How to Rank in YouTube: How to get more views on YouTube

 

Why use YouTube?

At the time of writing, it’s official –

YouTube is the second most popular

search engine in the world after

Google. And just to repeat what I said

earlier, it really is used as a search

engine in its own right!

There are now over 1 billion viewers of

YouTube across the globe, and it just

keeps growing. Over 4 billion YouTube

videos are viewed each day and in

2012, YouTube had well over a trillion

views! A leading internet research company,

Comscore, found that visitors typically

spend 7 1/2 times longer watching

YouTube videos than their nearest

competitor, Yahoo and with nearly 3

times more viewers! In fact, they found

that 99% of all searchers on Google

looking for videos went straight to

YouTube.

Which site do YOU think of first if you

want to watch a video (non-

pornographic, I mean!)? Yes, YouTube!

And the viewers are yours for the taking.

In fact, try it now. Go to Google and type

in “how to” [fill in the blank, e.g. make

pancakes] followed by the word

“video”. How may YouTube results do

you see in the top 5 results? In fact, take

out the word “video” - chances are there

will still be a scattering of YouTube

results on page one!

Videos appeal to the masses and provide

a tremendous ‘instant fix’, particularly

so now, with literacy and concentration

levels at an all-time low; couple this

with a need to get to information quickly,

people will always turn to videos over

text!

And just by following the simple

strategies outlined in this book and

you’ll be ranking in no time for whatever

particular niche you are in.

What also makes YouTube so powerful

is what I call its ‘stickiness’: there are

very few sites that people will linger on

outside of YouTube, and this is all down

to its video content. Visitors may spend

hours sitting in this one single site. So

you can see why Google returns

YouTube results at the top of its rankings

for just about any search phrase!

Combine this with the self-ranking as

well as self-searching capabilities of

YouTube I mentioned earlier, then you

can see why I firmly believe that this is

really where you need to start seriously

thinking about concentrating your

marketing efforts.

There’s an old adage that goes something

like, ‘if it sounds too good to be true,

then it probably is’. Sorry to disappoint

you all but this expression simply does

not apply to YouTube marketing and I

can’t see this changing, at least for the

foreseeable future!

Here is where you need to start

concentrating your efforts. Make a good

set of videos and use the tactics in this

book and you’ll be seeing the fruits of

your labors for many years to come.

What will I need?

First of all, don’t be scared.

Unless you’re planning on doing a big

stage production, then you won’t need

expensive cameras, lighting, green

screens, etc. to make videos that will

attract thousands of viewers.

If you’re planning on putting yourself on

camera then you can use anything from a

home movie camera to a mobile phone

or a tablet. If you do want to go down

this route, then there’s plenty of good

software you can use, such as iMovie,

VideoEdit or ReelDirector.

The videos I tend to make are simply

‘how-to’ instructional tutorials, so I’ll be

focusing on the ‘screencast’ video

techniques, where you’re basically

filming your own computer screen.

(If you’re interested in the exact

equipment I use then see the Appendix at

the back of the book, where I’ll also

give you a link to my own scripting

document on my website that I use for

producing my own scripts). If you are

new to this, then a detailed script is

highly recommended. This document

also includes an ‘action’ column, which

is a cue for you to do something during

this part of your speech.

I’m assuming you all have your own

ways of capturing your videos. For the

screencasting technique I simply use:

‌‌★A microphone;

★Camtasia Studio screencast

software (but I have also used the

free CamStudio software in

conjunction with Windows Movie

Maker, which still produces very

effective results).

…and that’s it!

The point is, it’s really not about the

lighting or the 3D stereo sound (unless

that’s what you’re promoting!). It’s

really all about the quality of the content

in the videos themselves and that you are

providing something of value to your

viewers. In fact, many of the most

popular videos currently on YouTube

were simply taken on a mobile phone!

Whichever method you use, be natural,

keep it engaging and make sure that what

you’re producing is what people want to

watch!

          Chapter 1 – 

 that get noticed