Recently, I was checking one of my videos in YouTube Analytics and noticed that it
was receiving 1 out of 10 ranking by views in the first 24 to 48 hours compared to all other videos
on my channel. In this video, I want to share with you seven guaranteed optimization tips to
get higher views on YouTube. [music]
Number one, create a video series. Instead of thinking about a solo video, think about a series
of videos based upon a common theme so viewers would be more inclined to watch a series of videos
and stay longer on the YouTube platform. This means you need to think about a series
of related topics that will tie into each other so you can put them in a playlist. When a viewer
starts watching a video in a playlist, they'll see all the other related videos on the playlist
and be more inclined to watch multiple videos. Number two, create compelling content. Creating
compelling content means answering the burning questions that your viewers have on their minds.
For example, when I try to come up with a topic for this video, I thought about what is the
answer to some of the most burning questions that viewers have on YouTube. Most viewers are
concerned about getting more views on the YouTube videos, therefore, I chose seven guaranteed
optimization tips to get higher views. If you can nail the right topic for your target audience,
they'll be more likely to watch your video all the way through, but how can you know what your target
audience is interested in so you can publish videos that get a lot of views? Search engines.
If you enter a main keyword in the YouTube search bar, YouTube will give you a bunch of suggestions
based upon what people are searching for. If you want to speed up the keyword research process,
I highly recommend TubeBuddy to find out which keyword phrases are the least competitive
and easy to rank for. I'll post a link to TubeBuddy in the description below this video.
Look at the top videos on your channel. Go into YouTube Analytics, and look at the top
10 videos that are getting most traffic in the last 28 days. These videos have been
proven to generate a lot of traffic so make a similar video by approaching the topic from a
different angle. There's a high probability that this video will also get a high number of views.
Study your competitor's channels. Go to the Audience tab in YouTube Analytics. Look under
Other channels that your audience watches. When you study these channels, look at their top videos
that are currently generating a lot of traffic. This may inspire you to make a similar video by
approaching the topic from a different angle. Number three, create a compelling title. Your
title and thumbnail is what viewers first see in the search engines before they watch your
video. If the title doesn't resonate with your audience, they're not going to click and watch
the video. If they don't watch the video, you won't get any views. When creating your video
titles, think about the value and benefit that you bring into your viewers. For example,
the benefit I mentioned in this video title is to get higher views on YouTube. The value that
I bring is seven guaranteed optimization tips so viewers will know exactly what they're going
to get by reading the title. Some simple ways to create effective titles includes using numbers,
create a sense of urgency or curiosity, ask a question or use comparisons like I did in
this video comparing YouTube Shorts with YouTube Stories, what's the difference.
Here are a couple of common title mistakes to avoid. Spend time creating a compelling title
before you actually make the video. Don't make the mistake of slapping a title on your video after
it's finished because you won't put much thought into it. Another common title mistake is using
the same title in your video thumbnail. The text you use in your thumbnail should be different than
what you use in your title. You also want to avoid using the same title as your competitor's videos
because you'll be competing for the same rankings in the search engines. Make sure you check out
the titles of your competitor's videos before you create the title for your own video. If you
want more title tips, watch this video on 10 title tweaks to get more views on YouTube. I'll place a
link to it in the description below this video. Number four, create a catchy thumbnail. Your
thumbnail image is what viewers first see when they type a keyword phrase in the YouTube search
engine. They'll also see a thumbnail image and suggested videos which are the videos
that appear on the right side of the watch page of the video that they're just watching.
They'll also see a thumbnail image when YouTube recommends your videos on the YouTube home screen.
If you want to get higher views on YouTube videos, your thumbnail has to stand out from
your competitors. Therefore, look at the top five videos in YouTube search
and then try to modify your thumbnail so it stands out from the five competitors. You can do this
by including your face, using contrasting colors, bold text, and creating a design that is different
to your competitors. Typically, I'll create two or three different thumbnails then get feedback
from my wife, members on my Facebook group, or subscribers in my community tab. I also use the
thumbnail split testing feature on TubeBuddy so I can see which thumbnail gets the most traffic.
Number five, increased watch time. YouTube says that if you increase the click-through
rate and the watch time on your YouTube videos, there is a higher probability that
your videos will be suggested by YouTube. To improve your click-through rate, you've got to
create compelling titles and thumbnails, which I explained earlier. To improve your watch time, you
got to create a video that keeps people watching all the way through. You can achieve this by using
a strong hook in the first 30 seconds of your video using graphics, text overlays, transitions,
and having a strong delivery of your content. One of the ways to create a strong hook is to ask
a question or tease about what's coming up later in the video. For every new video that you upload,
try to increase the watch time by at least one percent. You can do this by looking at
the audience retention graph in YouTube Analytics and observe the dips in the
graph. Dips on the graph show where people are losing interest and leaving the video.
The spikes in the graph show where people are more interested in that particular part of the
video. When you make your next video, try to keep people interested all the way through your video
so you eliminate the dips in the graph. This will improve your watch time and increase your chances
of your videos getting recommended by YouTube. Number six, create timestamps. Google announced
in September 2019 that the link to the key moments in your video in the search engines.
Here's an example of one of my videos that currently ranks on the first page of Google
showing key moments where people can watch different parts of the video. Since Google
is the number one search engine on the net, this video receives consistent views every single day.
If you include timestamps or video chapters in your video description, YouTube will direct
viewers to those key moments in the video. Watch this video to learn how to add timestamps to
your video description so you can get more views. Video chapters also help boost audience retention
because viewers can skip to that particular section that they're most interested in.
Number seven, promote your videos on social media channels. If you want to expose your
content to audiences outside YouTube, promote your videos on social media channels. Click
on the share button under your video and post it to the social media sites that are listed there.
Another idea is to create a short video clip of your current content and post it as an
Instagram story or Instagram reel. You can also post it as a story on YouTube channel.
Here's how to crop YouTube videos so you can use it for social media. Go to kapwing.com.
Click on Tools. Click on Crop Video. Click Choose a video. You can upload your video file here or
you can paste the video url in the box here. I'm going to upload a file. Drag the ends of
the track to trim your video. Just going to trim it. After you've trimmed the video, click the Crop
button to crop your video to the desired size. Select the social media to resize your video.
I want to make an Instagram story so I'm going to select 9x16. I can move this around to any
part of the video. Click Done Cropping. You can also add elements to your clip by
selecting the elements from the left sidebar such as Text, Subtitles, Images, Audio, et cetera. When
you finish cropping your video, just click Export Project. Here's my exported video clip that I
created in a few seconds. I'll place a link to Kapwing in the description below this video.
If your community tab is enabled, submit a community post to notify your subscribers
on YouTube. You can also encourage viewers to watch a related video to the video that
they've just watched by linking it in the end screen, pinning it to the top of your comments,
or placing a link to it in the first three lines of your video description.
If you want to go the extra mile and get more views, I highly recommend creating a transcript of
your video content. This will enable people that can't hear well or have the sound turned off be
able to read the closed captions under your video. Use that same transcript to create a blog post
containing your embedded YouTube video. This will help your video get discovered on Google search as
well as YouTube search resulting in higher views. If you want to discover more ways to improve
audience engagement on YouTube videos, watch the video on the screen right now
for 12 ways to improve audience retention on the entire videos. You'll be glad you did.