writing the perfect ONE WORD title for YouTube

I’ve asked some of the best creators on YouTube, “How do you write such great titles?”

And they’ve all said the same thing: “I just model what works.”

So this email will show you 5 videos worth modeling to help you write great titles and save time.

Btw, if you want to save more time and see all of the titles and thumbnails from Creator Hooks in one place, check out Creator Hooks Pro.

Smart Spanish

spanish verbs thumbnail

Title: You Should Be Learning Spanish Verbs Like This

Formula: You Should Be (Working Towards Goal) Like This

Hook score: +312

Why this works:

Desire – This creator’s audience wants to learn Spanish verbs, and the thumbnail adds to the desire with “study smarter not harder”.

Curiosity – This title is a cliffhanger so you have to click to find out how you should be learning Spanish verbs.

How you can use this hook: Tell your audience how they should be working towards a goal.

Examples of this hook in action:

  • You Should Be Cooking Chicken Like This
  • You Should Be Planting Tomatoes Like This

One Tile One City

one tile thumbnail

Title: Engineering the perfect ONE TILE city in Cities Skylines!

Formula: (Activity) the perfect ONE (Object) in (Entity)!

Hook score: +681

Why this works:

Constraint – The constraint of “one tile” adds curiosity because you want to know how he did it.

Desire – This creator’s audience wants to make (or watch this creator make) a perfect city.

How you can use this hook: Make something amazing with a constraint.

Examples of this hook in action:

  • Testing the perfect ONE WORD Pickup Line On Girls
  • Making the perfect THREE INGREDIENT Homemade Protein Bar!

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Sad Smarts

smartest man thumbnail

Title: The Sad Story of the Smartest Man Who Ever Lived

Formula: The Sad Story of the (Extreme Entity)

Hook score: +1004

Why this works:

Negativity – People love drama and this title promises a lot of it.

Curiosity – This title builds curiosity two ways. 1) You would think it’s great to be the “Smartest Man Who Ever Lived”, so the fact that he has a sad story is a bit counterintuitive. 2) The fact that this is about the “Smartest Man Who Ever Lived” adds an element of uniqueness to the story.

How you can use this hook: Tell your audience about the dramatic story of an extreme person or thing in your niche.

Examples of this hook in action:

  • The Sad Story of the Tallest Man Who Ever Lived
  • The Scary Story of the Biggest Bank Scam In History

Duplicate Design

design thumbnail

Title: i made the same design in every program ever

Formula: i made the same (Object) in every (Entity) ever

Hook score: +1178

Why this works:

Curiosity – You want to see what happens in this experiment, so you have to click.

Credibility – There’s an element of credibility and believability to this video because it’s not just his opinion on the different design programs, he’s actually making something with them all.

How you can use this hook: Do the same thing across multiple platforms and show the audience what happened.

Examples of this hook in action:

  • i posted the same video on every social media platform
  • i made the same steak on every cooking appliance ever

What did you say?

articulate thumbnail

Title: Why You Struggle to ARTICULATE Your Thoughts Clearly. 5 TRUTHS!

Formula: Why You Struggle to (Action). 5 TRUTHS!

Hook score: +2641

Why this works:

Negativity – The pain point of struggling to articulate your thoughts clearly grabs the audience’s attention and makes them want to watch.

Curiosity – In addition to this video being about a pain point, this title promises to tell you why you struggle with this pain point, so it makes you want to click and find out why.

List – This title finishes off with a list of 5 truths, which makes this video feel more tangible (you know exactly what the video will be about) and adds some curiosity.

How you can use this hook: Tell your audience why they’re struggling with something.

Examples of this hook in action:

  • Why You Struggle to Take Beautiful Street Photography. 5 TRUTHS!
  • Why You Struggle to Catch Bass Consistently. 5 TRUTHS!

Flop of the Week

tylenol thumbnail

Title: The Tylenol Murders that Terrified America

Hook score: -95

Why this flopped: I think this flopped for two reasons.

The first is that I don’t know how believable this is.

Yes, murders that terrified America make for a great story that could be successful on YouTube… but do you actually believe that there are Tylenol murders?

Tylenol feels too innocent. Nobody is here saying “I knew it! Let me check this out so I can tell my friends.”

Now if this video was about vaccine deaths that terrified America, then everybody would be saying “I knew it! Let me check this out so I can tell my friends.”

Also, this channel is about tech news and business, not medicine, so this is also about the wrong topic for this channel.

Alright, that wraps up this week’s Creator Hooks!

Hope you enjoyed this week’s edition and if you know a fellow creator who needs help with writing better titles, please send them to creatorhooks.com.

– Jake

(@jthomas__ on Twitter)

P.S. Read previous editions here.

P.P.S. If you want to see all of the videos from Creator Hooks in one place, check out Creator Hooks Pro.

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