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.
Gossip Girls
Title: “This Is What I Think Of Pete Hegseth” – Jocko Willink
Framework: “This Is What I Think Of (Trending or polarizing subject)” – (Authority Figure)
Hook score: +669
Why this works:
Authority – People are interested in what authority figures like Jocko Willink have to say.
Timeliness – People love polarizing and/or trending topics, like Pete Hegseth in this case.
Curiosity – This does a great job of opening a loop and making you wonder what he thinks, so you have to click and find out.
How you can use this framework: This one is simple — just share what an authority figure in your space thinks about a trending or polarizing topic.
Examples of this framework in action:
- “This Is What I Think The Future of AI Is” – Sam Altman
- “This Is What I Think Of SGA” – Michael Jordan
Pre Practice
Title: Don’t start practicing art before you’ve done THIS
Framework: Don’t start (Activity) before you’ve done THIS
Hook score: +1618
Why this works:
Negativity – Warning someone to not do something does a great job at grabbing their attention.
Curiosity – This opens a loop and makes you want to know what “THIS” is.
Urgency – This makes you feel like you need to watch this now.
How you can use this framework: Warn your audience to not do something they want to do until they’ve done “this”.
Examples of this framework in action:
- Don’t start meditating before you’ve done THIS
- Don’t start stretching your hips before you’ve done THIS
- Write better YouTube titles
- Grow your channel
- Save time
Check out Creator Hooks Pro here.
P.S. Here’s a big win from a Creator Hooks Pro customer:
“I got this title directly from Creator Hooks Pro’s title generator. It’s a 1 of 10 and it’s brought in 5 clients worth over $25k in less than 3 weeks”
– Jeff Hampton, Hampton Law, 360K Subscribers
no pressure but…
Title: The One Choice That Will Determine Your Next 5 Years
Framework: The One (Action) That Will Determine (Future)
Hook score: +4094
Why this works:
Curiosity – This builds curiosity two ways:
- It opens a loop and makes you wonder what the choice is.
- Since it’s about just one choice, this constraint raises the stakes of that one choice and makes it more interesting.
Time Frame – The time frame of “Your Next 5 Years” also raises the stakes of this one choice.
How you can use this framework: Tell your audience about one thing that will make a big difference for their future.
Examples of this framework in action:
- The One Choice That Will Determine Your Whole Career
- The One Choice That Will Determine America’s Next 10 Years
Perfect Powder
Title: The SECRET Powder That Makes Plants Grow Faster & Repels Pests!
Framework: The SECRET (Entity) That (Achieves goal) & (Removes problem)!
Hook score: +4451
Why this works:
Curiosity – Using the word “Secret” is a simple way to build curiosity and make the audience feel like they’re getting in on a secret.
Desire – This audience would love for their plants to grow faster.
Negativity – They would also love to repel pests.
How you can use this framework: Tell your audience about a secret thing that helps them achieve a goal and avoid a problem.
Examples of this framework in action:
- The SECRET Study Hack That Improves Retention & Stops Procrastination!
- The SECRET Golf Drill That Adds Distance & Decreases Your Slice!
Healthy Addictions
Title: Getting ADDICTED to STUDYING is Easy, Actually
Framework: Getting ADDICTED to (Beneficial, but hard activity) is Easy, Actually
Hook score: +17518
Why this works:
Desire – This creator’s audience wants to study more. The confident tone of this title makes you feel like this video can help you.
Curiosity – Many people struggle with studying, so saying it’s “Easy, Actually,” is counterintuitive.
Controversy – Saying getting “ADDICTED” to studying is more bold, polarizing, and controversial than just, “studying more,” so it grabs more attention.
Contrast – The contrast between “ADDICTED” (negative connotation) and “STUDYING” (positive connotation) makes this title more interesting.
How you can use this framework: Tell your audience that getting addicted to something beneficial, but is sometimes hard to do, is easy, actually.
Examples of this framework in action:
- Getting ADDICTED to Practicing Piano is Easy, Actually
- Getting ADDICTED to Eating Healthy is Easy, Actually
Flop of the Week
Title: The Battle Between Elon, Trump & The Left – Naval Ravikant
Hook score: -82
Why this flopped: People love drama, so the idea of this sounds great, but I think part of the reason it flopped because it’s too complicated.
Specifically, I think there are too many nouns.
Elon, Trump, The Left, Naval Ravikant — these four nouns make this title hard to digest.
One thing they could do is take a stand and write the title about just one of the sides: “Why Trump Is Dominating The Left – Naval Ravikant”
(I’m not saying that’s true or what this video is about — just using this as an example.)
You could also argue that since this video has so few views compared to the rest of the channel, people aren’t interested in this battle.
Part of this video is about power, and since this channel is about improving yourself, that could be an interesting focus for the title.
The title could be something like, “Why Leaders Today Have More Power Than Any Other Man In History.”
TLDR: Take a bold stance, or change the subject of the title if your video is struggling.
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.