Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, guys, it's Sarah and welcome to the podcast. Today I'm here with Will and we're talking about YouTube best practices, all the things that you need to know if you're starting a channel.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: So what are some best practices for starting a channel or growing an existing channel?
[00:00:20] Speaker A: First things are creating your channel page. So having a banner, a clear profile photo and a description, and putting all of your links in your YouTube channel description. They have a super easy feature where you can add your Instagram all the things and it will even have the icon. So YouTube is one place that really welcomes that and allows multiple links. So definitely utilize that to point to the other areas where you want your YouTube to drive traffic to. So kind of just setting up the channel is super important.
And then from there, you obviously want to get an upload. The biggest thing is to just upload. That's something that will and I talk about all the time with lots of different things aside from a YouTube channel. But just start. But especially with YouTube, people spend so much time trying to make their videos perfect and it's like, just get it out.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Just post would be probably the best advice out of this whole podcast. But, you know, I think just testing and learning and leaning into the data and give you a whole bunch of data on who's listening and how long they listen or how long they watch. And demographics, you know, age, gender and how many likes shares, all that you can see in the analytics dashboard. And you can kind of dive in and see what's performing and what's not.
You can test with different thumbnails.
That's a good thing to test. Did you make a thumbnail one or did you just choose a frame in the video to use as the thumbnail?
I would start there a b test that making a thumbnail versus not making a thumbnail. Did it affect watch time or views?
From there, you would work down the tree of testing to making different. If, say, thumbnails wins, you would then make different thumbnails with different styles.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: Yeah. Something that's really important with thumbnails, like an analytic to watch out for, is the. Is it the click through rate?
Because that's gonna be what's most affected.
Yeah, yeah.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: CTo.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's some various things to do, but there is the video title, but then also the thumbnail. And so something that you can do, it's two places that are going to kind of catch people's attention. So you can have the thumbnail and you can even put text on it and then that's going to be like what people like are most drawn to. Like, that's where your eye goes first, I think for most people, and then you also have the title. So it's two opportunities to get them to click.
But same thing with that, though. If that's too much in the beginning, just get your videos out.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: But down the line you can absolutely ignore all of this and go back to, you know, the number one piece of advice is just post. And you can post and not look at the analytics besides, you know, say, your watch time and views and grow your channel that way.
It just depends on how involved you want to be and how much testing you want to have the bandwidth and capacity to do and to care to do. So if you don't care to do it, then don't and focus more on creating your content and what content you're going to create and content that you're passionate about and you think your viewers would be passionate about. And then if it wins with the viewers, you're going to get, you know, more views over time. And it's that simple. Just keep posting quality content and, you know, the testing side of things is a whole other aspect that you can either be involved in or not. And there's plenty of successful, successful creators that just create and post and they don't really dive into the data, but it can be helpful, you know, if you choose to utilize it.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. But maybe like, let's go back to the basics. If you're just starting some things that you should know for kind of setting up your channel for your description, you'll want just kind of a basic kind of like your bio, your channel bio. So a little bit about who you are. Maybe throw some words in there that will kind of be good for SEO, search engine optimization.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: What does that mean? Speaking of that.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: So YouTube is super searchable. That's one of the biggest pros about YouTube is that because it's owned by Google, when you google something, lots of times they're going to push videos to the top of the Google searches. So that is huge and something that kind of sets platform apart. So you want your channel to be super searchable if you do well, what's the topic?
[00:05:53] Speaker B: Well, for example, I know how to tie a tie. Tie to tie a bunch of times for, you know, 15 plus years. And the other day I was going to a wedding and I was thinking, maybe I'm tying a tie wrong. I mean, I don't know, it just seemed like, like I could probably tie it better. Not that it was terrible, but I was like, I search how to tie a tie in Google. And sure enough, the first thing that pops up is not like a traditional Google search result. It's a video on how to tie a tie and it automatically, you know, cut out the first part of the video and skip to the point where the guy starts explaining how to tie his tie.
So that was super helpful because then I could just click watch it and be done and he gets my view and his channel grows based off of that would be search engine optimization. He is making content and titling his video how to tie a tie in a topic that people are actively searching. And because he made a quality video Google.
And because it's set up for search and that his title matches what's in the video, Google is pushing him as the first video to watch. When people are searching how to. And that's common amongst a lot of different videos and topics.
You're going to find the ones that closely match being pushed the most.
And then YouTube search is also a search engine. So if you have people searching in YouTube itself, that those videos are still being ranked based off of similar factors, you know, what's in their description? Does it match words, not just the title, but what's in the description of the actual video itself? Does it, is there a description? One, I mean, that's going to help your search engine ranking. But then two is, does that description match what's actually in the video to help people find the video that they're looking for and to help Google, Google recommend the video to the people searching. So, you know, that's, that would be an aspect of SEO that you want to make sure that you're in line with and helping yourself and not hurting yourself.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. Adding a description, that's something that so many people miss on YouTube and it's something that you're not used to. If you're used to using other platforms, like social media platforms where you're limited on how much text you can have, YouTube, you are not in the description part of it and there might be a limit, but it's very long. So you can write as much as you want and really stack that up. So don't overlook that and so speak to that.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: What should I add in this kind besides, you know, say it's the tie video. This video explains how to tie a tie, you know, in three different ways or whatever it is, you know, besides that, like, should I link to my socials in the description? Should I link to my website? Should I add hashtags like what's effective there?
[00:09:15] Speaker A: Yeah, so you can add your socials in the description. A lot of people will do that. And on YouTube you can actually reuse a description from every video. So super convenient. You can just throw it in there. Kind of have a standard thing that you add to the bottom and then whatever. If you want to expand on the tie or have something a little more specific to whatever video you have, such as tying a tie, then you can have that description and then kind of have your standard below it. So a lot of people will have like a link to the camera that they filmed with or some of their equipment. Obviously it kind of depends on the niche, but for that video, the how to tie a tie, say it was a business that sold ties, that posted that video, then they might want to link to their website, you know, shop ties. Or if it's someone that's doing a video on like something else that's product related. Even if it's affiliate, they might link to shopping those products. So you can put links, you can put your social links. Really anything that you want to point to.
As far as tags go, you can do tags. You'll have to hit like see more or some button kind of like that when you're doing the description, but it'll be at the very bottom and that's where you can enter in your tags.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: Is it on mobile or desktop when you have to click see more desktop.
So you add your tags in a specific box, is that what you're saying? Not just in the description itself?
[00:11:00] Speaker A: Yes, in a specific box. I think now you can add them in the description as well, but I would probably limit the amount that you do there.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: Okay. So probably going to be more effective in the box that YouTube has labeled tags designated for, you know, adding your tags.
[00:11:21] Speaker A: Yeah, unless it's something like more niche like.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: And to explain what are tags, tags.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: Are going to be whatever the video is about. So say for the how to tie a tie video, you would do in the tags portion, how to or maybe tie formal wear, things like that, kind of more general things. Whereas if you were doing a hashtag, it would be more like whatever niche you're.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: Yeah, hashtag pro style, hashtag good, looks like things like that. No one's gonna, I mean, you know, I mean, people might look that up, but you want to do it to tag things that are similar to what people are searching so that it sort of categorizes your video and helps, you know, YouTube recommend you your video to more people looking for you know, how to tie tie or similar videos. They could be, they could be looking for, you know, tips on, on dressing nicely.
And your video comes up recommended because you have great tags and it includes, you know, formal wear or dress wear or button downs. Even though your video is not specifically on how to dress nicely, there's probably a million videos on that. But you would still probably come up recommended if you have solid tags in your video because somebody looking to dress nicely also may have poor technique for tying a tie. Like me, I think I know how to tie a tie, but maybe I'm wrong. So watching that video, recommending that video could get somebody to think, maybe I do need to relearn how to tie a tie or wash this to make sure I do it right.
And then you could gain views there that you wouldn't have, wouldn't have otherwise if it weren't for that tag.
[00:13:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
[00:13:26] Speaker B: So is there anything else that we need to do to get growing on YouTube or are there any helpful tips that, you know, most people wouldn't think of or wouldn't, wouldn't add, you know, any secret, secret sauce or.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: The biggest thing right now is, and we could do a whole podcast about this, maybe we will. But shorts, YouTube shorts repurpose anything. If you are on any of the other platforms, save your videos before you post them and post them on shorts. That is how a lot of channels are growing right now because you're, it's gonna push you out beyond search. So someone that isn't searching to watch your video and clicking, knowing that, like they're watching a video on how to tie a tie, instead it's gonna come up in their shorts feed. And so it really increases your reach.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: So similar to, similar to the recommended videos, its shorts are going to be recommended by the AI not necessarily based on what somebody is searching, but what theyre viewing. So if people are typically viewing and signaling to YouTube that they like shorts videos about formal dress wear, then your video would pop up in shorts if you have it uploaded as a short as well is, you know, people would see it because it's similar to the content that they typically consume. So, you know, the content that they watch. So that's where, you know, you're reaching audiences without people searching. It's, you know, AI driven recommendation based on, you know, the automatically, you know, chosen next video video when people are watching shorts. So, and like Sarah said, like it's opening you up to a new audience or a different audience or a wider audience that may not watch, you know, your horizontal, you know, longer form video. If you do a shorter version of how to tie a tie, just cut to the chase, and then you do a longer one that's a bit more in depth with different styles or different ways to tie, you know, people may not watch that, but they would watch the short. So, you know, you kind of hit different attention span viewers and just different styles of people who view different styles of videos.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
So super important to focus on right now.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Why? Why? Because they're pushing shorts or what?
[00:16:22] Speaker A: Because they're pushing shorts. But then it still has all the capabilities that the long form videos would have. So they still come up in search and you can still be found that way. But then you can also come up in the shorts feed.
They're also just super easy to produce. I mean, if you are really used to making long form videos, it might be a little bit of a different switch, but if you can figure out how to clip your long form or just get anything up, really, you know, anything that kind of is associated with your niche, some b roll, add a tip over it and post.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: And you say it's easier because it's more casual, because you can just go vertical with your phone, you know, shoot a short real quick.
[00:17:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: Versus high production. Stick it on a tripod to, you know, get a set up wide or landscape, you know, horizontal with a camera mic and all that you can really just do with your iPhone. Flip it to flip it vertical and then click post when you're done. I mean, you know, I think it depends on your quality with this, of what quality you're going for. But shorts are more casual. People viewing shorts are like, typically understand that that's how they've been shot. So it naturally has become a more casual video.
And people like that. People like resonating more with the creator because it feels more natural and it feels like it's more integrated with their life and day to day versus, you know, higher production where it could be more scripted or, you know, just more involved in the production of it.
[00:18:20] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely.
[00:18:27] Speaker B: Any other tips?
[00:18:31] Speaker A: I think that covers it. I think that that's a pretty good intro. I know it's gonna sound like it's still a lot, though, to a new channel, but take it in strides, do what you can. Just get it up. Don't be overwhelmed by the details.
[00:18:50] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. At the end of the day, what was the first, what's the. I don't know if it's the first thing we said, but what's the best piece of advice from me.
[00:18:56] Speaker A: We can get a year from now. You'll wish you started today.
[00:19:02] Speaker B: That too. What else have we already covered?
[00:19:05] Speaker A: Just start.
[00:19:07] Speaker B: Perfect. There you go. Just start. Just post.
