Video can be the most compelling form of media. It can entertain, train, inspire, and most importantly, it can compel a prospect to perform a desired action.

It is obvious that internet video has become a normal form of communication that can be easily accessed, liked, shared, and ultimately generate more profit.

Unfortunately, there are several challenges in receiving a return from internet video marketing efforts. This blog will give you some of the basics.

Developing Authority

Just like a website, a video channel needs several elements to develop authority. The first is content. Also, like a website, quality and quantity are both important.

Although there are more options than I could list for delivering your videos, the most effective in terms of the search engines is Youtube. Youtube is a Google property, and its content is favored by Google in searches.

If you develop good authority for a video, it may show up above the top competing websites for certain keywords on a Google search. A video will also generate a higher click-through rate than a non-video link also.

Theming

A channel is like a blog or website, it needs to be tightly-themed. For instance, someone who is sharing information about carpentry should keep all content on that account related to carpentry.

The content must be engaging because Google tracks the amount of time visitors watch a video, which is assessed by its algorithms. This doesn’t mean that the videos must be high-end professional productions, but they must be interesting and should answer the questions that viewers are looking for. If your videos don’t provide an information resource, they must display what visitors expect to find when clicked on, or the viewer will “bounce” and leave the video immediately.

Content Creation

So here’s the next big question… “What will I produce that is valuable to viewers, and how can I make a lot of valuable videos?”

My original background was in video production, where I worked with some of the biggest corporations in the world. They had high budgets, and I had pretty much any equipment I ever needed at my disposal. I suggest a tactic that is just the opposite, especially when you are just starting to develop authority for your Youtube channel.

Check out this great Idea to make high-quality videos that are interesting and don’t take any time out of your day to shoot:

After you have developed a strategy to produce valuable content, it is important to continue doing so. The more videos on an account that follow the same theme, the more they will help the channel gain authority, which will give each video more authority as well.

Optimization

I have had clients in the past that followed the simple formula of posting a video blog each week for a couple years, and when I looked at their channel’s analytics, the views followed a curve that increased slowly and steadily for several months, then grew exponentially.

I have spent a lot of time testing, researching, and testing further to find the most effective formula to optimize Youtube videos for the search engines. I will produce another full-length blog for Marketing Ignite in the near future that gives step-by-step directions for Youtube optimization.

For now, I will leave you with a few tips to get you started:

- Before uploading a video, rename the file with the keyword you would like to target. Youtube and Google take the original file name into account, even though you will re-title your video.

- Place the keyword you want to be found for in the title and the first line of the description of the video.

- Place a full link to your website right after the keyword in the description. Example: “Longtail Keyword XYZ” http://examplewebsite.com/ If you do not include the prefix in the URL, it will not be clickable on Youtube.

- Make sure the keyword is exactly the same in the title and description

- Keep the title under 67 characters

- Fill out the description fully. The more content, the happier the search engines will be. 300+ words is best.

- Use ten or less tags

If you have good information that you would like to share, I strongly suggest you begin using video. There is no better time than now to get started, and nothing to lose by jump-starting your channel’s authority.

Even if your first videos aren’t the best, they won’t hurt you, and you will develop skills and experience that will improve over time. Eventually, video may become your most valuable marketing tool you have!

Guest Post by Mike Gamache with Fleetfoot Marketing. Check our more great video marketing tactics and video tours of apartments in Wichita, KS on their website!

If you need some great promotional explainer videos for your business, check out Our Explainer Videos.