25 Tips on How to Get More Views on YouTube For Free in 2018

Maybe you post daily to your Kajabi blog. Perhaps you have an active email list. You might already be active on social media and host live webinars once a month.

“if you’re neglecting video as a way to market your Knowledge Commerce business, you’re missing out on a fantastic opportunity. #Kajabi” -- Tweet this!

However, if you’re neglecting video as a way to market your Knowledge Commerce business, you’re missing out on a fantastic opportunity.

Many people think that they need to pay for traffic if they want to get popular on YouTube. That’s not the case. Learning how to get more views on YouTube can include an organic-only strategy that costs you nothing but time.

In fact, we’ve come up with 25 tips to help you grow your YouTube channel and get more views.

Increase Views From YouTube’s Organic Search Results

When you have a YouTube channel, you want your videos to appear in several places:

• Google’s search results
• YouTube’s search results
• Video suggestions

You can do this organically if you know how to get more views on YouTube through organic optimization. Organic is just another way of saying that you use non-paid efforts to generate traffic.

First, think about how people use YouTube.

They search for a keyword on Google or through YouTube’s internal search engine, for example. If your video appears early in those search results, you’re more likely to get views.

Additionally, YouTube suggests videos to viewers who have watched another video. You often see those suggestions in the right-hand sidebar. Appearing in those can help you get more views, too.

But how do you increase traffic to your videos organically?

1. Write Optimized Video Titles With Target Keywords

You probably already use keywords to inform your blog and landing page content. Did you know that keywords can also help your videos get found?

Start with the title of your video. Make it as descriptive as possible of the content, but make sure you include at least one target keyword, too.

For instance, let’s say that you’re creating a video on how to potty-train a dog. Your headline or title might look like one of these:

• Learn How to Potty-Train a Dog in 5 Simple Steps
• What Is the Best Way to Potty-Train a Dog Quickly?
• My Number One Secret for Potty-Training a Dog

Each of these titles is descriptive of the content, but they also include a long-tail keyword: “potty-train a dog” or “potty-training a dog.”

2. Add Keywords and More Description to Your Captions 

When you post a video on YouTube, you can include a description that appears underneath the video. Use this space wisely.

As with the title, you’ll want to include your target keyword. Using the keyword just once or twice is sufficient — as with other types of content, you’ll get penalized if you try keyword stuffing.

LSI or related keywords can also help Google and YouTube rank your video organically. You could use several LSI keywords for the video described above, such as:

• Housebreaking a dog
• Teaching your dog to potty
• Crate-training your dog

Your goal with the video description is to give the video context. Google and other search engines can’t “read” a video, but they can interpret your description or caption.

3. Tag Your Videos

YouTube tags can help people find your videos quickly, but only if you use them wisely.

Think about how people search for online content. They often type a question or a keyword into Google, then click on the results that seem most appealing.

Consequently, it’s best to use a combination of generic and specific YouTube tags. You can target multiple types of searches that way.

Let’s go back to our dog training example. You could start with basic, generic tags that identify the basic subject matter of the video, such as “dog training” and “potty training a dog.”

Refine your tags and add a few that are more specific to your video. For instance, if you’re making a series of dog training videos, you could use the tag “dog training series” to let people know that other, similar videos exist.

Finally, use branded tags. Your name or your business’s name can help people find more of your content when they run into your brand elsewhere on the Internet.

4. Use Consistent Thumbnail Images

Thumbnails are the small images that appear next to your video descriptions in search results. If they’re consistent, your videos will become more recognizable to your audience.

Let’s look at an example related to our fictional dog training video. Zag George creates videos on training dogs at all levels, and if you take a peek at his YouTube page, you’ll notice consistent themes across all of his thumbnails:

This is a great way to help you become more identifiable to viewers. Plus, it helps solidify your brand.

5. Transcribe Your Videos for Search Engines and Users 

Writing great captions can help you rank higher in the search engines, but video transcripts give you even more SEO juice. They help Google and YouTube understand exactly what your video teaches.

Plus, some people can’t listen to your video or would prefer to read your content. Your video becomes doubly useful when you provide a handy transcript.

For short videos, this won’t take much time at all. You can either do the transcription yourself or hire a professional on a website like Fiverr.

Yes, YouTube automatically adds closed-captioning to your videos, but it isn’t always accurate. You’ll want to make sure your transcript accurately reflects the video’s content.

Increase Views With Your Video Content 

Transcribe your video word-for-word. If possible, make sure your video script includes target keywords and related keywords so search engines find it more compelling in terms of ranking.

You can also create your own closed-caption script for YouTube. If you have a strong accent or tend to speak quickly, this process can make your CC content more accurate.

6. Focus On Quality

A high-quality video will get far more views than one of low or poor quality. That’s just common sense.

But what makes a video poor? Avoid the following qualities:

• Inconsistent focus
• Motion shake
• Low lighting with harsh shadows
• Incorrect color balance
• Inaudible or incomprehensible dialogue
• Distracting backgrounds

You don’t need thousands of dollars worth of equipment to make great videos. In fact, you can create great videos using something as simple as your smartphone.

Focus instead on your environment. Consider standing or sitting against a blank wall. You can also use a larger aperture to blur your background and focus the viewer on you.

Invest in a microphone that will improve quality and use an LED panel light to soften shadows and improve coloring.

7. Focus on Education or Entertainment — Or Both 

The best YouTube videos help people solve specific problems. They’re useful and actionable.

However, you’ll also notice that the most-viewed videos and the creators with the highest subscriber counts don’t shy away from humor. They entertain while they educate.

You don’t need to be a professional comic to add humor or entertainment value to your videos. Incorporating a pop culture reference or a joke can make your videos more engaging and shareable.

8. Actively Request Subscriptions From Viewers

Most people don’t watch a video and think, “I should subscribe to this creator.” That’s just not the nature of the Internet.

If you want people to subscribe, ask them. Include a short segment at the end of each video that invites viewers to subscribe to your channel, then add a key benefit of subscribing.

You can also request subscriptions in the video description. Again, including a benefit can vastly increase subscription rates.

9. Pay Attention to News and Pop Culture

Trends come and go on YouTube just like they do on every other site. Additionally, news and pop culture change on a regular basis, so you’ll want to pay attention if you want to capitalize on them.

Let’s say that you’ve seen a particular meme making the rounds. Incorporate it into your video in a humorous way. Just make sure that you connect it to the video’s content.

You can also reference news and pop culture, from politics to television shows. Just make sure you don’t use controversial material unless that’s your goal.

10. Invite Guests to Appear on Your Channel 

Joining forces with someone else can make your YouTube video even more popular. Your guest can let his or her audience know about the appearance, which expands your viewership instantly.

Who should you invite as a guest? Look for someone who is an expert in your niche or who can provide valuable knowledge for your audience.

If you live in the same geographic area (or if one of you is willing to travel), you can film in the same location. Alternatively, you can use a dual screen to communicate across long distances. Then you’ll edit the video just like usual.

11. Generate More Views Directly From YouTube Itself 

YouTube has its own internal engine that helps it decide what types of content to suggest to its viewers. When your videos show up in people’s feeds and suggested videos, you get more views.

To target these placements, make sure your video is as relevant as possible for a large audience. Your title and description should help it align with videos created by other professionals in your space.

12. Imitate Someone You Admire 

If you follow someone on YouTube and you like his or her delivery, consider imitating it. You don’t want to become a carbon copy of someone else, but you can take visual cues from that person’s tone of voice, gestures, and posture.

Just make sure that you keep plenty of your own personality. You want people to follow your videos because they like the real you — not a fake you.

13. Use Cards

YouTube cards are overlays that appear on your videos. They can include a CTA, a link, a title, or an image that helps your audience understand your content or that assists you in making sales.

Let’s say, for example, that you’re creating a video series. Use a card to help your viewer find the next video in the series (or to go back to the first video and watch them all in sequence). If you mention a specific web page during the video, include a link to it in a card.

14. Create End Screens

End screens are another important part of getting more views on YouTube. They’re excellent for CTAs because they allow you to present your audience with multiple options while you build your brand.

Consider using end screens to invite your viewer to subscribe to your channel and to suggest two or three other videos they might like. Each end screen can have up to four elements and must appear in the final 20 seconds of your video.

You can also link to a landing page in an end screen.

15. Group Your Content Into Playlists

Playlists are just as useful for your YouTube videos as they are for the group of songs you listen to during your morning run. They group like content together so people can watch them in succession.

Just make sure you have a good reason for creating a playlist. You could group a bunch of videos that share common themes, for example, or do a best-of playlist that unites your best content for a given time period or on a given subject.

16. Host YouTube Giveaways And Contests 

Contests and giveaways are among the most popular types of content, and they work just as well on YouTube as they do on your blog or on Instagram. They encourage people to not only actively engage with your videos, but also to tell their friends and colleagues about the campaign.

There are two primary necessities for a great contest or giveaway:

1. Truly desirable prizes; and
2. Lots and lots of promotion

Feel free to cross-promote your contest on other social channels as well as on your website. People who share your contest or giveaway, such as on Twitter or Facebook, might get extra entries. This tactic can vastly expand your prospective audience.

The prize could be something as simple as one free year of access to your membership site or free access to your most popular online course. You can give away as many of these prizes as you want.

Contests add another layer of engagement to the process. Users have to actively participate, such as by submitting their own videos or other types of user-generated content. Contests help expand your brand awareness better than plain giveaways.

17. Get Serious About Video Responses 

When someone leaves a comment or question on one of your videos, don’t just ignore it. Actively respond to it. In fact, provide as detailed and thorough a response as possible.

When you engage with your community, you show that you care about their success and their absorption of whatever knowledge you’ve shared with them. They’ll remember that kindness and generosity, which might lead them to view more of your content in the future.

You can also use responses to content to share information about your digital products. You don’t want to be too pushy with heavy sales tactics, but you can guide viewers toward your products if the opportunity presents itself.

18. Get Active in Your Community 

YouTube, just like other social media platforms, can be a community-building machine. You’ll notice that people within the same industry or niche often comment on one another’s videos and even mention each other in their content.

Search for videos related to your own, watch the content, and leave value-driven feedback. Offer plenty of praise if you like the content, but don’t bash someone else — even if you don’t agree with that person’s tactic or perspective.

If you’re not engaging in that community, you’re missing a valuable opportunity to disseminate your content. And it doesn’t always have to be on YouTube.

Promote Your YouTube Videos Away From the Platform

Your YouTube community exists outside of YouTube, too. For instance, bloggers who write about your niche might have YouTube channels, but they also post on their blogs and on Facebook. If you connect with them via those external platforms, you can increase the chances of them viewing your videos.

The idea is to make yourself an indispensable resource to everyone in your niche or industry. If you’re commenting on their blogs, leaving praise on their videos, and connecting with them on social, they’ll remember you. They might even link to your videos to express their appreciation.

19. Focus on Building SEO 

Many marketers assume that search engine optimization matters only for text-driven content. At one time, that might have been true.

However, Google crawls YouTube just like it does your blog and landing pages. It can read the content on the page and rank your video based on the ranking factors it detects.

If you have lots of links to your video, for instance, your rankings can increase. The same is true for improved click-through rates. Make sure to use keywords sparingly but logically, and don’t forget about interlinking your videos on YouTube.

20. Post Links to Your Videos on Your Social Media Profiles

You can link to your videos from any platform or channel that permits hyperlinks. That offers plenty of opportunities to cross-promote your videos.

For instance, if you think that your video will appeal to your Facebook audience, share it on Facebook with a brief caption below. You can do the same with Twitter, Instagram, and other social platforms that accept video content.

Make sure to embed your videos on your own website, as well. You’re likely blogging about similar topics that your videos cover, so spread the love around. An embedded video can result in more views from people who wouldn’t have discovered it on YouTube itself.

21. Embed Your Videos on Q&A Sites

Websites like Quora and Yahoo! Answers can help you get more views. For one thing, they present your video to a brand new audience, and for another, they count toward your SEO rankings.

Remember that, each time you link to a video or embed it, you boost the video’s SEO on YouTube. That makes it more likely to rank for your desired keywords.

As with other types of links, you don’t want to use them too often. Only embed or link to a video when it provides real value to the discussion. Otherwise, people will downvote your content because they see it as spam rather than as a helpful answer.

Additionally, don’t try to answer a question with a video alone. Include the link or embedded video with lots of surrounding text that helps answer the question.

22. Get Involved With Influencers

When it comes to influencer marketing, shares matter more than just about anything else. An influencer has immense sway over his or her audience, and simply by linking to or embedding your video, they can vastly increase your sales and your YouTube views.

You don’t always have to pay influencers to help you promote your content. Simply send them a link and let them know that you think they’d enjoy your video. Even if only one in 30 influencers respond positively, you’ve gained access to a huge potential following.

23. Add Video Subscription Widgets to Your Blog

Subscribers aren’t just random viewers. They’ve taken the active step of subscribing to your channel so they can see more of your content in the future. That’s a powerful connection.

It’s also why you want to increase your follower count as fast and efficiently as possible. Start with a subscription widget on your website. You can put it in the header, the sidebar, or within the actual content. Fat footers can also be great places for subscription widgets.

These widgets make it easy for people to subscribe to your YouTube channel immediately. They don’t have to track down your actual channel to subscribe, so they’re more likely to take that step.

24. Incorporate Links to Contest Videos on Social Media

As we mentioned above, contests and giveaways are fantastic ways to build your followers and subscribers. You might get get a few sales out of the deal.

Link to the video that announces the contest or giveaway on other social platforms. That way, people have to watch your video to find out how to participate. That’s often better than simply announcing the contest on Facebook or Twitter because you get views as well as participation.

Bonus: Advertise on YouTube 

We have one more tip for you that could help you accelerate your growth even more. Advertising on YouTube might cost money, but it can also increase your conversions and sales.

You’ll need a Google AdWords account if you want to advertise your channel. You can then link your YouTube channel with your AdWords account.

Once you’re set up, decide on your budget so you don’t overspend and select the appropriate settings for your ads. For instance, you can choose to display your ads only for people who live in a certain geographic area. Other customizations include times of day to show your ad and whether you want your ad to run on all devices or just certain ones.

You’ll pay for ads only when people watch them all the way through. You can upload your video ad directly to AdWords’s interface and launch it from there.

Use Kajabi To Turn Your Knowledge And Content Into Products You Can Sell

We’re proud of the fact that you can host videos, webinars, and live events directly from the Kajabi platform. However, we also know that our customers like to be active on other platforms and channels so they can get more exposure.

YouTube is a great example.

Once you’ve started promoting your Knowledge Commerce products on YouTube, however, you’ll want to make sure you have a superior product to sell. If prospects click on your CTA from your latest YouTube video, they’ll want to make sure that your offer lives up to its promise.

You can use Kajabi’s built-in metrics to track your website traffic and conversion rates. The more data you collect, the easier it becomes to build your brand and drive more sales.

Conclusion

YouTube is one of the most active social media platforms. People watch hours upon hours of YouTube videos every day, which means that you can capture tons of traffic and attention.

First, though, you need to know how to get more views on YouTube. Without views, you don’t get the chance to sell your audience on your digital products.

You can use all or some of the 25 strategies we’ve outlined for boosting views of your YouTube videos. From optimizing titles, descriptions, tags, and thumbnails to improving video quality and adding cards and end screens, you have lots of options for attracting more eyeballs to your content.

Don’t forget that you can also advertise on YouTube. If you’re generating profits from your digital products, consider investing some money back into the business through advertising. It can pay huge dividends if you target the right people at the right time.

Have you started a YouTube channel? What are your best tips for gaining more views?

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