Adding videos to youtube has always come with a fixation over what the ‘magic number’ in the right hand corner will be. The more views the better the video has worked for you right? When you get these big numbers come your way its very hard not to feel satisfied you have achieved the ultimate goal but what does this all mean? And what will it do for you? Well, we have recently had a video we produced hit the holy grail, the dream number, the big time with a whopping 1,412,973 views and counting. So apart from the bragging rights what good has this done for us and our channel? So here is the kicker, we never allowed adverts to play at the start of the video and thus missed out on a possible £12,000. The video that has hit these dizzying heights for us is a production about building a green house. YEP, a ‘how to’ video with a very popular product designed by one of our clients. The reason at the time for us to host the video on our channel was actually based purely on doing the client a favour, they simply didn’t want the fuss of setting up a youtube channel and this seemed like a short-term answer to a situation. We did advise our client to make their own channel but this is the way they wanted to go at the time. Its a live and learn moment and no one knew the video had this potential to get so many views. As youtube becomes more and more popular a growing trend is to use the platform for ‘how to videos’. We have all been there, I have recently used the site to find out ‘how to change a car battery’ just to make sure I didn’t do anything wrong. This style of video is likely to get hits and get viewed, simply because its helping you out! Its not selling anything, there is no catch, its just helpful advice and for that free advice would you mind skipping an advert at the start? Probably not. So, the moral of the story, sometimes you can’t predict how many hits your video will get but its worth thinking about this at the start so, set up your own channel and think to yourself, would my viewer mind if an advert is at the beginning? If you don’t think it would bother them you could be set to actually earn from your original investment. Think about what message you want to send out into the world and who is going to view it. Giving advice isn’t trying to sell a product I know but it could pitch you as a person in the know in your particular line of business, making viewers think of you when they need that product or service. Sharing useful advice is much more likely to be passed on which will increase how many views you get of your video. Finally, making the video watchable is key, insuring the video is clear and easy to follow.
