Here are ways to increase YouTube views. They assume you already have a YouTube channel.
Once you’ve created a YouTube channel, here’s how to increase views.
- Niche-finding
- Create Good Content
- Use YouTube SEO
- Edit Video Thumbnails
- Use Cards and End Screens
- Create Playlists
- Share Your Videos on Other Sites
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Niche-finding
You need a niche to be successful on YouTube. You aren’t making videos to get more YouTube views. YouTube is an extension of your marketing message and as such should be targeted to your target demographic.
It’s not like having millions of views from people who aren’t interested in what you’re selling.
That doesn’t mean you should stick to one video type or one topic—that’ll bore your viewers. We suggest using buyer personas to plan content and topics that will appeal to your target audience while remaining on brand.
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Create Good Content
You’re ready to create great YouTube content once you’ve identified your niche. This means making videos that people want to watch from start to finish. Isn’t it?
Your YouTube videos should entertain and engage your target audience on topics they care about. They must also be useful. This content should entice viewers to sign up for your paid content or buy your products. It won’t engage them if it’s not useful to them.
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Use YouTube SEO
YouTube is the second most popular search engine. YouTube, like other search engines, uses ranking signals to organize search results. Keywords are important, but so is engagement. YouTube says:
A video’s ranking is determined by the title, description and video content matching the viewer’s query. We also make it easy for viewers to find the most popular videos for a given query.
YouTube wants engagement. If you succeed, you’ll get a boost in the search results.
Likes, comments, audience retention, watch time, card/end screen clicks, and more can all be used to measure engagement. Your videos will not rank higher in search results and will not get more YouTube views unless your audience engages with them.
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Edit Video Thumbnails
Standing out from the crowd can help you get more views. Thumbnails are a big part of what users look for when scrolling through search results on YouTube.
Backlinko’s Brian Dean suggests non-YouTube colors for thumbnails: blue, orange, green, or yellow. This helps your video stand out from the YouTube branding’s red, black, and white.
Your YouTube video thumbnails should accurately portray the content of your video. It should stand out. It could be a bright color, a graphic, or even a minimalist approach, which isn’t the norm nowadays.
Like your content, your video thumbnail should be made with your target demographic in mind. You may need to experiment with thumbnail styles to see what your audience likes.
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Use Cards and End Screens
Cards and end screens are YouTube tools for promoting other videos on your channel and increasing engagement and views. Click your profile picture in the top right of the screen, then YouTube Studio. Choose a video (or upload a new one) and click the pencil icon next to cards or end screens.
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Create Playlists
Playlists are a great way to get more YouTube views. When a video in a playlist ends, the next video in the playlist automatically starts. This means that viewers can watch related videos without having to do anything, increasing your YouTube views while keeping YouTube happy.
Making playlists takes planning. A playlist isn’t just a collection of videos. Playlists should be curated for your audience. Playlists should have related videos. It’s much easier to plan content in series rather than one-offs. So you can add your videos to the appropriate playlists as they come out.
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Share Your Videos on Other Sites
Promote your YouTube videos on other social media platforms, but don’t just share a link. Because social media platforms prefer native content, create short “teaser” videos for each to drive viewers to your YouTube videos.
You can also share your videos outside of social media. Your website and emails can now include YouTube videos.