How to Get More Views on YouTube: 10 tips for a Complete 2023 Guide

Discover effective strategies to promote and grow your YouTube channel, leveraging the current landscape. With YouTube ranking as the second most-visited website globally and people dedicating up to six hours daily to consuming video content, the need to stand out is evident.

To maximize viewership and increase your YouTube presence, it’s crucial to implement various promotional tactics. Whether you’re a beginner or aiming for continued growth, these tips offer valuable insights for expanding your channel’s reach.

What Count as a View on YouTube and Why is it so Important?

Views on YouTube represent the total number of times a video or channel has been watched. When a viewer plays a video for at least 30 seconds, it counts as a view. Repeat views are counted separately, regardless of the device used, be it a smartphone or desktop. This includes embedded videos and those shared on platforms like Facebook.

Receiving views on your channel page also contributes to the overall count. Utilizing YouTube Analytics, you can track the number of views your channel has garnered within the last 28 days from the Overview tab.

Views hold significance as they impact the YouTube algorithm. The more views your video receives, the higher the likelihood of it being recommended to a wider audience. Additionally, views play a role in generating revenue on YouTube, making it crucial to achieve a return on investment and increased earnings.

Moreover, views play a vital role in building brand awareness and fostering brand affinity on YouTube. While reaching your desired viewership may take time, connecting with prospects at the top of the marketing funnel is essential for long-term success.

Tips for How to Get More Views on YouTube

1. Mastering the Art of YouTube Video Titles

When it comes to YouTube marketing, presentation is key. The success of your video largely hinges on its title. Ask yourself: Does your title capture attention and make your content irresistible?

Crafting compelling titles involves striking a balance between grabbing your audience’s interest and avoiding clickbait tactics. Viewers crave entertaining content and want to know what your video offers right from the start.

YouTube giants like BuzzFeed and WhatCulture excel at using listicles, question-based titles, and hyperbole (“insane,” “…of all time”) to generate views. Titles featuring “best-of” lists or “how-to” guides are also effective options.

Take the time to brainstorm engaging titles rather than settling for the first idea that comes to mind. Aim for a YouTube video title length of around 70 characters, as recommended by industry observations. CoSchedule’s headline analyzer, although not specific to video titles, suggests a length of 55 characters for engaging headlines. This tool is useful for generating YouTube-friendly titles and promoting your channel.

2. Optimizing Your YouTube Videos for Better Visibility

YouTube has become a prominent search engine, often appearing before traditional websites in Google search results. It’s essential to treat your YouTube videos as valuable content that requires optimization for maximum visibility.

To improve your chances of ranking higher on YouTube, follow these best practices for YouTube SEO:

1. Titles and descriptions: Incorporate target keywords into your video titles and descriptions. Utilize tools like Keywordtool.io to discover relevant keyword ideas.
2. Mention keywords in your video: According to Brian Dean of Backlinko, verbally mentioning your target keywords within the video helps YouTube understand its content better.
3. Engagement: YouTube considers user engagement metrics such as likes, comments, and views to determine video rankings in search results.
4. Categories: Assign appropriate categories to your videos to provide YouTube with a clearer understanding of your target audience.
5. Tags: Use relevant tags to provide additional context to YouTube about your video content. Add as many tags as possible to enhance discoverability.

Remember, just like with website SEO, avoid keyword stuffing. Use keywords naturally and strategically, focusing on relevance rather than excessive use.

3. Understanding Your Audience and Tailoring Your YouTube Content

To ensure your content resonates with your audience, it’s crucial to align it with their preferences and interests. Whether you’re creating a blog post or a video, start by gaining insights into your audience’s preferences.

If you’re new to promoting your YouTube channel, analyze your competitors or other creators in your industry. Observe which of their videos generate the highest views and engagement. This will help you identify popular topics and preferred video styles among your target audience.

Additionally, leverage YouTube Analytics to gather valuable data if you’ve already uploaded videos. YouTube provides detailed information on audience demographics, location, engagement, and other relevant statistics.

You can also enhance your strategy by utilizing YouTube reporting in Sprout Social, comparing your content’s performance to other social videos you’ve produced.

4. Engaging with Your YouTube Community for Stronger Connections

While YouTube may not be perceived as a traditional social network, it undeniably fosters a vibrant community where users interact through content, profiles, likes, and comments.

In line with what was mentioned earlier, any form of interaction with your viewers holds significant value in the eyes of YouTube. Engaging with your subscribers not only strengthens your bond with the audience but also sends positive signals to the platform. Taking a few seconds to like comments or pinning a top comment as a personal note to your subscribers can make a difference.

For instance, try to always like and respond to comments on your recent uploads. The channel’s creator needs consistently to engage with subscribers, demonstrating appreciation and addressing questions.

Just as you would respond to comments and engage with your followers on any other social network, YouTube follows the same principles.

5. Boost Your YouTube Channel with Eye-Catching Custom Thumbnails

When it comes to promoting your YouTube channel, creating custom thumbnails is a simple yet highly effective tactic. Think of your title and thumbnail as a powerful one-two punch that captures a viewer’s attention.

By default, YouTube automatically selects a screenshot from your video as the thumbnail. Unfortunately, this can sometimes result in blurry or unflattering images that fail to entice viewers.

Taking the time to create your own thumbnails not only enhances the visual appeal of your videos but also demonstrates professionalism and attention to detail.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a design expert. You can easily create a thumbnail template with a specific font and style to maintain consistency and align with your brand. Tools like Canva provide user-friendly options for image creation, making the process even more accessible.

6. Maximize Your YouTube Content by Cross-Promoting Your Videos

If you’re covering similar topics on YouTube that overlap with each other, there’s a great opportunity to get more out of your older content by cross-promoting your videos strategically.

One effective way is to drop links in the description of your videos, encouraging viewers to check out related content as a compelling call-to-action. While YouTube’s annotation system has been removed, linking in the video description encourages viewers to stay engaged and watch your videos all the way through, without the need to click away.

By cross-promoting your videos, you create a seamless viewing experience for your audience, allowing them to explore more of your valuable content and increasing their overall engagement with your channel.

7. Leverage SEO to Promote Your YouTube Channel

YouTube excels in terms of SEO, and while it’s essential to create content for your audience, you should also keep SEO in mind when promoting your YouTube channel.

Certain types of content perform well in search engine results pages (SERPs), including product reviews, how-to videos, and long-form content that exceeds 10 minutes, covering keyword-specific topics. If you’re looking for content ideas or want to capitalize on trending buzzwords in your industry, consider incorporating them into your YouTube channel marketing strategy.

Remember to optimize your video titles, descriptions, and tags with relevant keywords to improve your chances of ranking higher in search results. By aligning your content with popular search queries, you can attract more organic traffic to your YouTube channel and increase its visibility.

8. Utilize Playlists to Enhance Channel Navigation

As you create more videos, it becomes increasingly challenging for viewers to navigate through your YouTube channel. That’s where playlists come in and play a crucial role. Playlists not only enable you to categorize and organize your videos but also cater to your audience’s binge-watching tendencies.

For instance, take a look at Markiplier’s gaming channel, which boasts a vast collection of videos. By creating and curating playlists, the channel guides subscribers to relevant content effortlessly, eliminating the need for extensive searching.

By strategically grouping your videos into playlists, you enhance the user experience, making it easier for viewers to find and enjoy content that aligns with their interests. This organizational approach also helps in optimizing your channel for search engines, as playlists provide additional context and relevance to your content.

9. Leverage Collaborations to Expand Your YouTube Audience

Collaborating with other YouTube users has proven to be an effective strategy for growing a following, as demonstrated by some of the platform’s biggest stars. Each collaboration provides an opportunity to reach a new audience, with the added benefit that these new viewers are more likely to subscribe to your channel due to the association with a content creator they already know, like, and trust.

The key to a successful YouTube collaboration lies in selecting the right partner. It’s important to collaborate with content creators who share similar passions with your brand to ensure authenticity in your video. A prime example of a well-executed collaboration is the partnership between BuzzFeed and Purina, which showcased a thoughtful collaboration without feeling overly promotional.

By carefully choosing collaboration partners and producing engaging content together, you can tap into new audiences, increase your exposure, and ultimately expand your YouTube subscriber base.

10. Optimize Your Video Production with Pre-Production Best Practices

Incorporating pre-production best practices is crucial for creating high-quality videos efficiently. By following these methods, you can streamline your content production process and ensure that each video is well-planned and executed.

• Develop a contingency plan: Anticipate potential issues that may arise during shooting, such as problems with the location or unexpected absence of talent. Create a contingency plan to address these challenges so that you’re prepared for any setbacks.
• Plan the video concept: Outline your video concept from start to finish using a storyboard. This visual representation allows you to map out each part of the video, including visual jokes, animations, and call-to-actions. By having a clear plan, you can effectively communicate your vision and ensure all elements are considered.
• Create a shot list: A shot list helps you capture important details like lighting, location, and camera angles. Once your script and storyboard are complete, make a comprehensive list of every scene, noting the required action and dialogue. Additionally, indicate the desired camera setup, whether it’s a wide angle or a close-up shot.

By implementing these pre-production best practices, you can streamline your content production process, resulting in more videos being created efficiently. Having a well-defined process also ensures that each video resonates with your audience as you’ve taken the time to carefully consider important visual details and logistics.

Ultimately, producing more relevant videos will lead to increased viewership over time.

Some Additional Tips to Get More Views on YouTube

These are some additional tips to get more views on YouTube. If you also want to know how to improve your YouTube channel with different methods check out our other guides to help you increase your content.

Encourage Engagement and Boost Your Video’s Visibility

Engaging with your audience is essential for getting your videos noticed and fostering a strong connection. Video content has the unique ability to create immediate and personal connections, making it even more effective to ask for engagement from your viewers.

Not every viewer will think to like or subscribe to your channel, so it’s a good practice to include reminders in your video’s description or within the video itself.

Especially for channels that are still growing, there’s no shame in directly asking for engagement. In fact, posing questions for viewers to answer in the comments or encouraging them to check out another video are effective ways to keep the engagement going. You can also include links to other relevant videos or direct viewers to your website as a call-to-action.

By actively encouraging engagement, you create opportunities for viewers to interact with your content, increasing the chances of them becoming subscribers and promoting your videos further. Remember to optimize your description and video content to align with the YOAST SEO guidelines for improved visibility and reach.

Harness the Power of Social Media to Promote Your YouTube Channel

It’s no secret that video content performs exceptionally well on social media platforms, driving high engagement rates. Therefore, it’s crucial to regularly promote your YouTube channel to your social followers and encourage them to become subscribers.

As soon as you publish a new video, take the initiative to inform your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn followers about it. You can also create enticing snippets or previews tailored to each social platform, providing a sneak peek of your latest production while including links to the full video.

By leveraging the power of social media and following YOAST SEO writing guidelines, you can effectively promote your YouTube channel, attract new subscribers, and maximize the reach and impact of your video content.

Embrace the Power of Live Video on YouTube

Live video continues to be a prominent trend in the realm of social media, and its popularity shows no signs of waning. With platforms like Facebook, Periscope, and Instagram simplifying the process of live streaming, more and more brands are jumping on the bandwagon.

Although YouTube has been offering live video capabilities for several years, it has recently gained momentum. To gain inspiration and insights into how other brands are leveraging the platform, take a look at popular YouTube Live videos.

YouTube Live offers numerous possibilities for engaging your audience, such as:

• Webinars: Share valuable knowledge and insights through live educational sessions.
• Live tutorials: Demonstrate how to use a product or perform a specific task in real-time.
• Q&A sessions: Interact with your audience by answering their questions live.
• Product demonstrations: Showcase your products or services through live demonstrations.

Don’t be discouraged if your live streams encounter minor hiccups. The unpredictable and authentic nature of live video is part of its appeal. The raw and unfiltered quality of live video content often captivates viewers. For more guidance on getting started with YouTube Live, consult Google’s introduction to live streaming.

By capitalizing on the power of live video and adhering to YOAST SEO writing guidelines, you can unlock new avenues for engagement, connect with your audience in real-time, and create compelling content on YouTube.

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