Mashable.com posted a great article with four easy steps for optimizing your Youtube channel, and grow the number of people who see your ministry’s videos. Optimizing your video channel increases the odds of your content bubbling up to the top of everyone’s search results both in Youtube, and in other search engines like Google. And getting your videos in front of more people increases your ministry’s reach simply by making more people aware of you.
Here are three takeaways from the article that I think any Christian ministry can benefit from.
Clever Video Titles Don’t Help You
What I mean by that, is that a video title that is too creative and artistic can actually hurt you if it’s not very descriptive, or if it’s a phrase that that’s not commonly searched for. You can increase the odds of someone stumbling upon your video if you form your title around a key phrase that is commonly searched for, and quickly sums up your video. What’s really interesting is the suggestion of using that key phrase in some form twice in your title, once at the beginning, and again towards the end. The idea being that search engines reward you for having key phrases in strategic places.
Link Back To Your Own Christian Ministry Website
At the beginning of the description field for each of your videos, include a link that takes people back to your ministry website or blog. This simple step gives people the opportunity to connect with your ministry beyond Youtube, which is important if they’re finding your videos before they find your website. Your videos are now a gateway to the rest of your ministry.
Post Your Videos As A “Video Reply”
Youtube allows you to reply to someone’s video through comments, and through video replies. By posting your videos as a “video reply” to other videos that are related in topic to yours, you can easily build and expand your viewers. People who weren’t searching directly for your content are now much more likely to see it as they search for, and watch, other people’s videos.
What are some ways your church or ministry is using YouTube?
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