Youtube
We have investigated a couple ways to bring traffic to your site in our first two articles. Today we continue with an additional method used by Internet Marketers to pull traffic to their sites. A method that is often overlooked is YouTube. Let's explore the benefits and drawbacks of using YouTube to increase your site traffic.
Why YouTube?
YouTube can be fantastic for reaching a broad audience and enticing them to come to your site. It is a must for sites that offer a lot of videos as either products or just a communication means. That also brings us to the first drawback. If you don't have original videos produced and waiting, it can be time consuming to get proficient at producing the content. Let's assume that you have a video ready and are interested in using it to bring traffic to your site.
The YouTube Traffic Methods
There are two primary ways to use YouTube to get your web site exposure. First you must create a channel and in doing so you are allowed to insert a link to your website in your profile. So without even adding any video content you have created a nice link to your site on a - let's not forget - Google owned site. In my experience, Google likes all things Google. The real benefit from YouTube; however, is going to be when you actually add your first video. To begin with there is the obvious capability to discuss your site in the video or even offer a splash intro that shows your site URL to the YouTube world. As with all things Internet, you want to make things easy! Now days nobody wants to have to go to all that trouble of actually typing in a URL - whew all that work! YouTube fortunately allows you to put links in your video description to remove all that heavy lifting for your potential visitors. Adding links in the description is a must! Second you must entice them by offering more content on your site whether it be additional videos, articles, etc. Of course this means your video must make them want additional information... That part is up to you. Teach, entertain, or sell - somehow you must get them interested in more from you.
Getting YouTube Traffic for your Videos
Plopping your video on YouTube is just the first step. There are lots of videos on YouTube and yours is going to just be one of the millions. The first and simplest way to draw people in is your keyword and category selection. I'm not going to go into keyword selection heavily here, but make sure your keywords are relevant to your web site and video. Also, try to find a few keywords that are unique and will give your video an edge in some searches. Your video will start to appear in search queries similar to search engine searches. After setting up your keywords, you will need to interact with the YouTube crowd. YouTube is also similar to a forum. People can comment on videos with text comments or they can even respond to a video with a video response. Yes, very Youtubish. Responding intelligently to a video that is on a subject similar to yours may make others interested in you and draw them to your channel and thus your video. Maybe. A better way is to respond to their video with your video. This can be hit and miss as each video creator can approve or just delete video responses. You may get a lot of rejections, but if you get one popular video owner to accept, you will draw lots of watchers to your video and finally to your site. To improve your chances of getting approved, you might make a special video that responds directly to the video creator of your choice. Who can resist positive, intelligent responses? People viewing your video response will also see a list of other videos you have created increasing your chances that someone will see them also. Even if they don't view your primary video, they will still have access to the links (you do have those links - right?) you have put into your description.
Go Get That Web Site Traffic
YouTube is a great traffic generator if approached correctly. It can be time consuming to create video content, but if you do it correctly then your content will be getting you traffic for years. If your site has a lot of video content - it is a must. If nothing else then get that free link by creating a channel. Creative comments on popular videos may bring curious readers to your channel just to find out who you are. Fire up your YouTube account and create another traffic path to your site.
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