Getting found on youtube?

[BlackHeart]

Any tips for getting found on Youtube? It seems to be easy to get lost.

[rhancox]

Good keywords, so your videos will be on the first page of a search.

Find a popular video to link yours to.

Comment on other similar videos with a suggestion to check your version out.

Be really good.

[Cue Zephyr]

Doesn't help, doesn't help, doesn't help and probably does help.
Or maybe I just suck myself.


Wait, no, I don't.

Just do what you do, put in a nice description, be yourself, maybe talk a couple of seconds as an intro to your video. Try to connect with your viewers, etc. That's where I fail. Also - if you can, do covers of popular songs. It will get you some additional views.

[rhancox]

Originally Posted by Cue Zephyr

Doesn't help, doesn't help, doesn't help and probably does help.
Or maybe I just suck myself.


Wait, no, I don't.

Just do what you do, put in a nice description, be yourself, maybe talk a couple of seconds as an intro to your video. Try to connect with your viewers, etc. That's where I fail. Also - if you can, do covers of popular songs. It will get you some additional views.

Maybe I should have prefaced with, "this might help".

YouTube is like the internet. Content won't get viewed unless it can be found in a search. The trick is to know what people are looking for and pattern your content and keywords accordingly. That gets you noticed.

The being good part will get people to subscribe and/or come back to watch more of your videos. You could be the second coming of Tommy Emmanuel but nobody will know it until people find you. Sure, some people may stumble upon your videos, but if you're not amazing, those people won't be letting anybody else know what they saw.

All your suggestions are good advice. However, things like "being yourself", won't get you found. They may make you popular once you get found though.

[Losov]

Start here - post the URL of your channel.

[BULLSPRIG]

Craziest thing I ever saw on You Tube was a guy in high school playing Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" before a live audience. Granted, he was unbelievably good. But the crazy thing was, that clip had nearly 3 times the views as the actual Eric Johnson original.

[Cue Zephyr]

And then there's the Will It Blend videos.

Maybe I'm just not cut out for it.
I wish you good luck.

[SimplyLuo]

Put your heart into your playing, and try to be the nicest guy on earth when you're on youtube
rhancox and cue gave some very good suggestions

And yes, share your youtube with us!
Jon

[Patriot24]

As someone that has a lot of experience posting videos on Youtube (hundreds), I do have a bit of insight here. My insight is not necessarily "how to get big", but rather just some realities and grounded expectations about your quest.

First, I can say that if your sole goal of being on Youtube is to get famous, things probably aren't going to happen for you. I've watched a lot of folks start out by just posting a vid or two to show friends, get some success, and then start changing their style to continue said success. Unfortunately, it shows in your videos when you're doing something you don't want to just to get noticed (I.E. "selling out").

As lame and cliche as it may sound, "be yourself" is the best advice anyone can give you. The acts that really stick out are those that are different and have their own unique style, quirks, and emotion (see: propea). That's the irony of people saying that you should cover popular songs and change your style to be like others that have stood out - you end up just blending in with all of the other people trying to do the same.

I'll be completely honest with you, there have been times that I have thought to myself "I need to cover that new song from xyz artist so that I'll be the first one in the search and more people will see my videos". Then I realize that I'm not Lady GaGa (...or am I...) and I am ashamed of myself for even thinking about stepping outside of who I am just for some views from people I don't know. I recognize that for me guitar is a hobby - I'm not going to be rocking any NFL stadiums anytime soon (and by 'soon', I mean 'ever'). Not trying to be a downer, this is just reality for me. With that said, why in the world should I go outside of my style and genre preferences - I don't want to be that guy.

Now that I've said all of that, I can give you some practical tips around the technical side of things that can help (I work in the Community/Social Media Space):

1. Brand - if you are really serious about getting discovered via a medium like YouTube, you need to build a strong brand. This means that you should have a Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc with the same, unified goal of driving traffic to your Youtube and connecting with people that like what you do. Sound like a lot of work? It is. Welcome to the party.

2. Titles - As many have mentioned, other users' ability to find your content easily is everything (whether they're specifically looking for you or not). One of the best things you can do is pay attention to your titles, descriptions, tags, and so forth on your videos. I suggest always having the following things in your video titles - Name of artist (who you're covering or your name, or both), Song title, and the type of content (I.E. "Acoustic Cover", "Original", "Guitar Cover"). Yes, proper spelling, capitalization, and grammar are important - It looks more professional.

3. Descriptions - it is always nice to give a little information about how you found the song and why it means something to you (if a cover), how you came up with the idea for the song (if original), etc. You want people to connect with you (remember, brand). Go ahead and include lyrics as well and any links to other artists that may have inspired you. For the gear heads, always include a description of the gear you used.

4. Tags - Again, artist name, song title, song type, your name, equipment that you used in the video, etc. Also, include names of artists that are similar to the style of that video. I also like to paste the complete tag list at the end of the description box for more search goodness.

5. Production - You don't necessarily need to have the greatest camera on the market and spend 7 days editing your video, but it does help to have a camera capable of decent quality video and solid audio. Some people record their audio through their equipment and sync it to the video, which is a nice touch. Bottom line, people like good quality video.

6. Respond to Comments - No, you don't have to respond to every single comment, but again, people like to be connected to the artist. If you have a few spare minutes to thank people for commenting or respond to their questions, that will go a long way into building a base of loyal followers.

I'm sure there is more, but those are the main pieces I can think of off the top of my head. Even if you do all of these to a T, they do not ensure success. At the end of the day people need to like you and your music for you.

Just my 2 cents

[muscmp]

Originally Posted by Patriot24

As someone that has a lot of experience posting videos on Youtube (hundreds), I do have a bit of insight here. My insight is not necessarily "how to get big", but rather just some realities and grounded expectations about your quest.

First, I can say that if your sole goal of being on Youtube is to get famous, things probably aren't going to happen for you. I've watched a lot of folks start out by just posting a vid or two to show friends, get some success, and then start changing their style to continue said success. Unfortunately, it shows in your videos when you're doing something you don't want to just to get noticed (I.E. "selling out").

As lame and cliche as it may sound, "be yourself" is the best advice anyone can give you. The acts that really stick out are those that are different and have their own unique style, quirks, and emotion (see: propea). That's the irony of people saying that you should cover popular songs and change your style to be like others that have stood out - you end up just blending in with all of the other people trying to do the same.

I'll be completely honest with you, there have been times that I have thought to myself "I need to cover that new song from xyz artist so that I'll be the first one in the search and more people will see my videos". Then I realize that I'm not Lady GaGa (...or am I...) and I am ashamed of myself for even thinking about stepping outside of who I am just for some views from people I don't know. I recognize that for me guitar is a hobby - I'm not going to be rocking any NFL stadiums anytime soon (and by 'soon', I mean 'ever'). Not trying to be a downer, this is just reality for me. With that said, why in the world should I go outside of my style and genre preferences - I don't want to be that guy.

Now that I've said all of that, I can give you some practical tips around the technical side of things that can help (I work in the Community/Social Media Space):

1. Brand - if you are really serious about getting discovered via a medium like YouTube, you need to build a strong brand. This means that you should have a Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc with the same, unified goal of driving traffic to your Youtube and connecting with people that like what you do. Sound like a lot of work? It is. Welcome to the party.

2. Titles - As many have mentioned, other users' ability to find your content easily is everything (whether they're specifically looking for you or not). One of the best things you can do is pay attention to your titles, descriptions, tags, and so forth on your videos. I suggest always having the following things in your video titles - Name of artist (who you're covering or your name, or both), Song title, and the type of content (I.E. "Acoustic Cover", "Original", "Guitar Cover"). Yes, proper spelling, capitalization, and grammar are important - It looks more professional.

3. Descriptions - it is always nice to give a little information about how you found the song and why it means something to you (if a cover), how you came up with the idea for the song (if original), etc. You want people to connect with you (remember, brand). Go ahead and include lyrics as well and any links to other artists that may have inspired you. For the gear heads, always include a description of the gear you used.

4. Tags - Again, artist name, song title, song type, your name, equipment that you used in the video, etc. Also, include names of artists that are similar to the style of that video. I also like to paste the complete tag list at the end of the description box for more search goodness.

5. Production - You don't necessarily need to have the greatest camera on the market and spend 7 days editing your video, but it does help to have a camera capable of decent quality video and solid audio. Some people record their audio through their equipment and sync it to the video, which is a nice touch. Bottom line, people like good quality video.

6. Respond to Comments - No, you don't have to respond to every single comment, but again, people like to be connected to the artist. If you have a few spare minutes to thank people for commenting or respond to their questions, that will go a long way into building a base of loyal followers.

I'm sure there is more, but those are the main pieces I can think of off the top of my head. Even if you do all of these to a T, they do not ensure success. At the end of the day people need to like you and your music for you.

Just my 2 cents

sounds like very wise recommendations to me!

[Cue Zephyr]

Thanks P24 for the post even though I do many of those things you've mentioned. Things I don't do include not really doing anything with the brand, I've just linked my YouTube to my Twitter and Facebook and went from there (I do keep getting followers on Twitter).
All that gave me some success was my Christmases When You Were Mine instrumental cover. I was the first one to post a very accurate rendition of it and it showed.

[Bob Womack]

Unfortunately, there is a downside to good marketing: If you write your search tags and titles for your covers well enough, your videos may show up first when that title is searched. Don't yield to the temptation to leave the word "cover" out of the title. There are some of us who will be aggravated by having to sort through all these while looking for the original artist's video. Though the counter may increment, I'll back out of your video faster than a jackrabbit on a date.

Bob

[Cue Zephyr]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Unfortunately, there is a downside to good marketing: If you write your search tags and titles for your covers well enough, your videos may show up first when that title is searched. Don't yield to the temptation to leave the word "cover" out of the title. There are some of us who will be aggravated by having to sort through all these while looking for the original artist's video. Though the counter may increment, I'll back out of your video faster than a jackrabbit on a date.

Bob

I would second that - as I really hate that too. Actually the same with live and studio versions (live acoustic versions are ok too) - as I usually prefer just the produced version, and then later checking out live versions if I feel the need to.
But instead of 'cover' I usually throw 'rendition' into the title. The word 'cover' has come to annoy me for some reason.

[hflsmg17317]

Originally Posted by BlackHeart

Any tips for getting found on Youtube? It seems to be easy to get lost.

I have failed to do this, but make sure to post videos regularly. Once a week should be good. This way people will subscribe because they know that they will get conten6t.