Give every business video a title in the words customers search for, a description with your website address and service area, and a thumbnail you chose on purpose. A camera file name helps nobody find it.

What the channel looks like from outside

A business uploads a useful video straight from a phone. YouTube fills in the title from the file name, so the clip is called IMG_0412.

There is no description. The thumbnail is whichever frame YouTube picked, often a blur of floor or a hand reaching for the camera.

To the owner, the video is plainly a demonstration of the business at its best. To everyone else it is a file name and a blur, among millions of clips labelled better.

Nobody searching for that kind of work will find it, and anybody who stumbles across it has no reason to click.

The fields that decide it

The third is the one owners overlook. A title says what the video is about, but in a list of results the picture is what people look at first, and a blur of floor suggests a careless business.

Write the title in customers' words

A good title says what the video shows, in the words someone would type to find it. How to measure a hot tub for a new cover. Fixing a sliding door that sticks. What happens at a furnace tune-up.

Lead with the useful part and put the business name at the end, if at all. Searchers rarely know your name yet; they know their problem.

Keep the important words near the start, since long titles are cut short in lists of results and on phones.

Avoid titles written for the business rather than the viewer, such as Our new video or Spring update. They mean nothing to a stranger searching for help.

Use the description properly

The description is where YouTube and viewers look for context, and most business videos leave it empty.

Start with a sentence or two on what the video shows and who it is for. Only the first few lines appear before viewers click for more, so the essentials belong there.

Include the full website address, starting with http://, so it shows as a link. Name the area you serve, and the phone number if you take calls.

Then add anything else worth having: the steps covered, the product shown, a link to the page on your site that goes with the video.

Choose the thumbnail on purpose

YouTube offers three frames from the video to choose from. One of them is usually better than the default, and choosing takes a second.

Better still is a custom thumbnail: a clear still of the finished work or the key moment, well lit, with nothing confusing in it. Uploading one needs the account verified, which YouTube does by phone.

Avoid thumbnails crowded with text that cannot be read at the small size most people see. One clear subject beats a collage.

Keep a similar style across the channel, so viewers start to recognise your videos among everyone else's.

A worked example

A spa cover maker builds made-to-measure covers for hot tubs, and takes many calls from owners unsure how to measure an old cover or a tub with rounded corners.

The owner filmed a five-minute video showing how: the tape measure, the corner radius, the skirt length, and the mistakes that lead to a cover that does not fit. He uploaded it from his phone.

It went up as IMG_0412, with no description and a thumbnail of his knee. After a year it had a few dozen views, mostly from people he had emailed the link to.

He renamed it How to measure your hot tub for a replacement cover, and wrote a description naming the area served, the website address and the cover order form. The new thumbnail showed the tape across a corner.

He also embedded the video on the order form page, where people actually measure.

Callers now often mention having watched it before they phone.

Put the video where customers already are

A video does not need to be found on YouTube to be useful. Embedded on the matching page of your website, it answers the question at the moment someone has it.

Add a line above it on the page describing the video and its length, so visitors know whether to press play.

Share it on the Facebook page and in a newsletter, and send the link to customers who ask the question it answers.

Each of those viewers can then find your other videos from the channel, which is where good titles and thumbnails pay off again.

Fix the old uploads

Titles, descriptions and thumbnails can all be changed after upload, without losing views or the video's address.

Go through the channel and rename every clip still titled with a file name. Delete clips that show nothing useful, or make them private, rather than leaving a channel that looks abandoned.

Group the rest into playlists by service or topic, which gives the channel a shape a visitor can browse.

Fill in the channel's own description too, on its About page, with the business name, the area served and the website address.

The counter-case

Not every video needs to be found by strangers. A clip made for one customer or for staff training can be unlisted, which keeps it out of searches and off the channel page while the link still works.

A business with one or two videos may also gain more from embedding them on its website than from building a channel.

Even then, a clear title and description take a minute and help whoever does watch.

For every video meant for the public, write a title in customers' words and a description with the website address and area, and choose the thumbnail.

Before the next upload

  1. Rename every clip titled with a file name.
  2. Write each title in customers' words.
  3. Put the website address in the first lines.
  4. Name the area you serve.
  5. Verify the account for custom thumbnails.
  6. Choose a clear thumbnail on purpose.
  7. Embed each video on its matching page.

Step two decides whether anyone finds the video at all. Everything else helps once they have, but a file name in the title means the search never starts.

Sending viewers on from a clip to the website is covered in YouTube cards that lead viewers to your website.

Frequently asked questions

Why are my videos titled with numbers?

YouTube fills in the title from the uploaded file's name, and phones name videos with codes such as IMG_0412. It stays that way until someone changes it.

What makes a good video title?

What the video shows, in the words customers would type to find it, with the useful part first and the business name at the end, if at all.

What belongs in the description?

A sentence on what the video shows, the full website address starting with http://, the area you serve, the phone number and a link to the matching page.

How do I set a custom thumbnail?

Verify the account by phone, then upload a clear still of the finished work or the key moment. Otherwise choose the best of YouTube's three frames.

Can I change old videos without losing views?

Yes. Titles, descriptions and thumbnails can be edited after upload, and the video keeps its address and its views.

Should every video be public?

No. Clips made for one customer or for staff training can be unlisted, so they stay out of searches while the link still works.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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