First, I create a free gift to give away to our viewers.

That’s right. 

The first step to making money is to give something of value away for free (hang in here with me).

This could be any piece of content, from a little five-minute exclusive video to an Ebook like this one you are reading right now.

A lot of times, I will take older content that’s gotten a little stale and repurpose it.

That way my gift-making doesn’t take that much time to create, but it’s still meaningful to my audience.

Then, at the end of each video, I provide a verbal call to action (CTA) that instructs the viewer to take specific actions.

I’m sure you’ve seen them before: CTAs are when YouTubers tell their audience to “Like” and/or “Subscribe.”

Verbal CTAs are extremely powerful in regards to the growth of your channel and in turning views into leads. 

And it turns out that if you tell viewers to complete an action, they are much more likely to do so.

I recommend devoting the last 10%–15% of the video to doing precisely this. 

But I take it a step further and offer an incentive for giving us the most valuable property on the internet — their email address.

I offer viewers that free gift that I mentioned earlier. 

All I ask from them is to click over to my lead capture page, a.k.a. a squeeze page, and then enter their email so I can send it to them.

That’s all — I just need to know where to send the gift. 

Here’s an example of a CTA that I would use:

“If you enjoyed this video and want a FREE workout to help you continue to improve your skills, then click the link in the description. That will take you to a page where I ask you for your email. You put in your email and I’ll send you the workout straight over to you so you can get started right now. 

The squeeze page should reaffirm what it is that they’re going to be getting and should tell them what to do to get it.

From there, they’ll enter their email, and we’ll send them the free gift just as promised. 

And it’s not just about the free gift (though that helps). 

It’s about follow-through.

I promised them a free gift, and I delivered on that promise. 

Following through builds even more trust with our prospects. 

And we sent them something of real value.

Let’s put this all into perspective: 

A viewer comes to my channel, finds a solution to their problem (through me), and I become a hero to them.

Then, before they leave my video, I offer them a free gift. 

And I simply ask for their email so I can send it to them.

There isn’t much more relationship-building you can do with a prospect before getting them on your email list than that.

But just imagine how they feel about you and your brand at that moment. 

You came through for them in spades. 

All they wanted was a video, but now they have someone they can trust to deliver the information they are after.

Next time they need a question answered, where do you think they are going to look first?

But it gets better! 

By obtaining their email, you can now contact them whenever you want.

I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear from their hero — especially when their hero tells them that there’s a new solution available and it will only cost them X amount.

They trust you, they value your opinion, and you’ve come through for them before. 

When you start offering them paid solutions to their problems, you may be shocked to see how fast and how much money they’re willing to spend with you.

Because YouTube allows you to build these relationships even before prospects ever reach your email list… 

It allows for a much faster relationship build, turning what was just an introduction into an effective (and virtually painless) sales process. 

One last thing before we wrap up…