Over two and a half billion people use YouTube each month. So it’s a great place to grow an audience and get your videos out there.
But, to get people to click, you need a thumbnail that stands out. The significance of thumbnails on YouTube cannot be overstated. Your success with your video depends on them. They can significantly support your branding efforts and raise the rating of your channel. Take out the uncertainty from thumbnail creation by using the advice, examples, and tools presented in this post to produce incredibly effective thumbnails.
Top YouTube thumbnail ideas to entice people to check out your video
Use a Face
A face must be visible in a thumbnail to establish a closer connection with the viewer. Your heart and soul can be successfully touched if your eyes are on a screen. Any visitor you make eye contact with feels compelled to watch the movie in greater detail when you do. A person’s eyes can also be a means of communication and a way to read their feelings. If you’re often in your videos, having your face in your YouTube thumbnail design is an excellent way to bring in new viewers and keep your branding on point. If people recognize your face and remember your previous content, they’re more likely to click!
You can check out trending YouTube videos to see how the biggest and best content creators feature their faces in their thumbnails.
Get Some Action
Action shots are more likely to catch people’s attention than a screenshot of an empty room or a person sitting in a chair. So, when you’re trying to design a YouTube thumbnail, look for shots of people moving around.
Look for shots that clearly show the action being made and that aren’t blurry or confusing. It doesn’t have to be a screenshot from the video – you can have a separate shoot.
Use Graphics
Using compelling graphics is an integral part of the thumbnail design process. You’ll want your pictures to be consistent across your videos so they can always be identified. More than half of the world’s population relies on smartphones, laptops, and tablets for daily activities. What can be effectively optimized and is user-friendly across all platforms should be used as a thumbnail. Another recommendation is to always be on the lookout for rival businesses serving the same audience on channels similar to yours.
You don’t want to over-clutter your thumbnail with graphics. That will make it look busy. Instead, stick with simple things, like the series title or your logo.
Use a Template
You might not be the designer type, and that’s okay. There are lots of free or paid YouTube thumbnail templates out there. You can use these as inspiration or adapt them for your use.
You don’t want to use them as-is, however. Other people will have already done so, and you don’t want your videos to blend in with other videos using the same thumbnail.
So, make sure you know how to use the software needed to edit the template you download, even if it’s just the basics. If you don’t have that software, you may want to switch to a different template.
Exaggerate
For an effective YouTube thumbnail design, you want to take the emotion of your video and exaggerate it. If you’re trying spicy foods, for example, take a picture of your face in pain from the spice, or take close-ups of the foods and add graphics with text or emojis that match the occasion.
You don’t want to mislead your prospective audience, however – that will turn them off. Ensure that the feeling you’re trying to portray in your thumbnail is still accurate – it should just be a little more obvious.
Try Out These YouTube Thumbnail Ideas Today
Do any of these YouTube thumbnail ideas appeal to you? Then it’s time to take action. When designing YouTube thumbnail images, one of the most crucial things you can do is to look at what your rivals are doing and producing to find out how many clicks they are receiving. Then, check out the magic their thumbnails are performing for them. Next, see how they created theirs. Then, to gain ideas for future designs, compare your design, content, titles, color schemes, and more.
Do you want more advice on taking your YouTube channel to the next level? Then, check out some of our other posts about social media and so much more.
