes a piece called ‘How to Score with How-to Video‘, Niche players are resuscitating the subscription model to make money off homemade instructional websites.

(Business 2.0 Magazine) — When Evan Margolin launched SalsaBootCamp to sell instructional video clips online, everyone he knew told him it was a crazy idea. Why would people offer up their credit cards to him - a dance teacher known only to his students in San Francisco - when they could watch thousands of dance videos for free on sites like YouTube?

Yet aspiring salsa dancers have signed up in droves, even as Margolin has raised the monthly subscription price from $9 to $37. Four months after its launch, SalsaBootCamp.com is making $20,000 a month.

Here’s a question you need to ask yourself right now. What do you know a lot about that you can film and sell subscriptions to?

Think about how easy it would be to upload this content to a private member’s area and let people access it on a subscription?

Here’s a deal for you. You give me one good thought, and I’ll give you one back.

onegoodthought.tv

Normally you won’t hear me talking much about “guru” type programs. Why? Because I think that a lot of them are suspect. However, I do know that there are high-quality gurus and the like out there that actually do deliver on what they promise.

Let’s throw that aside for a second and instead talk about why these gurus succeed. You know why?

Because they’re creative, and they move fast… and most importantly, they take chances.

Joel Comm has busted his butt to get where he is today. The guy has money now, he could retire. He’s already had success with websites, books, etc… But he doesn’t stop creating and taking chances and pushing… which is why he is successful.

Look at his latest marketing campaign called the Next Internet Millionaire.com.

You know why Joel Comm is successful online? Because he takes opportunity. He doesn’t wait for it to come to him.

Do you take chances? Do you take opportunity?

There are no mistakes now, everyone is experimenting. Just do something today. There is no failure at the moment.

Another reason why I love BUMPzee… A new blog that I like was submitted to my community today that I would not have otherwise known about.

The blog is called Wagerank, and in particular, this post caught my eye. It talks about how it’s ok to follow the leader.

There’s an old story about how McDonald’s spends millions of dollars every year on research to determine where they should build a new restaurant. Meanwhile, Burger King just builds restaurants down the street from wherever McDonald’s decides.

I’m not sure if that’s true either, but you get the point right?

I’m not sure if this is true, but the point is made clear even if it isn’t: don’t spend money/time doing something that people have already done for you.

How does this apply to online marketing? Well, how much time do you spend agonizing over sales copy or writing your Adwords ads? The answer should be next to none. As a society we are exposed to an ever increasing amount of advertising. For the most part, these advertisements were studied for weeks or months by several different people who have been in the business for years before the public gets to see them.

Why are you wasting time trying to recreate what’s thrown in your face everyday?

I’ve been preaching this for years. Let’s face it, the leaders in your space, whatever it is, know what they are doing. So you had better be watching them, and learning from them, and frankly yes, sometimes even copying them. Not stealing… copying.

Do you monitor your competitors? Do you watch the leaders in your space closely? It’s time to start. They’ve spent a lot of time to figure out how to do things. Perhaps they know what works and what doesn’t?

Then again, there’s something to be said for inventing your own success. But this is business right? Choose your path, but don’t feel bad either way.

It must be getting close to Summer. My yearly “guylights” appeared on my head this evening out of nowhere a month or so early. I hope they don’t wear off by my blog room hosting duties at the Affiliate Summit.

By the way, the wife wanted me to point out that the fish nugget is a “homemade” Halibut fish nugget. She didn’t make the fish, just the nugget.

(We tell the kids it’s chicken, shhh.) It’s ok, they can’t read yet.

We’ve gotten to the point that most online videos (including mine) are sucking. Well, not sucking, but they’re boring.

Let’s face it, this Internet video thing is growing up fast. It’s time for more creativity.

The best part is, you can be creative without big bucks. Check out this cool video on RSS.

Click To Play

There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don’t. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don’t know where to start.

When you’re done watching that, check out this neat marketing website that uses photos to promote a book. Interesting to say the least, and more effective than reading some bullet pointed copy, no? I think so.

Get creative people. Do something that sounds fun. Grab your home camera, video or digital. Be crazy. It works.

Remember, it’s really hard to make mistakes today. Everyone just needs to try something, anything.

As I said in another blog post. Do it, or don’t. Just don’t complain next year when everyone else did and you didn’t get any of the spoils.

Case in point, look at how the media picks up on simple stories like this.

SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Ryan Fitzgerald is unemployed, lives with his father and has a little bit of time on his hands. So, he decided to offer his ear, to anyone who wants to call.

After posting a video with his cell phone number on YouTube on Friday, the 20-year-old told The Boston Globe he has received more than 5,000 calls and text messages.

Fitzgerald said he wanted to “be there,” for anyone who needed to talk. “I never met you, but I do care,” a spiky-haired Fitzgerald said into the camera on his YouTube posting.

Now, I doubt this kid will be able to leverage this for any cashola, but… what he could do is leverage his “fame” into a new blog or something. All from a silly idea that was a bit risky.

Do you take chances with your marketing?

I HIGHLY suggest reading Marketing Outrageously. You know my offer. Buy it, and if you didn’t love it, send it to me and I’ll give you the cash for it and and give it to one of my friends.

Last point. This guy wasn’t the first to do it either. See below. Why point this out?

Just because someone has done it once, does NOT mean it can’t be done again. It’s all about hitting the right message to the media.

Is Mark Cuban right? Is a publisher’s decision to run a “low-quality” ad a brand killer? In other words, if you’re a TV station, and you run penis pill ads, are you killing your brand through this association? All for the quick buck?

Very interesting questions, and can go on multiple levels of media publishing, not just television.

I would argue that this is really about expectations. I believe that television viewers “expect” to see penis pill ads and the like at 2am. Therefore, they’re ok with it.

What about the web? What about print? Radio?

What about your blog?

Ask yourself… What do your readers/listeners/viewers EXPECT from you?

Deviate from that expectation, and your brand will suffer.