Dream Job: How to Earn Money by Video-Reviewing What You Love!

This is a guest post from Ann Smarty @SEOSmarty.

A couple of years ago I realized something that would change my life: my opinions mattered. Not just in a general sense, but they mattered to other people who I noticed came to me very often. Mainly this was on products in the technology, personal care and beauty industries. Sometimes they would base their buying habits on what I told them about my own experiences, what I had heard or what I knew about the company from former products by the brand.

Over time, these same people convinced me to start writing my opinions on a Facebook page, and a Twitter account. I did, and that eventually led to a blog. I went from text posts with photos to video reviews of every new thing I would buy in the tech industry. This included phones, MP# and media players, tablets, computers, streamers, game consoles, and even apps.

GET PAID FOR VIDEO REVIEWS

It was when I had established a fair number of fans who would read my blog that I began to get offers. These offers came from marketers and company PR people who had products about to be released and wanted someone to review it. Since that review would have a wide reach on the blog, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, it was a valuable tool they could exploit in a simple way.

I would usually get two different types of offers: free products samples and paid reviews. Both were excellent ways to make my passion into a genuine income generating job.

But that is not the only way to go about earning cash and getting free stuff as a video reviewer. Here are a couple of other methods to check out.

Become An Amazon Vine Reviewer

If you spend any time in the Amazon community pages, you know that there is a certain amount of trust earned between frequent reviewers and the rest of the users. Showing that you are an insightful, honest and well spoken review writer will go far in putting some weight behind your opinion. Plus, it gives users good feelings towards you since you have spent the time to warn them about bad products, or point them to good ones.

When you look at prolific or popular reviewers on the site, you might come across a little sign that states they are ‘Vine’ reviewers. This means they have been invited by Amazon to be like a member of staff. They get free stuff, like electronics, books, accessories and more. Then they write honest, well thought out reviews about what they have tried without having any connection to the company that they have to honor.

Sadly, there is no application or request process available for this job. What you have to do is get noticed by the site, which is best done through frequently reviewing things. These reviews must be informative, helpful, and high quality, with consistent ratings from other users. It also helps if you communicate with users on the forums, and are a customer on a semi-regular basis.

Become A YouTube Partner

The easiest way to make money on video reviews is by signing up to become a YouTube partner and affiliate. This will make you a certain amount of money for the clicks on your video ads. These are driven by likes, shares and views you get. If you have a high number of subscribers, that is even better because you will be able to tap into a recurring profit pool.

The amount of money you can get depends on the rate for Google’s AdSense at any given time. I have heard a lot of people say the average is $3 – $5 per 1,000 clicks. But I have heard it go as high as $9 – $10 for the same number of clicks, with higher traffic videos. My guess is that you are able to work up to higher amounts over time, depending on your visibility.

ExpoTV

You probably know all about survey sites that pay you pennies on the dollar towards gift cards and small items. There are many popular ones, some that even I would swear by. But this is a program you might not have heard of before, and that you should definitely learn about now.

You basically upload video clips of you doing product reviews on anything you might have an interest in and experience with. Get access to new products you want to try out using samples and even full retail items from the site. Then you participate in research programs and surveys based around similar products to the ones you liked.

It is all based on an easy to keep track of point system. Points add up really fast, so you may be surprised by how much you can earn for such a little amount of work.

TekSocial

This is a great blog featuring an entirely user-based format. Users of different products in the tech industry do video reviews or written reviews. These are then posted on both the blog and the Tech Social YouTube page. All contributors are paid for their work, which is a great way to both earn some money and get your name out there.

I would suggest anyone with an interest in doing reviews contact TekSocial through the blog and get started.

Conclusion

My life has changed a great deal since I started doing this for a living. I am in love with writing product reviews, and the many ways that you can earn a real income doing it. Do you know of any other ways? Let us know in the comments.

Image Credit: 1, 2.

Tagged as: make money online, video reviewing, video reviews, Work From Home