YouTube is the Google of Video.

You can search almost anything on YouTube and get lost for hours or days.

With an abundance of videos on the same topic, how does one video stand out above the rest?

Like Google, the keywords and titles you use help people discover your YouTube video.  Cleverly worded titles will draw interest and more specific  titles/tags will help in the search results.

However, that’s where the similarities with Google end.  With online video,  the still image of each video is just as important as the title and keywords/tags used.  If you ever pay attention to your own behavior, you’ll click on videos because the still image has created curiosity.

I know some of you are thinking of vids that you clicked that have taken you to fake videos or something entirely different than what you expected. I’ve been duped many times by fake videos based on the still image alone.   That being said, if your video delivers what it’s supposed to, then you’ve upped the chances of your video being clicked on.

Here is a sample of David Choi (YouTube indie-star) doing a song with Kina Grannis,  another indie YouTube star that Voyno talked about in a previous post (indie cross promotion).  David has quite a few videos where the still image has this bright neon background. Those are videos that stick out before you even click them. They’re bright and shiny.  Check it out.

Music Consciousness
Hoover