YouTube Content Strategy

Video isn’t cheap or easy to make, so it’s important to have a solid YouTube content strategy in place before you even hit record on your first video. In this strategy guide we’ll take a look at why content is important, how often you should be uploading videos, the ideal video length, targeting your niche, choosing video topics, and organizing your videos.

Content is King

Most SEO posts will tell you that content is king and this one is no different. However, I’d like to take this idea a step further and suggest that you make genuine content about topics you care about or are passionate about. You can always add better equipment or fancy effects later, but you need a strong foundation of passion to build on.

The Importance of Consistent Content

I like to think about YouTube the same way I think about other social networking sites. Would you expect to see much success on Twitter with a single tweet? How about a blog with only one post? Well, a YouTube channel with one video is just as silly.

Video optimization success, and long-term YouTube success for that matter, requires consistent content. Finding the right balance between quantity and quality depends on your goals and production resources; However, a good rule of thumb is to upload at least one video every month.

If you’re already uploading videos daily and not seeing any traction you may be uploading too frequently or not providing enough value per video. Have you ever unfollowed someone on Twitter because they posted too much?

Video as Building Blocks

Think of each video you make as a single lego piece. The more pieces you have, the bigger (and cooler) the presence you can build on YouTube. Now think of just one fat, giant lego piece. You can’t build s*** with just one fat lego.

Instead of betting the farm on one massive video, break your subject area into smaller, more targeted chunks. This gives you more pieces to work with and allows you to build much cooler things later on. Need some YouTube video ideas?

Searching for a Niche

YouTube is the **2nd largest search engine** after Google…AND you can see exactly what people are searching for at any time. This magic I speak of is called Keyword Research and it is the KeyMaster to YouTube’s GateKeeper. Learn more about YouTube keyword research.

Evergreen Content

Video keyword research is beyond important, because you can uncover the questions and interests of your audience and uncover evergreen content topics: Content that remains relevant beyond a few weeks or months.

Here’s an example straight out of my vidiSEO life. I busted my hump making weekly YouTube News videos for the better part of a year. Were the videos amazing? You’re damn right they were! But guess what? After about a week, no one cared about old YouTube news!

Meanwhile, I was getting all of my views and subscribers from simple tutorial videos I had made years earlier. What killed me was the night and day difference in production value. I made all of my early tutorials as narrated PowerPoint presentations and they were crushing my technically superior news videos made with Adobe After Effects (a far more advanced program)! WTF!?!?

Bottom line is if you’re going to drop a significant amount of time or money into a video I’d suggest starting with Evergreen Content topics to get the most bang for your buck.

I hate to be repetitive, but the best way to find evergreen content topics is through keyword research.

Learn From Your Audience

As you start to create and upload videos on YouTube you always have access to one of YouTube’s most powerful features: YouTube Analytics.

YouTube Analytics provides insight into how people are finding your videos, where they are watching your videos, and even how much of your video they are watching. This is amazingly important if you are comitted to creating great content.

Keeping an eye on your video’s engagement metrics (time watched, video attention, etc.) helps you learn what your audience responds to and where you are losing viewers. In the past I’ve used this data to help cut out slow or boring parts of a video, or to identify topic areas with high interest that I could expand upon in the future. If you combine your YouTube analytics data with the data you’ve gathered from your video comments and keyword research, you’ll always have an idea or two for your next video.

Organize or Bust

YouTube isn’t a place you just dump videos in the hopes of them going viral. In fact, if you’ve broken your videos into smaller, more useful pieces this is where you can start to organize those videos in meaningful ways using playlists.

Playlists help viewers find and watch multiple videos instead of one, and Playlists even appear in YouTube search results. Learn how to create your first YouTube Playlist or check out my Content Strategy playlist on YouTube.