How To Use YouTube for Business

You’ve created fantastic video content and now you’re now ready to share it on YouTube but, did you know that YouTube has 1 billion users a MONTH and that it’s the #2 search engine in the world! 

Use this No-Nonsense YouTube Guide as a checklist for how to publish your video content so that your prospects can easily find it and take the desired action (like visiting your website, filling out a lead form, or subscribing to your channel or newsletter).

• Title: Make sure your targeted keywords are in the first few words of your title. Try adding a colon after your initial keywords and rephrase your title for maximum effect. For example, your video on can be called: “Classical Guitar Lessons: One NYC Guitar Teacher’s Journey”
• Description: Two things to keep in mind here: 1) Add a 5-6 word call to action at the beginning with your complete website URL, and 2) be as descriptive and keyword-rich as possible. This will help you get found more easily by people searching YouTube for your type of content. You can also include more URLs throughout your content.
• Tags: Be sure to include any and all related keywords in the tags field.
• Transcript: Upload the video transcript by clicking the “Edit Captions” button directly above your video and follow YouTube’s instructions for uploading. YouTube will now index every single word of your transcript and incorporate it into its search algorithms.

Apprentice How To: A complete overview of all YouTube features and how to use them. Watch the video

• Create a custom icon and cover image.
• Link Twitter account in “Connected Accounts”.
• Add a “Featured Video” that talks about CC and the channel’s purpose and prevent ads from showing on the Featured page in the settings.
• Choose “Player View” as your layout. Unlike the Grid View, the Player View features one big video that can be set to autoplay. Because total views can positively impact your visibility, you want to make sure your featured video is set to autoplay.
• Create Playlists and feature your best content in the right column. Playlists are a way of organizing videos on YouTube. Create a playlist of your most popular videos, or ones that best represent your products and offerings.

• Annotation: Add annotations to your YouTube videos that include clickable calls to action. These annotations appear on top of your videos for a specified length of time and can include links:
  • Call-to-action annotation: Add a “speech bubble“ annotation directly under the Subscribe button to all of your old and existing videos.
  • Click-to-action annotation: When you mention your call to action, add an image, graphic or “button“ to the video and overlay it with a “Spotlight“ annotation that links directly to your channel subscribe page. In short, your viewers can now subscribe by clicking an annotation inside your video.

• Post a bulletin to alert subscribers of new videos. At the top of your channel is the Post Bulletin tab. You can create a bulletin and a link to a video that will appear on your subscribers’ home pages.

• Ask for Subscribers. The simplest way to begin increasing your subscriber count is to start asking for it in your videos. In your videos, give your audience a compelling call to action and ask them to click the “Subscribe” button right above your video.

• Add a YouTube widget to the WordPress blog.

• Leverage Featured Channels. Strategically partner with other YouTube content-creators. On your YouTube channel page is an option to add other “Featured Channels” that you like and recommend.

• Consistently Interact. Comment, like and subscribe as frequently as possible to other content-creators on YouTube. Watch other people’s content and leave real, genuine comments… the more you give, the more you get!