Okay, so you created a YouTube channel, uploaded some videos, and then the number of views matched the number of people in your family minus (of course) newborns and toddlers. What could be the problem?

Well, nothing could be wrong with the videos, in fact, they can be absolutely amazing. The answer may well be purely, you haven’t done any “YTO” (I made it up 🙂 That stands for “YouTube Optimization”. You’ve heard of SEO; “Search Engine Optimization”, well, YouTube is the third largest search engine on the internet. Consequently, we have to optimize everything we do regarding our videos.

In 2006, when I first joined YouTube, I didn’t know what a keyword was. If you’re not sure what a keyword is, do a Google search and familiarize yourself with them. Anyway, my channel name contained my first name and last initial. With a name like Kim, I wanted people to know that I was a man and that that was all that mattered to me back then. I didn’t consider YouTube would ever be used for advertising, it was just a fun place to watch videos and post videos.

So, back to YTO. These days, everything is different. When people need to know how to do something, what it does, or what a product looks like, many will go to YouTube and search for the item or service. If you sell what they’re looking for and have a channel name like “Fill in your name,” they won’t find it. Who the hell is going to be looking for “My Name”? Not even my mother!

So even your channel name should have YTO for the niche you are involved in. Ok, let’s say your niche is “Online Video Marketing” which is a fantastic longtail keyword no matter how you take it. What do you do for a living? If you are in the United States you can add USA. Obviously, if you’re in England, you can add the United Kingdom.

Now, here’s something else to think about: When search engine spiders do their thing, they also catch “usernames.” In the example above, you can select a username such as “Video Marketer USA”. At all times, think SEO/YTO… plus, this also means each video’s title, description, and keywords. It’s very likely that I’m missing something here, but you get the concept, right?

Amazingly, YouTube’s technology can even detect the relevant words in your video. I find it unbelievable, though I suppose if people can operate a computer with speech recognition software then YouTube surely can make use of comparable technology.

Bottom line… A little planning goes a long way. Optimize your YouTube channel name, your username, your video titles, and all the relevant information for your niche within the video itself… before you even make the video. Granted, it’s a bit of extra work, but when done right, you’ll blow the doors off this YouTube thing.