Business Website Training YouTube Creation and Management Page

What Is YouTube?

YouTube is a video sharing website and service that was launched in 2005 and was acquired by Google shortly after in 2006.  Videos that are posted can be viewed directly on YouTube, embedded in other individual websites, and shared on many of the social media platforms as well.  YouTube is used for a variety of applications ranging from entertainment to promoting business development and marketing.  Uploaded media is available and user friendly on most of the modern day devices ranging from televisions to smart watches and everything in between.  Most people enjoy a visual experience and YouTube has made watching and sharing their videos simple and easy for the user.  Clearly this is one of the main reasons why they are leading the industry with over 150 million hours viewed daily and over 2 billion users (2019).  One of the many features of YouTube is users can become involved and part of the overall experience with liking, commenting, and subscribing to videos and channels.

Video Optimization

Rule #1 – Do not forget to optimize your videos.  Just as website pages have to be optimized for the search engines to rank them naturally or organically (without paid advertising) so do YouTube videos.  These searches can be very competitive and require detailed optimization in several key areas.

Video title and description are at the forefront for optimizing your videos.  Keywords play a big part in these two all-important areas.  Proper keyword research should be done prior to configuring your title and descriptions.   Knowing the audience intention is important information that will help you configure your regular and long tailed keywords.

Other areas of optimization include: linking from your social channels to your video, adding tags that include your keywords and keyword phrases, and adding closed captions to reach a larger global audience – lets not overlook the hearing impaired and the fact that YouTube is worldwide.  Adding your videos to playlists is another form of optimization as well.

Who is Doing this Effectively?

All groups of people are successfully marketing and growing their online presence and business with YouTube.  Many people think that they can not do it but the fact is yes you can.  We can accomplish almost anything that we put our mind to.  There is not just one category or group of people that make it and are successful with YouTube.  The audience is larger now than ever before and the numbers consistently keep growing.  Don’t talk yourselves out of developing an online business with YouTube because you have never done it before.  Actually there is a video for that.  All joking aside, almost anybody can do this.

Generating More Traffic to Your Site

There is a multitude of ways that you can drive and generate additional traffic to your primary business website with YouTube.  One example is while educating or informing your audience in your video simply tell them and state who you are and what company you are with, then give the viewers your website address.  With quality video content your viewers are likely to be impressed and visit your website.

Having multimedia embedded within your website enhances your web page and in most cases improving your overall natural or organic rankings which can lead to increased traffic on your site.

Posting and sharing your videos on several different platforms such as your business blog and social media are great ways to create links and potentially drive more traffic to your site.

All of these methods are proven to generate more traffic.  Let’s not forget that YouTube videos can build upon themselves, meaning the more videos that you have online the more potential gain in traffic for your website.  It can be as simple as that.

Personalizing Your Business

Depending on your business platform personalizing your business can be a difficult task.  We all know that it’s a general rule of thumb that people like to know who they are doing business with.  Videos are a huge breakthrough in this area.  Be yourself and let your personality shine through.  Your viewers are sure to learn from you and understand that you are a professional within your industry.  This process can lead to establishing you as a true authority within your field.

Building trust and establishing your brand online takes time.  YouTube videos can speed this process up dramatically and can be foundational in the overall success of your website sales and growth.

Having a responsive professional website that clearly directs your potential clients to desired information quickly is also critical when it comes to conversion.

We all know what happens when people trust a business.  In many cases they purchase now, and with an exceptional experience these customers are likely to purchase from you again.

Customer Interaction

YouTube allows a multitude of ways for your viewers to interact and engage with you and you with your viewers.  Subscribe: Viewers can choose to subscribe to your channel.  New videos that you publish will be placed in their subscription’s video feed as recommended videos for them to watch.  Like / dislike videos:  Your viewers can click on the thumbs up or thumbs down for every video indicating if they like or dislike the video.  Commenting: Every individual watching your video can leave comments about your content and you can respond to their comments.  This is great way to interact with your community.  Many times viewers will ask questions.  In my opinion and this is one of the best areas to earn their trust and credibility.  Responding to your viewers questions and suggestions through comments often leave big opportunities for new videos and showing your viewers that you care and are responding to them.  Share: Your videos and YouTube channel can be shared via social networking platforms.  YouTube makes this very convenient and easy for your audience, they can share your content with their friends or groups by clicking the share button under your video on the YouTube browser.

Viewer Attention

With so much information available at our fingertips, promptly capturing and retaining the attention of potential clients is at an all time high for importance. It is so easy for them to simply click the back button and make another selection (and when they leave, they typically do not come back).

While written content has and will continue to have its place, video is at the forefront for capturing and retaining viewer attention.  It is no secret that people are visual and what is more visual than a well done video?

A well planned introduction and initial video roll out (explainer) is of the utmost importance for gaining viewer attention.  Your intro should be roughly 30-60 seconds in length and include a brief description of your companies services or offerings and why they should choose you.  Be enthusiastic and let your passion shine.

You are going to either win or lose your viewer attention in the early part of your introduction/explainer so be certain to hit your major points clearly and early.

Global Audience

Did you know that over half of the YouTube views come from outside the United States?  YouTube has launched local versions in more than 91 countries and can be navigated in a total of 80 different languages.

Based on your services offered (e.g., if you are a plumber looking to build your business locally for in-home services) it does not make sense to reach out to a global market or audience.  If you are selling goods from your website and using drop shipping services that can ship internationally, or building your YouTube channel to generate income, then yes it makes sense to optimize your videos from the beginning for the global marketplace.

Global audience optimization should include: 1) supported translated captions (their chosen language in written words on the screen just like the movies), 2) optimize and translate your video titles and meta descriptions in the chosen languages, 3) be thorough when it comes to translation; translate as much content as possible (e.g. don’t forget to translate your channels overall description and details).  Also consider including your international viewers in your contests and giveaways to keep them involved and engaged.

Live Streaming

Streaming video live is becoming a very popular way for channels to interact and engage with their audience.  Live streaming can be done quickly and easily with a smartphone or tablet and the YouTube app.

Email Campaigns

Many consumers love videos and we all know that they can be entertaining, engaging, fun, and informative.  Adding a video to your email marketing campaign can be a difference maker, the numbers are awesome with the click through rate increasing up to 50% and open rates increasing at 19% with an added video.  The highest percentage of click through rates come from videos that have an image overlay that is enticing and draws them into clicking it (click here for an example).

Keep in mind that embedding videos in emails is a fairly new practice and there can be obstacles that present themselves.  For example Gmail from Google is 100% compatible to work with videos and can be viewed directly in the email while some of the other email platforms are not currently able to support video viewing.  In time we believe that most mainstream email providers will be able to handle and play videos.  Don’t let this discourage your email marketing with video efforts because it can be very rewarding it just requires more initial legwork.

Business Blogs and Videos

Business Blogs are proven marketing platforms and are quality content generators.  Videos can be placed within the content to give your viewers a visual experience.  The blog posts today that are consistently ranking higher within the search engines naturally or organically (not paid ads) are typically content rich  being at 1500 plus words – the more more the better without compromising quality.  Blog posts should also have pictures and diagrams strategically placed throughout to keep the user engaged.  Search engines love blog posts when they are done correctly.  Remember to always stay focused on creating the best possible content and video content for the topic at hand.  Quality counts and the search engines will reward you for it.

Social Sharing

YouTube videos and your social media collaborations can be great ways to introduce and promote your new videos as you release them.  Your videos can be shared on many social media platforms including: Twitter, Tumbler, Linkedin, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.

Several different methods and strategies can be utilized here from your perspective.  For example you can post your video on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, then on Twitter inform your friends and followers that you have just posted a new video and give a brief overview or description of your latest release.

Viewers are able to share your videos with their social networks easily.  It is common for a video creator to ask the viewing audience to share the video with their friends.  In many cases it is as simple as saying “if you like this video be sure to give it a thumbs up, share it with your friends, and don’t forget to subscribe.”  When your video is shared on many different social networks within different groups it increases the videos ranking status and that can equal many more views.

Collaborations

Collaborations with other channels within the same category or niche is a good way to team up and generate more views and subscribers that will follow your channel.  Teaming up with a similar channel can be approached in a large or small fashion.  Completed together in video or shot separately with video clips, either way it can be very good for your channel and business.

Collaborations are more than the latest fad, they are a solid proven way to grow and build your audience and can work very well if approached correctly.  Some important guidelines and considerations should be: Stick to a similar category or niche with like minded video creators.  Ethics and Values: This area is very important, getting together with people who have similar values and morals is foundation here.  Lets say that you have a family friendly channel, you definitely do not want to offend your viewers or subscribers by getting together and partnering with someone who may be pushing the family friendly boundaries with their personality and content.

Several Ways to Make Money

There is more than one way to earn income from video marketing on YouTube. Obviously driving more traffic to your primary website where you sell goods or services is an income producer. Additional you can apply to become a YPP (YouTube Partner Program member).  To do so you must be in good standing by having 4000+ hours of valid play time and 1000+ subscribers.  After this approval process you can start making money from the views of your videos from YouTube. Many channels will sell merchandise (T shirts, coffee cups, hats, etc.) that is geared around their channel’s brand and identity. Affiliate linking and marketing is yet another avenue many take.  It can be a simple as placing affiliate links in the description below and mentioning it during the video. The ways to bring in additional income from YouTube are almost endless, we have listed only a few of the popular ones.  Many savvy online marketers take advantage and combine several of the income producing opportunities to maximize their potential income gains.