So many people are afraid of videos! Well, you shouldn’t be. Here’s why: most videos that make it big are NOT professional productions. They’re just a guy -or a girl- who gets in front of a camera and talks about what he/she knows best. You don’t need expensive equipment or a professional studio.

These are my top 10 favorite tips to grow your company using YouTube.

Copy What Works
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Spend an afternoon watching YouTube videos and learn what works. What are the videos in your market with more views, better ratings and more comments? Why are they successful? Who are the users with the most subscribers? Why?

Customize Your Channel
Before uploading your videos, customize your channel (profile) and make it look nice. Include some info about you and a link to your site.

Use Keywords
The best way to help people find your videos is by including your keywords in them. This is an example (the keyword used in this example is in red):

Title: How to Motivate People
Description: http://www.YourSite.com/blog - Do you want to know how to motivate people? This video reveals the 3 secrets of people motivation.
Tags: how to motivate people, motivate people, people motivation, motivate employees

Add Your URL to the Description
Add your the “http://” version of your URL to the beginning of your video description so people can click on your link and visit your site.

Soft-Sell
You shouldn’t ask people to buy your stuff after watching your videos. Most people aren’t ready for this. Plan your marketing funnel and you’ll see a much better response. This is a example:

Watch YouTube Video > Go to My Blog to Watch More Videos > Sign Up to Get My Exclusive Videos (You Capture Email Addresses Here) > Try to Sell Them a Low-Ticket Item > Try to Sell a High-Ticket Item to Those Who Bought from You Before

Video Responses
Look for videos related to yours and whenever is appropriate post your videos as video responses to them. This will allow you to piggyback a lot of the traffic that these videos get.


Create Playlists
Playlists are a great way to get your videos watched by a lot of people. If you have a dog training videos, grab some other great videos on the same topic (from other people) and create a playlist. Call it “Dog Training Tips”.


It’s a Social Network!
YouTube isn’t just a video sharing site; it’s a social network. You can add friends, message them, join groups, create your own group and use the bulletin board to interact with the YouTube community.

Use Multiple Calls to Action
These are my favorite calls to action to use on YouTube:

• Subscribe to my videos.
• Visit my blog for more great videos.
• Follow me on Twitter.
• Please post your comments.
• Send this video to your friends.
• Please rate this video.
• Check out my channel.

YouTube allows you to add overlay text in your videos. Use them for your calls to action.


Promote Your Videos
Uploading videos to YouTube isn’t enough. You need to promote them. These are some ideas:

• Embed your videos in your blog.
• Promote your videos on Twitter.
• Email your YouTube link to your friends and contacts.
• Ask people you know to tell their lists and contacts.
• Write an article about your video and post it to article directories and forums.
• Post your video to LinkedIn, Facebook and your other social networks.

Millions and millions of people visit YouTube every month. Some of the most popular videos on YouTube have more views than Oprah’s show. If you are not promoting your business on  YouTube yet, what are you waiting for?

I am about to reveal some of the coolest techniques to promote a video on YouTube. We’ve used them with clients from all over the world and most of them have seen thousands of new visitors as a result of these powerful tactics.

Anyway, here is the list:

Copy the Top Performers
Look for the three videos with more views in your category and get ideas from them. Copy their video title, tags, and descriptions. Don’t copy anything verbatim, change things up a little.

Create Your Own Channel
Create a channel and customize to feature your best videos. This alone will drastically boost your views.

Use the Bulletin Board
This is a great feature that lets you start a conversation around your own videos. But don’t limit yourself to your own bulletin boards; use others’ too.

Add Friends
People often forget that YouTube is a social network. Add friends to your list and engage with them.

Use Video Responses
Search for popular videos related to yours and post your video as a response to them. Leverage the views that other videos get.

Create Something Worth Spreading the Word About
If your video is boring, all these tactics won’t do much for you. The videos that work best on YouTube are either hilarious, controversial, unique, or very useful.

Complete Your Profile
YouTube allows you to fill out your profile; do it. And by all means include a link to your website here.

Link the Videos to Your Profile
You can link your videos to any page within YouTube. Set it up so when people click on your video they go to your profile. And from your profile they can click on the link to your website.

Create Playlists
Create a playlist of related videos. Include a lot of popular ones on a certain topic and, of course, your own video.

Join Some Groups and Start Your Own
Join some groups and post both text and video comments. You can also start your own group.

Encourage Viewers to Subscribe
End each video asking viewers to subscribe. Many people don’t know they can subscribe or they will forget unless you remind them to.

These are some of the techniques that we have used for our best clients. Most of them got over 500,000 views in less than one year. How would you like to get your business in front of half a million potential new clients?

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