Many content marketers argue that good titles are indispensable for generating views and engagement – after all, if audiences aren’t intrigued by the title and thumbnail of your video, they won’t click to actually watch the content you’ve created.
However, writing powerful titles can be difficult.
Given the importance of titles, you don’t want to simply go with the first words that come to mind. But you don’t want to waste hours editing, doubting, and rewriting your YouTube titles either. In order to simplify the title creation process so that it is manageable yet effective, here are 5 core ideas to focus on when crafting titles:
Hook on to Feelings and Emotions
The title of your video is an advertisement for the content you’ve produced, and like all good advertising, you want your title to land emotionally.
Research indicates that emotion is the primary driver of all purchasing and decision making. While YouTube viewers aren’t paying money, they are making a decision to invest their time into watching your video content. If you want them to stop browsing and watch your latest upload, you want the words in your title to connect with their feelings.
Some trigger words that evoke strong emotions include:
- Easy
- Free
- Secret
- Exclusive
- Discover
- New
- Proven
- Instant
- Best
- Want
- Huge
- Explosive
- Never
- Now
Leverage Keywords
SEO matters on YouTube. With the right keywords, your video can be discovered by your ideal audience. It’s crucial for boosting traffic, views, and subscribers.
To find good keywords, you want to conduct keyword research. You can start by typing a relevant word or phrase into the Search bar on YouTube and seeing what autofill terms come up. You can also check out other popular videos in your niche to observe which keywords they utilize.
You also want to feature 3 hashtags in your title. Hashtags can help viewers who are seeking to find content like yours. Ideally, you will show up high in the rankings when users click on the hashtag. YouTube will even suggest popular hashtags that can help you get discovered.
Just be sure to avoid clickbait in your wording. YouTube doesn’t condone titles that trick audiences into watching. So don’t promise something sensational that you can’t and won’t deliver just to get people to click on your video.
Get Up to 73% More Engagement with Numbers
Were you intrigued by the title of this subheading? If so, the number “73” might have helped. Studies indicate that numbers in headlines engage audiences and often get them to go beyond the headline to consume, share, and comment on the content.
An eye-tracking study explains that this fixation with numbers is because people associate numerals with facts. Numbers can stop a wandering eye and get someone to pay attention, even when the numbers are surrounded by words that readers are otherwise ignoring. So, break up your mass of text with a number or 2!
Be Relatable to Your Ideal Audience
Think of your headline as a conversation between you and your perfect audience. Whatever language you would use to be relatable to that audience should be the tone and vocabulary you use for the title.
You might even imagine you’re meeting up for drinks with someone from your audience – what would you say to announce and get them excited about the new video you’ve just uploaded?
Don’t Forget the Character Limit!
With these above tips, you may think you have crafted the perfect title – but before you fall in love with it, make sure it’s an appropriate length for a YouTube video title.
The official title limit on YouTube is 100 characters. But it’s best to aim for 60-70 characters as that is what will display fully on most devices without being cut off. So, if you have to go longer, at least try to get your point across in those first 60 characters.
What’s your best performing title on YouTube? Does it incorporate any of these tips? Let us know!