If you look at YouTube as a website where you can upload videos, then you are going nowhere near getting many hits for your videos. With this outlook, you are using the site for personal entertainment regardless of whether or not you are going to create a sensation out of your videos. But if you are looking to monetize your videos, you should be looking at YouTube differently. If you look at YouTube as a social media site, you are on a right perspective to increase YouTube views for your videos.

There are several easy steps to increase YouTube views. However, these steps are often taken for granted. Many of those who post on YouTube thinks it is enough to produce a funny video and upload it on the site to make a video go viral. While content is very crucial to make the video more likely to get noticed, there are other ways on how you can increase the chances of getting hits.

Do Not Skip the MetaData

Creating your video and uploading them is not all the task to get hits in YouTube. You also have to fill up the required meta data including the title heading, description, tags and categories. Fight the temptation of skipping this step. Your patience will pay off because these data help increase the probabilities of your videos increase youtube views more views. Your video will not just be an instant hit. Your video will continue getting increased YouTube views even after many months. Meta data does not only increase the chance of getting search on YouTube, but also on other sites such as search engines.

Create a Relevant Thumbnail

Another step to increase YouTube views is to create a thumbnail for your video. A thumbnail is basically a snapshot that best represents your video. It could be an image, text or a frozen part of your video. You have the choice of creating a thumbnail if you are a partner of YouTube. You can customize the design so you have the option of creating one. If you are not a partner of YouTube, the site will auto-generate three thumbnail options for you to choose from. Make sure your thumbnails look good to easily capture the attention of viewers whether in YouTube of in search engines.

Use Annotations to Your Advantage

Annotations can also increase YouTube views. They are small texts that are integrated into the video as overlays. Annotations can be information, subscription box or relevant links that will help your audience to remember that you have other videos or that you have products and services that they could purchase to help them with their daily problems. Annotations help generate traffic by increasing the chances of getting your ads clicked or by increasing your Google ranking.

Edit Your Video to a Suitable Running Time

It is important to include vital and rich content to increase YouTube views. Many people are no longer looking for short and funny videos but have poor content. They would be willing to watch a longer video if they want to learn about vital information to solve their problems. If your video is simply commercial, then there is no need to create a very long one. If your video is procedural and educational, you can edit it to a desirable length of time so that the content will not be sacrificed. Content can increase YouTube views and can help build trust among your potential market.