If you want to grow your YouTube channel, you need to master psychology.

Here are 8 psychological hacks to use: 1/ Negativity bias

People pay more attention to negative things than positive things.

One of the easier ways to grab your audience's attention is to talk about topics with drama, conspiracy, and fear.

Ex: "Priest Answers: If Someone Confesses A Murder, What Do You Do?"

I did 2 live trainings on how to write better YouTube titles this week.

Here are answers to the most common questions people ask:

Q: What are next-level title principles YouTube creators need to know about YouTube titles? A: The best YouTubers know their audience very well.

They know their hopes, dreams, fears, and desires and leverage that in their ideas, thumbnails, titles, and content.

They’re also masters of psychology, especially building curiosity.

The secret to writing great YouTube titles is psychology.

But most people don’t know how to use it to get people to stop scrolling and click their videos.

Here are 9 psychological hacks to write better YouTube titles: 1/ Confirmation Bias

Is there a more satisfying feeling than telling someone, “I told you so!”?

When you confirm your audience’s suspicions in your video, you’re giving them the opportunity to say this.

Ex:

“Ex-Employee Warns Us About Taco Bell's Meat”

14 things successful YouTubers never say: "The algorithm hates me."

"My videos are good enough, I don’t need to make them any better."

10 ways to write great YouTube titles (without clickbait): Just so we’re clear: my definition of clickbait is when you don't deliver on what your title promised.

If you can back up your title, then it’s not clickbait.

Now let’s get to it!

Somebody emailed me this question this morning:

"How do I balance making videos for SEO and making videos for browse/suggested?"

Here was my answer: 1/ If there are enough people searching a topic where it's worth it to rank, then write a title meant to rank in search.

Don't be cute with your title — make it crystal clear you're answering the question.

10 newsletters to grow your Creator business (for free): Creator Wizard

By @justinmooretfam

What you’ll learn: how to make money through sponsorships.

Plus, Justin sends out sponsorship opportunities every week for free.

pages.creatorwizard.com/join

No matter how good your YouTube video’s title is…

If it’s about a boring topic, it’s doomed to fail.

Here are 3 ways to choose great video topics every time: 1/ Replay your greatest hits

You don’t need to make something brand new every video.

If an idea has worked well for you in the past, then:

• Make an updated version
• Do it again with a twist
• Increase the stakes

Writing better YouTube titles can change your life.

But most people suck at them.

So here are 9 rules to write amazing titles: 1/ Clear is better than clever

People are skimming through YouTube so they need to immediately understand your title.

Don’t use jargon, sarcasm, or jokes at the expense of being clear.

❌ “Your money is cheating on you (with your bank)”

✅ “Your Bank Is Stealing Your Money”

I compiled 635 viral YouTube videos in a database.

Here are some fun stats for you: Quick background here:

1. 85% are educational/edutainment videos.

2. I’m using a loose definition of viral here. The videos in this database got at least 3x more views than the other recent videos on their channel. The average was 9x more views.

Ok let’s get to it…

The best YouTubers are masters of psychology.

Here are 10 psychological hacks to steal from them: 1/ Loss Aversion

Most people would rather not lose $20 than gain $20.

You can leverage that by positioning your video as helping your audience avoid pain, rather than get a benefit.

Ex:

“10 Things I’m NOT Buying In 2022 | Minimalism & Saving Money”

I A/B tested 103 YouTube titles last month.

Here’s what worked: Before we get into the data, quick disclaimer:

A/B testing on YouTube isn’t perfect, and these results won’t necessarily work for you, too.

But I hope these strategies will inspire you to try new things on your channel.

I put 1,000 YouTube search results into a database.

I found some surprising trends that will help you get better at YouTube SEO.

Here’s a breakdown: Quick background:

I did 200 searches and recorded the titles of the top 5 results for each.

50% of the searches were “how to __"

28% of the searches were “best __”

This isn't an official "study" I'm just a nerd who studies YouTube.

Alrighty, let’s get into the good stuff!

My YouTube titles have brought in 1,000,000s of views.

I have 4 methods that make writing great titles fast and easy.

Here they are: 1/ Picasso Method

“Good artists borrow, great artists steal.” - Pablo Picasso (supposedly)

With this method, you’re stealing proven topics from your competitors.

It’s the method with the highest likelihood of success and is especially great for beginners.

I’ve spent 1,000 hours studying viral YouTube videos.

There are several power words that appear over and over again no matter what niche you’re in.

Here are 11 of them: 1/ Change

“Change” starts a story in your title and is open-ended, so it builds curiosity.

Ex:

“Index Fund Investing Could Change Forever”

Here’s a skill every educational YouTuber needs:

Saying the same thing 100 different ways.

This is because only a handful of topics actually work well in each industry.

But it’s hard!

So here are some frameworks for you: These tips will work for any industry, but in this thread I’m going to pretend I have a finance channel.

In finance, the topic of buying stocks works well, so I’m gonna show you 10 different ways to talk about it.

10 bad habits holding you back from YouTube success: 1/ Making the video first

Don’t make the video and then try to form a title and thumbnail around it.

Start with a topic, title, and thumbnail that you know is going to get people to click.

Then make a video that delivers on that promise.

I’ve been making a few additions to Creator Hooks!

Here’s an update 👇 1/ I put together a site where you can read past editions of the newsletter.

I haven’t added them all in yet, but here it is:
creatorhooks.com/past-creator-h…

My little side project YouTube channel went from 35,000 to 350,000 views/month.

I only publish 1 video per week, and they honestly kinda suck.

But I think it’s grown because I’ve focused on the 80/20 of what actually matters to YouTube.

Here’s what worked: First off, about the channel…

I’m not gonna share the link here, but it’s about Golden Retrievers.

I have 22k subs and 48 published videos.

Ok let’s get to what worked!

Every creator needs these 2 skills:

1. Getting people's attention
2. Getting them to click

If your content isn't doing well, it's probably because you suck at these.

But there are psychological hacks you can use that are almost like cheat codes.

Here are 10 of them: 1/ Authority bias

We know, like and trust authority figures.

To get more people to click your content, tell a story about your audience’s heroes.

Ex:

“How To Solve Problems Like Elon Musk”

I’ve written over 1,000 YouTube titles.

The best way to write a great title is to copy what’s proven to get people to click.

Here are 12 formulas that work: 1/ The Truth About ___

This works because it opens up a loop and makes you feel like you’re getting in on a secret.

Both of these build curiosity, which is the strongest driver of clicks.

Ex:

“The Truth About Writing Twitter Threads…”