Are you struggling to create YouTube videos that get traction? Are you finding that your YouTube channel isn’t gaining momentum after posting several videos? Don’t despair, YouTube is a difficult platform to get recognized on. It often takes at least 30 uploaded videos on your channel before you can begin to get attention on YouTube.

You’ll get the momentum you’re looking for if you keep on creating videos that offer great value to viewers and follow our tips to make your videos engaging and effective. After you read these 6 tips on how to structure your YouTube videos, have a look at our other article on how to rank higher on YouTube.

In this article we break down six ideas that you should implement when creating YouTube videos. The tips we will be looking at are:

1. Identify the purpose and target audience
2. Create an outline and provide value
3. Consider the right length
4. Hook your audience
5. Bump up audience engagement
6. Get them to binge your content

 

Tip 1 – Identify the Purpose and Target Audience

The first step in creating a successful YouTube video is to identify the purpose of the video and who you are creating the video for. Are you creating a video that addresses a question that people may ask? Who is your target audience for the video? Are your providing your audience with an update? Are you creating a tutorial video to teach people? These are questions that you need to ask yourself before you begin so that you have a clear vision of what you are creating and why.

Identifying your purpose and target audience helps you to deliver the right information to the right people.

 

Tip 2 – Create An Outline and Provide Value

The next step in creating a YouTube video is create an outline of what you are going to be covering in your video. If you are providing your audience with information you are going to want to write a list of all of the topics or subtopics you want to cover. If you are creating a tutorial video you’ll want to create a list of steps that are easy for your audience to follow. 

Once you have a rough outline of the topics you wish to cover, you can now write your script of specifically what you want to say in your video. This part is important because this is where you provide the most value to your audience. Everything that you say should have meaning and be relevant. Any sections of your script that feels irrelevant should be taken out because it is lacking in value in comparison to the rest of the video. Focus on maintaining high quality content throughout the entire video and present the information in an order that is logical and easy to understand.

At this point in your creation process, we highly recommend a couple of quality assessment steps. First, get feedback on your script. Have someone else review it to make sure that it is understandable and flows well. Secondly, read your script out loud. Make sure that the words roll off your tongue easily and are simple enough for you to pronounce. Also, eliminate any unnecessary words from your script.

 

Tip 3 – Consider the Right Length

Determining the right length for your video depends on the purpose of the video and how much valuable information you wish to provide in the video.

The YouTube ranking algorithm does like videos around the nine minute mark or higher. However, if you make a video that is nine minutes long and filled with irrelevant or fluff content, then people are going to lose interest in watching the video and it will rank lower.

If your video is around nine minutes long and is filled with valuable content that will keep your audience engaged, perfect! If your video is four minutes long and also has valuable information that keeps people’s attention, it works as well.

There is no set length for YouTube videos that must be met every single time. Each video will vary depending on the type of content you are providing.

 

Tip 4 – Hook Your Audience

The first 15 seconds of a video is the most important part because a viewer will likely click away if they aren’t hooked right away. 

Three ways that you can hook your viewers are:

• Create a preview for your video
• Directly state the value that will be shared in the video (tell them what’s to come)
• Tease the end

Our first idea is to create a preview as an enticing hook for your YouTube video. You can create a brief montage of what the viewer is going to see in the video. Similar to a promo for the next episode of a television program to get you to tune in next week. In the first 15 seconds showcase the highlights of what you are going to cover in the video. This can be done by combining a montage of different clips.

The next idea that you can try is to tell the viewer directly what you are going to provide to them. Tell them what is going to be covered in the video and clearly state the value it is going to bring them. State what they are going to learn from the video or what entertainment they’ll receive when watching the video.

To increase your video rankings on YouTube you want to entice people to watch all the way to the end. Another idea to hook your viewers is to tease the end. In other words, give a reason to get your viewers to stay to the end of your video. For example, let them know that you are going to share your best tip or unveil a “can’t miss” idea at the end of the video. You could also have a contest or giveaway that will be explained at the end of your video. This will help improve your watch time and can lead to more audience engagement, which leads us to our next tip.

 

Tip 5 – Bump Up Audience Engagement

It’s important to engage your audience and entice them to interact with your video and your channel. Remind them to interact with the video by liking, subscribing, or sharing your video. You should do this twice throughout the video at the beginning and the end.

Adding cards at the end of the video offer the option for viewers to subscribe. By adding a playlist card you and can also direct them to some of your other videos on YouTube.

Another tip is to give the viewer a chance to rewind your video. YouTube’s number one ranking metric is watch time, so it is great if your video gets more watch time. Add an image on your video to let viewers know that they can go back and rewind. This is especially helpful if your video is educational and includes step by step instructions. Your viewers may want to rewind and re-watch as they follow your instructions.

 

Tip 6 – Get Them to Binge Your Content

This step doesn’t just apply to your single video but your channel as a whole. YouTube loves videos that keep viewers on YouTube so directing viewers to other videos of yours is the best way to end your video. As mentioned above, adding video cards directing traffic to your other videos is critical to getting viewers to watch some of your other videos. 

You can continue to make videos based on what your audience likes to watch. If you make tutorial videos then continue to make tutorial videos. If you have too much of a diverse video collection then your audience might not be interested in your other videos because they aren’t similar to the video they liked watching. A way to identify this is by using video playlists. If you aren’t able to make video playlists because you don’t have similar videos then you should try to make your content more consistent.

 

Conclusion

That’s it! Those are our six steps on how to structure your YouTube videos. To recap you must:

• Find the purpose of the video and identify your target audience in order to clarify your message.
• Create an outline of your video with the topics you are going to cover and provide valuable information in your video script.
• Trim your video script to contain only important and relevant information.
• Have someone else do a QA review of your script and your video.
• Create a hook at the beginning of your video to give your viewers a preview of what the video will contain or to “tease” the end.
• Get your audience to engage by reminding them to like, subscribe, and share the video.
• Keep the viewers on YouTube by directing them to your other videos.

 

At Learn to Flourish we are all about creating relevant, engaging, and effective eLearning and videos. If you want to increase the quality of your educational videos, get our free training on how to make great demonstration videos for your audience.

For more tips on video and eLearning creation, check out our blog for more articles such as how to rank higher on YouTube and how to create online education that people will love.

 

Wishing you inspiration, innovation, and continuous learning!

Lorena and the Learn to Flourish Team