All right, you created a YouTube channel, slapped up a few videos and then the number of views coincidentally total the number of folks in your family minus (of course) the newborn and toddlers. What can the problem be?
Well, nothing could be wrong with the videos, in fact they may well be absolutely astounding. The answer may well be purely, you haven’t done any “YTO” (I just made that up:-) That stands for “YouTube Optimization”. You have heard of SEO; “Search Engine Optimization”, well, YouTube is the third-largest search engine on the Internet. Consequently we have to optimize all we do in regards to our videos.
In 2006 when I first joined YouTube, I did not know what a keyword was. If you’re not sure of what a keyword is, perform a Google search and become familiar with them. Anyway, my channel name contained my first name and my last initial. With a first name like Kim, I wanted people to know that I was male and that was all I cared about back then. I did not consider that YouTube would ever be used in advertising, it was just a fun place to look at videos and post videos.
So, let us get back to YTO. These days, everything is different. When people need to know how to make anything, what a product does or looks like, many will go to YouTube and hunt for the item or service. If you sell what they are searching for and have a channel name similar to “Fill in Your Name” they are not going to find you. Who the hell is going to be hunting for “My Name”? Not even my mother!
So, even the name of your channel must be YTO’d to the niche you’re involved in. Okay, let us say your niche is “Online Video Marketing”, that is a fantastic longtail keyword, however it’s taken. What do you do? If you are in the United States you can add USA. Obviously if you’re in England you can add UK.
Now here is a little extra food for thought: when search engine spiders do their thing, they also pick up on “user names”. In the example above you may select a username like “Video Marketer USA” At all times be thinking SEO/YTO… moreover this also means the title of each video, the description, and keywords. I’m in all probability leaving something out here but you catch the concept, right!?
Amazingly, YouTube’s technology can even pick up on the relevant words in your video. I find that incredible, although I guess if people can operate a computer with voice recognition software, then YouTube can surely make use of comparable technology.
Bottom line…A little planning goes a long way. Optimize the name of your YouTube channel, your username, the title of your videos and all relevant information to your niche within the video itself…before you even make the video. Agreed, it is a little extra work but when it is done right you’ll blow the doors off this YouTube thing.