In 2019, the famous YouTube platform surpassed 2 billion users and an increasing number of people are focusing on video when searching for information.
Creating video content on YouTube has therefore become a great opportunity for any company that wants to build customer loyalty and attract new ones.
In this article, experts from our Montreal web agency present the 5 steps to creating a successful YouTube channel.
Define the goal of your YouTube channel
First, ask yourself the question: “What is the goal of my YouTube channel?”.
Would you like to answer questions that people have about your products and services in an effort to help them? Do you simply want to present your services? In addition, will you address one or more topics related to your company?
If you want to cover several topics, we strongly recommend that you create YouTube playlists for each theme. This will make it easier for the user to navigate your YouTube channel and better understand what you are talking about in your videos.
Publish quality videos
Your YouTube channel’s success largely depends on the video content you publish.
Offer relevant content that will interest your audience. Then, make sure you share quality content by following the advice of our experts:
- If you choose to film yourself or your colleagues, make sure that the user can hear you. You can use a microphone if you notice that the sound is not clear enough.
- During editing, try to play with the settings to make your video pleasant and lively (brightness, changing the shot, adding illustrations, etc.).
- Try not to illustrate your words with too much data that could become outdated.
- For example, if you say “today, 20% of customers…”, what will happen in 3 or 4 years?
- Add subtitles. An increasing number of people watch videos without turning on the sound. If someone wants to watch your video with the sound off and you have not added any subtitles, they will certainly leave your channel.
Maintain the appearance of your YouTube channel
Of course, the appearance of your channel doesn’t matter as much as the content you publish, but it’s still an important factor in your success as a YouTuber! A channel that is pleasant to visit and good quality videos will greatly contribute to enhancing the user experience.
Follow the advice of our community management experts:
- Personalize your YouTube channel to reflect your brand. YouTube allows you to add a profile photo and a cover photo, so display your company logo and colours!
- Choose short titles that clearly describe the content of your videos.
- Think about your video thumbnails. YouTube offers you thumbnails from your video, so you can choose one that illustrates the topic presented. Alternatively, you can also create your own thumbnail to provide a clear and high quality visual. This also allows you to define your brand identity on YouTube.
Add your keywords to your YouTube videos
Adding your keywords to your written content will help users find your videos more easily.
You can add these keywords in a number of ways:
- In the video title, this will help the user understand what the video is about at first glance.
- In the video description. YouTube only displays part of the description and to view it in full, the user has to click on a link.
We therefore recommend that you explicitly present the topic of your video in the visible section by including your keyword. This will help the user learn about the theme without having to make any extra effort and it will also help search engines to better position your video.
- You can insert your keyword, similar vocabulary and words related to your industry in the tags.
These various optimizations can be made in the settings of your video, in the “details” section.
Improve the internal linking of your YouTube channel
You can work on the internal linking of your channel to encourage users to watch your other YouTube videos.
This optimization works in the same manner as the internal linking of your website. You will be able to link your videos together using “cards”.
You can add these cards by going to the settings of your video and clicking on the “cards” section.
With this option, you can insert links to another YouTube video on an anchor text that clearly shows the topic covered in the video in question. This will increase the likelihood that the visitor will navigate through your YouTube channel.
However, we recommend that you follow certain rules to ensure that you create relevant cards:
- Make sure the videos you mention in these annotations are related to what you say in the video so that the linking is logical.
- Avoid adding these cards at the beginning of your video to avoid losing the user’s attention. Ideally, they should be added towards the end of the video, once the user has grasped the topic of the video they were initially watching.
- Do not include too many cards to avoid spamming the user and annoying them. Choose one or two truly relevant links that would bring real added value to your visitor.
Conclusion
Creating a relevant YouTube channel is a great way to prove your expertise and encourage people to discover your website. To this end, you can interact with your audience by recommending that they subscribe to your channel or discover blog articles on the subject by adding the link in the video description.
If you need help managing your social networks or promoting your brand online, feel free to contact us, we will be happy to help you!