Do you find that people are clicking but not really engaging with your content?

Follow these steps to fix this common problem and drastically improve your viewer engagement with your Youtube videos.

1. Entice them from the outset

Exciting, aesthetically-pleasing thumbnails are the first thing that viewers will see before they click on a video.

If a thumbnail looks plain, boring, or gives no clear insight into what a viewer is going to watch, many won’t bother clicking on it at all.

It’s important to remember that 90% of the most successful videos on YouTube have custom thumbnails, so a little bit of extra effort on your part really can go a long way further down the line.

Use a picture or image rather than plain text, for not only will this attract your viewers more.

People tend to be attracted to visuals, but the small size of the thumbnail box (particularly on mobile devices) might make text difficult to read.

Keep your chosen thumbnail clear, bright and of a high resolution. Nobody is going to click on a blurry photo. Snappa is a good free tool to help:

You can also display your Youtube video thumbnails with these WordPress plugins.

 2. Tell them what they’re going to watch

Lengthy videos titles will be cut short by YouTube on your viewers’ subscription pages, so the chances are they won’t be able to even see the end of a long title.

Keep the video title short, snappy and indicative of what they’re going to watch.

Make them want to know what’s going to happen in your video, and give them no choice but to click and see what happens next.

It’s also important to make sure that the title and thumbnail of your video both actually explicitly relate to its content.

Clickbait only works if the hook that brings the viewers is actually followed through with.

Promise your viewers a thrilling car chase and then show them a kid racing two toy cars?

Get ready for them to immediately click off, and rightly so.

3. Make it easy for them to stick around

If a viewer enjoys your content and feels likely to watch more of what you’re creating, make it easier for them.

If they have to search out everything themselves they probably won’t even bother.

Give a link to your previous video in the top right corner of the screen.

A single click and you have engaged your audience enough to stick around for an extra video or two.

Remind them to like your video and subscribe to your channel.

Once you do, you may now have a viewer willing to watch all of your videos – and those likes and views really do add up.

Ask, and you shall receive, so make sure to squeeze out all the engagement from your viewers you can.

Trust me, you’ll be happy you did as your numbers will start growing.

You can integrate clickable CTAs right inside your videos with Youtube cards.

Simply create a Youtube card taking a viewer to your other related or follow-up video.

 4. Don’t bore your viewers

Remember that the longer a video is, the more potential the viewer has to become bored, distracted, or busy with something else.

A shorter video can leave viewers wanting more which can often prompt them to subscribe and watch your other content.

Within the first 5-10 seconds of a video, you have to convince your viewer to keep watching more as after this point the engagement can dwindle and they are more likely to click off.

A long-winded intro is a surefire way to make them bored.

Make sure you let your audience know why they need to keep watching you and don’t give them an opportunity to change their minds.

If possible, ditch the introductions at the beginning of your video immediately, and get straight to your point.

If your videos are more education or storytime based, you might find that longer videos can work better to your advantage.

The increase of tension can work perfectly with the format, but be mindful and don’t go overboard.

5. Promote, promote, promote

Know how to promote yourself! It is not just about the quality of your content. It’s about bringing your videos in front of the target audience.

• Be active on social media; share your videos in your tweets, retweets and shoutouts to the people who support you.
• Encourage your followers in sharing your videos!
• Post links on your page for people to click to watch your newest video. But also don’t overdo as that is only going to make them unsubscribe for peace of mind and a clearer feed.

Be smart about how you promote and educate yourself on keywords and SEO.

There are people out there searching for the content you provide, so make it easy for them to find you.

The use of simple keywords in your promotion can flood viewers to your door, whereas more mysterious, vague titles can often leave you out of the loop.

And don’t forget that not only YouTube loves these keywords, but Google will also happily send you the traffic if you know how to market your work correctly to let them.

Video descriptions can be a nuisance to write, but they are entirely necessary to increase your viewer engagement.

Utilize keywords, post links to other videos and social media, and leave a little note for your viewers near the top of your description to thank them for watching and make them care enough about you and your brand to continue clicking on the next video.

These little moments really do make all the difference.

Use Text Optimizer to generate lots of ideas to put your video description together.

Text Optimizer uses semantic analysis to identify related concepts based on your target search query and build optimized content around them.

Semantic analysis will help you rank your video organically, and Google brings the most engaged users out there.

Utilize the tag section of your video too, for this is how your viewers are going to find you.

Keep your tags specific, relevant and don’t flood them with meaningless clickbait just for the sake of it.

For example, don’t add popular celebrity names into your tags hoping for clicks if your video is about cars.

People might discover your video on their page this way, but that doesn’t mean they’ll feel inclined to watch it if it’s not what they were looking for.

Keep a conversation going

One of the most important things you can do is speak to your readers!

Ask them questions and answer any of theirs that come your way.

The more you engage with them, the more they will engage with you.

And once they can see that you are a human and not just some content churning machine, they will engage.

They are also likely to tell you where to improve, so take all the constructive criticism you can get and learn from it – free advice is the best gift from your audience.