3 Reasons Why No One Finds (or watches) Your YouTube videos

I've reviewed thousands of YouTube channels and I can nail it down to about three reasons why nobody is watching your videos and why YouTube is not going to recommend it to more people. Trust me, once you know what these three things are and you start working on how to improve them, you'll definitely not only see more views on your videos, but you will start to see your videos reach more people and your impressions increase as well. The biggest problem that I see is the marketing package of the video. Here's the thing. If your video is not going to get people to stop the scroll, to click on it and watch it, YouTube's not going to put your videos in front of anybody because that is incredibly important real estate. YouTube's goal is to get people to click on a video, watch it, and to keep them watching videos. And if they're putting your video out there on the homepage in search and suggested and nobody's clicking on your video because it looks boring and the thumbnail and the title is lame, don't worry, nobody's going to find it because YouTube's going to bury it. So what is the marketing package of your video, your title and your thumbnail? So when I look at people's YouTube videos and I do audience of their channels, which I do for my clients every single month or whenever they want one, I look at their most recent videos like the last four to six, their click through rate. And if their click through rates are under 3%, there's an immediate red flag for me. I'm going to need to help them figure out a way they can get that click through rate up. Now, when I teach my clients and my YouTube coaching experience how to plan their videos, one of the very first things I tell them to do is come up with a title and thumbnail concept before they even start creating the content. Because what most people do who aren't for familiar to YouTube is they create these videos and as they're uploading them to YouTube, then they think about the thumbnail. But if you can't think of a really good title and thumbnail or a way to get people to stop because they have fomo, if they're not going to watch that video, their curiosity is piqued. If they see that video or they see the value in watching that video, there's no point in doing that video. So you've really got to come up with that title and thumbnail concept first before you move forward scripting any videos. And that's what I teach people in my program to do first. Some of the biggest mistakes I see with the thumbnail because the thumbnail is the image and that's what's generally going to get people to stop the scroll first. And what I see is the thumbnails are super cluttered. So there's like a lot of text or icons or just a lot of stuff on that thumbnail. So it's hard for the eyes to figure out where to focus. I also see people just repeating the exact same text on the thumbnail that the title is, which is not what we want to do. We want to use the text on the title to scream out stop and read me and then read the title. Right. The thumbnail should start the story and the title continue the story so that they will want to click Here are some of my my best performing thumbnails in the last 90 days.

When you log into your analytics, I'm pulling up the last 90 days. If I go here to see more, I can scroll down here and look at my impression, click through rates to see where are my highest ones. So right here, this is a really old one so I don't like to use that as an example but something that's more recent for me a 5.2% this is one I did this year and the same thing with this one, this is a 4% as well. So I can click on this. Let's look at the analytics and figure out what is making this click through rate higher.

So the first thing is I know.

After doing this a while that when I have a color a color coded calendar in a laptop like that that tends to get a higher click through rate. I've done multiple videos like this and I've seen it every single time. The other thing I'm going to look at too is what was the title how to create a content calendar for all your social media needs. So I do have how to here. That's probably something I want to keep in mind. If we go back to the other video that was the marketing trends, I did not have how to in particular title so I would want to figure out how could I replicate this one. And now this is content marketing. This says create a content calendar. This could also signal to me that anything about creation content marketing is something good. Now I will say completely different is this particular video when there was no.

Strategy behind it, just me sharing some.

Behind the scenes information and I just put the text, I closed it and then why I walked away from my YouTube agency. So you can start to see how did this image grab people's attention first it Says I closed it and then they see why I walked away from my YouTube agency. No one talks about this. Even the same thing with best content calendar and they see, oh, it's color coded. And then how to create a content calendar for all your social media needs. So those are the things you want to look at. Now if we look at things that didn't do so well, like this 3% one. Okay, I realized the make your video look professional, shoot your first YouTube video like a professional. Probably didn't need to say professional twice. Probably could have limited the text there. I think probably the orange. It's also blends in. You see how the YouTube background is white and that background is blending in. It's that gray background that doesn't pop. Whereas this one pops a bit more. This one pops a bit more so that it grabs their attention when they're scrolling through YouTube.

Now I'm curious, share with me down in the comments, do you come up with your title and thumbnail first or is that something you come up with while you're uploading your video? Trust me, no. Shame. A lot of people do this. They don't understand that we got to create that thumbnail first. So let me know in the comments. Do you come up with your thumbnail first or do you come up with your thumbnail after uploading your video? Now click through rate isn't just about the thumbnail, it's also about the title as well. And if your title feels boring, they're not going to click. This is something people really forget too. If it's not calling out your specific viewer, that person is not going to click. And you need your specific person to click on your video. So YouTube understands who your content is for. Because as you're getting started on YouTube and specifically, specifically, if you are a business owner using YouTube to generate leads, you're not creating videos for the masses. You're creating videos for that very niche audience that's going to buy your course, want to work with you one on one as a coach or a consultant, or buy your digital products. And so we don't want the masses, so to speak, clicking on your video. You want the people who will buy from you clicking on the video so YouTube can see, oh, that's the type of person watching this video. Here are more people like that. And that's how you get more sales and more clients using YouTube the right way. Your goal going to get leads and sales. When you focus your content on niche audiences and you call that audience out. For example, I have a client who teaches photographers how to become brand photographers, how to specialize in brand photographers. So she's just not going to create a video on how to onboard your photography clients. That's the masses. She's speaking to a specific niche, people who want to be brand photographers, because she has a coaching program for brand photographers. So she's going to title that video how to onboard your brand photography clients better. And instead of saying how to book more photography clients, she's going to create a video called how to book more brand photography clients. She's not creating content for the masses of photographers, but for those people who want to be brand photographers because she can help them in her coaching program. So that's very important to think about. When you are creating titles, the more general and generic your title is, the less likely you're going to get the right people clicking and the less likely you're going to see leads and sales from YouTube. The next reason why your videos aren't getting views and YouTube's not pushing it to more people is your content's no good. We need to be real with ourselves when we're critiquing our content. And fortunately, YouTube provides us so many great analytics to really understand what's going on on our channel. And it's literally telling us what we need to do to get better. And when you are trying to figure out is your content good or not, your audience retention graph will be the truth. If you go to your audience retention graph and you can't get 20, 30% of people to the end of your video, you have a problem. If you are losing 60, 70, 80% of people in the first 30 seconds of your video, you have a problem. Like I said, YouTube is going to push content that people are clicking on. But YouTube also needs people watching those videos as well, because that's a signal to YouTube. You've created quality content. Also, if people are watching your videos, YouTube is able to put more ads on that video and they can make more money from brands wanting to put ads. And so you need to make sure you're getting people to the end of your video. Otherwise, again, you're not going to get more views on your videos. Let's walk through the viewers process, right? They see the title and the thumbnail. The thumbnail starts their journey. That intrigues them. They stop the scroll, then they go over to the title and they're intrigued more. Either they're like, oh, I need to know about that. Oh, I'm interested in what she's sharing. Okay, this is for me and Then in that first 15 to 30 seconds, you've got to grab them. You've got to have a solid hook. You can't be opening your video with, hey, guys, welcome to my channel. I'm so excited you're here today. My name is Trina and on this channel, like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, YouTube wants people to stay on the platform. That is why if you look to the side of my video right now, there are suggested videos for you. Don't click on them right now. That is because if your content is not good enough, YouTube doesn't want you leaving the platform. YouTube's like, this is boring. Look at all these other options we have for you. So if you are not getting your viewers attention in the first 15 to 20 seconds, they're clicking on somebody else's video. What does a good hook look like? Well, you're going to have to get videos on YouTube and study your audience retention graphs. But I'm going to walk you through a few of my best and my worst hooks recently on my channel.

Again, we are in YouTube Analytics.

This is why YouTube is such a.

Powerhouse platform because it gives you so.

Much data for free.

Like, this is all accessible to you. So we're in YouTube Analytics. We're going to go up here to content and then we scroll down here, it's going to tell me my above typical intros and my below typical intros. And so if we look at this video, the audience retention graph here shows me 76% of people are still watching 18 seconds in even over a minute. In 60% of people are still watching this video. And so if you go back to this video and watch it, you can see how I opened it. Also, I think adding the text right here helps as well. That's a secret that we're testing or something we have that we're trying on our channel. We also look at this one too. How to stay focused and organized in business. Again, we've got about 64% of people watching until 68 seconds. But I see, oh, significant drop off. What did I do here? This is something I will probably review and analyze as I shoot my next batch of content. Because in 25 seconds I had 67% of people still watching. But from 25 seconds to let's even look at, you know, almost 45 seconds later, I've dropped almost 10% in audience retention. So I would want to figure out what I was doing to ensure I keep people watching. Now, here are below typical intros.

These ones you can see, okay, in.

33 seconds almost 50% of people left. That is a problem.

So I could use this as a.

Lesson and look at what did I say? How did I open this? How did my hook tie in with the title and the thumbnail? Did it make sense? Did I deliver on value? What did I do differently in this video as opposed to these videos? Same thing with that content calendar. Remember we said it had a high click through rate, but when we look at audience retention in the first 22 seconds, I've lost almost 50% of people.

So this is what you need to.

Be looking at to figure out how to make your videos better and how you need to think through this data to improve your videos.

Now the hook is where you're going to lose the most audience retention, but you also have to make sure you're not boring throughout your videos. So you keep seeing a decline in your audience retention. So when you're looking at your audience retention graphs, figure out are there any spikes? What are you doing during that time that people are wanting to watch or watch again? Are you drawing the content out? That's too boring. And that's why you see a steady decline in your audience retention. I would honestly set a goal of looking at the last 20 seconds of your video. Do you have. I would shoot for at least 30 to 40% of people still watching your video by that last 20 seconds of your video. If you can do that, you know that you've got solid content and you don't have to worry about having bad content. A huge reason why no one's ever going to find your videos and YouTube's not going to recommend your content is because the algorithm doesn't know who's the best person for your video. Remember I talked about when you're marketing your video and you need to put in who this specifically is for like brand photographers versus photographers. If you can be clear to the algorithm who to put your videos in front of, it will find more of those people. But if YouTube can't understand who your audience is, it's just going to be throwing spaghetti at the wall trying to find some audience that sticks. Some people will click on it, some people won't. Maybe some people click on your third video, but there's people that clicked on your third video don't click on your fifth video. And the people that clicked on your fifth video don't click on your fourth video. And the algorithm has zero idea who is the best person for this video. And remember, the goal of YouTube is to put the most, most relevant content in front of the Right. People. So what are people most likely to watch and I do want to address. You're probably thinking, well, Trina, I want to talk about a lot of things. I'm multi, passionate. I don't want to be held to this box. Well, listen to me. You can talk about multiple things. You just need to find the through line for the specific audience you are talking to. You can't one week talk about how you organize your refrigerator and then the next week talking about how to write a strategic, strategic sales page or your favorite Instagram strategy for booking more clients. And then the next week doing a Clean with Me video. The algorithm literally has no idea who your content is for and you are confusing the people that are clicking on your video. Just think about it. Somebody found your video about sales pages and they're like, wow, this is amazing. I really like that she's speaking to business owners and then they see your video about organizing your refrigerator. And like, I thought she was talking about sales pages. Like, I was really interested in that. I'm not really interested about organizing my refrigerator. And vice versa. Somebody finds your Clean with Me video. And yes, that is a thing. And like, wow, I really like her Clean with Me videos. And then you talk about your Instagram strategy for booking clients and they're like, I don't have a business. I'm a stay at home mom that is trying to be inspired to clean by watching other people clean. And so who is this channel and what is she talking about? So when YouTube puts your videos in front of those people, it's going to decrease the chances that they're going to come back and watch more content. And then YouTube doesn't have the data to understand the best people to put your videos in front of your most relevant audience. And the thing is, your relevant audience is the audience that will buy from you, work with you one on one, buy your courses. Right. So we really need to make sure whether we want to talk about a lot of different topics or not, there needs to be a through line. And that's what I do here on my YouTube channel. I speak to specifically digital course creators and online coaches. And the primary piece of content I do talk about is YouTube strategy, because I'm a YouTube strategist. But what does my target audience also like? Course creators, coaches. They also like to hear Instagram strategies or course creation strategies or mastermind ideas, content, calendars, productivity in your business. Right. Even though I'm a YouTube strategist and the primary thing that I teach business owners is how to strategically use YouTube business owners are also wondering how can they organize their calendar so they can do YouTube? Or how can they incorporate YouTube into their Instagram strategy? Or how can they ensure their sales page converts better if they start sending YouTube traffic to it. So yes, you can still create a variety of different topics. You just need to make sure it all fits under a main niche audience umbrella. Now I do teach people how to find their niche audience or what I like to call their ready to buy audience here on YouTube and use that information and search related data from YouTube to plan a year's worth of strategic videos here on YouTube. Inside my live workshop profit purview YouTube right now in 2024 is one of the most stable platforms you can focus your content strategy on. We don't have to worry about it possibly being banned like TikTok. We don't have to worry about algorithms changing so consistently and often like over on meta Instagram and Facebook and YouTube, if done right will promote your content content to more people for free. So you don't have to pay to play on this platform as well. When you do it right, come to this workshop and see how you can start using YouTube as your number one platform that will generate you leads and sales for years to come without worrying about the other noise going on on those platforms. I will show you a way to set up a simplified sustainable one video a week game plan here on YouTube so that you're not creating creating so much content and feel like you're burning out over the amount of content you're creating and not really seeing more sales, more revenue, more clients, more email list subscribers coming into your business. Grab your seat at my next live workshop@treanalittle.com forward/ppv and at the end of this one and a half hour workshop, yes, it's over an hour and a half. It is meaty content. You'll know how to build your strategy but at the end I do about a 30 minute minute Q and A session but I will hang on as long as I need to to answer every single one of your questions that you have about your YouTube strategy.

So don't miss this.

I do want to dive into everything a business owner, course creator, coach needs to understand about YouTube if they have decided I'm dedicating my content strategy to YouTube and I want to level up. I want to dedicate, growing and seeing results from YouTube. So my next video on the screen right now I'm laying it all out on the table. Exactly what equipment you need need, how often you need to film, what editing software you need, what the ultimate time commitment is going to look like, and how you can start incorporating it into your current schedule. Click that video to see how you can start YouTubing as a business owner for more leads and sales.