David Walsh is a YouTube educator who has helped millions of creators and businesses do YouTube better. Today on the show we get some key tips from his recent video on YouTube, “The Top 10 Mistakes Businesses Make That Kill Their YouTube Channel“.
GUEST: David Walsh | DavidWalshOnline | YouTube
HOST: The Video Marketing Value Podcast is hosted by:
– Dane Golden of VidiUp.tv and VidTarget.io | LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube
– Renee Teeley of VideoExplained and ReneeTeeley.com | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
SPONSORS: This episode is brought to you by our affiliate partners, including: TubeBuddy, VidIQ, MorningFame, Rev.com, and other products and services we recommend.
PRODUCER: Jason Perrier of Phizzy Studios
TRANSCRIPT
David Walsh:
Definitely beginner mistakes that businesses make is that, they look to sell straight away. Now, this is a big problem because, we all know it takes time to build up momentum with your channel. Especially, if you are selling a product or service that you can’t just go straight in there and start selling. That’s what ads are about. You want to go in and you want to start creating value for your targeted audience. Then once you created that value, you can start seeding your products throughout your videos and then, you can start selling.
Dane Golden:
It’s time for the Video Marketing Value Podcast. This is the podcast where we help marketers and business owners, just like you, get more value out of your video marketing efforts. My name is Dane Golden from VidiUp.tv, Where we help you up your game on YouTube for business, and transform your viewers into loyal customers. And, my other businesses, VidTarget.io, where we help you save time and money through more targeted YouTube ads.
Dane Golden:
My co-host Renee Teeley from VideoExplained, she’s on assignment this week, so we’ll see her next time. Okay. And for you, the listener, you should always know that you can follow along in your podcast app with the transcript and links. And, send us a message on Twitter, if you want to tell us how you like the show. And, today we have a special guest David Walsh from David Walsh Online. Welcome David.
David Walsh:
Oh, thank you very much. I’ve never introduced as a special guest before.
Dane Golden:
Well, for the first time, I think we have a very special guest and that is you.
David Walsh:
Wow. I’ll take it.
Dane Golden:
So David Walsh, we asked you on the Video Marketing Value Podcast today, because you’re a YouTube educator who has helped millions of creators and businesses, do YouTube better. You recently did a video called, the top 10 mistakes businesses make that kill their YouTube channel. And, we’re going to link to this in the description. We wanted to find out some of these key tips. Is that a good topic for you today?
David Walsh:
Absolutely.
Dane Golden:
All right. Let’s start with one. What topic should we talk about first?
David Walsh:
Okay. So one of the, definitely beginner mistakes, that businesses make is that they look to sell straight away. Now, this is a big, big problem because, people in the YouTube space know that it takes time to build up a momentum with your channel. Especially if you are selling a product or service, that you can’t just go straight in there and start selling. That’s what ads are about. So, you want to go in and you want to start creating value for your targeted audience, so that they get to know like and trust you. Then once you created that value, you can start seeding your products throughout your videos. And then, when you get to the point where you have created enough value, you can start selling.
Dane Golden:
So, what I hear you saying is that, someone makes a video and they essentially turn it into an ad without putting paid media behind it. And they say, “Well, everyone’s going to visit my YouTube channel, and then they’re going to hear about how awesome my product is, and they’re just going to buy, buy, buy.” And you’re saying, “That’s the wrong way.”
David Walsh:
Well, that’s definitely is the wrong way, because it never works that way. If it does work for someone like that, let me know, because I have yet to come across someone who has that scenario play out for them.
Dane Golden:
Let me ask a variation in this theme that you have. Because, there’s other versions of selling, particularly if you’re a B2B. And, someone wants to offer a download that grows their email list. Is that okay, not okay, you should wait until your channel’s bigger? What do you think?
David Walsh:
Yeah. So, we recommend you wait till your channel is bigger, because when you’re starting out, it takes a while for the YouTube AI to get to index your videos, figure out what your channel is about. And, if you’re taking them off the platform, before YouTube have found that your content is of a value, then that’s going to be a big red cross, big mark against you. And, it doesn’t help the platform to help you. Now, we know that social platforms, their main thing is to keep people on their platform as long as possible; whether you talk about YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, whatever they are.
David Walsh:
They want people to stay on their platform as long as possible. So, when you play that game for YouTube, so if you spend two, maybe three months building up your channel, building up your value with your audience, showing YouTube that you’re a game player, that you’re playing their game, keeping people on your audience. So, rather than sending people off to a free download or selling or whatever, that you’re sending them into more videos on your channel, then you’re going to increase your watch time. You’re increasing your session watch time. You’re increasing the average views per visitor. All of these metrics go up. YouTube likes you a lot because you’re helping them play their game. So, that’s where you’re going to get in front of more of your target audience. And then, once you’ve got to that point, then you can start trickling people off the platform.
Dane Golden:
Okay? So, what’s another mistake that businesses make on YouTube?
David Walsh:
That they can put one video up and that they will have hoards of people buy their products.
Dane Golden:
So, not only can you not sell initially, you have to do more than one video.
David Walsh:
I wouldn’t you can’t sell. There are ways to do it. There’s overt ways to do it. We recommend you put up product videos about your products and services on YouTube. If you do want people to watch more of your videos, then put up videos about your products, but they’re overtly about your products. And then, you can invite people and to watch those videos. And if they’re interested, then they can take the next step.
David Walsh:
But it’s not to go straight in there with, “Hey, buy my stuff, buy my stuff, buy my stuff, or here’s a free thing, here’s a free thing, set up a free consultation,” etc, Build up the relationship with them. You can obviously put your website links in the description and stuff like that. And, if people are more interested in the next step, then they can follow through that way.
Dane Golden:
[crosstalk 00:06:45] To interrupt you, we might think of it, from the time when we used to go into physical stores. If I went into a best buy or something, and someone was standing at the door saying, “Buy this, no, buy this, buy this, buy this, buy this.” Instead, you really want to ask that person, “Hey, is this camera… Does it do this or does it do this?” Depending on your level of confidence in the salesperson, but you want to get some advice first. You want to get some info, as you said, “Offer value first.”
David Walsh:
Yeah, exactly. And, it’s like a date. It’s like you want to go on a first date with them, rather than, “Hey, let’s get married straight away right now, let’s go to Vegas.” “Hey, I can hop in a car, we can be there, we can be married in four hours.” That’s again, I’ve yet to see that play out successfully.
David Walsh:
So again, people are more suspicious today than probably they have been ever, now, especially after the pandemic and stuff. But even so, from a business perspective, people are a bit more skeptical. So, they want to have a longer dating relationship before they’ll commit.
Dane Golden:
All right. Okay. And, what is another big mistake that businesses make that kill their YouTube channel?
David Walsh:
Well, to flesh out the second one I gave you is that, people expect to put up one video and they’re going to have people banging on their door. Again. We want to create that consistent, ongoing relationship with YouTube, so that they are promoting our content, so that when somebody does go to the YouTube search or even Googled search, searching for what we offer, the pains and problems that we solve, that our content gets in front of them.
David Walsh:
So, it’s not just one video will work. You need to be consistent. You need to be uploading on a regular basis. And again, it’s not just YouTube, it’s all platforms are the exact same. Their algorithm works in the same way across all platforms. Be consistent, uploading a high quality content and just be there for your audience offering value.
Dane Golden:
Now, you’ve given me some ideas here, and I wonder if I could offer a tip of my own and you tell me if this is a tip that you would go for or not. And if it’s not, you tell me straight up. How’s that?
David Walsh:
Absolutely.
Dane Golden:
Okay. So, I think that one of the mistakes that businesses make is their content is too slanted towards their own products. I tell them, make a video, that using your expertise helps a customer that is searching to solve the problem in your area of expertise, if they did not know your business existed. It’s the way I phrase it. So that, maybe if you already have a ton of customers, it’s great to talk about this feature or that feature. But, if you have no customers yet, or you don’t have a huge footprint as a channel, talk about things that you know in your industry. Would you say that’s a good tip, bad tip? What are your thoughts?
David Walsh:
That’s very interesting, actually. That is a very different slant than I personally would take. Again, I would be on the side of the business owner, I would be touting my products and services. So, I would be one of those people, but that is very interesting. So, that puts you at a level of above, how to educate, but you’re more of a thought leader then, in that you’re [crosstalk 00:10:37]…
Dane Golden:
No. Do how to videos, but just how to think about what someone’s searching for and share what that problem is regardless of the name of your product.
David Walsh:
Interesting.
Dane Golden:
So, little doubtful. David Walsh Online is a little doubtful.
David Walsh:
Interesting. Again, well it’s one of those things that people can try, but there’s no absolutes. So, it’s definitely worth testing for sure.
Dane Golden:
All right. So, what’s another one of your tips.
David Walsh:
People not getting to the point quickly enough. And again, the whole focus of these problems are that, and we just discussed it, it’s focused on the business owner or the business rather than the end user or the viewer, or the person searching for a solution to the problems that we solve. So, it’s like not getting to the point as quickly as possible. And, I’ve learned this through my own content as well, looking at the YouTube analytics, looking at drop off rates and stuff, average audience retention. So, people again, they want to get to the content as quickly as possible.
David Walsh:
They’ll bypass any intros and stuff that you do and animations and stuff, they need to be at a bare minimum. It used to be the case that you get away with a 10 second animation, then it dropped to eight seconds. Now, a couple of months ago, it was about five, now it’s probably about three. And, I’ve just removed them completely now from my content.
David Walsh:
So, it’s not about your logo, no one gives a monkeys about your logo, except you. It’s about the solution to the problem that people are looking to get solved. So, get into your content as quickly as possible. People will respect you for it, that you respect their time. And, focus more on them rather than you and what you’re trying to sell.
Dane Golden:
And, let me dive a little deeper into that when you say, get to the point as soon as possible, and maybe this is just so basic, that it doesn’t need explaining. But, I just want to ask the question when you say, “Get to the point.” What is the point and what is not the point? So, what is the stuff that’s not the point and what is the point? You said the logo, what else?
David Walsh:
Again, so it could be, how to get more viewers on YouTube, 10 ways to get more viewers on YouTube. So, we’ll pick a topic out of the year, so it can be specific. Now, get to those 10 points as quickly as possible. I recommend trying to get there within about 20 seconds or so. Definitely within 30 seconds. So again, you’ll have your hook at the beginning. So, in this video, I’m going to give you 10 ways, you can get more viewers for free on your YouTube channel. So, that’s my hook. That’s what’s going to grab people’s attention. And again, that’s another mistake that people make is that, they don’t have a hook. So then, I’ll do my intro. Hi, this is David Walsh, from David Walsh Online, helping you grow your YouTube channel.
David Walsh:
Now, we’re going to look at the top 10 ways you can grow your YouTube channel with free promotional strategies. Let’s jump in Done. So, I would say probably about 20, 23 seconds, something like that. So now, I’m into my content. And then, I’m going to focus on those 10 things. Like, I don’t want to be going meandering off on 17 other things within one thing, give me those 10 things, and preferably stuff that people can implement as well.
David Walsh:
From a business perspective, you don’t want to give them everything because you obviously have something to sell them, that gets something to the next step. But, if you can give them something that they can implement now, then the logical next step for them after that, would be to hire you or buy your product or whatever. Then, that’s a great strategy.
Dane Golden:
So, give them a lot of information, but not everything because you want their business and that’s why they should hire you.
David Walsh:
Correct.
Dane Golden:
What’s another tip?
David Walsh:
Not having a logical next step. And, I see this time and time again on videos. Is that, if the logical next step, after watching your content we just discussed is that, they hire you, buy your widget or your software or whatever. Then you need to make it as easy [inaudible 00:15:05] possible for people to do that. Put a link in the description, put a link in the first independent comment on your YouTube video. You may have a link to your website from the video itself, but that’s worth testing. You may not want to do that, but you can have those secondary links in your description, on the pinned comment.
David Walsh:
But, make it obvious for people that there is a next step. You can seed your products throughout your videos. So, if I’m saying, “And, this software here will help you get more back links to your videos, which will help you get rankings on the YouTube search engine, which gets you more views because you’re higher up in the rankings.” And, this is a software we cover in our course, the A to Z of YouTube ranking, which is on our website, if you’re interested. And, it’s a throwaway comment, I’ve just seeded that we’ve got a logical next step. And now, I move on to my next tip.
Dane Golden:
Right. So, are you saying the next step can be in the middle of the video?
David Walsh:
The next step can be anywhere. The next step could be your call to action at the end of the video, it could be a throwaway seed midway through your content. And it could be in the description. It could be in a pinned comment, there’s multiple places you can put it. But, the problem is that people don’t think about having a logical next step. And, for some people it could be, “Just subscribe to my channel.” That could be the logical next step, if they don’t have products or services right now.
David Walsh:
It could be that they’re building up their audience, so that their stuff could be in R&D or it could be in development. Or, they could be a startup and they want to grow an audience, so that when they release a product, they have somebody to sell it to. So it could be, “Hey, subscribe, or join an email list or download my free thing.” So, as long as you have a logical next step for people to take, so they’re not left wondering what to do next.
Dane Golden:
Okay. Now we’re going to go for one more. I’m going to squeeze one more bonus tip out of you. Just one more.
David Walsh:
Well, it follows on from the previous one, is not having a specific call to action for people to take. So, once you have your logical next step, then tell people what that is. So, and again, it could be just to subscribe, hit the notification bell and stuff like that, and watching another video. That could be the logical next step, but whatever your call to action is, make sure to tell people to do it, not ask them, tell them.
Dane Golden:
So, what’s the difference between asking and telling
David Walsh:
It is about the command. So, if I ask you, “And, if you like this, would you mind subscribe to my channel?” “I’d really like you to do so.” So, it doesn’t come across as a positive or affirming. So, you say, “Oh, that’s [inaudible 00:18:02] I’ll do that.” Whereas if you go, “And, if you like this video, make sure to hit that subscribe button, smash that notification bell, we upload videos Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
Dane Golden:
Okay. Wow. David Walsh, these are fantastic tips. And, we’re going to link to your video in the description area and show notes of this podcast. How can people find out more about you and David Walsh Online?
David Walsh:
Oh well, you’ll find me on all platforms at David Walsh Online. So Instagram, Twitter, not Twitter, that’s the only one that I’m not… Instagram, YouTube, obviously, youtube.com/DavidWalshOnline, Facebook and also LinkedIn. Or, just go to my website, davidwalshonline.com.
Dane Golden:
Excellent. Thank you, David Walsh. And, I just want to say that anytime I’m searching for, how to do something on YouTube myself, very often your tutorials come up with that exact solution. So, you’ve saved me a lot of time personally. And, if you multiply that across hundreds of thousands and millions of people, you’ve just saved people a lot of time. And, I just want to say, thanks for doing that. You’ve saved a lot of time in business and for creators in general. So, thank you.
David Walsh:
Oh, you are absolutely welcome. And, thank you for clicking on those videos, and also putting my view count up too.
Dane Golden:
One at a time. My name is Dane golden, and I want to invite you the listener to review us on Apple Podcast. And Hey, if you can’t find that review button, sometimes it’s hard to do, just share us on Twitter. Let your friends know that, we’re here to help with video marketing tips via this podcast. Renee Teeley and I, do this podcast and our various other YouTube videos and independent projects, because we love helping marketers and business owners, just like you, do YouTube and video marketing better. Thanks to our special guest, our very special guest David Walsh. David, thank you.
David Walsh:
Ah, thank you for having me. It’s been an absolute pleasure.
Dane Golden:
Until next week. Here’s to helping you, help your customers through video.