MWM Ask The Expert: Which Of These 5 YouTube Mistakes Are You Making?

Which Of These 5 YouTube Mistakes Are You Making?

If you’re a seasoned YouTube marketer, odds are you’ve already learned not to do these 5 things. But if you’re new to YouTube, take heart – these are the same mistakes almost everyone makes in the beginning, and they’re easy to correct.

1: Creating Videos on Anything and Everything

It’s tempting to create several videos a week or even every day just to get loads of content onto YouTube. But unless one of those videos happens to go viral, all that work isn’t going to do you much good. Instead, focus exclusively on the content that positions you as a trusted resource. Once your growing audience realizes that every single one of your videos is paydirt, they’ll keep watching. Your goal is to become THE go-to resource for your narrow niche, product or service.

2: Posting a Gazillion Promotional Videos

Okay, a gazillion is a big number, but darned if there aren’t channels out there with video after video that all say the same thing –“BUY MY STUFF!” Big mistake. If you’re going to make your channel a valuable destination that people WANT to view, you’re going to want to tamp down the self-promotion and focus on creating value (think ‘education’) and rapport with your audience.

3: Getting Your Titles Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

You’re the expert, so you give your video a title from YOUR point of view. But guess what? Your audience is searching for answers from THEIR point of view, not yours. Maybe you’ve got the perfect video for them, but if they can’t find it, then they’ll never see it.

Poll your YouTube subscribers via the Community Tab and ASK them what they’re looking for. Or do a keyword search for what people are looking for. Or find relevant YouTube channels and dig into the comments to discover the language your audience is using.

Not sure what your next video will be? Go to the Google search bar, type in a relevant phrase and see what comes up. Then use this exact phrase as the title of your next video.

4: Not Being Consistent

If someone clicks on your video for marketing on Facebook, they’re going to expect the rest of your videos will be something similar. But if they find videos on dog tricks or your family vacation, it just gets weird and confusing, and they’ll leave. When you create a video, ask yourself what the next logical question is that your viewer might be asking and then create a video on that. This way you can make entire series of videos on, say, Facebook Marketing, Instagram Marketing and so forth, and your viewers will continue to come back for more.

She then uses the newsletter to promote new products AND to discover what products she should 5: Using Lousy Thumbnails create.

Your YouTube video thumbnails should help to sell the click, 6: Promotion Promoting products inside the newsletter is easy. which is why using a random shot of you talking usually isn’t She’ll teach step by step how to do something, and going to work. You’ve got your masterpiece and now it’s along the way she recommends tools or even a donetime to tell the world about it. The goal is to for-you solution. Instead, place a headline on your thumbnail that speaks to reach as many people as possible. And she asks her readers for feedback on her what the visitor is looking for. If someone is searching for “How If you have an email list, let them know newsletter. She’s watching to see which articles get a to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies” and your thumbnail text is, “Voted World’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie” then you’re likely about your new cornerstone content. Email again to everyone on your list who didn’t lot of traction. With a little more investigation, she can use this feedback to determine if a popular article to get the click. open the first email or click the link. Offer an incentive to read it if you need to. means she should create a product around that topic. Bonus Tips for Marketing On YouTube

She also writes articles as test balloons to see what You want to start sending some traffic as kind of feedback she gets before she creates a 1: The key to successfully marketing on YouTube is quickly as possible. product. She says this has saved her perhaps a dozen simple if you can imagine two circles… Use your social media accounts to tell your times in the last few years from making products that followers about the article. almost certainly would have flopped. …One circle is all the content you can create that serves your

Finally, repurposes her newsletter content into business. Schedule media posts several times a day for new products. Sometimes it’s as easy as bundling the first couple of days, and then periodically after that. Use personalization whenever possible. some old issues together and selling those to nonsubscribers along with a trial subscription of her …The other circle is all the content you can create that serves your audience. Contact every expert and website you quoted inside your article and let them know newsletter. Other times she’s created books from her newsletters and guest blog posts, too. Now figure out which content does BOTH simultaneously (where the two circles overlap) and create that. about it. Many of them will tell others She partners with other marketers to offer their through social media. best products at drastic discounts to her newsletter Every time you think about making new content, ask if it serves subscribers ONLY. And 4 times a year she allows a your business AND your audience. If it doesn’t, rethink it. Consider investing in paid promotion as well. marketer to guest post in her newsletter with a big You can reach a highly targeted audience this way and use the new traffic to build spread in the middle of the magazine, calling it a 2: Here’s a formula for getting email subscribers your email list. bonus section. Of course, she charges these from YouTube: marketers for the privilege of writing this bonus Create a video on how to do something relevant to your Make it simple for visitors to share your section, and they are allowed to market a product of business. content with others by adding social media buttons. Highlight especially good quotes their own in this section. Maybe there are 20 ways to do it, and in the video you give from your article and make it one-click easy As you can see, Judy’s newsletter is the very heart them three of those methods. Then plug your freebie for people to tweet them, too. of her business. It helps her to sell far more of her throughout the video. other products, to sell more affiliate products, to

7: Regular Updates

decide which products to create next and it creates a You finish tip #1 and you say, “This is just a small portion of Google loves fresh and highly relevant monthly residual income she can count on no matter what I cover in depth in this free guide. You can grab it by content, which is why you want to perform what else happens that month. following the link in the description. regular updates on all of your cornerstone articles. Then you finish tip #2 and you offhandedly (no hard sell) mention you cover that more extensively in the guide. Include things like new trends, new resources, news and the latest stats. Make Then when you finish the third tip, remind them that they’ve sure everything is still working and relevant, only gotten just a little bit of what you offer, and they can including any links. access more in the free guide. If your fonts or layout are looking dated, update them along with photos, charts and Doing this lets the viewer know early on that the video is so forth. Also check to make sure the page is valuable and the report is even more valuable. It also sets you loading quickly and properly. up as the expert they need to pay attention to.