Free YouTube Monetization Course – Lesson 11
The thing that people who run a YouTube channel worry about the most is that their videos get either very few views or no views at all. There are many ways to increase the views of YouTube Shorts videos. What really matters is knowing the YouTube Shorts algorithm. In our previous lesson, “How does the YouTube Shorts video algorithm work?”, I gave detailed information. In this lesson, however, I will explain how to adapt YouTube Shorts videos not to the algorithm, but to the viewers, in other words, the ways to attract the attention of viewers.
Viewers now watch short videos more than long videos. Viewers watch an average of 3–5 videos within one minute. In each video, they experience a different feeling, a different emotion. A viewer experiences feelings such as fear, excitement, happiness, laughter, and sadness within one minute through the short videos they watch. Considering all of this, when a viewer moves from one video to another, you—content creators—decide which emotion they will experience.
The video you prepare should create an emotion in the viewer and should be able to keep that viewer in the video. To create that emotion in viewers and increase interest in the video, you should pay attention to the following.
- The first 3 seconds of the video
- The first sentence and the first gesture
- The cover image in the video
- The video’s image and sound quality
- The video title
- The music used
If you pay attention to these details I have listed, you can increase the views of your YouTube Shorts videos. Let’s examine these details and see why we need to pay attention to them.
The first 3 seconds of the video, the first sentence, and the first gesture
Unlike long videos, in YouTube Shorts videos, a word or a sentence you say in the first 3 seconds should attract the viewer’s attention. Greeting, giving information about the video, and doing similar time-wasting things within those 3 seconds bore the viewer and cause them to leave the video. Let’s assume you are a channel that shares travel videos and you post daily YouTube Shorts videos. You are recording a video about an incident that happened to you in India. In this case, the script of your video would be as follows.
Hello friends. I am currently in India. Today something interesting happened to me. While I was walking on the street in India, a monkey stole my necklace and ran away.
Instead of this script in the first 3 seconds, saying the text below can create curiosity in the viewer.
A monkey stole my necklace in India. Then you explain what happened to you afterward.
If you use speech in your videos, be sure to use attention-grabbing sentences like these to evaluate the first 3 seconds of your videos. You can achieve an increase in your YouTube Shorts video views in this way.
In addition to the first sentence, your first gesture, your first behavior should also attract the attention of the other side. As an example, pay attention to the video below.
The video explains a method a little girl uses to pull out her tooth. However, in the first 3 seconds of the video, we see the girl coming down from the second floor with a rope similar to a swing and then showing her loose tooth. As a viewer, we understand that the girl’s tooth is loose and that she will use an extraordinary method to pull that tooth out. Since this is an interesting step, we decide to watch the video. Because the first behavior in the video is interesting, the video created curiosity in viewers and has accumulated millions of views. In the same way, if you think about what your first behaviors will be and place that moment correctly in the video during editing, your videos will also receive millions of views.
The cover image in the video
This lesson was written in 2026. According to current YouTube rules, it is not possible to add a separate cover image to YouTube Shorts videos. However, if there are changes in YouTube rules in the future, cover images may also be added. According to the current rules, in YouTube Shorts videos, it is possible to select the cover image from a frame within the video. For this reason, while shooting the video or during the editing process, you should add a frame that you can use as a cover image. Many YouTube Shorts channels add a 0.01-second image to the beginning or end of the video while editing their videos. When sharing the video, they select the part where that image is located and determine the cover image of the video. Or, while shooting the video, they create a behavior or an image that can create curiosity and use that image as the cover image of the video. The following video cover images can be examples of this.
The video’s image and sound quality
Videos with high-quality footage have a higher chance of becoming popular on YouTube Shorts. Videos with high-quality footage are liked by viewers and are also recommended by the algorithm. For this reason, video quality plays a very big role. Along with image quality, sound quality should also be high. Low-quality sound frequencies create a feeling of discomfort in the viewer and as a result, the viewer leaves the video. To prevent such situations, I recommend that you also pay attention to the sound quality in your videos. There are various artificial intelligence tools for cleaning sound. It is even possible to clean the sound and make it higher quality in the CapCut editing program. By using these methods, you can increase sound quality.
Video title
Video titles also play a special role on YouTube Shorts channels. Sometimes you may see videos that do not have a properly written title but have reached millions of views. The reason for this is that the video has correctly used what I have explained up to this part of the lesson. In other words, the title may not be written correctly, but the video’s image and sound quality are high, the correct cover image is used, and the correct sentence, gesture, or behavior is used. The title, description text, hashtags, and tags are important to ensure that a video is understood more quickly by bots and that what the video is about is determined.
In addition, titles also play an important role in videos appearing in search results and being clicked by attracting attention while appearing on the YouTube homepage. In YouTube Shorts videos, just like standard YouTube videos, keyword research should be conducted and the title, description text, hashtags, and tags should be written accordingly. By reading the lesson titled “Keyword research for YouTube videos” in the SEO-related lessons of our free YouTube monetization course, you can conduct keyword research and make your videos SEO-friendly with these keywords.
The music used
Music is indispensable for YouTube Shorts videos. Many content creators receive copyright penalties because of the music they use in YouTube videos. However, there is an advantage in YouTube Shorts videos: instead of adding music to the video directly during editing, it is possible to add it through YouTube while sharing the video, and this provides a great advantage in avoiding copyright penalties. The music you will use in your YouTube Shorts videos should be compatible with your video. Using a piece of music just because it is trending is not a correct step. If there is a trending music that is suitable for your video, use it; otherwise, I strongly recommend that you use another music that is compatible with the video.
In this lesson, we covered the basic details you need to pay attention to in order to increase the views of your YouTube Shorts videos. Understanding the YouTube algorithm is the basis of preparing videos that will attract viewers’ attention. By paying attention to small but effective details such as the first 3-second introduction, title, sound, and image quality, you can significantly increase your views.
In our future posts, we will continue to share more useful tips and strategies to help you succeed on the YouTube Shorts platform. You can access new information about YouTube Shorts and other technological innovations from the blog and news section in the menu.
