It’s time to upload your first video to YouTube. It’s very easy to do so don’t worry. There are a few options for doing this, and we’re going to combine it with taking a look at your Video Manager.

If you don’t have a channel set up yet you can see step by step instructions on how to set up a YouTube channel from scratch.

1. Click on your Profile photo again, and select “Video Manager” from the drop-down menu. The Video Manager is your YouTube dashboard, so get into the habit of using it.

2. Here you will find all sorts of options, including “Analytics”. Later, when you have multiple videos open, you will see them all displayed in a list fashion with thumbnails. You can edit right from your Video Manager. But for now, your Video Manager will be empty, so go ahead and press the green “Upload” button, top-right.

3. Now press the red “Upload” button.

This will open a new window.

4. Select your video from your computer. As it’s uploading you can fill in the details.

Most important for search and SEO will be:

• A strong title
• A direct description (slanted at your ideal viewer)
• Your tags (YouTube will “suggest” existing Tabs, which you can add.)
• The correct category

Don’t be afraid to write a lengthy description and add a lot of tags.

This is also a good time to upload a custom thumbnail that helps catch people’s eye and get them to click on your video.

5. Don’t leave that page or shut it down until it tells you that your video has been uploaded and is available. You also want to make sure that any additions or changes you made are saved.

Your video is uploaded. You can now view it in your new channel and start telling people about it. See how easy it is to upload a video to YouTube? Now you just have to go make a video!

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As well as being the second most used search engine, and having over a billion active users per month, YouTube ranks number two in the world of social networks. Facebook is number one. We have disqualified Google+ from this contest, because their results are artificially inflated by the integration with their search engine statistics.

Quick Tip: Whereas Facebook and Pinterest’s audience has a majority of female users, YouTube has a majority of male users. So if your target market leans more towards the male gender in its demographic, you definitely need to be using YouTube to create engagement and drive traffic to your channel and sites.

Let’s focus on how to use this powerful network to grow your following.

Step 1. Your Channel Subscriptions

There are several effective tactics you can use to increase subscriptions to your YouTube channel. Know that YouTube is extremely strict about its users providing incentives, so don’t offer any sort of reward or bribe.

Let’s look at your options…

1. Asking within your video – You can simply add a graphic at the end of your video asking the viewer to subscribe to your Channel. Or you can add a verbal call to action at the end of your video; something like: “Subscribe to my Channel for more videos like these.”

2. Annotations – these are clickable graphics or text boxes that you embed within the video through the YouTube dashboard after the video is uploaded.  There are several types for you to choose from – speech bubbles, text boxes (“Notes”) and hot spots (Spotlights) are the most popular. Find all the info about annotations in the YouTube help.

Quick Tip: Annotations will not appear in YouTube chromeless players; nor will they display on mobile, tablet and TV devices at this time. Make sure you don’t rely solely on your annotations to attract subscribers, but add calls to action in other places too.

Step 2. Video Responses

What is a “video response”? Instead of commenting on another viewer’s video, you make your own video in response to his video and post the link in his comments. Video responses can not only start an entertaining dialogue, but you can quickly pick up subscribers from the original video poster’s own Channel.

There are ways to do it and ways not do it. Scathing denunciations of the original post may build some viral traffic, but – unless you are Gilbert Gottfried – won’t make people subscribe if denunciations are not something you normally indulge in. In fact, it can get pretty unpleasant, and may even result in your account being suspended, if someone “flags” your response.

Blatantly showing the original poster up is also not a positive strategy. If you want to correct someone, you have to do it carefully. Sandwich criticism in between a compliment and a positive statement.

The best way to create strong video responses that will please the original poster and his subscribers:

• Present some additional aspect to his video that actually enhances his original point
• Make a funny and engaging response. But if you use parody, be sure to laugh with the original poster – not at him.

Creating a video response is easy-peasy. Here’s how you do it…

1. Click inside the “All Comments” box as if you were just going to type a comment. Then click the link under the bottom-right corner of the text box.

2. You now have three choices:

1. Choose one of your existing videos
2. Upload a new one
3. Record a new one

Videos you post as a response become linked to the original poster’s video – the perfect way to create backlinks and gather subscribers, if you’ve done a proficient job on your video response.

Quick Tip: Invite a response to your response! Try to make it irresistible for the original poster and his followers to do so!

Step 3. Install the YouTube Subscription Widget onto your Website

The more people you turn into subscribers, the more chance you’ll get to interact with them.The easier you make it for people to subscribe, the better chance you have of getting more subscribers.

To add the subscription widget to your blog:

Copy-paste the following snippet of code into your web page HTML.

<iframe id=”fr” src=”http://www.youtube.com/subscribe_widget?p=add YouTube Username here” style=”overflow: hidden; height: 105px; width: 300px; border: 0;” scrolling=”no” frameBorder=”0″></iframe>

Insert it where you want your widget to appear.

It should look like this on your website or blog, with your own logo or image, your Google account name, your username and the number of your own subscribers:

Quick Tip: When you substitute your username over the pink text, be sure to replace add YouTube Username here with your own username.

Step 4. Follow Other Channels

Here’s yet another basic strategy too many people ignore: Follow other channels to attract their subscribers to your own channel. Many people will subscribe back – not all, many.

It’s the same old “comments are a great marketing tool.” Use interacting with other users via their channels exactly as you would interact with another social network.“Favorite” other peoples’ videos that you particularly like – but if you are favoriting ones outside of your normal area of branding, create a separate Featured Playlist for them (e.g. “Inspirational videos”, “Funny videos”).

Quick Tip: Use keywords that relate to your topics in the titles because YouTube likes to rank playlists higher in search results.

You can also keep lists of members whom you regard as friends and follow channels for industry leaders and news sources. Recommend their videos to your subscribers or make a playlist of helpful videos. (You’ll also be seen as the person who knows all the breaking news.)

Remember that YouTube is more than just a video host. The social element – social sharing — is really what it is all about.

Step 5. Increasing Identification and Integration

Brand your Channel page by adding videos, playlists and other channels, as well as a channel banner and watch page icon. Follow YouTube’s own instructions and channel branding best practices.

Here are the top 5 things you should keep on top of with your YouTube channel

1. Get into the habit of checking for comments about your videos regularly (either via your channel or your Gmail). Respond to them straight away – even if it’s only a “Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.” I have mine set to email me so I can respond with a comment or delete offensive ones.

2. Vary your responses. Don’t always post comments on others’ videos – vary that with video responses.

And if you are asked a question that requires a detailed answer, don’t do it in the comments section: Instead, respond to the question by (a) thanking the commenter for a great question (b) directing him to a new video you’ve made in response, directly giving or demonstrating the answer. E.g. “That’s a great question about arc lights, Devin. Rather than write pages here, I created a quick video showing how to tell the difference between carbon arc and voltaic arc lamps…

3. Share each new video to your social networks – and use a call to action: Give your social network fans a strong, irresistible, curiosity-arousing reason to check it out.

4. Install the Facebook YouTube app on your Facebook Page – and drag the tab to show as one of your four cover-header tabs, under your Cover photo and to the right of your “About” section.

5. Embed your YouTube video on your website. This  gives you a reason to interact with more viewers via your blog itself, and gives people that are unfamiliar with YouTube an easier way to watch.

That’s more than enough to get you started – more ways to interact than you might have imagined at first. Use YouTube as the powerful tool it is to interact with people, grow your following,  get more subscribers, and more YouTube views.

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Extra! Extra!

Did you ever want to have a fancy title in front of your name? Maybe a British Duchess or Lady? A German Count or Baron? A French Vicomte? Just as those titles grab our attention so should your YouTube video title. The title of your YouTube video blog is a first impression to new viewers – and who doesn’t want new viewers? It’s a key in determining whether the YouTuber will play your video or move on.

The trick is to balance catchiness with keywords for the best YouTube title.

I have a tendency to lean too heavy on the keyword side. Since YouTube is the second most used search engine and owned by Google – the most used search engine; I like to pick words that are searched for often. Those are keywords and Google will tell you what combinations are searched for the most with their AdWords tool.

However, those keywords can become quite boring. If your video shows up as a related video or even in a subscription list it’s good to have a title that catches attention and makes them curious. Which title is more compelling: Weekly Update #47 or The Week I Never Want To Live Over? Of course, the second one! Now add in some keyword that tells the search engine what it needs to know: Pregnancy Week I Never Want To Live Over. You can add all the other great keywords you want to be found for into the description.

This is just to help you start thinking about it. I’m sure you can come up with even better ideas for your YouTube titles; ones your target market will be compelled to click on. What makes you click through to watch a YouTube video?

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Yes, there are many silly videos on YouTube. There are lots of cats, video blog rants, skateboarding dogs, etc. Don’t let that stop you from using YouTube for business. In this post are 17 ways to use YouTube for business, but first let’s look at the demographics to see why you should use YouTube For Business.

I’ve often thought that YouTube is mostly tweens and teens; but the largest group is actually 34.7 million women ages 18-54. If they go by user accounts that would include all the mothers that are occupying their children by watching funny or cute clips online. [I speak from experience.] It’s still a large number of women - 5.4 million out of 8.9 million users - who are “active online consumers.”  2.2 million of them are online every day [This also agrees with my experience]; and 71% of those women shopped online in the last 6 months [well, duh!].

The second largest group is 27.9 million men ages 18-54 that like movies [another duh!], like to live stream, and often give advice about electronics and music. The third group is teenagers with 54% of all teens being on YouTube.

Just knowing those facts should make you want to have your business visible on YouTube. Those are on top of the fact that YouTube is the second largest search engine and is helpful just as a video host.

17 Ways To Use YouTube For Business

You can use YouTube For Business on a very basic and simple scale within your company with private videos:

1. Share slides or actual videos of presentations.
2. Answer FAQs.
3. Document procedures of how things should be done.
4. Share an important message for the whole company that you don’t want mixed up as it gets passed around.
5. Motivation or inspiration from employers.

Then think of how videos can help your customers:

1. Embed a video on your website to create trust.
2. Answer FAQs.
3. Share tips or how-tos.
4. Show customers how the product is made.
5. Reviews or testimonials from satisfied customers.

Lastly, use YouTube as a marketing tool for your business:

1. Establish a presence on the second most used search engine to be found faster.
2. Create a fun and educational video that people will want to share.
3. Develop a good relationship with an online community.
4. Promote an event, product, sale – promote anything!
5. Introduce the behind the scenes to the general public and create authenticity & trust.
6. Link to your optimized YouTube channel from social media networks.
7. Buy ads through Google AdWords or pay to promote videos.

There are many levels of using YouTube; find what works good for you and your business. Just whatever you do – don’t ignore YouTube for business.

If you need some help with YouTube and your channel I am available to help you with just consulting or actually doing the work for you. Email jendi@simplevloggingtips.com for more info.

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It’s great to ask people to subscribe to your video, and it’s even better to supply the link that takes them directly to your subscribe button. No passing go. No collecting $200. Just subscribe!

Where do you find the YouTube Subscription Link?

Here’s mine. You just need to change the user name to your own:
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=vloggingtips

For a while I saved mine as a bookmark so I could easily open it in another window, copy, and paste. But when I changed computers, used a different browser, or restarted because of a virus I didn’t have that link.

Maybe you could just memorize the link, but I have so many other things that I need to remember that it would push the link right out of my mind.

I could create a Bit.ly or other short link that is easier to remember. Haven’t tried that yet…

Here’s what you can do if you don’t have it saved or memorized:

1. Sign in to your YouTube account
2. Click on the dropdown in the top right corner and go to your video manager page.
3. Click on a video title so you go to the video page.
4. Click “Annotations” in the horizontal black bar.
5. Click “Add annotation.”
6. Checkmark the link box.
7. Pick “Subscribe” in the dropdown beside link.
8. Type your channel name in the box.
9. Click the blue “preview link”.
10. Copy the url from the new window that pops up.

And there you have it. It’s simpler than it looks, and hopefully the customized YouTube subscription link will help more viewers subscribe without getting distracted.

Here are 2 other ways to increase YouTube views and traffic from your channel.

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