All Categories, Youtube & Video

Introduction

You could have lots of great videos on your YouTube channel, but if no one is watching them, it doesn’t matter how good they are. If you want more views on YouTube, you have to find ways to grow your channel and really engage with your viewers. But that’s easier said than done.


Which is why we’ve created the definitive guide on how to get more views on YouTube. This guide will help you to increase your YouTube views by highlighting the various methods that will be crucial to your success. Split into 8 chapters, the guide goes into detail on exactly what you can do to make noticeable improvements to your YouTube viewership.


Whether you’re a business looking to make an impact on YouTube, a gaming account that does tutorials or a product guru providing beauty tips – the same rules apply. Put these effective strategies into practice and you will have a far better chance of racking up a lot more YouTube views.


Chapter 1. How to create eye-catching video titles and descriptions that will grow your audience.

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Video titles are often the first thing a potential viewer will see when deciding what YouTube video to watch, so they are hugely important. An uninspiring title will fail to capture anyone’s attention.


Your title should be highly descriptive, relevant to the topic and enticing enough to draw someone in. The title should also be short and snappy. However, an attractive video title on its own will not cut it. Keywording your video title correctly is essential to get more views on YouTube.


Use tools like Google’s keyword planner or Ahrefs to find out which ones are the most popular. By choosing a searchable, informative keyword, YouTube’s algorithm will be able to show your video to people who will want to watch it. If your keyword isn’t relevant, YouTube will penalize you for it. Including phrases like ‘how to’, ‘reviews’ and ‘tutorials’ has also been shown to be effective.


Detailed video descriptions will also go a long way to improve your video’s visibility. Pepper your description with relevant keywords to help make it easier to find. It also gives you a fantastic platform to give information about your channel and the content of your videos. The more interesting and accurate the description is, the more effective it will be for getting more views on YouTube.


Last but not least are YouTube tags. Tags are an integral part of a video’s metadata and assist users in finding content that they want to watch. Try and think of as many relevant tags as possible that will help steer people towards your video.


Chapter 2. How to make a visually appealing channel to increase your views.

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Putting effort into the appearance of your YouTube channel can pay off handsomely. A visually appealing design can hold your audience’s attention, encourage them to subscribe and ultimately lead to more views. Impressive channel art is the first step towards achieving this. Try to create something fresh and unique that helps tell the story of what your channel is about.


If your channel centers around a brand, include your brand logo, colors and slogan in the design. The logo will make an ideal profile picture or banner image that will make your channel instantly identifiable. Make sure the picture is high quality because bad angles or blur won’t instil much confidence in your abilities! Pro Tip: Premium videos will always attract attention.


A channel trailer can be pivotal to whether a new viewer subscribes to your channel. In this trailer, you should try to sum up everything about you. These trailers are exclusively for non-subscribers, so they’re effectively a sales pitch. Present what you do clearly and concisely, making sure to ask viewers to subscribe in the video. Getting more subscribers is crucial in how to get more views on YouTube.


Just like a video title and description, a channel title and description contributes to your visibility, resulting in more views on YouTube. Include relevant keywords relating to your channel here and talk about the videos you intend to post, your upload schedule and give some information about yourself.

Make sure to regularly update your channel so it doesn’t go stale. Maintaining a sleek and attractive channel is just as important as creating one. An up-to-date channel has a far better chance of getting you more views on YouTube.


Chapter 3. The benefits of using other social media outlets to promote your videos.

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Social media is a superb platform to showcase the content of your YouTube channel. Sharing videos on the likes of Facebook or Twitter is one the best ways of getting engagement on both your YouTube channel and the site you share it on. If you’re a business, you can post your YouTube videos to Facebook or Twitter to market your products and services. If you’re a regular YouTube user, it’s simply a fantastic way to gain maximum exposure and get more views on YouTube.


Tie in your videos with your social media feed. For example, you could ask people to follow you in your videos or produce video content related to something that was posted on your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Encourage people to comment on and share your videos, further increasing the amount of users that will see it.


Use relevant hashtags to help people who are interested in a specific topic discover your video. Make sure to post consistently, but aim to strike the right balance between not enough and too much. You could create a video series and post a new episode once a day to your social media channel.


If you’re a new company starting out and you want to promote your brand, take a look at examples of other businesses who have been successful at video marketing. The likes of Dollar Shave Club and Old Spice, who are masters on how to get more views on YouTube, have achieved incredible results from thinking outside the box. There’s going to be a lot of lazy users out there and video is going to be one of the best ways to engage with them.


Use online forums like Quora or Reddit to further boost the reach of your video and get more views on YouTube. Answer questions on topics that are related to your video and include a link to it.


Chapter 4. How to maximize the potential of your video’s thumbnail image.

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A YouTube thumbnail acts as a signpost that guides a potential viewer towards your video. Aim to capture your audience’s attention with a captivating image that will encourage them to click. This image should sum up what the video is about and shouldn’t be just a random frame.


Be aware of what the viewers you are targeting want to watch most and tailor your thumbnail towards that. Use colors that stand out if possible, darker colors may get lost amongst a list of bright thumbnails in a user’s sidebar.


The quality of your image is also paramount, especially because the size is pretty small. No one wants to strain to see a grainy thumbnail. Viewers will naturally gravitate towards content that appears professionally-made. It’s going to be next to impossible to get more views on YouTube if you churn out low-quality content.


Don’t bother writing your title again on your thumbnail. Viewers will have already seen it so this will only use up space and make your thumbnail messy. Try using as little text as possible in your thumbnails, unless it’s necessary to describe your video’s content.


It’s important to remember that your video’s thumbnail also shows up in Google search results, which makes it an even more important tool for advertizing your video. With so many search results available to view, a good thumbnail can be the deciding factor in how many YouTube views you get. They also appear as the main image displayed on an embedded video on a website.


Chapter 5. Why playlists can exponentially boost your YouTube exposure.

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Playlists are crucial to increasing YouTube session time, one of the key factors YouTube takes into consideration when ranking videos. The longer someone watches videos on your channel, the easier it will be for people to find your content.


Video views and the time spent watching a video is of almost equal importance to YouTube. They want people to stay on their site, so if you can help them with that, you will be rewarded.


If you have just one video for a user to watch they might click away from YouTube, but if there are a number of videos in a row, they might be enticed to continue watching. That’s why playlists can be so effective at boosting your YouTube visibility.


After a user watches one of your videos on a playlist, the next one will automatically begin. So if they are interested in the topics of your content, there is a chance they will watch multiple videos in one session.


Name your playlists something that encourages people to click on them. Letting them know how your video can help them or teach them something is a great way of doing this. A bland playlist title won’t help you to get more views on YouTube.


Chapter 6. How to use cards and end screens to get more clicks on your videos.

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Video cards and end screens give viewers the ability to interact with your YouTube video. There are a few ways that you can go about getting this kind of interaction.


For example, at the end of your video you could leave people with a multiple choice question to answer, with each answer being a link to another one of your videos. People often enjoy answering questions that require little thought, so viewers will be likely to engage with this tactic.


Cards are a far more sleek way of adding links to videos than their previous incarnation, video annotations. Cards aren’t as obstructive to the viewer, and crucially, they can be seen on mobile devices. You can link to another YouTube video, your channel, create a poll, make a donation card or link to a website.


YouTube allows you to include up to five cards in your video and you can insert these at whatever points you want. However, try not to overdo it with too many cards. Instead, focus on creating quality links that will get more views for your other YouTube videos. Place these cards at points where the video might lull a bit.


If you’re a business, YouTube cards can help generate sales for your product or send people to your website. On each card you can add your company name, logo and a call-to-action. You can even provide downloadable content for any potential customers.


End cards also give you the option to link to whatever video or playlists that you want to. You could decide to link to the next video on your playlist or even the playlist in its entirety. Ultimately, you want the viewer to choose quickly. If they don’t select an option from your end screen, YouTube will provide their own suggestions, which usually will not include one of your videos.


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Latching on to the coat-tails of trending videos is a surefire way of creating popular content. A viral video is something that you know has been successful, so if you can create a video response to one, people will likely be interested in it.


Try and come up with an alternative take on a popular video to stand out from the crowd. Include the title of the video you are responding to in your own title and description so viewers know what the content is about.


This can also be done by targeting an upcoming event. You know that more people will be searching for it, which increases your chances of getting people to view your videos. If you’ve done your research, you can make a really informative and engaging video about the event.


Another option is to try to be comedic when it comes to creating content around popular videos. You could poke fun at elements of the videos or create a parody of it. Comedy has been proven to be one of the most engaging genres on YouTube.


Sometimes a video can simply take off of its own accord. Even if the video has been on YouTube for a number of years, it can suddenly experience an upsurge in popularity. But you want your video to get more views as soon as possible. To do that you’ll need to really engage with viewers, which is what we’ll show you how to do in the next chapter.


Chapter 8. Expanding your audience by fostering a YouTube community.

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Interacting with users who view your video is key to not only retaining the viewers you already have but getting new ones too. If you reply to comments in an upbeat and enthusiastic tone, you can build positive dispositions towards your YouTube channel.


If people think highly of your channel, they may want to subscribe or view more of your videos. You want loyal viewers who feel part of a community and will continuously return to your content. Loyal viewers can recommend your videos to their friends and other users, further increasing your viewership.


YouTube now has a specific Community tab that allows users with over 10k subscribers to collaborate with other channels and cross-promote their videos. This tab has replaced the Discussion tab and appears on your YouTube channel. Bring the activity on your Community tab to people’s attention with a quick introductory video. Use polls to ask people what type of videos they want to see.


The tab is great to help build excitement about a video you’re planning to release. Make sure to provide content that people can only access on your Community tab, giving them a good reason to visit it.


However, having 10k subscribers is far from a given with the level of competition there is on YouTube. Comment on videos in your niche to try and get interaction from YouTube users with similar interests to you.


Conclusion

So now that you’ve learned the ins and outs of how to get more views on YouTube, the time has come to start making the necessary changes to your YouTube channel.


After enacting these changes, the chances are that you’ll see your YouTube views increase. This may be a gradual process, but you will eventually see results. No longer will you be left wondering how to get more views on YouTube.


Did you find our guide helpful? Is there anything in particular that you want to focus on? If you have any thoughts or questions on the blog post please feel free to leave a comment.

Michael Cole

Michael Cole

​Michael Cole is a professional content writer. He has completed a BA in English and History and an MA in Journalism. Michael has extensive experience writing for both print and web and can turn his hand to any subject. His favourite one is free graphic design software. Especially he likes Background Remover by Design Wizard. ​