Uploading a video to YouTube is a breeze – especially with some editing software packages offering a direct upload button. But video marketing requires a few extra steps to ensure you get the most from your videos.
The other day, I posted on new platform changes for YouTube. While the website is changing some things remain the same for optimizing your videos so that they are easier to find. The following are some tips for uploading videos to YouTube:
Titles
Use relevant keywords – including geographic locators – in your titles. Make them active and short. The former will help your videos get found by YouTube’s and other search engines. The later helps viewers to click and watch your video. In addition to the title that you add in the YouTube upload user interface, you should also make sure those titles replace whatever you had for the video’s file name. For example, “Real Estate Video Tour of Beaverton Home” would replace the MVI_2364.mov filename your camera may give it.
Thumbnails
Besides the title, your thumbnail image is one of the first things that viewers will see in their search results. YouTube gives you three typically bad options for choosing a thumbnail. What you should do is opt in to be a partner, which will then give you the option of uploading your own thumbnail. More on optimizing thumbnails can be found in this post.
Descriptions
The first thing you should include in your video description is a link to your website or other desired landing page. To make sure it is linkable, make sure to add http:// at the beginning of the URL.
After adding the link, your description should be a summary of what viewers will see in the video, including keywords, as well as additional information (with clickable links) that may add to the user’s experience. More words are better than less.
Tags
Tags are the same as keywords and are important for helping the search engines understand what your video is all about. In addition to keywords specific to that video, you should consider adding branded keywords, such as your company name, your name, or something else. The reason for this is to help block the competition (or videos about cats) in YouTube’s related videos sidebar.
If you have a lot of videos with a portion are about X and a portion are about Y, the tags feature will be a great way to help curate your videos in YouTube’s new One Channel theme that places an emphasis on user experience and engagement through playlists.
Annotations
Annotations are underutilized by companies posting videos on YouTube. And that is a lost opportunity. In the fall 2012, YouTube allowed you to add annotations that linked back to your website, or a specific page on your website. This was the first time you could click from a video to someplace outside YouTube (although advertisers were given this benefit). YouTube also gives you the option to upload branding or a specific video that will be seen for all videos.
These tips for uploading videos to YouTube will help you get the most from your video marketing. There are a few more options you can pursue for optimizing your videos on YouTube, but I can’t teach you all my magic tricks. Likewise, here is a tip sheet on embedding your YouTube video onto your website.
If you have a question, give me a call or attend my monthly Ask Me Anything marketing happy hour.