Creating a video is a creative process which involves a lot of brainstorming, editing and producing. But the success of your video does not 100% rely on the quality or originality of that video.

Whether your video is going to be a success is determined by how many people will be able to find it and watch it.

Don’t underestimate the discoverability of your video. It may make or break your whole video marketing strategy performance.

One of the biggest channels that can drive findability of your video is search engine optimization, i.e. optimizing your video page for it to rank in search engines (mainly Google and Youtube search) for relevant keywords.

And one of the most important SEO elements of any page is its title.

What is a Youtube title?

“Title” is what you see on the browser tab when you open any Youtube page:

It is controlled by the “Title” field which is required when you upload your video to Youtube:

In the code of the page the title can be found within <title></title> tags.

On a Youtube video page, the title is also repeated underneath the video as the main heading making it also an on-page SEO element.

Youtube allows you to enter up to 100 characters to the title field and I recommend making the most of those 100 characters.

How can titles impact the findability of your video?

Page titles are key on-page SEO elements because they do both:

• Page titles are direct ranking factors (Google uses them to understand what the page is about)
• Page titles impact click-through by being the most visible parts of standard search snippets.

In that respect, Youtube SEO is not much different from any other types of SEO. The only slight difference is Youtube videos also get an additional section in organic results which you can target: Page titles are also included next to video thumbnails in video carousels:

Since titles are so important for your video findability and clickability, spend some extra time brainstorming effective video titles. Here are a few ideas:

How to create an effective Youtube title

1. Include your keyword

This is important in the context of this article. Keywords are still very important for SEO because they still help search engines understand the main topic of your page.

Keyword research is also a great way to estimate a demand for any topic (by looking at the search volume).

Identifying your main keyword and including it into the page title will help that video page rank for that keyword driving views for your video and generating additional brand visibility to your business. There are lots of tools and plugins allowing you to identify your target keywords.

It is a good idea to grab URLs of your competing videos and run them through this SEO Content Checker to identify their keyword usage and learn from that:

2. Make it sound interesting

I know it sounds obvious but there are too many boring video titles for me not to mention it.

Your video title needs to invite a click, so make sure it is interesting enough to invite one.

I realize it sounds easier than it really is and in many cases it is also highly subjective. But there’s a tool to help.

Using ChatGPT will help you find some ideas, in case you are stuck. Here’s what the tool was able to generate when I requested the following “Generate video title ideas that will include “Youtube marketing” keyword. Make those titles sound intriguing:”

There are quite a few pretty nice ones. If you don’t like what the tool suggested, keep asking it for more, changing your request just a bit to make it think harder.

This tool is great but make sure to pick a title that won’t over-promise. There’s a fine line between “intriguing” and “click-baiting.” Try and avoid the latter as it may reflect badly on your branding strategies.

3. Include numbers

Including a number in your page title has proven to be an effective way to get more people to click it. Click-through is likely to be an (indirect) ranking factor, so if more people click your title, there’s a good chance it will rank higher.

You cannot make each of your videos a listicle though, so you won’t be able to use this trick in each of your Youtube titles. But it is a good format to keep in mind and use from time to time.

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4. Mention a brand (if there’s one to mention)

Finally, if your video is about a well-known brand (for example, if that video is of you speaking at an event) or, more importantly, if you create it in collaboration with a well-known expert and/or influencer, include that name in your title.

Not only will it help your video rank for that searchable name, it will also increase its click-though thanks to people recognizing that name. 

Youtube also allows you to tag that name in the title (much like tagging works on Twitter or Facebook). If you add @ and then start typing that name, Youtube will allow you to select that name from the drop-down (if that brand or person has a Youtube channel). This will notify them on the mention and urge them to engage with the video helping its visibility:

No need to include your brand name though (unless that video is all about you or your company). If you pick your Youtube name well, it will help you build your brand’s recognizability with every high-ranking video because the channel name is always included in search snippets.

Keep a close eye on your results

Finally, creating an effective title is something that you can never do perfectly. There’s always room for improvement and experimentation. Learn from other well-performing videos in your or outside your niche and never stop experimenting.

Monitor video carousels for your important keywords to get notified when a new video succeeds in getting there and not what may have brought them that success. There are SEO monitoring tools that can help you with that task:

Additionally, keep a close eye on your Youtube analytics to monitor keywords that generate views from Youtube search and learn from those results:

Conclusion

You spend hours creating your video. It deserves a good title which will help your video get found. Spend some time brainstorming an effective title, experiment with different formats and measure your success. Good luck!

The post How to Write YouTube Titles for SEO appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

I grew the Think Media YouTube channel to 1.9 million subscribers.

When I think about the journey to a 7-figure following, I look at the secrets to YouTube growth that would have made me grow faster. Tips like how many videos to post before calling it quits, avoiding ‘selfish’ content at all costs, and strategically creating search-based content.

If I could do it all over again, I would incorporate these tips into my YouTube strategy from Day 1. And if I was starting over today, I wouldn’t be fearful that I couldn’t grow back my audience. Here’s why…

Right now is the best time to create content on YouTube. Since the lockdown in 2020, we’ve seen YouTube viewership is still skyrocketing. Consumption is up over 80%, according to Cisco (EIGHTY PERCENT!).

In 2019 there were about 15 billion minutes of YouTube videos watched. As you’re reading this article, that number is closer to 32 billion in some industries.

The time to be a creator is here.

But uploading your first YouTube video is, understandably, scary. The thought of seeing a meager 10 views and having your peers know you’re just starting out isn’t exactly thrilling. It’s the reason so many people decide to put off their YouTube dreams, despite watching their favorite creators every day and wishing they were in their shoes.

Your favorite creators started with one YouTube video and, most likely, 10 total views. But, they kept pushing through—knowing that if they found their rhythm, they could turn this into a career. And finding that rhythm comes down to avoiding these 5 mistakes that I learned the hard way on the road to 1.6 million followers.

It’s time to punch fear and perfectionism in the face, and press record (while growing your audience gracefully as you avoid these mistakes).

Mistake #1: Judging Your Performance BEFORE You Post Enough Videos

You need to post your first 35 videos. I know exactly what you’re thinking. It’s the same thing *I* would be thinking if somebody told me to post 35 videos when I was struggling with getting my first video into the world.

“35 Freaking videos. That’s kind of crazy.”

There’s a reason for this number. Before that 35th video, you’re going to be judging your results way too early. You’ll see your following growing by 10-20 followers a week and feel like you’re not making progress. And you’ll be tempted to quit.

This is one of the biggest mistakes new creators make. They post a few videos, don’t get the results you’re looking for, and decide YouTube isn’t for you.

That’s why you’ll hold yourself accountable for 35 videos. Those videos will trigger the algorithm to get things going or help you see where you can pivot to find success. With over 2,000 videos, I’ve had a couple of failed YouTube channels that led me straight to the successful ones. 

You win, you learn, and you have to fail forward—and actually want to play.

Mistake #2: Making ‘Selfish’ Content

YouTube follows the same rules of marketing. You have to answer the “Who?” and “What?” questions before you commit to posting. Without those answers, your channel won’t serve your audience. It’ll only serve you, and the topic that interests you that day.

Answer these 2 questions to avoid making selfish content:

1. Who are your videos serving?
2. What problem do you solve for them?

Creators that answer this question make service content. The ones who don’t, make selfish content and eventually quit YouTube.

When my co-author of YouTube Secrets Benji Travis and I, met with Gary Vaynerchuk, multiple New York Times bestselling author and one of the leading social media experts in the world, we asked him: “What advice would you give to new YouTube creators?”

Here’s what he said:

I think it’s about, are you putting out entertainment? Are you putting out education? Because 90% of people are putting out selfish content.

Ninety percent of people are putting out press releases. They want you to think something about them. They’re making it selfish for themselves. They wanted to go to Maui and surf, so that’s the content you’re getting.

But did that bring you any value? They want you to think they’re cool. 90% of the content right now are people acting like PR agents for themselves? I’m asking people to look like educators or entertainers.

Do you think about the audience first? Or don’t you?

The reason people aren’t getting to 1,000 subscribers is that they’re not thinking about their audience first. They’re thinking about what content *they want* to create and the benefits that could come from choosing that creator path. For example, if you’re thinking, “I want to be a travel vlogger,” have you considered how your content serves the audience you want to grow? Or are you more focused on a free fancy hotel stay with a giraffe eating breakfast with you?

That’s what Gary’s saying (and I’m echoing). And here’s another Gary tip—pick either entertainment or education content to create. Both types of content are exploding right now.

As I said, there’s never been a better time to create content.

Mistake #3: Choosing to Get Your YouTube Wisdom the Slow Way

Post your first video, today.

Stop reading this blog and go shoot a video on your phone and go post your first video (for real!). Once you’re posting, it’s time to ‘skill up’ in 2 ways:

#1: Identify the skills you need to learn (like video editing, designing thumbnails, and camera presence).

#2: Identify 5-10 successful channels in your niche and study what they’re doing and how you can add your own spin to it. (Don’t be scared of competition, this means you have a market!).

There are 2 ways to get wisdom. The slowest way is through your own mistakes. The fastest way to get wisdom is through others’ mistakes. That’s the beauty of buying a book, watching other creators’ YouTube channels (like mine), and learning from experts who can tell you exactly what to do.

You don’t have to be a YouTube expert to get started with your first video. But, you do need to have the basics down. Your videos should always be improving, especially as you learn more about:

• How to create eye-catching thumbnails
• How to name your videos catchy titles
• How channels in your niche are getting views
• How channels in your niche are editing their content

Your plan isn’t to copy what they’re doing. It’s to study what they’re doing and figure out how you can add your own spin to it. The spin that attracts the right audience for *you*.

Shorten your learning curve by getting your wisdom the fast way—learning through others’ mistakes.

Mistake #4: Not Creating Search-Based Content

Search-based content answers specific questions. It’s the content that meets a YouTube search of “how to train my dog to sit” or “how to take care of a fiddle leaf fig tree.” This is the content I focus my YouTube channels around, even though there’s some debate on it.

Creators wonder how much YouTube tags really impact their views and reach. A lot of people are asking if YouTube is even still a search engine. The answer is a loud, yes. YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world (Google is the first).

Sixty-five percent of people who use YouTube are using it to solve a problem. If people are going to YouTube to solve a problem, the best way to get discovered is to answer their question.

To be clear, this isn’t the only content you’ll ever make. You’re not stuck in “answering question” purgatory. But, you should start with search-based content to help your channel get views and subscribers. If people aren’t searching for your content, it’ll be really hard for it to get seen. The YouTube algorithm isn’t like TikTok—you’ll need to strategize getting views and a following on the platform.

That’s why answering the two questions above is so important. Every video idea should start with answering:

1. Who are your videos serving?
2. What problem do you solve for them?

Once you have subscribers, you can start to expand your content because they know you. They’re not just there to get a question answered. Subscribers are there to hang out with you.

• Are you crafting content that you’ve researched and that people are interested in?

• Are you crafting content that people are interested in watching?

Mistake #5: Avoiding Committment to the Long-Term Vision

If you want to ensure your YouTube channel never gets off the ground, maxing out at 50 views per video and 100 subscribers, here’s what you have to do. Dabble. 

The main reason people don’t reach 1,000 subscribers is that they’ve never actually made a real commitment to getting there. They dabble with YouTube. But like any marketing strategy, when you dabble—you get subpar results. And those subpar results trick you into thinking people don’t like your content or you’re not cut out for YouTube.

That’s not the case, at all.

Commitment is the foundation of all accomplishments. Commitment is the little choice we make every day that leads to the final results we’re looking for. And you’ll need to commit to growing on YouTube.

I can’t promise you an easy ride. Chances are, your YouTube growth will be hard and come with its fair of challenges. But, I can promise you that it’s worth it.

Commitment is showing up and making the hard decisions consistently. You don’t get bulging biceps by doing push-ups once. You don’t watch the fitness DVD one time and all of a sudden turn into chiseled Brad Pitt from Fight Club.

You do it through daily repetitious discipline. You keep showing up. You keep sweating. You keep doing the work. Wishing is not committing. It’s about making this a priority. 

Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. Failure is a stepping stone to success.

Become a YouTube Superstar (For Your Niche)

You don’t need a famous YouTuber friend to get your channel off the ground. You also don’t need years of marketing experience to get your first 1,000 followers. All you need is the motivation to hit publish on your first video—and these 5 mistakes written on a post-it note near your desk.

Refer back to these mistakes as your channel starts to grow, you record more videos, and especially when you’re thinking of quitting.

• Which mistake have you accidentally started making?
• Do you need to post more videos before you quit (ahem, 35!)?
• Have you been taking YouTube seriously, or just dabbling?

YouTube wants you to create content. They make money when you post videos people want to watch. That’s part of what makes this such a great time to be a creator. YouTube is on your side, but you have to play by the demands of their users. For YouTube, that’s creating entertaining or educational content that answers questions your audience is curious about while nurturing a relationship with their (soon-to-be) favorite creator.

The real failure for YouTube creators is quitting, and I know you’re better than that.

Shift into the mindset that you can dominate YouTube for your niche—because you can.

Need More Guidance? Attend Sean’s Workshop!

Sean Cannell will be hosting a live workshop for DigitalMarketer Lab members in January 2022. If you’d like to attend the live session, you’ll need to be a member. As a member, you’ll also be eligible to win a free YouTube Creator Kit if you gain 1,000 subscribers during the workshop.

Sean Cannell

Sean Cannell is one of the most watched video content experts in the world and one of his channels was listed by Forbes as one of the “Top 20 Channels That Will Change Your Business.”
He is an international speaker, best-selling author of the book YouTube Secrets and his YouTube channel, Think Media, reaches over 21.5 million people a month. Sean has been hailed as one of the most successful online video experts – first building a multiple six-figure business through affiliate marketing and then going on to build a seven-figure media company focusing on online education that he still runs today.
Sean and his team are on a mission to help 10,000 people quit their day jobs to do what they love. He is passionate about giving tactical, practical advice to use video to spread your message. 
Sean is from Arlington, Washington and currently lives in Las Vegas, NV with his wife Sonja, son Sean Bradley, and their dog Sophie.

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The post 5 Mistakes That Are Limiting Your YouTube Subscription Numbers appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

There’s nothing worse than starting an SEO plan for a client that does understand that SEO can be a LONG game. Even after you’ve beat them over the head with that fact, the client can still get upset for paying month after month with only little to show.

That’s where Google’s little brother YouTube comes to the rescue! By adding a video marketing plan to your clients SEO strategy. You can help them get quick wins. 

You see, when your little brother makes you billions of dollars, little brother doesn’t have to wait in line like the other websites for that page 1 ranking, little brother cuts the line with the 3 video carousel that will be right on page 1 of Google. 

Getting your clients videos to rank in that video carousel will help your client feel good about working with you +PLUS help your SEO plan stand out from your competition.

Here are 3 Video SEO tips to help your client snag that top spot! 

• Determine what long tail or short tail keywords you want to go after and craft your content verbiage around that. Have your client say those words in the video. 

• Once you upload that video, correct the close caption transcript google creates, when you do that, Google will mark that video optimized.

• Create an eye-catching thumbnail. You don’t want to claim that spot and have a boring, unclickable thumb nail. Make sure you design an image that’s quick to read, understand and answers the question they just searched for.

If you’re like, Doug, how do I even begin to create that video content for my clients YouTube channel? 

Well, we at Magnfi have you covered check out our white label option at Magnfi.com and have your own in-house scalable video service offering.

I hope you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching!

– Doug

The post 3 Ways to Use YouTube to Hack Google’s SEO Algorithm appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

The Haps

YouTube wants to encourage creators to stop sending their fans to alternative services like Patreon by offering a similar service called Super Thanks.

Super Thanks enables fans to support their favorite channels, while giving creators access to a new source of revenue.

For creators, building a business isn’t a one-size-fit-all approach. Some may gravitate towards tools like channel memberships while others may double down on Super Chat. At YouTube, we’re always looking for fresh ways creators can diversify their revenue streams. That’s why I’m excited to unveil our fourth Paid Digital Good — Super Thanks. This new feature gives creators yet another way to earn money while also allowing them to strengthen relationships with viewers.

YouTube

What It Means for Marketers

On the face of it, Super Thanks looks like a convenient new way for YouTube content creators to monetize their following by giving fans the option to “thank them” with money (while greasing YouTube’s wheels at the same time). The problem is that the majority of YouTube users expect free content, and when they want to support their favorite content creators, they expect to receive something in return.

Unlike an exclusive community/subscription service like Patreon where content creators can treat members to exclusive content, community access, or “insider” information, Super Thanks doesn’t deliver anything but an animate GIF and a “distinct, colorful comment to highlight their purchase.” Sure, the content creator might appreciate it, but they’d probably appreciate subscribers purchasing their products, services, or gear much more.

My guess is that YouTube will realize this and simply buy Patreon for a bazillion dollars.

The post YouTube Launches “Super Thanks” and It’s Super Stupid appeared first on DigitalMarketer.

In the world of social media marketing—planning needs to become your best friend if you want to find the success you’re looking for.

We’re not talking about just getting tons of followers… we’re talking about those YouTube videos that make SALES.

And the only way to make those sales is to publish the videos that drive viewers to your landing pages. That’s where your content calendar comes in.

If you don’t have a content calendar, you’re going to find yourself confused and unsure of what’s on your plate really quickly. This strategy might work for a little bit but after a while, you’re going to realize that scalable strategies are where it’s at.

Having a content calendar is going to give you a roadmap of what’s on your plate this month and when you should be promoting what offer. It’s going to be one of the biggest reasons you’re getting more than followers, you’re making SALES! And isn’t that why we’re making YouTube videos in the first place?

So let’s dive into how you can create a content calendar for your YouTube strategy that makes your life as a business owner, agency, or marketer sooo much easier.

Here are the 5 steps to creating your YouTube content calendar.

#1: Choose your upload schedule

How often are you going to upload videos?

There are a lot of different schedules you can choose for your YouTube strategy, and there isn’t necessarily one right answer. It just depends on your industry and your team.

For example, a YouTube vlogger can’t expect to get much pay-off from uploading one video a month. For their industry, viewers want to have constant contact with their favorite vloggers and they’ll want to see them as much as possible. Uploading 3 videos per week is a good start for a vlogger.

On the other hand, if you’re an agency owner posting about marketing strategies—you can post one GREAT video per week. Or, if you’re feeling like an overachiever, you can post 3 times a week.

That brings us to the second part of choosing your schedule: your team. If you are a one-person show, make sure your YouTube schedule is realistic. For example, if you need to do all of the work within your agency and shoot, edit, and upload 3x YouTube videos a week—that might lead to biting off more than you can chew.

If you have a 10-person team and you know that between two of your team members they could handle a posting schedule like this, then green light your way to a 3x per week posting schedule.

Decide what schedule works best for your industry and your team and then decide what days your videos are going to live. It could be every Tuesday, or every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Whatever works best for your audience and your schedule.

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#2: Choose the topics you’ll make your videos about

Bet you weren’t surprised to see this task on your content calendar to-do list. That’s right, the second thing you need to create a content calendar is…content.

Sit down and figure out what content works best for your audience right now. You’re going to want to come up with as many content topics as you need to create videos on per month (and maybe a few extras in case one topic doesn’t end up working out).

For example, if you’re posting 1 video per week each month you need 4-6 content ideas. You can either come up with all of these ideas in one brainstorming session each month or come up with 12+ ideas at once so you have 3 months of content ready to film.

But WHERE do you find content topics that your audience will be interested in watching?

• Quora: Search for questions related to your industry and create videos that answer those questions
• AnswerThePublic: Search for your industry and look for questions you can answer in your videos
• Ask your customers: Send out surveys on what content your customers want from you and look through customer feedback for questions that come up often
• Facebook groups: Read through Facebook group posts related to your industry to see what your customer avatar is struggling with
• YouTube: Search YouTube to see what content is doing really well in your niche and figure out how you can make what they have even better

With your upload schedule and content topics in hand, it’s time to whip out your upcoming product launches, promotions, and offers to make sure your content is in line with what you’re selling at the time.

#3: Put your product launches, promotions, and new offers in your calendar

If you’re wondering where your YouTube video topic ideas went—we’ll come back to them in the next step.

First, we want to make sure your upcoming product launches, promotions, and new offers are in your calendar so we know when you’re going to need your content to support certain products or services you offer.

This is the time to put everything in your calendar on the DAY that it is going to launch. You want to have the day your new product is launching, the day you’re going to announce a new promotion, and the day you’re going to talk about a new offer.

It’s important that you have each of these dates because we’re going to work your YouTube videos around these promotions so that your content feeds into everything you’re running at that time.

#4: Put your YouTube video content ideas into your calendar

Alright, now for the part that you probably thought was coming first in this article—putting your YouTube content in your calendar. Now that you have all of your launches, promotions, and offers in your calendar it’s easy to tell what content topic should go live each week.

For example, if we’re running a promotion on our Social Media Mastery Course in the middle of the month, we want to post a social media marketing related YouTube video that week so we get more traffic to that offer.

See what we’re doing here?

Your YouTube strategy isn’t just there for views and followers, you want to be using YouTube as an asset to getting more sales in your business. By pairing your YouTube content calendar with your promotions calendar you’re creating a cohesive calendar that fits together like peanut butter and jelly.

#5: Choose the dates you’ll promote your YouTube videos

Last but not least, your content calendar needs to have the dates that you’ll be promoting your YouTube content as well.

For example, if your schedule is to post YouTube videos on Tuesdays, then you’ll want to be promoting that video on Monday and Tuesday each week.

• On Monday you’ll talk about how it’s going to be live tomorrow and ask your audience to turn their post notifications on so they know when your video is live on YouTube
• On Tuesday, you’ll be reminding your audience that your video just went live and giving them the link to check it out

You want these dates in your calendar so you can SEE what you’re promoting and on what day. This means that when it’s time to promote a video, you’re not stumbling to get your promotional assets together—you’re good to go and can sail smoothly through the day. The reason content calendars exist is to make our lives as content creators easier. Use a YouTube content calendar to fit your YouTube strategy into your entire marketing strategy and to make sure you stay on track with your uploading schedule.

The post How to Create a Content Calendar for Your YouTube Strategy appeared first on DigitalMarketer.