The No Frills Guide to the Latest Trends for Tracking YouTube Views

You might already know that I've had a YouTube channel since 2009 and I also curate content about YouTube on Scoop.it and Pinterest. During the last 5 years, I've shared so much of what I learned from trusted sources like Tim Schmoyer from Video Creators TV, Matt Balick from VidiSEO, and of course my mentor Lisa Irby from 2 Create a Website. These YouTubers have spent many hours producing carefully crafted, high-quality, YouTube videos and they can back up what they say with tons of “social proof” in terms of YouTube view counts and subscriber counts.

That's why I get a little annoyed, and down-right disappointed, when I see someone talking about how to get more views on YouTube and they have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. Well, that's not exactly true. They might know a smidgen about video marketing and at least they are making videos, (which is more than I can say for some folks). But at times, the information that they are sharing can actually be harmful to anyone who watches and ends up taking their advice to heart.
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Setting Goals for Your YouTube Channel

One of the most critical lessons I've learned is one that doesn't just apply to YouTube. It can be applied to many things we do online and even what we do offline and I'll share it with you now.NOT GETTING ENOUGH VIEWS on Your YouTube videos

As a rule, don't compare your YouTube stats to those of other YouTubers. Set realistic goals for your channel and only make comparisons with yourself. Otherwise, you might get discouraged when you see others racking up numbers on one single video that you can't muster across your entire channel!

What you should do instead is, keep producing quality content, try different formats, switch things up! Experiment with different video lengths to see what works for you and always be sure to track your results. Let me give you a few examples of some experiments I've done recently and the tools I used to track the stats as I tried to get more YouTube views.

Keep in mind that I wasn't trying to break any records on YouTube. But my goal was to have at least 100 – 200 views in the first month. This might seem low to some but I'm sure there is someone reading this right now, who can relate to this benchmark, and would be happy to get 200 views on their videos in the first month too. I also hope that new videos can make it to my daily top ten.

YouTube Views in Traffic Reports from OneLoad

One the easiest ways to keep track of the popularity of your YouTube videos is by signing up for a daily email report from OneLoad. The report provides simple stats.

You get to see the top ten videos viewed on your channel from the previous day. You'll also see the total number of views across your entire channel and a comparison of your channels performance from the previous day. Daily Stats Email From Oneload for YouTube

At a glance you can see if your #1 video continues to hold at the #1 spot, but it's even more exciting when one of your newer videos shows up in the top ten shortly after it's release! You'll love these reports because you don't need to log in to any of your accounts and because the report is limited to the daily top ten, you get your stats “fix” without being overwhelmed by all the “fluff” in your YouTube analytics or SocialBlade reports.

Don't Underestimate the Power of YouTube Playlists

[tweet_box design=”box_10″]Creating Relevant YouTube Playlists Can Drive Massive Traffic to Your Channel![/tweet_box]

YouTube recently added reports for tracking stats from our playlists to their analytics dashboard. Similar to the OneLoad emails, in the YouTube Playlist Views reports, we get to see the top ten most popular Playlists over a given time period. Here's part of the announcement from YouTube:

New playlist reports in YouTube Analytics
Recently, we tweaked YouTube to give playlists more love, with new features like the ability for viewers to collect their favorite playlists and access them straight from the Guide.

This is a bit of a game-changer and if you're not using playlists already, you should get started asap. Playlists are also popping up more frequently in YouTube's search results (now that should get your attention).

This brings me to my next experiment. I uploaded a short video that I created with Animoto. This video serves as an introduction to the Canva Playlist I curated. Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick recently joined the Canva team so I knew that would create a buzz. And even though, I didn't create ANY of the video tutorials on the Canva Playlist, I wanted to leverage this to bring more attention to my channel. It's also great content that I can share with my followers.

I quickly created a graphic in Canva and used that to announce the Playlist on Google+. Let me show you what I mean.

The post gained lots of attention on Google+ and it was even re-shared on the Canva business page. That help me gain a ton of YouTube views and I got a nice spike in my stats. It was cool to see that short little intro video I created, make it to the top ten most viewed videos for the month. I'll embed the Canva Playlist intro video, at the end of the post, so you can get an idea for your own playlist intro video to create.

Tracking YouTube Views by Hour?

If you ever find that any of your videos is racking up a ton of views, and possibly even going viral, you'll want to take a look at the number of views you're getting per hour. You're in luck, because the folks over at vidIQ, just released this new feature called the YouTube Speedometer or vidIQ Velocity, and it allows us to see YouTube views by hour on any video.

Just for fun, let's take a look at the view count for Psy's popular video Gangnam Style (which by the way, just passed 2 Billion views).

Views per Hour from Vidiq

Can you imagine a video getting 51.5 thousand views per hour two years after it's initial release? Well if you're Psy you can, and you can prove it by using the handy chrome extension from vidIQ that I introduced you last year. I haven't had time to set up a personal goal for myself yet for views per hour because the tool is so new. But my top video on YouTube right now is the one for opening Otterbox Smart Phone Cases and it's getting a little over 5 views per hour.

More YouTube Tracking Trends to Keep an Eye On

Now that I have shared some of the latest trends for tracking YouTube views and my latest YouTube experiments, I'll turn things over to you. Have you spotted any new tools that can help track stats on our videos? When you look at your stats do you notice that there is a particular kind of video that appeals to your audience more than others? Do you know which video gets you the most subscribers?

Recommended Learning: Driving Traffic with YouTube

Share any of your thoughts about this and if you need a push to get out and start making your own videos, check out this amazing guest post that Angela McCall shared on Harleena Singh's blog Aha! Now, called How to Make a YouTube Video Easily.

 As promised, here's the Canva Tutorial YouTube Playlist.


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24 thoughts on “The No Frills Guide to the Latest Trends for Tracking YouTube Views”

  1. Hi Ileane,

    Awesome post indeed 🙂

    There is SO much to learn from you about making YouTube videos and the rest you mentioned here. All I could do was to bookmark this page and keep it aside for the time I start making my own videos. I am already inspired enough with Angela’s recent guest post on my blog (thanks so much for the mention here of it – she will be thrilled once I tell her!).

    Yes, I’d been hearing about Canva, especially seeing all their latest posts shared on Triberr, but haven’t yet had the chance to visit their blog as yet. Will do that soon too.

    Thanks for sharing this with us. Have a nice week ahead 🙂

    1. Hi Harleena! I’m thrilled to hear that you have plans to start a YouTube channel one day. In the meantime, if you have an account set up already, you can begin to curate your own video playlists based on the content you plan to create. That way you can add your own videos to the list and gain some extra views while the playlist gains traction in YouTube search results.
      Thanks for stopping by and for sharing the post too! Enjoy your week

  2. Ileane, this post is PACKED with value and informational nuggets about YouTube and video.

    I love that you emphasized how comparing stats can be counterproductive and don’t get me started on some of those videos about how to get more views/subscribers.

    Great point about Playlists. I could do better in this area so this a great reminder. And that graphic you created is smokin’! Gotta luv Canva. It’s one of those sites that make you go, “Dang, I wish I had thought of that!” lol

    And thanks for the shout!

    1. Hey Lisa, thanks for stopping by.

      I always have to give credit where credit is due so thanks for being an inspiration to so many of us!

      The other day I watched a video where the guy was telling people to copy all of their tags and paste them at the bottom of the video description. I found out awhile ago that there’s really no need to do that because clearly YouTube/Google has no problem reading the tags in the first place. Repeating them is not only redundant but it might also hurt your standings in YouTube search. I took this snippet of text right out of YouTube Creators Playbook

      Reminder: It is a violation of YouTube’s Terms of Service to use misleading metadata and blocks of keywords in your description field.

      I’m sure this fellow meant well but I sure hope he reads this post and doesn’t get his channel banned.

      Thanks again Lisa. Chat soon!

  3. What to say about a post written by Ileane Smith, commented by Harleena Singh and Lisa Irby. I think it is better to say a big thank you and push the post comment button. 🙂

  4. Hi Ileane,
    What valuable information you have given us. I have Canva and didn’t know they offered videos..back to that drawing board! I do use a few other fun videos here and there. But you have given me the incentive to make some room in my day to start getting more creative.
    I also need to get to my Youtube playlist and get it organized. Thanks so much
    -Donna

    1. Hi Donna! Great to see you. I know I’ve watched some of your videos in the past and they were a lot of fun. You’re always upbeat and that makes a big difference. Stay tuned for more info about Canva and making the best out of YouTube Playlists. Chat soon!

  5. Thanks Ileane for such a detailed article, many time seeing your video not ranking up the page is very discouraging and then people start searching other ways to get the views.

  6. Hi Ileane,

    Wow, I’ve learned so much from reading this! 🙂 I’ve heard of Canva before from Lisa Irby and I have it bookmarked but haven’t really explored there that much. Some of my friends like Adrienne Smith really, really loved it and enjoy using it. And so I thought I’d give it a try one day.

    The Playlist you created for Canva is amazing! I didn’t know you can do that. Wow! Thank you for such a great post. This post is added in my Pocket.

    Btw, how did you embed that Google+ post in your blog? That’s amazing too!

    You are completely amazing and I want to say thank you very much for the mention of my post and video at Harleena’s. I’m so honored to be the guest poster at her place. She is an awesome lady and I admire her a lot for all of her great work. She is very special to me, she is also one of the first people I met when I started blogging, so I know her for awhile.

    That YouTube speedometer is pretty new to me. There are a lot of things new in YouTube, they sure are making this pretty handy for us, bloggers, huh!?

    Btw, when I was doing my research on Google for Video Making Tips, I accidentally stumbled upon Chris Pirillo. Have you heard about him? Wow, this guy is a geek. His videos are high tech. Nice and crisp. I mean, it looks pretty personal since he shows his home, his wife, video taping in the car, just about anything intimate and engaging with his audience, something personal yet business like. He has like 50,000 subscribers, more than Oprah! So I’d say this guy knows what he’s doing. So I started following him and subscribed to all his channels.

    Anyway, Ileane, thank you again for giving me the pleasure of reading your post and viewing your videos. I love them all. Your videos are indeed awesome!

    Cheers,
    Angela

    1. Hey Angela!

      Nice to see you here on Basic Blog Tips! You’re right – there is SOOO much to learn about YouTube. Keeping up with all the changes can be challenging which is why I started curating YouTube tips on my Scoop.it board.
      Adrienne’s Canva tutorial video is one of the one’s I added to the playlist and so is Lisa’s. You’re a Photoshop user so you might not be as overjoyed about Canva as some of us.

      You can easily embed any Google+ post on your blog – just click the little down arrow at the top right of the post to get the code.

      Sure I’ve heard of Chris Pirillo and I used to watch all of his videos. I probably need to re-subscribe now that I have a Mac. But one thing I don’t like is car videos (that’s the topic for a blog post one day). But if you like Chris Pirillo, you’ll LOVE Marques Brownlee – he has 1.2 million followers and his videos are always polished and professional. Plus he’s not even 21 years old yet. Check him out for sure https://www.youtube.com/user/marquesbrownlee

      I can’t imagine what it’s like to have that kind of influence over an audience! Maybe one day right Angela?

      Chat soon!!

      1. Hi Ileane,

        Oh really? Awesome. You included Adrienne’s there and Lisa’s too. Very cool. Yeah, I’m the Photoshop gal, the only application I’ve ever used in my career. Used to work for a Car Magazine and all we used was Photoshop to create silhouette and all kinds of tricks for the magazine. 😀

        Thank you for that awesome tips on how to embed Google+ post. This is going to be great. *excited*

        Are you sure? I’ve looked on his Chris Pirillo’s main YouTube channel and it says he has like 377,000+ subscribers and on his LockerGnome’s channel is about 20,000 subscribers. So 1 million followers? Wow. And oh he was born 1973. So that would make him 41 years old now.

        That would be nice to have that type of audience like Chris have…but he’s a tech geek, and I’m really not. I’ve got passion on computers but he’s more of a geek. LOL.

        Chat with you more later…

        Angela

  7. Hello,

    I think it’s my luckiest day ever in blogging journey. Written by Illeane, commented by Harleena and Lisa Irby, three golden pillars of blogging 🙂

    Vlogging or Video blogging is indeed the future. We have had saw some nobodys making viral videos and being over-night celebrities. I wanted to track my videos and some of my others, but I failed at it (miserably). Thanks for note-ing down some great tips!

    Thanks,
    Sid

  8. Hello,

    So many new things mentioned in the post which I’m totally unaware of. I guess I’ll have to bookmark this post for future reference. I think I have to implement these tips on my channel too.

    Thanks

  9. Ryan Biddulph

    Comparing can kill your creativity Ileane. Love that note 😉 Thanks!

    1. Hi Ryan,
      I might look at other people’s view counts, but I never take them to heart or try to compete. I just “do me”.

      Thanks for stopping by Ryan. Chat soon.

  10. Hi Ileane

    Thanks a lot for sharing these wonderful tips for Youtube channel tracking. After reading this post, I can now analyse views and performance of my Youtube video’s in a better way.

  11. Deependra Kumar

    Thanks for such important and useful information provided. Now i may experience a better experience on You Tube. It really enhanced my skill and knowledge as far as this particular domain is concerned.

  12. I honestly have never had an issue using the good old analytics built in. I will say however they take some time to show actually show up. So I guess that is a con depending on how bad you need to see them show up. Or really I should say if you are an impatient person.

    1. You make an excellent point Thomas. The YouTube analytics dashboard is always a couple of days behind. Thanks for pointing that out.

  13. Nice advice 🙂 I’m not concentrating in numbers. I concentrate on content.

  14. Great stuff Ileane. I’d think about signing up for the report because I love stats, but I need to start getting enough views so it becomes a problem tracking them first. Too bad I can’t interview you weekly. lol

  15. Thanks for sharing informative article about YouTube Channel tracking Trends. These things really helpful for me and other also too. I agree with you that OneLoad is best way to track your YouTube videos and provides daily report your YouTube videos. I really enjoyed reading this post.
    Thanks for sharing valuable post with us.

  16. These are great tips indeed. Will use this!
    Really lovely for a starter like me. Thanks

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