youtube tips

We’ve been hearing a lot about Periscope, Blab, and SnapChat. With the rise of all of these new social networks, the older social networks don’t look as cool as before.

Take YouTube for example. Even though YouTube is still one of the top social networks on the web, the buzz-words like “sleek” would get used to talk about Periscope’s live streaming instead of YouTube.

YouTube has been around for such a long time that some people believe at this point they have either missed the chance or the new social networks like Periscope and Blab are better to pursue.

While those new social networks are useful, it wouldn’t be wise to exclude the older social networks within your social media strategy.

If you want to build a successful YouTube channel that dominates your niche, you need to know what makes a successful YouTube channel.

More specifically, you need to know the three things that matter the most on YouTube and how to amplify them.

 

#1: Subscribers

A large quantity of quality subscribers is the best type of audience to have on YouTube. Quality subscribers are people who are pre-determined to be interested in your niche.

These people are subscribed to YouTube channels related to your niche and want to watch numerous videos about your area of expertise.

Getting more subscribers comes down to crafting an appealing channel combined with the right marketing. Having an audience outside of YouTube helps, but it isn’t required.

You can leverage other people’s audiences via interviewing your niche’s experts, commenting on other people’s videos, and other means. But when you decide to leverage other people’s audiences, the only way you will become successful with this method is to take a win-win approach.

Commenting gives you more exposure. Your comments will also give the videos more exposure and social proof. It’s a win-win.

Interviewing other experts within your niche gives you more credibility and exposure (if the expert promotes the interview) and the expert gets more exposure as well. That’s a win-win too.

There are many ways to get more subscribers. However, the key thing is to find a few methods that work very well for you and then capitalize on them.

 

#2: Minutes Watched

YouTube has made it a point to emphasize that they consider minutes watched before they consider the number of views your video gets.

Part of this is to combat spam. People could buy 100,000 views, and even if these people only stayed on the video for 10 seconds or less, they get counted as a viewer.

These bogus views make a video look better to a potential viewer. However, these same videos are not likely to show up high in YouTube’s search results.

If you want to rank high, then you need to get people to watch as many minutes of your videos as possible.

There are two main ways to achieve this objective.

The first method is to create compelling videos that make someone naturally interested in watching your entire video.

So what makes a compelling video? For you, the playing field may be different. See what your competitors are uploading to YouTube and analyze what works. Then, as you create your own videos, take a look at your videos’ retention rates so you get an idea of which videos are getting the most attention.

You don’t want to look at a video’s audience retention rate until it has surpassed 100 views. If you base your retention rate on eight views, then you don’t have enough data to make a firm conclusion.

The second method still requires you to create a compelling video, but the length of your video is also a factor.

Retention rate plays a role in how much of the video someone actually watches, but the number of minutes watched is more important.

Sometimes, if I want one of my particular videos to do very well, I’ll make it longer. I will come up with more case studies and key points to discuss. Basically, I do extensive planning leading up to the video while most of my other videos just take five minutes of planning.

My longest video to date is Write Like Crazy: How I Write 40K Words Every Week. It’s a little over 43 minutes long.

With the help of advertising, people watched that video for over 378,000 minutes. As of my finding that statistic, the video had a total of 31,838 views. The average person viewed the video for 11 minutes and 53 seconds.

The first video I uploaded in a while, The 4 Core Beliefs Of All Highly Productive People, will rarely have a viewer who watches the video for 11 minutes and 53 seconds.

That video is only 8 minutes and 50 seconds long, so one viewer would have to watch the same video twice (or stop halfway) for that view to exceed 11 minutes and 53 seconds.

The average view duration for this particular video is 3 minutes and 22 seconds.

For the sake of math, let’s say my Write Like Crazy video averages 12 minutes per viewer and my productivity video averages 4 minutes per viewer. If 1,000 people view each video for the average amount of time, here are the numbers:

Write Like Crazy: 12,000 minutes watched

Productivity video: 4,000 minutes watched

It doesn’t matter that they both got the same number of views. What matters is that people spend more time watching Write Like Crazy than my Productivity video.

Even if the Productivity video had a 100% retention rate, Write Like Crazy still does better with the minutes watched category.

Make compelling videos, but also see how you can make them longer to get more minutes watched.

 

#3: Consistency Of Video Uploads

The more consistent you are with your video uploads, the more likely you are to get noticed by your subscribers.

The thing about uploading and publishing videos is that some of your subscribers have opted to get notified via email. So every time you publish a new video, an email blast gets sent to a large group of your subscribers.

Subscribers will remember who you are if you consistently upload YouTube videos. If you upload a YouTube video every week at the same time, then your subscribers will remember you.

Some of these subscribers will constantly check your channel to see what you came out with next. Subscribers like that will engage with your video and watch it. Those actions will cause your video to surge in YouTube’s rankings and get more search engine traffic as well.

Your subscribers are the people who get the ball rolling. But in order for them to get the ball rolling, they must remember you, and you must upload videos consistently.

 

In Conclusion

In a world surrounded by new social networks, YouTube is still a powerful platform to build your audience on. Now that you know what matters the most on YouTube, you can now structure your videos and channel based on that knowledge.

The most important thing to do on YouTube is to provide value (obviously), but the three things that matter the most are designed to give you an idea of how to provide that value in relation to YouTube SEO.

What are your thoughts about creating a YouTube channel? Do you think creating and uploading the videos is worth it? Have any tips for us?

Sound off in the comments section below.

The key to having a successful YouTube channel is consistently publishing valuable videos. The more often you upload videos, the more your audience will remember you. As you build a loyal audience, more people within that audience will be enticed to like your videos, comment, and spread the word.

Right now, I currently publish three YouTube videos every week. In this video, you will learn some of the strategies I use to publish YouTube videos at that rate and how you can do the same.

I hope you enjoy the video. Please let me know what you thought of the video, and if you like it, then don’t forget to subscribe. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel here.

Video was and still is huge. After years of consistently getting praised as one of the best ways to share your message, countless people have created their own YouTube channels and training courses.

Maybe you’ve heard a lot about the power of videos. Maybe you create video after video or are itching to get started.

The best videos are the captivating ones with subtle marketing added in. You have to market yourself and some of the products that you offer within your videos. However, you don’t want to be annoying.

The challenge is how. Here are five ways to subtly leverage marketing within your videos.

 

#1: Promote Your Platforms Within Your Videos

Your platforms are where you have an audience—social networks, your blog, and others.

You can subtly promote these platforms at the beginning of these videos with a footer. In the footer (the bottom of the video), you can include text (displaying your username) and pictures of social media icons.

At the end of your videos, you can go into deeper detail about where else your viewers can find you on the web.

And don’t forget to talk about your landing page at the end of your videos. The money is in your email list.

 

#2: Promote Your Products Within Your Videos

Some of your videos may present you with the opportunity to promote your products. You may be talking about a topic related to your product.

At that point, you have the opportunity to mention your product, and better yet, give your viewers a discount. The discount will boost your sales and result in more exposure for your product.

You can also create a video entirely dedicated to your product. You can promote your product for the entire video or create a massive tutorial with “ads” of your own product at certain points in the video.

Since they are your “ads,” you must make sure you properly transition to product promotion.

I created a lengthy tutorial about writing more content. It is a 45+ minute video with a lot of free and useful content. At certain points of the video though, I promote the writing course that I created with Jerry Banfield.

I promote the writing course several times throughout the video. Jerry Banfield, the person who I created the course with, has created free tutorials that exceed two hours for some of his other courses.

When you promote a product within the video, don’t forget that discount. If you do not want to include a discount, then offer a free bonus.

You can introduce the free bonus by saying something like this: “Product A is worth $50, but if you buy it with this link, then I’ll give you Bonus B for free.”

 

#3: Promote Your Other Videos Within Videos

The most brilliant concept that explains going viral on social media is Brendon Burchard’s Circular Viralocity. I did not take his course about it, but I did write a summary of what I think happens in a portion of the course.

The concept behind Circular Viralocity is that you use your social networks to promote each other so the people in your audience go from one of your social media accounts to the other social media accounts that you have.

It’s like tweeting a link to your YouTube video and then having a link to your Facebook Page within the description of your YouTube video.

Keep that chain going for as long as possible, get enough people within that chain, and you’ve got Circular Viralocity. That’s how it works in a nutshell.

Now let’s apply this to videos (because the most successful YouTubers do this ALL OF THE TIME).

You have finished watching a video. The YouTuber takes the time to say where else you can find him/her on the web.

The next part is the most important part. For the last 5-10 seconds of the video, a few related videos created by the same YouTuber will show up. These videos show up before YouTube gets a chance to show you its selection of related videos.

One of the videos interests you and you click on the video. You watch that video to the end and see a new selection of related videos before YouTube’s selections show up.

You click on one of those videos and the cycle continues.

When you use this strategy, you can get the same viewers to watch several of your videos in one go.

Most YouTubers who use this strategy only provide 3-6 related YouTube videos for their viewers to choose from. Why not offer more? The answer lies in the famous jam study conducted by Professor Sheena Iyengar.

Maybe you’ve heard a version of the story. She goes to the grocery store and offers samples of jam and analyzes the conversion rates.

To some shoppers, she offered 24 different flavors of jam. Many people tasted the samples and Iyengar got a 3% conversion rate (number of people who bought at lease one box of jam).

To the other shoppers, she only offered six different flavors of jam. Shoppers tried fewer samples, but more of them made purchases. For this part of the experiment, Iyengar saw a 30% conversion rate for the sales of her boxes of jam.

The less we offer, the better the conversion rate will be. My recommendation is to just include 3-4 related YouTube videos at the end of all of your YouTube videos.

If you offer your viewers too many options, you will overwhelm them.

 

#4: Create Anticipation For Your Upcoming Videos Or Products

One way to become successful is by analyzing the most successful people in the world. I’m talking about the people and brands who dominate our every day conversations.

Remember, to be the best, you have to learn from the best.

I am a big fan of the 1989 album and often watch the Shake It Off YouTube video. After some looking around, I came across one of the outtake videos for the Shake It Off video.

At the end of each of those videos, there is a teaser that builds anticipation for the next video.

Luckily for me, the videos were all up by the time I watched the outtakes, so my anticipation was quickly satisfied. I still have to wait over a year for Star Wars Episode VIII

Sure enough, I watched them all. The first outtake I saw was captivating, and each one built upon the next.

At the end of your videos, you can create anticipation for your next video. Let your viewers know what the next video will be about, and better yet, when you plan on publishing that video.

As each teaser builds more anticipation, you will start to build a following based on that anticipation for new and better videos.

 

#5: Turn A String Of Videos Into A Product

All of the tips up to this point had a strong focus on marketing within your videos. However, what exactly are you marketing?

Yes, the platform you have built for yourself and your other videos.

But you are also marketing your products.

To market more products, you have to create more products. And one way you can create more products is by turning a string of videos into a product.

I do that all of the time on Udemy. I currently have over 20 training courses that are all a series of videos and PDFs wrapped together into a single product.

Why not make money with the videos that you create?

 

In Conclusion

Video will continue to be one of the best ways to spread your message and make revenue with your expertise. Video has lived up to the hype that it has received for several years.

The way we utilize video will continue to evolve. Our methods of communication will become more sophisticated.

Periscope gives us the option to do live videos. Blab gives us the opportunity to talk with people in a live interview (basically, Periscope with multiple people in the same live video).

What won’t change is the impact video has had on the marketplace. If you don’t create videos, then now is the time for you to start.

What are your thoughts about creating videos? How do you leverage marketing within your videos? Which of these tips was your favorite? Sound off in the comments section below.

YouTube quickly established itself as one of the most popular websites on the web, and its popularity shows no sign of declining anytime soon. YouTube gets over 1 billion unique visitors every month, and countless hours of YouTube videos get watched by those people every minute.

However, most of the people who use YouTube only use it to view other people’s videos. I know of people who find the time to sit down and watch about an hour’s worth of YouTube videos, and the occurrence is not rare. Many of these people exist around the world. They watch other people’s videos, sometimes engage in the comments section, and then move onto the next video.

Unfortunately, many people who watch other people’s YouTube videos are the passengers but not the pilots. Creating your own YouTube channel will turn you from a passenger to a pilot, and creating your own channel will make it possible for people to watch your own videos. There are plenty of benefits of having your own YouTube channel. Here are five of them.

 

#1: Google Gives YouTube Videos An Edge On SEO

If you are on YouTube, then you are moving up on the search engines. You can promote your blog on your YouTube channel to drive more traffic that way (which helps with SEO), but YouTube videos perform better on search engines than blog posts and videos from other places on the web.

Google gives YouTube a distinct advantage on its search engine, and the logic behind the advantage makes sense. Google owns YouTube. A big chunk of Google’s revenue comes from YouTube. In terms of Google making revenue, a visitor on YouTube is just as good as a visitor on Google. Google does not own Vimeo which is why nine times out of ten, YouTube videos rank higher than Vimeo videos and blog posts.

 

 

#2: More People Will Discover You In YouTube’s Search Engine

One of the most interesting (and commonly forgotten) facts about social networks and most shopping sites is that they are search engines. Just like Google, YouTube is also a search engine. Google’s search engine allows you to find anything on the web while YouTube’s search engine exclusively looks for YouTube videos.

YouTube may not be as large as Google, but it still gets those 1 billion visitors every month that I talked about earlier. Not only are these visitors coming back to YouTube often, but these visitors are also engaged visitors who stay on YouTube for a long period of time. YouTube users stay on the site for over 10 minutes at a time. If some of these visitors enjoy watching your YouTube videos, then they will certainly come back for more.

 

#3: Your YouTube Videos Can Bring In More Revenue

While YouTube is a great place to promote your blog and spread your message, your efforts on YouTube can also become very profitable. Some people have earned millions of dollars in revenue from Google Adsense ads being displayed on their videos.

Some of the individual videos that made over $100,000 were less than two minutes long. Imagine if it only took two minutes of your time to craft a YouTube video that ended up making over $100,000 (and counting). On YouTube, that is a possibility, and it is a possibility worth looking into.

Although the chances of going that viral on day one are slim, you can build your audience, and overtime, accumulate thousands of daily views. Then, you may end up making hundreds of dollars every day on YouTube, and if you become one of the must-watch YouTube channels, you may even make thousands of dollars every day from your videos.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1D0Zs1Z”]Some of the individual YouTube videos that made over $100,000 were less than two minutes long.[/tweetthis]

 

#4: You Can Promote Your Products

Another great way to make money on YouTube is by promoting your products. Many expensive training courses have emerged on the web. Some of these training courses cost $100 while other training courses cost over $1,000.

If you promote your own affiliate link for an expensive training course or product on your YouTube channel, you have the potential to earn a big income. If you sold a $1,000 training course, and you make $500 from each sale, then you would only need one sale from YouTube to make the same money that a few months of ads would generate for a new user.

Although Adsense allows people to make strong incomes on YouTube, you do not have to rely on Adsense to make money on YouTube. For a YouTuber starting out with a new channel, promoting products is a quicker way to make a decent amount of money. While ads may generate a few cents every day, an Amazon affiliate link that brings in one sale every other week may result in a few extra dollars going to your income. Regardless of how big your YouTube channel is, using Adsense, utilizing affiliate links, and promoting your own products are three effective ways to make revenue on YouTube.

 

#5: You Can Easily Put Videos On The Web With YouTube

Out of all of the methods I have tried, YouTube presents the simplest way of putting your videos on the web. When it comes to providing value in their videos, the last thing any entrepreneur should worry about is having any issues with technology. YouTube is a platform that provides its users with an easy way to upload videos. Uploading videos on YouTube is as simple as uploading a file anywhere else and then adding a description to describe the video.

I use an iPad/Mac and iMovie to create, edit, and send my videos to YouTube. Using my iPad/Mac with iMovie makes the transition from idea to YouTube video simple. This simplicity makes it easy for me to focus on providing value instead of wondering if I am doing all of my work for nothing.

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1D0Zs1Z”]YouTube presents the simplest way of putting your videos on the web.[/tweetthis]

 

In Conclusion

If you watch other people’s YouTube videos often, then you need to create your own YouTube channel. It is time to go from being a passenger to being a pilot. YouTube gives you the ability to upload your videos on the web and potentially get visibility on a large scale. The viewership and revenue will start small, but if you stick with your channel and promote it, your channel may eventually become one of the must-watch channels that attracts thousands of daily viewers and brings in a good stream of revenue.

Do you have a YouTube channel? Are you in the process of creating your YouTube channel? Where are you with your YouTube strategy? Please share your thoughts below.