Achieving your YouTube goals takes time and a variety of tactics. Boosting your view count is one of the most important for any channel, but there are other ways to improve engagement, reach, and brand affinity with potential customers.
YouTube videos are essentially self-contained commercials for your channel, brand, or product, so the quality of the content is paramount to success. It’s not enough to simply make a video, though — it’s essential that your audience want to watch it all the way through and be inspired to engage with your content.
Your view rate is the number of times a YouTube user watches your entire video, but it’s also determined by how long they stay engaged after hitting play. If your audience isn’t retaining your videos, their watch time drops, and this can affect your search rankings negatively.
Grab your viewers’ attention by giving them a reason to keep watching — whether it’s entertaining or educational. Use a catchy intro that’s distinct from your competitors, and then keep it moving with interesting scenes, angles, and cuts.
Don’t use click bait titles, such as “5 Ways to Get More Views on YouTube” or “How to Make the Best YouTube Videos.” These types of titles may be more attractive to eyeballs but could hurt your video’s search ranking.
Include a description that includes relevant keywords and tags so YouTube can understand your video’s topic, as well as the type of audience you are trying to attract. Use your video’s content to inspire ideas for hashtags, too — for example, if you interviewed a guest on the channel that is popular with your audience, try using their name as a hashtag. Elevate your YouTube game