For many blogs or websites, small to large, there’s always been a tension between the content its creators spend hours producing and the advertising they employ to get some financial reward from it. The people who create blogs have a real passion for their subject, and it’s this passion that drives them to jump online and work on their website when they get home, rather than putting their feet up in front of the tv like the rest of us!

At Coull, we’ve always seen traditional advertising solutions for these publishers as a bit of a compromise. Display advertising that doesn’t offer any appeal to a user is just an eyesore. At worst, advertising can be contradictory to the content that makes up the website, which really affects the integrity of the site as a whole.

You’ve got publishers who craft great content and whose passion and credibility in a certain area builds a community of loyal followers. They should be able to make some money from this activity without feeling that they’re selling out.

This is what drove us at Coull to create our beta tool called Coull Vidlinkr.

Coull Vidlinkr automatically monetises the video content on a publisher’s website by integrating a relevant product link or offer within the video itself. Video is becoming the de facto content of choice for internet users and although publishers put a lot of time into creating, uploading and embedding video on their sites, it’s not something that has traditionally yielded much in the way of revenue for them.

Here’s an example of a video managed by Coull Vidlinkr for a US audience, notice the call to action in the top right corner:

What does Coull VIdlinkr provide?

  • An enhanced viewer experience: Coull Vidlinkr integrates a relevant, contextual product link within publisher video content. It’s a resource that viewers can choose to engage with. If they don’t, it doesn’t compromise their experience by delaying the content or interrupting it.
  • Unlimited revenue potential: Publishers make money every time a viewer purchases an item through the link in their videos.
  • Hassle-free management: Once set up, relevant product links/offers can be automatically added to a publisher’s entire back catalogue of YouTube videos, as well as those that are embedded in future. Publishers can have full manual control or just leave it up to Coull Vidlinkr to manage automatically.

Here’s an example

DIY Doctor, an early-adopter of Coull Vidlinkr, offers completely free DIY and home improvement help, advice, tips, hints and tricks. The home improvement hub has a range of YouTube videos reviewing DIY products or instructional guides on how to perform a particular task.

DIY Doctor’s videos are some of the most popular pieces of content on the website, so the DIY experts utilised Coull Vidlinkr to turn them into a revenue stream.

How it works

Once installed on the DIY Doctor website, Vidlinkr automatically picked up their YouTube videos and added a call to action connecting viewers to Screwfix’s sale page. This enables viewers looking to purchase a product recommended by the website, or one necessary to complete a DIY task, to do so straight from the video.

Whenever a viewer of a DIY Doctor video clicks through to Screwfix’s sales page and purchases a product, DIY Doctor earns commission on that purchase.

Results

  • Strong clickthrough rate: At 2.7%, DIY Doctor’s strong clickthrough rate shows how a relevant call to action within a video can engage viewers.
  • Superb conversion rate: At 8.2%, their excellent conversion rate from clickthrough to Screwfix purchase highlights the way viewers use video as a resource in their consumer journey. It drives demand for products.
  • Average commission per transaction: The average commission earned by DIY Doctor per transaction was £1.89, reflecting the earning potential for bloggers using Coull Vidlinkr.

Summary

Coull Vidlinkr is a tool that at its heart is about adding value, not just for publishers, but for their audiences too. The call to actions that are integrated within videos don’t detract from the content they’re part of, they give the viewer an intuitive way to continue their journey.

None of a blog’s real estate is taken away and because the links are relevant, publishers can sleep easy at night knowing that they’re making money without compromising the integrity of their content in any way.

“An easy and seamless experience. Integration of videos and products is a quick and very simple process that could be easily completed by someone with little or no previous experience.”– James Gardner, DIY Doctor