As social media continues to grow, the desire for video content via You Tube is gigantic!  Literally millions and millions of videos are added every single day.

If you are a company that has video content – be it demonstrations of your products, or some kind of promotional video that outlines what you do, then this blog is just for you.

The Basics

If you have a busy You Tube channel and you’re hoping to drive traffic to your website with it, then you should always consider how you SEO your videos.  This may be something you already do but for many it’s not even thought about.

The principles are exactly the same and if you imagine You Tube on one level – it’s a massive search engine that sits between being the second or third biggest in the world beneath Google!

This should help you identify its importance within your online efforts.

The other side to You Tube is of course that it is owned by Google and there is a dedicated Video option on Google Search that means you can look for videos – of which the rankings are extremely important!

So if you are looking to expand your online presence or have already got a presence but are looking to improve it then these tips may be of use!

What do I need to do?

As we are all aware, successful Search Engine Marketing is based on relevant keywords, which make it easier for people to find us.

So, just as you would in Google, your Search Engine Marketing efforts should be replicated in You Tube videos.

Any videos should be tagged with relevant keywords that will allow the end user to find you and that will also allow the user on You Tube to find your content.

Now, this isn’t the whole story of course, because people abuse this on You Tube and end up trying to post a video that is keyworded for something that a lot of people are searching for.  Thus the end user gets very annoyed when they suddenly find a video that has nothing to do with their search term.  The downside here is that your video can be reported, marked as spam and then promptly removed from You Tube altogether.  So, just as in traditional Search Engine Marketing for your website, you should not abuse You Tube to get fast results.

Essentials

First of all, you should title your video in a way that reflects a search term.  So rather than put:

Joe Blogs Video on Internet Marketing

you may benefit more from calling it:

Internet Marketing Tips for your Business

This means that a user will be able to find you more easily and if they don’t know your name it won’t matter.

Always include links back to your website.  You can put these straight in to You Tube videos for end users and can even benefit from offers based links in the video if what you’re offering is good enough.

You should also make sure that extra information is supplied about the video, which should ideally be keyworded too, as this will help You Tube and Google find your video more easily for displaying in search results.

Some more don’ts!

As well as the obvious ones mentioned, you should make sure that your video isn’t simply an ‘advertisement’.  It needs to have some merit in its own right, either as a resource or as entertainment.

Many companies around the world have created virals and videos that offer both entertainment and PR opportunities but that also allow a company to drive a considerable amount of traffic to their website.  This is really what you should be looking at doing.

Don’t simply put your video promo on their either.  Business video promotions tend to have bad music, bad editing and really won’t be of interest to many people.

Therefore, don’t be ridiculous – be realistic instead.  Consider truthfully whether your video will actually be of use to someone.

Some more general points

Don’t worry about telling people things.  Some companies get hung up on this over and over again, but the Internet has changed so much these days.  What many have to realise is that somewhere on the Internet there is always an answer.

Whether you’re a developer looking for code, or you want to find out how to plumb in a sink, the answer is there!  With the latter in mind, now try and imagine if you wanted to plumb in a sink and saw a video whether you’d actually want to do it yourself?

Or indeed, would a qualified plumber watch your video and learn something new?

Of course, some things should be kept well under wraps, but try not to assume that you’re ‘the original’ as chances are you’re not!

Finally…

So, remember, that all content online will benefit from some kind of help in the form of Search Engine Marketing, and as video content grows daily, you need to be aware of all the opportunities open to you.

Paul