10 Things to Check Before Publishing a YouTube Video.
We can all agree that making high quality video takes a lot of effort. Yes, you can choose the easy way and create low-quality content, but in the long run it will get you nowhere. It’s just a waste of time and energy. On the other hand, quality content will get the first subscribers and may even rank in YouTube searches.
But even if you’ve created a quality original video, the job isn’t done yet. Before publishing a video, you need to make sure of several things, such as: creating a thumbnail, writing an optimizing description, subtitles, etc.
So, here is a checklist of what you should do before clicking the publish to YouTube button.
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YouTube review list before posting a video
1. Write a catchy title
While you shouldn’t write a click-bait title, it shouldn’t be simple either. Use YouTube’s autocomplete feature to see what people are looking for. Be sure to include your keyword at the beginning of your title, and consider adding your channel name at the end to help you remember your brand. If you’ve noticed, Google does this in SERPs as well.
For example, I recently shot a video about the 10 best tools for youtubers. But since there are no searches for this keyword, I changed the title to – Grow your YouTube channel quickly with these 10 online tools. The keyword YouTube channel quick extension that I found with YouTube’s autocomplete feature. The title still accurately represents the content and can rank for search terms – quickly expand your YouTube channel.
2. Enter a complete description
YouTube gives the most preference for keywords that appear in the title, followed by a description, and then tags. Therefore, make sure your keyword is also present in the description, especially in the first two lines of the description, as it goes along with the video in the search results. After that, write a short introduction about what the video is about and include any links used in the video.
You must include –
- Credit links to music any resources you have
- Link to a related video
- Link to your channel page
- Links to gadgets you use, such as video editing software, camera, etc.
- Links to any resources you talked about in your video.
- Finally, links to your social networks and website.
Pro tip: You can enter all the standard parameters if you load the default page settings so you don’t have to enter them over and over.
3. Add meta tags
When YouTube was young, there was no way to see what was inside the video, the title wasn’t enough; Therefore, YouTube offers descriptive keyword tags to help people find your videos. But the internet has changed a lot. The automatic English subtitles created by YouTube are pretty accurate, so it’s safe to assume that YouTube already knows what video content is. Personally, I don’t really pay attention to tags, since YouTube’s algorithm has changed a lot.
To find matching tags, simply search for your title on YouTube or Google and copy and paste the title of the first few results. Most of them are well optimized for SEO, which is why they are at the top of the SERPs. Be sure to accurately describe the video though.
Incorrect use of tags
tips and tricks, how-tos, YouTube, YouTuber, etc.
Correct use of tags
YouTube Channel Development Tips
How to Become a Successful YouTuber
Pro tip: You can find tags for any YouTube video using a Chrome extension like YouTube Tags.
4. Find a great thumbnail
The thumbnail decides whether people will click on your video or not. So it makes sense to spend a lot of time preparing the sketch. Regardless, try to keep the sequence of thumbnails right from the start.
I’ve seen many small YouTube channels that put too much text on the thumbnail. Just remember that over 50% of views come from a smartphone. So make sure your sketch should be simple, one or two messages at most. Take a look at the larger YouTube channel, you can see that these icons are either just interesting face shots or a combination of face shots with a product. Not fancy text or anything like that. Keep it simple
I use a close-up face shot (or product if there is no face shot in the video) and add text on the other side. Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a graphic designer to create a great YouTube sketch, use Canva to create professional sketches.
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5. Monetize your video
If you have a smaller audience, then it’s best not to monetize your video for the first few days after you publish it. I ask you to do this for two reasons: first, you won’t get a lot of ad revenue if you only get a few thousand views in the first few days, and it is also not recommended to show ads to repeat customers.
However, if you have a relatively large channel (100K Subscriptions or more), pay special attention to video monetization before publishing. All major YouTube channels receive the majority of views from subscribers within 24 hours of posting a video.
On the subject: How much money do youtubers make? Youtubers answer
6. Add information cards and end screen
YouTube has replaced the interactive text overlay (also known as annotation) with smarter, mobile-optimized “cardsâ€.
But at the same time, like Facebook, YouTube wants their users to stay on their platform, so only when necessary, add a card that takes the audience from YouTube to some external site. Also, don’t forget to use the end screen feature at the end of your video to advance to the next related video.
I prefer to leave a 5 second black screen at the end of every video. This serves two purposes:
This gives your video a cinematic look. You may have seen when shows such as Silicon Valley or Game of Thrones end, while the credits pick up steam, long music plays. This music gives people the opportunity to relax and immerse themselves in the content. You can add an end screen to a black screen towards the end, this will increase the likelihood that people will click on it.
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7. Add to playlist (s)
YouTube is increasingly committed to relaxation. They want people to watch videos like they would on traditional television, that is, switch to one channel and then relax without changing the channel every minute. Especially now that they are using your channel’s total watch time to boost your videos. And a playlist is a great way to increase your channel watch time. After you upload a video, see if it matches any of your playlists. If so, add them now, this is the only time you get them.
8. Share on social media
After you hit the publish button, the journey isn’t over yet, it’s time to promote your video on your social media.
There are many social networks now, and each of them has its own audience. Most people who use Facebook don’t go to Twitter, just like Twitter audiences don’t follow Reddit. Yes, they can sometimes go there, but most of the time they stay in the ecosystem in which they are comfortable.
Keep this in mind, you might be tempted to expand your presence across all social media platforms, right? But I don’t recommend it at the beginning. It is extremely difficult to be present on all social media platforms. Each platform has its own culture. I suggest that you stick with what really resonates with you and is simply present on a different platform. For me, I use Twitter a lot if you like cooking and travel than Instagram or even Facebook.
I would rather be active on one social network and just post videos for everyone else. Before uploading a video, you can mention the upload in your tweet so people know the video will be out in a few hours. And it will give you the initial impulse.
9. Respond to comments
At the start of your YouTube career, you should respond to every comment you receive. This builds trust. The best time to respond is right after the video is posted. It helps in two ways –
1. Show that you care about your audience and they will come back next time to leave comments.
2. If you have a big enough YouTube channel like mine. Then you will receive about 50-100 comments every day, and it will be impossible to respond to each of them. However, I answer most of the comments after posting the video.
10. Promotion via existing videos
Most of the video is a continuation of your old video. If you force apps to view videos, chances are you have an old video on the same topic that works well in searches, so why not use a comment pin.
You can also add links to your new video in an old related video and pin this comment. This will redirect traffic from the old video to the new one.
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