All small businesses’ operations are included in Accounting. Those companies lack the means to justify hiring an accountant. In many cases they have to figure out themselves the best accounting tools for their business. As there are so many solutions to choose from, it is tough to decide where to start.
To help you short-list the best small business accounting software, we have compiled below a list of the best options available in the market now.
It is one of the most important resources in this category. It has facilities like receipt capture and 24/7 chat support. It also integrates with PayPal, Shopify, and Square. It has many other features as well, hence it is very popular for many small business companies.
All plans of this resource facilitate tracking income and expense, send invoices and receive payments, run reports, send estimates, track sales and taxes, capture and organise receipts. In case you require to track inventory, track time, and full service payroll, there are more advanced plans also available.
Intuit QuickBooks is ideal for small businesses. It is an affordable, time-tested and easily accessible solution, suitable for a company of any size. It is reliable with exceptional functionality.
It makes small business accounting more efficient. It can save a lot of time every year on filing for taxes. This software integrates with many business applications and provides you with an integrated single dashboard to manage your finances and accounting. It also has a facility to take regular secured backups. Its mobile app enables you to keep track of your business at all times. FreshBook is ideal if you require to send out recurring invoices, need time tracking capability, or run a subscription model business.
It also includes a feature that lets you see the exact location a customer opened your invoice thereby eliminating excuses of non-receipt of the invoice. FreshBooks has affordable plans suitable for businesses of every size.
Pabbly Subscription Billing is a recurring and subscription management software for small and medium sized businesses. This software has been designed to provide real-time actionable metrics on your monthly payments, revenue, net revenue,active customers and new subscriptions. It also automates all your business workflows, customer communication and invoice creation resulting in saving your time which you can use for your business growth.
Its subscription billing model is one of the major features. The most noticeable feature is it does not charge any extra fees on the basis of per-transaction and monthly revenue generation. Its consistency and the top rated functionality make it the best option for a business.
It is a powerful accounting solution for small businesses and individual contractors. Its main emphasis is on easy user interface, better sync across various important segments like your bank accounts, track your expenses, and balance your books with ease.If you invest in its other products, it lines up with Wave’s additional resources. It’s like an all-in-one solution for your business.
It is also suitable for a freelancer or a business having just a few employees.It’s worth highlighting that most of its services are free including invoice and transaction management.
This software offers a centralised platform that covers almost every aspect of your business- from purchasing to warehouse management to job costing. A wide range of tools includes a powerful suite of accounting features that can help any small business streamline processes like data entry and syncing invoices.
The platform’s accounting element also seamlessly integrates with other applications like Xero and Quickbooks- with additional resources that allow for real-time visibility into your financial data.
Its pricing is certainly higher as compared to other solutions, hence it may not be suitable for all businesses. Still, for a one-stop, comprehensive solution for virtually all your business needs including accounting, this may be the right choice for you.
Tipalti automates the entire accounts payable process, liberating you to focus on making strategic decisions of your business.The solution can streamline international payment processing in about 190 countries, automate your payment operations and even make sure you pay your taxes on time and avoid any default.
It is perfect for deadline-driven businesses. It can help you keep control on and meet time-bound objectives every time. This programme aims to correct all key issues like late payments, non-compliance, and administrative overload. Tipalti is ideal for you to keep your accounts payable process timely and smooth. Its pricing is available on request.
This software is specifically designed for desktop users. It provides double-entry accounting tools- from time billing and reporting to inventory that are customizable and optimised for desktop users. This program has a unique facility of one-time fee potentially saving you considerable money as in subscription costs.
If your business doesn’t need a mobile option, AccountEdge can be an ideal choice for you.Yet there is an option of cloud-based collaboration available for purchase which can give you mobile flexibility.
Sage saves your lot of time on administrative tasks. This software performs multi tasks like sending invoices, tracking payments and expenses, and calculating what you owe in the coming tax season. There are certain limitations of this software. You do not get Time-tracking and collaboration tools and also payroll is a separate product.
Sage is suitable for small to medium businesses. It is expensive in the list of all such softwares yet its features are quite impressive which justify the pricing. If your small business is capable enough to afford little extra cost, it is worth considering for Sage 50cloud.
Kashoo offers powerful functions at a reasonable price. It offers automatic reconciliation, categorisation using machine learning technology, and income and expenditure tracking.
It is perfect for small businesses that require truly simple solutions. Kashoo offers plans and features that meet with requirements of any small business. Its functionality is simple, seamless but effective. Its pricing structure allows for unlimited users at a relatively low price.
OneUp is a double-entry accounting solution.It provides sync with your bank, categorises bank entries and validates suggested entries which helps you to to update your books quickly and accurately. In other words about 95% of your accounting is automated.
The other features of this software are impressive as well. The flagship feature of this software is its inventory management capabilities. The program automatically adjusts your inventory levels as they change and suggests you reorder. If the main focus of your business is inventory management.
From the above narration you will understand that depending on the size of your business, exact requirements, and your budget you can decide which one of these solutions is the best for you.
There are a lot of startups that fail, and it doesn’t always have to do with a lack of funding or talent. One major hurdle they face is the uncertainty of whether their idea has any merit. Diligence is key when starting a business. Some people like to take risks and see what happens, but there are just as many who would rather play it safe. The following article will outline my five steps for growing a startup business, from ideation to execution.
The five steps for growing a startup business
Imagine there was a formula for startups that had been mastered. Then all you had to do was go and write down those steps and follow them. So, my friend, let’s take a look at how to get a startup off the ground. Step #1: Ask why Your first question should always be why. Why do you want to do this? You want to make a difference with your business. Why is that? Do you want to make a business impact? Do you want to create a product or service that people are willing to pay for? I know that it can be hard to keep track of all of the answers to why, but it can give you the clarity you need to define your business objective.
What are the five steps to grow a startup business?
1. Determine the Idea This is probably the most crucial step in growing a startup. The idea should answer the question, “What problem can we solve?” and must ultimately be something that solves a problem, provides value, and/or increases the customer base. The likelihood of having an idea that satisfies all of these requirements is low.
Here are a few things to keep in mind: You can’t solve a problem for more than one person. Your customers must be interested in what you are offering If you don’t have a product or service, try to find out what your competition does or has, and use that as inspiration 2. Solve the problem using simple tactics There are two main approaches to solving problems: algorithmic and human.
Understand your idea
We’re all entrepreneurs at heart. If you have an idea for a product or service that’s captured your attention, there’s a good chance that you’ve already started to form some ideas about how you would go about creating it. You have to understand your idea as thoroughly as possible if you want it to be successful. You’ll need to have an idea of your price point and business model, as well as a strategic plan to grow it to profitability and establish a reliable revenue stream. Figure out your target audience You’re going to be pitching your business idea to a variety of people, and what you say will go a long way towards defining it. Do you want to target hard-to-find consumers or the whole world?
Be prepared for uncertainty
All good ideas start with a premise. What problem are you trying to solve? There are two types of ideas. First, you have a grandiose or grand design that alludes to a huge opportunity. These ideas typically require some number of resources to achieve them. They are virtually guaranteed to fail, but still, end up affecting the world in some way. Second, you have a “skeleton” idea, one that has only the essential elements of what you’re looking to accomplish. These ideas typically require fewer resources to accomplish but are easier to test for efficacy. Related: Making the Leap From ‘Entrepreneur’ to ‘Business’ One of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face is the uncertainty of how a business idea will turn out.
Focus on execution
According to Robert Kiyosaki in his book Rich Dad Poor Dad, the most important thing an entrepreneur can do is focus on execution. Many entrepreneurs fail because they lost sight of the focus of their venture, and there’s no room for distractions when you’re trying to build a business. To determine what direction your startup should head, make a list of all the needs of your target customer. Spend a great deal of time focusing on customer needs and what problems you can solve. You need to know your industry inside and out and, at the same time, know your audience inside and out. With these few steps, you can form the proper team and start growing your startup business.
Execute your product idea to perfection
Before you spend millions of dollars on a technology solution or launch your product into the market, you have to make sure your product works. Whether you’re a computer scientist or a former advertising executive, your ideas must meet the needs of the marketplace. If not, you will be wasting money and wasting time. The only way to avoid wasting time is to execute your idea to the highest standard. Get every detail right For this step, you must develop a solid business model, marketing strategy, and go-to-market strategy. These four things ensure that your business can be profitable and survive for years to come. When implementing your strategy, make sure you set the right goals, identify the wrong ones, and manage your team well.
Combine your ideas to find what’s best.
Ask yourself the question: what do you want to create? You’ll need to whittle down the possibilities a bit to find the one or two things that have the best chance of being a success. Once you’ve narrowed the possibilities down to a couple of options, then test it out. See how the idea plays out in the market, and gather some data to give you data to add to your pitch later on. It can be a bit discouraging to try and develop an idea with limited data, but sometimes that’s all you need to get the ball rolling. I’m constantly looking for great ideas, but it’s so easy to get distracted by things like money and resources. I’m always looking for great ideas, but I also think about how they will play out.
Stay committed to your plan
Diligence requires dedication, and your commitment to your business should be focused on the end goal. Aim for what you are working toward as long as you can see the progress. It is easier to focus and stay motivated when you know that all of your decisions are being based on good ideas. Don’t take the easy path There is nothing wrong with taking the path of least resistance. However, there are other options that might result in an even better end result. Strive to achieve what is within your power, and be willing to do what it takes to get there. Don’t let the market make the decisions for you. If you are not willing to work hard to make your idea a reality, find another area where you can help people. This will make your startup even stronger and more meaningful.
Growth is the most challenging issue for small and medium-sized enterprises. And by growth, we mean increased visibility, more customers and workers, and, most crucially, increased income. As we all know, a lot has to happen for this to happen. One of the most important is that your company’s workflows and organizational procedures must be simplified to function smoothly for all operations. That is when CRM software becomes extremely valuable to small and medium-sized enterprises. A CRM consolidates information and records into a single database that is easily accessible and manageable. It provides you with automated mail alerts, calendar notifications, and other features to increase productivity and efficiency. The primary reason they don’t have a CRM is that they believe they are too tiny. This is where they go WRONG; in fact, small and medium-sized enterprises require CRM more than their bigger counterparts.
That is why we have made a list of the top ten CRM solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Top 10 CRM Tools that your business can use
SalesForce
SalesForce is possibly the most popular and commonly used CRM software on the market. Fortunately, SalesForce offers a minimal edition called Lightning Essentials for small and medium-sized businesses. This package includes a sophisticated contact manager with email integration and follow-up reminders. It also provides a plethora of integration and customization possibilities. Salesforce price varies; here’s a look at the pricing: Lightning Essentials subscription ($25/month/user), Lightning Professional ($75/month/user), and others.
HubSpot
HubSpot provides a free version of their CRM software, which small enterprises widely use. The program offers all of the fundamental CRM software capabilities, allowing you to keep track of your firm’s operations, such as contacts and company profiles, assigning and tracking deals, and managing all of that data in a comprehensive dashboard. Are you already a HubSpot Sales user? Then you may utilize this CRM software to increase incoming sales. In addition, HubSpot has many connectivity options with significant programs like Salesforce, Shopify, and Microsoft Dynamics. With this software, you can get started for free.
Zoho
Despite being featured in our list of enterprise-grade software, Zoho may also be used by small enterprises due to the range of versions available. In terms of sales/marketing capabilities, Zoho has a lot to offer, including website visitor monitoring, lead scoring, sales signals (including pop-up notifications regarding prospects), and more. However, keep in mind that some of the most complex features are only available in the professional and business editions.
PipeDrive
Pipedrive’s sales management solution automates the administration of your contacts and transactions, as well as the organization of your emails, documents, sales, and other activities. It also aids in the planning of your actions and the management of recommendations from others. It saves you much of your time and allows you to keep track of all your sales and prospects.
It is the premier sales management solution for small and medium enterprises, with over 50,000 clients.
Main Features of PipeDrive
Make a plan of action to ensure that no trade goes between the cracks.
Keep track of all the information regarding your deals, such as the talks you’ve had with all parties.
Data representation in the form of a visual pipeline allows you to see where all of your deals are moving.
Freshworks CRM
Freshworks CRM (formerly Freshsales) allows you to automatically gather and organize website visitors as sales lead based on their interaction with your website. Assign them to the appropriate salespersons in your team. Reach out to each lead with full context and track transactions through tailored funnels.
Nutshell
Nutshell is a robust CRM recognized for its easy-to-use design that provides a lot of value. There is no need for any special IT department. Sales and marketing solutions enable you to create and access customer interaction histories, convert website visitors into contacts via lead form integration, and segment leads and customers in complex ways (including industry, lifetime value, and location).
Nutshell comes with a map view, in-app phone calling and recording, a sales automation suite, and completely configurable reporting capabilities.
Here are some disadvantages: Users complain about the lack of automatic connections and customizability, however depending on your scenario, Nutshell’s simple UI and third-party integrations through Zapier may compensate.
Agile CRM
Agile CRM is a CRM software that provides many significant business features such as custom appointments, drag-and-drop marketing automation, and email reporting. This program also includes widgets, an extensive plugin library, API-powered integrations, and other features. The free edition, on the other hand, is severely constrained in terms of functionality.
Microsoft Dynamics 365
If you’re a Microsoft user, you’re undoubtedly aware that Microsoft Dynamics 365 is an all-in-one sales and marketing platform. This CRM offers a wide range of CRM features and interactions with Microsoft products and LinkedIn.
Main disadvantage of this software is that novice users may find it challenging to navigate at first, and mobile app functions are restricted. There are many modules and licenses available. Sales Insight, for example (€ 42.20/user/month)
Sugar CRM
Sugar Professional is an attractive choice for small enterprises in this CRM. The platform provides customer experience solutions, resulting in a straightforward and uniform experience. Each user may personalize and utilize this tool whenever and wherever they choose. Sugar Shell allows you to automate operations and have the correct information for each client encounter due to actionable insight. This program is available in a variety of price options. Sugar Professional (£41.60/user/month, minimum of 10 users) up to Sugar Market (£800 per month)
Nimble
Nimble CRM is an excellent CRM software for people who want to consolidate contacts, emails, and social media interactions (it works particularly well with Twitter). The design is also quite simple to use since it displays a to-do list, top / important offers, and other information. It also has a clever ‘rules engine’ that assists Nimble in predicting relevant contacts and activities based on your user behavior. Users may set reminders to Stay in Touch with certain people and particular flag conversations as critical to remaining ahead of the game. Nimble’s price ranges from $9 per user per month to $19 per user per month.
Digital marketing isn’t just a buzzword or a trend. It’s a necessary investment in your success. This is because digital marketing offers you the opportunity to generate leads and gain new customers who are in need of your services. And while there are many ways to generate leads through digital marketing, here, are 5 simple tips that will get you started
5 Ways to lead Generation through digital marketing
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter make it easy to gather leads that are directly related to your business. This is because every platform you upload on social media is capable of posting ads which makes it easy for people to find out about your business and sign up for your services. Capture email addresses.
Another way to generate leads for your business is to track down people who are interested in your services. It doesn’t matter if it’s emails, texts, or even the numbers you get via calls, every email or call needs to be recorded. This is because you can use this information to create marketing materials while making use of them in your customer service department.
2. Generate leads through content marketing
Content marketing generates new leads from followers who are actually willing to buy. Content that is optimized for SEO includes Pictures Video and infographics When you promote your content on the right platform, you can attract new followers. When you attract followers, they will spread your content to their followers who may be looking for your service.
Now your content marketing strategy is complete. Use Paid search campaigns Another way to generate leads is through paid search. With paid search, your advertisements will be featured in search engines like Google. These advertisements give you the opportunity to acquire new followers. And when followers search for your services, you can convince them to purchase your products.
3. Generate leads through webinars
Creating a website is necessary for any business, but creating a blog that can attract leads to your website is essential. Webinars are one of the most effective methods for generating leads for a small business. For this method, you must choose the topics you want to cover and contact your lead generation expert or consultant to get a full list of topics you should cover.
After selecting the topics that you want to cover, you will need to develop a template of the first segment of the webinar. You can’t just create it, as you need to properly prepare and train your audience, in order for them to participate in your webinar.
4. Generate leads through email marketing
If you don’t have a list, you have no leads. Why? Think about it. If you can’t sell something to a business, how would you sell it to someone? Because you have no leads, you can’t get them to your website. You need leads before you can generate sales, and the best way to generate new leads is to create a list of potential customers. That is the only way that you will be able to send them marketing messages that you want them to see.
The best method of sending these messages is by email. Utilize lead-generating tactics At the same time that you are creating a list of people to send emails to, you will also want to make sure that you are using every possible digital tactic that you can to generate leads. Do you know what that means?
5. Generate leads with your website
There is no other way to generate leads than through your website. With proper web development, you can effectively use the internet to target your customer and generate leads. In fact, one of the fastest ways to build leads is through content marketing. You can share articles, videos, infographics, and so on that will allow customers to learn more about your products and services.
Adding popups with offers, posting deals on the website as well as email signup for news letters can all help generating leads.
Have you tried to make the videos on your website more appealing by minimizing your video’s length, adding catchy titles, and even hiring a professional for production? If yes, did it help you get more views and improve your ranking? If your answer is no, you have come to the right place.
Video SEO is different from regular SEO. It refers to the optimization of videos on your website to help get views from Google and increase your organic traffic. You achieve video optimization when your videos generate a return on investment (ROI).
The first thing you need to do is to decide on your goals for your videos.
Define Your Video SEO Goals
Videos are an effective and exciting way to get organic traffic to your website. However, you need to consider a video strategy that fits in with your regular SEO strategies. Why is it necessary to define your video goals, you ask? If you do not establish your goals, you might end up spending a large amount of money on a video that is not even appropriate for your website.
Some website owners experience what is known as FOMO (fear of missing out) when they see other websites including videos. They also start producing a video for their website without even considering what they require from the video.
You need to ask yourself: Do I want videos for high-quality traffic, conversion, or simple organic traffic? When you set your video goals accordingly, you are more likely to find the right audience for your videos.
If you look at your video goals from an SEO point of view, there are two goals you can have. It can either be to build links or increase conversions. Let us understand how building links and increasing social shares can be beneficial.
Building Links and Increasing Social Shares for video seo
High-quality videos can generate links like no other element. It can help you link to the top domains provided you have relevant videos.
It can be tough to get these links as there is so much video content online. You require an outstanding video with an exceptional outreach strategy that positions it for backlinking from other websites.
Relevance is again a crucial factor when it comes to choosing a website you want to link from.
What do you think is the defining factor of your video? How is it any different from the ones that are already out there? These are the questions you need to answer to help determine where your videos currently stand.
Your videos need content that engages the audience and compels them to share it through social media platforms.
Moz Whiteboard Friday
As mentioned above, you need an out-of-the-box element for your video. This element will help you attract high-quality links to your website.
Try making your videos educational. One of the examples of these videos is Moz Whiteboard Friday.
Popularly known as Moz Whiteboard Friday, Moz posts a whiteboard-style video every Friday. A whiteboard-style animation refers to the static images drawn on the board while a narrator speaks in the background explaining the drawing.
Moz Whiteboard Friday attracts numerous links and social shares which increases their organic traffic. Moz Whiteboard Friday is an excellent example of how building links is easier by releasing engaging video content.
I must remind you, however, that you need to be sure of your video goals first. Putting all your efforts into outreach strategies and paying zero attention to the value your video provides will not help you achieve your goal.
Pro Tip: Try posting videos directly on your website rather than using video platforms like YouTube or Vimeo. This will help drive traffic to your website since viewers will have to share your website’s link when they share your videos. If you plan on posting your videos on video platforms, remember to link them back to your main webpage.
Increase Conversions for video seo
The primary aim of any VIDEO SEO process is to improve your ranking which in turn helps with sales and conversions.
However, increasing conversions is more than a singular process. First of all, you need to attract people to your website. Secondly, you must optimize the website for people to be paying clients.
Videos are an excellent tool for conversion as they can help people stay engaged with your website. This element is especially beneficial when you add it to your website’s landing page.
Adding videos to your landing page is one of the primary ways to increase conversions. Another way to do this is through rich snippets.
But first, let us look at how videos on landing pages help with conversions.
Video SEO for Landing Page
You only have just a few seconds to engage a visitor through your website. This necessitates an optimized landing page. If you only optimize the written content on your landing page, it may not be enough for visitors. You require their attention, and videos are an engaging way to get that.
When you visit any website’s landing page and spend time looking at a video relevant to the business, you want to know more about it.
That is how video SEO works on a landing page. Once viewers see a convincing video about your brand, they are more likely to become paying clients. Product videos and explanatory videos are two ways to reel customers in.
Product Videos
If you are a retailer wanting to increase conversions, product videos are the ultimate solution. People buying products online feel a lot more confident if they watch the product video first.
Your product video should not contain unnecessary details. It should be concise and relevant.
Here is an example from Zappos and their product video for Levi’s jeans for women. Econsultancy reported that after Zappos introduced product videos, their sales increased from 6% to 30%.
Explanatory Videos
If your brand deals with services, you can use explanatory videos for your conversions. There is no exact formula to create these videos as it depends on what kind of services you provide.
However, if you produce an introductory video of your brand, your conversions are more likely to increase. This type of video can help describe why your services are top-notch while also providing a preview of your services.
Dropbox did just this by adding videos to their homepage which increased their conversion rate by 10%.
After having established the importance and potential of video SEO, let us look at other ways you can increase conversions with video SEO:
Video SEO Through Rich Snippets
Google customarily provides a short description of your website below each search result. These are known as normal snippets. When Google provides additional information taken from structured data in your page’s HTML, these are rich snippets. Some common types of rich snippets include recipes, reviews, and events.
Sometimes, people refer to the rich snippets before they visit the landing page of a website. Google has recently increased the use of rich snippets in their search results. You can take a look below for a reference to a video that has a rich snippet in the SERP.
Google displays information about your video and helps the user know that they can watch the video once they click on the link. Since users can already see your video snippet, they are more likely to visit your website. This increased traffic can improve your conversions eventually.
The thumbnail of your video is visible to the users along with the duration. It is a good practice to optimize your thumbnail by ensuring that it matches your web page’s context.
A crucial question arises: How do you use rich snippets for Video SEO?
The fundamental rule in using rich snippets for video SEO is to host the video on your website. If you work on WordPress, you can use YouTube through the Yoast plugin.
Once you have posted the video on your website, you can inform Google by adding schema codes and submitting an XML sitemap on Google Search Console.
It might seem like a tedious task, but once you start doing it regularly, you will get the hang of it. If you are ranking for high-volume keywords already, these rich snippets work like a bonus.
By now, you know the basics of video SEO. Now let us look at how you can perform keyword research for your video.
Video SEO Keyword Research
Keyword research for video seo is different from the keyword research methods we have previously taught you for written content.
You’ll need to perform different keyword research for your videos since the views you get for your videos come from YouTube searches and not search engines. Though it is essential to optimize your videos for both YouTube and Google, YouTube has the upper hand.
Another reason why a separate search is necessary is that people use Google and YouTube differently. For instance, a keyword like “health insurance” may get millions of hits on Google, but it may only have a few hundred hits on YouTube.
The keyword phrase “adorable dogs” may get millions of hits on YouTube, but it may not have as many hits on Google. Hence, you’ll need to do separate keyword research for video SEO.
In the following section, we look at some research techniques for video keywords.
Using YouTube Suggestions for video seo
This is similar to Google’s suggestions. When you add a keyword on YouTube’s search bar, you get a list of options. These keywords are potential video keywords.
Using TubeBuddy Tags for your video SEO
If you want to know what video tags your competitors are using, this extension is your answer.
You need to install the extension on your Chrome browser and visit your competitor’s YouTube page.
Look at the tags tab. The numbers in green boxes indicate how specific keywords rank in YouTube.
Imagine this scenario: you come across a low-quality video (relevant to your brand) with a keyword that ranks on YouTube. Why not produce a high-quality fully-optimized video using the same keyword to outrank the previous one?
Using VidlQ Keyword Search for video seo
You can use this tool to search for keywords for free, but of course, premium paying members get additional benefits.
Within seconds of signing up, you get many keywords and phrases. Add your main keyword on an SEO search bar, and voila! You have all the relevant keywords and phrases for your video SEO.
VidlQ also shows the information on high-volume keywords that have low competition.
Using YT Cockpit for video seo
This tool works specifically for YouTube keyword research. You need to add your seed keyword into the search bar of this tool. The tool will then display a list of keywords and phrases with each keywords’ metrics.
If you come across the monthly searches column in YT Cockpit, it refers to Google searches, not YouTube searches.
An important element of this tool is the competitor analysis it provides.
This tool gives you a list of all the highly successful videos for the selected keyword. If there are many successful videos for a particular keyword, you can choose to work with another relevant keyword.
Using YouTube Studio Stats for video seo
Since this tool shows keywords that you have already ranked for, your channel needs to have at least some traction for this tool to be beneficial.
This tool offers you the best keywords for your videos. You can take a look at them via the YouTube Studio dashboard. You can find an analytics option that leads you to reach viewers.
Select the traffic source as YouTube searches and you can see your already ranked keyword list.
Once you see this list, you can use it in one of two ways:
Optimize an existing video around those keywords
Create a new video using those keywords
Now that you know how to look for keywords for your videos, let’s move on with learning how to create top-ranking, engaging videos.
Creating Engaging Videos
Have you ever started watching a YouTube video that you felt like turning off after the first few seconds? On the other hand, have you ever found yourself enjoying a video so much that you not only watched it to the last second, but watched it again, and shared it with your friends?
Both videos in the above scenario may have entailed a lot of hard work from their producers, but only one of those videos will have desirable results.
What makes one video better than the other? I’m glad you asked. There are several metrics that YouTube uses to rank your video:
Watch Time for your video SEO
The Total Watch Time is the most crucial ranking factor on YouTube. It refers to the complete duration of your video.
You can find this metric on YouTube studio.
You can optimize your watch time by creating long videos. Consider this scenario: You create two videos for your channel. The first video is 30 minutes long while the second video is ten minutes long. If people watch 40% of each of your videos, the first video will have three times the watch time that the second, shorter video will have.
This is the explanation behind the idea that longer videos are more likely to have a higher ranking on YouTube.
Increase Audience Retention
Audience retention is another ranking factor for YouTube videos and improves video SEO output. It refers to the total amount of time that audiences watch your video.
If you can improve your video’s audience retention, you can rank higher on YouTube.
Pay attention to the first 10 to 15 seconds of your video. If you cannot engage someone within that 10 to 15-second timeframe, they will not watch the rest of the video.
In your YouTube studio stats, check the audience retention reports for your videos. You can see at which points audience retention peaked and dropped in your video.
Try adding pattern interrupts. Pattern interrupts refer to the moments in your video when you change things up a little. It is an element designed to help break the monotony and keep things interesting.
We will look at this metric in more detail in the YouTube SEO section.
Session Watch Time
Session watch time refers to how long a person spends on YouTube after watching your video. YouTube ranks videos with a higher session watch time. Unfortunately, there is no possible way to measure your session watch time.
There are, however, ways to optimize it:
Create a playlist. If the audience selects a video from your playlist, your session watch time increases.
Links at the end of the video give the viewers a chance to visit your channel and improve your session watch time. Try YouTube’s End Screen feature to add this feature to your videos.
User Engagement
If viewers watch your videos without liking, sharing, subscribing, or commenting on them, it does not help user engagement. YouTube uses the share, like, subscribe and comment functions to measure if viewers actively engage with your videos.
There are ways to improve your videos’ user engagement:
Ask your viewers to comment on the video.
Add a subscribe call-to-action to your video.
Reply to the comments you receive on your video.
Now that you know how to create and determine what an engaging video is, let’s look at some ways you can optimize it for video SEO.
Ways to Optimize Your Videos for Search
The optimization of your videos is as important as optimizing your written content. The video optimization process also includes video keyword optimization.
Try these steps for optimization for video seo
Select the Correct Video Hosting Platform
Selecting the right video hosting platform for your video entails knowing the answer to the first question in this chapter: Why do you want video SEO? What are you trying to achieve? Once you can answer this question, you can proceed with choosing the right video hosting platform.
YouTube and Vimeo are good choices if your goal is brand awareness.
Include a Video Transcript
If you come across a video that has real-time captions, then it has a video transcript. When you add video transcripts to your videos, you make them accessible to a broader audience. It also helps bot crawlers find your videos more easily with the additional information provided by the transcript.
Create an Appealing Thumbnail Image
Whenever you browse through videos, you are scrolling through thumbnail images that represent them. This matters because they are the first encounters that potential viewers will have with your video. Thumbnail images are a big factor in helping visitors decide whether or not to click on your video file.
You should therefore strive for a thumbnail image that is appealing and relevant. If your video is about DIY face masks, your thumbnail picture should depict that. Any random out-of-place photograph will not compel users to click on your video.
Choose the Right Title and Description for Your Video
When you write a catchy title and a meta description for your video, you are more likely to get views. Remember to include the targeted keyword in your title.
You should also take the time to research how to make titles and descriptions clickable.
Other Content Should Be Relevant to Your Video
Your webpage is more than just your video. It has other elements too. Focus on optimizing other components. Use these elements to explain the relevance of your video.
Gaining organic traffic is a tedious process, but worth it if you optimize all the components of your website.
Put the Video You Want to Rank First
This step applies to a webpage that has multiple videos. Google usually indexes only the first video on a webpage. Bot crawlers stop indexing after the first video. Hence, you must put the video you want to rank first on your webpage.
Put Focus on Your Ranking Video
This step is an extension of the previous step. You should avoid adding lengthy information and adding other unnecessary elements to your video.
It’s worth repeating that you should place the video you want to rank towards the top of your website. People don’t like scrolling a lot just to find the main content.
Do Not Put the Same Video on Multiple Pages
Embedding the same video on different pages of your website only creates unnecessary competition for yourself.
It is likewise illogical to duplicate the same elements that you have on a ranking page to other pages on your website.
Do not do either of these things.
Explore Other Means of Promotion
You could try to promote your video on social media. You need to continue exploring other ways of creating viewership and engagement for your video. Depending on SEO alone is not enough.
For those of you interested in using YouTube as a platform for your videos, this next section is for you.
How to Rank #1 on YouTube?
Let’s say that you have an engaging video ready for YouTube. Let’s work on getting that video to rank higher.
YouTube Keyword Research
We discussed this earlier in this chapter. It is the first step towards ranking on YouTube.
Identify Search Intent
Search intent is a crucial factor in keyword research. It refers to the context and the reason behind a user’s query.
YouTube search results can help you identify this search intent.
Establish how your video addresses different users’ intent. If your video is a tutorial, YouTube likes step-by-step guides. If your video ranks different items in a specific category, use a listicle format.
High-Retention Videos
You are now familiar with the concept of audience retention.
Let’s look at the steps that help to optimize audience retention in more detail:
Planning Before Creation
You may have decided what your video is about, but you still need to flesh out a proper plan before producing it. If it helps, write down the script for your narration. You can also create a storyboard for it.
Develop a Strong Hook
You have come across this step before. The first 10 to 15 seconds of your video are crucial. These few seconds set the tone for your video and help viewers determine whether they will watch your video to the end or not.
User Engagement
To increase user engagement, ask people to comment, like, share, or subscribe to your channel in every video.
Edit your Videos
If your video is lengthy, you need to edit it strategically. People do not like to sit and watch monotonous videos. They want to watch videos that they find engaging.
These editing techniques can help you increase retention:
Add jump cuts to quickly transition from one scene to another.
Minimize gaps between key scenes.
Guide your viewers to the video elements you want them to focus on.
Use stories or narratives to share information.
Feedback is important
Feedback is not limited to viewers leaving comments on your videos. The feedback process begins with your video SEO team. You should use them to:
Get feedback on your script.
Get feedback on your video edits.
An engaging video is a result of actively soliciting and getting feedback even before you release your video online.
On-Page Video Optimization
This step refers to all the tweaks and changes you need to make to your on-page video elements.
A few basic reminders:
Craft an appropriate title and description.
Choose or come up with an engaging and relevant thumbnail.
Use tags whenever necessary.
Optimizing In-Video Elements
Your video has elements that need optimizing. For instance:
Include video transcripts (This was previously mentioned in optimizing the search section).
Use YouTube Cards
YouTube cards are an interactive feature that is displayed towards the end of videos. It allows the video content producers to share clickable links to other content that they believe viewers might be interested in. By utilizing YouTube cards, you allow your viewers to:
Watch other videos you’ve chosen for them
Browse through another YouTube channel
Donate to nonprofit organizations
Answer a poll-type question
Click on an external link
You can add these cards by linking them to your video timeline. When the viewer reaches that part of the video where you linked a Youtube card, it appears on their screen.
YouTube end screens are similar to YouTube cards. The only difference is that YouTube end screens only become visible towards the last 5 to 20 seconds of your video.
Publishing and Promoting Videos
The first 48 hours after publishing your video are important as they can tell you how well your video did. Of course, you should use these 48 hours to promote your work. Here are a few factors that you should consider during this crucial time frame:
Determine the best time to publish your video.
What time are your targeted viewers on YouTube? When are they most likely to click on your video? Finding the best time to publish your video is one of the most crucial factors that will help you gain a higher viewership for your work.
Though there is no exact formula for the best time, you can try monitoring YouTube’s peak viewing hours.
Reply to comments.
Engaging with your audience is key to promoting your video. YouTube offers you a way to like comments, and reply to them. Use this feature to your benefit.
Leverage your existing audience.
You can try to gain new viewers for your channel or videos, but don’t forget about the audience you already have. One way to boost views from people who have watched your videos before is to promote your video on social media.
Try sending newsletters.
You can send out newsletters whenever you have new content.
Include links on your social media handles.
Make your video links more accessible on social media by publishing these links alongside your social media handle.
Promote your videos to new audiences.
If you do not have an existing audience, promotion can be tricky, but there are ways to gain new audiences:
Look for relevant discussion boards like Quora where you can share your video links.
Try collaborating with other YouTube channels.
Pay for YouTube ads based on your targeted keywords.
Optimizing New Videos
After publishing a video, you can no longer edit it, but you can use the data you have from your existing videos to optimize subsequent videos.
Analyze your audience retention graph on YouTube to get to know what your viewers like.
Find out if your video aligns with the search intent of your viewers. (You can do this through your YouTube studio dashboard)
Now that you know the steps you need to perform to rank on YouTube, let’s turn our attention to getting your videos to rank on Google.
Rank YouTube Videos on Google
There are several steps you can follow to get your YouTube videos to rank on Google.
Look for Potential Topics
As you read in an earlier chapter, topics that might rank on YouTube might not rank on Google. Your priority now should be topics that people search for on Google.
You can also focus on the video intent behind a topic. For instance, when looking for instructions on how to cut up certain fruits, people are more likely to watch an instructional video than try to read about it. Knowing this, you need to do some research on appropriate video keywords that are relevant to your chosen topic.
Optimizing Your Video for Suggested Clips
Google uses suggested clips to feature highlights from selected videos that it believes to be relevant to a search. They are embedded in SERPs and play directly from them. Users can therefore preview parts of a video through suggested clips.
To increase the chances of your video becoming one of these suggested clips, you need to make sure that your video is concise, helpful, and engaging.
How to do this? If your video is a step-by-step tutorial, you need simple action words for each step. For example, if your video is about making lemonade, your video’s instructions can be:
“Squeeze some lemon juice into a glass. Add sugar and salt according to taste. Mix it well using a spoon. Pour ice cubes into the glass. Fill the glass with water. Finally, add a mint leaf garnish.”
What we are trying to show in the above example is the significance of simple action words. Do not add unnecessary content to your video. Use a clear voice for narration.
Lastly, if you provide instructions for something, make sure that the accompanying video clearly illustrates your point. For example, if your video says pour ice cubes into the glass, show ice cubes being poured into a glass to support it.
These techniques will aid your video’s chances of becoming a suggested clip for a relevant query when performed successfully.
Take Control of Your Closed Captions
It is unattractive to have incorrectly closed captions in a video. YouTube adds these automatically to your video, and they can be full of errors sometimes.
Add in your captions to ensure that they are correct. This will help with user engagement and your Google ranking.
Use A Compelling Thumbnail
The thumbnail image you choose should make viewers want to open your video link. Make sure to use a thumbnail image relevant to your video so that people searching for the content you offer can easily find it. A compelling thumbnail needs to be:
Customized based on content
Appropriately sized. Your image should not appear stretched or pixellated. It should be the right aspect ratio. (Google’s aspect ratio is 16:9.)
If your video content solves a problem, your image can show that problem being solved.
The Thumbnail images are small. Make sure your audiences can easily see what they contain. If there is any text, it should be readable. Use contrasting colors to make any elements in your graphic easy to see and make out.
Add descriptive text in the video description field to go with your thumbnail image.
Highlight Key Moments From Your Video
Google has a relatively new feature that allows users to survey important moments from your videos through time stamps. The feature is called Google Key Moments. It allows users to skip to a specific section of your video that they find relevant. Since it gives videos more chances to rank, you should consider taking advantage of this by adding timestamps to your videos.
Fundamentally, this entails creating an outline of your video based on timestamps in YouTube’s video description box.
The basic elements for creating Google Moments are:
Timestamps – This is a link to a section of a YouTube video. It is usually in the following format: [hh] : [mm]:[ss].
Labels – These are one-line descriptions of the clip.
Make the most out of your timestamps by doing the following:
Use the video description box for your timestamps. Do not put them in a comment.
Every timestamp should be entered on a new line. Do not enter them all in a single line as this looks cluttered and can be confusing for viewers.
Aim for concise and descriptive one-line labels.
Follow a chronological order for placing your timestamps.
Please note that the Google Key Moments feature only works with content from YouTube at the moment.
In these modern times, every smartphone is equipped with a video camera. Videos are as popular as ever. They have become more accessible and easier to make.
However, creating effective, relevant, and engaging videos is still an intangible skill that is hard to quantify. Despite the absence of a holy grail for creating the next viral video, we hope that you can use the ideas and techniques presented in this chapter to make video SEO work for you.
Chapter 6 – Video SEO – Make your Videos stand and increase revenue
Video SEO – Ranking your videos What Is Video SEO? Have you tried to make the videos on your website more appealing by minimizing your video’s length, adding catchy titles, and even hiring a professional for production? If yes, did it help you get more views and improve your ranking? If your answer is no,…
