HOW TO OPTIMISE YOUR ONLINE VIDEO
Dec 18, 2012
You may have read our previous blog post about the benefits of having a video on your website, so you'll know how much of an asset they can be to your business.
But an online video is no use if it can’t be found! Just like any other types of online content, your video needs to be optimised so that it will stand out and encourage more visitors to your website.
Create Great Content
This may seem obvious, but there’s no point trying to optimise a video that nobody is going to watch, comment on and share. There’s no secret formula to creating great content, but there are some things you can do to ensure people stay interested. It’s best to keep your video short and snappy, dealing with one issue or answering just one question. Videos of around 1 to 2 minutes in length tend to be more effective than longer videos, as the average internet user’s attention span is quite short.
Upload to YouTube
While you shouldn’t dismiss video sites like Buzznet and Vimeo, there’s no doubt that YouTube is the biggest and most popular platform to upload your video to. Once you’ve created an account with your Gmail address you can customise your channel with information about your business and add links to your website. If your video is on YouTube it will be easily picked up by Google, and due to there being more websites than videos on the web it’s easier to get to the top spot.
Keywords
Optimise your content through what goes into your video’s title and description, just like website content. Think of a keyword rich title, including all the keywords you want to be associated with. Keep the title to 66 characters to make sure it all displays on a Google search and for most effective results use a keyword at the beginning. Use the description to vary your keywords slightly and include your website URL to encourage clicks through to you. Don’t forget YouTube tags, either.
Comment on Related Videos
Treat your YouTube channel like a blog, and interact with the community around you. Keep up-to-date with what’s going on in your niche and subscribe to popular channels. Commenting on related videos will drive more visitors to your own, and even commenting on other channels can be beneficial. If other YouTube users like you, they may add you to their “Featured Channels” section if you return the favour for them.
Video Responses
YouTube will notify you of popular videos in your niche – take advantage of this by posting video responses. A video response allows you to post your video directly underneath someone else’s video, which exposes you to a large target audience.
Create a Video Sitemap
By creating an XML file sitemap for your video, you are providing the appropriate information for Google to index you by. For more information about video sitemaps, visit Google Webmaster Tools.
Hopefully you've found this blog post useful, but if you have any more questions about video optimisation we'd love to hear from you! Simply tweet us @thecreationlab or contact us here on our website!
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