Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
YouTube has a lot of potential for a myriad of purposes. For instance, you can amplify your website’s brand by regularly updating video content. Today, I’ll show you why you should integrate YouTube content with your blog.
Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee that you’ll become a success on YouTube. No one can. That’s because every creator and audience is different.
However, adding the video platform to your website’s content strategy can take you much further than just the blog alone.
Why Integrate YouTube Videos with Your Blog?
Out of all the social media platforms I use for marketing the website, YouTube is the most influential. Not only have I had fun making most of the videos, the channel has opened a variety of opportunities for me as a writer.
With all of the potential available, you can see why so many people add YouTube to marketing strategies.
These are the most practical reasons why you would want to integrate YouTube while blogging:
1. Provides Additional Content for Posts and Pages
Originally, I created the WriterSanctuary YouTube channel to augment the blog posts. It was my plan to give people an option to either read or watch the content.
And in many instances, it drastically improved the on-page time of certain articles. In fact, the video I have for Buy Me a Coffee gets a lot of views from this website.
If someone doesn’t want to watch the video, he or she can simply continue reading the blog post. Though, I tend to offer variations between the blog and video content.
The only thing you have to worry about is how the JavaScript that comes with embedding YouTube videos can slow your site. But, there are ways you can avoid performance issues when integrating YouTube videos in blog posts and pages.
2. Expands Your Reach for an Audience
One thing I didn’t plan on happening was creating a community based solely on YouTube. Remember, I just wanted to give people options when visiting the website.
What happened is WriterSanctuary created its own following on YouTube separate from the blog. Sure, some people will still come to the site from YouTube. But, the audience is still focused on video content.
After the last couple of years, I’ve found the blog and the YouTube channel generate relatively close to the same amount of traffic. So, in essence, I doubled my audience.
To top it off, Google crawls YouTube for relevant search results. If you Google, “Textbroker Tips,” I have a lot of the videos on the first page of the search engine.
3. Provide a Back-and-Forth for Content Ideas
Another aspect to consider is how integrating YouTube can help generate content ideas for the blog. And, the blog can help generate ideas for the videos.
Yes, I started the channel by turning blog posts into video content. Nowadays, the videos I create prompt me to create blog posts as well. Especially the videos that get a lot of attention.
That’s because the interest in specific topics is often the same on YouTube as it is for Google. Of course, that really depends on your brand’s niche and purpose.
At any rate, maintaining both a blog and YouTube channel can help you come up with content ideas for either platform.
4. Potential to Gain More Sponsors and Supporters
Sponsors and supporters are two easy methods to monetize a blog. If you can generate enough interest in your site and reach 10k pageviews per month, it catches the eye of brands willing to toss money at you.
The YouTube channel is just an extension of that process. And in many instances, even more so. That’s because video content is continually growing as the most prominent form of content on the Internet.
It’s been my experience that I get more sponsorship requests from the blog while the YouTube channel accounts for more direct supporters from my Buy Me a Coffee page.
Everyone will have a different experience, though. The bottom line is that expanding your content marketing with video can easily lead to making far more money down the road.
5. Increasing Traffic to Blog Posts
Out of all the social media sites I use to promote blog content, YouTube brings in more visitors than Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn combined. People are more likely to click the links in the video description than they are from something like a Twitter post.
This can work well to generate interest for your blog, especially if you have it monetized with AdSense or affiliate marketing. That’s because YouTube has some hefty requirements for monetization.
In other words, even a brand new channel can indirectly monetize videos with blogging AdSense. And this is far easier to get into than monetizing AdSense on YouTube.
In a way, though, I am generating revenue from the YouTube channel because people visit the blog.
Keep in mind that search results will still be the primary source of visitors on the Internet. However, YouTube is definitely an incredible source when compared to other social platforms.
What Has My Experience Been for WriterSanctuary on YouTube?
As I said earlier, I really didn’t have a plan to build up a YouTube channel. I only wanted video content on the blogs to give visitors an option. And since September of 2018, it’s grown into much more.
I can safely say that I am extremely glad I decided to integrate YouTube with the blog.
I don’t view either platform as having its own audience. In fact, I create content for the channel and the blog while keeping the same audience in mind.
Even though most of my subscribers on YouTube probably have never visited this website.
Personally, I think I prefer doing the videos over writing blog posts. Don’t get me wrong, I love to write. But I especially love doing the live streams every Monday and answering questions or hanging out with my audience.
You just don’t have that same interaction on the blog. In reality, I get more comments on the YouTube videos than I do the website posts.
However, being a writer is my first and foremost objective.
Nowadays, I try to spend around the same amount of time on the YouTube channel as I do the blog. It’s all about creating a regular publishing schedule and giving either audience something to consume throughout the week.
View the YouTube Channel as an Extension of Your Blog
Don’t think of YouTube as something separate from the content you already create. View it more as a way to reach an audience who prefers to watch rather than read.
This will make it easier when you’re ready to integrate YouTube into your content strategy. Essentially, it’s the same audience base. They’re just more interested in video content.
In fact, a lot of the same content strategy methods carry over from blogging to vlogging.
For example, you’ll still need SEO strategies for keyphrases, creating catchy titles, and writing informative video descriptions. I even use the same tools for video production as I use for writing a blog post.
Get Started and Integrate YouTube Today
I started the channel with just my webcam and a four-year-old microphone that I used for streaming on Twitch back in the day. Most of you can get started right now with nothing more than your smartphone.
In any case, I am a strong proponent of adding YouTube to a blog’s content strategy. And if done right, it can become one of the most enjoyable and enriching experiences of your life.
I wouldn’t trade anything for my small channel.
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