You’ve created your video. You want to show the world what you’ve done. You can’t wait to upload it to YouTube.
Ready? Get set…now upload. Now what?
That’s only the beginning. Now YouTube asks you for a lot of information. You need a headline. You need a description. You need keywords. You need to categorize your video.
Here are 3 reasons why your video will not be watched:
1. Your headline stinks.
2. Your description stinks.
3. You’ve placed your video in the wrong category
Headlines:
Want someone to watch your video? Give them a compelling reason to click on your video. You need a headline that catches their attention out of all the other visual media they are bombarded with on a daily basis. Want some ideas? Check out the latest grocery store tabloid. I’m serious. Don’t copy their nonsense. Instead, look at how their headlines catch your attention.
Description:
If you don’t describe your video, YouTube doesn’t know what it’s about. They can’t index the video file, and instead rely on the written word to tell them what your video is about. If you fail to include useful information here, nobody will find your video.
Category:
As a lawyer, would you say that your video falls into the category of pets and animals, or maybe news? How about education? Maybe sports? The category where you place your video will often determine whether your video is watched or not.
If your video explores business disputes and you think that sports fans have more business disputes than the average person, I think you’d be making a big mistake by putting your video in that category. Think about this. Sports fans will be searching for sports videos. If they see a video with a headline about business disputes, do you think anyone will click on your video?
Conclusion:
If you’re uploading the videos yourself, you need to spend the time to accurately fill in the information that YouTube wants. It’s to your benefit to spend that time correctly. If you leave it up to your video company, you need to check what information they’re using to label your video before it goes live. With video, you must pay attention to the post-production details.
