YouTube is huge! It is the second-largest search engine after Google, and over 4 billion videos are viewed on this platform every day. Not only that, a staggering 60 hours of video get upload every minute, and over 800 million unique users visit each month. All these clearly indicate how huge YouTube is, and importantly, reveal that your videos, too, can get the right content visibility.
But how do you make sure your videos aren’t lost in the gigantic YouTube galaxy? How do you win more clicks? Here are some effective ways to create unique, organic traffic for your videos.
Think over your title and video description
Your video title can make or break you. A relevant and appealing title will not only intrigue your viewers but also boost your search result, and that will undoubtedly drive more traffic to your channel. At the most basic, make sure to include some target keywords into your title.
You should also include them in your description. Remember also to add your URL and a brief post that describes your video’s content in your video description.
Choose the right thumbnail
Your thumbnails are the first thing people will see when searching for videos. If it is click-worthy, there is a high likelihood they will proceed to watch your videos. That is what you want, right?
In other words, make sure to use appealing thumbnails. You can customize and upload your own or pick from those offered by YouTube.
Use social media
Do I need to emphasize that social media offers massive potential for YouTubers to uplift their brands and drive organic traffic? However, you don’t need to focus on all social channels. Only focus on those where your audience is most accessible or get you the most engagement.
Optimize for video metadata
Metadata is all the info you enter about a video to help clearly define a video’s subject. These include tags, titles, and descriptions of your videos. When you optimize these key sections, you help rank your video on both YouTube and Google. Bonus! Google owns YouTube, and most videos that appear on Google are from YouTube.
Create high-quality videos
If you can create subpar videos, don’t wait for a miracle to happen. No one likes to watch poorly created videos. Do you? I know you can’t nail at the outset, but with time, you will if you keep on practicing.
Recent activity is a win-win situation
This is as simple as liking or favoriting videos on YouTube. When you do so, these actions will appear in your “Recent Activity” and the “Recent Activity” box of the content creator.
It is a simple way of making YouTube contacts, and it may bring viewers to your page. For example, YouTubers who have been favorited or liked are more likely to click through to have a look at your content in return.
Create a custom background image
Your background image can help you stand out from the crowd. So, instead of using the usual or default images for your channel design, create and upload a unique background image. If you can’t do this yourself, hire a professional.
Add channel tags
This is as essential as tagging your videos with keywords. Doing this will bring the viewers to you. You can find this on your settings option on the My Channel menu.
Brand your page consistently
Branding is crucial no matter the marketing channel. YouTube gives you multiple ways to brand your YouTube channel — take full advantage of those features. Things you can do include customizing your channel background, creating custom headers, showcasing your other social networks, etc.
Leverage annotations
YouTube annotations provide a way for adding interactive commentary to your videos. They act as a call to action on your content to help drive a viewer to complete a certain task, watch more videos, pausing the video, subscribing to your channel, following your brand on Twitter or Facebook, adding a comment, etc.
Feature your best video
YouTube automatically displays your most recent video in the main “Featured” window on your channel page. If you post regularly, this is ideal, but if you don’t, the best option is picking another video to occupy that slot, in this case, your best video. To do this:
- Go to your Creator Studio” settings
- Select “Featured Content” from the left menu under “Channel.”
- Click the “Feature Content” button
- Then choose if you want to use the most recent uploaded video or choose a new video or playlist
Note, if there is already a featured video, you will need to remove it to be able to add another one.
Pay attention to comments
Find time to read your channel comments as well as those posted on your videos, and be sure to respond. It is polite to reply. In fact, when you respond, you make your channel more active.
Remember also to report spam or delete comments because if you don’t, it comes off as if you are ignoring your channel.
Run contest
Contests provide a way to get your audience involved. With a single video, you can encourage likes or comments, collect viewer data, and gain subscribers.
Make the most of playlists
Besides creating a playlist, which can be composed of your most recent or popular videos, make sure to also work on the titles and descriptions you include. Remember that your playlists’ titles and descriptions are good for your viewers, YouTube, and Google algorithms. So do your best to optimize appropriately.
Create transcripts of your videos
Though there have been debates as to whether captions and transcripts can boost ranking, closed captions can help you get more YouTube views. This is because they address the needs of the disabled and international audiences.
Leverage cross-channel promotion
Cross-channeling, when done the right way, can drive traffic to your YouTube channel. You could create blog posts about your channel and embed and link your videos in them. The blog posts (and your new and old videos) in turn, can also be shared with your opted-in subscribers of the blog or YouTube channel or some other email list as a fortnightly or monthly newsletter. The blog posts (and of course, your videos too) can even be promoted on your social media. This cyclical sharing will help you find and lock in followers from a number of channels.
Target the SERPs
While your content must be tailored for both your audience and SEO, there is a need to promote your channel with SEO in mind. That way, it will be easier for your videos to appear on the first SERPs of both YouTube and Google.
Stay on top of trends
Staying on trend is an excellent way to grow your audience, get more exposure, and keep your current fan base. When something is happening in your niche, your fan base will expect you to make a video because they want to hear your opinion on the matter.
Caveat! Before creating any video on any trend, make sure you have good knowledge of the subject so you don’t end up saying something you will regret later.
Is it ok to use the word “video” in the title to generate more YouTube Traffic?
Well, some YouTubers claim this works, and others are of a different view. My advice would be, experiment with both titles: those that include this term and those that don’t, and see which ranks higher. From there, you will know whether it is ok to have “video” in your title or not.
In conclusion
As you see, a little goes a long way. These tips pay off well when implemented the right way. I believe they will help drive more traffic to your YouTube channel. If you need further support and have a question, I will be happy to help.
All the best!