Do you want to increase the visibility of your business and get your brand off the ground? Do you dream of living off your YouTube channel by becoming a professional YouTuber? On average, 500 hours of video are published each day on the Google streaming platform: in other words, it is not easy to stand out on YouTube.
Many beginner vloggers and videographers are therefore looking for the miracle recipe. There’s nothing like relying on the advice of an expert: your grandmother for cooking pot-au-feu, and La Redact du Web for the creation of content on the Internet. So, what is the formula for success? What are the tricks to increase your view counter, viewing hours, and the number of subscribers? How do you recognize a working account? Discover all our ingredients to optimize your YouTube channel!
1. The choice of equipment: taking care of the visual and sound quality
And if we allow ourselves to spin the culinary metaphor, it is because to succeed on YouTube, as in gastronomy, everything starts with adequate utensils although neither oven nor spatulas are on the menu here. Instead, rely on these two essential tools:
- If your videos rely on content rather than image, you can settle for a camera running at 1080p (but never below): most current smartphones are capable of this. However, if your visuals are the heart of the matter, equip yourself with a powerful lens and set it to shoot in 4K at 60 frames per second, the highest resolution allowed by YouTube.
- Audio is almost more important than video: impossible to ignore a microphone! There are very affordable entry-level models, which will always be preferable to the loudspeaker of your camera or your smartphone, whose muffled sound will prove to be unpleasant for Internet users.
Use a tripod to stabilize your phone or camera, and make sure the lighting is optimal before you start filming. Photo credits: Pixels
2. Virality: sharing your videos on social networks
One of the best ways to sell a restaurant is to promote it around town. To get more views on YouTube, talk about your channel around you! Set up a social media verification agency:
- Share your videos on your social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) with an engaging message that makes your followers want to watch them.
- Think about your inner circle and pre-established community: family and friends for a vlogger; collaborators and associates for a company. Tell them about your channel and invite them to relay it.
Also discover all our tips for promoting your content on social networks!
There’s no silver bullet, but following these 7 steps is a good starting point for anyone who wants to stand out on YouTube. social media verification agency go even further, call on one of the editors of La Redact du Web: experts in writing and SEO, who will be able to write catchy scripts, powerful titles and optimized descriptions.
3. The key to standing out on YouTube: creating content that looks like you
Even cooked with the Thermomix, a bad soup is still a bad soup! Creating quality content is what makes all the salt of a good YouTube channel. The secret ingredient: a flavorful personality. Tap into the subjects that you are passionate about or are an expert in, and your enthusiasm will capture the attention of viewers. Follow these tips:
- Find the happy medium between following the recipe and making it your own. Script your videos ahead of time to avoid stuttering in front of the camera. Nevertheless, feel free to improvise, from shooting to final rendering: your frame gives shape and structure to your grub, but it’s your naturalness that will give it color and consistency.
- You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs: some sacrifices are sometimes necessary! Think of the user, whose time is limited and whose attention is limited. Do not hesitate to cut in the fat by cutting the most redundant parts during assembly.
- However, don’t be afraid to stand out: does your video seem longer than average? Does the subject seem a little too “niche” to you? Consider the guy who came up with the idea for pineapple pizza: some love it, some hate it. For YouTube, it’s the same thing: there is an audience for everything! Produce the content you would like to watch, and you will gather a community that looks like you. Test, dare, and correct later if necessary.
4. Thumbnails, titles and descriptions: optimizing your YouTube channel
Your video is shot, edited, ready to upload? Not so fast: it still needs to be decorated. The presentation is as important as the dish itself, and social media verification agency will do same goes for your content on YouTube. Here’s how to dress them up:
- Take care with your thumbnails: they must have beautiful images as well as readable and impactful texts, and measure 1,280 × 720 pixels at most.
- Don’t overlook titles. We all swallow astronomical quantities of YouTube videos every day: put yourself in the shoes of an Internet user and write a catchy title, which makes you want to click.
- Detail your descriptions: explain precisely the subject you are talking about, and use many keywords related to this theme. This will improve the SEO, the referencing of your video on search engines, and thus allow users interested in your subject to find it more easily.
5. User experience: integrating chapters, files and playlists
No matter how successful your starter, your main course and your dessert, if you serve all three at the same time, your guests will find it indigestible. For a YouTube video, it’s the same thing! Structure and prioritize information using the three tools below, so your viewers can find it:
- Chapters: by adding timecodes in the description (to be written in the form “0:00 Title”), you will delimit sections of your video and give them a title. During viewing, your listeners will be able to click on the sections of their choice in order to access them directly.
- Cards and end screens: Available in YouTube Studio, these tools allow you to embed redirect URLs and calls-to-action for your viewers, making your content more interactive and engaging.
- Playlists: if your channel has a number of videos, consider storing them in several themed playlists. Internet users who discover your page will be able to browse your universe more easily.
We are all multitasking Internet users: to hold attention, your video must be clear, structured and accessible. Photo credits: Pixels
6. Accessibility: insert subtitles
You may cook the best dish in the world, but without plates or cutlery, it will be difficult to eat it! On YouTube, subtitles have a double function: on the one hand, they make your video understandable for people who are deaf and hard of hearing; on the other hand, they improve the SEO of your channel. Two solutions are available to you:
- If your voice is intelligible enough, Google will produce automatic captions. They are a good basis, but it is better to check them and correct them, if necessary, because it often happens that words are misspelled or even incorrect.
- Also, in YouTube Studio by the social media verification agency, you can rewrite captions from Google’s transcription, or write your own from scratch.
7. Interaction: exchanging with the YouTube community
Gathering guests around a table is always more fun than eating alone in your corner. To increase your YouTube channel’s visibility and get more subscribers, engage with other users – both those who have come to you and those who haven’t yet. To do this:
- Challenge Internet users during your videos, not only to ask them to like or share, but also by inviting them to continue the debate or to give their opinion.
- Respond to comments left on your channel. This will encourage viewers to continue interacting with you.
- Follow YouTube accounts that look like you, and react to their content! Gradually, this is how you will build a committed community that adheres to your vision.
