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.
P.S. If you want to save more time and use a title generator that uses all the titles from this newsletter, check out Creator Hooks Pro.
Pick 1
Title: Pick One of These 10 Hobbies… Your Life Won’t Be the Same
Framework: Pick One of These 10 (Entities) Your (Possession) Won’t Be the Same
Hook score: +498
Why this works:
List – Lists make videos feel more tangible (you know exactly what the video will be about), and they add some curiosity.
Curiosity – This builds curiosity in two ways:
- It makes you wonder what the hobbies are.
- It makes you wonder what will happen once you do and why your life won’t be the same.
How you can use this framework: Tell your audience to pick one thing out of a set and that their life won’t be the same.
Examples of this framework in action:
- Learn One of These 7 AI Tools… Your Life Won’t Be the Same
- Read One of These 10 Books… Your Life Won’t Be the Same
Silent Winners
Title: 3 Ways Homeowners Are Quietly Beating Property Taxes Right Now
Framework: 3 Ways (Specific Audience) Are Quietly Beating (Problem) Right Now
Hook score: +499
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 – This creator’s audience would love to beat property taxes.
Curiosity – “Quietly” makes you feel like you’re getting in on a secret.
Specific Audience – By calling out “Homeowners” he makes it clear who this video is for.
How you can use this framework: Tell your audience how people like them are quietly achieving a goal.
Examples of this framework in action:
- 3 Ways Investors Are Quietly Beating Inflation Right Now
- 3 Ways Shopify Sellers Are Quietly Beating Tariffs Right Now
- Write better YouTube titles
- Grow your channel
- Save time
“Creator Hooks Pro’s title generator helped with this title and this one video has made $3,000 in Adsense alone.”
– Gjeebs, 209K subscribers
Dollar Delights
Title: I Built A Gaming Setup Using Only The $1 Store!
Framework: I Built A (Cool thing) Using Only (Constraint)!
Hook score: +571
Why this works:
Constraint – Building a gaming setup is cool, but when you add a constraint, like “Using Only The $1 Store”, it makes it way more interesting.
How you can use this framework: Do something your audience is into, but add a constraint to make it more challenging and interesting.
Examples of this framework in action:
- I Built A Home Gym Using Only The $1 Store!
- I Camped For A Week In The Desert Without Bringing Any Water
Who’s laughing now?
Title: Everyone Laughed At His “Useless” Tunnel — Until The Blizzard Hit
Framework: Everyone Laughed At His “Useless” (Creation or possession) — Until (Problem)
Hook score: +2756
Why this works:
Fear & Status – Social status is one of the most important things for us, and people laughing at us is the last thing we want.
Curiosity – This builds curiosity in two ways:
- It starts a story, but doesn’t finish it, so you have to click to see what happened.
- There’s a hint of contrast because apparently his “Useless” tunnel wasn’t so useless after all.
Editor’s note: Many people want to know what’s working *now* on YouTube…
But this title was inspired by an ad that was published in 1926, literally 100 years ago:
“They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano – But When I Started to Play!”
How you can use this framework: Tell your audience that people laughed at you or your possession, until something happened.
Examples of this framework in action:
- Everyone Laughed At His “Useless” App — Until They Saw His Car
- My Friends Laughed At My Opening Lines — Until They Saw Me At The Bar
Silver Spoon Rules
Title: How Old Money Raises Kids.. 9 Rules You Won’t see on Social Media
Framework: How Old Money (Activity).. 9 Rules You Won’t see on Social Media
Hook score: +17,774
Why this works:
Authority – “Old Money” brings some authority here because they’re successful.
List – Lists make videos feel more tangible (you know exactly what the video will be about), and they add some curiosity.
Secret – “You Won’t see on Social Media” makes you feel like these rules are a little bit secretive.
How you can use this framework: Tell your audience about how old money (or another group of successful people) do something, and the rules you won’t see on social media.
Examples of this framework in action:
- How Old Money Negotiates.. 9 Rules You Won’t see on Social Media
- How Nat Geo Photographers Take Pictures.. 9 Rules You Won’t see on Social Media
Flop of the Week
Title: BlackRock Just Abandoned Your Retirement Strategy (New Playbook)
Hook score: -94
Why this flopped: It might be me… but I don’t get it? Who cares if BlackRock abandons my retirement strategy? How does that affect me?
I think this might’ve done better if it were worded so that its effect on the audience is more obvious. Something like:
“BlackRock Just Ruined Your Retirement Strategy (New Playbook)”
Also, I don’t love “(New Playbook)” at the end here. I’d probably just get rid of it to make the title cleaner and punchier:
“BlackRock Just Ruined Your Retirement Strategy”
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 write better titles and grow your channel, check out Creator Hooks Pro.