Getting views on YouTube not only requires that you make an amazing video so it is shared virally on social media, but also that you do your own forms of marketing to create awareness.  You cannot expect to get views on YouTube by simply uploading the video and naming it “New Video 01” or something meaningless.

Instead, you need to optimise your video so that it is picked up by people searching on search engines, and also so that it has attention grabbing titles and thumbnail images that gets noticed on social sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.

If you are having problems getting views for your videos, here are a few ways to market it so that you increase your viewers.

1.)  Use of Keyword Targeted Title, Description and Tags

Viewers need to identify your video before they can even think of viewing it.  It needs to grab people’s attention even before people watch it.  Naming your video file and title accurately allows searchers to find your video when searching on major search engines, like Youtube and Google.  For instance, if your video is about “whiteboard animation“, ensure that it includes that keyword within the title, description and tags.  You can also add additional words to the title, description and tags so you rank (appear in search engine) for those terms too, such as whiteboard animation services

Always ensure that titles for your videos are appealing, short and engaging.  Let it leave the viewer in a little bit of suspense so that he/she is pushed to viewing the video to fulfill their desire.

2.)  Adequate and Appropriate Sharing

If you are trying to reach as many viewers as possible, then you need to spread out your net for better and a wider coverage.  This is why you need to share the video to as many networks and social sites as possible.  This should be done as soon as you post it so as to arouse attention.  Imagine seeing a video on in one social site, ignore it then see the same on a different site.  Probability is that you will not be able to just ignore it again a you will want to know what the fuss is all about.

• Sharing through Emailing

Share the video to those known to you directly through emailing.  These people will definitely view it and in turn send it to a few of their other friends.  This chain will keep enlarging and the end result is that your video gets more views.  To ensure that the video is viewed, pose a question to engage the people.

If you don’t have many people to send emails to then I highly recommend you build your own email subscriber lists using email auto-responder software such as Aweber, GetResponse, MailChimp or some of the more expensive ones like Infusionsoft.  Some of these have more features than others.  These will help you capture emails using a contact form and then allow you to send out automated follow-up messages or one-off broadcast messages easily and simply.

They also allow you to store thousands of email addresses.  Bare in mind that the more email subscribers you have, the price increases, so it is a good idea to try to have targeted and “buyer” subscribers rather than “freebie” seekers.  Business is about making money in the long run after all.

If you are looking to build an email list of buyers then a creative strategy that has worked well for me is to review products in the related industry/niche that have an affiliate program and then give away a bonus for anyone who buys the product through your affiliate link.  Make sure you get them to clear their web browser cookies before they click on your link to ensure the affiliate tracking is linked to you and not someone else’s and ensure you get the affiliate commission.

A good place to find related affiliate programs is on Clickbank or browse for affiliate networks using Offervault or Odigger.

• Sharing through social media

Social media is going viral and sharing your video through social media will draw attention to millions of people. Share it on Facebook, Twitter etc. Allow your video to go viral too.

• Sharing through blogs and/or websites

If you already have a blog or website you are running, it would be effective to share your video here so that your already existing followers can view the video.  If you do not have one of these, then you can ask friends running blogs and websites to allow you use their network to post your video.  By reaching out to their fans first, you are bound to expound your coverage and get more views.  These are great ways to market your videos.

3.)  Video Editing

Once you have created your video, edit it to suit viewers expectations.  For example: take out the white space that may act as a distraction.  If there were any pauses when creating it, remove them before posting the video so that there is a continuous flow of activities. Anything that will distract or kill a viewers moral to watch the video is a NO NO and it should not be a part of the video.  Ensure that it does not look like an amateur is trying to hard as it will not give you the number of views you expect.

An audio track can work wonders in not only drawing attention but also in spicing up the video.  If you had any sound difficulties, then the sound track may just hide that aspect leaving your video next to perfect.  YouTube has made this easier for you by providing some sound tracks ready for application before posting your video.

4.)  Use of Annotations

Annotation is a tool meant to draw attention from individuals.  If you are looking at marketing your video, then it is advisable that you use call-to-action annotations.  In this, you can add a speech bubble annotation under the subscribe button to your previous videos.

Also, you can apply the click-to-action annotations.  With this, your subscribers can subscribe by clicking an annotation that is inside your video.  You can add an image, graphic etc to the video then you outlay it with a “spotlight” annotation which in turns links directly to your channel subscribe page.

5.)  Create Links and Consistently Interact

Linking videos is a great way of growing your views. Linking creates a network that never ends on the internet. Linking your video is a great way of marketing it as more people get to view it.  It is not necessary that someone may have been looking for a video but in the event that the content they were searching for is related to your video, then here is an opportunity to market it.  If you had created a link for it, then the video also pops during the search and the individual’s attention is diverted towards your video.

For your links to market your video, make it interactive.  Features such as posing questions or requesting for comments which you are obligated to reply to, will definitely get you more views.  A subscriber commenting on your post will get to his followers who will then be like it or also comment and the chain keeps going.

These tips should get your videos out in the market for viewing.  More viewers will gain access to your video and not only will they come across it but also take their time to also view it and in turn share it to their friends.