If you thought that YouTube was just a place to waste time looking at silly cat videos, think again.
YouTube, the world’s largest video social sharing platform, was purchased by Google in 2006. Since then, it’s evolved as the world’s second largest search engine. It’s second only to Google. Mushroom Networks published an infographic with the following facts about YouTube:
- The site processes 3 billion searches a month – more than all other search engines combined, with the exception of Google itself.
- One out of every two internet users watch YouTube.
- The site greets 1 billion unique visitors each month.
- 100 hours of new videos are uploaded very minute!
- YouTube reaches more adults ages 18 to 34 than any cable network.
Whew! And there are more facts to support the assertion that YouTube may, in fact, be the world’s most widely used search engine – or if not the most widely used search engine, a very close second in the race to be the biggest.
So how can you use this to your online marketing advantage?
- Create a YouTube account, or channel, to start using the site.
- Create short, powerful, original videos about your product or service. If you have a webcam or video camera, you can create them yourself. If not, hire a professional.
- Work your website’s name and URL into the actual video using YouTube’s annotations feature.
- Make sure to tag your video with keywords.
- Create a hyperlink in the video description to your website, and make the link in the first sentence if you can.
- Use the channel description area on YouTube more like an ad or a sales piece than a plain old vanilla description. You want to sell your video just as you’d sell your services; it helps gain more traffic and click throughs.
- Make an original, customized background for your channel on YouTube, and include your website’s domain on the header.
YouTube may possibly be one of the biggest search engines available. It can certainly be used to harness traffic for your website, and that helps boost visits and possible sales.
Web Design of Palm Beach offers affordable, reliable website hosting, website design, search engine optimization consulting and much, much more. We can help you harness the power of YouTube and other search engines to boost your site traffic. Call us at 561.262.5886 to learn more or speak with a web design expert today.