I should have thought of this before, and it is probably painfully obvious to you veteran sifters: The number of votes a video receives is directly affected by the title of the post.

For a long time, I've been posting videos and labeling them simply. I tend to prefer to let the content speak for itself. However, I've been finding that about 50% of my videos wind up pqueued. Lately, however, I've employed a time tested, well established marketing technique, and have gone with more sensationalist titles. Here are some examples:

Colbert & Kevin Kline - This was the original title I posted under. It's a brilliant interview. The two of them instantly clicked and had some very impressive improv. I loved watching this and had to share. Alas, it sat for days and was pqueued with a measly 4 upvotes. This was my first experiment. I changed the title to describe what actually happens in the interview, tossed it into Beggar's Canyon and it quickly gained votes.

The Dog Lawyer - this was a sketch I saw on SNL a year ago. The sketch was titled "Wayne Blasingame - Attorney at Law". Being a purist, I kept the original title and attempted to sift it. Here's an extreme example of how important a title can be. With that boring title, the video festered in my personal queue for over a year. It had over 1800 views and had seen Beggar's Canyon three times. I changed the title to "Will Ferrell - Anti Dog Lawyer" about an hour ago and it's already on the front page.

Here's my favorite experiment: It's a brilliant piece by Stephen Colbert regarding Canada's history, and a bit on waterboarding. Again, with a title describing these topics, we had a sluggish vote count. But...! At one point in the bit, he uses the phrase "Pussy Patrol". Once I included the phrase "Pussy Patrol" in the title, it took off.

What have we learned? Well young aspiring sifters, if you're stuck at probe, or even bronze, fear not. You too can ascend through the ranks very quickly by including an exclamation point or two in your title. Use bold adjectives - don't say "scary" when you can say "hair raising". Don't be afraid to use the word "incredible" in your title. And last but not least, remember this above all. Videosift is not youtube. It is a mature community of intelligent discriminating connoisseurs of streaming video content, many of whom enjoy videos featuring cats, so be sure to include the word "pussy" whenever possible.