An Old Copywriting Trick May Explain Your YouTube Problems

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 use a title generator that uses all the titles ever featured in Creator Hooks, check out Creator Hooks Pro.

Gaming Grifts

gaming scams thumbnail

Title: 8 Biggest Scams In Gaming History

Framework: (Number) Biggest Scams In (Niche) History

Hook score: +301

Why this works:

List – Lists make videos feel more tangible (you know exactly what the video will be about) and they add some curiosity.

Negativity – “Scams” brings drama and controversy that grabs the audience’s attention and makes them click.

Epic & Extreme – “Biggest” and “In Gaming History” makes this video feel epic and extreme.

How you can use this framework: Tell your audience about the biggest scams in your niche’s history.

Examples of this framework in action:

  • 8 Biggest Scams In NFL History
  • 8 Biggest Scams In Wall Street History

0-50K

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Title: How I Gained 50,000 Followers In 1 Month (9 Easy Steps)

Framework: How I [Achieved Goal] In [Short Time Frame] ([Number] Easy Steps)

Hook score: +753

Why this works:

Desire – This creator’s audience would love to get 50,000 followers in 1 month. Plus, “9 Easy Steps” adds to the desire by making it sound easy.

Time Frame – The short time frame of “In 1 Month” also adds to the desire and makes this video feel more tangible and interesting.

Credibility – This isn’t just a “how to” video, this is a “how I” video, which makes it feel more credible.

How you can use this framework: Tell your audience how you achieved a big goal of theirs in a relatively short time frame, and give them easy steps so they can do the same.

Examples of this framework in action:

  • How I Lost 15 Pounds In 1 Month (4 Easy Steps)
  • How I Added 50 Yards To My Driver Swing In 1 Month (5 Easy Steps)

Write Better Titles Faster

creator hooks pro results

The best way to write YouTube titles is to model other proven titles.

We just updated Creator Hooks Pro’s title generator so you can now see where the inspiration for the titles we’re generating for you came from.

(You can see what it looks like in the “inspiration” popup in the image above).

This is part of our mission to help you write better titles, save time, and grow your channel.

You can sign up for Creator Hooks Pro here.

P.S. Here’s a big win from one of our customers:

“I got this title directly from Creator Hooks Pro’s title generator. It’s a 1 of 10 and brought in 5 clients worth over $25k in less than 2 weeks.”

– Jeff Hampton, Hampton Law, 330K subscribers

Hampton Law 1 of 10

Ancient Enlightenment

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Title: An Ancient Roman Shipwreck May Explain the Universe

Framework: An (Obscure Entity) May Explain (Bigger Entity)

Hook score: +1433

Why this works:

Curiosity – This builds curiosity because it’s counterintuitive that something seemingly meaningless, like an ancient Roman shipwreck, can do something so meaningful, like explain the universe.

Epic – Explaining the entire universe is pretty epic.

How you can use this framework: Tell your audience how something meaningless or obscure can explain something so important.

Examples of this framework in action:

  • An Ancient Chinese Proverb Explains The Modern Health Crisis
  • An Ancient Mayan Calendar May Explain Climate Change

These Not Those

nuts thumbnail

Title: 4 Nuts You Should Be Eating And 4 You Shouldn’t

Framework: (Number) (Entities) You Should Be (Activity) And (Number) You Shouldn’t

Hook score: +3399

Why this works:

List – Lists make videos feel more tangible (you know exactly what the video will be about) and they add some curiosity.

Desire & Negativity – This covers both ends of the spectrum with nuts you should and shouldn’t eat.

Curiosity – These two lists of nuts you should and shouldn’t eat do a great job of building curiosity because you’ve gotta click to find out what the nuts are.

Note: I typically don’t like using the word “and” in titles because it dilutes the focus, but here’s a great example of that being a preference, not a rule.

How you can use this framework: Tell your audience about a list of things they should and shouldn’t be doing.

Examples of this framework in action:

  • 4 Countries You Have To Visit And 4 That Are Overrated
  • 4 LA Neighborhoods You Should Consider Moving To And 4 You Shouldn’t

Fleeing Florida

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Title: Why is EVERYONE Leaving Florida? (WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?)

Framework: Why is EVERYONE (Negative Action)? (WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?)

Hook score: +16349

Why this works:

Negativity – This controversial topic does a great job of grabbing the audience’s attention.

Curiosity – This question builds curiosity, and “WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?” adds a bit of secrecy and conspiracy.

How you can use this framework: Ask why something bad and/or dramatic is happening.

Examples of this framework in action:

  • Why is EVERYONE Leaving TikTok? (WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?)
  • Why is EVERYONE Selling Their Teslas? (WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?)

Flop of the Week

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Title: A Scientist’s Guide To Composting

Hook score: -75

Why this flopped: There are probably a few reasons that contributed to this video flopping:

  1. It’s not dramatic enough. Many of the best titles from this channel have some drama, like “An Ancient Roman Shipwreck May Explain the Universe” (4.5M views) or “The Doorway to the Underworld is Growing and We Can’t Stop It” (2.5M views).
  2. There’s not much curiosity.
  3. The audience might not be looking for a guide to composting from this channel.

We can’t really change #1 — the video just doesn’t have that much drama.

And we can’t change #3 — the video is already posted and the audience wants what they want.

But we can change #2. Let’s try to add some curiosity to this title:

“How Your Trash Can Make The Planet Healthier”

“Stop Throwing Away Your Kitchen Trash – Do This Instead”

We can also try to increase the desire by making it more tangible or calling out beginners:

“3 Steps To Make Perfect Compost In 60 Days”

“Everything You Need To Know To Start Composting As A Beginner”

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 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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