Over 300 hours of video content is being uploaded to YouTube every minute. Statistics like that can be disheartening for people trying to get traction on their videos given the volume of choices consumers have.
It’s important to understand though that YouTube’s user base is almost as impressive as it’s content library. YouTube processes over 3 billion searches every month. That makes it the second most popular search engine on the planet and presents an incredible opportunity for network marketers who can develop strategies to stand out.
We’ve created a list of the most important tips to consider when marketing video content. These will help you rank YouTube videos and generate quality leads.
1) Upload Frequently and Build Your Following
Sticking to a regular content schedule on YouTube is important for fostering growth.
First off, consistency means that the viewers you already have will understand you’re not going to drop off the face of the planet anytime soon. Consequently, they will begin to develop a habit of checking in on what you have to offer.
If people are checking in with your YouTube channel only to find that you haven’t uploaded content in weeks they are going to move on.
Another reason why regular content is important is because the more fly paper you put out, the more flies you are going to catch (a crude analogy that means the more videos you put up, the more wandering viewers you’ll engage).
As you begin to capture viewers, some of them will inevitably turn into subscribers. The bigger your subscriber base is the more likely YouTube will be to rank YouTube videos you publish in the future.
Why?
YouTube assumes that if you have a lot of subscribers, you’re putting out quality content. YouTube is always looking to showcase quality content that engages viewers and keeps them on the site.
2) Make Sure Your Videos Are High-quality
Remember that statistic I threw around at the beginning of this post talking about how many hundreds of hours are uploaded to YouTube every minute?
Well, a lot of that content is horrible.
Those 300 hours embody everything from a random kid recording himself “dabbing” to a slideshow of a grandmother’s 80th birthday. Point being that just because there’s a lot of something doesn’t mean it’s watchable.
In order to get ahead of most of the content being uploaded to YouTube instantly, make sure your videos are High-Definition and make sure they’re properly framed.
It’s been said that YouTube ranks videos higher based on their quality. While that may have less to do with YouTube actually watching your videos and determining their quality and more about videos that look good just getting more views, shares, etc. and consequently getting ranked higher – you can’t go wrong with publishing good-looking content.
3) Use Eye-catching Thumbnails
Not long ago you needed to be a YouTube partner in order to use custom thumbnails. Gone are those days and now you can upload a custom image that will accompany your YouTube video on search results pages.
When people go through search pages, not only are they reading video titles (more on titles in a second) but they’re scanning over thumbnails to see what looks interesting.
If your thumbnail engages people your click-through rate will improve. If people click on your video it will get more views and if your video gets more views, YouTube will gradually push it higher in their results.
4) Write SEO Friendly Titles and Descriptions
When you upload a YouTube video the first thing you’re going to do is title it. While it may be tempting to title a video which features your cat jumping, “cat jumping”, a better title would be “Cat Jumps Unbelievably High and Lands on Its Feet!”.
It’s important to be as descriptive as you possible when coming up with titles so you can rank YouTube videos.
As far as descriptions go, when typing one out make sure it describes the video content as in-depth as possible. Use the descriptive terms you think are most interesting towards the beginning of your description. Those will be the first ones people read when looking at a video and might be what makes them decide to stay or go.
The better your titles and descriptions are, the more likely you will be to rank YouTube videos.
5) Embed Your Videos on Other Sites
Location diversity isn’t often brought up when thinking about how to rank YouTube videos. It’s been said though that the more places a video is embedded the higher it will push in YouTube’s search results.
There are two schools of thought as to why this might be:
- YouTube scrubs the web, sees a video is in multiple places, thinks it’s important and consequently, pushes it up the ranks.
- The more places a video is, the more chances it has to catch views and more view = YouTube pushing higher in the ranks.
Either way, the more places you embed your video the higher chances you have of it getting traction.
6) Cross Promote
Did you know that YouTube has a suite of awesome features in their built-in video editor? These allow you to cross promote your other videos or even your personal website!
If you head over to the “Creator Studio” on your YouTube account and click on the “Edit” tab on one of your videos, you’ll see some nifty functions at the top of the page which includes cards, end screens, and annotations.
Use these functions to suggest additional videos that viewers may be interested in.
7) Call to Action
Call to actions are popular in the world of content marketing but what about with videos? Doing something as simple as asking viewers to “like” a video, “leave a comment below” or “subscribe” to a channel can have a profound effect on how well you rank YouTube videos.
The number of likes, comments, and subscriptions you have all directly impact your video’s placement in YouTube’s search results. Ask people to take action for an extra boost.
Summary
There’s a ton of content pumped into YouTube every minute and that can seem overwhelming. By creating content that is high quality and generates engagement, your YouTube content library will move up the search results and generate quality leads/conversions for your business!
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Check out what we have to offer on our product page or for more general information on how to maximize your marketing efforts, read more on our blog.