how to make a killer youtube intro (for the 2024 algorithm)

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 one 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 four simple steps in this video we'll walk you through them all the first step is the one 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 one clicks on it in the first place no one will ever see it which is why step one 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're thinking like you not like your audience your audience doesn't see your funny a beautiful perfect video all your audiencies 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 one purpose and one 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 essentially your title and thumbnails 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 exploitation 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 Mr Beast is fond of saying people don't click they don't watch 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 five seconds this is the part of your video that sees the biggest drop off but if you can improve attention in these first five seconds you will by default improve the retention of the entire video to do this the most successful YouTubers apply a two-step formula into the first five 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 five seconds of the video this is face and this is an egg moments before I attempted the world's highest egg drop 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 and Mark's first sentence this is space and this is an egg moments before I attempted the world's highest egg drop very closely matches this title Mark Rober isn't the only YouTuber to utilize this formula top YouTubers like Mr Beast Mr who's the boss and Michelle carray all do the same thing to meet the expectations set by your title and thumbnail your first five 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 five 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 Mr Beast keeps his intros at 25 seconds or less Mark Rober has intros up to 45 seconds long and Mr who's the boss 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 exploitation set by the title and thumbnail in the first five seconds they use the rest of their intro to create create one 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 this is space and this 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 or introduced our brains go wow I could really use some closure right now and it prom says 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 three steps are orb learn something out because you'll want to see what's behind the blur either way to grip your viewers attention and send identifies them to keep watching create curiosity gaps so we're five 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 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 from the tallest type possible 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 excitation 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 one 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 tunnel on thumbnail they exceed those expectations and to do that they leveraged 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 twenty dollars for that same

bottle of wine watch how Mark leverages input bias and the rest of his intro here and when I started on this journey three 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 attend 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 three 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 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 seven 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 it's going on but show it happening but the adoption of YouTube's auto play 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 him 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 one 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 your 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 her intro with no sound get your seven-year-old cousin to watch it if you don't have a seven-year-old cousin borrow one if you or these 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 20 seconds 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 five seconds to match the expectations set by your TNT use a rest of the intro to create curiosity gaps provide context and leverage input bias in front of 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 they're 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 you in the next video [Music]