How to Build a Successful Podcast On YouTube | Jesús Ramirez

So far , I've published 10 episodes , each receiving over 1000 views on YouTube of course , not counting the place from the audio-only podcasting platforms Not huge numbers , but not bad , considering this is an entirely new show and I'm still learning how to be a good podcast host .

But I've had relative success because I understand what YouTube wants , and that is two simple things a high click-through rate and a high retention rate . That's it .

You can spend a lot of time worrying about other metrics and analytics , if you like , but in my experience from growing in my original channel , I can tell you that these two metrics are responsible for more than 80% of my traffic . In case you're new to YouTube , analytics are the numbers that give you insight into how a video or channel is performing .

They are the tangible evidence of your audience's behavior and engagement . They tell you who's watching , where they're watching from how long they're watching , how they're interacting with your content , are they commenting , liking and a whole lot more . Now , why are these metrics important ? Well , imagine you're sailing a ship .

The metrics , the analytics , are your compass , your map and your weather forecast . They guide your journey , helping you understand where you're doing well and where you might need to adjust your course . Without them , you're sailing blind . In the context of YouTube , these metrics help you measure the success of your content .

They allow you to understand what's resonating with your audience and what's not . They guide you in making informed decisions about your content strategy , helping you create more content that your audience loves and less of what they don't . The downside is that YouTube provides hundreds of individual metrics in the analytics . Luckily , not all metrics are created equal .

Some are more important than others and , in my opinion , most creators should only focus on just two Click the rate and retention rate . That's it . I can guarantee that if you just focus and improve on these metrics , you will get more views and your videos will get recommended to more people .

It's really all I focus on to make sure my videos get seen by a larger audience and what got me to over 2 million subscribers on my original channel . But why these metrics that have hundreds of others . Well , it's simple if you think about it .

Youtube is a business , and they make more money the longer people stay on their platform , so they reward videos that can do that for them . In other words , youtube promotes videos that more people want to watch for a longer period of time . The best part about all this is that you can do that by creating good content , no need for tricks or misdirections .

Let's dive in and explore each of these metrics in more detail , and I'll give you a few tips to improve them . Let's start with click rate , also called CTR . Click rate is the percentage of people who see your video in their YouTube feed and decide to click on it . It's essentially a measure of how enticing your video appears at first glance .

So if your video gets shown to 100 people and 10 click on it , that's a 10% CTR . Why is this important ? Well , think about it . No matter how fantastic your video is , if people aren't clicking on it , they won't watch it . Ctr means your video is effectively grabbing people's attention and makes them curious enough to click .

If your video has a high CTR , youtube interprets that as a sign that viewers find your video appealing . As a result , youtube is more likely to recommend your video to other viewers , increasing its visibility . So how can you improve your click-through rate ?

First , and perhaps most important , your video's thumbnail needs to be compelling and it must accurately represent what your video is about . So in the context of a podcast , I would avoid repeating the same thumbnail for all your guests . This doesn't get anyone to click and it's not compelling .

If you use the same thumbnail for every episode , even if you change the guest's photo , I can almost guarantee your videos are not getting a lot of views . Think about it this way why would you expect anyone to be excited or intrigued to click on the thumbnail if they've seen it a thousand times before ?

Each of your guests is unique and they bring something special to your show . That's why you have them on and you must convey that in the thumbnail . Think about it this way If I'm the biggest fan of your show , how will I know if I watch an episode if the thumbnails are all the same ?

Even if I want to click , I may not , because I might assume I've already watched that episode . The thumbnail is encouraging me not to click . So please do not use the same thumbnail for all your shows . I cannot stress this enough .

Make each thumbnail unique and exciting and , if you have the money , hire a designer and even spend some money on thumbnail A-B testing platforms for YouTube . I constantly test to see what thumbnails get the most clicks . I do it on both my channels . I cannot recommend this enough .

If you can't afford a designer , then use free platforms like Adobe Express to design the thumbnail yourself . Adobe Express has a ton of templates and cool features like AI generation , background removal and so forth . Also , consider mid-journey to generate engaging images using AI . Do whatever you need to . There's no way around it .

You cannot have a successful YouTube podcast with bad thumbnails , and I'm sure you can find someone who is the exception to the rule , but that doesn't mean it will also apply to you . There are many other factors that play with the people who are the exception . Also , you've already spent a ton of time and effort recording and editing the podcast .

Don't let it all go to waste because of a bad thumbnail . If you need inspiration , look at your homepage . See what YouTube is recommending to you . Words are that those videos have a high CTR and good thumbnails . Or you can search for a topic or a guest and analyze the top videos . Again , those videos probably have high CTRs as well .

And here's something very important to remember . This has worked well for me . Don't write long paragraphs in the thumbnail . People will not be able to read them , especially on their phones . I rarely use more than three words and those three words need to be impactful and further entice people to click . Don't just repeat the title on the thumbnail .

If you're going to add words to your thumbnail , then make it complimentary to the overall packaging . Keep it all easy to read and engaging . Also , it's extremely important to note that misleading thumbnails or titles may increase your CTR in the short term , but they can harm your retention rate in the long run .

We'll get into retention rate in a moment , but just realize that you cannot click bait people and expect to have a successful YouTube channel . You need to deliver on all the promises your thumbnail and titles make . In talking about titles , this is the other essential component for getting a high CTR .

An engaging or intriguing title can help increase the number of people who click on your video and please avoid this mistake . I see this one often on video podcasts on YouTube .

It weighs valuable real estate putting the episode number in the title , especially in the beginning of the title , for example , a title like Episode 23 , mark heaps on artificial intelligence and the creative industry . This title wastes the first 10 or so characters on something that will not encourage anyone to click and is information that just doesn't matter .

Who cares what episode number it is A good show is a good show . Then I mentioned the guest's name , which is important , for sure , but unless you're dealing with a person who is very well known , their name is probably not important enough to be in the beginning part of the title . Instead , use a short , engaging title to get people to click .

Something like the truth about AI getting creative with mark heaps . The title now gets to the point immediately . It sparks intrigue and it can all be read with just a quick glance . This is actually the title for my first YouTube podcast episode , which received over 3,000 views .

These are not huge numbers but relatively speaking , they're good , considering it was my very first podcast episode on a new channel and in that context , I think it did very well and I'm very confident that a good thumbnail and a good title were important contributing factors to the success of this first episode .

Again , don't let all your hard work recording and editing your episode go to waste because you didn't have a well crafted title . If you need to spend time researching titles , maybe your guest has been on other successful podcasts and you can take inspiration from those titles .

If you see a YouTube title that you like , make note of it and come back to it when you need inspiration . Now I haven't talked about what a good CTR actually is , because that depends on the size of your channel .

For example , a 7-10% CTR on my channel with 2 million subscribers is great , while those same percentages on my podcast channel wouldn't be as good . My videos get served to a lot fewer people in the podcast channel , so the CTRs would generally be higher . I recommend looking at the average CTR per video and use that percentage as a baseline .

Then try to increase the CTR by a few percentage points on your videos and , by the way , you can go back and change the thumbnail on older videos to help increase your CTR . You can definitely revive and get views on older videos by creating new thumbnails and even new titles . Let's now discuss the other important metric to look at , which is retention rate .

How long do people on average watch your video ? For example , if on a 10-minute video , most people watch 5 minutes , you'll have a 50% retention rate . The higher the percentage , the more valuable YouTube will see your content and the more people it will promote it to in search results and recommendations , thereby reaching a larger audience .

If people click away from a video as soon as it starts , then YouTube assumes your content is bad or misleading . This is why clickbait doesn't work . If you don't deliver on your promise , people will click away and YouTube will punish you by not promoting your video to a new audience . But how can you increase retention rates ?

First , the content itself needs to be engaging . It needs to grab the viewers' attention and hold it . In other words , you need a good show . The structure of your video can play a big role . A compelling opening can hook viewers , so avoid long intros . People will click away if you have introductions that add no value .

Just because you paid some guy on Fiverr to create an introduction for you doesn't mean you have to play it on every episode , especially the analytics show . People click away before it ends . Also , you'll note two numbers that YouTube finds important Overall retention rate and the retention rate of the first 30 seconds . Pay attention to the 30-second retention rate .

This shows how well your video is hooking the viewer If this number is less than 60% , then that means your hook is not working well . I would spend a lot of time getting this number as high as possible . Odds are that if people stick with you for 30 seconds or longer , they'll listen to or watch most of the video .

If you are losing the majority of people before 30 seconds , then you should be concerned . Look at the intro . Is it long ? Is it boring ? Is it delivering on the promise of the title and thumbnail ? It could be multiple things

. Whatever it is , try changing your introduction into a fine one that constantly gets you a high retention rate . Also , look at the overall retention rate .

If only one or two percent of your viewers make it to the very end , then you know that your show might be too long-winded and you might need to edit it a bit so that at least half of people make it to the end . The point is that the longer people watch , the more YouTube will recommend your video .

At the end of the day , you must create content that people want to watch , and this is what YouTube wants . Focus on that and use retention rates to help you make informed decisions about how you craft your show . Again , my name is Esus Ramirez . I hope this information was useful to you . Thank you so much for listening .