How AuthorityHacker Doubled Their YouTube Traffic In 90 Days
If you are into online marketing, you have inevitably heard of AuthorityHacker. While they are big on the search front, they only recently started focusing on their YouTube channel.
I recently got a chance to discuss their strategy with Mark Webster. He said they have a five-point plan to grow their YouTube traffic. While it is early days, they are already seeing good results.
In the past 90 days, their traffic has sort of doubled.
This is the strategy that his team used.
1. Post regularly on a schedule
This is a no-brainer. Mark says his team committed to a weekly schedule, announced it to their followers, and then stuck to it. Being regular not only means you keep it predictable to your followers, but also that when you post a lot of content, YouTube has enough of of your own content to recommend its viewers.
So if you have someone watch one video, they proceed to watch the next, and the next. That's more traffic for you.
2. Quality thumbnails
It doesn't matter how good or bad your content is. If your thumbnail sucks, then nobody is going to bother clicking to watch the video.
AuthorityHacker hired a graphic designer for this, and made sure that each of their thumbnails met three specific criteria
- it's colorful
- it's engaging
- it contains specific keywords related to the video
3. Adding timestamps
A lot of long videos contain timestamps. They are often hidden in the description. That's the not genius move.
What AuthorityHacker does is that they also include the topic being currently discussed within the video. So if you are scrolling through, you know when the topic of discussion changes - and need to only stop by if it's of interest to you.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but this means that the viewers are spending more time on the video than they would otherwise have.
4. Video Premieres
YouTube has this feature called "Premieres" that is kind of between a live stream and a regular video. Basically, you pre-record the video like usual and then schedule it for a specific time (that is, you premiere it). And during the time of the premiere, you have live chat and donation buttons appear on the YouTube window.
A lot of AuthorityHacker's videos are an hour long. So when they premiere it, they stay active on the live chat and engage with the viewers. That creates a loyal following who subscribe and come back for other videos.
5. Interaction
You may have already heard this advice before. Interaction is key across all social media platforms. AuthorityHacker responds to each of the comments made on the platform.
This is a positive signal on engagement and contributes to better visibility on YouTube.
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