YouTube themselves dropped this advice on THUMBNAILS into my YouTube Studio app, and sharing their tips and advice with you step by step. I also cover what I currently use to make thumbnails with all the links below!
YouTube app reveals THUMBNAIL top tips!
TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)
THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!
Hello welcome back to the Happy Hut. I'm Neil and there is something very wrong with the planet if the United Kingdom could look like this in the middle of November!
I think I'll... I'll leave a link to the Carbon Almanac in the corner.
But the other impending doom that you and I have got is our next thumbnail!
Do you hate making thumbnails? I do... sorry I don't want to crush this little... I've got this little mushroom that's growing out of the table here, and I know that if I put my elbow down... it's gonna wreck it. I should just get rid of it.
I don't want to touch it.
You and I hate making thumbnails and I think the YouTube studio app sensed this, because... let me put it up on screen now.
Maybe I should reframe the camera?
I've got my phone on the side of the screen here.
On the analytics tab on the YouTube studio app, look!
I got this odd tablet saying “Top tips for thumbnails” so I clicked on it and a lovely refreshing message I... I think I was aware of this but it's always good to get a reminder:
“Thumbnails help viewers choose you, let's see how your thumbnails are doing”
So I thought I'd share this... this wisdom with you directly from the YouTube app and we'll work through this together.
“These thumbnails are working well” it says, so these three thumbnails... I don't think these are my greatest hits uh, so I don't know how they've arrived at these three thumbnails. I guess they've based it on click-through rate. And I'm a bit wary of click-through rate.
Click-through rate is the percentage of viewers who click on the thumbnail. So if YouTube shows your thumbnails 100 times and 10 people click on those thumbnails, then your click-through rate is 10 percent.
The thing is though, I have absolutely no control over where YouTube shows my thumbnails. The thumbnails are called Impressions on your analytics, and sometimes the Impressions will just suddenly go up... or what I've got at the moment on one of my channels is that the Impressions dropped... but interestingly the click-through rate stayed the same. In fact I think... I think it's increased slightly.
Now I have no control over YouTube doing this A/B testing over time, so to become obsessed with my click-through rate, I think, is a bad idea... so apparently these thumbnails are doing good at the moment.
“Here's how to give your thumbnails every chance to smile”
I do appreciate these little uh slideshows.
“Make sure that they're clear and easy to read”
Now I'd like to think that these thumbnails were chosen algorithmically to... to help inspire me but actually they're just my last nine thumbnails. But anyway it says “thumbnails change sizes on different devices, so use high resolution images and text”
“Stand out next to other thumbnails. Your thumbnails should preview your videos and Spark curiosity”
“Always remember to find your style. Familiar colours, faces and fonts help viewers return to your channel.”
“Keep it simple. Bold colours and designs are catchy but too much is overwhelming” and “Target your audience. Match designs to your viewers preferences and familiarity with you.”
Now I don't know how... how do you make your thumbnails?
Leave me a comment below let me know how you're getting on with... with the whole thumbnail business.
There are three really great places to make thumbnails if you're looking.
Now I'm no fan of Adobe because they charged me for a Year's subscription when I wanted a month... and then just billed me anyway when I cancelled it.
So it's always good to get something free from Adobe, and this is called Adobe Express.
I use Adobe Express purely for removing background images. They've got like a remove background tool. It's incredible.
And then I export that foreground image with the background removed and I'll put that into my keynote - which is what I use.
I'll show you that in a second. The other great place that all vloggers and YouTubers seem to go is canva. And I've used canva. I like to edit my pictures locally so I use a thing called Keynote which is on the Mac, and it's the free PowerPoint presentation app. What's brilliant with keynote is... apart from it being free and available on any Mac device... All the images, all the slides are 16x9 and it's the same shape as the video. It's the same shape as the thumbnail that YouTube wants.
It's incredible. It's so easy to just move text around and import images and it comes free. I think it's on the iPhone. It's definitely on the iPad and any Mac.
That's what I've been using and I think my thumbnails have been getting better.
That's why I wanted to make this video, to try and encourage you to shake things up a bit with... with your thumbnails.
But what do you use?
Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear some more places for making thumbnails. And this YouTube slideshow ends with a link to this video which is a tutorial about titles and thumbnails. It's about seven minutes long - it helps inspire to make more.
I'll see you on the next video.
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