Why Are my Videos Not Getting any Views?

With millions of video content posted online every day, it can be very difficult to get the attention of your audience and keep it once you have it. Yet, it is not uncommon to find videos with millions of videos and the question remains; what are they doing right that you aren’t? and why is no one watching your video content.

First, the fact that your competitor can have millions of views on their videos points to the fact that there is traffic for the kind of content you are creating. It is therefore only a matter of how you position your videos.

Here, we take a look at how to understand consumer behavior to help you create videos that they can keep watching for longer.

How Your Viewers Find Your Videos

Studies have shown that most people (about half of those surveyed) find video content through a search engine like Google. Whenever they have a problem that requires a solution, their first instinct is to search Google for any content on that topic.

If the person is looking for content that might be easier to digest in audio-visual format, they might use a video sharing site like YouTube first. This applies to highly technical subjects like how to edit a video. This kind of consumer behavior has made YouTube the second largest search engine. Of course, Google helps by providing snippets of YouTube videos in the search results.

Video has quickly grown to become one of the most popular types of content and the reason is simple; videos make it easy to explain even a highly technical subject and therefore make for great instructional and informational content. But this popularity also means that there is intense competition for viewership.

The videos that show up in search engines appear in response to the viewer’s search terms, search history and search engine optimization. Therefore, if you want your videos to appear when a person does a Google search for a particular topic, you will need to do the keyword search to find the best terms and then optimize your videos for those search terms.

How Viewers Choose Videos

Most people surveyed pointed towards the title and description of the video as the main reason why they chose that video over others. If a video’s title and description contain the SEO keyword that point to the particular reason why the viewer searched for the video in the first place, they are more likely to click on it. If the video’s content and presentation are appealing enough and if it seems to solve their problem, they are likely to watch the video to the end.

The title and description of the video are therefore the first indication that the video can solve their problem or not. If you want the relevant viewers to find your videos, you must therefore make it very clear that the video will solve their problem. For example, if the video is meant to teach them “how to make a pot with clay,” you may want to include this information in the title, description and thumbnail of the video. If you use general terms such as “how to model” you might attract viewers who don’t want what you’re teaching and they won’t stick around to watch the whole video.

There is a lot of competition for the attention of these viewers and the best way to make sure that you attract and retain their attention is to make the video as relevant to them as possible. Make sure that the video’s title and description related to the viewer’s particular problem and you increase the chances that they will choose your video.

The second most important factor for viewer when choosing a video is its length. To be specific, viewers will choose a video whose length they find “acceptable.” It is important to note, however that an acceptable length for a video is highly subjective and will depend on the kind of content. But most surveys find that viewers respond more to instructional videos that are between 3-4 and 5-6 minutes in length.

These video lengths may not be sufficient for all types of content. Depending on your goals and the kind of content in your videos, they may be longer or far shorter. The goal is to make your instructional videos complete without adding any unnecessary information that could bloat the content.

The Main Reasons Why Viewers Stop Watching Videos

Attracting viewers is just the first step, you will also need to make sure that they keep watching. To do that, it is necessary to understand the main reasons why viewers stop watching videos.

The biggest reason why a viewer will stop watching a video is because they are not getting the information they need or expected. If a viewer is looking for information on how to write fiction, but your video primarily focuses on strategies designed to help someone write non-fiction, the viewer may not watch the video for long. They may go back to the search page to find a more relevant video.

This is why it is very important to make sure that the video’s title and description are clear or you risk attracting the wrong kind of viewers. The wrong viewers are unlikely to find any kind of value in your content and may therefore not watch the video for too long. If your traffic sources are good, you might get a sharp increase in the people who initially click on the video only for that number to fall sharply as a sizeable number realize the video may not be for them.

The other reason why viewers may stop watching your videos is because of steep competition for the viewer's attention. The internet is one huge distraction, making it very difficult to grab and hold a viewer’s attention for an extended period of time. In this fast-paced world, people are often also doing more than one thing at the same time. They might get a notification on their device that draw their attention from the video. Your video therefore needs to work hard to maintain the viewer's attention for as long as possible and although this may not be easy, it can be done.

The Factors that Keep Viewers Watching

There are only two main reasons why someone would keep watching your video; a genuine interest in the topic and relatable content. If you have done search engine optimization correctly, then viewers with genuine interest in the content of your video will have no problem finding it. The perfect match of keywords and SEO ensures that your video is among the top results when they enter the keyword in a search engine like YouTube. When they find that the video’s content is engaging, they are likely to watch the video to the end.

As long as the content in your video related to the needs and pains of your target audience, they will continue to watch the video. It doesn't matter if you are a great speaker, just be sure to effectively communicate the content of the video in a way that is understandable.

While it is important to make sure that the video is professionally produced, it doesn't have to be Hollywood-quality to be effective. The key is to make sure that your target audience can relate to the video and the video addresses their main need.

Finally, invest in good quality technology to keep your viewers watching. For example, you don't want the audio to cut out in the middle of the video or for your voice to sound unnatural.

Here's a summary of the elements of a good instructional video; one that your audience will engage with;

• Viewers will only click on a video and watch it if it is relevant to their needs. If it doesn't address their main need, they may click on it, but they will be unlikely to finish watching it.
• Just make your video good enough. You don’t have to invest in the most expensive video recording equipment. As long as the video is clear and engaging, you're good to go.
• You may also want to remove any irrelevant content from the video to keep the content engaging and to the point.

Finally, think about what success looks like for you. For example, if you are posting content on a very specialized niche, you may not be able to get millions of views on your videos. In other words, have reasonable expectations depending on the types of videos you post and the general size of your target audience.