- The success of a YouTube intro is crucial for channel growth
- The first step is to nail the title and thumbnail to attract viewers
- The first 5 seconds of the video are crucial for retention, matching the title and thumbnail is important
- Intro length varies, but the structure should include creating curiosity gaps, providing context, and leveraging input bias
- Show visuals rather than just telling, as many viewers watch without sound
- Pacing is crucial to keep viewers engaged during the intro

- The speaker advises going back to certain sections of a video and making changes or cutting them out completely.
- They emphasize the importance of making the title and thumbnail first, as well as matching expectations in the first 5 seconds.
- The rest of the intro should create curiosity gaps, provide context, and leverage input bias.
- The speaker encourages taking time to get these elements right for better results.
- They acknowledge that success on YouTube can be unpredictable, but sticking with it is important.
- They end by asking viewers to subscribe and thanking them for watching.

Here's how to make a killer YouTube intro to blow up your channel.

FREE DOWNLOADABLE PDF VERSION
https://www.aprilynnealter.com/pl/2147854304

This video was heavily inspired by Jon Dorman - I loved a lot of his takes on how to make a YouTube video as a whole, and I wanted to dive deeper into intros specifically while emulating the feeling his videos give off 💙 (also Jon if you're still out there come back to YouTube, we miss you)

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
00:25 - Title & Thumbnail
02:00 - First 5 Seconds
03:39 - Rest of Intro
07:48 - Final Construction
10:41 - Some Encouragement

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This is how to make a killer YouTube intro to blow up your channel.

Watch closely because many creators got their big break from a single video going viral.

And while your next video could be the 1 that blows up your channel, all of its potential could be wasted on the first 20 seconds.

What do these successful creators know that we don't?

The best YouTube intros follow 4 simple steps, and this video will walk you through them all.

The first step is the 1 that is by far the most important, and yet also the most overlooked.

You could have the funniest, most beautiful, most perfect video in the world, but if no 1 clicks on it in the first place, no 1 will ever see it.

Which is why step 1 of making a killer YouTube intro is to nail your title and thumbnail.

Most of us come up with a video idea, script the video, film the video, edit the video, upload the video, think, oh yeah, I need a title and thumbnail, and then slap something together and hit publish.

This is a self-centered way to approach YouTube.

You are thinking like you, not like your audience.

Your audience doesn't see your funny, beautiful, perfect video.

All your audience sees is a title and thumbnail.

And if they're not interested in the TNT, no matter how good your video is, they won't watch it, your video won't blow up, and your channel won't blow up.

Instead, to make a truly killer YouTube intro, take the time to craft a compelling, intriguing TNT first.

Because your video's intro has 1 purpose and 1 purpose only.

To meet and exceed the expectations set by your title and thumbnail.

Beast confirmed the exact same thing with CoffeeZilla.

Essentially, your title and thumbnail set expectations.

And at the very beginning of the video, to minimize drop-off, you want to assure them that those expectations are being met.

You can't meet the expectations set by your title and thumbnail if you don't have a title and thumbnail in the first place.

Finalizing your TNT may take days or even weeks, but it's worth taking the time to get it right.

After you're 90% confident you have a TNT people will click on, you're ready to move on to the most crucial part of your entire video, the first 5 seconds.

This is the part of your video that sees the biggest drop off.

But if you can improve the retention in these first 5 seconds, you will by default improve the retention of the entire video.

To do this, the most successful youtubers apply a two-step formula to the first 5 seconds of each of their videos.

First, their first sentence matches their title.

And second, their first shot matches their thumbnail.

Check out the title and thumbnail for this video from Mark Rober.

In the thumbnail, there's an egg held above Earth on this black rod.

The primary colors are blue, white, and black.

The title of the video is Egg Drop from Space.

Now let's take a look at the first 5 seconds of the video.

is an egg moments before I attempted the world's highest egg drop.

The very first shot practically matches the thumbnail.

There's an egg held above Earth on a black rod and the primary colors are blue, white, and black.

an egg, moments before I attempted the world's highest egg drop.

Mark Rober isn't the only YouTuber to utilize this formula.

Top YouTubers like MrBeast, MrWhosetheboss, and Michelle Khare all do the same thing.

To meet the expectations set by your title and thumbnail, your first 5 seconds don't have to match your TNT word for word and pixel for pixel, but it should be close enough to assure your viewers that your TNT wasn't clickbait and that they will receive what they clicked for.

Speaking of clicking things, now would be a good time to...well, you know the rest.

After you have your first 5 seconds planned out, you can move on to the rest of your intro.

Intro length is something that varies between youtubers.

MrBeast keeps his intros at 25 seconds or less, Mark Rober has intros up to 45 seconds long, and MrWho'sTheBoss likes to keep his intros under 10 seconds.

But regardless of intro length, the best creators in the world follow the same structures in each of their intros.

After meeting the expectations set by the title and thumbnail in the first 5 seconds, they use the rest of their intro to create 1 or more curiosity gaps, provide the relevant context and setup, and leverage input bias.

To see each of these components in action, let's take a look at Mark Rober's egg drop intro.

After matching his title and thumbnail, Mark creates his first curiosity gap.

is an egg, moments before I attempted the world's highest egg drop.

By mentioning that this shot was taken moments before he attempted the world's highest egg drop, Mark opens a loop.

Will he achieve the world record or will he fail?

As humans, our brains are wired to crave closure.

When open loops like, will he get the world record are introduced, our brains go, wow, I could really use some closure right now.

And it prompts us to stick around and get answers.

An unclosed loop doesn't have to be a big mystery.

It can be as simple as promising a three-step formula because we'll want to know what the 3 steps are or blurring something out because we'll want to see what's behind the blur.

Either way, to grip your viewers' attention and incentivize them to keep watching, create curiosity gaps.

So we're 5 seconds in, and Mark has already matched the expectations set from the title and thumbnail, and created a curiosity gap.

Now in an egg drop competition, in case you never had the chance to do it yourself in school, the goal is to build a contraption that can protect a raw egg from breaking when dropped

So my original plan was to drop an egg in a contraption I built from the world's tallest building.

But humans are always building taller buildings.

So if I really wanted to future proof this record, I realized I would need to

go all the way to the top and straight to outer space.

At this point, we've met the expectations set by the title and thumbnail, we've created a curiosity gap, and we've provided context into what an egg drop is in the first place and why in the world he's doing 1 from space.

This alone could be the basis of a good YouTube intro.

But the best YouTube intros don't just meet the expectations set by the title and thumbnail, they exceed those expectations.

And To do that, they leverage something called input bias, which is the idea that the more effort we put into something, whether that be time or energy or cost, the more we'll value it.

As an example of input bias, if we pay $50 for a bottle of wine, we'll value that more than if we paid $20 for that same bottle of wine.

Watch how Mark leverages input bias in the rest of his intro here.

And when I started on this journey 3 years ago, I knew if I could draw my experience of landing stuff on other planets, I would be guaranteed the record.

But what I didn't know is this would be the most physically, financially, and mentally draining video I would ever attempt.

This is how Mark not only meets the expectation that he'll drop an egg from space, but exceeds that expectation by showing just how much work was put into his video.

He specifically mentions that the journey took 3 years and that it was the most physically, financially, and mentally draining video he would ever attempt.

As a result, you as a viewer value the video more and thus are more likely to continue watching.

And if you're a smaller YouTuber who's not yet making the big bucks, don't worry, you don't need to go to space in order to trigger input bias.

All you need to do is show how much effort you put into your video.

Maybe it's by mentioning that you spent 7 days straight researching for the video, or you did something few others would be willing to do.

Whatever it is, make sure you get it across early.

The sooner you show the effort you put into your video, the sooner people will value your video, and thus the more likely they are to stick around and not click away.

So you're meeting the expectations set by your title and thumbnail, and you're creating curiosity gaps, providing context, and leveraging input bias.

The ingredients for your killer YouTube intro to blow up your channel are all there, but it's how you put them together that takes an intro from just okay to truly killer.

When it comes to the final construction of your intro, the biggest thing to keep in mind is to not just tell your viewers what's going on, but show what's happening.

But the adoption of YouTube's autoplay feature is not uncommon for someone to view a video's intro without sound.

So to pique a viewer's interest and keep them watching, your intro should be captivating enough to draw someone in, even if they don't hear a thing.

When Mark Rober provides context about what an egg drop is, he's not just sitting at a desk telling you about it, he's showing you examples.

Beast lists the events in his version of the Olympics, he shows clips of each 1.

Killer intros don't just tell you what's going on, they show it happening.

So as you plan your intro, go through your script and write down what visuals can be used to show what you're talking about.

These notes will become part of your shot list, helping you capture the right footage or create the right visuals to hook your viewers from the very beginning.

And when it comes time to edit together the different shots and visuals you've created for your intro, pacing is crucial.

Because when you're watching a YouTube video, once you enter full screen mode, you're pretty much in.

The decision to watch the video has been made.

But in the 20 seconds before you click that button, you're subject to a lot of distractions.

So to keep their viewers locked in, the most successful YouTubers front load their stimulus by increasing the pace of their clips, visuals, and camera angles during the very beginning of their video.

Mark Rober changes visuals every 1.6 seconds.

How do you know if your intro is the proper pacing?

Watch your intro again and again and again.

Get your seven-year-old cousin to watch it.

If you don't have a seven-year-old cousin, borrow 1.

If you or the seven-year-old you stole look away, get distracted by a loud noise, or look at your phone, you can expect everyone else to as well.

Go back to those sections and make changes or cut them out completely.

I know this may seem like a lot of work to put in for a 20 second segment in a video and it may feel hard.

So If there's anything you should take away for how to make a killer youtube intro to blow up your channel, it's make your title and thumbnail first.

Use the first 5 seconds to match the expectations set by your TNT.

Use the rest of the intro to create curiosity gaps, provide context, and leverage input bias and frontload the stimulus while you show don't tell.

If it's helpful, you can even download this visual as a reference for every intro you make.

I'll put a link to download it for free below.

Take your time to get these things right and you will see better results.

And in the meantime, learn to love the process.

There are going to be videos that we pour our hearts and souls into that just never take off.

And there are going to be videos that we just throw out there that for some reason get picked up by the algorithm.

It's enough to drive you crazy, but if you're crazy enough to stick with it, you don't have to wait for some future arbitrary subscriber count.

If you like this video and you want more YouTube breakdowns like these, hit that subscribe button and smash that thumbs up.

Otherwise, thank you so much for watching and I will see


Speaker 0: This is how to make a killer YouTube intro to blow up your channel. Watch closely because many creators got their big break from a single video going viral. And while your next video could be the 1 that blows up your channel, all of its potential could be wasted on the first 20 seconds. But what makes a good YouTube intro? What do these successful creators know that we don't?

The best YouTube intros follow 4 simple steps, and this video will walk you through them all. The first step is the 1 that is by far the most important, and yet also the most overlooked. You could have the funniest, most beautiful, most perfect video in the world, but if no 1 clicks on it in the first place, no 1 will ever see it. Which is why step 1 of making a killer YouTube intro is to nail your title and thumbnail. Most of us come up with a video idea, script the video, film the video, edit the video, upload the video, think, oh yeah, I need a title and thumbnail, and then slap something together and hit publish.

This is a self-centered way to approach YouTube. You are thinking like you, not like your audience. Your audience doesn't see your funny, beautiful, perfect video. All your audience sees is a title and thumbnail. And if they're not interested in the TNT, no matter how good your video is, they won't watch it, your video won't blow up, and your channel won't blow up.

Oof. Instead, to make a truly killer YouTube intro, take the time to craft a compelling, intriguing TNT first. Because your video's intro has 1 purpose and 1 purpose only. To meet and exceed the expectations set by your title and thumbnail. And recently, Mr.

Beast confirmed the exact same thing with CoffeeZilla.

Speaker 1: Essentially, your title and thumbnail set expectations. And at the very beginning of the video, to minimize drop-off, you want to assure them that those expectations are being met.

Speaker 0: You can't meet the expectations set by your title and thumbnail if you don't have a title and thumbnail in the first place. Finalizing your TNT may take days or even weeks, but it's worth taking the time to get it right. Because like MrBeast is fond of saying,

Speaker 1: people don't click, they don't watch.

Speaker 0: After you're 90% confident you have a TNT people will click on, you're ready to move on to the most crucial part of your entire video, the first 5 seconds. This is the part of your video that sees the biggest drop off. But if you can improve the retention in these first 5 seconds, you will by default improve the retention of the entire video. To do this, the most successful youtubers apply a two-step formula to the first 5 seconds of each of their videos. First, their first sentence matches their title.

And second, their first shot matches their thumbnail. Let's take a look at an example. Check out the title and thumbnail for this video from Mark Rober. In the thumbnail, there's an egg held above Earth on this black rod. The primary colors are blue, white, and black.

The title of the video is Egg Drop from Space. Now let's take a look at the first 5 seconds of the video.

Speaker 2: This is space and this

Speaker 3: is an egg moments before I attempted the world's highest egg drop.

Speaker 0: Did you catch it? The very first shot practically matches the thumbnail. There's an egg held above Earth on a black rod and the primary colors are blue, white, and black. In Mark's first sentence,

Speaker 2: this is space and this is

Speaker 3: an egg, moments before I attempted the world's highest egg drop.

Speaker 0: Very closely matches his title. Mark Rober isn't the only YouTuber to utilize this formula. Top YouTubers like MrBeast, MrWhosetheboss, and Michelle Khare all do the same thing. To meet the expectations set by your title and thumbnail, your first 5 seconds don't have to match your TNT word for word and pixel for pixel, but it should be close enough to assure your viewers that your TNT wasn't clickbait and that they will receive what they clicked for. Speaking of clicking things, now would be a good time to...well, you know the rest.

After you have your first 5 seconds planned out, you can move on to the rest of your intro. And this is where it gets interesting. Intro length is something that varies between youtubers. MrBeast keeps his intros at 25 seconds or less, Mark Rober has intros up to 45 seconds long, and MrWho'sTheBoss likes to keep his intros under 10 seconds. But regardless of intro length, the best creators in the world follow the same structures in each of their intros.

After meeting the expectations set by the title and thumbnail in the first 5 seconds, they use the rest of their intro to create 1 or more curiosity gaps, provide the relevant context and setup, and leverage input bias. To see each of these components in action, let's take a look at Mark Rober's egg drop intro. After matching his title and thumbnail, Mark creates his first curiosity gap.

Speaker 2: This is space, and this

Speaker 3: is an egg, moments before I attempted the world's highest egg drop.

Speaker 0: By mentioning that this shot was taken moments before he attempted the world's highest egg drop, Mark opens a loop. Will he achieve the world record or will he fail? As humans, our brains are wired to crave closure. When open loops like, will he get the world record are introduced, our brains go, wow, I could really use some closure right now. And it prompts us to stick around and get answers.

An unclosed loop doesn't have to be a big mystery. It can be as simple as promising a three-step formula because we'll want to know what the 3 steps are or blurring something out because we'll want to see what's behind the blur. Either way, to grip your viewers' attention and incentivize them to keep watching, create curiosity gaps. So we're 5 seconds in, and Mark has already matched the expectations set from the title and thumbnail, and created a curiosity gap. He's off to a phenomenal start.

Now it's time to provide context.

Speaker 3: Now in an egg drop competition, in case you never had the chance to do it yourself in school, the goal is to build a contraption that can protect a raw egg from breaking when dropped

Speaker 2: from the tallest height possible.

Speaker 3: So my original plan was to drop an egg in a contraption I built from the world's tallest building. But humans are always building taller buildings. So if I really wanted to future proof this record, I realized I would need to

Speaker 2: go all the way to the top and straight to outer space.

Speaker 0: At this point, we've met the expectations set by the title and thumbnail, we've created a curiosity gap, and we've provided context into what an egg drop is in the first place and why in the world he's doing 1 from space. This alone could be the basis of a good YouTube intro. But the best YouTube intros don't just meet the expectations set by the title and thumbnail, they exceed those expectations. And To do that, they leverage something called input bias, which is the idea that the more effort we put into something, whether that be time or energy or cost, the more we'll value it. As an example of input bias, if we pay $50 for a bottle of wine, we'll value that more than if we paid $20 for that same bottle of wine.

Watch how Mark leverages input bias in the rest of his intro here.

Speaker 3: And when I started on this journey 3 years ago, I knew if I could draw my experience of landing stuff on other planets, I would be guaranteed the record. But what I didn't know is this would be the most physically, financially, and mentally draining video I would ever attempt.

Speaker 0: This is how Mark not only meets the expectation that he'll drop an egg from space, but exceeds that expectation by showing just how much work was put into his video. He specifically mentions that the journey took 3 years and that it was the most physically, financially, and mentally draining video he would ever attempt. As a result, you as a viewer value the video more and thus are more likely to continue watching. And if you're a smaller YouTuber who's not yet making the big bucks, don't worry, you don't need to go to space in order to trigger input bias. All you need to do is show how much effort you put into your video.

Maybe it's by the high level of editing. Maybe it's by mentioning that you spent 7 days straight researching for the video, or you did something few others would be willing to do. Whatever it is, make sure you get it across early. The sooner you show the effort you put into your video, the sooner people will value your video, and thus the more likely they are to stick around and not click away. So you're meeting the expectations set by your title and thumbnail, and you're creating curiosity gaps, providing context, and leveraging input bias.

The ingredients for your killer YouTube intro to blow up your channel are all there, but it's how you put them together that takes an intro from just okay to truly killer. When it comes to the final construction of your intro, the biggest thing to keep in mind is to not just tell your viewers what's going on, but show what's happening. But the adoption of YouTube's autoplay feature is not uncommon for someone to view a video's intro without sound. So to pique a viewer's interest and keep them watching, your intro should be captivating enough to draw someone in, even if they don't hear a thing. When Mark Rober provides context about what an egg drop is, he's not just sitting at a desk telling you about it, he's showing you examples.

And when Mr. Beast lists the events in his version of the Olympics, he shows clips of each 1. Killer intros don't just tell you what's going on, they show it happening. So as you plan your intro, go through your script and write down what visuals can be used to show what you're talking about. These notes will become part of your shot list, helping you capture the right footage or create the right visuals to hook your viewers from the very beginning.

And when it comes time to edit together the different shots and visuals you've created for your intro, pacing is crucial. Because when you're watching a YouTube video, once you enter full screen mode, you're pretty much in. The decision to watch the video has been made. But in the 20 seconds before you click that button, you're subject to a lot of distractions. So to keep their viewers locked in, the most successful YouTubers front load their stimulus by increasing the pace of their clips, visuals, and camera angles during the very beginning of their video.

In his intros, Mr. Beast changes visuals every 1.4 seconds. Mark Rober changes visuals every 1.6 seconds. How do you know if your intro is the proper pacing? Watch your intro again and again and again.

Watch your intro in a noisy environment. Watch your intro with no sound. Get your seven-year-old cousin to watch it. If you don't have a seven-year-old cousin, borrow 1. If you or the seven-year-old you stole look away, get distracted by a loud noise, or look at your phone, you can expect everyone else to as well.

Go back to those sections and make changes or cut them out completely. I know this may seem like a lot of work to put in for a 20 second segment in a video and it may feel hard. So If there's anything you should take away for how to make a killer youtube intro to blow up your channel, it's make your title and thumbnail first. Use the first 5 seconds to match the expectations set by your TNT. Use the rest of the intro to create curiosity gaps, provide context, and leverage input bias and frontload the stimulus while you show don't tell.

If it's helpful, you can even download this visual as a reference for every intro you make. I'll put a link to download it for free below. Take your time to get these things right and you will see better results. And in the meantime, learn to love the process. This whole YouTube thing is hard.

There are going to be videos that we pour our hearts and souls into that just never take off. And there are going to be videos that we just throw out there that for some reason get picked up by the algorithm. It's enough to drive you crazy, but if you're crazy enough to stick with it, you don't have to wait for some future arbitrary subscriber count. You're already a success right now. The subscriber count, it'll come later.

It's just a matter of time. If you like this video and you want more YouTube breakdowns like these, hit that subscribe button and smash that thumbs up. Otherwise, thank you so much for watching and I will see

Speaker 2: you

See all Aprilynne Alter transcripts on Youtube

how to make a killer youtube intro (for the 2023 algorithm)