YouTube hints and trick (pt 1)

Getting the most out of YouTube, how to make money off YouTube and how to get the most out of a successful video.

1) Work out what your YouTube channel is for. If you are mainly using it to promote your music don't clutter it up with videos off the kids, your favorite sports clips or the like. Set up a different account for that. Keep everything linked to your account related to the music.

2) Monitor your videos, use the insight area to see how people are finding your videos. This information can be good for working out what's working and will help you find the people that will like your videos.

3) Tweak the words. From looking at the data from the discovery section of the insight area you will see which search tearms people are using to find you on YouTube, Google, Facebook, MySpace and other search sources. The trick here is to visit the sites people have searched on to find you, then search for the same terms as the user.

e.g. If insight says that someone found your video by searching on YouTube for "Best new band" then search for "Best new band" on you tube and start by going through the listings until you find the link to your video. Have a look at other links this search return, especially the links that come nearer the top than yours. Then see how they have written up their videos, what keywords they have used.

Then blatantly copy everyone and look for simular words or phrases that turn up in lots of different places.

4) Occasionally change the picture. YouTube gives you a choice of images to show as the video still, unfortunately not enough in my opinion. If you have more than one that looks good and is visually different then try changing the default image every few months, you might just get someone to watch the video again ;)

5) Playlists. These can be a great way of introducing people to your music. Set up playlist with phrases you discovered from looking at the search results. So using or last example you would set up a playlist called "Best new band" and add your band to the play list along with other popular bands that people search for. Put your song in around position 3-6 with the songs people like first. This could entice people to play the playlist and hear your song.

6) Communication. Whenever you are communicating with your fan-base remember to put in a link to your latest, greatest or most relevant video. It's not only a great way to pimp your YouTube space but it's also a good way for people to refresh themselves with your music.

7) Activity Sharing. Make sure you are linked up to all your social networks so that new videos automatically get posted to your fans.

8) Be part of the community. Leave comment on other videos related to yours, don't use the "check out my band" approach just a simple "Nice song" or "I love it" would do if you can't think of something constructive to say. Add songs you think your fans would like to your favourites and 'like' some of the videos to.

9) Friends v Subscribers. Friends are good but if you want to make money off YouTube at some point then currently YouTube cares most about the number of subscribers you have. There are a few trick you can try. Firstly don't upload 5 videos in on day then nothing for 6 months. A little patience can go a long way. Uploading a video on a regular schedule, e.g once every 1-2 months will encourage people to subscribe. Though most people will not without you reminding them to do it. YouTube has just launched a 'Subscribe widget' which allows you to add a subscribe to this YouTube channel link on your website and on other social networks just think about gently prompting your fans to think about subscribing.

May well add more later but that should give you something to think about...