Lori Harder breaks down why viral TED talks use straightforward, promise-driven titles like "The Art of" or "Five Ways to." Skip cute or vague titles. Your title is the gift wrapping that decides if people click.
People spend too much time trying to be cute with their titles. If you look at the top 100 performing TED talks, they all start like the Art of the Skill of Five Ways to the Secret to the Reason why. They're all very straightforward things that people are like, this is what I'm going to get. I'm going to get the answer to this. I've watched a lot of really good talks. Yeah. That aren't viral. Like, man, this is a great talk. But people just aren't watching it. About the title, it's because the title is not. It's like a present. If you go to a party and, like, one of the wrapping papers looks really gross, like snot on it. But if you see some pretty gifts, you're going to open it. That's the title. It's the present. Are we going to open it or not?
