By Josephine Anselin, digital marketing strategist with a passion for all things outdoors. She is also the founder of Outventure Hub, a digital marketing consultancy and resource platform for entrepreneurs and startups in the outdoor industry

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL YOUTUBE CHANNEL – PART 2

You’ve decided what your channel will be about and you’ve followed all the right steps to optimise your homepage. Now you’re ready to shoot and edit your first video! Here a few tips to help you create videos that get viewers hooked.

Choose the right type of video

The type of video you choose to produce will of course depend on your channel’s objective. But if you want to increase your chances of getting a large number of views try to pick a video format that tends to be popular on YouTube. These include:

• How To videos
• Product review videos
• Vlogs
• Comedy videos
• Educational videos

In terms of video length, 10 to 15 minutes long videos tend to be the most popular.

Nail the first 15 seconds

Studies have shown that viewers will decide within the first 10 to 15 seconds whether or not to continue watching the full video or not. Therefore it is super important that you make these first few seconds as engaging as possible. A good trick is to start your video by stating what the clip is about and what the viewer will gain from watching it until the end.

Design a striking thumbnail

The thumbnail is the image that viewers see before clicking on a video to play it. A great thumbnail will help your video stand out from the large selection of other videos available on YouTube. There are a number of free softwares you can use to design your thumbnail (like for example Canva). Here are a few YouTube thumbnail design best practices:

• Use a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1920 x 1080 resolution
• Insert your channel logo into the thumbnail
• Include a face that looks straight into the lens of the camera
• Use contrasting colors and avoid using a white background (this is because the YouTube home page background is white so if you use a white background your video will not stand out)
• Use a small number of words in big font rather than more words in small font to make sure the text is easily readable

Create a YouTube intro

A YouTube intro is a short clip that you include at the start of each of your channel’s videos to reinforce the channel’s brand. A good intro gives the viewer a clear idea what your channel is about and it also gives your videos a sense of professionalism. When creating your intro, be sure to include your channel name and tagline and keep it short (5 seconds max).