Most fledgling creators construct a YouTube growth strategy to help them propel their channel to new heights. While valuable, many people find it difficult to implement growth plans. Below, we’ll examine key strategies and elements of a successful YouTube growth plan.
Strategy 1: Creating High-Quality Content
A good YouTube growth plan can’t compensate for low-quality content. You need to create the highest-quality content possible to gain followers and traffic.
What Makes Content High-Quality?
High-quality content on YouTube offers some value for the viewers. I.E., a channel about life hacks should offer effective life hacks. A DIY or tutorial channel should represent things so they’re easy to follow.
How to Make High-Quality Content
Here are our top suggestions for making high-quality content:
- Do plenty of research. Even if you’re already well-versed in a topic or process, any useful information you can add to your knowledge makes the video more valuable.
- Use scripts or storyboards. There are few things as distracting as a video that doesn’t have a flow. Using storyboards and writing scripts ahead of time can help ensure your video is easy to watch.
- Use good recording equipment. Badly recorded videos are distracting, so ensure that you use the best quality recording devices (both audio and video) that you can afford.
- Edit your videos well. Edit the videos as professionally as possible (or find someone who can), and remember to use visual and sound effects where appropriate.
Strategy 2: Practicing Content Optimization
Content optimization is one of the most effective YouTube growth strategies. There are various types of optimization, but keyword optimization is especially important.
Keyword Optimization
Keyword optimization is pivotal in every social media and YouTube growth strategy. Keywords are the most searched terms around a specific topic or niche.
For example, if your channel focuses on culinary endeavors, you may wish to make a video about making hot cross buns. In this case, you may encounter keywords like “hot cross buns,” which has a search volume of 40,500 in the United States.
How to Find and Choose Keywords
A keyword research tool can provide a wide range of keywords related to any specific topic. This image shows an example of the type of list a keyword research tool may provide.
However, there’s more to this process than simply finding keywords and using them. What you want, ideally, is long-tail keywords with fairly low competition. Here, again, you need to turn to a keyword research tool.
There are three things worth noting here. You want to look at the competition level, the search volume, and the length or specificity of the keyword.
Your videos are more likely to rank if you choose keywords with lower competition. However, if the search volume is low, not many people are searching for that term. The other side is that long-tail keywords (more than two to three words long) are usually more specific and often offer better opportunities.
How to Use Keywords
Once you’ve discovered keywords that offer low competition and high value, you can use them to boost video ratings in various ways.
In Video Titles
One of the most natural ways to use them is to incorporate them into your video title. Sticking to the example above, you could title your video ‘How to Make Hot Cross Buns’ or ‘How to Make the Cross on a Hot Cross Bun.’ Both are legitimate titles that tell the reader what the video is about.
Pro tip: Words like ‘a’ and ‘the’ are stop words (ones ignored by search engines), and you can include them to make the keywords make sense.
Here’s an example of a title by YouTuber Jeff Su that includes several keyword variations. People searching for the terms ‘Google Gemini,’ ‘Google Gemini 2024,’ ‘Gemini 2024,’ and ‘How to Use Google Gemini’ are all likely to stumble across this video.
In Video Descriptions
Another popular way to incorporate keywords is in the video description. You can easily and naturally incorporate keywords like ‘hot cross bun’ and ‘cross on a hot cross bun’ into your description. The description of the video mentioned above is optimized for user experience and keyword density.
In Video Tags, Timestamps, and Chapter Headings
The final way to use these keywords is in the video tags (short-tail keywords like ‘hot cross buns’) and even in timestamps and chapter titles. For example, in a video about ‘How to Make Hot Cross Buns,’ you can easily incorporate chapters like ‘How to Make the Cross on a Hot Cross Bun’ and ‘What is the Cross on a Hot Cross Bun Made of?’ This approach allows you to use more keywords and make the content more specific to the questions people are asking.
Sticking to the same video example, here’s a great demonstration of keywords in video tags.
Pro tip: Using keywords naturally in the video voiceover or dialogue (i.e., the audible speech) will also boost the video as the keywords appear in the captions, and search engines also scan transcripts of the videos.
Strategy 3: Improving Your Video Presentation
A good YouTube growth plan requires a good presentation. Before potential viewers ever open your video, they’re going to come face-to-face with the video thumbnail, and possibly the description.
Using Custom Thumbnails
According to Google, the owner of YouTube, 90% of the best-performing YouTube videos have a custom thumbnail. This should give you some manner of indication as to how important your video presentation is.
So, how do you make thumbnails that will really stand out and catch people’s attention? There are a few key elements here:
- Use contrast to excellent effect.
- Avoid the YouTube colors.
- Ensure that the thumbnail accurately reflects the content of the video.
As an example, here are some of the thumbnails from the popular YouTube Channel Alux.com:
Notice how they exaggerate the contrast as much as possible so every single image element stands out. They also incorporate an obvious clue as to what the video is about in every thumbnail.
If you want to get as many subscribers as possible, and maximize incoming traffic, it’s essential to practice this kind of thumbnail design.
Optimizing for Watch Time
The other side to learning how to promote your videos is ensuring you deliver the content so that people watch for as long as possible before moving on.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, Google defines it as “The estimated amount of time that viewers watched your content.” As you can imagine, it’s beneficial for YouTube to keep people engaged on the platform as long as possible (longer watch times = more ads watched + higher revenues).
Consequently, the platform rewards channels with higher watch times. So, how do you optimize your videos for high watch times? To make this a cornerstone of your YouTube growth plan, you should:
- Create longer videos since they often rank better than short ones and have longer watch times.
- Create value from the beginning of the video (no lengthy intros loaded with fluff). People have short attention spans, and the sooner you capture their attention, the better your watch time will be.
- Use a lot of B-roll, action shots, on-screen graphics (like definitions and concept illustrations), and alternative ways to break up the video. Static videos get lower watch times.
Writing Compelling Descriptions
Sometimes, people will read your video description before they ever watch it. As a result, you need to write engaging and compelling descriptions that encourage people to watch the video.
You want the description to be succinct but useful, including elements like the following:
- The main points or topics covered
- Navigational timestamps that link to specific parts of the video
- Links to resources used or other useful information
- Calls to Action
Strategy 4: Making Navigation Easy
While many people don’t realize the importance of simple navigation, it is essential to the health of your strategy. Let’s examine two essential components of user-friendly navigation on YouTube.
Info Cards and End Screens
If your YouTube growth strategy involves funneling one video to another (which it should), info cards and end screens are essential. They allow you to direct viewers to similar or related videos with information they may require.
Info cards appear at designated times throughout the video, as demonstrated in this video by the popular channel 5-Minute Crafts.
End screens appear at the end of the video, as seen in the same video.
These tools don’t just allow you to link to other videos but also to playlists, channels, and external links. In the case of the end screen, you can also add a subscription button.
YouTube considers these two tools so critical that you can see how different elements perform and the clickthrough rate for specific cards.
These tools are essential if you want to improve watch time and get people to spend as much time as possible on your channel.
How to Add Info Cards and End Screens
Before using these elements, you need to know how to incorporate them. So, here’s a quick guide:
- From the content screen on your YouTube Studio, click on the video to which you’d like to add cards.
- When it opens, select the Editor from the menu to the left.
- From the video editor menu that appears, click on either ‘End Screen’ or ‘Info Cards.’
- Choose the type of element you’d like to link to, select the appropriate video, playlist, or channel, and ensure that the info card appears in the right timeframe.
- In the case of the end screen, finalize a design. In the case of info cards, ensure that it’s displaying the text you want. The text should let viewers know that the linked video or playlist is something valuable to them.
Use Playlists
The other paramount part of channel navigation is playlists. This feature allows users to find related and similar videos without looking for them.
If you create playlists and link to them in your info cards and end screens, you can improve your watch time by funneling current viewers to your other videos. This also creates value for users since they can easily find the information they need.
Incidentally, planning your playlists ahead of time is a great YouTube growth strategy because it allows you to plan the best ways to give viewers as much invaluable information as possible.
Here’s a great example of thematic playlists from 5-Minute Crafts.
Strategy 5: Promoting Your Content
No matter how great your content is, if nobody knows about it, you won’t get the rankings and views you’re looking for. That’s why promotion is an essential part of any YouTube growth strategy.
How do you promote your content? Here are some top ways:
- Cross Promotion on Social Media – Cross-channel promotion is one of the most used forms of promotion today. Using your other social media channels to get the word out about new videos automatically draws more viewers to your content. Consider using teasers to help draw people to your full video.
- Email Outreach – Whether you have an existing mailing list or plan on using outreach tools, there’s some benefit to promoting your new videos via email.
- Collaboration Videos – When you collaborate with influencers or other creators, it gives you access to viewers who may not have discovered your channel yet. There are various collaboration opportunities to be had with other creators in your niche.
- TubeKarma – If you’re looking for the ultimate tool to draw more people to your channel, TubeKarma is a brilliant option. They use organic outreach and analytics to help attract people interested in the content you’re producing.
Strategy 6: Remaining Consistent and Engaging Your Audience
If you want a genuinely successful YouTube growth strategy, you must do two things. First, you need to be consistent. Second, you need to engage with your audience.
Remaining Consistent
Because the YouTube algorithm consistently seeks to improve watch time, it rewards channels that post regularly. Some of the potential rewards for maintaining a consistent posting schedule include:
- More subscribers
- Higher-ranking videos
- Improved watch time
Consistent posting not only lets your viewers know when to expect a new video, but it can also help you plan. It’s not necessary to post a video daily or every three days.
Pick a schedule that works for you, even if you produce one video every two weeks. MrBeast often only makes one or two videos monthly, and his channel thrives. But, ensure you consistently create high-quality videos and have a posting schedule.
Staying Consistent Within Your Niche
The other side to consistency is that you must choose and stick to a niche. Now, that’s not to say you can’t make both cooking videos and videos about forging knives. But, if you do, it would be best to create a separate channel for each niche.
When you suddenly change topics or niches, it can be confusing for faithful viewers, so remain consistent once you’ve chosen a niche. This will also foster a sense of reliability and trustworthiness.
Engaging Viewers
What sets successful YouTube channels apart from others that produce good-quality content is the creator’s ability to engage the audience.
It’s essential to incorporate a plan for engaging your viewers when making videos. Consistent engagement is a pivotal part of a successful YouTube growth strategy.
So, you need to create content that users want to engage with and opportunities for them to do so.
Some useful ways to do this include the following:
- Asking viewers questions
- Asking for ideas about future video topics
- Allowing viewers to ask questions of their own or share their experiences.
The key to good engagement is to engage the viewers without making them feel like they’re just a part of your strategy. The best YouTubers manage to truly connect with and engage their viewers.
Final Thoughts
There are many effective YouTube growth strategies out there that you can try. While you may see results, they are typically labor-intensive and may take weeks or months to pay off.
To grow your YouTube channel fast, you need a tool like TubeKarma. This tool can help you achieve consistent organic growth in no time. Using detailed analytics and competitor analysis, TubeKarma finds real followers interested in your niche and guides them to your account.Why waste months trying to draw people to your account when you can manage it in hours?
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