YOUTUBE STRATEGIES: SMALL TO LARGE CHANNELS · 2019-07-08 · TEST EVERYTHING –1.000 TO 100.000 Test EVERYTHING If you do it earlier, you won’thave enough data to make valid desicions

YouTube Ranking Factors Analysis and Optimization1Philip Zeplin | (0045) 2016 3961

NovelConcept.org | [email protected]

YOUTUBE STRATEGIES: SMALL TO LARGE CHANNELS



PHILIP ZEPLIN

Copenhagen, Denmark

2007:Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts

2013:NovelConcept - Founder

2014:iProspect – YouTube & SEO Consultant

2017:Independent Consultant / NovelConcept

2017:Launched Rankify Analytics

SEO for 10+ years

YT SEO for 9+ years

Worked with 40+ channels, including:The Coca-Cola Company, Microsoft, Gevalia, Opel, Oreo, Rynkeby,

Huawei, Pernod Ricard, Scandinavian Airlines, and more.



BEFORE YOU START



HERO, HUB, HYGIENE



BEFORE YOU START

Channel Name:Something relevant, something memorable, and if possible, something that includes your main keyword.

Channel Profile image:Should be eye-catching, logo-like, can be transparent, appears on your channel, videos, and in in-video cards.

Channel Banner image:Use the official template. Make sure it looks good in all dimensions. Colourful. Can include text.

Channel Design setup:Spend an hour setting up your channel design. Vary between wide and square layout for easy navigating.

Banned words, etc.:Make a collection of swear words in English and your local language, that you do not want in your comments.

Intro video:Create an intro video to the channel, around 3 minutes long. Show types of content on the channel and schedule.



PURPOSE?

Make sure your channel has a

reason for existing.



I KNOW THIS IS SHOCKING, BUT…

You need to have good content.



GETTING YOUR FIRST 1.000 SUBSCRIBERS

Seek subscribers outside of YouTube.YouTube is not a newbie-friendly platform, and the algorithm heavily favors larger channels. When trying to reach your

first 1.000 subscribers, it’s wise to try and gain them from platforms outside of YouTube: Reddit, Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.

If you have a budget, advertise.You can get a long way with not a lot of money, easily as far down as roughly 20.000 views for around 300 dollars. Use

on in-search ads, not in-video ads.

Create a video schedule/calendar, and stick to it.Upload schedules are important, and helps retain channel subscribers.

Experiment creatively.Early on is the best time to experiment creatively, figure out what video styles you will be producing, and find and

create a coherent visual channel identity. This includes both videos, thumbnails, intros, outros, music, etc..



THE IMPORTANT ALGORITHMS AND STUFF

Susbcriber Clickrate/Retention

Viewer Retention

Correctly optimizing meta-data (SEO MDO) on all videos

Create one or more thumbnail templates to use on all videos

Add all videos to playlists

GETTING YOUR FIRST 1.000 SUBSCRIBERS



TEST EVERYTHING – 1.000 TO 100.000

Test EVERYTHING

If you do it earlier, you won’t have enough data to make valid desicions.

If you do it later, the risk of viewer and subscriber loss due to a bad descision tends to become

unreasonably large.

Thumbnail A/B TestingDifferent thumbnails can have a massive impact on video views and clickrate. A/B test, the same you would with a

landing page. Faces and large colourful fonts tend to work well. But ALWAYS test your market.

Video ScheduleTest whether uploading fewer videos will result in more views. Sometimes too many videos, results in subscribers only

watching some of them, and ignoring the others.

Likewise, test if you could upload more videos than you are, and still retain per-video clickrate.

ContentPrimarily focus on Hygiene/Pull content, rather than Hub content



IF IT AINT BROKE… – 100.000 TO 1.000.000

Ensure consistent uploads(avoid subscriber loss)

Focus on a mix of Hygiene and Hub content(Focus on finding new subscribers, but increasingly focus on keeping current subscribers happy)

Commonly where channels end up stagnating(gaining subscribers at the speed old subscribers lose interest)

Focus on larger volume keywords(but don’t get arrogant)



THE IMPORTANT ALGORITHMS AND STUFF

Focus more on watch time

Focus more on keeping current subscribers happy

Content made specifically to ‘pull’ is less important, as the algorithm pushes it automatically

due to increased watch time from subscribers

IF IT AINT BROKE… – 100.000 TO 1.000.000



CONGRATULATIONS! WEEEEEEEEEEE

CAN CONSISTENTLY PRODUCE HERO CONTENT

CAN TARGET MASSIVE TOPICS

FOCUS MORE ON HUB CONTENT

1.000.000 SUBSCRIBERS



THE TOOLS FOR THE JOB



YOUTUBE TOOLS

https://www.google.com/trends

https://adwords.google.com

http://keywordtool.io

https://morningfa.me

https://vidiq.com

https://tubebuddy.com

https://novelconcept.org/rankify-analytics



COMMON MISTAKES & AND ADVICE



COMMON MISTAKES

Content dilution over time:Many channels start making vastly different content later on. Be aware that your fans subscribed to your channel

because of the content you produced at the specific time, and may well not watch different content produced by you.

Aiming too big too soon:In the beginning, you will need to have an extremely narrow focus on content, as well as targeting niche keywords, or

long-tail keywords.

Ignoring Analytics:YouTube Analytics, while limited, still brings a wealth of information. Any good channel should go through it’s analytics

at least once a month, but preferably more often.



BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE… COMMON MISTAKES

Uploading a ton at the same time:Don’t. Just don’t. No one will ever watch all of that. Spread it out over days/weeks/months for maximum benefit.

Not using Cards correctly (or at all?!?!?!)Info Cards and End Cards are fantastic. Use them on all videos, always.

Dislikes = BAD:YouTube dislikes are often not an indication of bad content, but controversial content. Don’t freak out, or take it as a

sign of badly produced content.

Bad Content:You can’t optimize your way out of bad content. If your videos consistently get low retention, low interaction, and above

average dislikes, fix your content before you start optimizing it.



RECAP: SMALL TO BIG

Get all the basic channel stuff in order.

Stick to an upload schedule.

Experiment creatively early on.

Experiment data-wise midstage.

Target niche topics at first, broad common topics last.

Make sure you correctly optimize your meta-data.

Watch Time becomes increasingly important, retention increasingly less important.

Hygiene/Pull content becomes less important the bigger you get.

Consistently please your subscribers – always.

Always encourage interaction.



Q&A



http://novelconcept.org

[email protected]

(0045) 2016 3961

Skype: philip.zeplin

Vangede Byagde 76,

2820 Gentofte, DENMARK

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YOUTUBE STRATEGIES: SMALL TO LARGE CHANNELS · 2019-07-08 · TEST EVERYTHING –1.000 TO 100.000 Test EVERYTHING If you do it earlier, you won’thave enough data to make valid desicions