11 Required Elements to YouTube Success

11 Required Elements to Success
with YouTube in 2017

2
Welcome!
You may be thinking: “YouTube? Really?” After all, there are many newer and sexier social
marketing channels demanding a marketer’s attention. But here’s why it makes sense:
Video is the undisputed champion of content marketing, and YouTube is the king of the
hill for video.
Vidyard recently shared that we spend nearly three times longer watching online video
in our days than we do reading, 72 minutes on average with video while only 25 minutes
per day reading. The pendulum has shifted, and its in your best interest to understand
not just how to create a video and publish it, but how to optimize for the very best
results that video can deliver.
For this ebook, our Convince & Convert team put our heads together to dive into 11 of
our favorite elements to succeed with YouTube this year.
Enjoy.

The Enormity of YouTube
3
That is “B” for billion, how
many people are using
YouTube around the world
1.32B Nearly five billion videos
are viewed on YouTube
every single day
5B

4
Go Global for YouTube Success
YouTube is the second largest search engine,
globally, next to Google
70% of YouTube visitors come from outside the
United States
YouTube is broadcast in 76 languages, while 88
countries have localized versions of the site

5
Mobile Viewing is Key
More 18-to-49 year olds visit YouTube on
mobile every day than any TV network
Average time spent on YouTube per mobile
session is 40 minutes.

6
11
(of our favorite)
required elements to succeed
with YouTube in 2017

8
The first step to success is to make your
YouTube channel look similar to your other
brand marketing assets. YouTube provides
specific branding opportunities and
placements for channels to use a
combination of visuals and text to share
their purpose to the audience.
To create a memorable brand experience on
YouTube, its necessary to represent your
brand consistently in YouTube to align with
your customer or audience’s expectations.
The channel should be focused on the
content and themes that will be delivered via
videos from the channel. Use consistent
styles for titles, descriptions and tags to help
content be discovered more easily.
Strong channel branding will:
‣ enhance the overall presentation of the
channel and videos
‣ explain the channels’ purpose
‣ provide links to social media pages
external websites
Brand Your Channel

9
Four Keys to Branding YouTube Channels
1 2 3 4
Channel
description
Header
graphic and
branded icon
Welcome
videos for new
audiences
Custom
channel layout

Branding on the Main Channel Page
10
1. Header graphic
2. Description
3. Channel layout
4. Welcome video

Branded Header and Channel Icon Keys
11
‣ Optimal banner size is 2560 x 1440 px
with center safe zone of 1540 x 427 px
‣ Make the middle stand alone, and begin
by building from the middle out
‣ Channel icon will appear in upper left
‣ Click for YouTube template for headers
‣ Custom icons are 800 x 800 px
‣ Square or round image renders at 98 x
98 px across the platform
‣ Channel will default to the icon
associated with your Google account

Writing For Your YouTube Channel
12Section #: Section Title
Write a complete description
about the YouTube channel
• Tell audience what to expect
• How often you will post new videos
• If you are driving appointment
viewing, be sure to include times/days
here.
• Maximum length of 1,000 characters 
Links are featured just below
your description
• Links are displayed with the
corresponding social icon
• Up to five of these links can be
overlaid on channel header as
shortcut icons

Creating Welcome Videos for New Audiences
13
Channel trailers are part of channel customization to preview the channel’s
offerings to unsubscribed and new audiences
Important tips to remember
‣ Trailers aren’t viewable on YouTube
mobile apps
‣ Ads won’t appear on the trailer unless
the video has claimed third-party
content
‣ Subscribers will not see the trailer, but
they will see a video from the “What to
Watch Next” list
Quick tips for creating channel trailers
‣ Assume the viewer has never heard of you
‣ Keep it short
‣ Hook your viewers in the first few seconds
‣ Show, don’t tell
‣ Ask viewers to subscribe to your channel  
(See Calls to Action for how in #4)

Thumbnails Should Mimic Brand Consistency
‣ Create a dedicated thumbnail for each video
to call attention to the video and streamline
the video branding
‣ Should be 1280x720 px and under 2MB
‣ Combine an image from the video itself
with the title overlaid in the graphic to grab
attention and reinforce the video title
‣ Create a thumbnail image that represents
your target keyword visually for additional
search result benefit
14
“90% of the best performing videos on
YouTube have custom thumbnails” -
YouTube Creator Academy

Over two thirds of videos on the first page of
YouTube are in HD, according to backlinko.com
16
Quality strongly correlates with
search results

Quality Matters
17
Viewers will quickly identify the specific
video style (or lack thereof) as part of the
channel’s brand identity and make
judgements on the quality of your videos
based on consistency of content. It’s
important to define how you make videos
and continue to refine that style as your
channel develops.
If you start with unboxing videos, or hosted
videos, for example, and then switch
formats after 10 episodes, the new
experience and production could be jarring to
your subscribers.
The same is true for choosing a topic or
niche that your channel wants to stand out
in. While researching successful channels in
your chosen niche (or a few, if you’re still
defining), pay attention to the production
value and video quality. The audience you
will be trying to capture has come to expect
a level of production and quality based on
the most popular channels in this niche.
Staying within a niche will help to build
authority on and off YouTube, which leads to
higher search rankings.

18
‣ Shoot HD video in landscape mode (16:9) with camera on a tripod for stability
‣ Use a newer webcam, mobile phone or DSLR for best quality
‣ Record tutorial videos with screen capture software like Screencast-O-Matic
‣ Use an external microphone for superior sound
• When you have a single subject who is moving, use a lavaliere microphone
• Narration or interviews can be done with a USB microphone or boom mic
• Shotgun microphones work well to capture noise from a single direction
‣ In editing, run a noise filter to remove unwanted background and ambient sounds
‣ Don’t mix LED and florescent lighting, and use a three-point lighting kit to add depth
‣ Use a light reflector to optimize lighting on the subject
Aim For High Production Value, Even on Low Budget

Keyword Optimization
20
We’ll discuss several techniques in this
ebook to optimize videos for YouTube SEO,
but the most important factor is using
keywords to optimize your video, from idea
through production to posting the final
product on YouTube.
Many of these steps will look familiar if you
use the topic archeology methodology
presented in this Masterclass. You can apply
several of those steps to hone in on topics
for video content.
First, try YouTube autocomplete to find video
content inspiration and see what target
audiences are searching for, and compile a
broad list of keywords and phrases to work
from for the next steps.
Use Google Trends and Adwords Keyword
Planner for data about the demand for
general video topics and keywords on your
list. Generally, keywords that see 1,000
Google searches per month are worthwhile
for targeting.

More About Keyword Optimization
21
Referencing sites like Quora.com,
AnswerthePeople.com and bloomberry.com
will identify the most popular questions
around a niche or keyword.
Google will associate certain search queries,
like “how to” with video, and prioritize more
YouTube content into results for those
keyword types. Marketers who target search
terms that Google prioritizes video results
for will see better SEO signals.
To get to a deeper level, we look at how
keywords perform on an individual video
level. Using the topic archeology structure,
hone in on keyword opportunities, and start
looking at what individual videos are most
popular within that keyword or niche.
Search for long tail keyword phrases that are
more specific. For example, “what to pack for
summer vacation in Vail” is more targeted
than typical results for either “what to pack
for Vail” or “what to pack for summer
vacation”.

Using Keywords in Video Copy
22
Each video needs a title (with keywords!),
description that is at least 250 words long and
tags that relate to other popular videos and top
keywords.
When writing video titles and descriptions, be sure
to consider “how would I search for this video if I
was looking for this answer?” Use the phrasing and
keywords that come to mind to craft a descriptive,
helpful title and description for the video.
Once videos are created and posted,
they need to be clearly identified with
titles, descriptions and tags.

23
Helpful Hints to Writing Effective Video Copy
Fits 100 characters,
truncated at 66
characters. Use
keywords, headline
bait and attention
getting tactics to
catch interest
Up to 5,000
characters, truncated
at 166 characters.
Include links to
product or info pages,
but use http:// to
make URLs clickable
Fits 120 characters.
Add tags in order of
importance and use
quotes to match long
tail keyword phrases
TITLE DESCRIPTION TAGS

Videos under three minutes rarely rank highly in
search results for general keywords.
25
YouTube has signaled that watch
time is a key ranking signal
source: Backlinko

26
According to Comscore, the average length
of online video is 4.4 minutes (as recently as
January), but YouTube is the one platform
where longer videos actually outperform
shorter videos.
YouTube has a selfish interest in promoting
videos that increase a user’s time on the
website. The truth is, longer videos that hold
attention accomplish this best. For that
reason, watch time is a ranking signal for
appearing higher in YouTube search results.
(We’ll discuss keyword optimization later.)
Watch time is measured in cumulative
minutes watched, and each video uploaded
(along with every YouTube channel) is ranked
by the watch time metric. Channel and
videos with higher watch times are likely to
show up higher in search results and
recommendations.
YouTube accounts initially limits video length
to 15 minutes, until accounts are verified.
Once verified, YouTube accounts can post
video that does not exceed 20GB in size.
Length is Important

27
That’s not to say that all of your YouTube
videos need to be over five minutes in
length, especially if delivering the “why” of
the video can be accomplished much sooner.
You can be successful generating views and
increasing watch time by breaking a longer
video, like a “How To,” into several shorter
videos focusing on a single step. Creating
digestible bits may better suit attention
spans and generates more views, overall, for
the channel.
One way to test how your audience
responds to video length is by taking those
shorter video bits and packaging them all
together into a longer video.
Creative editing, like using jump cuts to piece
together several (dozens or hundreds) little
clips, can help to extend the length of video
without tasking the presenter with rehearsal
and memorizing of scripts.
By presenting an explanation in both a series
of steps and a longer, complete package,
your audience can choose the best version
for themselves, and you win. by identifying
their preferences and increasing watch time.
More About Video Length

Audiences Can Search For Videos By Length
28
YouTube has recognized its audience’s
preferences for different video lengths,
and has built duration into search
filters. Users may choose to see video
results that are “Short (~4 minutes)” or
“Long (20~ minutes)” by using this
search filter, in addition to other watch
time signals like “View Count” and
“Result Type”.

Case Study of COMPLEX “Everyday Struggle” Series
COMPLEX is a creator community that presents
a modern take on news for primarily urban and
hip-hop audiences. It launched a morning talk
show, Everyday Struggle, on April 10th that
was intended to be a 15-minute daily show.
During rehearsals, the format was extended to
30 minutes and producers have now settled on
at least a 50-minute daily presentation that is
viewed between 300,000 to 400,000 times per
episode, in addition to millions of views on
show clips distributed across COMPLEX’s social
networks and website.
Source: Digiday, YouTube
“We didn’t have any proof of concept
that a daily, 45- to 55-minute show
was going to be something that could
work within YouTube’s algorithm, but
it’s certainly doing it.” - Dan Ghosh-Roy,
SVP of Audience Development for
Complex Networks

31
The purpose of any video can fall into one of
three categories: informative, educational or
entertainment. No matter the purpose of
your YouTube channel and individual videos,
there is desired action we want our viewers
to take. Whatever that action is, make sure
each video has a call to action (CTA) to help
achieve the end goal.
Depending on the CTA, you can use verbal
cues, text overlays, or CTA buttons within a
video to prompt the viewer to take action.
Presenting a CTA is multiple ways is also
effective as it reinforces the desired action.
If there is not external action you want a
viewer to take, than identify ways they can
help to enhance your YouTube channel
rankings.
‣ Encourage viewers to watch another video
‣ Subscribe to the channel
‣ Engage by liking, commenting or sharing
the video
Increasing shares and likes are in your best
interest, as they are also metrics that are
tied to top search rankings.
Include Calls to Action

32
Custom YouTube Cards Available To Drive CTAs
1 2 3 4
Video cards are free to use and are customized in Creator Studio
Suggest related or
popular videos,
including playlists
Promote another
channel or link to
external website
Create a poll to
survey viewers
Prompt a donation
for your nonprofit
or organizations
you support

Using YouTube Cards Effectively
‣ Cards appear as small rectangular boxes in
the top right hand corner of a video to give
viewers a preview of a message
‣ Cards expand upon click into the right side
of the player, or below the player on mobile
view. YouTube allows up to five cards per
video, placed where you select in the video
timeline
‣ Well placed cards reinforce a verbal call to
action or mention of a video or channel
‣ View the Cards Report in YouTube Analytics
to track progress and success of specific
cards and videos
33

Interactive Video Ads Take CTAs to Next level
YouTube also offers call to action promotion
through TrueView video ads to increase
interaction with viewers
In addition to Cards, interactive ads can include:
‣ CTA overlays that drive clicks to a website
‣ Shopping cards to encourage product
purchase
‣ Auto end screens generated by AdWords
campaign info that increase conversions or
app installs
More information on TrueView ad products can
be found here

36
End screens are YouTube cards that are
super-hyped and live in the final 20 seconds
of a video’s total run time, when they are
deployed by the creator.
Appearing as thumbnail overlays, end
screens encourage viewers to take a few
actions following the video, including click to
watch another video, visit a website,
subscribe to the channel and more. Creators
can deploy up to four end screens on 16:9
videos that are at least 25 seconds in length.
YouTube’s evolution to end screens helps the
platform and creators achieve two goals.
First, unlike end screens the previous
Annotations product did not appear on
mobile apps and players (Annotations was
completely discontinued in 2017).
Second, by adding up to 20 seconds to video
length, YouTube has improved watch time
across the site. Creators who consistently
use end cards can see an increase in watch
time per video and channel, and earn better
search rankings and authority that way.
Use End Screens

37
End Screens Feature Different Types of Content
1 2 3 4
Creators can use up to four end screen elements in one video, but can stagger each
one’s deployment in the final 20 seconds
Suggest videos or
playlists by
creator’s choice or
automated
selection
Encourage
channel
subscriptions
Link to your
website or
approved
merchandise and
crowdfunding
websites
Promote another
YouTube channel
with a custom
message

Create Purposeful End Screens That Are Repeatable
38
Shoot end screen videos separately with specific
calls to action that can be used on some or all of
your video end cards. These videos should be
15-20 seconds long to take advantage of the
end card length provided at the end of a video.
To use end screens effectively and consistently,
it is recommended to create an end screen
template for your channel that can be deployed
in every video. Such a template must be built in
post-production; it can not be added in Creative
Studio after the video is uploaded.

“Captions are beneficial because they result in
greater depth of processing by focusing
attention, reinforce the acquisition of vocabulary
through multiple modalities, and allow learners
to determine meaning through the unpacking of
language chunks.”
40
A study by Michigan State
University concluded:

41
Adding transcripts to YouTube videos that
contain speech or relevant audio help to
make the video accessible to those who may
not otherwise be able to fully understand
the video (ESL or deaf viewers, for example)
or who prefer to watch video with no sound.
YouTube rewards videos with transcripts by
boosting results in search rankings and
increasingly suggesting these videos.
Though YouTube provides its own automatic
captioning tool, do not rely on this auto
transcript to be accurate.
In fact, Google and YouTube do not index
auto-caption files due to the likelihood of
errors, especially if there is a more than one
speaker, poor audio or heavy accents.
To use the auto-caption file as a starting
point, you can export the transcription file,
edit it, rename the file and upload as a
transcript. Using a service like Rev.com is an
effective and low-cost way to transcribe
auto accurately and quickly.
It’s wise to also save these caption files for
use in Facebook or other distribution
channels for the video.
Transcribe Videos

Managing and Editing Caption Files
Access existing captions or upload new files
in YouTube Video Manager
1. Click the drop down menu next to the
Edit button of video you want to select
2. Select Subtitles/CC from the top
navigation menu
3. Click “Add new subtitles or CC button”
Note that Word (.doc) or Text (.txt) files are
not acceptable file types for caption files.
YouTube recommends using SubRip (.srt),
SubViewer (.sbv or .sub), LRC (.lrc) or MPsub
(.mpsub) as file types. Click for examples.

Engagement actions are social proof for YouTube
algorithms and your viewers
44
A video’s comment count
strongly correlates with
higher rankings.
source: Backlinko

Community Engagement
45
YouTube is a social network at heart, so
creators are rewarded when they encourage
and participate in dialogue with audiences.
Viewer engagement on YouTube includes
likes, comments and sharing actions. For the
purpose of driving valuable and repeatable
engagement, focus on comments and
respond as appropriate. Note that your own
engagement on YouTube doesn't always
have to be with your own viewing audience.
Sunny Lenarduzzi, a YouTube branding
expert, shares that she built her YouTube
brand presence by engaging with comments
and answering questions that were posted
onto popular videos and other channels
within her subject niche. These steps
created instant brand awareness and drove
new subscribers to her channel in the start-
up phase.
“Other channels out there have potential
subscribers just sitting there waiting for you.”
— Sunny Lenarduzzi

How Comments Can Become Part of the Content
Prompt social engagement from the video, but
also celebrate those viewers who engage by
making them part of the content. One way to
do this is to screen shot comments or replicate
them in graphics, and give viewers shout-outs
in future episodes.
The soccer channel, Copa90, produces a weekly
show that is based on comments from their
viewers (see image at left) and drives tens of
thousands of comments in these episodes.

Manage Playlists
Once you have a handful of (or several)
videos published to YouTube and in the
production pipeline, it’s necessary to
organize them in a way that’s meaningful
and helps the audience with discovery.
YouTube offers playlists as organization
tools. Playlists, when used effectively, can
also drive search traffic, views, and watch
time for your channel.
The key to putting together strong playlists
is to put similar videos together.
Videos in a playlist should be categorized by
the same keyword topic, niche, episodes of a
series, or even videos that can be binge-
watched at one time.
Keyword rich playlists gives YouTube, and the
viewer, deeper information about your
video’s topics. Keep this in mind when
naming your playlists. Playlist descriptions
can be up to 5,000 words, allowing creators
to include several keywords and phrases to
help YouTube identify the purpose of the
playlist and content it contains.

Leveraging Playlists Across the Web
‣ When done well, playlists can rank on their own in
YouTube and Google search results
‣ Playlists have a unique URL that promotes
autoplay of videos, increasing potential watch
time for viewers who start by watching a single
video in the playlist
‣ Embed playlists on a website or blog, like you
would a single YouTube video. If videos are added,
removed or reordered the original URL and
embed codes won’t change and will update to
show the latest version
‣ Share playlists in social media and link in email
newsletters to drive awareness and views

Understand Metrics
51
In the early days of social media, two
numbers mattered: how many followers you
have on an account and how many video
views you had on a video. Marketers are
evolving their thinking to put less weight
behind those representations of vanity and
more emphasis on data that shows value
back to the business, including leads
generated and conversions of any kind.
The same thing is happening on YouTube, led
by the channel itself. Recently, YouTube
removed the reporting of video views from
YouTube Analytics all together.
Views have been replaced with watch time,
measured in cumulative minutes watched
for every video on YouTube and and every
channel as well. Watch time, as we’ve
detailed throughout this ebook, is a key
ranking signal and YouTube will optimize for
driving and increasing watch time wherever
possible through its products and solutions
for creators to use.
A key component of the watch time is the
percentage of video viewed, or average view
duration, which helps to equalize between a
45-second video watched in full and a 10-
minute video watched for a minute.

More About Understanding Metrics
52
While the cumulative watch time of the
longer video would naturally be longer than
the shorter video that runs less than a
minute, YouTube takes into account the
percentage of the video that was viewed. In
this consideration, the shorter video that is
watched nearly to completion every time
signals the content is more valuable than the
longer video with a shorter average view
duration.
Another key metric to track for channel
success is subscribers. Subscribers commit
to stay connected to a channel and receive
the first notifications when new content is
added. Subscribers are more engaged,
create community within a channel, and are
more likely to promote your brand, products
or mission. YouTube Analytics will show how
many subscribers are gained from specific
videos, as well as showing the trend lines
over time.

Potential KPI’s
53
Source: think with Google

54
Gauging Success Using YouTube Analytics
Helpful when tracking
new videos, this
dashboard gives an
estimate on real-time
views for the last 25
published videos
Break down how
many minutes
viewers are watching,
who the viewers are,
how they discover
videos, and average
view duration
Know how audiences
are responding to
specific videos and
features like cards or
end screens, and if
they engaged with or
shared after viewing
REAL TIME WATCH TIME ENGAGEMENT

Go Live
56
Live streaming is the hottest trend in online
video. Though the concept and habits of
watching live video online is not new to
most Internet users, the advances in mobile
technology allows anyone with a mobile
device to become a live broadcaster with a
tap of the “record” button.
The draw of live video is the exclusivity of
content that can be experienced in real-time
and allow viewers to be part of the story as
it happens. Getting that inside peek into
events, competition, or company culture is
exciting for viewers.
In March 2015, YouTube relaunched its live
streaming products with a focus on e-sports
and gaming, and has slowly opened it up to
creators.
YouTube Live is available on three different
platforms that are tied together:
YouTube.com, YouTube mobile app and
YouTube gaming. Any creator with at least
1,000 subscribers can go live either on
YouTube.com or the mobile app.

More About Going Live
57
Before going live, creators should be open to
the challenges and difficulty live streaming
can present. Its imperative to test Internet
connections and equipment in advance.
Audio and video quality are equally
important for live video. If either falter, the
audience will not think twice to leave.
Rehearse, rather than ad-lib, your content or
plans for the live show. Know up front the
kind of broadcast you want to do, and how
its related to the goals of the business.
To determine what time of day to air a live
broadcast, consider the target audience and
the best time for them to tune in.
In Creator Studio, broadcasters can opt to
stream immediately, or schedule Events that
will allow for stream previews, backup
streams and start/stop at nay time.
Scheduled events can be promoted in
advance using a dedicated link and providing
a live stream trailer to give audiences a
preview of what’s to come.
Even in live video, quality is of the top importance

59
‣ YouTube Creator Academy
‣ Re:View YouTube Weekly Email
‣ Think With Google
‣ BOSS YouTube Channel Checklist (Sunny Lenarduzzi)
‣ How To DIY: Home Video Recording Studio Setup + Video Editing (Teachable)
‣ How to Create Outstanding Video Content on a Budget (Digital Marketing Institute)
‣ How To Succeed With Business Video (Wistia Library)
‣ Uploading To YouTube: The Ultimate Checklist For Video Marketing (The Sales Lion)
‣ YouTube Live: The Ultimate Guide to Live Streaming on YouTube (Tubular Insight)
Resources For Your Reference

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11 Required Elements to YouTube Success

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