Medical Marketing Enterprises, L.L.C.

Website Optimization, SEO, Reputation Management for Medical Practices

5 Easy Steps to Optimize YouTube Video

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Optimizing Your YouTube Videos | Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing

Your YouTube videos can be optimized.  Optimization allows YouTube to rank them well.  Well ranked videos get more views.  Simple formula.

Last post we talked about making the videos attractive and viewable.  Optimum length and branding with an Intro and Outro.

Today we are going to go over the 5 simple parts of optimizing a video on YouTube:

  1. File Name
  2. Video Title
  3. Description
  4. Thumbnails
  5. Tags

The process of optimization begins just after you've completed the video but before you've uploaded your video file to YouTube.

Optimize the File Name

Before you upload your video file to your YouTube channel (aka YouTube account), rename the file using keywords.   For example, if I want to upload a video of retina surgery and optimize the file name, I might rename the file "RetinaSurgery.mp4" (or whatever filet ype you choose, e.g. .mov, etc.)

This is additional information YouTube can index for ranking purposes.

Now upload the file from your computer to YouTube.

Title of the Video

Once uploaded, you want to "edit" the YouTube, by adding additional information about your video.  Navigate to the "Info & Settings" tab.

The first space underneath your video is where you can edit your title.  Choose a combination of keywords, secondary keywords and intent modifiers.

Keywords and secondary keywords are the words or topics for which you would like to rank.  Intent modifiers are words that relate to specific intent:  how to, where to, best of, etc.  Though these are really generated on the user end, "How to fix a retinal detachment," using these same modifiers in your title will increase SEO because the intent modifiers AND keywords match.

Create a title for your video using a combination of keywords, secondary keywords and intent modifiers.

Write the Description

The description of the video allows you to associate text with your video.  Use 200-300 words to describe and summarize the video.  Use your keywords in the description to tell YouTube what your video is about (the description is read by both viewer, but indexed by YouTube).  The description is akin to writing an article for your blog/web site.  In addition to the text, add URLs of your web site and links to other videos on your channel.  You'll likely have to type out the URL as you can't add hyperlinks in the description area.

Make sure to include your name, specialty, company/hospital name and some contact information.

Thumbnails

A thumbnail is a tiny picture.  YouTube shows thumbnails when listing and suggesting videos to watch.  The thumbnail and the title of the video visually draw attention to your video allowing the viewer to decide if the video should be clicked.  Just as when selecting a "featured image" for your web site post, the thumbnail should be representative of the content of the video.  YouTube creates thumbnails for you or you may create your own and upload yourself.  Customized thumbnails can include a relevant image along a text large enough to read quickly.

Tags

These are added after the description.  Include keywords, secondary keywords, phrases (surgery for retinal detachment), your name, company, hospital, brand etc.

By following these five steps you've now done your best to optimize your YouTube videos.

Go ahead and hit "Publish."

Congratulations.

 

 

Thanks for following and reading.  You may also:

A.  Follow us on "RussandRandy" on iTunes (our podcast on medical and healthcare Internet marketing) featured on Libsyn, Stitcher, iTunes, ReachMD.com and others.
B.  Visit RussandRandy.com - the website associated with the podcast.
C.  Be on the lookout for upcoming webinars (New!!!).

To Your Success,

Randy

AAO 2018 | Chicago Presentations

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AAO 2018 Chicago ILL | Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing

If you attended AAO 2018 in Chicago, these are the 6 different lectures I presented this year.  Please share/download these embedded presentations.  They have been uploaded to SlideShare.net.

Thanks for following and all the best.

To your marketing success,

Randy

 

 

 

 

 

Guest Blogging to Increase SEO and Backlinks

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Guest blogging builds SEO and backlinksShare your knowledge on other websites.  This can result in increased website traffic to your own site and improve your SEO.  By contributing content to other websites, you expose yourself to a new and different audience and get better website rankings.

Guest blogging, HARO and participating on community forums are just three examples, but there are more.  The basic message is that you might consider sharing your expertise on OTHER websites and make sure your contributions are cited in the form of hyperlinks back to your own site.  These hyperlinks are called “backlinks.”

Quality backlinks can significantly improve your SEO.

Help A Reporter – HARO

This is a database where JOURNALISTS find reliable SOURCES when researching an article or story.  Journalists post queries looking for expert SOURCES who belong to the site.  Health providers (you) function as a SOURCE.

HARO sends out 3 daily emails of journalists looking for Sources.  If interested, you will respond via email, thus connecting you with the journalist.

Usually a short interview is conducted via email or phone.  If your content is used in the final story, your contribution should be cited.  You gain exposure to a new audience.  Ideally, you will also get a link to your website.

The HARO website is www.HelpAReporter.com.

Guest Blogging

As a “guest” you will write an article for someone else’s website.  Ideally, you will write an article on a related website, i.e. health related website, on a topic of which you are an authority.

The article will be written exactly as if you were writing on your own site, but with the exception it will be published on a foreign website.  In return for creating content for the host, you, the guest, should insert 2-3 hyperlinks (backlinks) to your own site.

Again, this gives you exposure to a new community AND, through backlinks, improves your SEO.

Forums, Chat Rooms and Bulletin Boards

There are many forums, chat rooms and bulletin boards where patients share information about health concerns or ailments they have in common.

As a healthcare authority, you may choose to join in their conversations to educate this community to share your knowledge and educate this new audience.

As with the other examples, this will expose you to a new community and give you the opportunity to build backlinks.

All the best,

Randy

Google Ranks Web Page, Not Websites |

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Google Ranks Web Pages Not Websites | Healthcare and Medical Internet MarketingSearch engines rank individual web pages wherever and whenever possible.  This means each of your web pages might rank well for a particular keyword given the assumption you’ve paid attention to SEO.

Understanding that search engines rank individual web pages focused on keywords will help you avoid a common SEO blunder.

Each of your providers should have their own “About” page, and here’s why.

Keywords

Keywords are pretty tricky to understand, but for our purposes are synonymous with topic or subject.  Each or your articles must be focused around 1 (or possibly 2) keyword or topic.

The topic of your article should be the keyword for which you want to rank.

Best practices dictate that the keyword should appear in certain locations of your article:  the title, subheaders and comprise no more than 2.5% of the total words of the page.

YOAST SEO Plugin

This is the probably the best SEO plugin around.  The free version is terrific and I have been using it for years after letting go of a paid optimization service.

YOAST will walk you through the process of optimizing each of your articles so that you may maximize your opportunity for high rankings.

The About Page(s)

Each of your providers should have a separate “About” page.  Cramming all providers onto the same page gives you only one page to rank for the services your provide.

Chances are that your providers each specialize in one facet of your practice.  This should be your keyword.  For instance, as a retina specialist, my about page should be focused on the keyword “retina specialist.” (Admittedly, it’s two words, but one keyphrase.)

If all your specialists are grouped on the same page, it becomes very difficult for that one page to rank any specialty. A single webpage can realistically rank well for only one or two keywords.

By creating separate pages, you now have multiple opportunities to rank!

 

Paid Advertising

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Paid Search to Grow Your Medical PracticeThere are several ways  to generate traffic to your website.  The best source of traffic is free.  The best source of traffic is organic traffic.

Organic traffic is the result of  the patience and hard work you have put in to generate rankings through content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).

Paid traffic on the other hand may some merit, especially if your website is up and running and you are already generating your organic traffic.

SERP | Search Engine Results Page Paid Search
SERP – Search Engine Results Page

There are three types of paid traffic:

  • Pay per click
  • YouTube (video)
  • FaceBook

Pay Per Click

The image shows a typical search engine results page (SERP).   A SERP is generated when using particular keywords to generate a search.

Organic search are the webpages which appear in area C and are the result of content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).  Results in area C are the most credible and trusted.

Pay per click advertising includes clickthrough ads (area B) and banner ads (area A).  There is no difference between ads in A or B except the price paid by the advertiser (i.e. you).

Paid ads appear based upon the original keywords used to generate this particular search.  The advertiser chooses the keywords for which the ads should be displayed.

YouTube

Using similar techniques, YouTube presents video ads to the viewer based upon the keyword used to find video content and based upon the subject of viewed videos.

Pay per click and YouTube ads use very similar methods of presenting ads.

Facebook Advertising

Facebook boosts may provide the best method for “laser targeting” an audience, that is, your ability to display your ads based upon your exact criteria (age, zip code, preferences, etc.).  Facebook uses a combination of demographic information, behaviors (what you and your contacts do on FB) and contact information (your friends) to give the best targeted attention compared to other platforms.

In short, Facebook advertising gives you better methods to target your audience.

Paid Advertising vs. Organic Search

Without out a doubt, consider paid advertising, or paid search, only after your website is already generating organic traffic (you are writing articles and using SEO).  Also, paid advertising may be better for advertising goods compared to services.

 

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