Paying for Views is a Bad Idea

It still surprises me that many Partners are unaware of this but there are several ways to "cheat" at Youtube. This is because Youtube's algorithms are very easy to manipulate. All one really need do is obtain some software to make a bunch of proxies and then setup bots to constantly watch videos and reload them.

Don't believe me? Okay, I suppose the burden falls on me to prove this subculture exists.

However bear in mind that I do not advocate the use of these methods at all. It is easy to see that Youtube obviously doesn't catch all instances where people use these tricks but there is still a high chance you may have your Partnership revoked for using these services. This is because they violate the Youtube terms of service agreement, which Google takes very seriously because they wish to protect advertisers.

I am only talking about these methods because I want to drill it into people's heads that Youtube is a game and it is possible to win, even cheat at it. This is important for people to accept so they can truly understand how Youtube works.

Exhibit A: Viewtube Train

This website allows people to earn "points" by watching other user's submitted videos, and these points can be spent to get other people to watch your own videos. It's a simple concept. Fortunately the site seems to have a small population and at best, the "top" videos can only manage to acquire about 20k views. However, that can be enough to get a video into the "trending" feeds where it may truly go viral.

Now here is another thing to consider: this site requires you to install a Firefox toolbar. That sounds like a really bad idea. There is no real reason why they need to have you install a toolbar of any sort to do a site like this. I would be very cautious of that toolbar having a keylogger. There is a lot of hackings going around on Youtube and it wouldn't surprise me that websites like this are involved.

Exhibit B: Blackhat World forums

There is no shortage of public forums primarily populated by script kiddies who promise all kinds of services, including the sale of large quantities of Youtube views. And they can easily deliver because it's not terribly hard; all one need do is understand how to make proxies and have a bot that watches videos in multiple browsers.

Of course these methods can be detected if performed in a haphazard manner, which is why it is a terrible idea to buy views. Do you really want to entrust the fate of your AdSense account to some random person who feels no qualms ripping off Google and its advertisers?

Exhibit C: Viewet

Viewet is a tad more sophisticated of a website than other places. The site also specializes in more than just Youtube views; you can also buy Facebook Fan Page likes and Twitter followers.

The problem with these services is that they merely create the illusion of success; you will get exactly what you pay for. If you buy 1,000 Facebook likes, that is what you get and not a single more.

However..... once you have obtained enough "social proof" (the number of comments, 'likes' and views) this social proof can be used to trick real people into believing that you are someone they should pay attention to. For example, my ex girlfriend would look at the comments of a video before she actually watched the video and she did this to figure out if the video was worth watching; she relied on random strangers to tell her what to think about a video.

This is the deception of the internet; many people have a tendency to assume that every 'like' and comment is from a real person and not some bot created to encourage real people to believe the image the marketer is trying to present.

Exhibit D: Tube Automater

Tube Automater is $30 software that does the whole proxie and multiple browser thing mentioned earlier. A lot of people seem to use this software as part of a marketing scam involving referral offers, where they are simply trying to lure people to click on the referral link.

The software is fairly sophisticated in that it also adds lots of comments to the video from an army of sock puppet accounts. I'm sure this has been successful at deceiving many viewers into believing a video is truly popular.

Keep in mind, if these reviews are to be believed, the use of this software has led to several individuals being banned from Youtube.  The product does have some positive reviews BUT it is certainly possible that if someone can make a bot to post comments on Youtube videos, then they are fully capable of making a bot to post phony user reviews claiming the software works.

Don't automatically assume everything you read on a review site is the truth. If it sounds too good to be true then it probably isn't true.

Conclusion:

There are more sites out there which provide these services, but there is no real point in discussing them. If you turn to any of these methods you are risking having your AdSense terminated. AdSense is required to be a Youtube Partner and if you lose your AdSense you cannot make another account without using someone else's SSN.

It is a very poor idea to turn to these methods but I wanted to shine a spotlight on their existence so that Partners better understand that Youtube success is more complicated than simply choosing the right keywords and releasing videos on a consistent schedule; much of your success on Youtube depends upon getting lots of views from the charts, and there are people who are dominating spots on the charts by using these services.

It is very difficult to legitimately compete with the botters, and you are never going to do so by simply posting content onto Youtube and doing absolutely no other marketing of your work. It takes longer and more effort than creating artificial traffic with bots, but the long term benefits of networking with other Partners is a much better choice; and better yet it won't get you banned from AdSense.