VSEO has many benefits for business owners. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and the third biggest site on the Internet (Google and Facebook are #1 and #2 respectively).

While most product and service companies have been focusing their search engine optimization strategies on Google and their social media strategies on Facebook and Twitter, many have overlooked the tremendous video marketing opportunities available on YouTube.

YouTube’s engagement numbers are staggering. In June 2011, 149 million people in the United States watched YouTube video for an average of 5.4 hours. By contrast, only 111 million people watched the SuperBowl this year.

The price for a SuperBowl ad this year was $3 million for 30 seconds. YouTube’s cost? Free.

Convinced your business should be actively producing and promoting content via VSEO? We thought so.

YouTube ranking factors for 2011

The first step in video optimization is understanding YouTube’s ranking algorithm.

Unlike Google, where webmasters are encouraged to improve their website’s rank by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages, YouTube does not consider the number and quality of inbound links.

YouTube ranking factors include relevancy of text-based content included in the headline, tags and description fields, the number of video views, the number of positive ratings a video receives and the recency of upload.

VSEO best practices include:

• Optimizing text-based fields such as headline, tags and description by including keyphrases people would use to find your video
• Increasing the number of views your video receives via off-site promotional tactics
• Increasing the number of positive (thumbs-up) votes your video receives by producing topical, useful or entertaining content
• Committing to an editorial calendar that produces new content at a minimum interval of every 7 to 10 days. Videos on YouTube have a freshness factor of about one week. After one week, other ranking factors take over.

YouTube SEO tips: decide what videos to produce by researching what people want to see.

Some of the more popular, broad reaching video topics are news-oriented, how-to pieces and/or entertainment based.

1.5% of video searches on YouTube include the phrase “how to.” That may not seem like much but, according to the YouTube Keyword Tool, it’s nearly five times that of “Justin Bieber.”

Consider producing content that explains, demonstrates or refines the process of how your product or service solves a problem for your customers. Begin by making a list of the challenges your users, customers or visitors face and brainstorm video content that could be created that helps solve those problems.

To get additional keyword ideas, try copying and pasting the YouTube video ID or URL of a competitor’s video into the keyword field of the YouTube Keyword Tool.

YouTube SEO tips: optimize all available text fields.

There are only three text fields to optimize: headline, tags and description.

Consider the use of each carefully. Each must include keyphrases that users might use to search for and find your videos. Conduct keyphrase research just as you would as if you were creating an optimized content page, blog post or article. Use the YouTube Keyword Tool for additional intelligence.

YouTube text field optimization tips:

• The headline field is 100 characters long. Include your branded terms last.
• The description field is 5,000 characters long. That’s roughly 800 words! Include well-written, optimized copy just as if you were writing for a web page, blog or article.
• The tag field is 120 characters long. That’s roughly 20 words. As with SEO best practices for content creation, resist the urge to keyword stuff. Just include relevant tags to users.
• Begin each link with http:// – Otherwise, your links will not be clickable.

You may further optimize your YouTube channel by completing all available fields, uploading a custom theme and including links to your website, Facebook and Twitter accounts. Remember, you must include http:// in your links.

Push your video optimization efforts even further by adding call-to-action (CTA) overlays at the beginning, middle and end of your videos. Possible CTAs could be a vanity URL like shop[domain]now.com or a coded 800 number specific to your YouTube channel.

YouTube SEO tips: promote your videos via embedded posts and influencer outreach.

Just as traditional SEO techniques would have us build links to or create buzz around a new web page, blog post or article, the same must be done in video optimization.

According to YouTube research conducted at TubeMogul, 44.2% of videos are found via an embedded post. Consider embedding your videos into your blog posts and content pages –or even your home page.

Remember, the number of views a video gets is a ranking factor. Embedded views count just the same as views on YouTube, so embedding content in highly visible areas of your blog, product pages or landing pages can be an extremely effective way to increase the views of newly uploaded content.

Identify opinion leaders by looking for YouTube users that comment thoughtfully and frequently. Review your competitor’s subscriber list and subscribe to their most active viewers’ channels. Commenting on the content they upload is a great way to encourage them to comment (and subscribe) to yours.

And as with all new web content, promote your video optimization efforts via blog posts, Facebook updates and Twitter tweets.

YouTube SEO tips: conduct performance monitoring with YouTube Insight.

Once your content has been created, optimized and promoted, obsess over YouTube Insight analytics and determine where users discover your videos, who shared them and how often. There is much data here that can prove very beneficial for determining who your video consumers are and who new influencers may be.

VSEO will likely become an increasingly larger part of social media campaigns as website owners look to engage the wide audience of YouTube. We encourage you to test your video optimization efforts early and to test them often. Please share your VSEO questions, ideas or results with us in the comments below.

If you don’t know a lot about video and editing, don’t worry. Making simple edits to your videos is a breeze.

Before we get started talking about editing, here is more helpful how-to information:

• purchase the best video camera for your needs
• set up a YouTube account and upload videos
• customize your YouTube account
• personalize your YouTube account to increase web site traffic

Ready to start editing? Here are easy video editing techniques for all of your web videos.

There are several inexpensive or free video editing software options with easy video editing tools that you can use to produce professional looking web content. Examples include:

• iMovie – iMovie is an editing software tool that comes standard on any new Apple computer. It provides more impressive looking transitions and graphics than most free video editing software, which results in a stronger video quality.
• Windows Movie Maker – Windows Movie Maker is one of the video editing programs that come standard on any new Windows PC with Vista or Windows 7.
• YouTube – This June, YouTube launched free video editing software you can access entirely online. The tool allows you to trim video clips, place them in the order that you want, add titles and music and instantly upload them to your YouTube account.

All three of these video editing programs are simple to learn, allowing you to organize and create a video in an easy to navigate timeline. The steps for easy video editing are similar regardless of the editing tool you choose:

1. Establish in your head a rough outline of the story you want your video to tell.

2. Select the video clips you want to use for your video.

3. Drag and drop your video clips into the timeline in the order you want them in your final video. Do not worry about opening or closing credits, transitions or music at this point.

4. Preview what you have so far. As you watch, make note of things you may want to change. With some clips, you may want to start them later or end them sooner; or, you may want to move some clips around or even divide up a clip and move the footage throughout the timeline. Then, use the software’s editing tools to make those changes. Repeat the process until you are happy with your video.

5. Now you can add titles, music and transitions. All three of these can be easily dragged and dropped where you want them in the timeline and adjusted just like the video clips. To add music, simply drag the music file you would like to use into the audio timeline (usually located directly below your video timeline), then trim it and move it so it plays underneath the video that you want.

6. Once you are happy with the video, publish it as a video file onto your computer. It may take several minutes to publish. Your computer is not slow; that is normal. The file is now ready to upload to YouTube.

Like all things, learning how to create video with these video editing programs will take a little bit of time and trial and error, but not much. By using these simple techniques and a little bit of creativity, you will be a video pro in no time.

We’ve already shared how to upload videos to YouTube and how to customize your YouTube Channel by personalizing your profile, settings, themes, colors and modules. So, the final step in customizing your YouTube account is to make it easier for users to find the video they want by organizing your videos into playlists and promoting them with bulletins; this will help to increase web site traffic:

Playlists for your YouTube account

You can easily organize the videos you upload and favorites into playlists. This is a good option if you have an ongoing series of videos around one subject or a series of videos to promote a specific event. Playlists are displayed along the right sidebar of your Channel page. To display playlists, make sure to check the “Playlists” box under the “Videos and Playlists” section of the settings bar located at the top of your Channel page. To create a playlist:

1. Select the drop menu next to your user name in the top right corner of the page. Select “My Videos.”

2. You should be redirected to a page displaying all of your uploaded videos. Select “Playlists” on the navigation list located on the left side of the page to create a playlist.

3. Complete the fields required. Be sure to include an optimized playlist title and description, and to tag the playlist with relevant keywords. Be sure to save your changes.

4. Now you must decide what videos you want to place in this playlist. To do this, select “Uploaded Videos” from the navigation list on the left side. You should now see a list of all your uploaded videos. Scroll through your videos and select the check box next to the videos you want to add to your new playlist.

5. Find the “Add to” drop box button located at the top of the list of videos and select “Playlist.” Decide which playlist you want the videos to be added to then hit “Add.”

6. Your playlist should now be created. If you go back to your Channel page, you should see the playlist displayed along the right hand sidebar.

Bulletins for your YouTube account

Bulletins are a new feature to the YouTube channel. Bulletins let you send updates to subscribers of your channel that can be posted on their home page. Posting a bulletin is a good way to let your friends and subscribers know when you have posted a new video, which will help to drive traffic to your Channel page. To send a bulletin:

1. Go back to the “Edit Channel” section of your Channel page located at the top. Select “Post Bulletin.”

2. Enter the personal message you want to send to your subscribers and include the link you want to share. You can preview your video in the box on the right. When you are finished, select “Post Bulletin.”

Adjusting these simple settings is a great way to use your YouTube account to increase web site traffic for your company and communicate with your audience. The more you organize and customize your Channel page on YouTube, the more users can become interested in you and your company.

Now that you have purchased the best video camera for your web videos and know how to upload videos to YouTube, the next step is to organize your YouTube Channel page. A Channel page is a web page on YouTube’s site that is dedicated to your account, and the videos you upload and choose as favorites. The Channel page can be accessed at http://www.youtube.com/user/yourusernamehere.

Since the Channel page is on YouTube’s site, you do not have as much control over its design as you do your own website, but there are a few ways you can adjust settings to customize your page to better address your target audience. The more customized your YouTube Channel page is, the more visitors to the site will learn about your company, which can increase web site traffic. All of the Channel settings are located at the top of your Channel page. There you will come across a few options:

Profile for your YouTube account

This is your basic information, located in a sidebar on the left hand side of your Channel page. Locate the section and select “edit.” Then you can add information about yourself and your company, and a link to your website.

Settings for your YouTube account

Here you can add a title to your Channel page, tag your page with relevant keywords to your company and videos, and decide who can access your page.

Themes and Colors for your YouTube account

Here you can adjust the background color palette of your page. YouTube offers a few palette templates you may choose from, or you can select “show advanced options” to add specific color codes. You can also upload a photo, graphic or logo to display. Be sure to select the check box beside “Repeat Background” if you want your image to be tiled throughout the background.

Modules for your YouTube account

This section allows you to customize what you do and do not want to display on your Channel page. Options here include comments from other users, lists of your friends, subscribers, your subscriptions, your recent activity and others. Simply check the boxes next to the modules you want to use.

In addition to these settings, you have the ability to create specific video playlists and post messages and bulletins to your viewers. You’ll find more on these topics and other tips on how to customize your YouTube channel later.

Please contact The Search Guru if you have any questions or would like help with using web video to increase web site traffic.

You’ve been making great videos and now you want to share them with the world! Here are clear, step by step instructions to help you to do just that:

First, you’ll need to sign up for a YouTube account. Click on “Create Account” in the top right-hand corner; note that you must be signed out of a Google account (if you have one) before you can create your YouTube account.

To create your account, you will need to:

1. Create a username.

2. Enter your country.

3. Enter your zip code.

4. Enter your date of birth.

5. Enter your gender.

6. Check “Let others find my channel on YouTube if they have my email address.”

7. Decide whether or not you want to check “I would like to receive occasional product-related email communications that YouTube believes would be of interest to me.”

8. Review Google’s Terms of Service and YouTube’s Terms of Use.

9. Click “I Accept.”

10. You will be taken to a new screen where you can sign in to YouTube in one of two ways: by filling in your Google username and password on the form to the left or by creating a YouTube account on the form on the right; to do the latter, you need to enter your email address; create a password; reenter the password; enter the word verification code; and then click “Create New Account and Finish.”

Next you’ll need to know how to upload videos to YouTube. Follow these steps:

1. Go to http://www.YouTube.com.

2. In the upper right hand corner, click on the Sign In link and then enter the username and password that corresponds to the account you wish to upload a video to.

3. Once you are logged in, click on the Upload link in the upper right center.

4. Fill in the information for the video:

• Title – The title should follow this format:
  “Call to action keyword brand.” Some examples of action words are learn, discover, and find out. Keep in mind that the title has a limit of 100 characters. If the complete title will not fit, remove the action words first and see if it fits. If it does not, remove the brand next. Be sure to keep the keyphrases in the title.
• Description – Write a short description of the video. Include words and phrases people would use to search for information about this program. The character limit on the description is unlimited, but only approximately 10 words are initially displayed. To see the full description visitors need to click on the “More” link. Place important keywords and calls to action near the beginning. End with a link to your site for more information.
• Video Category – Choose the most relevant category for your site.
• Tags – Use the keyphrases that you included in the description, as well as other words people might look for.

5. Under Privacy options, make sure it is set to “Share your video with the world.”

6. Connect the video to your social media accounts under the AutoShare areas.

7. Click on “Upload a video…”

8. Click on “Browse” and navigate to where the video is stored on your computer. Keep in mind that the video must:

• Be shorter than 10 minutes
• Be smaller than 1024 MB
• Be a .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, or .MPG

9. Uploading may take several minutes, depending on your internet connection and the size of the video. Once the video is uploaded, wait 5-10 minutes (for YouTube to process it) and then watch the video on YouTube to make sure the video uploaded correctly.

10. Note that other options are available should you wish to use them, such as adding notes and links to your site from within the video player.

Now that you know how to upload videos to YouTube, you need to know how to embed videos on your site. Follow these steps:

1. Copy the code from the “Embed” box – you can find it by clicking the “Embed” button located under the video on the video’s page. Once you’ve copied the code, just paste it into your website to embed it. Note that additional customization options are offered – for example, if the video viewing window needs resized before embedding.

2. If you don’t want to allow people to embed videos that you created on other websites, you can disable that feature by following these steps:

• Within your account, click the “My Uploaded Videos” link (http://www.youtube.com/my_videos).
• Click the “Edit Video Info” button to the right of the video.
• Under “Sharing Options,” click the button next to “No, external sites may NOT embed and play this video.”

3. After you successfully embed videos . . . then it’s time to promote them! More about that later.

There are many types of digital camcorders on the market today that are designed to make it easy for you to create a video and upload the content online. (The more content that you have available via online video, the more potential targeted traffic you can attract to your site!) Prices for these video cameras can range from $50 for a simple pocket camera all the way up to $4,000 for a professional video camera.

What is the best video camera for your website? There are several things that you need to consider when purchasing a digital camcorder: function, video quality, audio quality and camera memory.

Digital camcorder function: The type of web content you want to produce can help you select the best video camera to purchase.

The first question you must ask yourself when purchasing a digital camcorder is “What type of videos do I plan to produce?” If you want to create a video that is quick and short with little preparation before filming, and little to no editing or graphics, you may want to consider a basic point-and-shoot video camera (such as the HD Flip line of video cameras, which you can purchase for $120-$200).

If you want to create a video with higher production values, which requires more preparation before filming, and provides you with more settings and options, you may want to consider a high end HD digital camcorder from Canon or Panasonic ($400-$1400).

Video quality and audio quality: Spending more on a digital camcorder does not necessarily get you better quality when you create a video.

YouTube and other online video players are now capable of streaming full HD video with quality similar to that of most HDTVs. This progression makes poor quality web videos look even worse. Fortunately, video cameras with the ability to shoot in full HD are now available for just a few dollars more than cameras that do not shoot in HD. Be careful, though; more expensive video cameras do not necessarily equal better video quality. A Flip HD camera produces HD video as good as or better than more expensive cameras.

The same can be said for digital camcorder audio quality. All video cameras come with an internal microphone to record audio. However, most video cameras under $1,000 are not equipped with strong, long range microphones. The built-in microphone is fine for recording audio from a few feet away, but if you plan on recording presentations in a large room or a noisy conference with a lot of background noise, you should consider purchasing a camera that has the option of adding an external microphone. Several different types of microphones can be purchased for under $100.

Video camera memory: How much built-in memory is necessary?

All digital camcorders come with at least a handful of internal camera memory. Be sure to check how much internal memory the camera you want to purchase has. You probably want at least enough camera memory to record 1-2 hours of HD video (approximately 10 GB). Cameras with little internal memory usually have a slot for an external memory card, which video footage can be saved on and then uploaded onto a computer.

There are a lot of options out there for digital camcorders. Finding the best video camera for your needs can be a daunting task. Consider what type of online content you would like to create, what you are comfortable using, what type of additional audio recording you may need and how much memory you will need to store your video.

Please contact us if you have any questions about the best digital camcorder for your needs or about using video to enhance your online content and drive traffic!