Why you should use Youtube and Three Ways to Start

When it comes to search engine optimization, most companies only focus on ranking high in Google. This makes perfect sense, considering that Google is by far the most used search engine on the internet. However, while many agencies then recommend to go after Yahoo and Bing, it’s often overlooked that YouTube is the #2 highest used search engine on the web. As of May 2010, YouTube exceeded over 2 BILLION searches a day. This is only one of many indicators that video optimization is and will continue to play a very large part in online marketing.

Posting on YouTube is relatively easy and absolutely free to a regular user. The biggest barrier most companies have with using YouTube and other Video sharing sites is their lack of content (aka Video). While it may cost a lot to create a professional video for blogging or commercial purposes, there are several different alternatives available to small-medium companies. While I won’t get into all the details and options, video making sites such as www.animoto.com are a great start to look into.

If you do decide to create a video and begin promoting your business, here are three great tips to get you started:

1. Make video Relevant and View-able

Make sure you share a video that is relevant to your business/organization and will interest people enough for them to want to learn more. You can usually achieve this by having a funny video, adding ‘viral’ elements to the video, or using interesting imagery to increase interest. In addition to having a good video on YouTube, make sure to promote it on your site, and any partner websites you can think of. A popular video may not only increase your exposure, but also help your SEO rankings down the road.

2. Properly tag your video

YouTube allows video uploaders to add a variety of information to each video uploaded. It’s beneficial for you to add as much relevant content as you can (beside the video itself) so that search engine crawlers (Google visits YouTube too!) know exactly what your video is about and credit it back to your site.

Some of the tags you should pay attention to are: The Video Title, The Video Tags (aka Keywords), Description, Video Location (if your business has a physical office), Date of Video, and any citations/captions you have for the video.

3. Monitor and Interact with Commentary 

YouTube is a very interactive community. Part of what makes YouTube so powerful is the fact that people watch, share, and talk about videos of all sorts. Companies trying to promote on YouTube should attempt to interact with this community as much as possible, so that they can try to learn from prospective customers, share more information, and show the community that they’re active. So If someone comments on your video, whether its negative or positive, make sure to respond to the user so that if someone else has the same question/concern, you’ve already addressed it. It’s also important to monitor your comments and make sure there isn’t a lot of spammers attempting to gain links to their own sites.

YouTube can be a very powerful SEO and Conversion tool. Make sure your business is utilizing to its full power today!