21 Ways To Dominate YouTube: A How To Guide For Posting On YouTube
By: Nick Scheidies Topics: Get Web Traffic More posts about: Social Media Marketing, Video MarketingWith almost 5 billion video views per day, YouTube is the second* most popular website in the world.
Two Things You Should Now About YouTube:
- It has also quietly become one of the world’s biggest search engines.
- Google has shifted its algorithms to favor videos, often putting YouTube videos near the top of its results.
If you don’t know how to post on YouTube, you are missing out.
From home repairs to dating advice, to travel tips…
People turn to YouTube for answers.
Bloggers and website owners who are not re-purposing their content for YouTube are losing out!
How To Post On YouTube – 21 Ways YOU Can Dominate YouTube
Get ready to take advantage of YouTube’s incredible power to expand your influence and make more money online.
[Last Updated By Editorial Team October 3rd, 2021]
YouTube Marketing Tip #1 Keep it Short
People are more likely to begin watching shorter videos.
They’re also more likely to finish watching them.
So do everything you can to be brief, especially when you are starting out.
YouTube Marketing Tip #2 Pay Attention to Lighting
One of the biggest problems plaguing YouTube videos is poor lighting. Even the finest video camera can’t capture vivid detail when the real-world lighting is poor.
You can invest in a soft-box lighting kit, but usually, a well-positioned household lamp will do fine. Just make sure there is an even, continuous source of light on the subject of your video and that there’s no overwhelming back-lighting (like from an open window).
Special Feature.
Create incredible videos using this tool from Pictory AI.
No need to buy expensive equipment or appear on camera.
Simply paste your script and Pictory’s advanced AI searches its vast library of over 3 million royalty-free video clips, images, and music to automatically create the perfect video for you!
Then add your own voice, or choose one of the incredibly life-like AI voices.
How To Post On YouTube – Tip #3 Edit Your Videos
Hollywood’s best actors don’t shoot scenes in one take. But that doesn’t stop many YouTubers from posting unedited webcam videos of them rambling and tripping over their words.
If you want thousands of people to be watching your videos, you owe it to them to trim the fat and move things along. Editing together the best parts and cutting out pauses, quickens the video’s pace and removes the pressure on you to deliver flawless performance.
If this sounds too expensive or advanced, you’re wrong. Video editing software like Movie Maker, iMovie, VEED.IO – YouTube Video Creator, and VirtualDub have free options and are easy to learn.
Another Online Video Editor we like comes from InVideo. We especially like their YouTube video editor.
It allows you to make professional-looking videos using their premium templates, images, and music. They have a free-forever plan at $0 per month, but if you plan to do a lot of videos you will want to upgrade to their Business Plan at $10 per month.
One more recommendation: FlexClip – this tool allows you to create and edit videos for all purposes – branding, marketing, social media, family events, etc. No download and no registration are required. A clean storyboard allows everyone to trim video, insert text, add music, and record the screen with a few clicks.
Another Pro Vlogger Top Tip…
Editing is so much easier when you use a good camera. You don’t need to spend a fortune (unless you want to). Plenty of great videos are being produced using smartphones but for the serious vlogger there are fabulous cameras, like the Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III, which allow you to live-stream directly to YouTube.
For a less expensive alternative, we recommend this 4K Camcorder Video | Camera [a lot of kit for the price]
The ideal vlogging camera for YouTube – great for interviews, music, gigs, adventure trips, etc
2022 New Upgraded Video Camera Camcorder: 4K WiFi Ultra HD 48MP Vlogging Recorder with IPS Touch Screen, IR Night Vision Digital Camcorder with Stabilizer, Mic, Remote Control, Lens Hood, 2 Batteries.
Extra Tip: Make Sure To Create An Outro For Your YouTube Video
Have you ever noticed how a radio or television program has a concluding section – usually a piece of music?
This is called an outro.
You will need one for your YouTube video.
A screen that reminds viewers to subscribe for future updates and includes your social media links plus any other Call To Action you wish to insert.
In the past, it could be quite difficult to create an outro.
You would need to get a graphic designer or mess around with Photoshop.
In short, it was not simple and easy to do. (and often costly)
Fortunately, there is a solution, thanks to Canva’s outro maker.
Canva’s outro maker is free and easy to use.
Highly Recommended.
How To Post On YouTube – #4 Brand Your Videos
When you’re watching a YouTube video, how often do you read the name of the channel?
Probably not very often. That’s why it’s important that you let people know who you are within the videos themselves.
I recommend starting and ending each video with a quick shot of your logo, your channel name, and a tagline that demonstrates the unique value of your videos. If you want to really impress, then hire a video effects editor to animate your logo and create an accompanying jingle.
Recommended Video Editing Tool
More recommended software: YouTube Video Converter
How To Make A Post On YouTube – Tip #5 Pick the Right Title
If ranking for a few keywords is your primary concern, then make sure to put them in your title. In fact, if you can fit them in twice, you’ll rank even better.
But ranking well doesn’t matter if nobody clicks on your video. That’s why it’s also important that your video title be something that induces curiosity, promises a benefit to the viewer or otherwise explains why someone should watch the video right away.
A good title makes all the difference…
It’s worth it to take a few minutes and brainstorm the best possible title for your video.
Here are a couple of articles that will help you come up with ideas for Titles / Headlines:
10 Article Headline Examples That Got Us 10 Million Readers
110 Blog Post Headlines That Got Us 50,000,000 readers
Sales videos need good sales copy – check out our free copywriting course.
How To Make A Post On YouTube – Tip #6 Pick the Right Thumbnail
The purpose of a thumbnail is to sell your video.
Your thumbnail should make viewers STOP, PAY Attention and take ACTION.
In the early days of YouTube, you could get away with a nice image.
But these days most successful YouTube channels use a mix of TEXT and a nice background image to get your attention.
Things you should remember when creating a YouTube thumbnail:
1) Include title text in your YouTube thumbnails.
2) Most times – having the text on the left of the thumbnail image, works best.
3) The choice of font is important. Our favorites include: Norwester, League Spartan, and Lilita – Bold
Alex Cattoni is a good example of a vlogger who produces great thumbnails!
Of course, there are exceptions – and the popular bald and bankrupt channel is one of them.
This channel has succeeded, despite what some may consider their “low production values”. They have succeeded because of unique content, delivered by an entertaining host.
As with Blogging – Content is King!
Little point in producing great thumbnails if your content is poor!
Visme has an excellent Thumbnail Maker – highly recommended!
How To Make A Post On YouTube – Tip #7 Include Background Music
One way to make your videos more professional and more enjoyable to watch is to include background music. You can find a quiet instrumental track that’s free to use at the free music archive.
Also checkout this resource on YouTube: Audio Library — Music for content creators.
#8 Research Your Keywords
Choosing keywords for your video is essential for ranking well. Just like with standard SEO, a little bit of research goes a long way. I recommend that you consult YouTube’s keyword tool before you decide which words and phrases you’ll be targeting.
#9 Put a Link in the Video Description
If you’re looking to build your own website, then you’ll need to give people a way to get there. While you can mention the name of your site during the video, few people will actually write out the address into their browser.
The best way to drive traffic to an outside website is through the description box. Make sure to start with HTTP:// or it won’t be recognized as a link. You’ll also want to put the link in right away because after 27 characters, the description is hidden unless the ‘show more’ button is clicked.
#10 Put Keywords in the Video Description
The link is the most important part of your description, but if you stop there you’re missing an opportunity to further your video search engine optimization.
Write out a thorough description that will help YouTube and Google rank your video for the keywords you’re targeting.
#11 Check Out The Most Popular YouTube videos and Make Playlists
YouTube’s playlists allow you to string a group of videos together in a sequence that plays one after the next.
If your videos benefit from being watched in a particular order (e.g. a series of videos about building a website), then creating a playlist that reflects that will help your viewer get more out of your videos. Of course, it will also help ramp up your views across the channel.
Playlists have an additional benefit: since they show up separately in YouTube searches, every new playlist is another opportunity to show up on the front page of search results.
Creating a playlist is easy. Simply click on the ‘Playlists’ tab while you’re in the Video Manager and then click ‘+ New playlist’.
Whistle produces some inspirational playlists – including the My Hu$tle Playlist shown above.
Don’t miss the recommended videos at bottom of this post.
#12 Create Interactivity with Annotations
One of the most powerful features of YouTube videos is their ability to be interlinked through annotations.
Some YouTubers put annotations in the top-left and top-right corners of each of their videos. The annotation in the top-left links to the previous video and the annotation in the top right links to the next video.
Annotations can be used to create a menu screen at the end of your video. The viewer is presented with a selection of other videos and the viewer gets to pick whichever one they would like to watch. This makes it easier for people to navigate between your videos (and therefore watch more of them).
Annotations point users to a playlist or a page where viewers can subscribe to your channel.
#13 Use Captions
These are YouTube’s version of subtitles. Not only are they great for the hearing impaired and people who don’t have their volume turned on, the text you provide as a transcript is also read by YouTube’s search engine. That means more opportunities to rank for more terms.
Add captions by choosing to edit a video and then selecting the ‘Captions’ tab.
#14 Promote Your YouTube Videos with Social Media
This is a bit of a no-brainer. There isn’t a viral video in existence that hasn’t been shared through social media.
Facebook is a particularly powerful platform for video, as it can be embedded directly into a post (unlike Twitter). But it’s not the only platform you should be using. I’ve also noticed that many of the biggest viral video sensations (including Dollar Shave Club and Kony 2012) rose to prominence thanks partly to reaching the front page of Reddit.
I recommend trying out a few different social media strategies with your videos and then seeing what works best for a niche.
#15 Post Regularly
We get asked a lot…
How often should you upload to YouTube?
As with a website, you absolutely need to update your YouTube channel regularly if you want a shot at success. Commit yourself to upload a new video once a week or once a month (whatever you’re capable of) and stick to it.
It is worth noting that Casey Neistat (influential YouTube blogger) was a big fan of uploading new videos daily. At one time he completed over 500 consecutive daily uploads.
Today he has over 12.2M subscribers!
The important thing is to COMMIT and be CONSISTENT!
If you decide that you will post once per week at 11 am on a Sunday, stick to it.
Don’t miss a week!
#16 Encourage Community
YouTube can be an amazing community. Your viewers can respond to your questions in the comment section, send you material for future videos, and make video responses to your videos. But you have to encourage this type of behavior if you want to see it happen.
For some real-life examples, Mystery Guitar Man is a YouTube channel that has done an amazing job building a community around its videos. (2.71M subscribers and 271 videos!)
#17 Become a YouTube Partner
If you want to make money directly from your YouTube account, you can allow YouTube to put advertisements in or alongside your video and then link your YouTube account to an Adsense account.
You aren’t likely to make a living from these earnings unless your view counts are through the roof (that’s why I recommend having a monetization strategy through your own website), but every little bit helps.
To get started, simply click ‘Settings’ while looking at your channel and then select ‘Monetization’.
#18 Respond to Popular Videos
One of the easiest ways to get more views is to identify your video as a “video response” to a popular video. Your video will show up underneath the original video and also possibly in the sidebar adjacent to it: that could mean 100,000’s eyes on the link to your video.
I’ve personally used this method twice to get over 30,000 views.
Don’t miss the recommended videos at bottom of this post.
#19 Contact Bloggers in Your Niche
Most bloggers love to feature high-quality video content on their site. It entertains their readers and gives them something to write about.
For you, the benefits are even greater: more views, more subscribers, and a valuable backlink to your video. When a website with a high Page Rank embeds your video, Google recognizes it and begins to rank the video higher in its searches.
Of course, in order for these bloggers to feature your great video content, you must first reach out to them and let them know about it.
#20 Create a Blog Post around Your Video
If you have a blog in the same niche as your video (and in a perfect world you do) then you should make a separate post for each video you upload to YouTube.
Optimize this page for search using the same title and keywords as your video and your video is more likely to show up at the top of Google’s results.
#21 To Dominate YouTube – Use a Call to Action
Simply asking your viewers to do something greatly increases their chances of doing it. On YouTube, there’s no shortage of calls to action you can make:
“Subscribe to my channel.”
“Share with your friends.”
“Click the like button below.”
“Add this video to your favorites.”
“Leave a comment.”
“Follow the link in the description.”
Which call to action to use and how you deliver it (in person or through an annotation) depends on your style and your audience. Just make sure that you’re asking your viewers to do something – or else you’re missing an opportunity to grow your channel.
5 Video Marketing Tips You Should Know If You Want To Dominate YouTube
How To Make A Video On YouTube
Mistakes New Youtubers Make & 15 Tips to Avoid Them
* YouTube ranks: #2 in global internet engagement
Check out our must read articles about Get Web Traffic:
-
21 Best Ways To Increase Your Websites Search Engine Ranking -
10 Article Headline Examples That Got Us 10 Million Readers -
10 Reasons Why Your Website Isn’t Getting Search Engine Traffic -
25 Best SEO Tools For Successful Blogging -
How we write top list articles using AI in just 5 minutes -
5 Best AI content creation tools for ranking high in search engines -
7 Lessons From 50 Blog Posts That Send Me The Most Traffic -
10 SEO Blog Post Publishing Steps that Most Bloggers Forget
Great information you share, I will try it and I am sure it will help me ranking
Thank you
Jonathan
Good luck!
Thanks for letting me know I reached 100,000 views. Wasn’t even aware. Great post!
Thanks, Michael – and congrats on the 100,000+ views!
I read every post you write and this is, by far, the best this year !
Congratulations !
That’s high praise, Mike. Thanks for reading and I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Hi Michael,
This is my personal request for your help. On the Youtube, I find that I cannot send out messages to all my subscribers unless I was able to choose all of them one by one. Is there another way to choose all your subscribers with one click/
God bless and thanks for sharing this blog
Regards
The best way to reach out to all of your subscribers at once is through a bulletin. This Google support article explains exactly how: https://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=178035
Good article Nick. I can’t stress how important Branding is. P.S. everyone reading this, Nick is really good at making video intros and outros. He did a great job with our List25 channel:
https://youtube.com/list25 (launched in January and now have over 1.8 million video views).
Nick, I think you forgot to mention, suggesting other videos in the outro. We have noticed that to work very well with our videos.
I’m glad to hear your videos have found so much success and that recommending other videos in the outro is working well for you. For those interested, Syed’s talking about interlinking videos through annotations and you can check out his latest videos for a good example of how to execute that.
Heyo Nick, great write up here.
After reading the other YT guide and how those guys rocked YT with their sales video, I’ve come to the conclusion that the best form of advertising now is through video.
KISS – kiss it simple and short!
Sheyi
I agree that video, when done right, is the best form of online advertising today. Keeping it simple and short is important — but a sales video reaching the success of the Dollar Shave Club requires the convergence of many other elements.
Hi Nick,
Personally I absolutely love video!! What better way for your audience to get to know you?!
But I do have one problem with it. I, like many others, have watched YouTube videos which have included all 21 of your suggestions but, for some unknown reason, it has not been viewed as many times as you expected.
Conversely I follow 2 extremely well known people who only have a little intro jingle & then they just sit there doing a head & shoulders chatty video.
Both these people have very high viewing figures for their videos!!
Why is this? Personally I really believe that, with all the good will in the world, some people just come over better than others! Let me give you an example of what I mean. Let us look at TV news channels. I live in the UK & have loads of news channels to watch – just like everybody else wherever in the world you live. But WHY do I choose to watch the one I do? ALL the other channels report the same facts about the same report in an equally professional manner but I choose the one I do because…. I just like the way they come over!!!!
DO you understand what I`m saying? What are your thoughts?
Thank you
Nick
I see what you’re saying and I largely agree. Some people are simply more charismatic on video and those people have an advantage. It’s always good to play to your strengths. With that said, there are many potential reasons why people who are doing everything right on YouTube aren’t finding huge success. If I had to guess I would say it’s either because (A) they haven’t chosen a targeted niche, (B) they haven’t been at it long enough, or (C) maybe they’re missing that X factor you described and they would be better suited to communicate their message through text / audio.
I do trust all the ideas you have offered on your post.
They’re very convincing and can certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are very brief for starters. May you please lengthen them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.
I’ll see what I can do, free xbox live games.
Great Post! Exactly where my focus is right now.
#6 keywords->I phrase search not broad on google keywords, picking keywords with 3,000 monthly searches or higher then go to youtube and search your keyword in quotations “keyword or keyphrase” this shows me how many videos are optimized for that keyphrase less competition easier to rank.
#22 Create a clickable overlay. Targeted traffic back to your website. Be logged in, goto ads.youtube.com, setup your ads account, choose your videos, bid only a penny, back to youtube, edit video of yours you bid on now a CTA overlay box will be there for you to create your overlay for 0.01 warmed up traffic
P.S you can get video intros done for you with your logo or text at fiverr.com lots to choose from
That’s great advice about targeting keywords of 3,000 monthly searches or more. I haven’t made any of my own YouTube ads and I didn’t realize that you could bid as little as a penny. Thanks again for the insight.
Nick, video engagement helps you rank video responses really help e-mail if you would like to exchange video responses to help each other.
Thanks for this really useful post. Although I knew about pretty much all of them, I had never seen them compiled and explained in one place. This is very helpful, because now I can go down the list and implement them all. Knowing about something is not the same as having an actionable to-do list.
That was the idea behind this post. I’m glad to hear you’re finding it helpful.
Woooowww…. I’m about to go apply these to my youtube video ….lol im only at like 300 views so hopefully thing helps.
the information in this post can be sold man ! very useful
I bet some
of you, guys, already heard about MGcash. If not you should definitely contact
them! They give you a lot of various tools to convert traffic into revenue.
Just visit mgcash(.)com. You’ll like it!
Hey Nick,
Great post! I appreciate the amount of content and detail you share about the subject. Its just what I needed in order to get started with my projects. Quick question… does it make a difference if you blog before you vlog, or vise versa? I have a blog to book strategy where I blog, make Youtube videos, and then publish an ebook to sell on Amazon Kindle, but I’m wondering how videos should fit into my strategy. Any pointers?