The Importance of Titles
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.
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.
12 Comments
StingrayBest word to guarantee Top 1 status:
SEX
shuacYes, I agree that titties are important.
ThrobbinDon't forget about good tags too. Make them a combination of simple (for description) and flamboyant (to attract attention).
rasch187Lowest common denominator meeting sensationalism equals success.
We've come a long way as a species.
gwiz665Never be a purist, always go for the cheap laugh, be a tabloid. That's the way to get lots and lots of votes... it just feels wrong.
mintbbbI don't know about others, when it comes to the Colbert Video - Pussy patrol. But I check out Beggar's Canyon daily. I saw a Colbert Video, so I voted for it. (OK, so had it been Colbert's Cock patrol, I might have promoted it). But I personally do not get excited about pussies, in the titles or others.
And I don't know how many votes it has before you changed the name and begged, it now has 9. I wouldn't call that 'taking off' because of the 'pussy'
Anyway, just wanted to mention that 'pussy' did not make me vote for the video! 'Boobs' might tempt me more though..
A good title does help.
garmachi>> ^mintbbb:
And I don't know how many votes it has before you changed the name and begged, it now has 9. I wouldn't call that 'taking off' because of the 'pussy'
It had been at 4 votes for a few months and after two rounds in the canyon. The number of votes more than doubled since changing the title. "Taking off" is relative in this example. Thanks for the click, Mint!
residueThose aren't really sensationalist titles. example: "Will Ferrell - Anti Dog Lawyer" isn't sensationalist at all, in fact, it's arguably a better title than the original because "Wayne Blasingame - Attorney at Law" won't make sense to anyone who hasn't seen it already. There's nothing wrong with advertising through titles by giving a better indication of what's in the video.
rebuilderI have to say, I'm opposed to this. Not that your examples were in any way egregious, but I'm opposed to the idea of using sensationalism to promote ones own sifts. I don't submit videos to get another sift under my belt. I submit videos because I think they deserve to be seen. You know, "quality control". It's also why I don't thank people for promotes, or expect to be thanked for anything I might do to get a video sifted. It's about the content, not the status, and resorting to unsavoury tactics just to get a video sifted can only result in Videosift as a whole becoming less and less of a site I care to visit in the first place.
There's been many a video I've seen elsewhere that I've thought would have been sifted for sure, but I haven't submitted them because I didn't think there was any real substance to them. Getting sifts isn't important, making sure the signal to noise ratio here stays as high as possible is.
Now, feel free to rummage through my pqueue and point out the numerous asinine videos I've submitted.
UsesProzac*quality talk about titles!
siftbotAwarding garmachi with one star point for this contribution to VideoSift - declared quality by UsesProzac.
Boise_LibA titillating post.
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