Friday 25 January 2013

Does Your Youtube Video Look Like This ?

Having good, quality made videos on your channel is crucial if you want to attract more views and subscribers. There is nothing worse than starting to watch a video that is badly filmed, with poor content and editing (if any).

If you want to learn how to make a Youtube video properly, I suggest you watch this demo video I did, learn from the mistakes and ensure you don't apply any of them to your videos. (Make Sure You Watch The Video To The End)

This example, takes all the bad points I have witnessed over the years, watching Youtube videos. And you will be amazed how many people still upload content to their channels, containing some or all of these cringe worthy errors.

Pretty Bad Wasn't It ?

Now I understand this video example was a little extreme, but I still see these elements of terrible video making on a daily basis. And it is so frustrating when you are searching for a particular video, on a subject that could be quite obscure. But eventually, you find that one video you are looking for, that will show you how to do a certain task, or watch that rare footage of something you've been wanting to see for ages.

Only to find the footage is similar to the example you have just had the misfortune to sit through. Are you then likely to visit this channel again... No !

I will start by listing the terrible mistakes that were introduced during the filming of this video and the additional errors that were made once the video was uploaded to Youtube :

(1) Terrible video quality

You can immediately notice that the overall quality of this video is very grainy and the sound is slightly out of sync with the video. I understand not everybody has access to top of the range video equipment. But if you are serious about building a good subscriber base for your channel, it may be beneficial to invest in a decent camera, that captures good quality audio and video.

(2) Poor sound quality

Poor sound quality is something I witness regularly. Not always down to the capabilities of the camera either. It can be something as simple as wind noise, drowning out what the film maker is saying or just the fact they are too far away from the camera for the sound to be picked up. Carry out a simple 10sec test clip prior to filming and play it back just to check sound levels are good for your chosen location.

(3) Bad choice of room lighting

The room lighting for this video is too dark and the viewer has difficulty seeing what is going on in the video. Either chose a room with natural light or turn some lights on, checking on your screen prior to recording. Again, try a simple test clip to see how the video views on a larger laptop or pc screen.

(4) Little or no preperation prior to filming

There is nothing worse than sitting through 2 mins of cameras being setup, positioned on a tripod (if at all) or shuffling chairs around to make sure the film maker is in shot. Do all this prior to making your recording.

(5) Bad camera work

The camera work is not good really is it ? You can't see any parts of the camera being reviewed, most of the time out of shot and very often out of focus. Make sure your lighting, camera angles etc. are correct before filming and constantly watch on your screen how the recording is going, ensuring everything is in shot and clear to see.

(6) No knowledge of the subject

Do Your Homework ! Prior to any video you make, have an idea of what you are going to say or talk about. If you're doing a product review, ensure you know all the details (Notes out of camera shot are a usefull aid). The more information you have about a product the more interesting the review will be to the viewer. Plus it will have more value as a source of information about the product.

(7) No video editing prior to upload

You may find it usefull to shoot several clips of your video. Whether it be from different angles or just with a change of narrative. That way you can pick and chose what features in your video. Plus you can edit out any mistakes, add music, titles and screen transistions, which adds interest to your video instead of one continuous clip.

(8) Non descriptive video title

This video has been uploaded to youtube, without any thought of a title. It just contains the image file name, which Youtube will add as default. Anybody searching for your subject matter is not going to be immediately drawn to PICT0002.wav as it says absolutely nothing about the content of your video.

(9) No video description

The description section allows you to sell your video to the potential subscriber, giving them an insight into what they can expect to see. Don't waste this opportunity to add a short description about the content of your video. You can also add links to blogs or websites you may have.

Note: The text I have added in the description of this video is just a link back to this post and not intended as a description of the video content.

(10) No video tags

No tags have been added to this video which means if any potential subscribers submit a search for anything related to the content of the video (e.g Canon Powershot Digital Camera), it will either rank very low down the list or not at all, making it very difficult to find. Make good use of this section, including relevant tags (See a seperate post on chosing video tags HERE)

Thursday 17 January 2013

15 Ways Not To Get Any New Subscribers

If you have your own Youtube channel and you want to attract the maximum amount of traffic, resulting in more video views and increased subscribers. You must ensure, that you are doing everything possible to make your potential subscribers viewing experience as trouble free, imformative and pleasurable as you can.

And this means you need to employ some key strategies that will keep your viewers captivated, whilst visiting your channel. Which will lead to more video views, comments, likes and ultimately a new and happy subscriber.

Take a look through the list below. And if any of these points apply to your own Youtube channel, change them as soon as possible. Failure to change these points may be costing you 100's if not 1000's of video views and new subscribers.

15 Ways Not To Get Any New Subscribers (And Potentially Lose Existing Ones)

1. Videos About A Wide Range Of Interests

If you want to build a strong subscriber base, you need to ensure that you concentrate on a specific topic. Pick something you are interested in and stick to it. Then upload videos relating to that topic.

2. Videos That Last Between 30-40mins Long

Videos that go on for over half an hour, can get a little tedious or boring to watch. If your video content has to be this long, break it down into parts (Part 1... Part 2 etc.) This way the viewer can watch without getting bored. Plus you get a second view when they continue to Part 2 (If your video is interesting of course)

3. Poor Quality Videos

There is nothing worse than watching a video that has poor sound, takes 5 mins to get to the actual content, has bad camera work or doesn't portray what the viewer actually searched for. This has to be one of the main reasons people will not watch any of your videos or subscribe.

4. Don't Reply To Any Comments

If you are lucky enough to get somebody commenting on your video, make sure you take time to reply to that comment, thanking them for whatever they have said. Answer any questions they may ask or even ask them a question back. They have taken time to comment on your video, so at least have the decency to reply back.

5. Don't Take Comments Personally

As you upload more videos, you will get people commenting and the majority of people will make positive comments. But there are people out there who like to make abusive or hurtful comments. Don't take these comments personally, it's just not worth it. The good comments will far out way the bad (That is of course you are uploading good videos with interesting content)

6. Don't React Angrily To Abusive Or Negative Comments

If you receive abusive or negative comments, do not lower yourself to their level. Simply thank them for their comment and just ignore it. If you continue to get abusive comments, just report them, to Youtube

7. Don't View Anybody Elses Videos With The Same Interest Or Subscribe

If you have an interest in a certain topic, that you have decided to base your own channel on, why not view other peoples channels with the same interest. Not only could you learn more about your interest, you may get them subscribing back to your channel (it works both ways) and watching your videos.

8. Don't Like Or Comment On Anybody Elses Videos With The Same Interest

Making comments on other peoples videos with the same interest is going to get you noticed, especially if you comment on a regular basis. And eventually they will spot this and start to visit your channel, to see what you are about. Also make sure you hit the like button on their videos every time you watch one. Again, they will more often than not return the favour.

9. None Relevant Channel Title Or Description

Make sure the title of your channel is relevant to your topic of interest. Don't just leave it blank or call it "My Videos", give your channel some meaning, telling your viewers what your channel is all about.

10. Don't Bother With A Channel Logo

Branding is important if you want to get noticed. Having a logo adds to your branding and should be used on all your videos, social media accounts etc. Keep your logo simple, memorable and relevant.

11. Don't Explain Anything About Yourself

People like to know who they are dealing, they like to build up a picture about the person uploading the videos. If you can't be bothered writing a description about yourself, why should anybody be interested in you ?

12. Empty Video Description Box

When you upload your video, people like to have a bit of an idea what your video is about. Plus if there is part of your video that may be really worth watching, add this into the description. If your viewer thinks about watching your video "Walk In Woodland" and reads in the description that you film a fox feeding its young, of course they are going to want to see it, so put it in your description.

13. No Links To Your Blog Or Website On Channel Page

If you have a blog or website related to the content of your Youtube channel, place a link in the channel description section. If your viewer can see you are dedicated to this subject, they are more likely to take you seriously and listen (or watch) to what you have to offer. Plus, if you have more videos on your blog or website, they may visit either of these and watch even more of your videos.

14. No Links To Your Blog Or Website In Video Description

Same reason as above, but if they miss the link in your channel description, they will see it here in your video description.

15. Don't Upload Videos On A Regular Basis

Make sure you upload videos on a regular basis. If you upload a video and people view it, they are very likely to see what else you have uploaded. But if there is nothing there to watch, they will leave, never to return. But if you have more videos, they will view those too. Or they may subscribe with the intention to return a few days later. By which time you may have uploaded even more content.

To View Other Articles Relating To This Post, Discussing These Points, Please Read :

How To Brand Yourself On Youtube With 3 Simple Steps
How To Increase Views On Youtube And Get More Subscribers
Using The Youtube Keyword Tool To Improve Your Video Ranking
Learn Which Youtube Tags To Use When Uploading Videos

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Using The Youtube Keyword Tool To Improve Your Video Ranking

"How Do I Find Keywords For My Youtube Video Tags ?"


This is a great question, because as we know having relevant, targetable tags on your videos, increases the chance of your video being listed higher in the rankings and more importantly being watched.

Most of you will be familiar with the keyword tool from Google and what a great point of reference it can be when looking for the most popular search words, to add to your blog or website content.

But not many people are aware that there is a similar tool available, tailored specifically for Youtube. And this is a valuable source to tap into, when searching for keywords that you can use as tags or in the titles and descriptions of your videos.

And if you haven't already now guessed, it is the Youtube Keyword Tool

The advantage of the keyword tool for Youtube, is the fact you can rank relatively higher with a specific tag or search keyword, than you would with a Google search. The reason for this being, there is far more competition on Google, than there is on Youtube.

This could be a result of less people fighting for ranking space on Youtube, because they don't like seeing themselves on video or don't like the sound of their voice. This is a great opportunity for you to fill that void, upload a video and start ranking for the related search words.

Ok, so how does it work and how is it going to help my Youtube channel rank higher and increase video views and subscribers ?
Well, there are 2 different ways you can carry out a search for relevant keywords and the first one is simply a case of typing in a keyword or phrase into the search box and hitting "Get Keyword Ideas"

This will display a list of suggested keywords in order of relevance, along with the number of times that particular word has been searched for on a monthly basis.

You can then select the keywords, you feel will suit your video content, by clicking "Add" to the right of each result. You can also select "Add All..." at the foot of the page of results, which will add all of the keywords into the blue "Selected Keywords" box.

You can add or remove as many keywords as you like until you are happy with your list of selected keywords. There is then an option to export that list to an excel file, which makes it easier to transfer to your Youtube video tagging section, at a later date.

The second method of finding new keywords is great if you have already uploaded a video some time ago, but never really populated the tag section. It is of course of equal benefit if you are just uploading your video and are not sure what tags to use or keywords to include in your video title and description.

For this particular search we need to select the "Youtube video ID or URL" radio button, then paste this information into the appropriate search box.

You need to make sure you copy and the paste the URL of the actual video (Appears in the navigation bar above your video when you open it up), rather than the "Share URL"

The keyword tool will then look at the URL info you have submitted and return a list of relevant keywords or phrases for your actual video. Then if any keywords are listed that you haven't already used, get them added in your tag section or in the title and description of your video.

Now you may have noticed from this particular snapshot that the search I carried out, for one of my bushcraft videos, was tailored to the United States and it produced a list of 4 suggested keyword phrases, that I could now use in my Youtube campaign.

At this point you should "Add" them to your "Selected Keywords" box, then change your country selection to another location that potentially will view your video, like the United Kingdom and retry the search.

This will then produce another list of keyword suggestions, some of which you already produced in the previous search and added to your "Selected Keywords" box, but a handful of additional phrases that you can now "Add" to your current list.

You can continue to carry out similar searches for as many different countries as you like. As long as they are relevant to your channel audience. There wouldn't much benefit from adding countries that will not understand a word you are saying etc.


Having access to the Youtube Keyword Tool takes the guess work out of searching for relevant and targetable keywords or phrases for your Youtube Tags, Titles and Video Descriptions.

Monday 14 January 2013

How To Brand Yourself On Youtube With 3 Simple Steps

If you are serious about building a substantial subscriber base or increased views on your videos, you need to think about creating a brand for your channel.

Using my own Bushcraft Youtube Channel as an example, I will show you 3 simple steps towards branding yourself as a leader in your chosen topic of interest.

The idea behind branding is to give yourself some credible identity on Youtube (or whatever platform you are trying to promote yourself). And your ultimate goal is to stand out from the crowd, making people want to visit your channel, watch your videos and subscribe.

So what simple changes can you make, to stand out from the crowd ?

Well, before we start I want to quickly mention your Youtube username. If you have signed up for your account, you will have already chosen a username and there is not a lot you can do to change it.

But if you are just thinking about setting up your own channel, concentrating on a specific interest... STOP !

Before you dive in head first, think carefully about what username you are going to chose. As this could add to the strength of your brand.

It is advisable to chose a username that :

(1) Makes you unique or memorable
(2) Is relevant to, or describes your specific topic of interest

Take my username as an example :

JesterBushcraft

I have included Bushcraft as the majority of my videos and the specific topic of interest for my channel revolves around Bushcraft and Survival. And I chose Jester as it is an unusual name, that everyone remembers, especially when I link this username with a matching logo (Which we will talk about later).

So, chose your username carefully, do your research and don't just pick something like Johnsvideos1984, as this is meaningless to most people and will have no relevance to a channel that is all about Custom Cars for example.

(1) One of the first things you can do is very simple, give your channel a title, relevant to the type of videos your subscriber can expect to see.

Make it short and catchy, like "Jester Bushcraft - Outdoor Fun & Bushcraft Skills", which explains simply what the channel is about. Not "Johnsvideos1984 - videos of me"

You could also design yourself a small logo on Paintshop Pro or similar package. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just include maybe your username and a small piece of clip art that makes the logo relevant to you.

In my case, I have added a Jester's hat to my username and that's it. But my subscribers are now familiar with this logo, it appears on the intro of my videos, on my channel and is also the same logo on Facebook, Twitter and my bushcraft blog...

Branding !

(2) Brand Your Videos - Once you have uploaded a video to your channel, you will notice that 3 snapshots of your video are displayed as possible thumbnail images. This is what people will see on Youtube when your video appears in a list brought up by the specific search criteria.

However, once you have uploaded a certain amount of videos, an option is made available to you, that allows you to create your own thumbnail image.

This is a great opportunity to brand yourself a step further, as you can now make your video stand out from all the rest.

Take this example. A search has been carried out for a Nite-Ize CamJam (Which is a cord tightener used in bushcraft) and a list of 88 results have been displayed by Youtube. For this example I have just taken a snapshot of the top 4.

Out of the 4 videos displayed, I think you will agree that one of them stands out from all the rest. It has a slightly more professional look and feel to it.

And the more people search for videos in this specific category, they will start to notice and recognize this particular channel, due to the neat video thumbnail. And they can see right away, who's video it is, as it's branded onto the video itself.

You may also notice the number of views to the number of days the video was uploaded, compared to the rest.

(3) Write a brief description about yourself, what your interests are and why you have created this specific channel. If you can't be bothered to write something about yourself, why should people bother to take an interest in you.

You should also add links to other sites, you may host, that are relevant to your channel (And remember to use the same name, logo, branding etc on your other websites, blogs, facebook accounts etc.) I have added a link to my Bushcraft And Survival Skills Blog

This says to the onlooker, "Wow, this guy knows what he's talking about, he also has a blog or a main website" and that you are not just about Youtube videos. All good companies have different branches, sub divisions etc. but will come under the same brand.

And if you want to build a brand, attract more subscribers, resulting in more video views, you should do the same.

Sunday 13 January 2013

Learn Which Youtube Tags To Use When Uploading Videos

Are you using tags in Youtube, when uploading videos to your channel? What is a Youtube tag, do you even know? If you have answered No to either of these questions you could be losing out on 100's or even 1,000's of video views or subscribers.

For quite some time I was uploading videos to my Youtube channel and totally ignoring the Tags section. I just thought "I'll ignore that bit for now", I just wanted my video out there on the world wide web.

And after I uploaded my video I would always carry out a little search to see if my video would pop up in the list. Of course it would do, but took me a while to scroll through all the other videos, until I found mine. But hey, my video was there to be watched and I felt pleased with myself.

It wasn't until a few months later, I read about using tags and how they were important in making your videos more visible, when people searched for their topics of interest.

And so, I went back to my channel and searched for the Tag section in one of my first ever videos "Bushcraft - Self Supporting Tarp Setups - Speed Test" and as it was about a bushcraft tarp, I cleverly entered "bushcraft" and "tarp" into the tag section.

"Excellent" I thought, this is going to get more views now. And yes the views did increase a little. However, as I started to do this with more of my videos, I then realized that if I added more tags, possibly the views may increase too.

You have to remember I was only a Youtube novice and learning new things all the time. So back I went to my video and decided to add more tags. I watched my video again and tried to think of all the different tags I could use that were relevant to my video.

And this is what I came up with.

As you can see I had expanded on just "bushcraft" and "tarp". Instead of just 2 Tags in my list, I now had 31. And not just one word tags either, I was using 2 and 3 word tags. And the great thing is, Youtube will suggest relevant tags you could use, as you are typing your own into the list.

There is a limit as to how many tags you can enter, but just keep adding until you cant fit anymore in.

And it is very important that your Tags are relevant to your video. For example if your video is about "A Model Steam Engine" and you include separate tags in your list like this :

"Model"
"Steam"
"Engine"

You can see what is going to happen. When anybody submits a search for videos relating to a model, your video will be listed. Not really targeted to the content of your video. The same goes for if a search for "engine" is submitted. All the videos relating to car engines, motorbike engines, aircraft engines etc. are going to be listed, of which there will be thousands. And your video is going to be ranked well down the list.

So if we change those Tags to the following :

"Model Steam Engine"
"Steam Engine"
"Steam Engine Model"

You will rank higher in the list and your video will have more chance of being seen, watched, liked and ultimately result in more subscribers. That is of course if your video is of good quality, containing interesting content.

But how do we know that this list of tags is really what people are searching for when looking for a video that relates to their chosen topic of interest.

When somebody wants to watch a video about a model steam engine, is that what they actually type into the search box ?

They may just be typing "Working Model Train", but you haven't got "Model Train" or even "Train" in your list. They're not going to find your video then are they ?

So what can we do then ? Well, we can call on our old friend Google and their fantastic research tool that tests how good search words are and how frequently they are be used.

It is of course The Google Adwords Keyword Tool, which allows you to type in any keyword or phrase, like "Youtube Tags" and Google will return a list of keywords relating to your search.

Not only are you presented with a concise list of keywords, they are even ranked into different scoring categories :

Competition
Global Monthly Searches
Local Monthly Searches

Clicking on the tops of your chosen column will re-list them in order from smallest to largest or visa versa

If you look at two of the columns "Competition" and "Global Monthly Searches" you will notice that a keyword can be ranked as High, Medium or Low along with a figure relating to the number of searches submitted for that particular word or phrase.

Your immediate thought would be to go with the higher ranking keyword, that has the highest number of searches.

Big Mistake !

The fact that it has been searched for a huge amount of times is good, that means its a popular search. But, the competition category has ranked the keyword as High, which means that a lot of people have used this keyword. So if you were to add this High ranking keyword as one of your Tags, you would be competing with a whole more other people, resulting in a low position on the list when displayed on Youtube.

The trick is, to find keywords that rank Low, but still have a reasonable amount of searches submitted for them. This way you are still choosing a keyword that is a popular search, but not many people are using that keyword as a tag. Which means you are more likely to be listed higher in the videos displayed on Youtube, for that particular keyword.

Now, there is one last trick up your sleeve that you can implement to your video upload settings.

And this is all about the description you give to your video, which is going to reflect what you have already accomplished so far, with your carefully chosen tags.

In this example, I have chosen my bushcraft video "How To Make A Kydex Knife Sheath" and I have included all the tags that I feel are relevant, whilst ranking appropriately on the Google Keyword Tool.

One of my chosen keyword phrases is "how to make a kydex sheath" which ranks as low, so I don't have much competition, but still gets 1,600 searches globally each month, which I'm happy with.

I now include that key phrase in the title of my video description. So when somebody submits a search on Google for "how to make a kydex sheath", not only will my video be ranked quite highly, but the words in the key phrase will be highlighted in bold lettering, showing they have matched the relevant search.

This stands out on the screen and the user is more likely to click on your video, because the words they typed in are glaring at them on the screen.

It wouldn't do any harm to also include a few of your keywords in the descriptive text of your video. Use the same keywords as your title, but in a different context. Try to create a descriptive sentence about your video, around the keywords or phrases you have added as tags.

Friday 11 January 2013

How To Increase Views On Youtube And Get More Subscribers

Learn How A Complete Novice Went From Nothing To 1,354 Subscribers And 212,383 Views In Just 18 Months, With No Experience Whatsoever.

If you are struggling to get subscribers on Youtube to your channel or would just like more views for your videos, let me show you how I learned from other peoples mistakes and applied it to my own Youtube channel, with dramatic results.
In my first 3 months I never got above 200 views in a day. And after 8 months still hadn't really risen above 300, apart from a few bursts where I reached the dizzy heights of 366 views on a day in September.
As I learned more about how Youtube works and watched other peoples videos and channels. I soon started to realize that I could make changes to what I was doing that could increase my daily stats.

And I'm not talking complicated stuff here, I mean simple changes that you can adopt immediately that will make a difference to how many views you get and an increase in subscribers.

I now regularly receive over 600 daily views to my channel and more often than not between 700 - 1,100 views.

And in August, September, October, November & December 2012 I reached over 20,000 views each month. Not bad for a beginner.

So what quick and easy changes can you implement to your Youtube channel that will start to see an increase in views and subscribers ?

1. Chose A Subject For Your Channel/Videos And Stick To It

If you want to attract more subscribers you need to have a captive audience who are interested in your chosen topic. If you have a channel littered with unrelated videos, people are not going to want to subscribe as your videos are too random.

For Example : Your channel may have the following videos listed...

"Our Picnic On The Beach"
"How To Restore A Model Steam engine"
"Review Of New Video Game"

Somebody searching for Model Steam Engines may stumble across your video and visit your channel, but once they have watched your video, they are not going to be interested in video game reviews, because that's not what they are interested in.

Plus if they do find your video on model steam engines, but then notice all your other videos are not related. They may just assume you don't really know a great deal about model steam engines and not even watch your video at all.

And unless they are very curious, why would they even bother or be interested in what you got up to having a picnic on the beach... They're Just Not !

So, if your area of interest is Model Steam Engines, base all your videos and the look of your channel around Model Steam Engines.

This looks much more appealing to a Model Steam Engine enthusiast, searching for advice or tutorial videos :

"How To Restore A Model Steam Engine"
"Problems With Steam Boilers - A Beginners Guide"
"Visit To Local Model Steam Fayre"

Can you see the difference ?

This time when they visit your channel, they will think "This person seems to know a bit about model steam engines" and see all your other related videos that they will no doubt be more interested in and more likely to watch.

Instead of watching one of your videos they may end up watch two or three. And if they like what they see, they'll probably Subscribe

2. Make Sure Your Videos Are Good Quality

Now this doesn't mean you have to go out and buy a really expensive, top of the range HD camcorder. It just means take a bit of time to think about how you are going to shoot your video, is it obvious what your video is about, is the film in focus, can you see clearly what is going on.

When I first started watching other peoples videos, I couldn't believe how bad some of the camera work was.

Some of the most off putting things I have seen are :

(a) People actually playing around with focus or getting the subject in frame, fumbling with tripods (If they even have one), before they even start talking about the subject of the video.

Most people will have got bored or frustrated and gone to search for a better video. You have more than likely done this yourself when searching for a video on Youtube.

(b) Poor sound quality. Nothing worse than watching a video where the volume level is so low, you can barely hear what they are saying, even when you turn your pc volume right up. Or there is so much wind noise in the background, again you cant tell a word they are saying.

Straight away your viewer will stop your video and search for a better one... Subscriber Lost !

So make sure the volume settings on your camera or camcorder are correct. I always shoot a short 5-10sec test clip in the location I am shooting the video, play it back on my camera and make sure the volume is ok, I'm in shot and its in focus. Then I go ahead and shoot the main video.

3. Don't Let Your Videos Drag On For Too Long

There's nothing worse than sitting through a 15-30min video that goes on and on, with the same subject in shot. Keep the individual clips of your video short and transition each clip, changing camera angles or points of interest. Keep your viewer wondering what you are going to do or say next.

There is nothing wrong with a longer video, but make it interesting and don't have all your videos on your channel of this length. Have shorter, quick watch videos that capture interest and maybe lead into other related, longer videos.

And don't use long drawn out introductions. Some people like to have an intro to all their videos, accompanied with music, selection of photos, text, videos etc. And in some cases that's fine. But when these intros are 2 - 5mins long, you get a bit bored. And you either skip through the video until you reach the interesting bit or don't even watch the video at all.

DON'T TAKE THE RISK !

You don't want anything about your video that is going to put people off watching it. I have a small intro on all my videos, but it is simply my channel logo that flashes up for a few seconds then moves onto the main part of the video, with a simple title of what the video is about.

4. Upload Regular Videos To Your Channel

If a viewer watches one of your videos, then visits your channel and finds that was the only video you've got, they are not likely to subscribe. But if they visit your channel and you have 5 other related videos, they may decide to subscribe and return to your channel at a later date and view your other videos.

And by the time they return, you may have uploaded even more videos and they will see that you regularly upload new content.

And when you do upload new content your subscribers will see your videos appearing in their subscriber list. So they are constantly being reminded of your presence on Youtube and will start to actually look out for your next video, especially if you are uploading good quality, interesting videos.

5. Make Use Of The Title, Description & Tag Boxes

When you upload your video, make sure you fill out the title and description boxes. So many times I click on a video and there is no description in the box or the title just says 024567.WAV or 02-10-10.JPEG

This tells your viewer nothing at all about your video and what they can expect to watch. Stimulate their interest, ensuring they watch the whole video.

Look at the 2 examples below :

"Woodland Walk"

"A Nature Walk In Beautiful Woodland And An Encounter With Wild Deer. Plus A Selection Of Interesting Fungi Species"

Be honest, which one of the two are you most likely to watch ?

Now, Tags... I could write a whole separate article on tags (And I most likely will), but I will just touch on it briefly here.

Tags are keywords that your viewers will be entering into their search criteria when look for content relevant to them.

For example, if they are looking for "Fujifilm Finepix Camera Review", Youtube will list all videos relevant to that particular search. And this is where Tags come in. If you haven't included any tags when uploading your video, your viewer is either never going to find your video or it is going to be way, way down the list that Youtube displays.

However if you add the following Tags :

Camera + Review

Your viewer is more likely to see your video listed. But why stop there, keep adding relevant Tags.

Include Fujifilm + Finepix

That way your video will be relevant for all aspects of their search "Fujifilm Finepix Camera Review".

The more relevant tags you include the more your video will appear in the displayed video lists.

6. Always Respond To Any Comments

Its very exciting when you get your first comment on one of your videos, especially if it is a positive one. But don't just read the comment and ignore it. Make sure you reply to the comment, thanking your viewer for whatever they have said.

Maybe even subscribe to their channel and mention the fact in your reply. The person viewing your video may not have subscribed to your channel. But if they see you have taken time to reply back AND subscribed to their channel, they are more likely to return the favour.

And whatever you do, don't reply to any bad comments or dislikes with angry remarks. I simply thank them for their comment and maybe mention that the content of my video isn't for everybody... Or words along those lines. You WILL get negative comments and dislikes, just expect them, but don't worry about them.

Try implementing these 6 easy steps and see how quickly your Youtube video views and subscribers increase.