John Jantsch of Ducttapemarketing.com often shares quick, helpful marketing tools and strategies with his followers. In his review of the new “cards” feature rolled-out by YouTube, which allows you to add links at selected points in your video, John notes how the native YouTube cards are easy to use and can lead to greater customer interaction. Be sure to see John’s post at YouTube Adds More Interaction to Videos With Cards.
Driving Traffic to Your Website
The real magic of YouTube cards is that they provide another quick way to bring people home to your website hub. That’s where you control the call-to-action and the experience a potential client has far better than on any social channel. And the traffic that arrives on your website helps build the visibility of your domain via organic search, so any additional links coming to your site from YouTube or other content-rich sources is going to help your search results position.
What About Pop-up Rage!
Pop-ups done wrong are annoying, but the pop-up notice for YouTube cards is fairly subtle. Once you open it and see the available links, the video freezes, and if you bounce off to one of the links in a new tab the paused video will be waiting for you when you return to continue the show. Creating the card is easy; you’re given four choices for the type of card (or cards) you want to attach: Associated website, Fundraising, Merchandise or Video Playlist. Of course, your links are subject to YouTube rules, so be sure to read up on what’s not allowed. In my view, the cards feature is going to make connecting YouTube to your website all the more powerful, and with YouTube ranking just behind Google in organic search, it’s a great opportunity for businesses.