YouTube Video Optimization

FYI I didn’t write this”guide”, Heiko a Jr. VIP from BlackHatWorld created this guide.

Warning this includes some “Grey” hat YouTube tactics, use them carefully.

So let’s begin

Channel Optimization

Lets compare 2 Channels.

1 –

2 –

What looks better to you?

Of course number 2 looks way better.. Make sure the Channel Page is a little “colorful” and everything is in place. Check how Picture number 2 has a specific Thumbnail and Channel Art. If you have a social pages (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc.) then make sure to include those.

That way you will get more likes/tweets/follows on your social media, which will help you increase social interaction between your followers and you.

You can do this by hovering with your mouse over the “banner” and then click on the pen, at the right top site of the banner

From there on you click on “Edit Links”. You will get to this site :

Check under customized links:
The first field is for the Link Title (Lets say in my case facebook), and then second field is the url (make sure to put in the direct url, not some spammy affiliate crap) – Then hit “Done” and the Link should appear on the right bottom side of the banner.

Then you should go into advanced settings of your channel (Click here for direct link) – Then you should see something like this :

Now type in some keywords within your Niche at the section Channel keywords (Lets say your niche is fail compilations) – You can use Video Marketing Blaster to get some good keyword suggestions

So in my case i would input something like : fail, failarmy, compilation, failcompilation, funny videos, funny videos 2017, extremely funny videos, etc. (you get the idea). In the advanced settings you can also include your “associated website” – If you have a website you can input it there.
As you can see, he is using a custom thumbnail on every video. Do this as well.. more to that later.

By this time (if you have added an avatar and a channel banner) your channel should look way better than the standard ones. Lets head over to the next section.

Creating the video

I won’t be going to much into detail with this. The editing kind of depends what niches you are in.
If you wanna create a vlogging channel then you need to have a high quality camera. Depending on your budget you could either go with a Sony ILCE7SB, or something much cheaper.. a Canon PowerShot G7 for example. Honestly , i would just go into a tech store and test out a bunch of cameras and take the one that i like (Just remember: Quality is the key to success)

But what if we have a compilation channel? Lets go back to our compilation example. The compilation niche is very competitive.

The problem we are running into is that there are a ton of channels already out there that pumps out videos daily (Failarmy for example).

So how can we stand out? Dig deeper!

A “Fail Compilation is very “general” – Why don’t you try “Winter Fail Compilation” , “Cats Fail Compilation” , “Bike Fail Compilation”, “Water Fail Compilations” (and so on..) – These are competitive as well but if you make a video that has quality and is indeed funny, then you have a better chance and if it works you will get a lot of views on that. Heck, i made a “Merry Go Round Fail Compilation” and it exploded. So be creative about your videos. That’s what youtube-users like.

You are probably wondering where to get these videos from. Lets just keep it short and simple:

– Youtube
– Instagram
– Twitter
– gfycat.com
– etc…

You download a couple of videos so you can make a video with a length of 6-10 Minutes. Then you have to edit the video.

My favorite program for editing is Sony Vegas. You can use something like Adobe After Effects or maybe even Windows Live Movie Maker.

Cut the video together, make some nice transitions between the clips but do not over edit the whole video. If you feel like music would fit into the video, then go ahead and put in some music. Going back to our Fail compilation example – I wouldn’t recommend putting in music there, if there already is sound from the actual video but hey.. like i said -> Be creative about it. If you think your video is great then render it.(always make sure to prewatch it in the Video editor to avoid mistakes) – If you have already rendered the video and you notice a bug in the final video then i would suggest you rerender it. Nothing is worse than watching a video that is full of bugs. That brings me to my next point -> Always save a project of the Video (You will thank me for that oneday).

Okay, our video is made and we are ready to upload it to Youtube, so lets go ahead and do that

Uploading the video

Let me tell you something before we get into this. Clickbait is good, but to much of that will have a negative outcome. So make sure you don’t overdo it.

I will use a “Cat Fail Compilation” in this example

Title
Make something that stands out. No one wants to watch “Funny cat compilation” – I’d rather wanna watch “THE MOST EPIC FAIL CAT COMPILATION 2017” (again… you get the point).

Description
I always try to make a description that has around 1000 – 3000 letters. Make sure to input your keyword in the first lines of the description, because that is what will help you rank and what the users will see when they are in the Youtube Search. You can use Video Marketing Blaster, again, to write the description for you.

Analyze the competition and try to make something that is outstanding and makes the users want to click on it.

Also make sure to input some more keywords that could fit into the general niche.
Example: hilarious cats, cute cats, funny cats, lmaocats, hilarious kittens, cat fails, cat fail compilation

The first part of my description would look like this :

“Enjoy these funny cat fails compilation! Whether they are attack you for no reason, fail at jumping or knocking things over! These cat videos are the funniest you will ever see” and so on..

After i have wrote a custom description i always input a phrase why they should subscribe to me.

Make sure to subscribe and be updated with the best and funniest cat fails, water fail compilations, stupid kids fail videos and much more!
>>>>> SUBSCRIBE HERE : LINK <<<<<<

Don’t forget to put in your social media pages as well :
Find us on here:
Twitter: Link
Facebook: Link
Instagram: Link
…

That should sum up the description. Of course you can be creative here as well, but make sure to put in your keywords.

Thumbnail

The Thumbnail is nowadays one of the most important factors in Youtube.
Pay/Get someone for you to make a thumbnail or create them your own. But make sure that it stands out. Example:

This stands out because of the “greenish” sidebars.

This one does not stand out at all and the quality of the Thumbnail looks also pretty poor

If you wanna get some more examples of good looking thumbnails then just go to Youtube and type in your keyword and check the competition. You will notice that they mostly have an excellent Thumbnail with bright colors. And that is what we need, an “eye-catching” effect. TubeBuddy also has a Thumbnail generator where you can select a thumbnail taken from a frame of the video you uploaded. However, being in a competetive niche such as “Fail Compilations” won’t get you the first place with that. You have to use some sort of clickbait! If you have to, include something like a simple but powerful text and select a Thumbnail that reflects on the content of the video.

Use complementary colors in your video thumbnails to create pleasing visuals

TIP: Make a thumbnail and upload it on Imgur. You picture will be placed within other pictures. Now check if your picture is standing out from the other ones. If it is standing out : Good Job, thats what we need! If it is not standing out -> Back to the editor and make it more “eye catching”

Youtube recommends the following dimensions for thumbnails : 1280×720
The Thumbnail section is huge so i cannot cover everything here, as this would explode the guide..
Read more about eye catching thumbnails here.

Add Info Cards
Cards are a way to complement your video’s content and enahnce the viewer experience with contextually relevant information. This can encourage your viewers to engage with your videos.
Example:
“Did you like the video? Make sure to give it a thumbs up”
“Subscribe for weekly cat fail compilations!”

Add to Playlist
Always add your video to a playlist. If you do not have one for this particular video then create one. The more videos that are in a playlist, the more likely someone is going to watch more than just 1 video of yours. This will increase views and watch time for your channel, which will help you to rank better in the youtube search.

Engage with the Video
Get a conversation with your viewers started to increase the ranking on the Youtube search.
Comment on your own video.. example :

“What is your favorite video?”
“Do you also have cats?”
“How many cats do you have at home?”

Share on Social Media

Promote your videos heavily. Build up your social profiles on the niche you are promoting.
You should always use the “Share” Option with every single video you upload. You will get a backlink to your video and your followers/friends will love it. Also make sure to include hashtags when promoting the video on Twitter or Instagram. This will help you rank BIG TIME.

BlackHat ways to promote a Video

GSA Blast

Sometimes i like to blast my videos with a GSA Blast – I feel like this is helping me for some videos but not all of them. 3 Weeks ago i uploaded a video and was blasting it 1 day after upload with 2K Backlinks. The results was over 200000 Views after 1 Week. Now this doesn’t always work out for me, and i suggest if you don’t know what you are doing then you might not do it. But you can always give it a try. A GSA Blast will also rank the video on the Google search. You proably can’t outrank “Funny Cat fail compilation” but maybe you can rank for something more specific (Be creative..!!)

Buying Views

Sometimes i buy views. I believe that this does increase the ranking for youtube. You gotta make it look natural so lets say you wanna buy 10000 Views. To make it look more natural you also have to buy around 400 Likes, 50 Dislikes and maybe 30-50 custom commands. Also, please make sure to NOT buy low retention views. Always go with HIGH RETENTION VIEWS. The high retention is a major ranking factor in youtube and will help you to rank.

Monetizing my video

When you are buying views do not monetize the videos right away. I’ve seen a few people that got banned from buying views and monetizing the video right away. Also the bought views won’t bring you in money either. I always let the video grow for a little bit and when it “explodes” then is the time for activating monetization.

Example of my video that i uploaded 3 weeks ago

–
And now?

This basically sums up the video creation and promotion. If you want to get more attention on youtube you can also do the following things within your niche.

• Comment on other peoples videos (“Great video, i really love…” , “Awesome, i remember back when…” etc)
• Subscribe to other channels within your niche, especially the big ones. This will keep you updated on the trends and you can always interract with the users (Maybe write a funny comment on the video = alot of upvotes = more subs to your channel)
• If you can, try to interact with the channel owners and get them to make a collab with you. You will get a lot of attention from the videos and users will sub to you, if your content doesn’t suck.
• Interract with your viewers! If they comment on your videos then reply them back!
• If a video you’ve created got a shitton of views, then go ahead and make a part 2. People will watch this and possibly subscribe to you if you continue with something that they already liked on your channel.

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Youtube is a huge community and there is always an opportunity for something new. The hardest part about youtube is being consistent. But let me tell you, if you are being consitent then it will be worth it in the end. Youtube is hard… Keep going and never give up!