How I get more views on Youtube

I get many questions about how I get youtube views, so here is my guide based on my experience so far

Increasing your youtube video views is a bit of a 'dark art', there is no one thing that will guarantee your video gets shed loads of views but there are some rules I always try and stick too to to maximize the view potential

Cash in on Key words - the search engines need to find your videos and therefore you need to put some thought into how they will find you on Youtube. You need to choose keywords and phrases (known as tags) that people search for, but also be careful not to use something too generic. In the following video I chose the keyword phrase 'Happy Birthday Lyrics' Birthday or happy birthday have too much competition to rank well for, but 'Happy Birthday Lyrics' has a decent amount of monthly searches and not too much competition. You can use something like the Google adwords keyword planner to get some idea of good phrases to use

In the above video I used my keyword phrase with in the title, the description, video tags and also in the closed caption text I uploaded.

Great Title - Youtube will automatically name your video with the file name, this is BAD. you need to change it, video.mp4 doesn't rank too well with the search engines. Ensure you use a relevant annd catchy title, and be sure to get that keyword phrase in.

 

Description - You need something in here, write as much as you can, information about the video. If you're doing a 'How to' video write down all the instructions in here. Make sure you get your keyword phrase in here again, a couple of times naturally, Not too much otherwise the search engines will think your spamming.

Transcribe videos (Closed Captions) - these are like subtitles for your video, specifically for people with hearing difficulties. They're also used by the search engines, so be sure to add your script in here. 

Get the click with a great thumbnail - SO you've done all the above and your video has come up on page 1 of the search YEY. But what makes some-one click on it? The answer is a good thumbnail picture. Youtube will randomly select a thumbnail for your video, but it may be rubbish.  So you can either choose from 1 of 3 that Youtube selects for you or upload your own. Make sure it's a clear thumbnail, relevant to the topic and compels the viewer to click on it. Cute kittens and dogs work pretty well, like the video below. But make sure your thumbnail is relevent, if you trick viewers into clicking on a video then they'll only click away if they are dissappointed and this will effect your rankings.

Annotations/call to action - Annotations are a great way of getting a little more out of your viewers. They are little pop up notes on your videos, You can ask for subscribers, share or comments or link to another video.

Great 'sharable' content - it goes with out saying that if your video is rubbish then no-one will be watching it to the end. So make sure that your video is interesting and holds the viewers interest until the end. Also the more shareable it is the better, as I think think is one of the most important factors in getting sustained views.

Build subscribers - Your most loyal fan base are your subscribers. Your new uploads will appear on their feeds. So it makes sense to get as large a fan base as possible. This is going to happen organically, DO NOT be tempted to buy subscribers, and 'black hat' techniques that attempt to fool the search engines will at some time or another come back to bite you on the bum. The best way to get subscribers, apart from producing fab videos, is interacting with other peoples videos. Subscribe to them and leave a comment.

Use social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. You'll find the vast majority of your video traffic does come from Youtube, However Facebook contributes around 40,000 views a month to my stats which is not to be sniffed at. And you never know who's going to retweet you or share that Facebook status. It could be just the break you're looking for if it goes viral.

Check out the Competition - before you upload your video do a search and see what other related videos come up, which have lots of views. What titles and descriptions are they using? Can you figure out their tags?  

That's all the tips I can think of for now. Please leave a comment below and add your own tips and advice to get more youtube views, I'd love to hear from you