So You Want To Be A Video SEO Star

We’re all aware of the immense power of YouTube, but do you realize what that actually means? YouTube serves up over one billion videos every day. Yes, one billion!

Any marketer, particularly if you are into affiliate marketing, should slate targeting YouTube as a must-do for 2010. If you’re already using YouTube… keep at it!

Here are a few things to consider – six techniques really – that will make the difference in publishing lame videos versus rock star ones:

o Choosing An Eye Catching Title

As with any advertising, you’ve got to grab a person’s attention, and that’s typically done with the use of intriguing and search engine friendly titles. Many people are tempted to go the short route, narrowing down their use of keywords to single phrases. This isn’t your best option. You need to use research tools like NicheBotClassic. It’s free, not the best of the best, but it is free and does a fairly accurate search of what others are typing in the search engines. Look for long-tailed (multiple words) keywords (see Tags below) that incorporate the gist of what your video is about and who your target audience is.

o Proper Use of Your URL

When adding your video to YouTube be sure to place the http://www.nameofsite.com or http://nameofsite.com when you write your description. YouTube picks up on this and makes that link live so your viewer(s) can head on over to your web site when they are done – that’s the action you’re after!

o Your Description “Above the Fold”

Keep it short. Think like you are using Twitter. Twitter allows up to 140 characters so you need to really hone in on the guts of what your video is about – again through the use of keyword research without going overboard. Your link should come first, but don’t ignore this vital section.

o Tagging

With proper tagging (again think keywords – long tailed) this not only helps people searching within YouTube itself, but out in the search engines. And, let’s face it, search engines like Google and Yahoo! love videos!

o Embedding Codes and Building Links

I’ve seen some people make their videos “private,” but they may be missing the boat. By allowing other people to embed your video on their website or blog means free advertising for you! Also, there’s no reason you cannot also embed your own videos on your Facebook or MySpace or… well just choose from the bazillion social media web sites out there that allow video embedding (making sure they are getting traffic of course – Flickr is another example of a very popular video site and so is Photobucket). Link building means popularity which means more attention from the search engines.

o Take Your Cue From Other Professionals

Do a bit of homework and investigate your competition. If their videos are doing well it’s because they’ve taken the time to follow all of the above.

Nowadays there are simple ways to make videos. The Flip Mino is a very inexpensive, yet powerful tool that creates great videos and comes with built-in software making your uploading to YouTube a breeze.

You can also read all about the new Eye-Fi wireless SD camera card here. It holds up to 3 hours of video and makes uploading a snap.

So… what are you waiting for? When it comes to building viral marketing you can hit the ground running – very easily – this new year!