As the second-largest search engine in the world, YouTube is not only a great medium for connecting with your audience, but it’s also a powerful direct distribution channel.
When you use Gumroad with YouTube, fans are just two clicks from purchasing your work. However, with 100 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every minute, it’s easy for content to get lost in the noise. That’s why we’ve put together this checklist of simple optimizations you can use to improve views, clicks, and of course, sales.
What Type of Content Converts?
There are many types of video content that can be used to promote your project. The key is to keep it relevant and valuable. Here are a few examples:
Movie Trailers: Motonomad
Product Demos: Smart Podcast Player
Lessons/tutorials: Krista Striker
Behind the Scenes: Cracking the Code
Filmmaker Adam Riemann made over $16,000 just from direct YouTube sales in 4 months.
Best Practices
1. Title: Titles are important both to let your audience and YouTube’s algorithms know what your content is about.
Will Terrell’s titles are clear and descriptive.
- Will the viewer know what the video is about at a glance?
- Are you communicating why this will be interesting to them?
- No more than 60 characters (but even shorter is better).
- Put relevant keywords at the beginning of the title.
- Put episode numbers at the end of the title.
Pro tip: Use the Google AdWords Display Planner to help determine your strategic keywords.
Thumbnail: Your thumbnail shows up in several different places and sizes around YouTube: in search results, your channel page, suggested video list, on mobile devices, etc. Make sure it represents your content in the best possible way no matter what.
Vsauce and the art of the thumbnail.
- Always use a custom thumbnail.
- Use a .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, or .PNG file under 2MB.
- Use a high resolution image of 1280 px x 720px, 16:9 aspect ratio.
- Make sure it looks good really small (make it clear, close-up, bright, and high-contrast).
- Accurately represent your content.
Pro tip: Make sure your account is verified and in good standing to have the ability to upload custom thumbnails.
Description: The description is another place for audiences and YouTube’s discovery systems to understand your content. Be descriptive, but be concise!
Adam Riemann’s description contains his Gumroad link in the first line.
- Describe your video in 1-3 sentences. The first 2-3 lines appear above the fold on your video’s page, and only ~140 characters appear in search results, so include important info and links to your product at the beginning.
- Include relevant keywords.
- Mirror any links you provided in annotations, because annotations don’t appear on mobile. Provide other helpful links to resources mentioned in the video.
Pro tip: Use a URL shortener such as Bitly to track link clicks from your description.
Remember that these there are closely related. Your title, thumbnail, and description should each be compelling but should be coherent when taken together.
Title + Thumbnail + Description = A Cohesive Story
Annotations: Annotations are a great way to insert a call to action in your video. They can be used to send viewers to your project on Gumroad, watch another video, or subscribe to your YouTube channel. Unfortunately annotations don’t appear on mobile (which is now 40% of YouTube’s watch time), so make sure to include annotated links in the description as well.
- Timing: When asking a viewer to buy something, it’s often best to wait till the end of the video. For other annotations during the video, usually 5-7 seconds is best.
- Don’t bombard viewers. If including a link during the video, keep it small and don’t obstruct the content. Use as few calls to action as possible. 1-2 is preferable.
- Positioning: For annotations during the video, avoid the lower third and very top of the frame because ads and the player will block these areas. Most importantly, don’t obstruct the viewing experience. Placing links on the upper left or right side is typically best.
- Use spotlight annotations, which are subtle linked areas with an outline around them indicating that they can be clicked.
- Create an “end-card”, which is a 10-20 second section at the end of your video that contains links to the next actions you want your viewers to take. These are especially effective when done with spotlight annotations.
- Optimize your copy. Use a concise, clear call to action such as “Get the film” or “Download ‘Shotgun’ here.” Avoid all caps and loud colors, but make sure the letters contrast with their background.
- Keep it relevant. Only include links that directly relate to the video.
Pro tip: Try linking to a free Gumroad product (such as a song or ebook) to convert your anonymous YouTube viewers into fans you can stay in touch with.
We hope you found these tips helpful! As always, let us know what you think.
