STOP Writing Your Titles Like This, It's Killing Your Views

[00:00] The reason your videos aren't getting

[00:01] many views isn't because your content is

[00:03] bad. It's because your titles probably

[00:06] suck. I see it all the time. Small

[00:08] YouTubers like you putting hours and

[00:11] hours into editing great videos only to

[00:13] sabotage yourself at the final hurdle.

[00:16] Why? Because you're writing your titles

[00:18] the wrong way. Just one small simple

[00:21] tweak in how you write your title could

[00:23] be the difference between 10 views and

[00:25] 10,000 views. So, in this video, I'm

[00:28] going to show you exactly how to create

[00:30] your titles the right way. So, before we

[00:32] get into the tactics, let's zoom out a

[00:35] bit first and understand why people

[00:37] actually click on videos in the first

[00:39] place. Because a viewer clicking on a

[00:41] video isn't usually a logical decision.

[00:44] It's an emotional one. When a viewer

[00:46] lands on the YouTube home feed, they're

[00:48] not sat there carefully evaluating each

[00:50] individual video they see. Instead, what

[00:53] they are doing, they're usually

[00:54] scrolling really fast and making

[00:56] split-second decisions based on how a

[00:58] title thumbnail makes them feel. And

[01:00] that's the key. People don't click

[01:02] because your title is informative. They

[01:04] click because it triggers something

[01:06] inside of them. So, your job as a

[01:08] YouTuber isn't just to use your title as

[01:10] a way to like describe the video.

[01:13] Instead, it should be to create an

[01:15] emotional reaction. When someone decides

[01:17] to click on a video, it's because of a

[01:19] tiny spark in their brain that says

[01:21] like, "Wait, what is this?" That right

[01:23] there is an open loop, which we will

[01:25] discuss in the next section. But you

[01:27] just need to understand that until

[01:28] someone clicks, your content doesn't

[01:31] even exist to them. You could have the

[01:33] most valuable video in the world, but if

[01:35] your title doesn't make people stop and

[01:37] feel something, they're just going to

[01:38] scroll straight past it. So everything

[01:41] we talk about from here on out, open

[01:43] loops, emotional triggers, length,

[01:45] structure, all of that stuff, all of it

[01:48] feeds back to one core principle.

[01:50] Emotion drives action. So step two, open

[01:54] loops. So one of the most effective ways

[01:57] to trigger an emotion and drive clicks

[01:59] is by using something called an open

[02:01] loop. This is a powerful psychological

[02:04] tool that plays on human curiosity,

[02:06] which is the need to resolve unanswered

[02:08] questions. An open loop is when your

[02:11] title introduces a hint but doesn't give

[02:13] the full payoff. Now, open loops spark

[02:16] intrigue and leaves the viewer wondering

[02:18] like what happens next. Think about it.

[02:21] When you see a title like this one

[02:23] mistake killed my channel or I tried Mr.

[02:26] Beast strategy, here's what happened.

[02:28] Your brain should immediately start

[02:30] asking questions like what was that

[02:32] mistake? Did it really ruin his channel?

[02:35] Or what happened with the strategy? like

[02:37] that sense of unresolved tension creates

[02:40] discomfort and the only way to relieve

[02:43] that discomfort is to click on the video

[02:44] and find out. And open loops work

[02:46] because our brains are wired to seek

[02:48] closure. We hate unfinished thoughts. So

[02:52] when you hint at something like a

[02:53] mistake, a discovery, or a

[02:56] transformation, but don't reveal the

[02:58] full outcome, people are always

[03:00] compelled to click. You'll make them

[03:02] curious enough to stop scrolling and

[03:04] want to start watching your video. And

[03:07] this is why like vague or overly

[03:09] descriptive titles often fail. If you

[03:11] give everything away up front, then

[03:13] there's no reason for the viewer to

[03:14] click. But when you strategically leave

[03:17] something out or when you tease just

[03:19] enough to make people need the answer,

[03:21] that's when your titles start doing

[03:23] their job. And just to prove it to you,

[03:25] here are two examples. Number one, this

[03:28] one mistake killed my channel. Or number

[03:30] two, getting a copyright strike killed

[03:33] my channel. Well, the first one creates

[03:34] an open loop as it doesn't give you any

[03:36] information as to what that one mistake

[03:38] is. So, people are going to want to

[03:40] watch that video to find out. But the

[03:42] second one clearly already shows you

[03:44] that the reason their channel died is

[03:45] because of a copyright strike. So, now

[03:48] in this case, people are going to look

[03:49] at that and feel no urge whatsoever to

[03:51] watch it because the title has already

[03:53] answered the question. I hope that makes

[03:55] sense. So, next thing we need to look at

[03:56] is emotional triggers. And now that you

[03:59] understand how open loops work, let's

[04:01] look at the emotional triggers that

[04:02] power them. Your title basically has

[04:04] just a split second to make someone feel

[04:06] an emotion. And the stronger that

[04:08] emotional response, the higher the

[04:10] chance they'll click. That's why most

[04:13] effective titles aren't descriptive.

[04:15] They provoke people. They create

[04:17] tension. They make the viewer feel like

[04:19] they have to click in order to resolve

[04:21] something. Think about titles like stop

[04:24] making this one mistake or YouTube just

[04:27] changed. Are you ready? Or something

[04:29] like how I made $10,000 without

[04:32] monetization. These type of titles tap

[04:35] into real emotions. And there are five

[04:37] core emotional triggers that work time

[04:39] and time again on YouTube. So let me

[04:41] explain them now. So number one is

[04:43] curiosity. Number two is fear or

[04:46] urgency. Number three is desire for

[04:48] reward, surprise or novelty. and FOMO,

[04:51] which is fear of missing out. So, when

[04:53] you're writing your next title, I need

[04:55] you to ask yourself, which emotion am I

[04:57] tapping into? Is it curiosity? Is it

[04:59] fear? Is it desire? The more emotional

[05:02] charge it carries, the more powerful

[05:04] your title becomes. Also, don't forget

[05:06] about power words. These specific words

[05:09] are used to instantly enhance emotion.

[05:11] Words like warning, hidden, secret,

[05:14] explosive, proven. All of these types of

[05:16] words can elevate your title without

[05:18] changing the meaning. Like the most

[05:20] successful creators build these

[05:22] emotional hooks into every title they

[05:24] write, not by accident, but by design.

[05:27] So before you publish your next video,

[05:29] just ask yourself, will this title make

[05:31] someone feel something? If not, rewrite

[05:34] it because without emotion, there's no

[05:36] action, and without action, there's no

[05:38] views. Next thing we have to consider is

[05:40] the 55 character rule. So now, let's

[05:43] talk about a simple but powerful rule

[05:45] that can massively improve your

[05:47] click-through rate. The 55 character

[05:49] rule. Most inexperienced creators often

[05:52] overlook this, but it's crucial. As I

[05:54] said, when people scroll through

[05:56] YouTube, they're not carefully reading

[05:58] and evaluating every single title.

[06:00] They're basically like skim reading

[06:02] really, really fast, and their brains

[06:04] are wired for speed and simplicity. So,

[06:06] if your title is too long or too

[06:09] complex, it will get ignored. And here's

[06:11] the technical bit. YouTube will also cut

[06:13] off your title after about 55

[06:15] characters, especially on mobile. That

[06:18] means if your emotional hook or keyword

[06:21] is buried at the end of your title, it

[06:23] might not even be visible. You're

[06:25] basically hiding the most important part

[06:27] of your title behind the three dots at

[06:29] the end. So to avoid that, make sure you

[06:31] always frontload your titles with the

[06:33] most powerful keywords at the beginning

[06:36] and try to stay under 55 characters

[06:38] where possible. Now, long titles can

[06:41] work, but shorter ones are easy to read,

[06:44] easier to remember, and easier to spark

[06:46] emotion fast. And this is especially

[06:49] important because over 70% of YouTube

[06:52] views now come from mobile. So, if your

[06:55] title looks great on desktop, but then

[06:57] gets cut off on a mobile phone screen,

[06:59] you're shooting yourself in the foot.

[07:00] So, the takeaway point here is the best

[07:03] titles are the ones that can deliver

[07:04] impact when skimmed in half a second.

[07:07] Then browse versus search. So the next

[07:10] step is knowing what kind of title

[07:13] you're actually writing. And this is

[07:14] where a lot of small creators go wrong

[07:17] because you guys don't know the

[07:19] difference between browsebased titles

[07:21] and searchbased titles. So let me

[07:23] explain. But basically on YouTube

[07:26] viewers typically discover content in

[07:28] two ways. Either by searching for

[07:30] something specific or simply by

[07:32] scrolling through the homepage or

[07:34] suggested videos. But these two

[07:36] different types of viewer behavior are

[07:37] very different and they require two

[07:39] completely different types of

[07:40] strategies. So for instance, when

[07:43] someone's just scrolling through their

[07:44] home feed, they're not looking for

[07:46] anything specific. So your job here is

[07:48] to interrupt that scroll and grab their

[07:51] attention. That's where browse optimized

[07:53] titles do best. They lean heavily on

[07:56] like curiosity and emotional triggers.

[07:58] Titles like YouTube shorts just changed

[08:01] forever or this mistake is killing your

[08:04] channel. They'll work because they make

[08:06] people stop and ask questions. Even if

[08:08] those people weren't originally

[08:09] searching for that particular topic. On

[08:11] the other side, however, search

[08:13] optimized titles are written for people

[08:15] who already know what they want to see.

[08:17] They're actively going in and typing

[08:20] things into the search bar, and they

[08:21] will click on the results that come up

[08:23] first after they search for a specific

[08:25] term. So, the titles of these videos

[08:28] need to be clear, direct, and keyword

[08:30] focused. Think of formats like how to

[08:33] start a drop shipping business in 2025

[08:36] or best video cameras for beginners.

[08:38] Like those titles are educational,

[08:41] they're SEO driven, and they tend to

[08:43] perform well over time because they're

[08:45] evergreen and they rely on search

[08:47] traffic. Now, one isn't technically

[08:49] better than the other, but you do need

[08:51] to know what traffic source you're

[08:53] targeting before you upload the video.

[08:55] For example, one of my videos is titled

[08:57] How to Start a YouTube channel in 2025.

[09:00] And this one is optimized for search.

[09:02] And the analytics show that because most

[09:03] of the views come from YouTube search,

[09:06] but a different video of mine titled,

[09:07] "If your shorts get under 1,000 views,

[09:10] do this," is clearly optimized for

[09:12] brows. And it got over a million views

[09:14] even though no one is searching for that

[09:17] exact title phrase. So again, just try

[09:20] to understand how your title will be

[09:22] discovered and write it accordingly.

[09:24] Then we have write the title first. And

[09:27] here is one of the biggest mindset

[09:29] shifts that can completely change how

[09:30] you approach YouTube. And it's something

[09:32] that almost every struggling creator I

[09:34] see gets it wrong. Because most new

[09:37] people come up with a video idea,

[09:39] they'll film it, they'll edit it,

[09:41] they'll upload it, and then they'll

[09:42] quickly throw together a title and

[09:44] thumbnail right at the end. But that is

[09:46] completely backwards. Because the most

[09:49] successful creators in this game do the

[09:51] exact opposite. They start with the

[09:54] title first. Why? Because your title and

[09:57] thumbnail are the product. They're the

[09:59] first thing anyone sees. Your title and

[10:02] thumbnail are what people buy into with

[10:04] their attention. Like the content only

[10:06] matters after you've earned that click.

[10:09] So if you build the video first, you're

[10:11] trapped. Like you're stuck trying to

[10:13] retrofit a title and thumbnail onto

[10:15] something that's already been done. But

[10:17] when you begin with a title first that's

[10:20] designed to grab attention and then you

[10:21] build the video around that, you're

[10:24] making sure your content is aligned and

[10:26] primed to perform. So now on before you

[10:29] even press record, ask yourself what's

[10:32] the title? Like what's the promise of

[10:33] this video? Why should anyone care? If

[10:36] you can't answer those questions, don't

[10:38] start filming. Now, if all of this is

[10:40] finally starting to click and make sense

[10:42] to you, and if you're realizing just how

[10:45] much your title influences your success

[10:47] on YouTube, then I've got something that

[10:49] can take you even further. I've built a

[10:51] short, high impact, actionable course

[10:53] that walks you through exactly how to

[10:55] create high-erforming YouTube titles and

[10:58] design scroll stopping YouTube

[11:00] thumbnails. This mastery course is

[11:02] packed with real world examples, proven

[11:04] frameworks, title formulas, emotional

[11:06] trigger breakdowns like thumbnail design

[11:09] principles, and so much more. And as a

[11:11] thank you for making it to the end of

[11:12] this video, you'll receive the entire

[11:14] course for 50% off. Like, I've done it

[11:17] as cheap as I possibly can. So whether

[11:19] you're brand new or you're already

[11:21] making content, you've got a few

[11:22] subscribers, I promise you this mastery

[11:24] course will save you so much time. It

[11:26] will help you grow faster and it will

[11:28] finally show you how to get your videos

[11:30] the attention they deserve. Like

[11:32] hundreds of creators have already taken

[11:34] it and the feedback I've got has been

[11:36] incredible. So if you're ready to stop

[11:37] guessing and start growing, get 50% off

[11:40] now. Click on the link in the

[11:41] description or the pinned comment and

[11:42] I'll see you inside. Thanks very much

[11:44] for watching. See you later.