how to start a youtube video intro, when the video is you talking to camera: decide what the first sentence is about before you press record, say the thing a stranger would stay for, then say what the video covers and hand off into it. most advice on page one is about animated intros, a logo sting and a template. that is the last two seconds. the part that decides whether anyone stays is the first sentence out of your mouth, and almost nobody plans it.
so the intro has three parts, and none of them is a greeting: the hook, what it covers, and the hand-off. you plan what each is about, never the exact words, because a sentence you wrote and read out sounds read. ten seconds is plenty. a branded sting, if you have one, comes after the hook, not before it.
underway, a video diary app for founders, now plans this with you. on just chat, a walk-through and watch me work, the three kinds of episode where nobody asks you a question, the setup has a screen called title and opening. you say in one line what the episode is about, and before you film it finds a title people search for and gives you prompts for how to open.
what page one gets wrong about how to start a youtube video intro
search the phrase and most of what comes back is intro makers: templates, logo reveals, five to ten seconds of animation with a music bed. those tools are good at what they do, and a consistent branded moment helps a channel look like a channel. but the advice treats the intro as a graphic, and for a solo creator talking to camera the intro is not a graphic. it is the first thing you say.
a viewer who clicked your video already read your title and saw your thumbnail. they arrive with one question: is this the video i wanted? a logo does not answer that. a greeting does not answer that. 'hey guys, welcome back to the channel' certainly does not answer that, and it costs the seconds in which most people decide whether to stay. the first sentence has to confirm the click and give them a reason for the next one.
the other thing page one misses is that a script is not the fix. people who are told to hook the viewer write a line, learn it, and deliver it like an advert. the energy drops the moment the scripted part ends and the real talking begins, and viewers can hear the join.
how to start a youtube video intro in three parts
- the hook: what to open on. the result, the number, the problem, the decision, the thing that broke. name the subject out loud in the first sentence, with no 'it' or 'this' leaning on context the viewer does not have yet.
- what it covers: one plain sentence so someone new knows what they will get. the steps, the before and after, the answer to the title.
- the hand-off: the line that moves you into the substance, the way you would say it to a friend. this is where the intro ends and the video starts.
plan each one as a prompt, not a line. 'open on how many signups the old page lost, and name the page' is a prompt. you will say it differently every time, and it will sound like you every time. 'what if i told you there's one thing everyone gets wrong about landing pages' is a line, and it will sound like someone else's video.
a real short from underway's own series, opening on a line said word for word. the first line is the intro.
youtube intro examples that work for a talking video
these are shapes, not scripts. each one names its subject in the first sentence and promises something the video then delivers.
- the result first: open on what happened, then say how you got there. good when the title promises an outcome.
- the problem first: open on the thing that broke or the question you could not answer, then say the video is you working it out.
- the decision: open on the choice you made and what it cost, then say the video is why.
- the contrast: open on what everyone tells you to do and what you did instead.
- the number: open on one figure that matters, said out loud with what it counts. one number, not a list of them.
- the question the viewer typed: open by repeating the search back to them in plain words, then answer it straight away.
two openings to avoid. the greeting, because it delays the reason to stay. and the tease that withholds the point ('you won't believe what happened'), because it reads as a trick and the viewer leaves as soon as they suspect one.
how long should a youtube intro be?
for someone talking to camera, the spoken intro is usually one to three sentences: long enough to confirm the click and say what is coming, short enough that the substance starts before the viewer wonders when it will. if you use an animated sting as well, keep it short and put it after the hook, so the first thing anyone sees is you saying something worth hearing.
the intro is also where you set a promise the rest of the video has to keep. if the hook says you will show the new page, show the new page. a strong opening that the video then wanders away from teaches viewers to stop trusting your openings.
plan the title before you film it
the title and the intro are one promise in two places. the title gets the click, the first sentence confirms it. so it helps to know the title before you film, and to know that real people search for it.
underway's title and opening screen does that. say in a line what the episode is about and press find a title and an opening. it reads your series, writes titles aimed at different searches, and checks each against youtube's own search suggestions. you get every title that passed as a card under pick a title, the best one lit and marked best, each marked searched when youtube completes its opening words. click another to use it, or change the words in the box under them.
while it works, a dark box shows each step as it happens. it takes about half a minute. use this as the episode's title is on to start: kept, it is the episode's name, and nothing renames it afterwards.
the setting most solo youtube intros are filmed in: a desk, a light, no one asking a question. an ai illustration, not a customer.
your opening, as prompts above the camera
the same screen gives you your opening: what to open on, what this episode covers, and a hand-off. they are prompts, never lines. underway refuses to write a quoted sentence for you to read out, and refuses anything written as you speaking. they sit above the camera while you record the first answer, and you say it your own way, or not at all.
watch me work carries the plan too. hours after the screen recording, when you record your take in front of the time-lapse, your opening sits above the screen so the first thing you say still names its subject.
why the intro matters more when nobody asks you anything
in an interview episode the first question does the work. it is written so a natural answer names its subject, and the episode opens on that answer. on just chat there is no question. you press record and start talking, and the first thing most people say is a pronoun, a greeting or 'so, yeah'. a viewer who has never heard of you hears that and leaves.
a frame from episode 2 of building underway, underway's own series: an answer to a question asked aloud, with no script.
that is the whole reason the planning only appears on the kinds with no questions. on the interview, the co-host and an episode with a guest, the first question or the host already opens the episode, so there is nothing to plan.
what happens to the intro after you film
on series, an episode opens with a build-up: your own intro, if the episode starts with you setting it up, or a moment of four to sixteen seconds copied from later in the episode, with music building under it, then your logo. when you planned an opening, the reader of the finished episode is told what you planned and looks for that intro first, so the build-up uses your own words far more often. if you did not open that way, it judges as it always did.
- it never puts words in your mouth. the prompts say what to talk about, never the sentence.
- it is never required. skip, just film goes on without a plan, exactly as before.
- it never moves anything. the episode is still what you said, in the order you said it.
if you would rather answer a question than script an opening: an ai that interviews you.
faqs
how do you start a youtube video intro without saying hi?
open on the subject. say the result, the problem or the decision in the first sentence, name it out loud, then say what the video covers. if you want to say who you are, do it after the viewer knows why they should stay.
should i write a script for my youtube intro?
write what the first sentence is about, not the sentence. a read line sounds read. that is why underway gives prompts and refuses to write quoted lines.
do i need an animated intro?
no. a short branded moment can help a channel feel consistent, but it goes after your first sentence, not before it. on underway's series plan the build-up and your logo do that job for you.
is the planned title checked against real searches?
yes. a title is marked searched when youtube's own search suggestions complete its opening words, and the best one is marked best. you can pick another or rewrite it.
is it on the phone?
yes, for just chat, with the same steps in the same order. walk-throughs and watch me work are set up on a computer.
the first video on a new channel: how to introduce yourself on your first youtube video.
the title that goes with the intro: how to title a youtube video.
Originally published at https://underway.life/how-to-start-a-youtube-video-intro
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