This second in a two-part article looks at how YouTube's free Traffic Source tools will help you quantify your return on your YouTube video investment (ROI) and reveal the effectiveness of your campaigns and traffic boosting strategies.
Suggested Videos: after a video is seen by a viewer, YouTube suggests a range of other videos related by subject and genre which they can go on to watch. It suggests content which YouTube's algorithm software believes might also be of interest. This tool indicates the number of viewers who watched your videos as a consequence of these suggestions and informs you which video drove the viewer to click onto your material.
This can provide you valuable information in terms of the sort of content your target viewer is also watching. Lateral searches results are a very useful way to improve your SEO rankings. This should inspire you into various actions - create similar content if appropriate, include tags to cover the keywords that might have been used for the original video, form relationships with the suggested video creator (if appropriate), as well as use the information to strengthen your SEO links outside YouTube.
YouTube, Channel Page: this statistical tool tells you the number of times that a viewer reached your video via your Channel page or clicked through from another user's Channel page. Again, creating relationships with other users and encouraging subscriptions increases your exposure within the YouTube community. Without question, the more often other people see your work from other peoples Channels, the higher your click-through rate will be.
YouTube, Featured Video: if you are a YouTube Partner then your video might well appear as a Featured Videos (FV). FVs are not adverts or paid placements, and are rotated throughout the day to keep the main site's content new and innovative. Occasionally, videos which have suddenly become very popular or talked about might be chosen as an FV. Featured Videos are shown as a video thumbnail. This tool indicates the number of click-throughs that your FV thumbnail has generated.
YouTube, Other: you can learn which other pages on YouTube are pushing viewers to your content. This will include the home page, other people's channel pages, a play-list which a YouTube user has set up or YouTube's category pages. By improving your tags and keywords(using tools referred to in Part 1), you can improve your prospects of appearing on the search results of category listings.
Engaging with other members of your niche community will help you raise the visibility of your content so it is more likely to appear on channel pages and playlists.
YouTube, Search and Search Link: Again, this is a very useful analytic tool which discloses the number of viewers who have reached your video thanks to your presence on YouTube search results. This is another source of data to guide you on all aspects of tagging and keyword selection for your publishing programme on YouTube as well as what to create content on.
The tool will indicates the number of click-throughs you've gained from each specific keyword. By identifying what keywords were used to find your video, you can ensure future titles, descriptions, URL options, tags, and keywords include the most popular or lateral keywords. In refining your titles to include words that people respond to, you can boost your rankings in search results and establish the topics and subjects to concentrate on.
YouTube Subscription Modules: as indicated in the title, this refers to views you've received from your subscribers. It shows you when your subscribers clicked your video within one of the subscription notification modules. All content publishers hope for active subscribers who are engaged with the material you create.
Seeing what topics and themes are most popular with your subscribers will guide your future editorial programme. Spend time and resources creating videos that your subscribers want to see. As the tool also tells you how soon after uploading each video your subscribers clicked to watch, you can get an indication of the best times to upload content to ensure maximum views.
Video Annotation: this tool will tell you whether your viewer reached you via a link embedded in a footnote in another YouTube video. Interacting with others in your community will increase the likelihood that other content creators will refer to your video in their content. Create momentum by making references to people you recommend (and let them know you've done so).
It is another way to see how popular your content is becoming within your niche community so you can judge whether or not to produce more of the same sort of material in the future.
Using the free Traffic Source tools provided by YouTube can give you real and valuable appreciation on your viewers' activities and behaviour. The data can show you where you should concentrate your resources in producing content which is of genuine value and interest to your niche community. It can guide your investment decisions on resources and equipment, as well as indicate how best to maximise your SEO approaches to make your videos known to its target audience.
Sumi Olson (author of the Amazon five-star rated, "How to Manage Your Social Media Marketing in 30 Minutes A Day"), is an author, speaker, diamond-rated article writer, consultant and trainer on social media, content creation strategies, and business development.
With 25 years' experience in book publishing, business development, online selling, sales & marketing, Sumi is committed to reducing overwhelm and turning insights into implementation. Through speaking events, books, programmes & workshops, she helps you further your publishing or writing aspirations, meet sales, marketing & management objectives, or master social media & online branding.
As a working mother herself, she's passionate about helping people create a great work-life balance so that they can spend more time on the things that matter in life - hobbies, friends, and family.
Connect with her on Twitter (@sumiolson), LinkedIn http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sumiolson or visit http://www.learningbusinessskills.com to sign up for her free fortnightly newsletter.
