Use YouTube to Drive Traffic to Your Siteby Emily Stephen

With 71 million unique users a month, YouTube has become one of the most popular web sites on the Internet. It’s surprising that more businesses have not taken advantage of this powerful tool. Consider the opportunity you have to reach millions each month.

YouTube stats: Did you know?

• YouTube is home to the 6th largest audience on the Internet
• 51% of users visit at least once per week
• 52% of users aged 18-34 share videos
• 10 hours of video are uploaded every minute
• Over 100 million videos are watched every day
  
  

It's easy to add YouTube videos directly to your web site using the embed HTML code: right click on any video to get it. This way, your web site visitors can watch videos without leaving your site and YouTube takes care of the hosting and streaming. For the adventurous, YouTube has an Application Programming Interface (API) that will allow you to further customize and manage your YouTube integration.

The best way to gain exposure is to create your own channel on YouTube, including a link to your web site that will help transfer some traffic to you. By establishing access to your web site, you also have the potential to develop a fan base of viewers who will search for more of your content and await any future web site or YouTube updates. Another great way to gain exposure is to create an RSS feed on your web site to notify fans, clients, and prospects when a new video is posted.

There are many contributing factors that determine how your YouTube video is ranked, and how far it spreads throughout the Internet. Viewers tend to like videos that are community or social driven; so give them something that pertains to them. Allow viewers to post video responses, giving them a place for comments and recommendations. 

It’s also a good idea to use YouTube’s keyword suggestions to determine the relevancy and/or popularity of the words you wish to use to bring people to your site. Set these keywords as tags so that your video is more likely to come up in search results (when those keywords are searched). 

Lastly, be active. Surf YouTube and post a video response on the most popular video that day. Post comments on these pages asking people to check out your newly added video. Contribute to the community and you will see results.

It’s important to keep in mind that a good video will continue to be reposted across the web. Use this to your company’s advantage. Make sure that you take the time to insert your URL and/or company name into the video you’re posting to increase traffic to your site. It’s also a good idea to include additional information about the video being uploaded so that viewers have somewhere to learn more about you, your material, and your company.

YouTube can be used for more than just increasing brand awareness. The opportunities are never-ending. Executive presentations can be recorded and privately posted to YouTube for employees who may have missed them. Private content refers to material that only users in a specific contact list can access. Training or ‘help’ videos for new employees can also be used under this privacy setting and viewed through the training section of your web site or Intranet.

Using YouTube as a means to advertise your company’s latest product or service is much cheaper than airtime on TV. Include any relevant data, statistics, or product information that all link back to your web site. Take a look at Pepsi’s "Twist the Cap” music video showcasing their Under the Cap Promotion.

Join the communityYouTube uses a “Featured Videos” section on their homepage which displays various videos from around the site. By uploading quality video content to the site and being an active member of the YouTube community, your video has a chance of appearing within this section. This YouTube video has more information about the section.  Appearing here could ultimately expose a greater number of users to your content, as well as direct their attention to your company’s web site.

Due to YouTube’s versatility, some people now use the site as a search engine when looking for information about your company or industry. Make sure you’re visible to them, and redirect their attention to your company’s web site. Consider how to use this medium and how it can benefit your business. There are many ways to use YouTube for your business that result in higher traffic to your web site.