You have to love it when someone does local marketing on YouTube right. A search for Portland Portrait Photographer on Google brings up way too many choices. That same search on YouTube brings up only a few choices, the best of which is the video embedded below.

Just by using a smart keyword strategy in the positioning of his video (and Portland Photos YouTube Channel), he (currently) is #2 in YouTube for his term (above others with thousands of views). He’ll hit #1 quickly, I’d imagine.

Obviously he needs to fill out his channel and not ignore a Google Local listing (where he can include his videos) but he’s pointed in the right direction.

If this is possible for a Portland Portrait Photographer with an Animoto account, it’s possible for you.

If you can’t see the video in your reader, link directly to the Portland Portrait Photographer video at YouTube.

According to YouTube’s Channel Re-Design Beta Blog, TODAY, September 30th, is the day YouTube will officially begin switching all user channels over to channel design 2.0. If you are still using the old version, be ready to accept change, because while not all channels will switch over instantly, YouTube says the full migration will be complete within the next two weeks. YouTube partners will be the last to “get the swap” (ouch! sounds like it hurts) and that occurs on October 14th.

YouTube Secret Weapon customers, clients, and blog readers may recall that this official, site-wide conversion was to have taken place back on July 15th, but it was postponed. SO, while the YouTube channel redesign team  slowly whittled away at the remaining items on their to-do list, I went off and enjoyed the rest of my summer.
(And by that I mean I took a break from the blog, and Paul and I halted development of YouTube Secret Weapon 2.0; however, it was not a YouTube-less summer for me. I continued coaching private clients one-on-one, some of whom I will showcase in future case studies. Yeah, I learned a bunch of killer new YouTube marketing tricks.)

While I’m not 100% in love with the new channel design layout, I have been figuring out ways to make the most out it. I promise to blog about some of the beneficial features in the future. In the meantime, I want to say something to those of you who have used (or hope to use) custom background images on your channel...

Customized YouTube Channel Backgrounds

With this official switch to the new design layout, any background images or custom color scheme settings you used on your previous YouTube channel will be lost or not work properly.

Actually, let me take a step back a moment and say: If you have not customized your YouTube channel, you definitely want to reconsider. It is wise to keep your branding consistent across all of your online properties. By making good use of a custom background image, you can modify your channel to look like an extension of your existing site(s) and/or profiles.

At the very least, you’ll want to choose a suitable color-scheme. But with the  wealth of branding elements you can have put into a custom channel background image, it’s the way to go.

So with the new official design switch on the horizon, I went out and found a fantastic graphic designer to customize some new channel background images for both my YouTube Secret Weapon partner, Paul Colligan, as well as for one of my current clients, Mike Fry. (I also have one being created for the official YouTube Secret Weapon channel. Coming soon.)

FIRST, check out these absolutely STELLAR YouTube channel background designs by Kurt Austin of Catalyst Digital:

1. Fancy Fortune Cookies’ YouTube Channel – For my client Mike Fry’s custom fortune cookie company by the same name. WARNING: Do not view on an empty stomach!

http://youtube.com/user/fancyfortunecookies

Note that this channel is currently being used to feature videos sent in for a contest promotion that Fancy Fortune Cookies is running. This is a great way for you to think about using YouTube to promote your company, products, or services. Think about it: Mike hasn’t created any videos, but he has dozens being created about his product! That’s a lot of content.

The parts I especially like about this background image are the call-out arrows used to gain more channel subscribers (and who doesn’t want those?).

The one on the top-left, practically the first thing the eye catches:

And here’s a close up of the area just beneath the fold, heading the new profile information section:

What a difference a custom background image made for Fancy Fortune Cookies’ YouTube Channel, huh? (And yeah, those cookies are covered in white chocolate, and one has sprinkles!)  Okay…where was I? Oh yeah, next example:

2. Paul Colligan’s New Media Training YouTube Channel Designer Kurt also designed this special custom background for my YouTube Secret Weapon partner and New Media expert, Paul Colligan. This color scheme and message are consistent with Paul’s branding:

http://youtube.com/user/colligan

Since the above image won’t let you see the lower half of Paul’s channel, check out what the actual image from the designer’s site looks like:

3. Secrets of Goal Setting YouTube Channel This design is also for my client Mike Fry. Note that this channel will not be developed until later this year. For now though, it’s got the branding in place:

http://youtube.com/user/secretsofgoalsetting

Here’s that image straight from the designer’s site:

So those are three examples that I’ve had Kurt do thus far. And the YouTube Secret Weapon channel is still in the works (mainly because Paul and I are working on a logo for the 2.0 version — on it’s way soon).

Now for some cool news…

Get Your Own Customized Channel Background Design — At a Discount

The good news is that Kurt Austin at Catalyst Digital has decided to offer a special discount to any of my YouTube Secret Weapon customers, clients, and/or blog readers. You can have a custom channel background designed by Kurt — specially catered to you and your online brand, products, or services — all by mentioning you read about him from my blog.

And for a limited time (which all depends on how quickly orders come in ) Kurt is offering a 50% off discount off of his regular $200 rate.

That means you can have your own customized YouTube
channel background designed for only $100!

Now there are plenty of free channel background layout design sites out there, but none of these are going to offer you something customized. They will all be generic, and likely also being used by other channels around YouTube.

To be unique, and to get your logo, name, product name, business name, even your website or blog domain onto your background…and to keep the color scheme and images consistent with your existing online branding, unless you are a whiz at Photoshop, you are going to have to hire a designer to do this for you.

So here again is the full deal:

• 50% off! A custom YouTube channel background for only $100 by mentioning this blog. (Normally $200.)
• Three (3) rounds of revisions, based on your feedback. Any revisions beyond that will entail a small fee.
• Contact Kurt Austin at ka.design(at)catalystdigital.com or check out his work at Catalyst Digital’s portfolio page.

And I’ll be back soon with more on the upcoming release of YouTube Secret Weapon 2.0.

Have fun with the new look of your YouTube channel!

]]> http://www.youtubesecretweapon.com/blog/customized-youtube-background-images-for-the-redesigned-channel-layout-which-is-here-to-stay-september-30th/feed/ 17 http://www.youtubesecretweapon.com/blog/youtube-video-marketing-and-optimization-secrets-part-3-of-3/ http://www.youtubesecretweapon.com/blog/youtube-video-marketing-and-optimization-secrets-part-3-of-3/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:48:20 +0000 Julie Perry http://youtubesecretweapon.com/blog/?p=956

This post on YouTube Video Marketing Secrets is a continuation of my post from a few weeks ago entitled “YouTube Video Marketing Secrets and Video Search Optimization Tips – Part 2 of now 3.” That makes this the third and final installment of the series in which I publicly share my critique of YouTube user Mike Stokes’ YouTube Channel. (With Mike’s permission, of course. And to find out more of why I am doing this, see Part 1.)

Now, I interrupted the series last week in order to cover the news about the YouTube Channel re-design changes that have been announced for July 15th.  While we still have some time before that happens (tick, tick, tick), I’m going to use this post to cover some non-Channel-related topics on YouTube video marketing.

Today’s YouTube Video Marketing & Optimization Tip Topics

So without further ado, today I am going to cover:

1. Analyzing YouTube Insight Statistics — why you need to do it and how to make it easier
2. Creating Inbound Links to both your videos AND your YouTube Channel
3. Building YouTube Playlists — the importance of Playlists as a way to expand your audience and gain new fans

I’ll pick up by beginning with Tip #13…(re-visit Part 2 of this Series where I left off with Tip #12.)

Tip #13: Analyzing Your YouTube Insight Statistics

YouTube’s analytics program, Insight, not only helps you get a better understanding of the makeup of your YouTube audience by feeding you demographic data, it also allows you to find out how you are being FOUND by said audience.

Consult YouTube Insight for your video after the first 4-5 days and use the data to tweak your title and tags accordingly. (In other words, if your video is being found via keywords you aren’t using, go back and edit your video to be better optimized for those terms … or drop keywords from your title or tags that aren’t helping you be found.)

Start by first analyzing how your traffic is getting to you. Is it via YouTube Search, Google Search (SCORE!), YouTube related videos…or how?

YouTube Insight- Discovery: Wow, in this screenshot above it shows nearly 60% of this video's total views are coming from just YouTube and Google Search alone (and the most from Google). That means this is one well-optimized video!

From there, look within those YouTube and Google Search Discovery categories to find out what keywords are bringing you the most traffic:

Interestingly, "youtube optimization" and "youtube marketing" are not proving to be big traffic-getters for this video in the screenshot above (can you read that?). That means I should either re-optimize for them OR assume that perhaps those aren't typical keywords that my audience uses to search for my information. A look over at Google's Adwords Tool to analyze those keywords shows they don't get many searches. So, voila, I have my answer: There's no use re-optimizing for words most people don't think to search. At the same time, those words still most adequately describe what I'm offering with YouTube Secret Weapon, so I want to leave them in for those reasons.

Know that you are also able to access the data under “Related videos” (we’re back under Discovery now) to find what other videos people are watching prior to yours. This will also give you keen insight (hence the name, right) into what keywords to focus on. To do that, look to see what keywords those related videos have used as titles and tags.

Here’s another bonus tip (Tip #14): If remembering to check your YouTube Insight data is not at the forefront of you mind, put it on the forefront of your YouTube Homepage so it’s right in front of you upon login. And note: I am talking about your Homepage here, not your Channel/Profile. The Homepage (another word important enough to warrant a big ol’ capital letter, “H”) is what only you see when you first log on to YouTube.

If you didn’t know this already, you are able to set your YouTube Homepage Modules to display your YouTube Insight data:

To do that, first go here and check off the information you want to even show up on your YouTube Homepage:

You can reach that page either by going directly to “Customize Homepage” under your Account Settings, or simply by clicking on the “Add/Remove Modules” link just under the left-side horizontal menu bar on your Homepage (again, you have to be logged in):

Once you have the data displaying on your Homepage, use the up and down arrows to display the Insight data prominently at the top of that page so it’s the first thing you see when you log in to the site.

Use the up and down arrows on the far top right of the box to arrange your various Homepage Modules the way you want them to display on your page.

Once this is done, remember you’ll want to watch that Insight data closely (the Map is not as important as the Chart, by the way) so you can keep a close eye on how your videos are performing based on the keywords you’ve optimized for already. Again, tweak things accordingly.

My advice to Mike from before, in regards to his own video optimization (note there are more hidden tips here!):

“Mike: One thing you might consider doing is getting more of your main keywords into your video descriptions. We find that using a keyword or keyword phrase 3-4 times in a video description increases the likelihood you’ll rank high for that term. (Tip #15)

Also think about adding more tags to some of your videos. You definitely have the main ones down for each recipe, but each and every video should have “Cajun” and “recipe” in there (as an example). Mike, your YouTube Insight data will likely yield some additional keywords you can better optimize for on all or some of your videos.”

And I included this back in Part 1 (Tip #3), but I’m going to reiterate it here:

Repeat Part 1, Tip #3: As you search YouTube for related videos by entering in different keywords or keyword combinations (in order to ultimately study what keywords other videos in your niche have in their titles and tags), pay attention to what is coming up in the search bar.

This is because popular keyword search terms are now provided FOR YOU through “YouTube Suggest.” (This uses “Google Suggest” functionality.)

This is a great way to generate ideas for commonly searched keyword phrases based around your root keyword(s). It will also yield potentially related video content for you to analyze, add to Playlists (more on that in a bit), comment upon, rate, favorite, etc. (There are a number of reasons why all that is important, but it is all outside the scope of this post.)

Tip #16: Creating Inbound Links to Both Your YouTube Videos AND Your YouTube Channel

This all comes back to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 101: The key to getting more of your great videos to come up in the Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) boils down to creating more inbound links to both your videos AND your YouTube Channel.

My Advice to Mike:

“Mike: While you are out there building links to your blog(s) or other online properties, try creating a few directly to your YouTube videos. Granted, the point is to ultimately get your audience to head over to your main site anyway — but there are a lot of factors that contribute to how well your videos rank on YouTube (and Google), and inbound links from outside sources with good page rank (and hopefully via keyword-rich anchor text) is one of them.

In the end, you’ll be far more likely to hit page 1 of Google with a YouTube video thumbnail than you will with your main blog, where you’re competing with so many other Cajun cooking websites. Therefore, while you are out building backlinks to your blog, throw a few in that point directly to your YouTube videos AND a few that point directly to your Channel (that’s a good thing to do in your email signature).

I say right now, go create at least one inbound link to your Channel and at least one to your most recent video.

Addendum to my original comments to Mike:

Tip #17: Here are some ideas for building those inbound links:

1. Embed Your YouTube Videos to Blogs: Your own and those on other Social Networks (hey, there’s a reason you kept that MySpace account open).
2. Use the Share Feature directly from YouTube (below each video) to post to all sites offered.
3. Social Bookmark Your Videos (and even Your Channel) out the Wazoo. Consider: Digg, Mixx, del.ic.ious, StumbleUpon, and Reddit. Visit http://SocialMediaDaily.com and grab the “Social Media Daily Blueprint” by Michelle MacPhearson for a good list of additional recommended sites.
4. Write and Post Articles with Links Back to Your Video(s) & Channel. (Works great!)
5. Something to keep in mind when building links back to your videos from websites or blogs that you control: Use Keyword-Rich Anchor Text.
6. For other ideas, Study a bit more about SEO Best Practices.
   

Tip #18a: Playlists, Playlists, Playlists…Build some.

In fact, creating and building upon Playlists is so crucial that I’m going to do the same thing I did previously when discussing the importance of your YouTube Channel and Homepage. I’m capitalizing the word: Playlists. (I know you’re thinking, “Whoa now simmer down there, Julie — that’s heavy stuff.”)

Seriously: The importance of YouTube Playlists is not so much to showcase them on your Channel, but rather to get your Playlists coming up in the YouTube search results. Lately, Playlists are hitting the top 3-4 spots for any given keyword.

Above, the YouTube Secret Weapon Playlist is coming up #4 (#3 if you don't count the Promoted Video) for the search phrase "youtube video optimization"

Don’t let it be someone else’s Playlist collection coming up on top! Create your own.

Fact: The metadata metric of a video being added to a Playlist(s) counts in the YouTube relevancy algorithm.

So add your videos to as many Playlists as possible.

Tip #18b: Now here’s the secret to it: Create Playlists that group your own videos with other high-ranking videos (yes, even another content producer’s videos) containing your most important keywords in the title. *Don’t worry if they are your competitor’s videos or even if it’s content you don’t want to be related to: It’s the keywords that matter most!

As an example, check out this Playlist I built for the keywords “youtube video optimization” (among others):

As you advance through the above embedded Playlist (see the arrows at the side of the player), you’ll see that my own YouTube Secret Weapon videos are included, along with several of the testimonials and reviews videos from YouTube Secret Weapon students and affiliates. But, intermixed within those are some pretty hokey, Spam videos (no, not all of them) that are promoting ridiculous and shyster methods, products, and advice for how to increase YouTube video traffic via optimization (or in some cases, other Spammy means — which trust me, is not worth doing).

Note what I did in this example was create and build this Playlist to include not only my own videos that I was attempting to optimize for those keywords, but also to include related videos — and more importantly for the optimization factor, to include as many videos as I could (like ‘em or not) that included my target keywords.

(Repeat after me: “Keywords are King when it comes to Playlists.”)

If you are a current YouTube Secret Weapon owner, see Disc 3 or Bonus Webinar 6 for more on the hows and whys of creating Playlists.

So there you go: A handful of YouTube Secret Weapon tips (x 3 posts) that ought to help your videos rank better on YouTube (not to mention increase their chance of turning up in the top of the Google results) for your top keywords.

By employing even just a few of these strategies, you’ll end up with more targeted traffic coming to your videos, and therefore more qualified prospects being driven over to your main money site –- whether that be a website, a blog, or simply a landing page for an affiliate product you are promoting.

~Julie

P.S. If you didn’t catch Paul’s free webinar last night talking about YouTube’s new InVideo Click-Through Ads (CTAs), sign up now to get a link to the replay.

Seriously, if you thought YouTube Annotations equaled opportunity, THIS is Annotations on steroids. The ability to have viewers clicking your video to go right through to your off-YouTube money site is priceless.

As I said to Paul: “Instead of saying ‘here’s a map on how to get to my house from here’ (which is Annotations), YouTube’s new Invideo Click-Through Ads allow you to say, ‘Hey, I’ve come over to pick you up and bring you over. Hop in!’”

Check out Paul’s explanation and demo of YouTube CTAs by signing up for the replay link.

As always, Happy Tubing!

This post on YouTube Video Marketing Secrets is a continuation of last week’s post entitled “YouTube Video Marketing and Optimization Tips – Part 1 of 2” (making this Part 2 of 2, until I realized just now I’ll need to continue again next week, because, well, I talk too much –so now it’s 2 of 3), in which I publicly share my critique of YouTube user Mike Stokes’ YouTube Channel.

Today we are going to cover Adding Friends and Gaining Subscribers on YouTube, NoFollow & DoFollow links within YouTube, and posting YouTube videos as responses to other highly-viewed videos in your niche as a way to expand your audience and gain new fans.

In Part 1, most of my suggestions for Mike had to do with branding and laying down the foundation for optimizing his YouTube Channel–something one should do before even beginning to focus on how to optimize each YouTube video separately.

I’d like to begin Part 2 of my response to Mike by reiterating the four (4) main reasons businesses need to include YouTube as part of their overall online marketing plans. While everyone makes a big deal about Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, I would certainly add YouTube to that list of “MUST HAVE” social & new media marketing profiles (and therefore strategies) due to the following…

A YouTube Channel & Video Strategy Is CRUCIAL for:

1. Online Lead Generation and List-Building (Driving Traffic Back to Your Own Main Website/Blog)
   
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for YouTube AND Google Search
   
3. Viral Video Distribution Potential
4. Social Media Networking Benefits

…Add in that online video is one of the hottest marketing tools around right now, and that, in comparison to all the other video content-sharing sites out there, YouTube is BY FAR #1 (in terms of traffic, ability to rank in Google, and for opportunities that now exist to access YouTube from mobile devices and home entertainment systems), and you’ve got an undeniable force in online marketing today.

BUT, although many marketers have heeded this advice and are beginning to create and upload content to YouTube, where most go wrong is in assuming that the old adage, “build it and they will come” is going to work for them. Sorry folks, but not in today’s social media landscape…

Stop wasting your time, energy, and possibly even money in creating videos that you’re only going to toss up on YouTube and expect to gain an audience without any additional effort! You need to learn how to MARKET your YouTube videos so they can be found, watched, and ACTED UPON by your target audience. (Otherwise, what’s the point?)

Back in Part 1 of this post, I listed seven of my original suggestions for Mike on how he could improve upon his existing YouTube marketing efforts. Today, I pick up with Tip #8 (which, if you’ve been following along, was originally Tip #3 when I first posted my reply to Mike’s blog comment a few weeks back):

My Original Comment to Mike:

(Mike), I see you only have 288 subscribers to your Channel. [Note that since I posted this original response on May 28th, Mike’s Channel is now up to 329 subscribers, which is a huge increase in such a short period of time.] I find it shocking the number is that low given how great your content is. Get out there and add some friends, Mike!

Tip #8: Gaining more friends on YouTube will lead to more subscribers. It’s like magic. Yet you must have a strategy for whom you choose to invite. Mike, I suggest you spend a little time searching around YouTube for Channels similar to your own (if not Cajun food-related, then perhaps Southern cooking, or just some other niche specialty cooking Channels), and send friend invites to THEIR subscribers and friends lists.

New Comments to Mike Regarding Adding Friends/Gaining Subscribers on YouTube:

[I'm ditching the italics for awhile for better readability, but this all directed to Mike]:

For example, here’s a Channel with over 2,000 subscribers:

http://www.youtube.com/user/cookingfordads

Those 2,000+ subscribers are people who have expressed interest in “cooking how-to” information, and therefore they may take an interest in your Channel, (Mike).

What you then want to do is send YouTube friend requests (invites) to as many of this similar niche Channel’s subscribers as you can. (And despite what some self-appointed “YouTube police” will tell you, sending a friend request is NOT SPAM…Bulk YouTube emails, yes. YouTube friend invites, no.) Upon seeing the friend request, the likelihood that those people will come over to see who YOU are and check out YOUR CONTENT is very high (certainly higher than if you never reached out at all). This can lead to more subscribers, again, so long as you are being strategic about who you are inviting.

Tip #9: When sending friend requests, even if those people don’t end up subscribing to your content, if they at least click over to your Channel, that counts as a Channel view; and on YouTube, more Channel views raises the “profile authority” (my term, but think of this as “pagerank”) of your Channel. This is one of the socialization tactics, or “community factors,” I teach in YouTube Secret Weapon that count when optimizing your Channel.

And yes, it has been shown that how many Channel views you have is a factor to how well your videos do in the rankings. So, the more people who’ve expressed interest in your content by clicking over to your Channel (among other community engagement criteria), the better your videos will do across the board.

This takes us back to YouTube Marketing Part I, Tip #2 where I discussed the need to choose a strategic Channel name (a.k.a. username). The more intriguing or interest-piquing your Channel name sounds or appears when it turns up as a friend invite in someone’s YouTube Inbox or on a Channel or video comment, the higher the likelihood that people will click over to see what you’re all about.

You also want your Channel name to be niche-focused and made up of a major keyword or two, if possible. In other words, Mike, the username “CajunRecipes” is going to be a helluva lot bigger draw for people interested in cooking than, say, oh, “mikestokes1.” (I’m just sayin’.)

Other things you can do to attract attention from your potential audience in terms of tracking them down via similarly niche-focused Channels is to:

• Watch and Comment on Their Videos
• Leave Comments on Their Channels
• Subscribe to Other High-Traffic Channels Related to Your Niche that Really Are of Interest to You (don’t play the “Sub 4 Sub” game–it’s Spammy)

Allowing people to see your Channel name (preferably an intriguing and niche-focused one) in more places is setting the bait for more traffic, but also:

NoFollow & DoFollow Links Within YouTube

Tip #10: YouTube Channel links are NOT “NoFollow” links (nice double negative there, huh?); rather, they are “DoFollow” links. (For more on this subject of what YouTube links are or are not “NoFollow,” I encourage you to read the post “Is The YouTube SEO Guy Smoking Crack” by Andrew Shotland of Local SEO Guide. You’ll need to look up “nofollow links” if you are unfamiliar with this SEO term.)

Essentially though, the more your Channel username link appears around YouTube, say, attached to your comments on other Channels or as a recent Subscriber to other Channels (such as in the image below), the more the “DoFollow” link on your Channel username will pass link juice back to your Channel, and then on to your most recent video (also a “DoFollow” link).

All puple-blue highlighted links above are "DoFollow" links, and this includes each username of the YouTube Channel profiles. This is why commenting on and subscribing to other highly-ranked YouTube Channels will help raise the PageRank of your own Channel (link juice gets passed back), which can then be passed along to your most recent video(s).

As you’ll see below, Channel name links are also “DoFollow” (purple-blue highlighted links) in the Related Videos section of video watch pages, but like the actual video links are “NoFollow” (pink highlighted links) in the Comments section:

The above image of a YouTube video watch page shows that Channel username links are "DoFollow" (puple-blue highlights) in the Related Videos section to the right, but are "NoFollow" (pink highlights) in the Comments section. Do not misinterpret this to mean leaving comments is no longer a good thing to do, for it still is for other reasons. As for how to get in the Related Videos section, YouTube Secret Weapon has an entire section on this.

Okay, so that was a MAJOR tangent. (I will save my additional “PageRank” and “NoFollow” advice for another time…For YouTube Secret Weapon owners, this was covered in the new Disc 3 of YouTube Updates and Advanced Strategies that came out June 1st.)

• In the meantime, Mike, here’s another Channel you’ll want to scour for users you can reach out to: http://www.youtube.com/user/cookingcom
• And another: http://www.youtube.com/user/KraftCookingSchool (a YouTube Sponsored channel, so don’t be intimidated by the cool background and auto-playing videos…they paid a lot to have that!)
• And yet another: http://www.youtube.com/user/cookingrecipes (note this dude’s clever profile pic–it’s a GIF file…and an attention-grabber at that)

Tip #11: (Mike), to make it even easier to tap into the subscribers, friends, and even video commenters for these Channels I suggest above, you might think about getting a tool that we recommend to all YouTube Secet Weapon students. We use it ourselves: It’s automated friend-adding software.

I know that sounds “Spammy,” and yet it does NOT violate the YouTube Terms of Service (and many of the YouTube Secret Weapon students use it religiously around-the-clock with only positive results). The reason it is not in violation of the YouTube TOS (see 4-H) is that it works on a time-delay system so that it is not sending out friend requests faster or more frequently than a human could otherwise do manually. The time delay also insures that you don’t violate YouTube’s restrictions for how many friend invites can be sent in a given time period.

[Note: We only recommend using such automated software to send friend invites. We warn our YouTube Secret Weapon students NOT to use it for comment posting or for sending bulk emails, as to us, that is SPAM. YouTube has been cracking down on such activities recently, too. As for sending friend invites though, they are legit, they do work, and we wholeheartedly recommend doing it using friend-adding software--with a time delay, of course.]

The Friend-Adder we recommend is called Tube ToolBox. It does cost $7.95 a month and has a $19.95 activation fee, but Paul and I forfeited our commission on the activation fee in order to give YouTube Secret Weapon owners a $10 discount. Now, it’s just $9.95 to sign up, and I’m happy to pass that savings along to all of the readers of this post.

Just visit http://TubeTrafficStrategies.com.

Again, the tool is called Tube Toolbox, and that link will take you to the page featuring our discount. By ordering there, you will initially only pay $17.90, which is the $9.95 activation fee, plus $7.95 for the first month. I recommend trying it out for a month, and cancel if you don’t feel it was totally worth the $7.95/month fee.

Mike, I can almost guarantee that if you put a little strategy behind its use in terms of where you are finding targeted friends to add, you’ll gain 50-100 new subscribers in 30-days.  You will have to let it run as often as possible though to do this…Not to worry, as the software can run quietly in the background, hidden in your tray, as you go about your daily work–it doesn’t bother a thing.

And I repeat: Time-Delayed Automated YouTube Friend Invites are NOT SPAM according to YouTube’s Terms of Service.

In the end, if you still have a problem with using automated software, just do it manually (or pay a young person an allowance to add you so many friends per day). To send an invite, simply visit an individual’s Channel and look for the “Add as Friend” link in their “Connect with…” box:

When you add a friend, regardless of who has sent the invite, you are privy to the same information on one anothers’ Channels based on your privacy settings. Be sure to also check your own account Inbox for invites that have been sent TO you by others:

I’m not going to get into all the additional advantages of having targeted prospects on your YouTube Friend List, but know that there are MANY beyond just a potential Channel view and the hope that they’ll subscribe to you.

Meanwhile, On To More Tips for Mike…

Tip #12: (Mike), start posting your videos as responses to other highly-trafficked videos in your niche. Your videos don’t have to be purposely a response (in other words, videos you made solely as a response to another). Rather, the videos you target could just be cooking demonstrations for great food accompaniments to your own dishes OR something to do with the Cajun tradition/music/lifestyle. The connection between the two can be very loose (in fact, I often see people post videos as responses to other videos where there’s no connection at all…but that I don’t recommend).

The main idea here is NOT to assume that people who will enjoy your videos know to look for them. You’ve got to put yourself out there where you can be discovered. Find related videos that are already getting traffic to connect yourself to and try to borrow from their audiences. The more similar you are to that content, the more likely the viewers who click over will have an interest in what you have to say.

Below is an example of a video I posted one of my episodes of TheBoaters.TV as a response to that helped my video earn a few extra thousand views from an audience interested in water-related activities:

My TheBoaters TV episode (on the right beneath the main player above) posted as a video response to another highly-viewed video on a related subject.

Here’s another example from when I was assisting Internet marketing expert Brad Fallon’s team in marketing Brad’s daily “FreeLine Report” episodes on YouTube:

I posted an episode of Brad Fallon's FreeLine Report where he discussed the iPhone 3G as a response to a video featuring Steve Jobs' Keynote at the Apple WWDC 2008 (Brad's video is the one on the far right with the green background above). By posting this within the first 24 hours from when the Steve Jobs video was released, Brad's video shot up over 2,500 views in 48 hours, and continued to climb to over 5,000 TARGETED views.

Posting videos as responses to videos that are closely related in topic to your own is not only going to help you to attract an audience that is already PRE-QUALIFIED to have an interest in your content, but it’s also going to increase the likelihood that your video will come up in the “Related Videos” section alongside that chosen video. There are a number of reasons for that, just as there are a myriad of other methods for getting your videos to come up in a Related Videos section next to videos you think will have a good target audience for you…

…HOWEVER, I can’t spill all the beans here (pun intended for Mike) and besides, this post is already novella-length, so I’m going to save the remaining Tips for next week anyway.

Be sure to check back next week for Part 3 where I’ll cover YouTube Insight, creating inbound links to your videos AND your Channel, and the benefits of YouTube Playlists (along with a few hints to master those).

Until then, Happy Tubing!

~JP

P.S. I apologize for all the bright colors, but I’m an over-formatter. Sunglasses recommended when reading my posts.
UPDATE: Part 3 of this series is now posted: YouTube Video Marketing and Optimization Secrets – Part 3 of 3

Not marketing on YouTube yet? Well, you might want to reconsider that. A YouTube marketing strategy is now CRUCIAL to include as part of any business’s overall online marketing plan…And for a number of reasons:

1. YouTube Video Marketing is an Outstanding Lead Generation and List-Building Tactic – Your YouTube videos are the bait you cast out so that your prospects can find you. Hording online video content on your own website via your own player works well for a variety of purposes, but it is never going to be able to draw even a FRACTION of the targeted prospects you can introduce yourself and your products or services to on YouTube.

   Even if it’s just small clips of longer pieces of content you are putting up, getting your YouTube videos optimized to be found either via YouTube Search or GOOGLE (Bingo!) for your top keywords will open up the floodgates of massive amounts of targeted traffic to discover you and then be driven back over to your main “money” website or blog. (That IS part of your plan, right?)
   
   

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – I’m sure you’ve actually experienced this yourself lately where in searching a certain keyword or keyword phrase on Google, you’re getting YouTube videos coming up on Page 1…and often times in the first 3 or 4 positions of the Google SERPs (search engine results pages). This is a result of Google Universal Search (GUS), otherwise known as “blended search”—the practice in which search engines display videos, images, news stories, maps, and other types of results alongside their standard search results.

   (And need I remind you that Google and YouTube are synonymous—it’s the SAME company. So what type of results do you think are going to get preference? That’s right: YouTube videos!)

   

   Obviously, it is now vital to make sure that any videos you are producing are ALSO distributed via YouTube. After all, it’s not going to cost you a dime extra to upload and optimize your videos on YouTube, and the fact that doing so can get you high search rankings on Google even quicker than your own SEO’d website is—well, it’s CRAZY what an opportunity we have before us!

3. Viral Video Distribution Potential – Broaden the reach of your video content. If you want to give your videos the chance to go viral, YouTube is without a doubt your best bet—mainly because when it comes to the vast sea of video sharing websites out there, YouTube has the VAST majority of the market. According to comScore, nearly 40 percent of all online videos watched in April 2009 were on YouTube.

   Furthermore, comScore tells us that 107.1 million viewers watched 6.8 billion videos on YouTube (63.5 videos per viewer) just during that one month. Those numbers equate to LOTS of potential eyeballs to view your content. Especially if you can figure out how to optimize your YouTube video content for them to actually FIND you!

4. Social Media Networking Benefits – Remember: YOUTUBE IS A SOCIAL NETWORK! Not only does it have the highest amount of consistent traffic available to discover and share your videos, it is also a trusted video destination where people can SUBSCRIBE to your content, comment publicly on your content, and socialize with others as they watch your content (and be guaranteed that the most number of people will be by to view their publicly-shared opinions about your content). 

   Social networking on YouTube presents quite an opportunity to bond with your target groups—after all, it’s video! So think about how you can use YouTube to network and create strategic partnerships with other like-minded individuals or simply interact with others interested in your content or niche.

   In fact, I can make the case that all small businesses and entrepreneurs marketing online should have a YouTube account set up EVEN IF they don’t yet have videos to upload (and notice I said “yet”). Get on there and set up a Channel, because even just interacting with and aggregating OTHER people’s content can get you traffic back to your own main site. That’s how beneficial the social networking aspect of YouTube can be to one’s overall social media marketing strategy.

That’s Great Advice, Julie, But You Promised “TIPS” In This Post!

Okay, so a couple weeks ago I wrote a post, “‘YouTube Is A Disaster Waiting to Happen.’ Oh Really, Mark Cuban?” about Mark Cuban’s recent comments criticizing YouTube for not having a monetization plan in place from the get-go. My post actually said that Paul (as in Paul Colligan, my YouTube Secret Weapon partner) and I agreed NOT with the fact that YouTube was a disaster waiting to happen, but that it’s always a good idea to have a PLAN in place when approaching any business endeavor. The same holds true for setting up a YouTube channel. (See the post for more on that…)

That post aside, what ended up being MORE INTERESTING was a comment left by one of my readers. It came from a current, active YouTube video marketer (but not a YouTube Secret Weapon product owner), Mike Stokes.

Here is what Mike had to say:

“Very good points. I’ve put up a lot of videos on YouTube just as a place to host them for a Cajun Cooking recipe site that I have, and really have not benefited from anything other than perhaps getting some extra visitors to my site. I guess I do not have a monetization plan either.”
- Mike Stokes

I proceeded to reply to Mike’s comment…And well, I definitely must have  eaten my Wheaties that morning, because what started out as a quick comment back to Mike turned into a case of “Julie Pushes the FreeLine BIG TIME” with me revealing some KEY tips and techniques for how Mike could improve upon his current YouTube video marketing results.

What inspired me, actually, was the fact that I searched and found Mike’s Channel on YouTube and saw he had some pretty decent results, though they appeared to have been achieved more “by accident” than anything else. (Never a bad thing!)

In other words, his basic knowledge was good, and since I could tell from his YouTube Channel that he was a subscriber to StomperNet’s YouTube Channel (a private Internet marketing education community), I knew that Mike was at least familiar with some online marketing and SEO strategies…and therefore was probably open to learning more.

(Oh the information we can glean just by scanning a person’s YouTube Channel…Need I mention again how YouTube is a MUST for any social media marketing plan?)

And so, with his kind permission, I am re-publishing my response to Mike’s comment (with a few additions and clarifications) so that these tips are available for more people to find. Now, whether or not Mike implements any of this advice is beyond my control, but here are the suggestions+ that I publicly shared with Mike in terms of how he could improve upon his current YouTube marketing efforts:

See Mike’s Channel here => http://www.youtube.com/user/mikestokes1

Tip #1: Right off the bat, here’s a tip not included in my original response to Mike. => Always link to your YouTube channel from off-site with the /user/ portion of the URL in place, as I’ve done above. This is the URL that will carry and display your Google PageRank. Use this when creating backlinks to your Channel from other places around the Internet, such as in your email signature. Using appropriate anchor text is also important (though not crucial) when creating links to your Channel AND to your separate YouTube videos. (If that doesn’t make much sense to you, still just do it…but look up the definition of “anchor text” if you aren’t sure what it is.)

The theme of Mike’s Channel: Cajun Cooking Recipes and Instruction & Demonstrations

[Note: Before posting my previous blog comment advice, I do want to make a quick comment about Mike’s YouTube username. Yeah, another tangent Tip...]

Tip #2: The username you select when you set up your YouTube account becomes your profile name. For those that don’t know, your profile is what YouTube calls your “Channel.” (I’m capitalizing the “C” by my own accord, to make it more official. Yeah, it’s THAT important.  )

Like a MySpace page or a Facebook profile, your YouTube Channel will serve not only as your own personal video aggregator, but also as one of your TOP social networking tools. Customize and organize your Channel in such a way that it grabs attention and serves to build your reputation as someone knowledgeable in your niche topic area.

(Because believe me, in less than 5-10 minutes a day, there’s PLENTY you can do to grab the attention of your target market and have TONS of YouTube traffic swinging through to learn more about you and your content—even if you don’t have videos up yet!)

Overall though, the point I want to make here is that choosing a username means choosing your Channel name.

Account Name <=> Username <=> Profile Name <=> Channel Name
It’s all the same thing.

My advice is to put as much thought into what username you choose when you register your account as you would your own domain name for a blog or website. If you want to grab your own name, that’s one thing…but if you have a channel dedicated to, let’s say boating, then you’re best to choose a username that hints to that and even carries some of your main niche keywords in it.

Examples: “TheBoatersTV,” (my former show from 6.18.07 to 12.31.07) “CajunCooking,” (it’s a shame that one’s taken, Mike, especially since it’s not being used!), “CajunRecipes” (I just sent Mike an email to get this), and here’s another one of my current YouTube marketing clients: “RealBahamas.”

Using keywords in your username that describe or relate to your niche is going to serve you much better as you further optimize your Channel and socialize within and around the YouTube site. (If you were into stamp collecting, which would intrigue and tempt you more to click over and check out: a comment posted by Channel name “johnsmithxyz,” “joanjones555,” or “VintageStamps”??? …My point exactly.)

So while Mike’s current Channel name is fine to work with, I still suggest he grab a more appropriate username to possibly use in the future — “cajunrecipes” being my suggestion.

[Note: Since writing this, Mike has grabbed that username and is showcasing his videos from the MikeStokes1 Channel by displaying them in his new YouTube "CajunRecipes" Channel's Favorites section. This is what I mean about how you don’t even need to have your own videos up yet to begin laying the foundation for attracting like-minded traffic to (and from!) your YouTube Channel.]

Meanwhile, anyone reading this who is starting his or her own account from scratch, know that choosing a username for your profile means BRANDING your official YouTube Channel, and it is not something to be taken lightly. Think branding and KEYWORDS.

[Julie's super long Tip #2 tangent over -- gotta love those Wheaties!]

Let’s get on with my original blog comment back to Mike:

“Mike – I’m sorry to hear that you are not benefiting as much as you could be from your YouTube videos. (Then again, ‘some extra visitors’ is better than ‘NO extra visitors.’) Yet, I guarantee it’s possible that with just a few tweaks, you can turn ’some’ into ‘a TON’ of visitors.

Hey, as a matter of fact, I just did a search on YouTube for ‘Cajun recipes,’ [some of Mike’s top keywords] and one of your videos was the top listing! And searching ‘Cajun recipes youtube’ on Google has your turnip greens video coming up #1 (even above an Expert Village video). Nice work!”

Another aside from Julie (go figure): According to comScore, YouTube surpassed Yahoo as the world’s second largest search engine when it received 2.6 billion searches during August 2008.  YouTube is now being considered the #2 Search Engine. Um…Yeah, that’s pretty huge.

What that doesn’t take into consideration though—and I know I’ve done this—is the number of people who instead of going over to consult the YouTube Search Engine DIRECTLY will often query Google for “[insert keyword of interest] youtube.”

Examples: “guitar youtube” or “baseball youtube”

Don’t believe me? Head over to Google and begin entering your keywords into the search bar. Watch as the word “youtube” is offered up as a way to complete your query.

This nifty thought-provoker is known as “Google Suggest,” an auto-complete feature that provides query suggestions as you start typing characters in the Google search box. Now tell me that doesn’t demonstrate just how powerful of a search engine YouTube has become? It is, without a doubt, where you need to have optimized video content posted!

And hey, as I’m full of tips today (Tip #3 coming on), know that YouTube has borrowed this same functionality from its parent company and now offers some pretty decent keyword suggestions based on queries obtained just from YouTube users. Definitely take advantage of the “YouTube Suggest” tool while conducting keyword research and think about using some of the suggestions for your video titles, tags, and your video description (don’t forget the video description — keyword load that puppy!).

Use "YouTube Suggest" Functionality to Conduct Keyword Research for Your YouTube Titles, Tags, and Description Copy

A final thing to think about with regard to all this Search Engine talk: My partner on YouTube Secret Weapon, Paul Colligan, shared an interesting observation recently when he said:

“If YouTube results show up in Google search result pages, but Google results don’t show up in YouTube result pages, isn’t YouTube now the #1 Search Engine?”
– Paul Colligan

Things that make you go, “hmmmmm,” right? Love the way Paul thinks!

[Another LONG tangent Tip from Julie complete...]

Back to My Response to Mike:

“[Mike,] I’m not sure if it was intentional or not, but you do seem to have some pretty good tagging and titling techniques that you’ve been using on your videos. A couple things I might suggest in the way of changes though is first to step back and focus on your YouTube Channel and work on making it more of an inviting and informative hub for your content. This will allow you to be more effective both in gaining more subscribers on YouTube AND in converting your Channel traffic into traffic for your main website/blog.

My Suggestions for Your Channel:

Tip #4: (This was #1 on my original blog response comment, if you’re consulting both.) Add a bit more copy to your Channel description, discussing some of the benefits people will gain if they venture over to your main website, which I see from the information you do have up is CajunCookingTV.com.

I would also get that link in there a few more times.

To do this, go to Edit Channel => Channel Info => Channel Description

[Note: You’ll currently find a spot there to test out YouTube’s new 2.0 BETA Channel—a redesign from the original Channel layout we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. At this stage, YouTube has not yet announced when the new design will take effect site-wide. They’ve been working out glitches for over a month now, so I imagine there’s still some time yet. I would go ahead and pass on the BETA design for now while they continue to work out the kinks. Ultimately though, the re-designed Channel is going to be great for keeping people ON your Channel and engaged in your content, for they’ll be able to bring your content up to the main player without ever leaving the page, such as Paul Colligan is doing right now on his YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/user/colligan. For the time being though, I'd hold tight.]

Tip #5: In the current YouTube Channel design (old skool), you can make your URL hyperlink if you enter it in the section offered for “Channel Description” (as opposed to the information you enter under “Performer Info”).

Typing your URL as http://YourWebsite(dot)com will hyperlink on the page if you type it in under Edit Channel => Channel Info => Description here:

But URLs won’t hyperlink under Edit Channel => Channel Info => Performer Info => About Me:

URLs typed into this About Me section under Performer Info (which you’ll find under most all Channel Types except "YouTuber" and/or under the Account Settings => Profile Setup => About Me => Describe Yourself section) will NOT hyperlink. You must type it in under Channel Description for it to hyperlink.

So aside from the data field YouTube provides you with to add your Website URL (this time under Account Settings => Profile Setup => Website URL (pictured below)), your domain will only hyperlink when the URL is typed into the Channel Description area mentioned above.

Whew! Tough to explain in writing.

Tip #6: Next, I tell all my YouTube Secret Weapon students to treat this Channel Description section like it’s a mini sales letter. Mike, you mentioned in your blog comment that you didn’t have a monetization strategy in mind when you set out to post videos on YouTube, and yet I see Google AdWords running on your main website over at www.CajunCookingTV.com.

Therefore, that’s where you want people to go! That’s where you send your traffic! Let the YouTube clips be the bait to hook us, but then make us swim over to your main site to get the full meal deal…

Bottom line: Tell us what we’ll get (or what MORE we’ll get) if we link over.

Some Suggestions: Lists of ingredients, written instructions, downloadable recipe cards, photos of suggested table decorations, Amazon links to Zydeco CDs for a full Cajun night celebration, etc…And then provide us the links to take us there (and to earn you some commissions on affiliate products).

For your YouTube Channel Description, Mike, start with something like:

“Visit http://CajunCookingTV.com to see more extensive information regarding the dishes featured here on our YouTube channel.

At http://CajunCookingTV.com, you can get the full recipes, including a list of ingredients and cooking instructions for each dish. Learn more about Cajun culture and Creole cooking styles there. Even better, you can register to receive an entire library of FREE Cajun Cooking Recipes!

Head to our site now, and we’ll serve you up more Cajun Recipe goodness, straight from the Bayou! => http://CajunCookingTV.com”

That’s pretty rough, but you’ll know better what to write. Then you can perhaps enter some additional information about Beryl and her cooking experience under “Performer Information” or in the “About Me” area of “Profile Setup.”

Either way, you need to build your brand up a bit more and tell people WHY they need to subscribe either to your YouTube Channel or to your mailing list over at your website (or both!). Don’t just give away all these great Cajun recipes and “how to” cooking demonstrations without asking for us to do something in return!

Next with regard to your Channel Design:

Tip #7: (#2 on the original post): Consider a custom background image to brand your Channel a bit. Or perhaps just a custom color scheme to match colors on your main website over at CajunCookingTV.com.

When logged into your account, go under Edit Channel => Channel Design and you’ll find a way you can at least pick a different color scheme to bring some life to the profile.

Or consider a custom background for your Channel. You’ll find the spot to do this by scrolling down to the bottom of the Edit Channel => Channel Design section:

Some options for giving your Channel some branding flair by having a background image or customized background layout:

1. 1. Easiest & Free: Grab one of these free and professional looking background layouts: www.YTLayouts.net. Or do a Google search to find other services offering them. This one I know is safe and is not going to dump a bunch of spyware on your harddrive.
   2. Easy & Not Free: Hire the gang at YTLayouts.net to design one for you. To inquire about pricing, see this page here on their site and then contact them via their YouTube channel => GFXSupport.
   3. Do-It-Yourself & Cheap If You Already Own Photoshop: See the video series that Ryan at YTLayouts.net put up on YouTube on how to design your own custom background using Adobe Photoshop: Watch Part 1 of 3.
   4. Pain-In-the-Arse & Expensive: Head over to 99Designs and launch a contest to find a designer who will make one for you. A minimum bid will be $100. While you do get to be more picky about your design, this is not so important that it warrants a $100 investment. Save 99Designs for your websites and logos.
      
   5. Takes Some Effort but Could Be Cheap: Put out a request via Twitter that you’re looking for someone to design you a YouTube Channel Background. I bet you’ll find a cheap offer to have one designed for you.

Having said all that, I would refrain from actually investing any money on a background design for the moment, as there’s no telling when YouTube will make its Channel Re-Design (that is currently in Beta) go live across the site. At the moment, many users who have chosen this option are complaining that their customized Channel backgrounds no longer work or are less apparent. (See the special YouTube Channel 2.0 Redesign Beta Blog to follow more of this type of progress.)

Meanwhile, I recommend just using the color scheme options that I use on YouTube Secret Weapon’s YouTube channel OR grab a free layout from YTLayouts.

And with that, I feel I’ve spilled the cajun red beans & rice enough for today.

…I’ll be back next week for Part II with a whole HOST of additional YouTube Video Marketing & Optimization Tips for Mike (and for YOU!). In fact, next week, we’ll move BEYOND just the Channel set-up and get into some actual optimization techniques. Be sure to check back, or even better, subscribe to my Blog RSS feed to catch them.

Until then, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think. And hey, why not pay Mike’s YouTube Channel a visit and rate and/or comment on some of his videos. You might just pick up a great meal idea for the weekend!

As they say in Cajun Country, “Laissez les Bon Temps Roulez” (Let the Good Times Roll)!

~Julie

Continue on reading YouTube Video Marketing Secrets and Video Search Optimization Tips – Part 2 (of now 3)…