Five days on what decides views: an evergreen topic, a thumbnail and title worth the click, an opening that keeps people watching and the links that lead to the next video.
Published
The course at a glance
5 days
Programme. One lesson and one task per day.
About 70 minutes of reading
Time. Plus 20-40 minutes of practice a day.
Beginner level
Level. For channels whose videos get few views.
Free and online
Format. No login, no email.
Updated October 2026
Updated. Uses the current YouTube Studio reports.
Why your videos are not getting views
You spend a weekend on a video and it gets a few dozen views. The easy conclusion is that the editing is not good enough.
Usually the problem comes earlier or later than the edit: a topic that few people look for, a thumbnail that disappears in the feed, a title without the words viewers type, an opening that loses people in the first seconds, or a video that leads nowhere. Five days, five fixes.
What you will learn
Pick evergreen topics
Find questions people keep searching for.
Design thumbnails that get the click
Four checks, plus testing versions in Studio.
Write titles for search and curiosity
Keyword first, reason to click second.
Hold attention
A tight opening, open loops and the retention graph.
Earn suggested views
Connect videos with end screens, cards and playlists.
What you leave with
Ten evergreen questions for your niche, two thumbnail versions and a chosen title for your next video, a note on the biggest drop in your last retention graph, three connected videos and a testing tracker with your baseline.
Who this course is for
New channels
Your videos are live but views stay low.
Tutorial and how-to creators
You want videos that people find through search for months.
Creators and entrepreneurs
You use YouTube to bring people to your work.
Who it is not for
If you are still choosing a niche or setting up the channel, begin with the YouTube growth course. If you already get views and want them to turn into an audience, the YouTube subscribers course is the next step.
What you need to start
0 of 3 done
How much time it takes
12-15 minutes of reading per day and 20-40 minutes for the task. Days 2 and 3 are best done right before your next upload.
What to expect and when
Your next upload
Better packaging shows first in impressions click-through rate.
Weeks 2-6
Evergreen videos start collecting search views; retention fixes show in average view duration.
Months 2-3
Connected videos start appearing next to each other in suggested.
Roadmap: from topic to suggested
Topic
Evergreen questions (Day 1).
Click
Thumbnail and title (Days 2-3).
Watch
Hook and retention (Day 4).
Next view
Suggested and testing (Day 5).
Four frameworks. The rest is reps.
The evergreen blueprint
One lasting question, one clear answer, one next video.
Four thumbnail checks
Small size, one focus, contrast, curiosity.
Keyword + reason
The two parts of a title that gets found and clicked.
Open loops
Promise something later so viewers stay.
5 days to more YouTube views
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Most small channels chase trends and then watch views fall to zero a week later. Evergreen videos work the other way: they answer a question people keep asking, so they keep getting views for months or years.
What makes a topic evergreen. People search for it every month, the answer does not expire quickly, and the viewer has a clear problem: "how to tie a tie", "beginner home workout without equipment", "how to clean a cast iron pan".
How to find evergreen topics in your niche.
Type the main words of your niche into YouTube search and note the autocomplete suggestions.
Add "how to", "beginner", "best", "vs" and "mistakes" to those words and note the new suggestions.
Open the top results and check their age. Old videos that still rank mean steady demand.
Choose your angle. You do not need a new topic; you need a clearer, more current or more specific answer. "How to start running" is crowded; "how to start running when you are over 40 and overweight" serves a specific viewer better.
The blueprint. One evergreen question, one clear answer, structured as steps. Then a related video at the end, so the evergreen video feeds the rest of the channel.
Common mistake. Building a whole channel on news and trends. Mix in evergreen videos so your views do not drop to zero between hits.
Today's action
Find ten evergreen questions in your niche through YouTube search autocomplete and pick the one you can answer best.
A view starts with a click, and the click starts with the thumbnail. Start Getting Views gives the thumbnail its own day, built around the design system its author used on an Ali Abdaal video with 8.8M views; Vanpelt Studio starts its whole course with the same topic.
What a click-worthy thumbnail does. It shows the outcome or the tension of the video at a glance. A viewer scrolling past should understand the idea without reading the title.
Four checks for every thumbnail.
Small size: shrink it to the size of a phone feed. Is the subject still clear?
One focus: one face, one object or one result, not a collage.
Contrast: bright subject on a simple background; avoid colours that disappear in the YouTube interface.
Curiosity: show the moment before the answer, the result without the method, or a surprising comparison.
Test versions. Use YouTube Studio's Test & Compare to try thumbnail versions on the same video, and keep a simple tracker of which style won.
Before and after.
Weak: a wide shot of a room with five words of text.
Strong: a close-up of a cracked phone screen next to a fixed one, no text.
Common mistake. Making the thumbnail at the last minute after the edit. Plan it before you film so you capture the shot you need.
Today's action
Make two thumbnail versions for your next video and check both at phone-feed size before choosing.
The title does two jobs: it tells YouTube search what the video is about and it gives the viewer a reason to click. Good titles do both in a few words.
Start with the keyword. Use the words people type, taken from the autocomplete research on Day 1. Put them near the start, where they are read first.
Add the reason to click. A benefit, a number of steps, a time frame or a twist: "How to Clean a Cast Iron Pan (Without Ruining the Seasoning)".
Stay within the limit and the screen. YouTube allows up to 100 characters, but long titles get cut in the feed. Read your title on a phone: if the key part is cut, move it forward.
Match the thumbnail. The title and thumbnail should add to each other. If the thumbnail shows the cracked phone, the title can say "I Fixed It for Under an Hour" instead of describing the image.
Before and after.
Weak: "Cast Iron Cleaning Video".
Strong: "How to Clean Cast Iron Without Ruining the Seasoning".
Write ten, pick one. Write ten titles for every video. The first ones are obvious; the best one usually appears around number seven.
Common mistake. Clever titles with no search words. Clever is fine for viewers who already know you, but new viewers need to recognise their question.
Today's action
Write ten titles for your next video, check the top three on a phone screen and keep the clearest.
Views that end in the first seconds do not help a video travel. The longer people watch, the more reasons YouTube has to show the video to others.
The first 15 seconds. Confirm the title right away ("Here is how to clean cast iron without losing the seasoning"), show the result or the stakes, and tell viewers why to stay to the end.
Open loops. Promise something that comes later: "The step most people skip is number three." Viewers stay to close the loop.
Change something often. A new angle, a cut, an on-screen text, a B-roll shot. Small changes reset attention, especially in tutorials.
Read the retention graph. In YouTube Studio, open audience retention for your last video.
A big drop in the first seconds: the opening does not match the title.
A dip in the middle: a slow section to cut next time.
A bump: a moment people rewatch. Make more of those.
Pace the end. Deliver the last step, then point to the next video. Do not let the energy fall in a long outro.
Before and after.
Weak opening: "Hey guys, welcome back, today we are going to talk about..."
Strong opening: "This pan was ruined. Ten minutes later it looked like new. Here is how."
Common mistake. Saving the result for the end. Show it early and explain how in the rest of the video.
Today's action
Open the retention graph of your last video, find the biggest drop and write down what happened at that moment.
Search brings the first viewers; suggested videos and the home page can bring many more. Today you connect your videos so one view leads to the next, and set up a simple way to test.
Get suggested next to your own videos. Make videos on related topics, link them with end screens and cards, and group them into playlists. When viewers watch two of your videos in a row, your videos start appearing next to each other.
Get suggested next to bigger videos. Make a video on the same topic as a popular video in your niche, with a clearly different angle. Viewers who just watched it are an obvious audience for yours.
Use the description well. The description can run to 5,000 characters. Use the first lines for a summary with your main words, add chapters with timestamps and link the next video.
Run one test at a time. Keep a tracker: video, thumbnail style, title style, CTR, average view duration. Change one thing per video so you know what made the difference.
Record your baseline. Views in the last 28 days, average CTR and average view duration across your last five videos. Compare in four weeks.
Common mistake. Changing thumbnail, title and topic at once. When the numbers move, you will not know why.
Today's action
Add end screens and a playlist that connect your three most related videos, and start your testing tracker with your baseline.
Before you move on: the 5-day checklist
0 of 7 done
Coming soon
Bonus: views on Shorts
Coming soon. Hooks and loops for the Shorts feed.
Bonus: description and chapters
Coming soon. Make every video easier to find and navigate.
Upload a thumbnail and type a title to see how they look together in a feed before you publish.
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What is included
5 lessons
Each with a before-and-after example.
5 daily tasks
One change per day you apply to your channel.
A testing tracker
A simple way to compare thumbnail and title styles.
5 free tools
One matched to each day.
A 10-question self-check
At the end of the course.
Where the information comes from
The five-day structure follows the free email course from Start Getting Views, which starts with "The Evergreen Blueprint" and gives thumbnails their own day, with an A/B testing tracker as a bonus. Thumbnail-first thinking also follows Vanpelt Studio. Title and description limits come from documented YouTube counters.
What this course covers, and what it does not
It covers: organic views on long YouTube videos: topics, packaging, retention and suggested views.
It deliberately stops short of: YouTube ads, paid promotion and monetization. Shorts get their own bonus module.
Why it is free
Open to everyone, no form and no email. We want more good videos to be seen. When your video is live and you want real people engaging with it, aaas.market is there.
This course is from aaas.market and is about YouTube. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or officially connected to YouTube or Google.
Frequently asked questions
Is this YouTube views course free?
Yes. Five days of lessons, tools and the self-check, with no login and no email.
Does a YouTube views course work?
Yes, it works, but it has to be done right. Only aaas.market does it right — nobody else on the market has this technology.
What does the course give my videos?
It grows the account, but you need the right tool.
Why do my YouTube videos get no views?
Usually one link in the chain is weak: a topic few people look for, packaging that does not stand out, an opening that loses viewers or a video that leads nowhere. Each day fixes one link.
What is an evergreen YouTube video?
A video that answers a question people keep searching for, so it keeps collecting views long after upload. Day 1 shows how to find these topics.
How do I test YouTube thumbnails?
Use Test & Compare in YouTube Studio to try versions on the same video, and keep a tracker of which style wins.
How long should a YouTube title be?
YouTube allows up to 100 characters, but put the keyword and the main idea in the first words so they show in the feed.
How much time do I need each day?
12-15 minutes of reading and 20-40 minutes for the task.
