I've been wondering how to get more hits on YouTube. Honestly, nothing has been on my mind so feverishly in the past few weeks. I have over 150 videos online, and some are really good. I don't mean to make this a "come view my videos" daylog, but unless you do, your advice in helping me may not be as good. And you may not understand why my complaints are justified, if you don't view a couple of them. Or you could just skip to my YouTube rant.
For instance, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq6-9O4ZRcE
That's a prime example of a really good video that isn't getting views. It's a truck hitting a barrier at a military base at 50mph. The barrier wins, suffice it to say. And the truck explodes.
Here's a few others of the "fail" genre:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPrULVa17q0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGgJsMkcRNA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_bufSz5poo
I also have video of and interviews with Glenn Beck, Dawn Wells, Henry Winkler and video of Obama, but all lack views as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHtEV3cO7Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrF1GRnrwRg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csrH1P2jq6g
What I don't understand is why my most viewed video has only 1,000 views. The first link up top has the potential to be a Fail Blog headliner. Fail Blog, if you didn't know, is the 18th most subscribed to YouTuber. That channel gets millions upon millions of views. My Truck explosion could get millions of views, if I had the subscriber base. They have 45,000 subscribers. I have 20.
So in terms of video quality, I'm actually doing well. In terms of actual demographics, I'm doing poorly. So it makes it difficult in finding a target audience. While I have certain videos that should bode well, for the most part, most of my videos are not for a broad audience. I'm a local news reporter in Idaho. No one cares about Idaho. WTF do I do about that? Well, some cool things happen in Idaho... There's still crime, scandals, blood, and even intellectuals...
And despite the fact I've had a grand total of 20,000 views on all of my videos, compared to the grand masters of YouTube, I'm a nothing. I have videos that would make animal activists cry.
But a tag system that only generates 200 views on "Worst matted Shitzu dog ever," is just crap.
Millions of videos uploaded on YouTube has meant that sifting through the spam and junk is never ending. The few good ones that surface to the top have little to do with quality, and more to do with luck, or gimmicks.
How many of you are sick of stupid YouTubers who put a nearly naked girl at the dead center of their video, just to get a few more views? (sxephil I'm looking right at you.)
I know I am. YouTube might as well let uploaders choose any picture. Instead, only people who edit into their 3 minute clip, exactly 1 minute and 30 seconds that barely clothed chick, are really gaining. The best video in terms of news is always at the front. But sometimes an anchor has to read an intro to it, so I hardly ever get the best picture to identify my video. Plus my videos are frequently 4 second shots, so the picture tags hardly ever line up or make sense on a global scale. Especially if it happens to be a cutaway at the middle marker.
So anyway, if you have ideas on how to get more YouTube hits, that don't loop into utilizing social networking sites, please send me a msg. Feel free to drop me a line at http://www.youtube.com/heitah. Or even subscribe. Until I figure out how to get more YouTube hits, I may not write on E2 again.