Nowadays, it is relatively easy for someone to use a smartphone to film a tutorial video or overview of their business. I even did a search the other day that was something along the lines of “AC unit fan no longer working” and the first 5 results on YouTube were amateur videos, either using a camera that was only a few hundred dollars, or even their smartphone. Half of them were simply active homeowners that liked sharing their tips and tricks with the public – a couple were even air conditioning repair companies that could have promoted their services. Instead, they showed how you could do it yourself, more or less taking the approach that suggested, “hey look, you don’t even have to hire me.”

Well let’s take that approach today with promoting your videos and basically “making the most of them” without having to hire my company! All of the following is what I would suggest as best practices from an online marketing standpoint:

Take it to YouTube – Listen, they’re hosting your massive videos, there’s easy customization, and they’re owned by Google and will possibly earn their own rankings. Need I say more?  It is at this point that you need to consider how to make the MOST of them being on YouTube.

  • Write a description – Besides the SEO benefits, it gives you an opportunity to put in contact information, links, and additional information that may have not been listed in the video.
  • Add annotations – Give them a reason to check out another video or subscribe for your channel.
  • Add tags – You can potentially add dozens of tags, and they do directly affect how your video ranks on YouTube.

Splitting Up Videos – I generally like to make sure that videos cover specific topics but get to the point. I go for between 1.5 and 2 minutes.  Each video has an individual chance of being ranked. Let’s say you’re doing a general video on “Navigating DUI After You’ve Been Charged” and you talk about 10 topics during the course of the video. You’d rather there be a series of videos talking about Field Sobriety, Breathalyzer, Refusing Tests, Showing License etc. than just one 10-minute video with only one chance to optimize.

Sharing and Embedding Videos – When you split up your videos, you also allow yourself to have more opportunities to share on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.  In additional to that, you can create more pages on your website and then embed the videos there.

Video SEO is very different from regular SEO, however, if you do if right, it’s very possible to get your videos to rank well both on YouTube’s search results and on Google, and even go viral. As video SEO experts, we are here to help you do just that. Contact us for more information.