We all know that Google is the #1 search engine, by far. What about the #2 search engine? You might assume that either Bing or Yahoo would be second in searches, but you’d be wrong.
The second largest search engine on the Internet is… Youtube.
The statistics are staggering:
- Youtube videos receive over 4,000,000,000, that’s BILLION, views every day
- Youtube receives approximately 17% of web traffic
- Over 1 billion of those views are from mobile devices
- Youtube is the third most popular website online GLOBALLY, behind only Google and Facebook
- Youtube receives over 1 billion unique visitors each month and this number is growing
- Approximately 66% of Google searches include Youtube videos in the results
Paying attention yet? If you have a website, whether it’s a business, a blog or whatever, you need to have a Youtube channel. There are many ways to use a Youtube channel for business, and you certainly don’t need to put a human being in the videos if you don’t want to.
Here are the five reasons why your business NEEDS a Youtube channel:
#1 Traffic
Over a billion unique visitors a month, don’t you want a piece of that? The web is a very visual thing especially with the near ubiquitousness of high speed Internet these days. Having a Youtube channel with informative or entertaining videos can help you tap into that traffic and bring it to your website. Not only can you promote your website in the video description, complete with links to your website, but you shouldn’t forget to promote your URL inside the video, at the beginning, end, or even all throughout by making use of a static banner featuring your URL. Don’t forget to optimize your videos by including a relevant and targeted keyword phrase in your video title, description and the tags. Every time you upload a video, make sure to share it to all of your other social profiles, including Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, LinkedIn and any others. Videos bring in traffic, that’s a fact.
#2 Sales
If you sell anything, whether you have an e-commerce site, an Etsy store or offer a local service, you can increase your sales by using Youtube as a marketing channel. If you have something to sell, whether a product or service, you have an endless variety of video content ideas you can use, here’s a few:
- Product demonstrations
- Product reviews
- Behind the scenes
- Gift idea lists
- Q & A’s
- Interviews
- Unboxing
- Walkthroughs
- Events and conferences
- Industry news
- Local news
- Hot topics
- Case studies
- Tips
- Recommendations
- How-to’s
- Office tours
- Screencasts
- Thank you’s
- Customer testimonials
- Introductions
- Presentations
- Live videos
- and much more…
Don’t forget, you can also repurpose other content into a video. You can turn old articles or blog posts into videos.
#3 Links
Link building is an important part of the SEO process. Nowadays, you want links from trusted websites and online properties. What could be a more trusted link than one from one of Google’s own properties? Including links to your website in the video description is essential to take advantage of this. It will help to boost your authority in Google search results.
#4 Branding
By creating a Youtube channel and posting to it regularly, you are helping to extend your brand. It’s also another point where customers can find you. Include your logo and tagline in every video. Make sure your Youtube channel is customized with your logo, brand colors and and other promotional graphics which represent your brand. By engaging with your customers and potential customers on Youtube, you are increasing your own brand trust and reputation.
#5 Revenue
Youtube can be an additional source of revenue if you turn on ads. While for small channels, this may not add up to much, but if your videos get a decent amount of views or if they go viral, you should receive a check. In some cases, such as if you have an informational blog and post a corresponding video with each post, the Youtube channel can become a significant source of revenue for your business.