There are two parts to optimizing on YouTube so that people can find your videos and YouTube Channel if they aren’t following a link from somewhere. In contrast to Facebook’s less-than-desired search features, YouTube actually does a good job of returning relevant results to users. However, if your business is posting videos to YouTube to connect with customers and potential customers, you’ll want to follow these easy steps for optimizing both your YouTube Channel and all videos you post to your account.
Your YouTube Channel:
- Add a photo or logo to your channel.
- Select background colors or images that compliment your company brand.
- Vivid Image can help you with a customized YouTube channel if you choose.
- Add complete information about you, your business, and add links to your website and blog.
- Use the “Update” and “Comments” section to update subscribers when you post a new video, or other new information.
- Make sure you frequently check for friend and subscriber requests, comments to approve, and other information in your “inbox” on YouTube.
Your Videos:
- Write a great Title for every video you upload. Don’t keep the default title that YouTube/Your Camera will assign your video.
- Write a quality description of your video using keywords that people might search. Tell people more about the video such as where it was taken, why it was made, what they can expect to see, and what actions you’d like them to take (leave a comment, visit your Channel, subscribe, contact you, etc.)
- Select as many relevant tags as possible. These help people to find your video when searching. Use as many variations as possible, and don’t forget about geographic specific tags.
- Write your own tags/keywords, in addition to any that YouTube suggests.
- Select the best category for your video.
- Decide about comments. Since YouTube is a social network, it is highly recommended you allow comments. You can select “approve comments first” if you’d like.
- Add geotracking to your videos to let people know where your business is located or where the video was taken. Simply enter your address and/or state and zip code to the map at the right.
- Review the thumbnail selection of your video and choose the most flattering or enticing. You will not be able to do this immediately after you upload a video, but after a short time period this option will be available.
- Don’t forget to save your changes!
- Closed Captioning helps make your video handicap and foreign language accessible. To add closed captioning to your videos, go into edit video and select “captions and subtitles”. You’ll have to create a typed manuscript from the video first and save it as a tab-delimited file before attempting to upload. Vivid Image can help you with this too.
