5 essential YouTube videos for online startups

There's a stack of really mediocre instructional clips on everything from writing a business plan, understanding the science of marketing, or improving SEO and ranking higher in Google.

You could probably spend weeks combing through everything, but like most entrepreneurs you probably don't have the time.

That's why I've collected five of the most useful and important YouTube clips to help you get the basics right - especially when it comes to ensuring your business and website get the most from the Internet.

1. SEO basics in 10 minutes

This video, delivered by Maile Ohye from Google, is great for SEO newbies and startups because it gives a high level overview of the most important aspects of search optimization.

Think of it as kind of an orientation for new webmasters - including information like how to correctly use 301 redirects, setting up a Webmaster Tools account, domain background checks, fetch as Googlebot, website design, and plenty more.

In particular, there is a good section on how to avoid spammy behaviour and common pitfalls. Spending ten minutes here might save you lots of time and heartbreak later on.

2. The science of persuasion

As I love to say:

"No matter what business you are in, the business you are in is marketing."

And, because the online world is crammed with competitors, people don't tend to give online startups much attention. This means that in order to thrive you need to be able to get a compelling message across quickly and efficiently to drive conversions.

It helps to learn the following psychology principles:

1. Reciprocity
2. Scarcity
3. Authority
4. Consistency
5. Liking
6. Consensus

and apply them to increase earnings from the get-go.

3. Google Analytics tutorial or beginners

This tutorial, given by Powered by Search, gives a great, rounded overview of how to make the most out of Google analytics in order to analyze and refine your website to improve its performance.

What's really valuable about this particular video (aside from being helpful) is that it is up to date. Many of the more popular videos on analytics have been around a few years and are now inaccurate.

They also take a bit of time to explain a few concepts around analytics that help make sense of the deluge of data you get from GA.

4. The basic online marketing funnel

Ensuring that your company gets the best return on investment from your online marketing activities is vital.

This clip by Aaron Fletcher shows how to set up a proper marketing funnel that reaches out to the right target audience, and engages with them in order to drive high conversion rates and revenue.

You'll probably come across a few great strategies that you might not have considered yet, and these will open up new possibilities for your business going forward.

You can also check out sales funnel marketing strategy for bloggers for our perspective on this.

5. Richard Branson's advice for entrepreneurs

I thought I would finish this brief list with something that is often underrated in the business world - inspiration.

Don't avoid watching and listening to other people's successes and failures because inspiration and motivation are key factors in the success of any business and its leaders.

What struck me most about Richard's talk in this video is how close he came to losing everything. He took huge risks - even after Virgin was a success.

The point being that risk is part and parcel of being an entrepreneur and that no matter how big you get, there will always be bigger challenges to take on and overcome.

What other great startup and business clips have you found on YouTube? Share your favourites in the comments.