Starting a YouTube channel cold improve your SEO
The chances are you are already involved with Facebook and Twitter when it comes to social media but do you have a YouTube channel?
YouTube certainly isn’t the most popular channel for brands to reach their customers at the moment but the statistics around the video sharing platform would encourage the shyest of online retailers to jump in front of the camera and create some video content.
There are over 800 million unique visitors to YouTube each month and over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube.
Since its purchase by Google, there has been an even bigger reason for online retailers to have video content on their sites. Including video content on your site will increase the perceived quality of your site and move it further up in Google’s search results.
Also, video content tends to appear on the first page of a search so it might be easier for your videos to appear high up than your site.
Keep in mind however, if you don’t think you can look after your channel and make regular video postings, it is probably best not to create one. An unused channel can reflect badly on your business.
Create a branded YouTube channel
It is free to create a brand channel on YouTube. Think of it like a Facebook business page. These channels are an easy way for users to engage with you brand. They can watch your videos, add and read comments, subscribe to your channel and share it with other users.
There are a number of different ways you can brand your channel and make sure it fits in with the look and feel of your business. You can incorporate large header images, banners and background images. Use the page and your videos to link back to your main site.
Start making your videos
Videos have a greater chance of going viral than written content and many big brands have done extremely well out of creating clever and engaging content.
But you don’t need to create the next TipEx Hunter and Bear sensation to be deemed successful. You simply need to create content that is useful or compelling for your customers.
You could create practical “How To” videos to accompany your products. Talk people through frequently asked questions. Do interviews with relevant industry experts.
Create behind the scenes footage of your business. Do a shoot which uses your product or services in an interesting way. If you go to an event, create an event diary.
Make sure people can find your videos
If people are to come across your videos through search they need to be full of the appropriate keywords. The title and the description should be jam packed with keywords.
The description should be detailed and filled with potential search terms. You should always add a URL to your site in the description, this helps both Google and your customers to find you.
Next you should make sure your video has plenty of tags, this is how YouTube content is organised. Add as many relevant words and phrases to this section as the more the better.
The more views your videos have and more subscribers your channel has, the better they will perform on Google search, so get as much traffic to it as possible. Promote your videos through Facebook, Twitter and don’t forget to host them on your main site.
Get involved in the YouTube community
YouTube is a social site so make sure you aren’t isolated by regularly looking at other content on the site and finding videos within your field of interest. Comment on relevant videos, add them to your playlists and subscribe to other channels. Make as many YouTube “friends” as possible.
Use analytics to track your success
YouTube comes complete with a powerful analytics tool which can help you to understand your audience and make your channel an even bigger success.
You can check out demographics and get a fuller picture of your audience. By understanding which part of your customer base is most interested in your videos you can create more tailored content.
You can see which videos are the most popular, how long they are viewed for on average and see which ones have been shared the most.
You can also find out how successful your key word usage is by tracking exactly how the users are coming across your content. If it is all from your site and not from search, then perhaps you need a better keyword strategy.
UK-based ecommerce sites doing YouTube well…
Check out some of the best YouTube channels from the UK. The mix of video content should be able to give you some inspiration for your own videos. Each of these companies has a completely different USP and come up with engaging ideas for videos.
- ASOS
- Moo.com
- Brompton
- Argos
- EasyJet
