8 Ways to Improve Your YouTube Channel

In November of last year, I wrote a post titled Quick and Easy Ways to Make Your Videos Look More Professional. They were simple tips to make the videos you post on YouTube or your website look like they were shot by someone other than your roommate with something other than your smartphone.

It’s worth a read if you haven’t taken a look yet.

In this post, I want to look at the next steps you can take to take those videos to another level.

1. Create a Backdrop

Set up a place in your home office, room or even garage to use as a “set”. Use the “set” as the backdrop to all of your YouTube videos. Decorate it to reflect the theme and personality of your YouTube videos.

If you’re an accountant or lawyer, you might want the backdrop to look more professional. If you’re a chef, you probably want a kitchen scene. Your videos are an extension of you, so make them look that way.

2. Make it Your Page

Your YouTube Channel belongs to your company and you need to make it look like it. If you look at all the major brands, they have banners to represent their brands and logos on their site. Everything is set up to represent their company. Do the same for your channel.

3. Adjust Your Thumbnails

YouTube will randomly choose the thumbnail for each video that appears on your YouTube Channel. Sometimes the image is just fine, but usually, it does nothing to tell the real story of the video. Choose a thumbnail that better suits each video.

4. Keep Your Title Short

It’s like Twitter only worse. Keep every video title under 100 characters (including spaces) and make it interesting. That’s because only the first 100 characters of a title show up in things like Google searches. It’s going to do you no good to have an awesome title if people can only read half of it.

5. Use Detailed Video Descriptions

While the title needs to be short, the video description doesn’t need to be. Not only does it help the viewer understand what the video is about, but it also helps Google’s algorithm understand what the video is about and that helps your video appear in more searches and in the right searches.

6. Create a Playlist

A lot like the lists that you used to create on your iPod (i.e. workout mix or chill mix) the YouTube playlist has a theme. If you’re a chef, then themes might include Holiday Meals and Decadent Desserts.

7. Read the Comments

You can only get input from your mom and dad so much. After that, you need to hear from outside sources. In most cases, if someone feels strongly enough about your video to comment, then odds are they’re saying something you want to listen to.

8. Don’t Forget the Links

Utilize some of the tools within YouTube to create links to previous videos, your website, and your blog. Directing people to your other channels or videos is a good way to get people to see your other stuff and possibly get them to become a subscriber.

Written by Erika Towne