How to Use YouTube to Increase Organic Traffic to Your Website
Did you know that YouTube, in addition to being owned by Google, is also the second most used search engine in the world?
Today, video is a powerful tool: it is estimated that over the next few years, communication will be increasingly online, and 80% will consist of videos. More and more companies have realised the usefulness of YouTube and have begun to use this platform more to promote services and products. For this reason, it is important to learn how to implement them and use them effectively.
Involving users with captivating videos will help you get their attention and spread your messages. To do this, you need a good SEO strategy that will allow you to place your videos in the first results of the search engine. In this way, you can increase the views and the number of subscribers on your channel.
Have you ever thought about making videos and using YouTube to attract traffic to your website? Now, let's see how to use YouTube to attract traffic.
Create a YouTube channel
The first step to using YouTube to attract traffic is to create your own channel. Doing it is very simple, and allows you to enter information about your site, its URL, a brief description, custom graphics, and profile pictures, etc.
Start creating and uploading videos
Once you have created your channel, the next step to use YouTube to attract traffic is to create videos and upload them to the platform.
Especially at the beginning, don't be discouraged if the videos you produce will not be of professional quality. Remember that what matters most are the contents. Once you've decided on the topic you're going to be dealing with in your video, make sure you prepare a detailed outline of the information and test that the quality of the audio and images is good enough. Today on the Internet, many video creating platforms are available to help you create high-quality videos easily. FlexClip is one of them, and the best of all, it’s completely free.
Moreover, YouTube also allows you to create videos using your webcam directly, or uploading an image gallery or even sending a hangout.
Note: YouTube supports many video formats, including MOV, AVI, WMV, and others.
Video optimization
If your goal is to use YouTube to attract traffic, it's essential that the video you've just created is optimized.
As I mentioned in the introduction to this article, YouTube is owned by Google. This means that YouTube videos are indexed by the search engine and, if properly optimized, also appear on the SERP page.
To optimize your videos:
- identifies a longtail keyword (ie, more than 2-3 words long)
- enter the keyword in the title of the video
- enter the keyword in the video description
Also, make sure to include the URL to your website in the description area.
Another element to be reckoned with is the preview image. This is the main element that users will see when they look at the results page. For this reason, it can have a significant impact on the number of clicks and views that the video receives. The same site has found that 90% of the most popular videos present a custom preview image. YouTube automatically generates some for the videos you upload, but I suggest you upload a personalized one. There are many tools you can use, such as FotoJet, Canva, and Fotor.
This will also give you the opportunity to insert your logo and create a cover in line with the style of your site and your brand.
Insert Call-To-Action in your videos
If you want to use YouTube to attract traffic to your website, a good idea is to insert a call-to-action at the end of your videos. To do this, you can, for example, enter the URL of your site at the end of the video.
Alternatively, if you use the YouTube/AdWords advertising program, you can also include in your videos the so-called call-to-action overlays, real Call-To-Action with active links that you can customize.
Be an active user
Finally, as with any social network, to use YouTube to attract traffic to your website it is essential to be consistent, that is, post videos regularly and be active users on the platform, leaving comments to other videos and participating in conversations.
Integrate YouTube with your WordPress site
There are several ways to take advantage of YouTube features on WordPress. For example, do you know that you can integrate a video into a post simply by copying the YouTube embed code directly into your WordPress text editor? You can also create a specific type of post for videos.
Conclusion
Today I explained to you the basics to start creating videos and using YouTube to attract traffic to your website. What do you say? Do you already use YouTube? Do you have suggestions to offer our community to create videos that "work"? I invite you to share your experience by leaving a comment and, if you have questions, don't hesitate to write to us.