Today I’m going to show you the simple 5 step process that I follow every time I upload a video to YouTube.
This is a process that I’ve been using for years.
It works like a charm.
It’s how I’ve been able to use it to grow my YouTube channel to over 1.2 million subscribers.
Now, I’m sure other people have different steps to uploading their videos…
But this is how I’ve been doing it for a long time now.
Step #1: Upload Your Video File
First thing to do is to click on “upload video” and schedule it.
I always upload my videos as scheduled.
There are a few other things you could choose…
You could do public, unlisted, private or scheduled.
I rarely do anything other than scheduled…
Here’s why:
The reason I don’t upload a YouTube video instantly as public is because your video takes time to render.
It takes time to optimize to full 1080p quality.
So if you make it public as soon as you upload it, it’s going to be bad quality.
Guess who gets notified to watch your videos first…
YOUR YouTube subscribers.
So you end up sending all your loyal subscribers to a YouTube video that is of bad quality.
If your subscribers don’t watch your videos then it will be hard to rank with YouTube’s current algorithm.
I’ll talk about this more shortly…
But first, let’s address what unlisted videos are…
These are videos that can only be seen by people who have the link to it.
***Sidenote: If you’re starting a channel from scratch and you don’t have the scheduled option available then upload your YouTube videos as unlisted.
Common uses for Unlisted Videos are things like sales videos, YouTube ads, Webinars, etc.
Lastly, we have the option to upload our YouTube videos as Private. These videos can only be seen by those who have actual permission to watch.
I’ll be honest, we never use this option.
Step #2: Give Your Video A Great Title
The next step of the process of how to upload a YouTube video properly is to give your YouTube video a great title.
I talk about this in my free YouTube Money Map training but one of the best ways to figure out which titles to use is by doing our Bracelet & Charms Method.
Think of this as an ad headline.
People will choose to watch your video based on the title that you choose.
You can add even add in some emojis to make it stand out even more.
But once you have your title you will then go to the description.
Step #3: Optimize the Description
First thing you should do is put your headline in the description for SEO and ranking purposes.
Next you want to have links to your website and/or squeeze pages so that you can start collecting leads.
Lastly, put links to your other social medias.
I recommend having a little Google document with all of your links on it so that way when you upload new videos you can copy and paste the links over.
That will make the process quick and easy.
Step #4: Tags Are Important Too
Next thing you are going to do is add tags.
Now with your tags, you don’t want to get too crazy here…
First tag the obvious 1-3 keywords that relate to your current video.
If for example I am uploading a basketball dribbling video, my tags will be, dribble a basketball, dribble a basketball better, how to dribble a basketball.
Next put a few tags, that don’t relate exactly to that video but relate to the subject.
Tags that you know if prospects were searching for and found your video they would still be interested in.
For example even if my video is a dribbling a basketball video I can tag shooting a basketball because I know people searching for shooting are probably interested in dribbling.
The last tag you want to put is your and your channel’s name.
We call this “signing your work.”
That allows YouTube to always know to show your videos when people search for your name.
Step #5: Don’t Forget Your Thumbnails
Last but not least, it’s time to add the thumbnail going to upload a thumbnail.
Thumbnails are extremely important…
YouTube will autogenerate your thumbnails but those will just be a screen shot of some point in your video…
It won’t stand out.
Think of a YouTube thumbnail like an ad image. You want it to grab somebody’s eye to make sure they click the video.
In my free YouTube Money Map training, I talk a lot about Watch-Time.
But the truth is that if people don’t click on your videos then you have no chance of accumulating views and watch-time.
So spend a lot of time and effort in your thumbnails.
You can use great free resources like Canva and Pixlr to create your thumbnails. If you aren’t good at them then you can find someone on Fiverr or if you have extra money you can invest in a service like Design Pickle.
No matter what you do, make sure you don’t just overlook thumbnails.
They are just as important as the video itself.
Finally you’ll save your video and wait for it to upload for the date you scheduled. You now know how to upload a YouTube Video properly.
Doing this will allow you to get more views and subscribers on YouTube.
Conclusion
Let’s recap the 5 step process to upload a YouTube video properly:
- Upload your video file
- Give your video an amazing attention grabbing title
- Optimize the description
- Tags are important
- Don’t forget your thumbnail
If you follow this process for every video that you create then you will see growth on your YouTube channel within the next 30-60 days.
Stay focused and stay consistent.
