The reason your videos aren't getting many views isn't because your content is bad. It's because your titles probably suck. I see it all the time.
Small YouTubers like you putting hours and hours into editing great videos only to sabotage yourself at the final hurdle. Why? Because you're writing your titles the wrong way.
Just one small simple tweak in how you write your title could be the difference between 10 views and 10,000 views. So, in this video, I'm going to show you exactly how to create your titles the right way. So, before we get into the tactics, let's zoom out a bit first and understand why people actually click on videos in the first place.
Because a viewer clicking on a video isn't usually a logical decision. It's an emotional one. When a viewer lands on the YouTube home feed, they're not sat there carefully evaluating each individual video they see.
Instead, what they are doing, they're usually scrolling really fast and making split-second decisions based on how a title thumbnail makes them feel. And that's the key. People don't click because your title is informative.
They click because it triggers something inside of them. So, your job as a YouTuber isn't just to use your title as a way to like describe the video. Instead, it should be to create an emotional reaction.
When someone decides to click on a video, it's because of a tiny spark in their brain that says like, "Wait, what is this? " That right there is an open loop, which we will discuss in the next section. But you just need to understand that until someone clicks, your content doesn't even exist to them.
You could have the most valuable video in the world, but if your title doesn't make people stop and feel something, they're just going to scroll straight past it. So everything we talk about from here on out, open loops, emotional triggers, length, structure, all of that stuff, all of it feeds back to one core principle. Emotion drives action.
So step two, open loops. So one of the most effective ways to trigger an emotion and drive clicks is by using something called an open loop. This is a powerful psychological tool that plays on human curiosity, which is the need to resolve unanswered questions.
An open loop is when your title introduces a hint but doesn't give the full payoff. Now, open loops spark intrigue and leaves the viewer wondering like what happens next. Think about it.
When you see a title like this one mistake killed my channel or I tried Mr Beast strategy, here's what happened. Your brain should immediately start asking questions like what was that mistake? Did it really ruin his channel?
Or what happened with the strategy? like that sense of unresolved tension creates discomfort and the only way to relieve that discomfort is to click on the video and find out. And open loops work because our brains are wired to seek closure.
We hate unfinished thoughts. So when you hint at something like a mistake, a discovery, or a transformation, but don't reveal the full outcome, people are always compelled to click. You'll make them curious enough to stop scrolling and want to start watching your video.
And this is why like vague or overly descriptive titles often fail. If you give everything away up front, then there's no reason for the viewer to click. But when you strategically leave something out or when you tease just enough to make people need the answer, that's when your titles start doing their job.
And just to prove it to you, here are two examples. Number one, this one mistake killed my channel. Or number two, getting a copyright strike killed my channel.
Well, the first one creates an open loop as it doesn't give you any information as to what that one mistake is. So, people are going to want to watch that video to find out. But the second one clearly already shows you that the reason their channel died is because of a copyright strike.
So, now in this case, people are going to look at that and feel no urge whatsoever to watch it because the title has already answered the question. I hope that makes sense. So, next thing we need to look at is emotional triggers.
And now that you understand how open loops work, let's look at the emotional triggers that power them. Your title basically has just a split second to make someone feel an emotion. And the stronger that emotional response, the higher the chance they'll click.
That's why most effective titles aren't descriptive. They provoke people. They create tension.
They make the viewer feel like they have to click in order to resolve something. Think about titles like stop making this one mistake or YouTube just changed. Are you ready?
Or something like how I made $10,000 without monetization. These type of titles tap into real emotions. And there are five core emotional triggers that work time and time again on YouTube.
So let me explain them now. So number one is curiosity. Number two is fear or urgency.
Number three is desire for reward, surprise or novelty. and FOMO, which is fear of missing out. So, when you're writing your next title, I need you to ask yourself, which emotion am I tapping into?
Is it curiosity? Is it fear? Is it desire?
The more emotional charge it carries, the more powerful your title becomes. Also, don't forget about power words. These specific words are used to instantly enhance emotion.
Words like warning, hidden, secret, explosive, proven. All of these types of words can elevate your title without changing the meaning. Like the most successful creators build these emotional hooks into every title they write, not by accident, but by design.
So before you publish your next video, just ask yourself, will this title make someone feel something? If not, rewrite it because without emotion, there's no action, and without action, there's no views. Next thing we have to consider is the 55 character rule.
So now, let's talk about a simple but powerful rule that can massively improve your click-through rate. The 55 character rule. Most inexperienced creators often overlook this, but it's crucial.
As I said, when people scroll through YouTube, they're not carefully reading and evaluating every single title. They're basically like skim reading really, really fast, and their brains are wired for speed and simplicity. So, if your title is too long or too complex, it will get ignored.
And here's the technical bit. YouTube will also cut off your title after about 55 characters, especially on mobile. That means if your emotional hook or keyword is buried at the end of your title, it might not even be visible.
You're basically hiding the most important part of your title behind the three dots at the end. So to avoid that, make sure you always frontload your titles with the most powerful keywords at the beginning and try to stay under 55 characters where possible. Now, long titles can work, but shorter ones are easy to read, easier to remember, and easier to spark emotion fast.
And this is especially important because over 70% of YouTube views now come from mobile. So, if your title looks great on desktop, but then gets cut off on a mobile phone screen, you're shooting yourself in the foot. So, the takeaway point here is the best titles are the ones that can deliver impact when skimmed in half a second.
Then browse versus search. So the next step is knowing what kind of title you're actually writing. And this is where a lot of small creators go wrong because you guys don't know the difference between browsebased titles and searchbased titles.
So let me explain. But basically on YouTube viewers typically discover content in two ways. Either by searching for something specific or simply by scrolling through the homepage or suggested videos.
But these two different types of viewer behavior are very different and they require two completely different types of strategies. So for instance, when someone's just scrolling through their home feed, they're not looking for anything specific. So your job here is to interrupt that scroll and grab their attention.
That's where browse optimized titles do best. They lean heavily on like curiosity and emotional triggers. Titles like YouTube shorts just changed forever or this mistake is killing your channel.
They'll work because they make people stop and ask questions. Even if those people weren't originally searching for that particular topic. On the other side, however, search optimized titles are written for people who already know what they want to see.
They're actively going in and typing things into the search bar, and they will click on the results that come up first after they search for a specific term. So, the titles of these videos need to be clear, direct, and keyword focused. Think of formats like how to start a drop shipping business in 2025 or best video cameras for beginners.
Like those titles are educational, they're SEO driven, and they tend to perform well over time because they're evergreen and they rely on search traffic. Now, one isn't technically better than the other, but you do need to know what traffic source you're targeting before you upload the video. For example, one of my videos is titled How to Start a YouTube channel in 2025.
And this one is optimized for search. And the analytics show that because most of the views come from YouTube search, but a different video of mine titled, "If your shorts get under 1,000 views, do this," is clearly optimized for brows. And it got over a million views even though no one is searching for that exact title phrase.
So again, just try to understand how your title will be discovered and write it accordingly. Then we have write the title first. And here is one of the biggest mindset shifts that can completely change how you approach YouTube.
And it's something that almost every struggling creator I see gets it wrong. Because most new people come up with a video idea, they'll film it, they'll edit it, they'll upload it, and then they'll quickly throw together a title and thumbnail right at the end. But that is completely backwards.
Because the most successful creators in this game do the exact opposite. They start with the title first. Why?
Because your title and thumbnail are the product. They're the first thing anyone sees. Your title and thumbnail are what people buy into with their attention.
Like the content only matters after you've earned that click. So if you build the video first, you're trapped. Like you're stuck trying to retrofit a title and thumbnail onto something that's already been done.
But when you begin with a title first that's designed to grab attention and then you build the video around that, you're making sure your content is aligned and primed to perform. So now on before you even press record, ask yourself what's the title? Like what's the promise of this video?
Why should anyone care? If you can't answer those questions, don't start filming. Now, if all of this is finally starting to click and make sense to you, and if you're realizing just how much your title influences your success on YouTube, then I've got something that can take you even further.
I've built a short, high impact, actionable course that walks you through exactly how to create high-erforming YouTube titles and design scroll stopping YouTube thumbnails. This mastery course is packed with real world examples, proven frameworks, title formulas, emotional trigger breakdowns like thumbnail design principles, and so much more. And as a thank you for making it to the end of this video, you'll receive the entire course for 50% off.
Like, I've done it as cheap as I possibly can. So whether you're brand new or you're already making content, you've got a few subscribers, I promise you this mastery course will save you so much time. It will help you grow faster and it will finally show you how to get your videos the attention they deserve.
Like hundreds of creators have already taken it and the feedback I've got has been incredible. So if you're ready to stop guessing and start growing, get 50% off now. Click on the link in the description or the pinned comment and I'll see you inside.
Thanks very much for watching. See you later.
