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How to Optimize YouTube Videos to GROW FAST!

Have you ever published a video to later come back and hear crickets? If you want your videos to be discovered organically, get engagement and new subscribers with each video you post and maximize your channel’s growth, follow the exact process I will show you in this article to make the most of your content. How to Optimize YouTube Videos to GROW FAST!

Hi guys, my name is Rasel and welcome to my Blog where I share super actionable ideas on content creation for entrepreneurs and creatives. In today’s video, I’m covering the step by step process on what to do to each video you publish on your channel to maximize your growth and help it reach a wider audience.

Whether you’re just starting out with Youtube or you’re not getting the engagement you need on your videos, this one is going to help you have your videos discovered on autopilot and never waste a valuable piece of content ever again. We all know how much time it takes to produce videos for Youtube and if you follow this process, you’ll yield results that make your time worth it. As much as Youtube is about being creative and sharing quality content, there is the other side which is more of a science. This means it can be a bit confusing at times as to how you actually feed the algorithm properly so that it passes on your videos to other viewers on Youtube. But I’m here to guide you along the way and show you that it doesn’t need to be hard as long as you know what you’re doing.

So let’s drive into this Article. I divided this process into three parts, so we have Research, Recording and Publishing. Before you even begin recording your video, you need to research and prepare your subject. This is arguably the most important part of the whole process. how to Optimize YouTube Videos to grow fast.

 

1. ESTABLISH THE NEED

So before you even start planning out your video, you need to make sure that there is actually a need for such a video. Of course, we can all use our creativity and put out original content from time to time, but what will actually get your channel going is searchable content that people are actually actively seeking out. It’s especially crucial when you’re just starting out. If you don’t have an audience and therefore an established viewership and expertise, how to Optimize YouTube Videos to grow fast.

people won’t just randomly search for you. They will be looking for solutions to their problems or for specific information on a particular subject. That’s how you can serve the community and by doing this, you’ll see your channel grow. Start off it by using keyword research tools like Keyword Surfer and Google Keyword Planner. I will leave the links in the description box so you can have a look and see how they work. Then, do a few youtube searches and see if any suggestions pop up. Check trending topics on Google Trends, how to Optimize YouTube Videos to grow fast.

Exploding Topics or trending tabs on various social media platforms like Twitter or Linkedin. And I want to share two other great tools VidIQ and TubeBuddy. And I absolutely love TubeBuddy, it’s honestly a game changer when it comes to planning out great content, assessing the searchability of particular topics and how difficult it is to rank for them. A very important note here: if you’re just starting out or have a small viewership but you’re looking to expand, aim for long tail keywords. Long tail keywords are specific compound phrases which people are likely to look for. So let’s compare them to classic single word keywords. Let’s say you want to rank for “travel”. There are literally MILLIONS of searches for this short keyword and these are already “occupied” by giants in the field like VagaBrothers, how to Optimize YouTube Videos to grow fast.

LostLeBlanc or Kara and Nate with over a million subscriber each, not to mention other channels not directly related to travel like say The Economist. It would be extremely hard to break through that level of competition. Besides, no one is really searching with these
single word queries. If you think about it, when you’re looking for say travel inspiration because you’re flying to Singapore, you’re not typing in travel, but go more in depth and usually include your destination or specific places like best restaurants in Singapore. Therefore, instead of focusing on generic high competition queries, what you want to do is target very specific keywords. This is where TubeBuddy and VidIQ come in really handy because they allow you to check how many times a keyphrase was searched and how many videos were created using that keyphrase. Again, I can’t stress this enough, this is crucial when you’re just starting out because you don’t want to spend all that time creating a well-thought out and valuable piece of content that nobody will search for or that will get lost in the ocean of content due to high competition. Target low-competition long chain keywords instead with around 100 – 1000 searches per month in Google. And here, I’m sending you back to the Google Keyword Planner and TubeBuddy. So pick your keywords wisely, write them down and add to your video in the tags section before you hit publish. Remember to keep them up to 500 characters – this is the maximum you can enter. how to Optimize YouTube Videos to grow fast.

 

2. PLAN YOUR VIDEO TITLE

Once you have done your research and know the subject and keywords you’re aiming to rank for, plan out your video title. First of all, it’s good to know what the title will be before you even hit record. When you tie it in with your outline or a full script, it makes it all come together and feels cohesive to the viewers. Secondly, I don’t think I have to emphasize it too much that titles are crucial in your success rate when it comes to attracting viewers. how to Optimize YouTube Videos to grow fast.

That goes for any marketing ventures really. So focus on optimizing it as much as you can because it can really be a deal breaker. Speaking of deal breakers, there is an even bigger one than the title so make sure to watch the whole video to know what it is. So… back to the title. Start by including your focus keyword in the first 60 characters of the title but don’t make it sound fake. Be as natural as you can. Try and keep the title to around 60-70 characters because the rest may be cut off and not fully appear in searches. The limit is 100 characters. Create the title with at least 5 words and make sure it describes the video well, is captivating and brings value.

Experiment with different title ideas and see what sounds best. This applies to testing out titles in real life as well so experiment with what works for your channel and your audience specifically. And while we’re on the subject of the video titles, it’s impossible not to talk about click bait. We’ve all seen it, it can become really annoying if you overuse it or are purely deceptive as to the content of your video but… well, you need to make people WANT TO actually CLICK on the video. Therefore, you HAVE TO make it attractive. A good practice might be to start your title with the target keyword and finish off with a click worthy phrase. See what I did there? Click worthy, not click baity 😉

 

3. AIM FOR AUDIENCE RETENTION

Audience Retention is extremely important when it comes to how well your video performs so you want to optimize for this factor from the get go. If your video keeps people on Youtube, then it scores well with the algorithm and ranks well. There are a few techniques that will help you achieve better audience retention rates.

First, you want to engage your audience within the first 10 seconds of your video. This means they need to know what they’re getting straight away and are enticed to stay and watch. That’s what we call a hook. It basically serves as a quick and brief intro. So how can you make your hook even more engaging? Plan out a hook that’s highly entertaining, emotional or educational. This will of course depend on your brand, who you’re talking to and how your brand communicates with the audience. But let’s say you want something that incites some kind of emotion. You can start your video like this. “Doesn’t it feel soo overwhelming to create interesting how to Optimize YouTube Videos to grow fast.

content and show up on multiple platforms on a daily? Don’t worry, I got you. In this video, I’m going to show you a foolproof step by step method to planning and executing your content for a month in just one day.” See what I did here? First of all, it starts of with a feeling that many business owners can identify with which is being crushed under the weight of coming up with fresh ideas for posts on multiple platforms. Then it gives the audience a clear description of what they’re getting from this video and showcases a few hugely valuable points. Like the fact that they will be guided along the way and will know how to plan it all out in a short span of time.

They already feel like by watching the video, their problem might be solved or at least they will possess a solution to that problem. This leads to people deciding to stay and potentially watch the whole video, especially since they don’t want to miss any of the crucial steps. The second way to increase your audience retention rate is to offer something up early in the video that the viewers are going to stay for till the end. So this can be a BONUS JUST FOR THEM or a SPECIAL TOP SECRET TIP, whatever works for your type of content. If you actually tell your viewers “I have an EXTRA TACTIC for you so make sure you watch till the very end”,

it creates this anticipation and increases your chance that they actually are going to stick around. Just make sure you provide real value – nobody wants to wait around for some random unimportant thing that is of no benefit to them. That’s deceptive and we don’t want that! Another way to increase your audience retention rate is to make the video dynamic. Studies have shown that static videos make people click away much quicker. And don’t worry, it doesn’t mean you have to jump around like crazy or pretend to be someone you’re not. It can be achieved by either introducing B-roll or playing around with your editing. If you don’t know what B-roll is,

it’s that nice footage that you see inserted in the middle of a video that’s not the main person talking. It’s a great way to demonstrate what you’re talking about with some visual cues and keep the audience interested. So for example if I were a travel vlogger talking about restaurants in Singapore, I might then insert a few clips from the inside of the restaurant, zoom in on the dishes, show more details and the overall ambiance. If B-roll doesn’t really work for the type of content you’re creating or you simply don’t have the time or the skills to do it, it’s not a lost cause. You can make your video dynamic by changing your recording set, so changing the actual frame, changing clothes or you know… stand up! Walk around. Anything that makes it more interesting. Apart from that, the editing is quite important as well, because you can crop in like this to change things up and break the pattern, speed it up, slow it down, throw some jump cuts in, just play around in your editing software. Also when watching other Youtubers, pay attention to their style of editing because you might get inspired. You can change the color to black and white with some sentimental music and rain overlay or add gifs and graphics to the footage for a bit of a comic relief. Again, can’t stress this enough, this should be on brand and tailored to your audience. Plus, watch out, too much of this can be an overkill. It has to make sense for the content you’re creating so make sure to either use it sparingly or apply other methods if this doesn’t really go well with your channel style. A huge mistake that I see people make constantly is that they cue the audience in on the fact that

the video is ending. This makes them click away before the actual finish line and you’re loosing these precious seconds or minutes. So instead of saying so my last tip or that’s it for today guys and then continuing on with some other things, don’t use these finalizing phrases at all. Instead, when the video is coming to an end, point them to other videos on your channel or even a whole playlist that might be useful to them. Another thing you can do is to say what videos are coming up next week if you’re well organized and ask them what they’d like to see next, too. So as you can see, having a good structure optimized for audience retention is key to having your video perform well so create a good outline for yourself or a well-prepped script to keep you on point.

 

4. SAY YOUR KEYWORDS

Another great way to further optimize your video is to say your keywords out loud. But why would it matter, it’s just words right? Well, Youtube (and Google in general) is getting increasingly good at speech recognition. Just look at any video and click to add auto-generated captions. It’s actually quite spooky how accurately it’s able to transcribe what someone is saying. Moreover, you might have heard from other Youtubers in somewhat controversial niches like true crime or politics that if they say a specific word, their video might be demonetized. Same goes for the video being recommended or ranked. Of course, I’m not going to use any of these words in here but a quick Google search will give you the idea. Ok, but back to your keywords. Saying them out loud is especially important at the beginning of the video because it lets the algorithm instantly identify what the video is about.

 

5. DRIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH CTAs

When you’re optimizing to get discovered and for your content to be searchable, you’ll find that the majority of your viewers are not subscribed to your channel. And there’s nothing to be worried about because it’s completely normal. This is where Calls To Action come in. Use CTAs throughout your video to turn your viewers into subscribers. And as Michael Scott says, you miss 100% of shots you don’t take so if you don’t actually ask your viewers to subscribe, you’re just relying on other factors to get people subscribed and it’s not as effective. Tell your viewers why it’s worth to subscribe,

what type of content they can expect or say that you regularly post videos that will help them achieve something. And remember, the statistics show that for every 1000 views, you’ll get around 10 subscribers so don’t feel like your failing if you have some views but not too many subscribers. Same goes for comments and likes. Ask questions, engage your viewers and give them a reason to leave a comment. Tell them to give you a thumbs up if they enjoyed the video. It might be even worth it to ask them to share the video with friends if they know someone might benefit from it. Utilize the poll option on Youtube as well. That’s another small feature that can drive engagement for you and make your video rank better.

Moreover, use your video to point to another piece of content you published on Youtube or even a whole playlist. You want to make sure to keep the viewers on your channel so indicate other useful videos related to the subject of the video or a smaller portion of it that you’re covering. For example, if you want to know how to optimize your Youtube channel and not just an individual video, make sure to watch this one next!

 

6. POLISH YOUR VIDEO DESCRIPTION

So once you upload your video, the first thing you want to do is to get your video description ready. It’s an essential part of every video because it is searchable and further feeds the Youtube algorithm with more data to recognize what the content is about. Plus, it let’s your viewers know what they can expect as well. So as with the title, focus your target keywords towards the beginning within the first 25 words. Don’t go super crazy on the keywords though and work them into the description naturally. Nobody wants to see a weird description like Learn how to travel to singapore, best restaurants in singapore and best singapore attractions. I’ve seen it too many times. Just don’t do it. Instead, stay relevant to the video and focus on giving a succinct,

value-driven caption. Two to five naturally used keywords are more than enough throughout. It’s especially crucial to make good use of the part of the description that’s above the fold meaning before someone has to click Show More. That’s just 157 characters so prioritize the most important info. Use the space that follows for driving more engagement and promoting your other platforms. Here, you can include another CTA to get them to subscribe with a direct link to your subscribe button. Send them to your website and other social media platforms to keep them engaged with your brand. Adding useful info which you mention throughout your video is also a good practice. Put some links in to the resources, other youtubers you talk about or a blog post on your website to make it easier for them to access. This is where you can list your equipment as well or promote your lead magnets.

Another super important part of the description are timestamps and chapters. Timestamps are little links to specific time in your video that make it very easy for the viewers to jump to specific parts. You include them by simply typing in the timeframe so let’s say 0:37 is where you start
talking about getting to singapore, 2:51 is when you talk about the restaurants and at 5:22 you share your opinions. Youtube will automatically convert these numbers into clickable links for you if you type it in in your description box. There is a fairly recent feature that Youtube introduced which is Chapters. Chapters break up your video into sections which are visible from the progress bar. If you have a look at this video, you’ll see that I have different bits laid out for you throughout the bar and you can access these from that point. It makes it easy to navigate for your viewers and showcases the points which you’ll be covering. That further drives interest! The way you add chapters is exactly the same as with timestamps but you need to start with adding 0:00 at the very beginning. So this is what it would look like in the description box. One thing to keep in mind is that various platforms will reward you for using new features and that’s no different here on Youtube. So if it works for your content, make Chapters a part of your video optimization process and be on the lookout for any new options that platforms introduce.

 

7. GOOD THUMBNAIL

When we we’re talking about titles, I mentioned a BIGGER DEALBREAKER and that will be your video thumbnail. I can’t tell you how important it is to create an attractive one that makes people click! If you don’t have a well-designed, enticing thumbnail, the text is to small, the colors are dull and so on, so forth, YOU CAN’T EXPECT PEOPLE TO WANT TO WATCH YOUR VIDEO. It’s that simple! The visual aspect is always very important and that’s why I’m saying a good thumbnail is more important than the title. It’s the first thing you see and that’s what makes you stand out from a long list of other video and attracts the click. You can optimize your video and channel, have a well-thought out title, provide tons of value but at the end of the day, if your thumbnail is boring and unattractive, NO ONE WILL CLICK AND WATCH.

There are a few rules that you should follow to maximize your thumbnail’s potential and get more views. First, what you want to do is design a thumbnail that integrates with the title. There’s no point in repeating exactly what you have in the title so think of creative ways of using text. When it comes to the actual copy, be straightforward and show exactly what the viewers are getting so BEST RESTAURANTS IN SINGAPORE or use a bit of clickbait. Let’s retract, make it click worthy! Evoke some emotion and entice people to click. And if you are adding text,

make sure it’s big, bold, basically striking, clearly visible and easily legible. The thumbnails are not so big when you think about how they’re displayed so including small text just beats the purpose. And for this reason as well, don’t go crazy on the fonts, especially with script fonts because they are not that easy to read. Keep the text short and sweet, bold and easy to read. Don’t shy away from using your face! As I said in this video, faces attract attention quicker so thumbnails that use them are usually more clickable.

You can also apply the “dynamic” rule to this and express some emotion on your face like happy, sad, shocked, pissed off, you get the gist. You can also use gestures to emphasize these emotions or point to text. A simple smile is of course fine but it’s best to squeeze as much as you can from the thumbnails since they’re so important. And I know for all of you that appreciate design and know the importance of a consistent brand image, it’s tempting to stick with your brand fonts. Which is alright if they work for youtube, but oftentimes I see more classic brands, especially with female entrepreneurs that use more elegant, thinner fonts like Cinzel, Josefin or again, script fonts and they are just not bold enough for Youtube thumbnails. But really, your brand image can be expressed with different things like colors or elements and when it comes to thumbnails, you just HAVE TO MAKE IT BIG. My huge advice to you is to experiment as much as you can and see what works and what doesn’t. Remember to change one or two things at a time because it will be easier for you to identify what actually influenced the clickability.

 

8. ADD CAPTIONS

Before you publish the video, it’s also quite important to add captions to your video. Not only does it improves accessibility, but you have to remember that some people might still watch the video without sound or English might not be their first language so in both cases, they will rely on captions very much. And although I said before that Youtube is doing great with generating captions automatically, adding your own transcripts or captions is always a good idea. how to Optimize YouTube Videos to grow fast.

 

9. ADD CARDS AND END SCREENS

Ok, so the once you have your tags, title, description, timestamps, thumbnail and captions, you want to add cards and end screens. Both of these have the potential to keep the viewers on your channel and therefore, boost your overall viewership. When it comes to cards, add a relevant video or playlist on your timeline in a natural way when you’re actually discussing something on screen. You might want to keep these towards the later part of the video (roughly the last 20%) not to divert the attention from the main video and send the viewers somewhere else. I know it’s still your channel, but audience retention, right. But that’s not an absolute rule, how to Optimize YouTube Videos to grow fast.

just something to consider when planning out your script and adding cards later. Your end screen should include the subscribe button and showcase a relevant playlist or video. If you’re a vlogger or post sequential content, you might want to implement the last video and the next video tab as well. The last video is self-explanatory and you can easily choose it as an option when adding an end screen. But the idea of the next video is that if you publish a piece of content and it’s the newest one on your channel, you place a playlist there. Then, when you publish another video, you can go back to the last one and swap the playlist for the latest video. This way, you can keep continuity for the viewers and have them immersed in the whole channel experience. Of course, it’s just an idea and it would have to work for your channel. how to Optimize YouTube Videos to grow fast.

 

10. OPTIMIZE YOUR CHANNEL

Having your videos optimized is crucial, but you can’t forget about optimizing your channel as well! It gets recognized by Youtube and it itself can rank. You have to have an attractive channel art, relevant tags, a well-written about me page and a few other bits as well! Be sure to watch this video to get you through the whole process!

BONUS TIP: Promote your videos

I know this doesn’t technically belong to the video optimization but hear me out. I truly believe that there is no content creation without proper distribution and promotion strategy. Once you hit publish on a well-optimized video, it will be discovered if you followed all the steps I’ve just taught you. But don’t stop there! Be proactive and promote your videos as much as you can, especially initially. You can support them with a blog post in which you can then embed the video from Youtube. Share the video on other social media platforms like Twitter,

Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit… Link them in your email signature or better yet, send out

a newsletter to your email list letting them know that you’ve just published a new piece of content.

Watch this video next to learn how to always get great ideas for content how to Optimize YouTube Videos to grow fast.

and hit subscribe to see more of the super actionable ideas on content creation
which I share on my channel each week. Comment below if you have any questions and give this

video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it.

Thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you next time!

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Hi this Rasel Founder of RaselHowlader By Blogging, digital entrepreneur, and passionate about creativity.

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