16 Tips for Creating an Unstoppable YouTube Channel

By Stewart Gandolf, Chief Executive Officer

[First of two parts.] Imagine that you just won a shiny new car. The ride of your dreams now sets in your driveway; all gassed-up and ready to roll. It’s free—tax, license and fees all paid—and all set to head off to anywhere and everywhere.

The video sharing platform, YouTube, is like free transportation (at least for this communications analogy.) There’s little or no cost to own and operate the platform, it has a nearly unlimited range, and it’s a powerful marketing tool for attracting and engaging new friends, fans and prospective customers.

But simply having this stellar mode of transport is no assurance that it will take you where you want to go…or even that you know how to drive. There are the keys to doing it right. To heat up your digital (and visual) marketing, here’s a roundup of important and useful tips for creating an unstoppable YouTube Channel.

The first eight of 16 tips…

YouTube is big and (mostly) free. Owned by Google—and with over a billion unique visitors each month—having a YouTube channel is a resource that belongs in nearly every business development plan. Although there is no out-of-pocket cost to get going, an investment of time and thought is required to maintain and operate this platform.

Create Your Own Branded Channel. YouTube makes it easy to launch a dedicated page (or channel), to showcase your facility, practice or business. [Begin with this YouTube Help Desk page.] It affords you a custom layout, colors and branding, as well as options for users to become “subscribers,” and thus repeat visitors, for your content.

Organize the structure. Consider at the outset how your library should be organized. A simple chronological progression might work, but grouping by topic or theme may be better as the library grows.

Consistently add content on a regular basis. There is no exact formula, but uploading new material—from once a week to several times each month—should be done consistently.

Keywords are key. Search engines discover and index visual content based mainly on the written description. To be found, use key words (and variations of key words) in the title, description and tags of each video.

Don’t neglect the written description and subtitles. The text is often neglected or forgotten. Always include the “show notes,” (with key words), and include your website address and link.

Find and use the Subtitles feature. YouTube provides an “auto-caption” feature to benefit hearing-impaired visitors. Plus it enhances visibility.

Be a clock-watcher. People love interesting and engaging videos. But they also like them to be short, sweet and to the point. Depending on the subject matter, running time should be less than 10 minutes. But better, three to five minutes is a comfortable slice for a single, focused message. If the content is truly interesting, consider multiple segments.

We’ll continue our list of tips and techniques for building an unstoppable YouTube Channel in the second of two parts in this series. Coming next week.

Stewart Gandolf, MBA