3 YouTube Tips for Beginners

Many beginners have asked me for my YouTube tips in passing. So here is the first of several: Creating a YouTube channel and making videos can give you access to an active audience of billions of users watching video on the platform every minute. According to the site’s latest stats, YouTube now has more than a billion users who watch hundreds of millions of hours of video to create billions of views. YouTube is currently the most popular website with local versions of the site in more than 88 countries. Almost everyone on the planet can use YouTube in their own tongue since the site is now available in 76 different languages, which means it now covers around 95 percent of online population. The numbers are staggering.

Using YouTube to get your message out is a great strategy because people love video, especially if you have a blog, a product, or service to promote online. YouTube allows you to upload videos easily for free. But to make YouTube work for you, it takes planning, consistency, a lot of practice and following some simple tips. And if I had to narrow it down to just 3 YouTube tips in a nutshell I’d broadly say:

One of the best YouTube tips I’ve ever been given when I started was to use the YouTube Playbook – it’s a great tool to help you with making great videos that people want to watch and share. It really boils down to this one simple rule in making a YouTube video: your video has to captivate your audience. So it goes without saying that your video has to provide what your audience needs. At the same time, consider some other crucial factors such as video quality, your story, authenticity, entertainment and information.  Some key metrics to gauge your success are the number of views, watch time, audience retention, likes, comments, shares, and subscribers.

Using the right audio and video equipment is important but it doesn’t have to break the bank. Viewers appreciate good audio and well-produced videos although they don’t need to be of professional quality. You can achieve great results with a smartphone. But if you want to achieve a more professional look, some of the video equipment could invest in is a DSLR camera, video lighting kits (most kits come with lighting equipment, stands, dimmers, nets and metal screens) and microphones. You can use a basic video editing software that comes with most computers these days, or you can purchase one like Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro.

If you don’t have a good video camera or recording equipment, consider getting professional help in shooting your videos or you may rent equipment.

When it comes to getting your video found, it’s important to optimise it. As far as getting your video found and seen, here is one of my most important YouTube tips… optimise everything you possibly can.

Let’s say you’re making a video on how to make a pickled fennel salad. It’s important to include buzz words in your video title, video script and the description about your product and service. This helps YouTube and Google deliver your video to people who are searching for a fennel salad recipe.  But keep it natural and honest. So you might title your video: “How to make pickled fennel salad “. Simple. Then tell them the recipe, take your viewers through the steps in your script and transcribe it in your video description. Don’t forget to tell people where they can find more information i.e. your website or another video – and don’t forget to include the links.

Optimising your video actually starts from the time you post your video on YouTube. You’ll be asked to categorise your video before it even goes live, so make sure you place your video in one of the corresponding categories.  For this video example, it could easily fall into the “Howto & Style” category. But you can choose from more categories, too.  Depending on your channel content, I would stick to one general category.

Once you have uploaded your video, make sure to include your keywords below your description box, add the subtitles, use the info cards, don’t forget the end screens, annotations, and the advanced settings.

Don’t forget your social media accounts such as Twitter and Facebook. It’s easy to share the video by providing the YouTube link in your other social media posts.

Promoting can be done online or offline.  You may share your channel and its videos in forums, online groups, on relevant blog sites in comment boxes (as long as you have permission) and also in your emails.

Paid advertising means hiring a professional to help reach more viewers and customers. One way is to use a paid ad campaign using AdWords for YouTube to promote your channel and video content. Paid ads will attract more viewers who may have not found your channel yet. The good thing about this is that you won’t have to pay a steady monthly rate; you will only need to pay for the service once a viewer clicks and views your ad.

So there you have it. A few general YouTube tips to keep in mind on how you can make the most out of YouTube.

The bottom line is, it takes some patience and time to learn the ropes.  But know that a billion plus customers are waiting for your business to be seen on YouTube. The effort is worth it.  So don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity. Make videos that matter and watch your YouTube channel become an awesome marketing tool for your products or brand online!

What’s keeping you from getting started? Or what difficulties are you experiencing with your YouTube videos or channel? Write your comments in box below and who knows! Maybe we will even produce a video answering your questions.