I had a discussion with some friends about how to market their businesses on YouTube, and it prompted me to write a post about it. YouTube can be an extremely effective local search marketing tool, and many people have heard they should be using it to market their business. But most people that I know aren’t doing it. I think there are a few reasons for this.
A big reason many businesses don’t take advantage of YouTube for local online marketing, is because they think they must have professionally produced videos. This just isn’t true. With smart phones, many people have all the tools they need to create videos that are good enough for YouTube right in their pockets at all times. If you want to have a more professional feel, tools like Animoto.com makes it really easy.
Many people think they don’t have time for creating videos. Again, this is nonsense. Smartphones make it incredibly easy to shoot videos and upload them to YouTube. You don’t need to spend hours in video editing software. This is YouTube, not HBO.
Need ideas for video content? That’s easy! You can take videos showing off your latest project or new products. You could record video testimonials or interview new employees. Camera shy? Use Animoto.com to create videos out of photos. There are all kinds of opportunities for content. Just use your imagination.
Ok so now you have some ideas for content and are ready to get started. Now how do you optimize your videos for maximum local search marketing results?
First, use your keywords in the title of your video. If you are a plumber in Miami, use “Miami Plumber” or “Plumbers in Miami” in your video titles. Use the keywords again in your description of your video.
There is one other thing you should do in your descriptions that is very important for local search marketing. Add your business name, address, phone number, and website. This acts like a citation for your business and will help you rank better in Google+ Local. You could also link to your Google+ Local page.
Once you have your video uploaded and optimized, don’t forget to give it a little love and share it on all of your social media profiles.
Two things can happen when you create these optimized videos on YouTube. At minimum, it can help your website and Google+ Local pages rank higher in the search engines. But even better, these videos can rank on the first page of Google themselves for the keywords you’re targeting. When that happens, you leave one less spot on that first page for your competitor!
I hope this post will inspire you to consider marketing your business on YouTube. It’s a highly effective tactic that we employ in our local search marketing service because it works very well.