What To Avoid When Attempting To Get YouTube Views

There are two schools of thought when it comes to posting videos to YouTube.  The first merely posts so their family and friends can see the videos they have posted.  The other is posting to get views in hopes of their video going viral.

Internet viewers are a fickle bunch and there are crossovers between the two schools.  Sometimes, a person who is only posting a video for family may find that their video is all over the internet and has gone viral without even trying.  Those who are trying are not getting any views at all and they want to know what to do to get more YouTube views.

There are many tips to getting YouTube views but there are also some things to avoid:

• Nothing – This is one is very obvious but many “newbies” do not understand that doing nothing is not helping to gain views.  They think that their video is funny or informative enough that it will be viewed and shared all over the internet.  “I like it so why doesn’t anyone want to watch it?”  It’s not that the video doesn’t have the right factors; it’s simply not being promoted properly.

• Buying Views – Believe it or not, there are websites selling views to YouTube members to try and garner a wider audience.  You may be thinking that this is a great thing but really it is not a fix-all. You can use it as a booster but there needs to be more to get and keep real viewers.

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Instead, share your videos with friends and promote it through your website or others websites through back links and other methods.  There are so many ways to promote a video that it only makes sense to try it.

• Press Releases and News Sources – You can either spend money on press releases or you can waste a great deal of time contacting news sources.  The first option is costly and you’re not guaranteed that your video will go viral.

The second is time consuming because there are so many news agencies out there and again, there is no guarantee that your video will be seen by anyone who can promote it.  You need to promote your own videos if you really want them to get the YouTube views.

At the end of the day, nobody really knows what the viewing public will latch onto from one day to the next.  Videos that were hot just last week are now yesterday’s news and other videos are taking their place.  If you really want to have your video go viral, you need to put the work in and take the proper steps to promote it.

Steven Hollander

About the Guest Author:

Steven Hollander writes about YouTube to help others learn how they can improve their channels and increase their views.