It is worth investing your next 10 minutes creating YouTube playlists on your channel to make it more user-friendly by using playlists.
Contents
Introduction
Have you ever come across some good YouTube channels but got frustrated because they are difficult to navigate? Maybe your YouTube channel is like that: a lot of really good video content, but users can’t really find what they want to watch because they can only see a long list of videos with no signposting.
It is worth investing your next 10 minutes sifting through your YouTube channel if you haven’t done so already or if you haven’t checked your channel recently and make it more user-friendly. Remember: more views and more time spent on your channel means more revenue (if you have Google Adsense, that is).
YouTube Playlists
YouTube playlists are like chapter headers in a book: by grouping similar videos together under one headline (aka a playlist), you are making the job of watching your videos easier for viewers.
You can create playlists featuring your own videos and videos hosted by other channels. As long as the majority of your playlists feature your videos, you can potentially make a good income from advertising revenue.
Showing videos from other channels demonstrates that you are offering more value and have taken the time to select video content that you think users will find useful. You are saving viewers time by doing the searching yourself, so they don’t have to.
YouTube Playlists Are More Than Just Looking Good
YouTube playlists make your channel more attractive to users. But there’s more than meets the eye. A well-structured YouTube channel with useful, relevant, engaging video content is more likely to be recommended to other people. This, in turns, can result in more subscribers and more views.
Playlists are indexed in searches, which means that your content is more likely to be picked up when people are searching for relevant video content.
For instructions on how to create playlists please go to the Google Support Page.
This article also has some useful tips to make the most of your YouTube presence through playlists.
YouTube Channels with Playlists Recommended on Reddit
I asked the Reddit community for recommendations of good YouTube channels with a well-organised look and feel.
YellowBrickCinema and Sesame Street received a lot of praise. Let’s have a look at these channels in more detail.
YellowBrickCinema
YellowBrickCinema produces music for relaxation and meditation. Their playlists include:
music for sleeping and relaxation
power nap music
Tibetan music for meditation
study and concentration music
and so much more.
Having the videos categorised in neat sections makes it easier to choose which music to listen to. Considering that their most watched video gained more than 26 million views, they must be doing something right! (And their channel has reached almost 240 million views overall).
Looking through the playlists, I discovered a section on music for study and concentration. As an experiment, I listened to this music to help you concentrate while writing this article. I have to say that I felt inspired while listening to the music.
Music to Help You Concentrate Video
Sesame Street
Sesame Street is a universally-known brand. Their web presence is impressive: their YouTube channel has gained more than 2.6 billion (yes, billion!) views and has almost 2 million subscribers.
Among their playlists you’ll see the option to catch up with their TV episodes, you can choose a variety of playlists from 80s old school videos to healthy food and nursery rhymes.
Each playlist is colour-coded and features a custom-designed logo:
old school is pink
shorts is light blue
celebs is green
podcast is purple
and so on.
Their USP is having collections of videos that are fun and safe to watch for children.
They even have a calendar of video content by day of the week:
Music on Mondays
Celebrities on Tuesdays
Muppet Fun on Wednesdays
Classic Sesame on Thursdays
Furchester on Fridays
Structuring the content in this case is taken to a whole new level by announcing the schedule in which content appears. The ritualisation element is great for getting both subscribers and occasional viewers to check in with your channel on a regular basis.
If you look at YouTube’s Content Creator Academy you will find plenty of information on how to improve your channel.
You can watch their playlists creation video here.
They also recommend to use sections to group together videos and even playlists.
Having sections allows you to present yourself in the best possible way to both regular and occasional viewers.
How I Organised My YouTube Playlists
After years of having simply a list of uploaded videos, I created playlists based on topics, some of which are also reflected on my website.
My YouTube channel currently features the following playlists:
Energya tutorials and reviews
London life
Animals
Books
There is also a “Liked Videos” playlist featuring videos I liked when I logged on YouTube.
As my business has evolved over the years so has my YouTube channel: I started the channel with the objective of sharing my skills through video tutorials, and then added more miscellaneous content that reflects my life in London and my writing.
As long as content is clearly signposted and categorised, I have found that subscribers are still sticking with me even though there has been a slight change in direction.
I have also noticed that, even without sharing videos on social media, people are finding my content via searches and stay on the channel to watch related videos.
My Personal Favourite YouTube Channel Right Now
Because I like cat videos, I came across Rachel & Jun‘s channel. Rachel is American and Jun is Japanese and they live in Japan with two cats. They have a cult following thanks to their fun and educational videos, including travel vlogs and interviews.
Rachel and Jun’s Cat Haku Video
Their playlists include:
Exploring Japan!
Culture! Advice! Learn about Japan!
Interviews
Food!
and many more.
Have You Created YouTube Playlists for Your Channel?
I hope you found this article useful (if you did please share it on social media, thanks!) and that it inspired you to organise your YouTube channel to make it more user-friendly.