Grovo – www.grovo.com – is a new online platform that trains users on top Internet tools and cloud services, using 60-second videos. Matt Clark, their Director of Communications, contacted me recently about publishing an article they wrote on tips to creating successful viral videos. Since many of us are creating web videos, I thought the subject was timely.
Its an interesting article, and Grovo has an interesting website. I encourage you to visit. Their intro level is free, includes more than 1,000 videos, and the sign-up process is straight-forward.
Larry
8 Quick Ways to Make A Viral Video
by the folks at Grovo
The next biggest hit on YouTube could be you. The best thing about viral videos is that they can come from anywhere. Even your backyard. Learn techniques to get your videos in front of more people, today, like how to write a great video title and how to reap the hidden benefits of video responses. And you can even learn to make a little money while you’re at it.
Grovo, an online education platform for leading sites, apps and Internet tools has the top 8 Quick Ways to Make a Video Go Viral This Weekend. YouTube is waiting for you to film the next viral video. Make sure it goes viral.
1. What is Video Optimization?
Online video is more popular than ever, reaching a huge percentage of the US Internet audience…and YouTube, the world’s largest video site, is at the heart of it all. Tapping into that large YouTube audience to get more views, however, means making sure that your videos are optimized for people to find them.
Check out this Grovo video to get a quick overview before moving forward.
2. Grab Viewers’ Interest
In addition to title and description, a good thumbnail image, which is the small preview image that people see in YouTube search results before watching your video, is a great way to stand out from other similar videos and grab viewers’ interest. YouTube automatically provides three thumbnail options for you to choose from. Or, you can choose “Custom thumbnail” to upload one from your computer. You can change your thumbnail at any time, so try one image out for a while, then change it and observe any difference in views, but it may take up to 36 hours for changes in thumbnail image to take effect on YouTube.
3. Help Search Engines Find your Videos
Adding tags and video categories can improve the performance of your videos by helping search engines find them when users search for your tags and similar terms. You can add tags when you upload your video, or at any time after by selecting “Video Manager” in the dropdown below your username. Check off a tag you’ve already used to include it, or type in the box above to find a specific tag or create a new one. You can also choose a video category that matches your title, description and tags to help improve your video’s search ranking even more.
4. How do I Get More YouTube Views?
A video’s popularity is a function of many factors, only one of which is the quality of your video content. Most importantly, however, before people can even judge the quality of your content, they have to be able to find it. Grovo’s video below will show you how to help people find your videos via YouTube search, with three of the most important elements are, and the top 5 factors that will influence how well your video will appear in search results.
Click here to watch the video….We’ll wait for you to finish the video…
Okay, good. You actually watched it right? None of these factors is necessarily more important than the others; they all play a part in determining whether you video will show up in search results.
5. What’s the Best Broadcasting and Sharing Option?
No matter how great your video content, title and description are, if you don’t have the right broadcasting and sharing settings, no one will be able to find or view your video. Click “Video Manager” in the dropdown under your username and click “Edit” next to the video you want to update. First, make sure your Privacy Settings are set to “Public” so that anyone can see your video. Then, select “Advanced Settings.”
Having a lot of comments on your video can boost its rank in search results, so make sure that you allow them. Allowing people to leave video responses can drive more interest in your video, especially if the response is already popular, or comes from a popular channel. Having your video embedded on other sites will also improve your placement on search results, so make sure to allow embedding.
6. Why are Video Responses So Useful?
Leaving a video response for another user allows you to post one of your existing videos, or record a new one, in the comments section of another video. Video responses can help increase the engagement for your existing videos, as well as increase your connections in the YouTube community.
To post a video response, navigate to the video you want to respond to, click into the “Comments” box, then select “Create a video response.” To choose one of your existing videos, select the video from the list, then press “Use the selected video,” or, upload a new video as your response by clicking “Upload a video,” then “Start.” On the next page, choose on the right between a simple recording, creating a photo slideshow, or a broadcasted Google+ hangout, and go through the normal process of uploading a video.
7. Write a Great Video Title
Two of the most important pieces of text for any given video are the title and the description; these are how people find your videos, and how people decide to watch, or not watch, your videos. Try to make your titles and descriptions unique to set them apart from other similar videos.
To get ideas for good words to use in your title and description, go to https://ads.youtube.com/keyword_tool. Enter a word to describe the content of your video, and you’ll see a list of related keywords, and the monthly search volume for those keywords. Although it may be tempting to use unrelated words for their high search rates, doing so will hurt you in the long run: viewers won’t be happy, and using misleading titles is grounds for YouTube to remove your content. You can change titles and descriptions at any time, so feel free to try several variations and combinations to see which one works best. Remember to save some room at the end of your description include a link to your website or blog.
8. Get Paid for your Videos
Monetizing your videos on YouTube means that advertisements can be shown in or around your videos, which you’ll make money from. Monetization is not available in all countries, and you must have uploaded some original content to YouTube to be eligible to monetize your videos. To enable monetization on YouTube videos, go to “YouTube Settings,” then click “Monetization,” and select “Enable My Account.”
You can choose which types of ads you want to show in your video using the check boxes, and which of your videos you want to monetize on the “Video Manager” page by clicking the dollar sign next to an eligible video. Below, the syndication options allow you to choose where people can view your video, including non-monetized platforms, such as iPhone and iPad apps, which will not show ads on your videos. Oh yeah, you must have an AdSense account in order to get paid from YouTube.
2 Responses to 8 Quick Ways to Make A Viral Video
Point six no longer applies, youtube canceled the ability for video responses on September 12th because the click through rate was dismal.
Chris:
Thanks for the update.
Larry