Have you ever considered building your business around videos? Do you secretly dream about creating the next YouTube? Would you like to profit from the massive growth of user-generated content (UGC)? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then we have a very important question to ask you: what are you waiting for?

With some elbow grease and a bit of imagination, you can create an attractive, compelling, multimedia-based portal in just a few days. And, with the affordable video hosting services available on the market, you can no longer argue that video streaming is too expensive. The best offers out there give you access to powerful video web hosting services for less than $10 per month. Even better, if you look closely, you can get unlimited bandwidth and disk space so that you never have to worry about reaching your capacity allowances again.

As you can see, starting out with video hosting is not as difficult as you might first think. However, you still need an essential ingredient to turn your vision into reality – a great idea. If you need inspiration, our team of nerds has come up with some ideas to help you get started with video web hosting. Read on to learn about the most effective ways to monetize your video website.

1. Review Site

People love watching video reviews, especially when you spice them up with relevant footage of the product. It doesn’t matter what you review – movies, books, apps, games, gadgets, or albums. Ideally, you should focus on something that you know well and you enjoy talking about. Other than that, the sky is the limit.

To get started, simply find a good video hosting solution, install a video sharing app like VidiScript, ClipBucket, or phpMotion, and start churning out reviews. If you plan to review physical products, such as smartphones, you will need a decent camera to shoot the reviews and a microphone to record your insightful commentary. With digital products (software, eBooks, etc.), you can even get by without a camera if you use a screen-capturing application such as Camtasia.

2. Trailer Site

Movies, video games, and TV show trailers are great sources of traffic. People are always looking for hot trailers, and if you research what people are searching for, then you can set up a lucrative niche site relatively easily. If you go this route, opt for a video hosting solution that is specifically adapted for trailer video hosting – i.e., one tailored for lots of files, little user generated content, and relatively short clips.

Popular items such as trailers for upcoming blockbuster movies draw a lot of attention and page views, so be sure to support heavy streaming. In other words, choose a video hosting provider that offers unlimited bandwidth (unless, of course, you like paying heavy over-usage fees).

3. Video News

Everybody likes news, right? And when providing it online, you are not limited to the classic news format. You can do short video news snippets on your local community, your favorite baseball team, or the latest Hollywood gossip. With a little passion, you too can become the unofficial go-to source for a specific topic and even generate some cash from it. You just have to find your niche and stick to it.

Any reputable video web hosting provider will give you the tools you need to start your news site. Give VidiScript, vShare, phpMotion, or ClipBucket a try and you will see how easy it is to create an impressive video news site from scratch.

4. Vlogging

You are probably familiar with blogging (after all, you’re reading a blog right now), but what the heck is vlogging? A video blog or a vlog (video log) replaces traditional text posts with video clips. Vlogs are great because you can capture the attention of the people who don’t have the time, patience, or attention span to read a 500-word post. You can vlog on a specific theme (and combine your posts with video news, reviews, or trailers), or you can vlog about your daily life or whatever else pleases you.

Vlogs are not usually big bandwidth eaters, but you still need to ensure that your followers enjoy a smooth viewing experience. Opt right from the beginning for a top-quality video web hosting provider and you won’t have any problems.

5. User generated content (UGC)

YouTube and many other sites are built entirely on UGC, so what’s stopping you from doing just that? Why bother creating your own content when you can use the videos created by your followers? You probably won’t be able build a YouTube-killer, but in the right niche, you can still make a boatload of money out of the videos created by regular Internet users.

There are many video sharing applications that let you build video websites (sometimes called YouTube clones). Just make sure to choose a video web hosting service that gives you unlimited disk space and bandwidth because you will need it when your site takes off. A few words of caution: when dealing with user generated content, you need to be careful about copyright infringement. Piracy legislation does protect you from being sued by copyright holders, but only if you actively work to stop infringement as soon as you discover it.

How to make money with video hosting

Now that we’ve reviewed some great options for setting up a video-based website, it’s time for you to learn how you can make some money from it. Many people who set up websites plan to monetize them, and even if you didn’t start your website to make money, why not make some extra income from your passion?

Here are a few ways to monetize websites based on video hosting:

• Pre-roll and post-roll commercials – insert short video commercials at the beginning or at the end of your video content. Most people don’t mind watching a short ad, and it’s a great way to gather paid views.
• Affiliation – just like with any website, you can use your video website to promote products or services and get a cut of the sale every time one of your visitors makes a purchase. Affiliation schemes can be especially lucrative on review websites, but any niche site can work.
• PPC and PPV – If you have a lot of traffic, you can try out a pay-per-click (PPC) or pay-per-view (PPV) advertising campaign, such as those offered by Google AdSense and other video marketing services. With the right layout and the right content, you can get some pretty decent returns, and you don’t have to do much after you set up the ads.

Looking for an affordable video web hosting provider?

There are many companies that offer video web hosting services, but very few can match the amazing combination of free services and unlimited resources provided by Certified Hosting. Whether you want to build a YouTube-like, user-generated content site or a lucrative review portal, Certified Hosting gives you everything you need to get started.

Only Certified Hosting offers free video hosting services for a wide range of applications, including VidiScript, ClipBucket, iVidPlay, Zomplog, vShare, ClipShare, and phpMotion. The free video hosting services include free installation, free templates, free website transfer, and free site upgrades. Did we mention that you get unlimited resources for every video hosting plan? With a Certified Hosting video hosting plan, you get unlimited resources for a low monthly price. No more worrying about reaching your bandwidth quota or filling up your disk space.

Find out how to get your own video hosting plan or learn more details about our services by visiting certifiedhosting.com or calling 909-498-4415 today.