YouTube is constantly changing and evolving. Long gone are the days dominated by funny true cat videos and dogs on skateboards. Today YouTube is as well a place for marketers .

Over one billion hours of video are watched on YouTube daily — that's more than Netflix and Facebook video combined.

1 billion hours of YouTube video daily

But, hither'south the kicker… 62 per centum of businesses use Youtube as a channel to mail service video content — which is crazy!

C razy-awesome for yous that is — because when used effectively, YouTube is an extremely powerful business tool. Simply in society to boost your sales , you've got to become more than free YouTube views.

In this article, you lot'll learn 18 ways to go more views on YouTube, build your brand, and heave your sales .

But first, let's talk apace about how to make a video on YouTube.

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Postal service Contents

  • How to Brand a Video on YouTube
  • How to Get More Views on YouTube
    • 1. Create Compelling Content
    • 2. Encourage Viewers to Subscribe
    • 3. Create Playlists to Keep People Watching
    • 4. Promote Other Videos with End Screens and Cards
    • 5. Add a Watermark to Your Videos
    • 6. Make Sure Your Videos Are Embedding Enabled
    • 7. Promote Your Videos on Other Social Channels
    • 8. Empathize the Importance of 'Scout Time'
    • ix. Nurture a Community
    • 10. Optimize Your Video Titles
    • eleven. Optimize Your Channel
    • 12. Create a YouTube Trailer Featuring Your Best Content
    • 13. Create Compelling Thumbnail Images
    • 14. Transcribe Your Videos
    • 15. Publish Your Videos at The Best Time
    • 16. Invite Guest Vloggers
    • 17. Build an Influencer Community
    • xviii. Know What's Viral
  • Your Turn
  • Want to Learn More than?

How to Brand a Video on YouTube

  • Programme Your Video

Before you beginning making a video for YouTube you demand to plan what you want to produce. Generate a storyboard outlining each scene or section of the video. Think near the messaging y'all want to portray to your audience and plan where in the video you lot will include calls-to-activity . This is important equally y'all need people to desire to do something after watching the video.

  • Write Your Script

Based on your video program, begin writing your video script. Try to keep the language relatable and appealing to your audition. If your video is a beginners guide, don't use too many technical terms. If you are making an in-depth YouTube video, make sure to include terms that are specific to the industry to build trust with your viewers. Don't create a long script if your storyboard is brusk as it volition mean a lot of lingering on screens that will not make for a good viewing experience.

  • Create a Shot List

Having a shot listing will encourage you to think most the smaller details, like lightning direction and camera placement. Make sure to create i in one case you're done writing your script. It should include all of the things that help give a sense of direction to your production, such every bit the camera setup or activity/dialogue each scene requires.

  • Organize Your Scene

Will your video be animated, live-action, or real-time? What kind of props will you need when making your video so that your YouTube followers volition stay engaged during your whole video? These questions are important to reply equally they volition aid brand your video look more professional person. Invest in branding to add to the background of your videos and thumbnails so that your video looks pinnacle quality .

  • Set Yourself

If yous are starring in the video, or merely directing information technology, it is of import to fix and practice then that the existent thing will go off without a hitch. The devil is in the detail when information technology comes to making a YouTube video, so practicing will account for all the things that could become wrong when shooting.

  • Edit Your Video

After doing a few takes of each scene the magic starts – yous can showtime editing your video to omit small mistakes or elements of scenes that don't fit. Take the fourth dimension hither to ask whether each line sounds natural, and delete lines that don't fit into the overall video.

  • Upload YouTube Video

Within the YouTube platform, yous tin can upload your video, including a title, tags, and a description for your audience . These things volition assist your audience to detect your video through. If yous are planning to create more than than one video on a particular topic, y'all can create a playlist and add it to this. Remember about adding cards and captions to your video to help users navigate more effectively effectually your aqueduct.

  • [Additional Tip] Become Live

Once you have enough experience creating videos, why not attempt going live and talking to your audience in real-time. Answer questions from your audience in the moment and give your viewers the ultimate viewing experience.

How to Become More than Views on YouTube

At present allow'southward leap straight into the specifics of getting more than views on YouTube.

1. Create Compelling Content

It won't matter how many hacks or ads you lot employ if your videos aren't skillful. And then how tin can you create compelling content that will become more views on YouTube? Well, one of the best ways is to create 'how to' videos :

How-to Videos

But identify what your platonic customers most want to know, and and so create videos that encounter their needs. Does this piece of work? You lot bet. YouTube creator Graham Cochrane racked up 51 one thousand thousand YouTube views by focusing on how-to content.

How-to YouTube Videos

Cochrane finds video ideas in the comments of his social channels. If that doesn't work, he asks his community what they'd like him to brand videos well-nigh.

Simple, right?

Cochrane said , "An amazing thing happens when you ask people what they need and want, so you go and make information technology for them — they recall you read their mind!" Bottom-line: Consistently create content that solves your ideal client'due south problems or meets their needs. It's the style to develop a loyal community of fans and get more views on YouTube.

2. Encourage Viewers to Subscribe

Accept you e'er heard the saying, "Your all-time new customers are your old customers"? In other words, retaining customers tin be a powerful way to grow your business. Well, the same holds true for YouTube views.

Which is why i of the easiest ways to get more than views on YouTube is to encourage your current viewers to subscribe because gaining subscribers will increase the number of views on each new video that you lot release. How practice yous get viewers to subscribe?

The all-time way is just to inquire at the beginning and end of each video!

YouTube Subscribe to Channel

But don't just inquire viewers to subscribe to your YouTube aqueduct. Make sure that you also prompt them to turn on the notification bell afterwards they've clicked 'Subscribe.'

YouTube Notification Bell

This way, once a viewer subscribes, they'll be notified every time you lot upload a new video. Growing your subscribers is vital to getting more gratuitous YouTube views, so outset asking your viewers to subscribe now!

3. Create Playlists to Keep People Watching

YouTube's ain statistics show that "top-performing brands on YouTube build and promote twice every bit many playlists as the bottom 25%."

YouTube Playlists

Why do playlists piece of work so well? Auto-play. It takes try to pull your attention away from videos you're enjoying when they just proceed playing. In fact, there's a cerebral bias at work called 'loss aversion.'

Loss aversion states that the pain of losing something is twice as bad equally the pleasance received from gaining something equivalent. For case, loss aversion suggests that people will work twice as hard to keep $100, every bit they volition gain $100. Car-play uses loss aversion to reframe the state of affairs.

The question is no longer, "Exercise you want to watch another video enough to actively click play?" Now, the question is, "Practise you desire to stop watching plenty to actively click abroad?". Information technology'south subtle but powerful, and if your content is proficient, viewers will oftentimes keep watching. As well, playlists can help improve search rankings, as playlist titles are another opportunity to target keywords.

The easiest mode to create a YouTube playlist is to navigate to each video you lot'd like to add and click the '+' icon underneath the video.

Add YouTube Video to Playlist

Then you lot can create a new playlist or add information technology to an existing playlist. To get more views on YouTube, create a playlist of your best content and first promoting it today!

4. Promote Other Videos with Finish Screens and Cards

Cards and end screens are tools that y'all can use to promote your videos to get more views on YouTube. Get-go, you'll need to verify your YouTube account to access these features. To do this, click on your profile moving-picture show in the top right, and then click 'Creator Studio'. Next, click on the 'Status and features' tab:

YouTube Creator Studio

On this page, y'all're able to view extra YouTube aqueduct features and ready them up. Now let's take a closer look at end screens and cards.

An end screen is a dedicated frame that you tin place at the end of your videos to wrap things up, and highlight calls-to-action.

Cards are a tool that you can fix to pop-up anytime in the video. You can set up these to direct people to another video or playlist, or you can create a poll card which is a great style to ask viewers what they'd similar to see more of (remember tip number i?).

To add end screens and cards to your videos, go to the Creator Studio and click 'Video Managing director,' then click 'Videos.' Find the video that you want to add together the finish screen card to and click 'Edit.' One time you're on the video editor page, y'all can add together end screens and cards by clicking the menu items at the acme of the folio:

Add YouTube End Screen and Cards

End screens and cards are powerful tools, so make certain you use them to present calls-to-action in your YouTube videos.

5. Add a Watermark to Your Videos

Watermarks allow y'all to gain more than subscribers and gratuitous YouTube views by promoting your channel across all of your videos. Essentially, a watermark is just an image that you tin can set to appear on all of your videos — near brands employ their logo. When a viewer hovers their mouse over a watermark, it prompts them to subscribe. Which is why the Shopify YouTube channel has chosen a watermark saying 'subscribe':

YouTube Watermark

Once again, you lot need to verify your YouTube account to exist able to upload a watermark. Information technology's worth pointing out that you tin't pick and choose which videos display watermarks and which don't — they either appear on all of your videos or none of them.

To add a watermark to your videos head to the Creator Studio and click 'Branding.'

Add YouTube Watermark

Then click 'Add a Watermark' and upload your image.

In summary, use this uncomplicated tool to promote your make on your YouTube channel.

Tip: Design a watermark that is foursquare, transparent, and above 50×50 pixels. As YouTube shrinks downwards watermarks when displaying them in the corner of the videos, creating a larger ane will help ensure your branding is visible to your target audience .

half-dozen. Make Sure Your Videos Are Embedding Enabled

You've spent ages creating an awesome video and now your viewers want to share it on their websites and blogs!

…simply they can't. Because you forgot to enable embedding.

* Gulp*

Allowing viewers to embed your video on their websites and blogs is an effective way for your make to reach new audiences and get more than views on YouTube. If a video has embedding enabled, when a viewer clicks 'Share' underneath the video window, YouTube will testify them the 'Embed' selection:

YouTube Video Embed

Once they click on this, they'll be able to copy the video'due south embedding code and paste it onto their blog or website.

YouTube Video Embed Code

To enable embedding, caput to the Creator Studio and navigate to the video's edit page.

And so click 'Advanced Settings' and ringlet down to the "Distribution options" and make sure the "Allow Embedding" is ticked:

Allow YouTube Video Embedding

Bottom-line: Make sure your videos have embedding enabled to encourage viewers to share your content.

If you have followers on other social channels, permit them know each time you upload a new video to YouTube. A expert mode to practice this is with a short teaser video. For instance, you can create a minute-long teaser for a new YouTube video, then post it on your Facebook folio with a link to the full video on your YouTube channel .

To make things easier, attempt using a social media scheduling tool like Hootsuite or Buffer . But don't just stick to social channels. You tin can too embed your YouTube videos in relevant blog posts and pages on your website.

And don't forget nigh e-mail marketing . With an industry boilerplate open up rate of xviii percent and a purchase rate of 66 percent, email marketing is a powerhouse when it comes to sales conversions. It doesn't need to exist as well complicated either.

(Psst! If you haven't already, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to learn more most how to build your online business.)

YouTube isn't a standalone social channel, so make sure to cantankerous-promote your videos through your gratuitous marketing channels .

8. Understand the Importance of 'Spotter Time'

YouTube describes their algorithm every bit a " search and discovery system ."  This algorithm determines which videos are shown:

  • On the homepage
  • As suggested videos
  • In search results
  • Nether the Subscriptions tab
  • Through notifications that viewers accept created

What's more, the algorithm doesn't simply impact individual videos, simply entire YouTube channels. YouTube'due south algorithm is circuitous, but the virtually important affair to empathise is that information technology's heavily based on 'Watch Time.' In fact, co-ordinate to YouTube , "Each video uploaded — every bit well as every channel on YouTube — is 'ranked' by lookout fourth dimension."

Watch Time is how much fourth dimension people spend actually watching your videos:

YouTube Watch Time

Bottom-line: YouTube rewards quality. The better your videos are, the more fourth dimension people spend watching them. This will increase your Sentinel Fourth dimension minutes and so YouTube volition favor your videos and aqueduct.

One more thing: Your YouTube channel tin can too earn 'watch time credits' for referring viewers to other videos. It'due south basically like affiliate marketing .

In summary: Focus on retaining viewers for every bit long as you lot tin, and don't be afraid of promoting other YouTube channels in your niche!

YouTube isn't but a video search engine. It's also a social network. So to go more views on YouTube, you lot need to use information technology like other social networks. In other words, it isn't enough to just regularly share videos, you also demand to actively engage your audience.

How? The all-time fashion is to but respond to comments — especially if someone asks a direct question. Because other viewers will be more likely to comment themselves if they know they'll receive a response. It merely takes a 2nd, and you tin practice it while y'all're browsing your comments for new video ideas (remember tip number 1?).

As well that, try to be an agile member of your niche community. Subscribe to other channels in your niche, leave comments on their videos, and share any that your ain audience might enjoy. In other words, give earlier yous get.

If y'all appoint generously and authentically, viewers volition discover and it will be much easier to establish your brand in a niche of passionate fans. And recollect, promoting other videos volition score yous Sentinel Fourth dimension credits, which will help to boost your channel in YouTube's algorithm. Lastly, yous can also involve viewers directly.

Ane of the easiest ways to do this is to hold a competition or prize depict. For example, you could ask viewers to share your video on Facebook and go out a comment to exist entered into a draw to win one of your products. Growing a loyal, active community is a surefire way to get more views on YouTube.

10. Optimize Your Video Titles

YouTube is a search engine. Which means search engine optimization (SEO) matters.

YouTube's algorithm takes multiple items into account when selecting videos for search results. And the platform provides a number of opportunities to optimize your channel and videos — including video file names, titles, descriptions, and tags.

So include equally much information as possible. Crucially, you demand to know which keywords you desire your videos and channel to rank for.

Keywords in YouTube Video Titles

YouTuber Graham Cochrane discovers relevant keywords by typing potential keywords into the search bar to see what appears in the autocomplete. You can likewise use free keyword tools similar Google Trends and Google Ads Keyword Planner .

Just beware… YouTube will penalize y'all for including keywords that aren't relevant to your video. Also keep your titles betwixt threescore-70 characters long . This gives y'all the most room to create a compelling championship, while likewise ensuring that it won't be cut brusk in search results. Lastly, don't forget the humans!

Sure, yous need to use keywords to help your videos rank in search results, but to get more free YouTube views, you as well need your video titles and descriptions to entreatment to viewers. In full general, aim for a balance betwixt accurate, informative, and attention-grabbing.

As the famed copywriter David Ogilvy once wrote , "When you have written your headline, you accept spent eighty cents out of your dollar." So whatever you do, pay close attention to your video titles.

11. Optimize Your Channel

Optimizing your aqueduct is vital to strengthening your brand and boosting your YouTube views. And YouTube provides enough of ways to optimize your channel. Here's how Daniel Wellington has done it:

Daniel Wellington YouTube

Allow'southward quickly run through some of the main components:

Create a strong, consistent brand aesthetic.

Ensure that your YouTube branding is consistent with your website and other social channels. This means using the same logo, images, and colors . Your profile picture should exist 800 x 800 pixels. Information technology should also even so expect good when displayed smaller. Your banner fine art should be at to the lowest degree 2560 x 1440 pixels, and there's a template to help y'all blueprint your banner art in YouTube's Creator Academy .

Optimize your YouTube aqueduct description.

This is shown on your channel's 'About' tab. You only get 1,000 characters, so brand 'em count. What should you write in your YouTube aqueduct description? Well, start with a quick description of your brand and the benefits of your products.

Then tell viewers why they should scout your YouTube videos. Are you teaching them something? Or is your aqueduct mostly virtually entertainment? Lesser-line: Tell viewers what'southward in information technology for them. Just like your individual video titles, make certain that you include your targeted keywords in your YouTube aqueduct description.

Add your social channels, links to your website, and a manner to get in contact.

In other words, make it easy for viewers to observe out more nearly your brand.

Add together channel keywords.

In one case you've researched and decided on the keywords you want your aqueduct to rank for in the search results, click "Channel," and then "Advanced." And then simply input your keywords into the box titled "Aqueduct Keywords."

YouTube Channel Keywords

Lastly, enable related channels.

"One of the biggest mistakes I see business concern channels make is that they turn off the 'related channels' feature on YouTube," said Syed Balkhi , the founder of List25 (which has over 2.3 million subscribers and 582 one thousand thousand views).

By turning it off, you remove your channel from YouTube'south recommendations. As a consequence, you'll lose the network event that makes YouTube such a powerful tool.

In summary, make sure that yous optimize your YouTube channel and that all of your data is complete.

12. Create a YouTube Trailer Featuring Your Best Content

Your YouTube trailer is a short video that'south shown to new visitors on your channel. It's a fantastic opportunity to:

  • Bear witness viewers what kind of content you create,
  • Highlight the benefits your aqueduct provides,
  • And, encourage them to subscribe.

There are no specific rules around the trailer'south maximum length, but most YouTubers keep information technology between 25-30 seconds.

What makes a fantastic YouTube trailer? A nice short video that conveys your story, ambitions, and vision. Then, when thinking of ideas for your trailer, ask yourself, "What's my groundwork"? "What exercise I hope to achieve"? "What compelled me to create a YouTube channel"?

Keep the virtually interesting things yous have to say reserved for the commencement few seconds, but sprinkle your personality throughout the trailer, like international serial entrepreneur Peter Sage did:

To create your trailer, go to your aqueduct homepage and click "Customise Channel." This will redirect yous to a folio where y'all can upload your trailer's footage. Once done, write a description, enter your SEO tags, and click "Publish."

how to create a YouTube trailer

Subsequently publishing, head back to your channel homepage and click the Customise Aqueduct push button again. The trailer should now exist nowadays in your video library. Set it as your YouTube trailer by clicking the "For New Visitors" tab.

And that's it. Your channel trailer is ready to make an impact. Let information technology practice the legwork of impressing whoever decides to check out your channel.

13. Create Compelling Thumbnail Images

A thumbnail is a video's preview image. This little image is extremely important if you want to get more costless YouTube views. When you upload a video, you can choose one of the auto-generated thumbnail images.

Don't. Instead, create and upload your own custom thumbnail paradigm. YouTube reports that 90 per centum of the top-performing videos on YouTube use them — and for expert reason.

YouTube Custom Thumbnails

(If you haven't yet, you need to verify your YouTube account to access this characteristic.)

An effective thumbnail prototype can aid your videos stand up out.

YouTube Video Thumbnails

YouTube says , "Thumbnails require an art director'southward eye for branding, and shouldn't be an reconsideration." In fact, they recommend that you think virtually your thumbnail before you lot outset filming. That way, you lot tin can brand sure you capture the footage needed to create a compelling thumbnail image. A expert thumbnail is one that is eye-catching, compelling, coinciding with your make, and accurately represents the video's content.

In general, effort to include:

  • Brightly colored backgrounds
  • Close-ups of faces
  • Text overlays
  • Subtle branding — like a pocket-size logo or watermark

Okay, what nearly the technicalities? Your thumbnail should:

  • Employ a 16:9 attribute ratio, as this is the most used aspect ratio in YouTube players
  • Have a resolution of 1280×720
  • Take a file-size of less than 2MB
  • Exist formatted every bit a .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, or .PNG

You lot can also use a free image editing and graphic design tool like Canva to create your thumbnails. Remember, thumbnails are ane of the best ways to catch the attending of people browsing YouTube, so make sure that yours are effective and compelling.

To learn more than well-nigh the perfect YouTube thumbnail size and all-time practices, cheque out our guide here.

14. Transcribe Your Videos

Creating videos is peachy, only sometimes your audition will need a transcription due to linguistic communication constraints or disability. YouTube allows for closed captions where a transcript is added as subtitles to a video. Viewers can toggle these subtitles on and off at will. If you lot programme on opening your videos to an international market, transcriptions can exist a great idea. Translating scripts are useful for helping those with other language abilities to empathise your videos amend.

How do you create a transcription document for upload to YouTube? It is quite simple actually. Yous create a SubRip Subtitle file, SRT for brusk, which includes the start and finish times adjacent to the text.

SRT Subtitle File

This tin then be saved as a file with timings included so that text displays at the correct time in the video.

SubRip Subtitle File

Once uploaded to YouTube, or any other video platform, double check your timings are correct and viola, you've got yourself a airtight caption video.

Upload YouTube Subtitle File

xv. Publish Your Videos at The Best Time

The best fourth dimension is when your target visitors are watching your videos. Fortunately, this is no longer a mystery as YouTube tracks the hours and days when your audition is on YouTube. You can dig into your "When your viewers are on YouTube" report to identify top times and publish content in an hour or two earlier those peaks. Publishing earlier will give your audience a adventure to find your new videos, resulting in more than free views.

To access the report, get to your channel homepage, click Customize Channel, select Analytics from the left-manus tab beneath your channel profile pic, and click the Audience tab. You should at present see the choice to generate a "When your viewers are on YouTube" study. If you don't have plenty daily views to generate this study, then yous tin effort publishing in the hours we've mentioned in our postal service The Best Fourth dimension to Post on Social Media in 2021 .

16. Invite Guest Vloggers

Guest blogging is a bully way to gain new followers and viewers. Identifying influencers who accept a similar audition to yours will open up your channel up to potential viewers who have the same interests as you. Building a close relationship with these influencers afterwards creating a video with them volition mean that they will share your videos with their followers if y'all do the same for them. This reciprocity is a surefire way to gain costless new views on YouTube.

Invitee Vloggers are great non only for costless ways to get more views simply also to add more variety to your videos. Having some other person to brainstorm video ideas with tin open the door to creative videography which will, in plow, create more than views on your YouTube aqueduct.

Digital marketer and author Jordan Platten often records videos with influencers:

guest invite free YouTube videos

For certain, it's not but his audience tuning in and sharing these videos, simply the influencer's as well.

Following on from guest vloggers, building a strong influencer customs that shares community content and works together to help everyone involved is a nifty fashion to get more views on your YouTube channel. Being an influencer can exist very lonely and competitive. Reaching out to influencers similar to yourself to share knowledge and data can help to build a community of influencers that await after each other and help people who are struggling.

Identifying similar influencers through tools similar Unamo or Buzzsumo and reaching out to them will start the brawl rolling but exist sure to have a goal and compelling reason to maintain contact so that it is a reciprocal relationship and not one-sided.

eighteen. Know What'due south Viral

Keeping upwards to date with things happening in your industry tin be the difference betwixt becoming pop or sinking into the background. Those with a deep agreement of what is happening in their world can create videos that are current and interesting to those researching the niche. But this noesis of your industry also helps you identify viral content equally it happens so you lot can share it with your following before anyone else. Beingness the first to share information volition place you as a leader in your field, leading to more exposure to your content and more views.

FAQ about getting views on Youtube

What counts every bit a view on YouTube?

A view counts on YouTube when a user intentionally plays a video and watches it for at least 30 seconds. Repeat views also stand up to a certain betoken (around 4-5 views), afterwards which YouTube stops counting repeated playback from the user'southward account or device.

Where is the best place to share YouTube videos?

In that location's no i best identify to share your videos, as you tin get a bigger attain by distributing them on multiple platforms. Hither are some websites where you tin share or promote your YouTube videos:

  1. Reddit
  2. Facebook
  3. Instagram
  4. Twitter
  5. Pinterest
  6. LinkedIn
  7. Quora
  8. Medium
  9. Digg
  10. Personal website/blog
  11. Newsletter
  12. BoredPanda
  13. Niche forums
  14. Wimp
  15. Stumbleupon

How practise I share a YouTube video from my mobile?

  1. Open the relevant YouTube video.
  2. Tap the "Share" icon and copy the video URL.
  3. Paste the URL on the platform where you want to share the video.

If yous cull to share the video on a specific platform, tap on that platform's name instead of copying the video URL. Then select the contact you wish to share the video with, and permit YouTube handle the remainder.

Your Plow

At that place you have it: 18 means to become more views on YouTube!

In summary: First, focus on creating great content that your target audience will love.

Then do your best to optimize your content and channel, and promote your content through other channels.

Lastly, get involved in your niche community and nurture relationships with your viewers!

Which 1 of these tactics are yous going to apply beginning to get more YouTube views? Go out a comment below and let us know!