Why aren't people clicking on my videos?
Should I put text in my thumbnails?
I thought I was supposed to put my face in my thumbnails
Aren't my thumbnails supposed to all look similar?
Does any of this sound familiar?
You're a small channel trying to get people to notice you
and no matter what you do, you just can't seem to get views on your videos.
My name is Daniel and I'm here to help.
I'm going to give you a simple four step strategy
that's going to get traffic flowing to your channel
And today we're going to learn step 2
Thumbnails.
Now, I know you think you might already have a handle on thumbnails
but thumbnails are the second most important
part of your video... behind your titles
Because once you've positioned for that perfectly crafted title that we talked about in our first episode
Now you need to "win the click", as they say
from all of the videos
and the other thumbnails that are suggested around you
Why doesn't YouTube just tell us what a good thumbnail looks like?
Well, guess what? They do!
But the answer is different for almost every channel out there
But let me help you find where that answer is located.
First let me quickly address a couple of the common issues
that creators deal with every time they make a thumbnail.
#1: Should I be putting text on my face in my thumbnail?
Okay, there's a bit of evidence that shows that putting a face in a thumbnail
tend to get clicked slightly more often than ones without
But listen to me,
The real answer here is
Whatever gets people to click your thumbnail
over the other thumbnails around it
That's what should be in your thumbnail
That being said, if you do use text
Make sure it's readable
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make in their thumbnails
Is they get all wrapped up and trying to have the coolest font out there
But by the time the thumbnail gets shrunken down on a mobile device
you can't even read anything it says
Another mistake I see creators making
is using way too much text
Come on, people... it isn't a highway sign, it's a thumbnail
People don't read thumbnails
They just glance at them.
Only put in your thumbnail what a potential viewer could understand at a glance
#2: The timestamp
The Timestamp is that little time code that YouTube super-imposes
on every thumbnail on YouTube
It lets the viewer know ahead of time how long each video is.
Danger lies down in that corner. Keep things away from that corner
Because if you do put text there, people will most likely not be able to read it
#3: Should all my thumbnails look similar? That's branding, right?
This is a big speed bump for a lot of new creators and I'm going to ruffle a few feathers here.
People get all wrapped up in trying to make their thumbnails similar
and creating what they think is their brand
before they even know what the viewers they're trying to reach
even like in a thumbnail
You're a young channel... experiment.
Try different things!
It's okay if your thumbnails all look a little different right now
while you try to figure out what's best for your channel
On my channel right now... it looks like a thumbnail factory threw up in there
Because right now I'm testing a bunch of different thumbnails
To see which style my audience responds best to
I was using this thumbnail and I thought it looked pretty good!
But guess what? My viewers thought this thumbnail was twice as good
I tested this with TubeBuddy's A/B thumbnail tester
and it got twice the click-through rate of the first thumbnail
And there it is.
I said the magic words
Click-through Rate.
Now, listen to me very carefully because this is where all the magic lies.
Click-through rate might sound like some fancy-schmancy
mathematical term that you would need an engineering degree to understand
It's just YouTube trying to tell you...
just you
What your audience thinks of your thumbnails
Click-through rate is just a percentage of how many times
people click your thumbnail
when it's put in front of them by YouTube
They call showing the thumbnail to people "Impressions"
I guess "Show 'ems" was already taken.
To find this stuff, this click-through rate
Login to your YouTube account
Once you're into YouTube studio BETA,
Click on videos to find the video you want to learn about
Click on Analytics and finally the Reach Viewers tab
And there you'll see the information funnel that will show you your click-through rate
YouTube has said the average click-through rate
across the platform is between 2% and 10%
And before you ask, there is no perfect "CTR"
A 3.7% click-through rate on a video that's getting good views and performing well
can actually be a really good click-through rate
And listen, a completely sucky thumbnail
might be the perfect thumbnail for your video
Remember that air fryer beef jerky video I told you about from the first episode?
That thumbnail haunts me to this day
It is disgusting!
But! It has an 8% lifetime click-through rate
So guess what?
That ugly thumbnail is the perfect thumbnail for that video
because people are clicking it
and I'm going to leave that right where it is
The biggest tip I can give you is make sure that the video
delivers on the promise that the thumbnail makes.
If I show a picture of me eating a tarantula in a thumbnail
I'd better make sure that I eat a tarantula in the video!
I did. It was disgusting
What you don't want to have happen is someone click the thumbnail
watch the video and bail after 10 seconds thinking, "This isn't what I thought it was going to be"
Here's another tip.
if you still can't figure out what you think your thumbnail should look like
Do a search for the title that you plan on using in your video
See what other people are doing. See what their thumbnails look like
Another strategy is what I like to "Ball being the white ball in the red room"
If there was an entire room of colorful red balls and one bland, white was put in there
The white one would stick out
and BAM! That's the one your eye is drawn to.
And the last tip...
it's good to ask people what they think of your thumbnails
and reach out to people to get their opinions
But at the end of the day, even my opinion is crap
The only opinions that matter are the
are the opinions of the people who are either clicking
or not clicking your thumbnail
and if you have a good click-through rate...
That's a good thumbnail!
No matter what anyone else tries to tell you
So try different things... go for it!
And if you've learned anything here today, do me a favor
Hit the subscribe button and the notification bell
So you don't miss the rest of this conversation
Peace!