Summary
- I remember how nervous I felt making my first YouTube video, but consistency is key even when it seems like no one is watching.
- Trying hard to get views doesn’t always lead to clients; the key is creating content that attracts your ideal clients.
- In my early days, I was a top-ranking web designer on Google, but my leads weren't turning into the kind of clients I wanted because they saw me as just another option.
- Moving to a new market with different competition made me rethink my strategy, prompting me to try YouTube as a way to connect with potential clients.
- Initially, I made the mistake of copying popular YouTubers' content styles, focusing on viral and curiosity-based titles, but this approach didn’t yield results.
- The breakthrough came when I realized YouTube's power as a search engine; I began creating videos that matched exactly what my ideal clients were searching for.
- Titles like "How to find a web designer" and "How much does a website cost?" aren’t flashy, but they reach the right audience who need my services.
- My leads improved in quality because they felt familiar with my work and trusted me after watching multiple videos, leading to easier pricing discussions and fewer revision requests.
- Observing other professionals, like an attorney who uses short videos to connect with his audience, showed me you don’t need millions of views; you need the right ones.
- Embracing the "1,000 true fans" concept, I learned that even a small dedicated audience on YouTube can greatly boost your business.
- I succeeded by focusing on search-based content first, making FAQ videos to cover common client questions, giving YouTube time to understand my audience.
- Over time, I transitioned to ‘how-to’ videos, building on the foundation I laid, which allowed for more engaging and curiosity-based content later on.
- Detailed and longer videos often outperform shorter ones because viewers seeking expertise appreciate in-depth guidance and examples, leading them to trust your knowledge.
- The two-part strategy with search-based and discoverable content allows reaching potential clients precisely when they seek help and when they are good candidates for your service.
Video
How To Take Action
I would suggest starting with search-based content to make your YouTube channel shine. Answer questions your clients usually ask. Think about things like "How much does a website cost?" or "How long does it take to build one?" These topics are common, and people look up these questions, so they're a great place to begin.
A good way of doing this is to make your videos detailed. Don't worry if they go a bit longer—your viewers want deep insights from someone who really knows what they're talking about.
Once you’ve made enough FAQ videos, you can pivot to "how-to" content. This might include things like "how to get Google reviews" or "how to rank in Google Maps." These are still search-oriented, and they'll help increase your audience reach.
Observing how other professionals, like attorneys who create short, purposeful videos, can provide insights, too. They focus on getting the right viewers who are looking for their expertise, not just lots of random views.
When you're ready, try curiosity-driven content and discoverable videos. Make videos with titles like "One Simple Tip to Improve Your Site." These can introduce your expertise to people who didn’t even know they needed it.
Remember, you don’t need millions of followers. What matters are those who truly connect with your content and trust you over time. With patience and consistency, your ideal clients will come knocking!
Quotes by Author
"The harder you try to get views the less likely you are to get clients"
"YouTube isn't just a video platform it's actually the second largest search engine in the world"
"Suddenly the pricing conversations were way different"
"Instead of trying to create these viral worthy videos, I started making videos with titles that matched what business owners were typing into YouTube search"
"You might only need 50 or 100 to completely transform your business"
Full Transcript
this is my first YouTube video so I can still remember my hands literally shaking as I hit record that first time sitting alone in my office trying to talk to a camera like it was just totally normal but I got through it I uploaded it and nobody even watched it I knew consistency was the name of the game but it really felt like I was going nowhere for the first year fast forwarding to now I know a thing or two about YouTube now I am no Alex horos but I've definitely built a pretty successful business business through video and here's the most backwards thing that I've learned about YouTube especially for business owners the harder you try to get views the less likely you are to get clients after wasting months creating the exact kind of content that was killing my chances of success I realized this was the big mistake I was making so I flipped the entire approach upside down and everything changed so in this video I'm going to show you the content pivot that I made that finally got my ideal client's attention how you can tell if your channel is actually succeeding even if the numbers look bad and I'll even show you how to turn low view videos into high-paying clients but to see why I failed in those early days we actually need to go back a step before I actually started on YouTube at all so back around 2010 I was a freelance web designer living in LA and I was absolutely crushing Google search I mean I was consistently ranking in the top three spots for my money keyword phrase web design l Los Angeles and the phone was ringing constantly but here's the thing and this part took me way too long to figure out those calls weren't turning into the kinds of clients that I actually wanted you know sure I was getting a ton of leads but most of them would just get sticker shock at my prices they'd question every part of my process and basically treat me like I was just another commodity designer that they found on Google because that's exactly what I was to them just another search result then things got even worse when I moved here to Chicago I was the new kid on the Block in a market where everyone else had been building up their SEO for years I couldn't crack the top 20 in Google search no matter what I tried and my leads pretty much just dried up I knew I needed to do something and fast so that's when I decided to give YouTube a shot right I saw lots of people that I looked up to like Andy craden and Derek Halper doing really helpful short videos that got decent views so I figured if I couldn't compete on Google anymore maybe I could build something on YouTube instead but I made a classic rookie mistake I started copying all those marketing gurus I saw crushing it on YouTube you know I was making videos with curiosity based titles like sell more faster with this weird secret and 13 things to remove from your website immediately because I saw people further along than me having success with titles like those and I'm a really big believer in just modeling what I know already works so I threw myself into it making videos like one simple tip to writing web copy that cells and is your website working against your marketing and after so many hours recording editing and just obsessing over every little detail of my first 12 videos guess how many views I had 47 not 47,000 not even 4700 just 47 across all those videos and I still can remember sitting there staring at those numbers feeling like I had completely failed right the worst part wasn't even the low numbers it was just seeing other channels grow while mine stayed in the same place but then I was listening to a podcast one day and I heard someone say something that should have been so obvious to me from the start YouTube isn't just a video platform it's actually the second largest search engine in the world and that's when it hit me I had spent years mastering Google search in La understanding exactly what people were typing in when they needed a web designer but here I was on YouTube Chasing viral views instead of doing what I already knew worked showing up where people were actually looking for help so I completely changed my Approach instead of trying to create these viral worthy videos about one simple tip or the secret to marketing I started making videos with titles that matched exact exactly what business owners were typing into YouTube search simple stuff like how to find a web designer and how much does a website cost in 2018 now these weren't sexy titles they weren't going to go viral but something interesting started happening instead of getting thousands of random views from people who were you know never going to hire me anyway I started getting dozens of views from exactly the right people business owners who were actively looking for someone like me me and the quality of these leads night and day compared to my old Google search leads because here's what I didn't really expect by the time someone hopped on a call with me they usually had watched four to five of my videos already so they weren't just ringing up some random search result anymore they were reaching out to someone they already knew and trusted suddenly the pricing conversations were way different you know the endless revision request stopped people weren't second guessing my process anymore because they already bought into my Approach through my videos and the best part I didn't need thousands of views to make it work and this isn't unique to me by the way this is Justin zegler he's an attorney in Florida he puts out these really simple really short videos every week and we're talking under 6 minutes and most of his videos get maybe 500 views tops now if you're chasing YouTube Fame that might sound disappointing but here's the thing Justin's not trying to be a YouTube Star right he's trying to get clients for his law practice think about it when someone's looking for a lawyer they're probably going to need thousands of dollars worth of legal help so Justin doesn't need millions of views he just needs the right people to find his videos when they're actually looking for legal help and because they get to know him through his videos before they ever call they're just way more likely to turn into clients in fact Kevin Kelly one of the founders of Wired Magazine wrote an essay back in 2007 that would change how we think about online success forever he introduced this really interesting concept called 1,000 true fans the idea being that you don't need millions of followers to make a living online you just need that small group of really dedicated supporters but what Kelly couldn't have predicted was how platforms like YouTube would make this concept even more powerful for service businesses because even though he was talking about needing a, true fans I actually discovered that with the right approach on YouTube you might only need 50 or 100 to completely transform your business this is what I wish I'd understood from the start you know YouTube success looks very different for a service business than it does for a content creator or a you know quote influencer once I stop trying to go viral and started focusing on showing up in search results for my ideal clients and my ideal clients only that's when everything changed you know YouTube went from being this really frustrating place where I was constantly chasing views to becoming an incredible tool that basically pre-sold my services for me but after consistantly making these search-based videos for a while it started to get even better because YouTube started to figure out exactly who my videos were for service business owners looking for help with their marketing and their website once that happened I could finally start succeeding with the type of content that I had been failing with in the beginning see there are actually two main buckets of content on YouTube those early videos that I made that nobody watched the ones about one simple tip and secrets to marketing those were what we'd call discoverable content right these are videos that YouTube suggests to people on their homepage even when they're not searching for anything specific those are your V video opportunities and I totally flopped with them because YouTube had no idea who they were for in the beginning but then I pivoted to the second bucket search-based videos these are the ones that show up when someone's actively looking for answers to specific questions and that's what finally started working for my small channel so by consistently showing up in search results I was basically teaching YouTube hey these are the types of people who find my content helpful only after that after I built up this Foundation of search content that was consistently reaching the right people could I then successfully go back to making those discoverable videos now when I make a more curiosity based title like you know one simple tip to writing web copy that sells YouTube actually knows exactly who to show it to business owners who had been watching similar content about websites and marketing who are just really likely to like that video too this was a GameChanger for me so now that YouTube understood my audience I could start making videos about things that my ideal clients might not even know to search for yet instead of just how much does a website cost I could make videos like how good is your about us page or the one thing most service businesses get wrong about their website and here's the real power of this two-part approach with search-based videos you're showing up exactly when someone's looking for answers to their specific problems but with discover able content YouTube can introduce your expertise to potential clients who might not even know to search for you yet it's two different ways to reach your ideal clients one when they're actually actively looking and one when YouTube just knows they're a good candidate for your business cuz let's face it YouTube's pretty smart like that so what should you actually be focusing on when you get started we know you should focus on search but what exact search-based videos should you be making well well the way I made this work in my early Channel days was pretty straightforward I started with the absolute Basics pure FAQ videos answering the most common questions that all my clients were always asking you know things like how much does a website cost or how long does it take to build a website these were questions I was getting asked literally every single client call then once I covered all the obvious FAQs which took a couple months I moved into what I call the howto phase right these were still search-based videos but slightly more involved you know how to get Google reviews or how to rank in Google Maps the key was staying in this search-based content zone for at least 6 months it was probably closer to8 months in my case you know I needed to give YouTube enough time to really understand what my channel was about and who it was helping and here's something crucial I learned don't rush through these topics just to you know check them off your list I used to think I needed to keep my videos short and snappy CU everyone seems to have these really short attention spans now right but I learned that my audience actually preferred longer more detailed content you know when someone's searching YouTube for help with their Business website they're not just looking for a quick surface level answer they can get those from chat GPT or perplexity these days right they are looking for real expertise and experience and wisdom from someone has been there so I started going deeper with each video often hitting 15 or 20 minutes you know sharing specific examples for my client work breaking down my exact process really letting my experience shine through and what's cool is these longer videos actually performed better because while someone might only need 2 minutes to learn what a website costs they're going to stick around for 20 minutes or longer to learn what really goes into that from someone who knows their stuff and can show them exactly how everything works that's the secret sauce here you know these longer videos give people a chance to really get to know you your expertise and your approach to doing things by the time they book that call with you they've already spent maybe an hour or two watching your content they've heard your stories they've learned from your experiences and they already trust in your expertise but if you want to do this right and get clients from YouTube way faster than it takes most businesses I've got the exact blueprint you need so click right here to save a spot in my free video Master Class how to attract unlimited clients from YouTube it's my four secret system for service providers to predictably generate leads and clients every single day just by making simple weekly YouTube videos without ever needing to go viral so click here and I cannot wait to show you how I did it and how you can do it too
