7 Musts for a Successful YouTube Channel

YouTube is the second largest search engine on the net, proper behind Google. And by now, you most likely know that Google owns YouTube.

So, as social media managers and search engine marketing professionals, YouTube is a platform we can’t afford to disregard.

An optimized channel is the inspiration of profitable content material.

Some of those optimizations are no-brainers. Others are inclined to get ignored.

What follows are seven musts for a profitable YouTube Channel.

1. Channel Banner

Once folks get to your YouTube Channel, the very first thing they see is your channel banner.

A channel banner is a piece of creative that runs throughout the highest of your channel.

The desired specs for a YouTube channel banner is 2,560 x 1,440 pixels, however have in mind the “protected space” is 1,546 x 423 pixels – so all content material must be stored inside that center part.

Create Your Ideal YouTube Channel Banner

Ideally, your channel banner will inform folks what sort of movies they’ll count on and once they can count on them.

Or, if YouTube will not be your major social platform, it’s possible you’ll wish to put your different social media handles in your channel banner as a substitute.

However, you don’t need a lot info on the channel banner that folks don’t learn all of it, so maintain it easy!

Here’s an example from Roger Wakefield’s plumbing channel.

2. Introduction Video

Creating an introduction video, and even simply setting one, could seem odd, however it’s a nice technique to go away a good first impression.

Upon coming into a channel, a set introduction video will begin auto-playing below the channel banner, and it’s the largest video on the display screen.

Better but, the primary portion of the outline of the video you set can even be proven in your channel residence web page.

This is a excellent place to inform folks a little extra about your self and your channel.

This introduction video from Cass Thompson’s YouTube channel does simply that.

3. Optimized Playlists

Now, the opposite issues proven on your property web page are playlists.

Playlists are outlined teams of video which are chosen, and named, by the channel proprietor. They are a nice technique to group your content material and reply all the questions round a particular matter or key phrase.

Think of playlists and their titles/descriptions as pillar content material.

You wish to title your playlist the broad key phrase you’d prefer to rank for, then add a description that features long-tail or secondary key phrases.

All of the movies you add to this playlist must be associated to the bigger matter you need your videos to rank for.

Optimized YouTube Playlist Example

Nextiva has performed a nice job creating movies for the key phrase Connected Communications.

To date, this playlist options 20 movies, all of which reply a particular query round linked communications.

Some of the movies have hundreds of views, whereas others have simply a hundred or so.

But, when wanting on the SERP, you’ll see that these movies have actually paid off.

4. Defined Channel Keywords

YouTube is like Google. It depends on user-generated signals to find out who to point out movies to and when to point out them movies.

One of the methods you may assist YouTube perceive your content material and who it must be served to is by defining your channel key phrases.

This is a step that will get skipped slightly actually because it’s not the best setting to search out.

How to Set YouTube Channel Keywords

• Go to YouTube Studio.
• Select Settings.
• From the menu, toggle to Channel.
• Set your key phrases.

You don’t want so as to add a million key phrases right here however as a substitute, concentrate on 5 to 10 vital key phrases that describe your channel.

Backlinko did a examine that discovered you don’t wish to use (*7*) on this part.

5. Custom URL

The magic quantity is 100.

At 100 subscribers you’ll be able to get the coveted customized URL.

The customized URL is helpful for one main motive – it makes it a lot simpler to hyperlink to your YouTube channel.

Instead of giving folks a random string of letters and numbers, folks will simply should sort in youtube.com/(yourchannel).

Setting your customized URL solely turns into obtainable when you hit 100 subscribers, have a 30-day outdated channel, and have set a profile and channel banner picture.

Once you’ve performed all of these items, you’ll be able to set your URL by going to YouTube Studio, deciding on Customization > Basic information, and filling out the URL you’d like to make use of.

6. Channel Description

Your channel description is among the different alerts YouTube depends on to find out what your content material is about and who it must be served to.

However, it’s additionally used to inform your viewers what they’ll count on out of your channel each in content material and outcomes.

This area must be used to listing the subjects you can be protecting, utilizing key phrases that your viewers might use to go looking for your content material.

When writing your channel description, it’s most vital to take into accounts the primary 100-150 characters of your description.

These characters are sometimes what you’ll have to depend on to catch the viewers’s consideration within the search outcomes.

7. ‘Connect with Me’ Template

The very last thing to think about is creating a “join with me” template to incorporate in all your video descriptions.

Now, this template isn’t all the time used to truly encourage folks to truly join with you, as a substitute, it must be used to get folks to work together with you.

These interactions might embody issues like:

• What video to observe subsequent.
• What content material to learn in your web site.
• Links to the instruments you utilize.
• Online programs it’s possible you’ll provide.
• Links to your social channels.
• A hyperlink for folks to subscribe to your channel.
• A short description of who you might be and what you provide.

You can create a template for this portion of your video description that you need to use on each video created.

Above is an instance of Shopify’s model of a “join with me” template. You will see a model of this on nearly all of their movies.

Start Building a Successful YouTube Channel

Your YouTube channel might not make you hundreds of thousands from views, but it surely very properly might be the social platform that drives natural results in what you are promoting.

The listed optimizations shouldn’t take you greater than a day to finish – so what are you ready for?

More Resources:

---

Image Credits

All screenshots taken by writer, November 2020