When I review a prospect's YouTube channel, most often I give them these tips and advice to improve.
1. Custom thumbnails
Make sure that you're using consistent and custom thumbnails. The thumbnail is the image that someone sees as a preview of your video. It is the largest factor by far that determines whether a viewer will click to watch your video. You may think it's the title that's important, but people's eyes first go to the thumbnail. That's why they need to see you waist up or shoulders up on one half of the thumbnail and the key message of your video in the other half.
This is super important because videos with higher click through rate get promoted by YouTube much more heavily. Also, the key message you include on your thumbnail gets scraped by the YouTube and Google ranking algorithms and use the information as an indicator on how to categorize your video.
2. SEO optimize your titles
SEO optimize your titles, which means that ideally they should start with a keyword or key phrase of your audience is searching for. For example, the title sell your business. Three great reasons to consider selling is better than three reasons why you might sell your business. Also, make sure to check your keywords and phrases with a tool like KW Finder because subtle differences can have a huge impact. For example, recently a client used the word likable on a video title without the letter E in the middle when in fact the version with the E gets 10 times more searches per month.
3. Post and share your video
As soon as you post a video on YouTube, the clock starts ticking. You have one or two hours during which the YouTube algorithm wants to see how much organic traction you're going to get. When people search for your keywords, they click on your video or do they skip it? That will determine if your video should move up the rankings and if it is categorized for the right keyword. So what can you do about it?
Prime the pump, so to speak. As soon as you post a video, immediately share with your team and ask them to search for your keyword. What's your video like, share and comment. I know commenting is a lot to ask, so perhaps you can make some suggestions on what they can comment about. And finally, consider doing some paid ads on YouTube. Even spending $25 on a video should get you about 500 views, which will make your channel look more established and people will be more likely to subscribe and watch more videos.
With these tips. You're already way ahead of more than 90% of the YouTube channels out there. Even the more successful ones, that's because no one has been paying attention to YouTube SEO, which is relatively new and became much more important as Google started indexing more and more videos and showing them on organic search results. Don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell to the right so you'll know every time we post a new video.