It’s as easy as ABC – if you want to become the favorite YouTube vlogger for thousands of viewers, you have to get more free YouTube views. What is a YouTube view? Nowadays it’s not just another video playback with a page reloading. Genuine views are counted when a user starts a video intentionally or watches it at least for 30 seconds. And there is the main challenge – to get viewers to stay engaged with your video for these 30 seconds. Importantly, they should also want to enjoy your other videos as well. Basically, you need to get more views on YouTube. What should you do to make this possible? Let’s find out.
How to get more views on YouTube without cost
Your YouTube channel needs action! It is not enough just to upload a video and wait till somebody watches and likes it. In order to get more free YouTube views and be a successful YouTube vlogger, you need to do your best to attract viewers to your channel. But don’t worry – it’s not that hard, especially with this ultimate list of the easiest ways to get more views on YouTube we’ve prepared for you today.
Rock your audience
Make sure your content is compelling and resonates with your audience. You should know what content is preferred by your viewers, but if for some reason you have no clue what to publish, don’t be shy about asking your community about their preferences. It’s a tried-and-true method for finding out what your viewers like to watch. If you want to keep your audience loyal and get more views on YouTube, publish videos that somehow solve their problems or answer their questions.
Ask for subscriptions
You may have heard that vloggers usually ask viewers to subscribe to their channels. You may think “Why do they do it? Will it help?” After all, if a viewer wants to subscribe, they will, and there is no need to ask for every video. But in fact, not all viewers click on the “Subscribe button” and they may need a bit of prompting. So don’t underestimate this simple request, as it is one of the best free ways to get more views. Apart from that, you should ask your viewers to click on the bell to get notifications every time you publish a new video so they don’t miss out on any updates.
Optimize search rankings
Don’t forget that YouTube is a search engine, so if you want to get more views on YouTube, do your best to improve your videos’ search rankings. You need to know not just what your viewers like to watch, but also how they search to find it. It all starts with research, and you can use Google Keyword Planner to do some. This practice will help you understand search patterns and find keywords that are popular, but don’t result in many videos. If you can find keywords like that, it means that the competition in that niche is pretty low. So, you should add the keywords you selected to your video metadata, and get more views on YouTube that way.
Use the “sequel” technique
Your main goal in terms of this trick is to get your video listed in the “Suggested videos” section. How can you do that? You will need to find the most popular video published by your biggest rival – someone who creates content in the same niche and is already popular. Then consider some ideas for creating a video that could be a sequel to that one. That way, you boost your chances of your video being suggested by YouTube. By leveraging this technique you accomplish two goals at once – get more views on YouTube and add value to your viewers’ experience.
Create thumbnails
Thumbnails may help your potential viewers make the decision to watch your video. Put simply, thumbnails are attention grabbers. An effective thumbnail is clear and helps the viewer understand what the video is about from the first glance. Don’t try to mislead your audience because if you disappoint them, this may affect your watch time, and the YouTube algorithm will notice. That’s not what you’re aiming for. But at the same time, the thumbnail should not be too simple – make it appealing and connect it to your video’s title and/or topic.
Create playlists
To get more free YouTube views and keep channel visitors consuming your videos, you may want to try using the power of video playlists. This way, you can increase the chances that viewers will stay on your channel and watch your videos one by one. If your content is engaging and your thumbnails are eye-catching, playlists might work well for you. Moreover, there are additional benefits hidden in playlists – you can add additional keywords and make your videos rise in the search rankings. Playlists help you lead your audience through your best content in one place, so it is also a good promotional tool.
Be exceptional
Making videos that are interesting and trending is good but you can do even better by offering something extra. For example, if you know that your audience likes your “how-to” videos and that you have fans who not only wait for your new release, but love your personality, try to spice up your video. While showing a tutorial, touch upon the related topic, invite some interesting guests, and hold an interview – especially with other YouTubers in the same or related niche. That way, you can boost the value of your channel for both your viewers and others.
Leverage partnerships
Being awesome and creating captivating content is great but it could be even better if you invite someone for a YouTube partnership – possibly expanding on collaboration from interviews or livestreams. Of course, any YouTuber you choose for a partnership should share the same values as you, and be someone your audience would like to see. But one of the most important conditions is that you should resonate with your partner, because chemistry is definitely something viewers pick up and pay attention to. If you and your partner create a series of collaborative videos, include them in a single playlist for your viewers to enjoy all in one place.
Embedding is king
Make sure you enable embedding. This feature helps your users share your videos seamlessly via their blogs and websites to share with their audiences. Isn’t it exciting? There are two methods to enable embedding:
- simply open YouTube Studio, click “Content”, find the necessary video and click “Edit”, then toggle on “Embedding”
- open the Creator Studio, proceed to the “Edit” page, and choose “Advanced Settings”, then find the “Distribution options” section and check the “Allow Embedding” box.
Mind the watch time
Though you need only 30 seconds to make your videos count as viewed, it doesn’t mean you should stop there. YouTube’s algorithm notices everything. The longer viewers consume your videos, the more weight the algorithm assigns to them according to the YouTube recommendation engine. So, there is a good chance for your content and your whole channel to be recommended if your watch time increases beyond the initial thirty seconds. Apart from that, if you promote other videos and refer them to your viewers, you can also increase watch time.
Promote on social media
What is uploaded to YouTube should stay only on YouTube. Of course, you should also be sharing your content on every social media channel you have. However, that doesn’t mean that you should just copy and paste the link to your YouTube video to your social media accounts. That won’t win more views, unfortunately, nor will it help your CTR. You’ll also want to avoid reposting your video on other social media platforms, since that will pull views away from your YouTube channel. In other words, if you share a video on Instagram via IGTV, it will promote your Instagram account, not your YouTube one. What you should do to promote videos on social networks effectively in order to get more views on YouTube is add a trailer as a native video to your social account, containing the plot and main shots of your full YouTube video and leave a link to it. Make it catchy and intriguing to persuade your subscribers to click the link and watch the full video on YouTube.
Use the power of Connected TV
As CTV is developing by leaps and bounds, growing its audience year by year, it is high time to leverage it to promote your videos to get more views on YouTube. What is especially great, you don’t have to create anything from scratch and wait for too long to enjoy the benefits of broadcasting on CTV. If you don’t know where to start, you can always turn to CTV professionals for help, such as VlogBox. VlogBox is a video distribution and monetization company that makes it easy for content creators to attract new audiences and boost revenues. If you strive to increase the number of your YouTube videos views, contact the VlogBox team and let them create a channel for you, one that can turn into an additional source of dedicated viewers. Be sure that every step from development to management and support will be accomplished by true experts who know how to turn your efforts into success.
And the last but not the least tip – always have a plan. Unfortunately, you can’t just publish random videos willy-nilly. You should thoroughly think over every publication and the message it conveys. Don’t forget about the call to action – an integral part of every video as it engages your audience and gives them an incentive to take action. It’s about keeping your viewers interested and longing for more.
The takeaways
To get more views on your YouTube channel, first, you should make sure your channel looks good and your content is catchy. With the helpful tips mentioned above, you’ll handle this part easily. It is not a matter of a single tactic – it is a complex of various practices you should be implementing constantly. First of all, focus on creating awesome content that will be appreciated by your target audience. Then optimize it together with your channel and implement promotion techniques that will help you increase your reach. And, of course, follow trends and maximize the chance of getting new views by leveraging the advantages of connected TV technologies. If your goal is popularity and monetization, then you want to get more views on YouTube by leveraging these helpful tips – and you can’t go wrong with the advice we’ve shared in this article. Good luck!