How To: Write A YouTube Script That Sells (The Ultimate Guide)

If you're using YouTube as a business owner to help you build your visibility, grow your email list, generate more sales to your digital products, or book more clients, you must follow this YouTube script that I'm about to share with you if you want to ensure you're not wasting time or money on the videos you create. Now, in this recent series on my YouTube channel, I've been sharing with you exactly as a business owner, how to be strategic here on YouTube. Everything from how to get started on YouTube, how not to fail on YouTube, how to research keywords, how to plan videos. But we've now gotten to the part that you need to understand how to script your videos to get the best results on YouTube. Because if you're putting your time into these YouTube videos, they need to be evergreen. You can have videos working for you for months and years to come. And this is something very specific and special with YouTube that doesn't happen on Instagram or on Twitter or on TikTok because a lot of that content is gone with, I'll give it a week. But you can have YouTube videos for years if done right. Being a 247 sales team for your business, I will make a little disclaimer here before we dive into how to write this script. There is some planning that needs to be done before you can even dive into this script. And so I did an entire video on that last week. I will link it up here. You've got to do this planning process to ensure the script is set up for success. So, so once you've done that planning process, it's now time for you to write the script. And it's generally broken down into three main parts. The first, and maybe one of the most important parts is the hook. You've got on average about three to five seconds to grab people's attention. YouTube's goal is to keep people on the platform. And so if your video isn't keeping their attention, that is why YouTube has a whole bunch of other videos beside yours that is suggested content. This is why we need to plan our video and advance to know what we are promising in that title and thumbnail. So when they click on the video and they're introduced to the hook, they want to keep watching and they're not like, not for me. What are the other videos? YouTube has a lot of distractions on that platform just to keep people on YouTube. And so you've got to do a really good job of hooking them instantly so they aren't leaving your video in the beginning. Also, YouTube will reward you with better audience retention. So if you do a good job of getting people to click and getting people to watch your video, you, YouTube will push your content to more people and the hook will be the biggest drop that you will probably see in your audience retention graph. So you want to take a little bit of time here. And the hook is generally the one thing in my video that I will script word for word. You'll see here in a minute how I will do my content on my video. But the hook is so important that I will script it word for word and make sure I say exactly like that when I record my videos. One way you can do a little bit of research and how to make your hooks better is if you go into your audience retention graphs and your. Your analytics, you can see the videos that kept people watching the most in the beginning. Now what I like to do is go into this analytic and I like to see, okay, of the five videos that had the best intro, what was I saying? How did I approach it? What was the first word that I said? And how can I replicate that for the video that I'm scripting right now? For example, this one hits on a common theme here in the online business space, and it goes against what people typically say about passive income. So my viewer who clicks on it is leaning in like, wait a minute, everybody else says this. Why are you saying that? I gotta hear this one shows how I'm making a connection with my viewer immediately. I'm calling out their specific profession and saying why it isn't easy. I'm sharing my transparency, letting them know I know it's not easy. And then this one creates a little bit of controversy. I'm telling you that if you watch the advice you get here on YouTube about YouTube, it's probably not the advice you should be taking. So really think through how, how can you open your video to make them want to lean in and continue listening? You also need to make sure you're delivering on that title and thumbnail. That's why you've got to do the planning process first and come up with the title idea and the thumbnail idea to ensure there's that through line and they aren't confused as to why you're opening your video with something totally different than the title and the thumbnail. You don't want them to feel like they were clickbaited. I feel like in this particular video, I've done a decent job of calling you out who you are as a business owner and mentioning what I think is your goal here. On YouTube and also letting you know what you're going to get if you watch to the end. So hopefully you are still leaned in and intrigued. Now, there's one thing I want to share before I move on to the transition into the content, and it's the biggest mistake that I see. With hooks, you do not want to be opening your hook, introducing yourself or with some kind of branded intro with music and your logo. This is not going to keep your viewers interested and they are going to immediately go on over to the suggested videos. This is all basically seen as a barrier to your content and they aren't going to hang around and wait. So you really got to open that video very strongly in the first three to five seconds, letting them know you understand what they're here for and keeping them intrigued. So the transition from the hook to the content, this could be where you introduce yourself, but you're not going to take a long time to introduce yourself. You should introduce yourself in about five seconds, maybe eight seconds max. And I test this periodically here on my channel. You'll notice that I didn't say it on this video, but the past couple of videos that I did. But generally when I introduce myself, I'll say something like, hey, welcome to my channel. If you're new here, my name is Trina and I help online business owners, like course creators and coaches, use YouTube to generate more revenue in their business. Quick to the point and moving on. Again, you don't want to put more barriers to your content because they don't care who you are yet. They're just finding you for the first time. They came to your video because your title and your thumbnail intrigued them. Let them know you're going to help them solve a problem that they were searching for on YouTube and your hook sparked their curiosity, so they want to keep watching. And then you don't want to throw in a barrier that gets them to the content. So you've got to keep that really short. And the other thing I'm going to tell you here is, is please, at this point in time, don't say, like, subscribe and comment. You're not going to say this in any part of your video because this doesn't get any action takers. We're going to talk about how you're going to get action coming up, but you are not ever going to say, like, subscribe and comment in your video script. All right? Then you're going to move into the main content pieces. And the best way to do this is to break it down in Bite sized chunks. Whether it's going to be steps, tips, mistakes or a tutorial process, you want to when you're scripting it out or you're planning it, make sure it flows and you're building on itself. It needs to be understandable to your viewer. You can't be going all over the place. That's again why I ask you or I suggest that you plan this in advance so you can sit down when you're done scripting it and know exactly what you are going to say and how you are going to say it so that you aren't taking a lot of time to film this. I'm filming this on a Sunday and I'm actually recording my plan, my filming day today. And my goal is to get four videos done between 11 and 1 o'. Clock. Right now it's about 12:15 and I'm on the final video. And the reason why I'm able to get this done is because of the script that I created and I stay on the plan. Not only does this cut back on the amount of time it takes you to film, because I know you're busy as a business owner and who wants to spend hours shooting one video, but this gives you less content to then edit. Because if you have less raw footage, if it took you less time to film it, you have less to edit. So it's also going to save you time in the editing process if again, you create a clear plan that you know exactly what you're going to say, when you're going to say it, what stories you're going to tell, and you're not all over the place. One thing I will mention too, when you're delivering content, there are two things actually. First, you want to show examples if you're teaching them something. I've learned this throughout my eight years in creating content on YouTube and also creating course content that your viewer or whoever is watching your content is going to be more appreciative of you when you provide examples and they're able to consume or understand the process that you're teaching by seeing examples. So anytime you can incorporate examples into what you're teaching, make sure you're doing that. The other thing I wanted to point out here too when it comes to your content is provide value. I know it can get a little bit scary and think, well, what do I give on YouTube for free versus what do I give in my course? And if I give too much away on YouTube for free, will anybody buy my course? The thing is, where we're at right now, at the end of 2023, everything we teach is pretty much on YouTube, no matter if we teach it or not. So if we aren't going to teach our viewer how we do something, somebody else is, is as this online space and environment continues to grow and evolve, we have to think about what we are going to do to get our ideal viewer to watch us. And if you aren't providing value on YouTube and if you are gatekeeping content, then they aren't going to believe you're going to be the right person for them. They're going to feel like you don't have this value because they're not getting these big wins from you. They are going to want to work with you or buy your course if you can provide them a win for free. If you aren't providing them a win for free, what is going to cause them to want to work with you? Now, there are going to be different ways that you can differentiate your course and make that valuable for them to want to take that next step with you or as an online coach or whatever it is you're selling. But if you aren't giving real value, if you aren't helping them in your videos, and if you feel like you need to hold information back, you will be hurting yourself here on YouTube with your content. Because the people who are watching your content aren't going to trust you if you aren't providing them value. So I really encourage, encourage you to think, how can you provide really good value in every single video that you create? Just like in this video, right? I'm giving you each step of the way and how you can create a script so by the end of this video you can go write that script. So we talked about hooks, we talked about content. Here are a few more things that I want to talk about when it comes to content and it is calls to action. You do not want to give too many calls to action. Like I said earlier, you don't want to be saying like subscribe and comment because nobody is going to do that. You also want to make your calls to action feel relevant. As business owner, you're creating content on YouTube to get people to your offer, right? So you've got to still have calls to action in your videos. But when you give too many, people become overwhelmed and don't know which one they should actually do. So when I finish writing my content, I will go back through my script to add engagement pieces. This will be calls to action. This will be ways to get people to like my video and also to Comment on my video. So I highly recommend having one soft call to action throughout your video. You will see that if you watch any of my recent videos I have pitched or had a call to action to my workshop Profit per View, where I teach you my process for keyword researching and building out a content plan for YouTube based on data. And I tell people to go to treanalittle.com PPV to get their seat. Now, when I drop this particular call to action, it's authentic. It makes sense for where I put that in the content. Very much just like I did right now when I was telling you about a soft call to action, I gave you a soft call to action from there. You want to avoid really any more calls to action off the platform until you get to the end of your video in your outro, which we'll talk about here in a moment. I will also go through my content and figure out where can I add a call to action to like the video instead of just saying like the video, which why would they want to click it? You want to give them a reason to like their video. So for me to write in a call to action here, here in this particular video to get somebody to like it, I may say something like, if you want to find more ways to stop wasting time and money on YouTube, hit that like button. So I know you're feeling me in this video, right? Something that makes sense, something that makes them say, heck yes, that is me right now. And then when it comes to asking a question, give them a specific question to answer. Don't just say comment below. You want to say, if you have your next video scripted, let me know what your hook is down below and I will give you feedback, which you can actually do that right now if you want to. If you have or you're planning your next video and you want me to take a look at your script and give you pointers on how to improve it, put your hook down in the comments below and I will. Now that gives people more of a reason to actually comment because you still want to think about engagement on your videos by not just saying like subscribe and comment. You want to make those engagements, things that people want to actually do. That's what I like to do. After I've written my hook and I've written my content, I go back through and figure out where can I add a like call to action that makes sense and where can I add a comment call to action and where can I have a soft call to action off of the platform where it Makes sense. It doesn't sound so silly and it's more organic. Now, your outro or your conclusion of your video is very important. So listen up. You cannot signal that your video is over. As soon as you say in conclusion or in summary or that's it, they are gone. As in your viewer is gone. They're going to that next video, that next suggested video. Those signals tell people to leave. And you're not able to get that hard call to action in before they leave. Remember we talked about that soft call to action? The end of the video will have a hard call to action. So when you are writing your YouTube script and you're getting to the very last piece of your content, you're not going to say, that's it in conclusion, in summary. Instead, you're going to anticipate what is the next video that they are going to watch. Again, you're thinking about this series unless you're at the end of your series. And that hard call to action is to sign up to work with you, get on a call with you by your course, because this is a framework that I teach inside of my coaching program, the fireworks strategy with this series of videos. But most of the time, your end of your videos, your call to action at your end of your videos is going to get your viewer to another video. Because the more they'll binge watch your content, the happier you make YouTube, the more you warm up your lead. So as I finish this script video, I want to think about, what questions would you have as a viewer next that I could drop the right video in here that you would think, how did she know that's the next video I needed? How is she in my head? Yes, that's the next video that I want to watch. So when you're scripting your videos, you need to anticipate at this call to action at the end of the video, what video makes sense for your viewer to watch next. I talked about giving examples, so I have an example to show you. This is my planning video series. And you can see how it makes sense for the viewer to watch the next video. And the next video. I start with how I plan my month, and then I break it down to how I plan my week. And then I break it down in how I plan my day. So somebody watches the month and they see this big overall plan, but then they're like, but how do you know what you're working on each week? And so then I share in the next video how I plan my week, and then they're like, well, how do you know what to focus on each day? And then I share my day, right? So it makes sense to go to the next video and it helps them create this viewer journey for them that's easy to follow. I also have a great example on a digital product playlist as well. You can see this one right here. It starts with why do you need a digital product in your business? Then the next one follows up because I convinced them they need one. Then the next one after that is some ideas, some quick digital product ideas. Because in the first video I told them they needed one. And so now I'm going to tell them here are some that they can create. And then the follow up one is going to be mistakes that most people make because if they're going to create a digital product, they want to avoid the mistakes, right? So they know what they want to create, they know the mistakes. What tools do they need? So that is the next video in the series. And then finally this video all leads up into building that funnel to sell your digital product. So you can see how the series walks through each step. And in that final series I talk about the software that I use, Funnel Gorgeous and I show how I create my digital product funnel inside of Funnel Gorgeous and I tell them how they can try Funnel Gorgeous for themselves. Because I am an affiliate and it is a strong call to action to sign up to Funnel Gorgeous so I can make some revenue as an affiliate for that software. That is my final last video. Big call to action why they need to try out Funnel Gorgeous, what they'll get when they sign up, what's the experience they're going to have and to where to go to get it. And thanks to this series of videos, that final video about Funnel Gorgeous and my affiliate link makes me money every single day in my business and has now provided me an additional revenue stream because of the affiliate money that I'm making from that series of videos. Now I will review my video one more time and see where can I add some B roll into this script to show what I'm doing. And instead of always just telling and talking head, right, Examples, where can I add examples? I also look where can I add a story that makes sense? So you heard me share the examples of my digital product playlist and I probably didn't do as good as a job as stories and maybe should have added another one in here. But again the more stories you can add in for that viewer to relate, the more they're going to watch your content connect with you. And I would also look at. Are there other videos that you could recommend throughout this video that you are scripting? You heard me mention that I had a video where I show you how I plan this video and where to go watch it, right? So I'm linking all these different opportunities for you to watch more content from me as well. Now, as I mentioned a few times, there is some additional planning that you need to do before you actually script your content. So if you want to see the entire process that I go through to to plan each video before I script it, click the video that is on your screen right now. And if you want my exact script template, check the link in the description box or go to trinalittle. Com script to get it right now for just $7. See you in the next video.