So, how do you put a thumbnail on a video? How do you make it look awesome to get more views on YouTube? As you know, custom thumbnails are the one of the most important of actually getting people to watch your videos and for having success on YouTube in general.
But, what is a YouTube thumbnail anyway? Thumbnails can be considered the book covers of the video world, quick snapshots of videos. They say never judge a book by its cover, however, these book covers are essentially what’s going to make a potential viewer click on your videos. So, let’s jump into some quick and easy tips to make an attractive YouTube video thumbnail.
#1 Think about the process
As you think about that flow of digital marketing or the natural process that a potential viewer would go through to find your video, ask yourself a few things. Does your thumbnail adequately reflect those keywords and phrases that they typed to find it?
#2 Tease the audience a bit
As you follow the logical process in tip no.1, make sure that your thumbnail design teases as to what your video is about and it is okay for your thumbnail to leave some questions in the potential viewers mind. If your thumbnail design makes the viewer ask a question as to what the video is about, then make sure that question is answered once that video is clicked.
#3 Know your audience
There are some Youtubers out there who do really well with basic thumbnails. They might take a screenshot of the video, crop it a little bit and be done with it. And those basic thumbnails work really well for them. But, there are some other Youtubers as well, who do great work with beautifully designed, elaborate thumbnails. What is a good thumbnail size? Know your audience, test different designs and figure out what works for you. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for thumbnail designs.
# 4 Honesty is the best policy
It is true, not just in life but also with YouTube thumbnails and social media marketing as well. Do not mislead people just for short-term gains. The worst thing you can do is to mislead people with your thumbnail design, get more clicks, just to have those people abandon your video after figuring out that you lied to them.
#5 Make it beautiful
People want to watch quality content, simple as that. No matter what category of YouTube it is, people want to watch content in which the creator has put their heart and soul. If it’s a gaming video or a vlog or a product review or anything else, people want to know that the video creator put some time and effort into the video that they are about to watch. Why are YouTube thumbnails so important? Well, your thumbnails are a direct reflection of your hard work. So, make sure the production value of your video matches the production value of your thumbnail.
You may be wondering – How big should your YouTube thumbnail be? YouTube requires that your thumbnails are 1280×720 with a minimum width of 640 pixels. YouTube wants thumbnails that are saved as jpg, gif, bmp or png and make sure your file size is under 2 mb.
Bottom line
To be completely honest, you don’t need to hire someone to create your thumbnails for you. You can create your own thumbnails whether you have Photoshop or not. There are many free online services for that. So, go out there, keep in mind the above mentioned tips and the YouTube guidelines, and create beautiful thumbnails for your videos.
