Gary North

I am offering $1,000 to someone who can create a YouTube ad for this website. I am also offering a free critique of any posted ad sent to me.

The offer is in the December 7 issue of Reality Check. It is good until January 15, 2008.

The offer is an eye-catcher, but the real value of the offer is the motivation it provides to get some people to do what they ought to do anyway.

If you master screencasting, simple as it may be, it will give you a tremendous advantage, no matter what you do for a living. Not many people are writers. Lots of people are visual and verbal. A screencast is perfect for such people. It's easy to produce. It can be uploaded to YouTube in minutes. It can be viewed anywhere there is an Internet connection.

Why wouldn't you want to become fluent in screencasting?

For those of you who are looking for ways to supplement your income by selling your advertising skills, now is the time to get on YouTube.

For those of you who are starting a small business and who need a hands-on project to motivate yourself to learn YouTube production, now is the time.

For those of you with career goals that require a way to sell yourself, your skills, and your benefits to a new employer, this is a good place to begin.

I hope you will accept the challenge.

You belong to this site. You have benefited from it. You should be able to create an effective ad in the form of a testimonial.

I suggest that you create an ad for your group. Think about what people who think the way you do would like about this website. When you pick the topics to discuss, think "hot buttons." What are they in your group?

When you write the headline to get people to watch your YouTube video, think about the hottest hot button. Then create a short title that will grab someone like you. The is "narrowcasting." It's how the little guy makes money on the Web. He finds a targeted audience and writes for it. A narrowly focused audience can become loyal, even fanatical. They keep coming back.

After you create an as for this website, think about creating a website or blog of your own. Use screencast videos to add content. Then add videos. YouTube pays for the bandwidth. All you need to do is use the embed URL in your YouTube post to put the video on your site.