How to get more views on YouTube in 9 simple, quick and FREE steps

September 16th, 2010 / by Asher Fergusson / Youtube
More-youtube-views

The difference between just uploading a video on YouTube, and uploading a video on YouTube that gets LOTS OF VIEWS, can actually be pretty small. What’s surprising is that most people don’t know how to jump the thin line into the “lots of views” boat. What’s even MORE surprising is that jumping the line doesn’t always rely on great video content! In fact I’ve seen a million amazing videos attracting barely any views. Considering YouTube gets 24 HOURS of new uploads every MINUTE!, maybe the fact that some get noticed and some don’t isn’t that mystifying after all.

Here are few stats to get you excited about the potential of YouTube – my favorite social network…

youtube-infographic-key-facts

So, what can you do to make sure you’re on the right side of that tiny line?

This first post in a series of tutorials, tips and strategies, will give you 9 steps to help you get more views, and get you off the ground.

1) Name your video file with relevant keywords before you upload to YouTube. For example: if it is about your "cute cats" then the obvious name for the video file is cute-cats.mov

2) Title your video within YouTube with catchy keywords AND BE SURE TO DO YOUR RESEARCH. Similarly you need to create a title that contains your keywords but at the same time is enticing to click. You may even want to go to YouTube and see what is already there when you type "cute cats". When I did that, the number one video that came up was a video with 30,000,000 views titled "Surprised Kitty (original)". One technique is to title your video with a similar title to another popular video. E.g you could use something like "My cute cats are cuter than 'Surprised Kitty'". This will give you a good chance of ranking in the "related videos" section of YouTube and therefore bring a ton of extra views.

3) Fill out the video description with at least 2 - 3 paragraphs of text. This is an important step that most people overlook. YouTube wants to know what your video is about and the video description section is the best way to validate this. So I recommend you either write a 2 minute transcript of the video or at the very least 2 paragraphs explaining its contents. It should include all your main key words in a natural way.

4) Put all the keywords from the title and description in the "tags" section. The next step is to fill out the tags section with all the main key words and phrases that relate to your video. This is a super important part of YouTube SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and really helps your video show up in different search results. For example you could use; Cute, Cats, Surprised, Kitty, Original, Funny, Rat, Loves, Cat, Kitten. These tags are based on both the example video’s keywords and the keywords of other popular YouTube videos.

If you need assistance with any part of this tutorial, CLICK HERE for one of our expert Ninjas to help you get more views.

Network your video

5) Share your video with all your friends - quickly! YouTube loves new videos and gives them an extra chance to rank well in the first week or so after being uploaded. So to take advantage of this, you'll need to be a ninja and share the video in every way you know. Facebook-share it, Tweet it, email it, and tell your friends to do the same if they like the video. If you have a Facebook fanpage then this is perfect content for that page and depending on the fan base can quickly get you a lot of views.

Surprised-kitty-youtube

6) Make a video response to an already popular video on YouTube. Using the above example of the "Cute Cats" video, the perfect video response choice is Surprised Kitty. This means that your video will appear below this video that has already had over 30 million views. If your title and thumbnail are enticing enough then there is a good chance you'll get 1000's of referring views.

7) Encourage sharing, allow comments, video responses and embedding of your video. Everyone likes to be heard and if you allow for comments then you will give people that chance. The other thing about comments is that it creates a community around the video and if a conversation is taking place then people will keep coming back. Allowing video responses to your video means a lot of extra people could link to your video via theirs, resulting in many more views. Similarly, if you allow anyone to embed your video on their website, it is like free advertising and the video could easily end up all over the internet. This is often how the most views are achieved with a video.

8 ) Embed your new video prominently on your website to create 2 way traffic. This serves to give your video a link but also additional views that don't require someone to see it on YouTube. All you need to do is to go to your video on YouTube, click the "< Embed >" button and copy the code. Then go to your website and paste the code in the html wherever you want the video to appear on your site.

9) Have your fellow bloggers reference or embed the video on their site as well. If you have friends who also have websites, ask if they can embed the video for you. Having them write an article is also very good and will increase your views tremendously depending on the traffic they already receive to their site.

So there you have it - How to get more views on YouTube in 9 simple, quick and free steps.

The main ingredient in building the knowledge of how to optimize your video for YouTube is achieved with practice. Like most things, the more you practice, the more skilled you will become. As a result, the more traffic you generate, will in turn create more business opportunities. By utilising this social networking site you'll figure out all kinds of little known tricks and be expertly guided through many tips and techniques that will help raise you above your competition. Good luck and enjoy hours of fun while you learn to be a Pro YouTube Ninja!

Let us know how you go with these tips in the comments section below. If you do all these things you may be surprised how many views you suddenly get!

Filed under: Youtube by Asher Fergusson

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35 Responses to “How to get more views on YouTube in 9 simple, quick and FREE steps”

  1. Joey, on September 16th, 2010 at 2:09 pm Said:

    Search Engine Optimization is always super important… Even on YouTube.

  2. Jonathan Clifford, on September 29th, 2010 at 3:01 pm Said:

    Asher,
    I am curious about point number 3. It is my experience that people do not read the description’s on videos they simply watch them and quickly move onto the next video. Are there stats on the percentage of people that read the description? And is the description important for SEO? Thanks for this post!

    J

  3. Asher, on September 29th, 2010 at 10:08 pm Said:

    Hi Jonathon,

    I am not sure how many people actually read the descriptions. The point of filling out the description is to let Youtube know exactly what your video is about. Otherwise they just have go by the title and tags.

    I have seen many videos with a good description out perform videos without it over and over again. Of course there are many other factors that influence rankings such as the number of views and comments, but the description is one easy step that you have complete control over.

    So the description is primarily for SEO.

  4. Sheesh, on October 21st, 2010 at 3:30 am Said:

    Your advice stinks. Sorry but its true.

  5. Asher, on October 23rd, 2010 at 8:06 pm Said:

    Hi Sheesh, can you give an example of why the “advice stinks”? I’m curious.

  6. kennyandtildenshow, on October 26th, 2010 at 10:02 pm Said:

    hey thanks for the tips we will definitely us them.
    Check out our first video in our show!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f56xz_8zKPk

  7. kyle246, on November 9th, 2010 at 12:35 am Said:

    Learn how to get MORE views on youtube. Follow my very easy tips. :D

    http://hubpages.com/hub/Learn-How-To-Get-More-Views-on-Youtube

  8. Asher, on December 4th, 2010 at 7:19 am Said:

    Hi Kenny,

    It doesn’t look like you used these tips on the link you posted? There needs to be a better title, description and tags…

  9. Michael, on April 21st, 2011 at 2:27 pm Said:

    This is great Advice, thanks for posting. (Sheesh is just being an arse :)

  10. Kalea, on May 23rd, 2011 at 1:31 am Said:

    Posts like this bihrgten up my day. Thanks for taking the time.

  11. Asher, on May 23rd, 2011 at 10:08 am Said:

    Thanks!

  12. » How to get more views on youtube for free, on July 6th, 2011 at 2:24 am Said:

    [...] http://www.galaxyninja.com [...]

  13. Pedro Hernandez, on July 15th, 2011 at 8:23 pm Said:

    hey thanks for the tips i will use all of them thanks check out this link plz and share it with people http://www.youtube.com/user/themiz259?feature=mhee

  14. Jeff Weatherford Music, on August 1st, 2011 at 3:31 pm Said:

    Hi Asher! Thanks for the advice. I have entered my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KWIJjraFiA into a contest that is based on the number of YouTube views with only the top 5 get a chance to audition. Honesty, I started a little late but I am currently am stuck at 302 views for 24 hours. I have tried to follow your 9 steps but still stuck at a low view count. I have even employed Constant Contact Email Marketing to get the word out. What am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance, Jeff Weatherford

  15. Jeff Weatherford Music, on August 1st, 2011 at 3:46 pm Said:

    HI Asher, I just read this article about “frozen view counts” http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer=175736 which states, “YouTube employs proprietary technology to prevent the artificial inflation of a video’s viewcount by spam bots, malware and other means. We validate views to ensure the accuracy of the viewcount of all videos beginning with the first view. This validation process becomes publicly visible when the viewcount reaches 300. At this point, the viewcount may slow or temporarily freeze until we have time to verify that all further views are legitimate. Rest assured that the views system is working as intended, and that the viewcount will update as soon as the system has verified the legitimacy of the views.”

    Question: what does YouTube consider as means of “artificial inflation”? I have heard that once you reach 300 views, each IP address is considered only 1 view from then on. In other words, opening the site in 20 tabs in your browser and clicking REPLAY is pointless. Is this true? Just trying to understand the process.

    Thanks again! Jeff W.

  16. Asher, on August 2nd, 2011 at 9:12 pm Said:

    Hi Jeff,

    Your video looks well optimized. I would recommend that you send it to as many people as possible. Share it on Facebook, link to it from your website etc etc.

    You could also try making it a video response to a popular video in the “neighborhood” of your genre.

    Your video is ranking fairly well for this search “the fish celebrate freedom 2011″ on Youtube but there may not be many people searching for this.

    There can also be some luck involved so – Good Luck!

    Best,

    Asher.

  17. Asher, on August 2nd, 2011 at 9:15 pm Said:

    I would be doubtful that views coming from the same IP would be considered only one view because many University campuses and office buildings are all on the same IP.

    With that said there probably is some algorithm to stop “artificial inflation.” Obviously if 1 million views came from one IP that would be super artificial.

    Best,

    Asher.

  18. Jeff Weatherford Music, on August 3rd, 2011 at 10:07 am Said:

    Thanks Asher for the advice and the views! :-)

    One last question: I’ve noticed that some people when sharing a YouTube video on Facebook, for example have turned off the “embedding” of the video on external sites. Do “embedded views” of a YouTube video actually get counted as views or are only views on the YouTube channel/site counted?

  19. Asher, on August 3rd, 2011 at 10:53 am Said:

    Views do get counted from being embedded on sites and actually this usually one of the major ways it gets views. Another way that a lot of views come through is if your video shows up as a “related video” to a very popular video.

    Best,

    Asher.

  20. John Smithers, on August 24th, 2011 at 6:08 am Said:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLw9pR92Ld8 this is my video, i have followed all your tips and still am unable to get views! if someone could please help me i would be so grateful

  21. Cleanwaste, on October 19th, 2011 at 3:37 pm Said:

    Thank you for your advice, hopefully it helps out our “worst commercial EVER!”

  22. Cleanwaste, on October 19th, 2011 at 3:39 pm Said:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nughUrMKECg

    Wasn’t sure if I remembered the link!

  23. Angelica Enriquez, on November 30th, 2011 at 9:05 pm Said:

    Please View All My Video’s On My YouTube Channel, (: And Please Sub, (= iHave Alot Of Awesome Video’s On My Channel, Enjoy My Video’s, (;

  24. natalia, on December 27th, 2011 at 3:45 am Said:

    Hi Asher, I dont know… I put in lots of tags for my music that I uploaded in spanish, but even when I search for them without going through my channel I don’t find any of my videos. My descriptions are not very long, and they are in spanish, but I am wondering why Youtube would care about the description? How would that help the views rise?

    In advance, thank you for your help.

    Natalia

    ie) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MF6vEAlsrg

  25. natalia, on December 27th, 2011 at 4:09 am Said:

    also, I dont know if I tag correctly, do you separate words with commas, or quotation marks, or simply spaces?

    thanks again

    Natalia

  26. Asher, on December 27th, 2011 at 12:55 pm Said:

    Hi Natalia,

    It looks like the competition for “Virgenes del Sol” is very high because there are so many videos competing for that keyword and many of them have millions of views. In this case it makes it difficult to rank unless you also get a lot of views within a short time of uploading.

    Alternatively you could adjust the title to something with less competition but is still representative of your video. YouTube cares about the description because it helps them know the content of the video.

    With the tags you can do any of those methods but quotation is useful for a keyphrase that is more than one word e.g “Virgenes del Sol” would be good.

    Hope this helps,

    Asher.

  27. Jeremy Davis, on January 16th, 2012 at 4:29 pm Said:

    thanks for the help, i already have seen a rise in views in the last 30 minutes Thanks!

  28. New York Frankie, on February 9th, 2012 at 12:28 am Said:

    Hey Thanks for the tips, I just released my song and I am trying to get more video views…

    Thanks-
    Frank

  29. DJ NY, on February 14th, 2012 at 11:06 pm Said:

    Thanks for the advice time to get to work.

  30. Asher, on February 16th, 2012 at 3:36 pm Said:

    Thanks for the encouragement everyone. Maybe I’ll write some more soon.

    Asher.

  31. Kurtis, on April 11th, 2012 at 3:43 pm Said:

    Hey, wondering if you actually wouldn’t mind helping me get views. I believe that I am one of the people that have greats stuff but can’t get noticed. Try typing Little Kurt Churlish Proletariat. If you do not mind. You don’t need to watch it. But possibly spread my channel around as much as possible? Thing is, I don’t want my area (Friends, Family, etc.) to really know until I am pretty popular and can show people like it; therefore they will most likely accept it.

  32. Omar Alexandro, on April 13th, 2012 at 4:47 pm Said:

    Hello. What would be your advise in my last videos to get more views? They are musical videos…
    I’ll give you the links:
    http://youtu.be/0Lfd0OOXidI

    Here, for example… What would be your advise for me to get more views???
    My official video of my album is comming in two weeks and I need more views. I’ve done all I can in facebook and people helping me sharing it. But still… I haven’t been able to get further that

  33. Flookazoid, on April 18th, 2012 at 9:32 am Said:

    thankyou i will try and use these tips :)

  34. George, on April 19th, 2012 at 3:18 pm Said:

    Thanks for the information. I like most of the suggestions. I’ve tried some, yet it’s hard to get people to listen to your music when you don’t have a label behind you.
    http://youtu.be/pz7L0cW7I-M this is my page. enjoy the music if you like Hip-hop.. If not, just listen to the content. hope to hear from you.

    George

  35. Asher, on April 22nd, 2012 at 2:57 pm Said:

    Hi Everyone,

    There have been a number of questions about help getting more views. We have recently launched our services to help people get more youtube views here http://www.galaxyninja.com/youtube/

    Try it out if you want one of our expert Ninjas to help you.

    All the best,

    Asher.

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