Get More Views On YouTube – Adam Linkenauger
MUST HAVE RESOURCES
SUMMARY
On this episode, Adam Linkenauger shares what strategies you can use to attract viewers and keep them watching.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
YouTube is essential because it’s a visual search engine.Add subscription annotations or calls to action at the beginning and end of each video.
The first 24 hours of video are critical, so send lots of traffic within that time.
YouTube is where we go to find solutions to our problems.
People take advantage of the visual aspect of learning rather than reading or listening.
Focus on what your target audience types in a YouTube search when they find solutions.
Build up your ranking on YouTube
- Use standard terminology.
- Think like your target market.
- Ask your target audience “What do you need help with?” Listen what terminology they’re using.
- Type the terms into YouTube search bar and based on popularity, it will show you what words are being searched.
What the algorithm concentrates on to give beginners a chance to rank:
- Watch Time
- Subscription
Look at YouTube the same way as mailing lists and open rates.
Annotations can begin to funnel your viewers to help you grow your business.
At the end of each video, tell your viewers exactly what to do and show them where they need to click.
Annotations don’t work on mobile, so tell mobile users to click the first link in the description.
If you’re just starting out, do a minimum of three videos a week.
Three keys to remember with YouTube:
- Create content that your audience is searching for.
- SEO it in a way that your audience can find it.
- Have the passion for it.
TRANSCRIPTION: GET MORE VIEWS ON YOUTUBE – ADAM LINKENAUGER
Kamala Chambers
Welcome to Training Tuesdays. Today, we’re going to be talking about how to rank high, get more views on YouTube, and getting your message out there in an even bigger way.
Luis Congdon
All right, Thriving launchers, we’re here with Adam, and I am excited because YouTube is a powerhouse. If you know how to tap into it and get more views on YouTube, it can explode your business. It can make a huge difference and make you well-known as I’ve experienced.
Without further ado, welcome to the show, Adam. Are you ready to launch?
Adam Linkenauger
I am ready. I appreciate you having me here.
Luis Congdon
It’s a complete honor. It’s been cool to watch you and your progress, especially what you’re doing in the basketball space with YouTube and how you’re helping people in that area.
I want to start by asking you first. Why is it important to get more views on YouTube?
Give Solutions To Get More Views On YouTube
Adam Linkenauger
YouTube’s important because it’s a visual search engine. It’s a search engine that a lot of people don’t realize it’s that powerful of a search. It’s definitely where a lot of us go to find solutions to our problems. We love that visual “Show me how to do it” instead of necessarily always reading or listening. There’s this visual aspect we can take advantage.
Adam Linkenauger
For us who helps people, that’s what we do. We give solutions, so it’s a great place to be.
Kamala Chambers
What would be the first tip that you would give to start to get more views on YouTube?
Know What Your Audience Types In To Get More Views On YouTube
Adam Linkenauger
A lot of times, when we upload to YouTube, we think what we would title our videos or what we would keyword our videos. It’s like that expert phobia so to speak. We use terms like we’re trying to impress our peers to get more views on YouTube versus putting words in place that our target market would run into.
An excellent example of this was about ten years ago now. When I first started on YouTube, I put up a video called “10 Ultimate Steps for Plyometric Training.”
Luis Congdon
I’m not even looking that up.
Adam Linkenauger
Exactly.
Luis Congdon
I’d have to be very nerdy to know those words.
Adam Linkenauger
Would you look up if you’re a basketball player like “How to jump higher” or “How to dunk?”
Luis Congdon
Yeah, I’d search how to have hops or how to jump or that kind of stuff.
Adam Linkenauger
Exactly, that’s the same video.
Get More Views On YouTube By Using Common Terms
Adam Linkenauger
We tested that, and we’re able to get more views on YouTube. I went from roughly 2000-3000 views over at three to four years span to over three million views in a one year span by just changing the terminology, and given this is the different time frame that we had grown the channel some at this point.
Luis Congdon
That’s pretty wild. It makes me think of people in the health industry, and Kamala used to work in that space. Kamala will say terms to me that are health related and I’m like “I don’t know what that means.” I just know my tummy hurts and I’m going to look up like “My stomach hurts” online or “Stomachache.”
Adam Linkenauger
Exactly.
Luis Congdon
Those are words most people are going to be using online to describe things. They’re not going to be pedantic. They’re not going to be precise. One of the things we say in marketing is “Speak to Homer Simpson.”
I’m curious, though. Once you start geeking out and you know all the terms within your field, and you could talk to the experts about it, how do you dumb it down and figure out what everyone else is using and looking for to get more views on YouTube?
Adam Linkenauger
An excellent way to get more views on YouTube is to have people to ask. That always works out whether it would be in mailing lists, social media or even the comments on your YouTube videos. You ask “What do you need help with?” Then, not only listen to them but also get in terminology that they’re using.
Use The Family Feud Method To Get More Views On YouTube
Adam Linkenauger
Number two would be what I call The family Feud method of just putting your mind in that of the viewer or your target market. The family feud method is simply just answering the question.
If you surveyed 100 of your target market, what would your ideal customers type into YouTube? Not just what they’ll say or think but what would they type into YouTube to find solutions for their problems that they’re having.
Get More Views On YouTube By Utilizing The Search Bar
Adam Linkenauger
The next step to get more views on YouTube is once I have those four – ten different terms in different pain points how my target market would type in, I go the YouTube search bar, start typing those terms in.
When you type into the YouTube search bar, it’ll autocomplete. Based on popularity, it will show you terms that are being put out there. That’s just a great way to verify that you’re on the right track to get more views on YouTube.
Kamala Chambers
Do you use a keyword tool for any of these? Do you go into some keyword tool and see how things are ranking on Google?
Adam Linkenauger
Yeah. We used to use the AdWords Keyword Planner Tool, but at this point, we honestly don’t.
At this stage, all we’re concentrating on is what our market tells what they want. We go to that keyword inside the search bar at the top of YouTube. Start searching for the terms that show up. Then, based on that, that’s what we go with our video head-on and what we place the content of our videos about.
If I just type in basketball training, YouTube gives these autocomplete functions. A lot of kids type something like that, so they’re just going to click one. So it’s important for me just to make sure that I will get more views on YouTube and rank pretty high for these terms when someone starts that and then, chooses one of those choices.
Understand How Popular YouTube Is And Get More Views On YouTube
Luis Congdon
YouTube is a massive search engine. It’s crucial to be on it and get more views on YouTube. I’ve heard it’s next to Google. Almost everybody’s going to Google and searching just within the general Google realm.
But then, YouTube tends to come up quite often as the number one, two, or three hit. Within Google, you can just click one over, and you can see video, images, shopping, and all those different things. That makes it very accessible and easy to get more views on YouTube.
And then, there’s the whole other thing where people are going directly to YouTube, and they’re searching. YouTube itself is the second largest most used search engine, which makes it very competitive.
We have a strategy to get more views on YouTube, and I love your approach of just going in, looking, and seeing what people are typing in. When I type in one primary keyword like the most important word, “Basketball,” “Basketball training,” “Basketball jumping,” and seeing what YouTube does.”
When you said that, I thought “That’s exactly how I use YouTube.” I let it auto-complete for me. We use a search engine optimization tool, and we look up, and we look for keywords. But now that you mention this idea, it’s something that I’m interested in seeing what happens.
I wanted to ask you to jump on this next piece. How do you get to start to get more views on YouTube especially if you’re brand new?
Adam Linkenauger
It’s a great question.
The Algorithm To Get More Views On YouTube
Adam Linkenauger
As a beginner, you have a chance to rank and get more views on YouTube. What the algorithm concentrates on are two main things.
- Watch time.
When it comes to watch time, we think, “Hey. If we put out longer videos, it will increase watch time, ” and it’s just minutes watch total. That’s true.
The problem here is it’s two-fold. If you put out longer videos, you’re probably going to increase watch time if you can keep the audience compelled, entertained, and keep them wanting to watch. That’s number one.
You got to keep the audience able to watch, but the problem lies in having call-to-actions and moving the audience into the subscriber realm.
Most of the time, we ask our viewers to subscribe at the end of the videos, but if it’s a long video, you’re looking at 5-10% of your audience completing a 10-20-minute video.
That’s the other thing YouTube is putting a lot of weight on is not only how many subscribers are you getting but how many subscribers are coming back and watching each time you upload.
It’s like a mailing list and your open rate. If you have a low open rate, it’s telling you something’s just not right there. Your audience isn’t interested in what you’re doing today as they were when they first opted in. So we need to look at YouTube the same way.
The way that I combat that is I put subscription annotations in 10% of the beginning of each video, and then the final 10% of each video.
Two things occur there.
- We have a subscription opportunity as soon as you opt-in for those fast action takers.
- We have a call-to-action to subscribe at the end of the video.
Even if they don’t subscribe then if you keyword correctly, your next videos are likely going to pop up next, and you tend to get more videos on YouTube.
That’s another reason why I like to have another subscribed annotation in that first 10% of each video because if they miss that second annotation, they have the opportunity to opt-in as soon as the next video begins to play on that auto play.
Kamala Chambers
Why don’t you give us a little background what’s a subscription annotation so that we’re all on the same page here? How does it help you get more views on YouTube?
Adam Linkenauger
Sure.
Place Annotations To Get More Views On YouTube
Adam Linkenauger
What we’ve found right now is YouTube’s offering a couple of different things.
- They are providing annotations, which are those clickable billboards.
We’ve seen them for years now. They’re kind of ugly, stick out like a sore thumb, and are different colored. They have words on them that you can click those buttons and you can go to an associate website, which is an excellent way to get leads.
You can ask for the subscription. You can send people to different videos. We use those over the second option that YouTube offers, which is the end screen.
- End screen.
This is a new feature that YouTube is offering. Only about 20 seconds of the end of each video, you’re allowed to have a YouTube end screen. Do call to actions within that 20 second and tell that audience where to click and what to do next.
This is a great thing to search on and learn how to do annotations. Have annotations in place. Then, you can begin to funnel your viewers to help you grow your business and YouTube channel for organic growth so that you reach more people.
That’s the big win.
Luis Congdon
You bring up something interesting there too that a lot of people miss out on when they want to get more views on YouTube. This is true across the board when it comes to people creating content for social media. I guess YouTube is considered another form of social media.
Get More Views On YouTube By Doing Call-To-Action
Luis Congdon
One of the things a lot of people don’t do when they try to get more views on YouTube is they’ll miss out an opportunity to give people a call to action. They’ll create a video ad or a video for YouTube or Facebook or wherever it might be. They’re creating content, and they’re sharing it, but they don’t have a call to action that says “Subscribe” or “Go here if you want to learn more.”
That’s one of the things a lot of people are missing out. I see that a lot on YouTube where people create fantastic videos but they’re not trying to drive the viewer off of YouTube and into some other lead funnel, some other place.
Someone could watch your video and think “I want to watch more.” If you let them just watch more on YouTube, that’s great. You can get more views on YouTube, and it’s helpful for your YouTube channel. But if you can get them off of YouTube and over to your website to give you the email, that is the magic.
We want to rank and get more views on People so that people see us. We want to rank so that more people watch us, and we can build authority. All of that is aimed to get more views on YouTube so then, more people watch and ultimately get off of YouTube and onto our website.
What is your particular method for that? Do you have any tips around that?
I know for a lot of people, that’s a breakthrough idea. It’s like, “I’m not even trying to rank in YouTube so that I’ll look cool on YouTube. I’m trying to rank and get more views on YouTube so I can get people to my website.”
Adam Linkenauger
Exactly. That’s my business in a nutshell.
We pull about 2,000 leads a day from YouTube for free because these are people who are in the moment of searching for solution. On top of that, they go to YouTube, search for that answer, and then they find and click on your video. They watch your content. They like you. They learn from you and see value in what you’re doing.
Get More Views On YouTube And Turn Viewers To Customers
Adam Linkenauger
The viewers are in the moment of the problem, pain, and they get your solution, and they’re ready to move forward. This is a hot moment to turn this viewer or prospect into a lead, and even turn them into customer rather quickly.
What we do is we always do a call to action at the beginning of each video to subscribe. At the start of each video to get a free opportunity through our gift that’s always congruent with the type of problem they’re having.
Then at the end of each video, the last 45 seconds or so, we do what I call “Visual and a verbal.”
What I mean by that is we verbally tell them exactly what to do, and we visually point on the screen at the button. It’s awkward when you’re shooting on camera, and you’re pointing in the air. But then, you put in annotation there and show them exactly where they need to click.
Tell Viewers To Click The Link In The Description To Get More Views On YouTube
Adam Linkenauger
Another tip when it comes to a call to action. When and if you use annotations, they do not work on mobile. 55-60% of your traffic is going to be on mobile device. You need to refer to the first link in the description.
You’re going to add a link in your description and tell your viewer, “If you’re on mobile, click the first link in the description.” This is key because this will convert more from our testing than any of the YouTube card which is a YouTube annotation thing and end screens. They’re both mobile compliant, but they don’t convert as much as telling the mobile user to click the first link in the description.
Again, we take our call to action very seriously. That’s where we put a lot of testing and a lot of time. If you visit ILoveBasketball, literally, our call to action I think is the best I come up with or seen. I made something definitely that would be valuable to swipe.
Luis Congdon
That’s a great tip to get more views on YouTube, and just to reiterate what Adam said for you is have a call-to-action, something that is relevant to whatever you’ve written.
If it’s a blog post or YouTube video, have something relevant and if you can, make that call-to-action so that they can go and grab something free.
If you’re doing a health video about stomachache, you can say, “You can head over to this website, and we have the top 10 reasons why you’re getting stomachaches and the top 5 solutions to solve those problems. You can head over there at -”
Be sure to use a call to action for people. That’s a great tip. It’s something that I consistently have to remind myself to do with almost everything that I do because it doesn’t come naturally to want to insert a call to action in the things that I’m doing.
The next question that I have for you is about how often we should post.
A lot of people say that content is king. I believe that if you’re doing content properly, but is there a sweet spot? I know that there’s been a variety of theories around how often to post.
There are people like Elliot Hulse and Shaycarl who has a very popular channel on YouTube. These are individuals who espouse posting every day for a year or two to build up their ranking.
What are your thoughts on how often we should post?
Because as busy business people, we want to leverage that power of everything and find that happy medium, but if it’s posting every day to get more views on YouTube, maybe that’s what we should do.
Adam Linkenauger
Sure.
I recommend someone starting out to aim at three videos a week minimum.
Be Consistent To Get More Views On YouTube
Adam Linkenauger
We only do one video a week now, but we make it longer, and we make it quality. Typically, it’s fairly lengthy. Sometimes it will be short.
We know pick which keyword we are aiming for. We create videos specifically on that subject because our channel at this point has a lot of credibility.
We just email our mailing list, which 95% came from YouTube, and then send that to our videos. Our subscribers, which again are on our mailing list are coming back. They’re watching the videos when we post, and that’s helping us rank higher and increase our watch time out of the gate.
We noticed the first 24 hours of video are crucial.
Adam Linkenauger
Having more content is a better strategy than having less content at that higher quality if you’re starting out. I think “more” is going to be the key to getting a lot of content out there, and eventually, you’re going to have a video or two that just pops. Someone shares it, sees it, and then you’ll be going to get more views on YouTube. It’s where your growth is going to begin to come in.
Kamala Chambers
Is there anything else you would say you need to do or a hidden gem you want to share with the audience to get more views on YouTube?
Adam Linkenauger
Yeah.
Key Pieces To Get More Views On YouTube
Adam Linkenauger
I would say:
- Create content that your audience is searching for.
- SEO it in a way that your audience can find it.
- YouTube’s hard if you don’t have a passion for it. YouTube’s going to be tough.
The key to YouTube is like podcasting that you got to be consistent. You got to stay consistent. You got to continue to upload, and you got to continue to put in the work. Then over time, it is inevitably going to be something that’s beneficial for you.
To get more views on YouTube, that would be my three keys. We all hear it, but consistency is going to be the main thing with YouTube. Anyone who comes in for consulting with me, I say six months to a year. I don’t need to concentrate on anything but putting out great content. At that point, typically, everyone that has worked with me in the past has seen great result and was able to get more views on YouTube because they concentrated on that.
Kamala Chambers
I love how clear you made that for everyone to know how to get more views on YouTube.
I’m going to ask an entirely selfish question, and maybe some of the Thriving Launchers can use this information.
You’re talking about quality versus getting that watch time and making sure that people are staying on for long periods. We upload our podcast episodes which have nothing going on except the audio. Do you think that’s hurting us by having our podcast episodes on YouTube?
Adam Linkenauger
Yeah.
Create Native Content To Get More Views On YouTube
Kamala Chambers
Even it’s a power point for a 30-minute video?
Adam Linkenauger
That would be tough.
Kamala Chambers
Yeah. It seems like it would be a tight market.
I think that is a relevant question for some of our audience. I believe we’re going to change our strategy a little bit.
It’s been great having you on the show talking about how to get more views on YouTube.
Adam Linkenauger
Well, thank you so much for having me. I enjoyed it.
Luis Congdon
Thank you so much.
Guys out there, Thriving Launchers. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We look forward to having you tune into the show next week, and every other day.
Remember, Training Tuesdays are the days that we give you the jam-packed value, and we dive in deep with people like Adam.
Adam, thank you so much for joining us today on Thriving Launch.
Adam Linkenauger
Thank you so much. It was an absolute pleasure.
