Your title is E. V. E. R. Y. T. H. I. N. G.
Let me repeat.
YOUR 👏 TITLE 👏IS 👏EVERYTHING.
YEP, what I’m telling you is the thing you spend the most time on: creating content, filming, editing, etc. will NOT get you more views.
Don't get these words twisted, it will get you returning views but that initial click where someone says ‘YES!’ I want to invest 5+ min watching this video is not determined by the amount of effort you spend on your content.
There is a Trifecta:
Title, Thumbnail and Keywords.
Thumbnail and Keywords have their own sections,
so let's get started on the Title.
1.
Title Tips
1. Aim for 25 characters or less:
Depending on what device you’re viewing you may only see the first 25 (ish) characters of a title. This means you need to make sure the best parts, the hook or the keywords are in the beginning.
2. Two Video categories:
For me, my videos fall into two general categories
– Relationship building: To retain my audience, I share personal stories, videos with my sister, etc. get to know people better.
– Searchable: To grow my audience. The title will be very similar to a google search (because google owns YouTube so if you tell youtube what your video is they can pair it with google searches, ya dig?)
You want to make titles strangers will go YES this is what I’m looking for or this looks interesting!
Example:
I know that solo travel is very popular so when I wanted to make a video about it, I needed to think about what people would be typing into their google searches so I can position my video to be found. A great tool to figure out what people are searching for is google trends.
If you type in “solo travel” in the Travel section the top 10 are:
1. Solo travel handbook
2. Solo east travel
3. Intrepid
4. Best solo travel destinations
5. Intrepid travel
6. Intrepid solo travel
7. Solo travel destinations
8. Solo group travel
9. Solo travel ideas
10. Best places for solo travel
Let's be honest, I don't know what some of the things are (Intrepid Travel?) but if I’m creating content around it and they’re the most popular searches, I should.
For example Intrepid Travel is the “world's largest small group adventure travel company”. If people are looking up best places to travel solo I might want to go on one of their trips so I can do a video about it!
2.
Title Guide
My Most viewed videos and WHY the titles are effective
“8 Tips for Solo Travelers”:
– Googleable:
I assume people will google “tips for solo travel” so I want to include that in my title
– Use a Number
(better if it’s an odd number because from what I’ve learned odd numbers do better for multiple reasons.
One is that it adds to the authenticity and another that it leaves it not quite complete and makes people curious. I obviously didn’t do it with the 8 Tips for Solo Travelers, I made this before I knew the way.
– Clear message:
A viewer knows what to expect and how the video will benefit them
“Santorini on a budget” :
-Against the norm
WHAT !! Isn’t Santorini some super exotic expensive place?! How can you do it on a budget? This creates an open question for HOW
“#VanLife is not for everyone”
– Trending
#vanlife hashtag is all the rage with millennials right now
– Creates a question for the viewer
I want to #vanlife am I cut out?
“Burning Man as a No girl”
– Trending
– Leaves viewer with a question:
What is a no girl? Why would you be a no girl at Burning Man?!
“Who do you think won arm wrestling?”
– Curiosity
– Relationship building
This one falls in the relationship building category. The thumbnail clearly shows a picture of me and my sister arm wrestling. People who watch my channel know and love Amber and they are curious who won!
This video works because I have already established a relationship with my sister and my audience.
“Do you make these plane etiquette mistakes?”
– Again, creates a question themselves
OMG idk do I?! What plane etiquette mistakes?
“Never get Jet Lag again!”
– Absolute words
(words like always, never, every, all)
NEVER EVER?!
Here are a few more generic ones to plug your info into:
1. How to ___
How to travel solo
2. #X mistakes I made when ___
Three mistakes I made on my first solo trip
3. #X tips for ___
Five tips for your first youtube video
4. Advice from ____ (full time traveler, MD, expert X)
Advice from a full time traveler
5. What you NEED TO KNOW before ____
What you need to know before your first trip
6. The weirdest ___ I (did/saw/found) (in/while) ___
The weirdest thing I did while solo traveling
Obviously, plug in whatever makes sense for you and your channel!
Homework:
If you have a channel:
Rename 3 of your videos that are already posted on YouTube
If you don't:
Take 3 of the video ideas you have and create titles for the videos!
