Starting your YouTube videos can be a bit tricky. Closing them can be too! If you’re not sure what you should say, read this article to find out!

Here you’ll learn about hooking your viewers, branded intros, how to keep them watching till the very end, and how to utilize your end cards to your best advantage.

Let’s start out with what to say at the beginning of your videos.

How do I hook my viewers?

The first few moments of your YouTube video will determine whether or not a viewer will stick around. That’s why it’s important to hook them in immediately. Let them know what value they will get out of watching your video.

People click on a video because of its title and thumbnail. If the beginning of your video doesn’t show that you will deliver what you promised in your title and thumbnail, then they will go find a different video to watch, or skip ahead to find what they were looking for.

A good way to make sure they keep watching is to promise that something exciting will come up later in the video.

Some people hook their viewers by showing a short clip of something interesting that happens later in the video that correlates to the title and thumbnail. This gets them excited for what is coming up and lets them know that what they expected from the title and thumbnail is actually going to happen in the video.

As an example, say you want to make a video called “How to make a birthday cake.” In the beginning of your video you could say, “Hey guys! In this video I’ll show you how to make a birthday cake from scratch. Watch till the end to see how to decorate it!”

You could also start out the video with a short montage of the finished product.

Should I use a branded intro?

Branded intros are a very good idea! As long as you do it right, that is.

#1 Keep it Short

As I mentioned earlier, the first few moments of a video determine whether the person watching will stick around or not. The thing your should never do is have a loooong intro to your videos. Tim Schmoyer from Video Creators recommends that your intro be 3-5 seconds long. That’s pretty short!

My Dad used to use an intro that he created for his English channel, Martin Johnson – Off Grid Living, that was a montage of clips from previous videos. At the end it cut to a picture of his logo and slogan, Keep Smiling! It was really cool, but the problem was that it was nearly thirty seconds long! Although fun for us to watch, it wasn’t the most effective and ideal branded intro.

Later he changed it to a quick clip at the beginning (the hook) and an extremely short branded intro, it’s only about one second long!

I recently made my own branded intro. It’s simply a 3 second-long clip of the words “Gembira Squad” (my channel’s brand and what I call my subscribers) with arrows that change color to some music. Gembira means “happy” or “joyful” in Indonesian. That, and the aesthetic of the clip, communicate to new viewers what kind of channel they have stumbled upon.

#2 Don’t make it all about you

Branded intros should be about helping your viewers know more about your channel. As Tim Schmoyer said in his video about branded intros, it shouldn’t be about bouncing your logo around. That’s not the point, the point is about helping them. Your branded intro should communicate something valuable to your viewers. It should let them know what your channel is about and what they will get out of it. Using my Dad’s channel as an example again, his intro says Keep Smiling! That lets the viewer know that his channel creates positive content that will make them smile.

Good branded intros will help you look more professional, help new viewers know who you are, and be something old viewers come to expect and enjoy.

Now let’s look at what to say at the end of your videos.

How can I keep them watching?

What often happens is you start to say something like, “Alright guys, I hope you liked that video…” and people think that your video is basically over and that they aren’t going to get anything else out of watching it. If you do have something valuable that you want them to hear, this could be a problem.

The best thing to do is not indicate that your video is about to end. If you keep them watching till the end, YouTube will see that the audience retention for that video was really good, and will promote it more.

You should keep your outros short and to the point. Don’t draw it out, otherwise they will get bored. Thank them for watching and make a call to action.

How do I do a Call to Action?

A “call to action” (CTA) is where you ask your viewers to do something. That could be subscribing, liking and sharing your video, writing a comment, buying merch, entering a giveaway, etc. You can do a call to action sometime in the middle of the video as well as at the end.

Call to actions are important because unless a viewer really liked your video, they probably won’t share it. But once you have earned their trust and they know that you would really appreciate them doing so, they might just do what you ask.

A mistake some YouTubers make is to say something like, “Thanks for watching! Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe if you haven’t already!” The problem with that is they are asking too much of their audience. The result is that they end up confused, overwhelmed, and don’t end up doing any of the things that were asked.

It’s also best to not make the call to actions all about you. The viewers need to get something out of it too. You can still ask them to go watch a video or subscribe, but give them a good reason to do so. An example would be to say something like, “Subscribe to see more family-friendly content every Monday and Friday!” That lets them know that doing so will be beneficial to them.

Do I need a Sign off?

Sign offs can be really cool, and a great way to build community and a “relationship” with your viewers. So if you have one that you think would be cool, go ahead and use it! It’s not totally necessary though. At the end of my videos I wrap it up and say, “Jangan lupa untuk tetap gembira. Da!” which means “Don’t forget to stay happy/joyful. Bye!” It’s a ritual, but not a fancy one, and I have almost 500,000 subscribers.

My dad’s sign off is, “If you’d like to see more of what’s going on on our homestead, you can click that video right over there. I hope you have a great day and keep smiling, and I’ll see you over there in just a second.” Roman Atwood has a great sign off. He says, “You’re beautiful, one of a kind, smile more.” And then he does a little hand motion while clicking his tongue. My family has come to expect it so much that we sometimes do it with him!

What About my End Screen?

You know, by writing these articles I have learned a lot through the research I do. One thing I learned was that I wasn’t utilizing end screens in the most effective way.

End screens are a great tool that YouTube added in 2016. They allow you to insert clickable items during the last 20 seconds of your videos, such as a recommended video, or your channel icon that allows them to subscribe.

What I had been doing before was tacking an end screen on to the end of my video. It turns out that I wasn’t using end screens to their full potential. When people see that you’re wrapping up your video they will leave before they even get the chance to see your end screen. What we need to do is keep delivering value till the end of your video so they will keep watching. You can edit your video to play on top of your end screen so that your viewers will see what options they have to click on. You can even directly ask them in the video to click on one of them as a call to action.

There you go! Now you know what to say and include at the beginning and end of your YouTube videos! I hope this article has been useful and will help you make your YouTube videos even better! Do you have any questions, comments, or tips of your own to share? Write them down in the comments below! Thanks for reading!