Media

If you've been looking for a simple way to completely solve your problems with securing and monetising your media files, then look no further as these pages will highlight some of the best solutions available on the market today.

Each business is different and each business will find a solution that suits them best. There is no right or wrong way...there is only the best way to suit your needs and requirements.

Types of Media

There is a wide variety of media types that you may have online such as:

• Text - such as news stories, articles, ebooks, etc.
• Video - such as films, TV shows, clips
• Pictures - photos, artwork
• Sound - music, sound recordings, speeches
• Software - programs, websites, scripts, apps
• Games

Each of these media types has there own problems and challenges in terms of both security and ways to make money from them.

Media Monetization

There are a variety of methods to make money from your media such as:

• Purchase
  This is the traditional and obvious method of making people pay to view, access or download your media. This can be further broken down into the following methods:
  • Subscriptions - such as monthly or yearly fees to access a website, or purchase of Software as a Service (SaaS)
  • Pay per view, pay per download - such as the Apple iTunes store or many photo sales websites
• Advertising
  This method is where the media is provided with free access and advertising is placed on, in or around the media to provide an income. Advertising can be further broken down into a variety of methods:
  • Pay per click - such as Adsense where you get paid for every clickthrough on an ad.
  • Pay per view - where you get get paid for every pageview that a banner receives
  • Sponsorship - where set a monthly fee for placing the ads
  • Affiliate - where you get paid a percentage of any sales an ad may bring
  • Cost per Action (CPA) - where you get paid for a specified action such as a user filling in a form.
• Donation
  This is where the media is made freely available and you ask the viewer to donate money to you.

There is no need to limit yourself to just one method of making money from your media. it is possible and indeed recommended that you use a variety of monetization methods to generate an income from your media.

Media Security

Securing your media from unauthorized viewing or download is an essential part of your media monetisation strategy. There is no point in charging a fee for your media if people can access it for free easily elsewhere. So it is vital that your media is secured properly so that only the people who have rights to view it can view it.

Strategy

How you combine the competing influences of security and monetization is a fine art with no right or wrong solution. It is a balancing act that needs to tailored to each individual situation.

The good news is that the Internet has unprecedented powers of tracking and reporting so it can be a simple process of tresting new methods against old methods and finding the best solution for your specific circumstances.