Blog -

In this article, you will learn how to use YouTube tips and tricks to enhance the performance of your videos and channel overall. From simple tips and tricks to advanced features, you can wow your audience, save a lot of time, and grow your subscribers. You Need Great Titles that Peak a User’s Interest The first trick that most people tend to overlook lies in the titles – whether it is the title of your channel or the title of your videos, it needs to be able to capture the attention of your current audience as well as potential listeners. When creating a great YouTube title, you want to make sure it is descriptive and keyword-rich to attract new users and tell them what the video is about, and most importantly to offer keywords for the YouTube algorithm to sort for the purpose or relevancy. It is important to place a keyword at the beginning of your YouTube title so that the YouTube algorithm will comprehend what your videos are about. By using primary keywords in the titles, it highlights just how important the particular keywords are to the contents of the videos. Another important factor to consider when creating a YouTube title is length. If you didn't know, Google tends to truncate page titles to around 60 to 70 characters. This does not mean you should cut out some words from your title to fit the above requirement. Your title can be long, but make sure that you get your primary keyword and important info about the video at the start. Figure Out What People Want to See and Provide It Watching trends or videos that your target audience really likes, is the best way to figure out what they want to see. You can do this easily using the VidIQ tool. Just log in to or create your Creator Studio account and select “Trends Alerts” to get started. From there, set your primary keywords, categories, as well as competitors you want to track and the views-per-hour threshold, and the email frequency you need. This way you can create content that your target audience wants to see. How to Optimize your Videos Metadata is where both the audience and YouTube itself can discover what your content is about. People can easily search and find your videos and YouTube can categorize them properly, and when you do the metadata correctly, it can widen your content reach. There are many elements of metadata, but the description is a much longer element and you can add as many keywords here as possible. In fact, you have 5,000 characters to fill in, and I recommend that you try to use them all. YouTube description provides you with a golden opportunity for your video to be indexed properly. When it comes to tags, relevancy is key. But the most important thing to remember is that YouTube does not restrict the number of tags you can add, even though adding all is nearly an impossible thing to do. When you do tags, make sure you use brand-specific tags so that your brand name will show up in searches on Google and YouTube. Communicate and Talk to your YouTube Audience The good thing about YouTube is that it helps close the gap between you as a creator and your audience by opening various channels of communication. Communicating with your audience results in a much more tailored viewing experience as well as giving you a chance to listen to your audience’s feedback and work on content improvements accordingly. But a lot of content creators on YouTube are not taking advantage of communication with their audience. If you want to communicate and talk to your audience the best way, consider the following: Encourage your listeners to live a commentUse moderatorPlan contests and giveawaysUse thumbnails to increase engagementAdd annotations to promote desirable actions your audience Thumbnails are the Key and Here are Some Key Tips YouTube is a search engine platform with some elements of social networks. When users search through the platform’s search bar, visual thumbnails tend to occupy a considerable amount of space in the web results. And because our eyes are drawn naturally to visual pictures, you are likely to increase more clicks and engagement on your videos with simple but striking thumbnails. Here are some tips for doing thumbnails that stand out: Create distinct thumbnails for all your videos to set user expectations for what they will get when they click on your video.Use high-resolution images (1280 by 720 pixels) with readable texts on all screen types. Offer incredible user experience irrespective of the device the user uses to watch your content.Add explainer video or branding video to your image to make your thumbnail stand out and compel listeners to click.Come up with a compelling title to capture the attention of your audience. Use End of Video to Put Other Videos of Yours to Promote End screens can be added to the last 5 to 20 seconds of your video and use to promote your other videos as well as encourage your audience to subscribe and engage with you more. Note that your video must be at least 25 seconds long in order to add an end screen. Other interactive features such as video watermarks and card teasers are blocked during the end screen. Also, end screens are not available for kids’ videos. To add an end screen to your video, follow the steps below: Sign in to your YouTube StudioClick on Content at the left menuClick the video you want to add an end screenClick on the End screen box to select the element you wish to addSave If you choose a video element, you can exhibit your most recent upload, specific video, or best for the viewer. But if you choose a channel element, you will be required to add a custom message as well as add end screens as you upload your new video. Do Keyword Research with VidIQ If you don’t know what VidIQ is, it is a SaaS platform designed to help YouTubers find relevant topics and keywords for videos. Although many people don't know about this product, it has quite a robust YouTube SEO function that can help you create SEO-friendly metadata. When using this tool to do keyword research, be sure to target low competition keywords with high search volume. Knowing the keywords that can attract more views to your channel is important to the success of your YouTube. VidIQ makes it easy for YouTube creators to do the necessary keyword research for video success. It comes with tons of useful features such as keyword templates that you can use to create multiple videos and a keyword translator. Ask People to Subscribe The simplest and easiest way to increase your YouTube subscriber count is by asking for it in your videos. Don’t just assume that your audience will read your mind and subscribe without asking. Give your listeners a persuasive call to action and request them to hit that “Subscribe” button. What you need is an effective formula to create a persuasive call to action within your video that will automatically and swiftly make any listener subscribe to your channel. Tell your audience what to do, how to do it, and why to do it. Add your YouTube Videos to your Website There are 3 easy steps to add YouTube videos to your website that I recommend: By creating a distinct page for each video: This way, each of your videos will be embedded within its separate page.Add video transcripts and accompanying content: Once you have embedded your video to your website, consider adding transcripts to each page. The transcript should be human-edited inside the on-page copy.Optimize each page for SEO: Now it is time to optimize each page containing your videos for SEO. Include metadata such as description, tags, as well as header tags in a hierarchical manner. We have two methods to add YouTube videos to your website: Automated: This is just as it sounds. You use a third-party platform to automatically embed your videos to your website. If your site is on WordPress, just use a plugin to easily showcase your channel feed on your site.Manual: Obtain your YouTube URL and get the code of your videos. Next, embed each video manually to your website. Note that each video has a unique embed code. Playlists Help People Find Similar Content One way you can maximize your YouTube presence is by creating playlists. To put it simply, a playlist is a collection of videos you create (or created by someone else) and add to YouTube. It is the best way to sort out videos with similar or complementary content. This is not a new concept; if you have ever created an audio playlist before, then you will not have any problem creating playlists for your YouTube channel. Playlists allow your audience to find videos they want to consume with just a few clicks and navigation. When working on your YouTube channel strategy, you will soon realize that playlists don't just benefit the audience; they are also crucial for you as a creator. Without a playlist, your YouTube channel will look blank and it means you are not being effective in maximizing the potential of your channel. When done correctly, a playlist can help your audience find similar content, thus increasing the exposure of your videos. If you have a tight schedule, you can still engage with your audience in other ways through comments and joining conversations. Use Call to Action to Get People to Click or Subscribe A YouTube call to action (CTA) is slightly different from other calls to action. A call to action for your YouTube informs your audience what they have to do next. There are CTAs for your videos and CTAs for your channel; you need to understand this before you create one. CTAs for your videos are considered the most important call to action you can create because most people viewing your content might not proceed to your channel. Rather, they will just watch your videos, read the description, like the video, comment, and leave. One of the first places to add CTA in your videos is in the description. You will notice that beneath each video are two lines of text before being hidden behind a link. What most people don’t realize is that you can add a link to these lines as well. End screens and cards also provide useful places for calls to action. You will notice that you can link your video/channel to your site in cards provided it is verified. So, when you publish new videos, make sure you go settings again and add at least five cards to the video. These cards can show up at any time you want them to pop out with text that reveals in the information icon. End screens are perhaps among the best CTAs you can have in your videos. Just add various elements on your end screen, and this can direct your viewers on the actions to take. But in YouTube CTA, a link is the most vital option so if your site is approved; just include a link to it on the end screen. How to do Live Streaming on YouTube Live streaming is one of the things that require your channel to be verified first. But don’t worry, the verification process only require you to provide your phone number. Once you have verified your channel, you will access additional live streaming features as well as the ability to add videos 15 minutes longer. Note that it can take from a few minutes to 24 hours to access the live streaming feature. But once you get the access, just navigate to your YouTube Dashboard (Creator Studio) and choose Live Streaming in the sidebar. Select ‘start streaming’ and you will go live. Note that you will need to do some background setup before you could start to live stream on your channel. For instance, you will need an app or SaaS product that is enabled for encoding to get started. This is particularly important if you have 100 subscribers or less. An encoding platform is used to detect what your mic hears, what your camera sees, and what your screen shows, and broadcast it to your audience. How to Run a Paid YouTube Campaign Running a paid YouTube campaign can sound like a daunting task, but the fact is the process is easy. Here is how you can set up and run a paid YouTube campaign: Log into your channelHead to YouTube Ads and select Get Started with AdWords for VideoSet your time zone as well as currency and click continueName your campaign by entering the name in the Campaign Name spaceClick the link Sign In to Your AdWordsEnter again your username and password to enter the AdWords for videos where you can now set up your paid campaign.Enter your daily budget. This is the amount you want to spend daily on YouTube ads. You can decrease or increase your budget whenever you feel like it. I recommend starting with as little as $50 and see how it goes.Click Select VideoInput your channel nameChoose the video you want to advertise with the campaign. I recommend choosing an explainer video or a video that is short, memorable, and direct to the point.Create the ad text. This should be short text that will always appear adjacent to the thumbnail of your video ads. A text with 25 characters headline and 35 characters description will do.Select the thumbnail for your video adIn the Display URL space, enter the address of your site or the address of your page. Now click Save and Continue to create your video ad, and then inform YouTube where to display your ad.Create a targeting audience ad give it a name.Enter max cost per view (CPV). Which the amount you will have to pay every time some watches the videoEnter at least four primary keywords in “Search for Targeting Suggestions”Select Expand link to each keyword suggestion and then select AddSelect Save and Enable TargetingAdd your billing details if this is your first campaign. Publish YouTube Videos to Other Social Media Accounts There will come a point when you need to get the word out there about your YouTube content. This means leveraging the power of other social media networks and posting your content to these platforms. The “Share” button under each video allows you to publish your video to any social network. Just click the Share link and choose the social media platform you want to publish the video and then click “Publish”. With this link, you can share your videos on Facebook, Linked In, WordPress, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr, or Twitter, or all. Set Up a Great Channel Banner Image and Logo/Icon When you create your first YouTube channel, you will need a logo. There are usually three types kinds of logos for YouTube: The official YouTube logoA watermark logo for YouTube videoYouTube channel logo YouTube channel logo tends to be square and must be 800 by 800 pixels. When someone lands on our channel, they will see this logo in the top left corner. This should not be mistaken with channel art. Your YouTube channel art is the background for your channel. It is also known as the channel banner. YouTube icon on the other hand is the image of your user profile, and it is the exact image of your channel logo, thus the ideal size should be 800 by 800 px. When uploading your media files for your channel – logo, banners, and icons – there are some best practices you need to follow. For instance, you want to utilize the spaces outside mobile-only regions. You want to ensure that your channel banner and logo have nothing cut out when viewed on small screens as well as ensure they look great on the large screens. Another tip is social sharing button consideration. When you create the images, you should account for this if you want to easily spot social sharing and website links. Create a Video Intro that Skyrockets Interest Video intros depend on the kind of content as well as the targeted audience. But any video introduction should start by introducing yourself. · Introduce yourself Use this opportunity to tell your audience what you do, why you do it, and your core values as well as anything you think will give you an incredible first impression. · Dive deeper into details Allow your audience to get to learn your personality and create an image of you as a brand or as a person. Talk about some interesting facts about yourself, how you develop the interest to start a YouTube channel, or if you talk about a business, tell the audience how it all started.