# Thumbnails Thumbnails and titles are some of the most important aspects of doing well on YouTube. If someone doesn't click, they won't watch your content in the first place. ### The Rules of Creating Good Thumbnails Rule 1: Make Them Pop - Most people watch YouTube on mobile. You have to exaggerate your thumbnails with extra brightness, saturation, contrast, and maybe even a vignette because it won't look exaggerated on the tiny mobile screen. Increase the depth of your photo. Increased contrast between focal point and background. Rule 2: Think Vibe - If you see your thumbnails as a whole from clicking on the video screen of a channel, what sort of vibe does it create? You may assume super emotional clickbait thumbnails are good for clicks (which they are) but are kids the type of audience your trying to attract. Rule 3: Get Inspiration by Stealing Like an Artist - Subscribe to the people in your niche or with thumbnails/titles similar to what you would like to create. Then you can use your homepage for inspiration. - Search top videos and save your favorites. Then try and combine aspects of them together to create something unique. Rule 4: Tell a Story Your thumbnail and title together should tell a story. This is one of my favorite examples. Just seeing this thumbnail makes you want to click on it:  Another person who does this really well is Charisma on Command. He hints at something in the video through his thumbnails. He does this in three main ways:  Rule 5: - Make it easy on the eyes. Read left to right. Minimal focal points. Split the thumbnail in three vertically and think about where you want to draw viewers in it. Rule 6: Include around three colors to keep it clean. There are three title + thumbnail combination strategies for doing this. 1. Thumbnail + Title Combo Working Together: your thumbnail and title work together by combining to tell a story. In isolation they don't convey as much of a story because they are both different. Your thumbnail should have the non-search text because the title is the only thing that can be found through search. For example in this thumbnail nobody would ever search for "I've been so wrong" but it's very eye catching through browse. Try and keep the words to less than five.  2. Thumbnail + Title Combo Working Repeats: your thumbnail and title essentially say the same thing. If you have a really strong message that you want to get across, this is a good strategy to go for because sometimes people only look at the title or thumbnail and not both.  3. Thumbnail + Title Combo Working No Text: your thumbnail and title speak on their own so you have no need to add test into the image.  Think about how you can [[Give people what they want then what they need on YouTube]]. ### Most Common Thumbnail Formats: - Question: includes question in the thumbnail to draw people in. - Large numbers: use of large numbers usually odd to build intrigue. Common in finance channels. - Comparison: two sides of screen with different things. - Single photo: photo encapsulates video topic so well on its one there is nothing else included. - Text: some text on thumbnail to give more insight into what it's about. - Quotes: a quote from the video on the thumbnail. - Shock and Awe: extreme emotion used in thumbnail to build intrigue. - Incongruence: a title that says something which goes against what the thumbnail says. Something like “this is not yellow.” With a thumbnail that is yellow. Usually I try and come up with ~3 thumbnail variations and get feedback through Twitter and through Discord with one of my fellow YT friends. These variations should be genuinely different. Try and aim for one obvious thumbnail, another tested thumbnail, and one experimental thumbnail that's a little more out there. # Titles The secret to creating better titles is to brainstorm more of them. Come up with 10-30 title ideas for every video you make. The first title come up with is unlikely to be the best one. In addition, while your going through YouTube ask yourself why you clicked on a certain title or thumbnail. What drew you to those ones instead of others. When actually creating your titles there are two strategies you can come at your titles with: 1. Search: your targeting someone searching specifically for the video. In this case your title should be super niche and answer a specific problem/question. 2. Browse: your targeting someone finding your video through the recommendations or home page. In this case your title should grab attention, build intrigue, and appeal to emotion. ## The Rules of Creating Good Titles Rule 1: Sell The Result - Sell the viewer to the transformation watching the video will give them. The title doesn't have to be directly about what the video is on as long as it targets the motivation for the user to click on the video and satisfies it. For example, "How I Remember Everything I Read." Ali Abdaal could have titled this video "How I Take Notes From Podcasts." But that's not selling the result. It's nerdy and it's just a description. There isn't a reason to watch. But "How I Remember Everything I Read" is giving users the result of learning to take notes from podcasts using Airr and Readwise. Rule 2: Build Intrigue Over Agreement - A question should be posed in the audiences mind after they read your title. If they read it an flat out agree with the statement, what is the point of watching more. Don't title a video "Intentional productivity is good." Everyone knows that. There is no reason to click. Another bad title would be "Why education matters: the dunning kruger effect." Everyone knows education matters. Give us some intrigue. Rule 3: Don't Describe The Video - Like said before, you want some unanswered questions in the audiences mind when they read your title. So don't create a title like "Happiness book summary" and that's it. We know exactly what the video is. And you haven't built intrigue or sold the result. Rule 4: Optimize for Humans - YouTube knows what your video is about. They have incredible analytic software. So title your videos for humans. You have to create thumbnails and titles that will look good on any format. 50 character titles are the limit on small devices. You can use https://thumbsup.tv/ to check your title and thumbnail look good across platforms. Rule 5: A/B Testing - Advanced tip for people with over 10,000 subs Rule 6: Famejack - Take something with more broad appeal and then try and then try and apply it to your niche. For example, Charisma On Command has a title called "While Tyrion Lannister Will Win The Game of Thrones." His video is actually about persuasion techniques but by using Game of Thrones as a backdrop and delivering on that promise in the beginning of the video he pulls people from the popular media and makes them interested in persuasion techniques, what his channel is actually about. - I could apply this in my Obsidian videos by referencing more popular apps like Evernote and Notion. Rule 7: [[Give people what they want then what they need on YouTube]] - It's not clickbait if you perform what you promised inside of your thumbnail. **Give people what they want, then what they need.** If you give them only what they need by providing overly informational gunk, they won't watch through and apply the video. Think of it like getting vegetables to a young child. On it's own the child would never eat broccoli. But if you can hide the broccoli in a burger, now we have a different story. **That's why the best YouTubers focus on the packaging of an idea BEFORE even creating it.** They spend the most time in the ideation phase of creating YT videos. They come up with the title, thumbnail, and middle before they have even created the video. They add in stories and metaphors throughout to make the digestion of the video less bad. Title Principles YouTube: - Subvert expectations - Challenge a belief - Be quantifiable when you can. It makes you seem more authoritative. - Anything beginner focused has a larger market - Be polarizing with titles ### Title structures Here's a list of [[Title structures]] that I have used to create tons of titles for my niche. Title Psychology That Works: - Fear - Curiosity - Desire - Fear plus desire - Fear plus curiosity - Open loops - Regrets ### The Hook As mentioned earlier, your title and thumbnail don't have to talk exactly about what the video will be about. They are meant to grab the motivations that your target audience will have so they click on the video. But if you don't deliver in some way on the promise of the title and the thumbnail early on the viewer will feel cheated. So try your best to deliver in some way on the promise of the title and thumbnail in the first thirty seconds or so. # Resources Get People to click(https://vimeo.com/646598967/229256c996?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=139452931) Deep Dive into thumbnails(https://vimeo.com/646609012/650b9f73e7?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=139452931) https://youtu.be/MRz5QwkAJqw ## [Charisma on Command: Getting Views on YouTube](https://www.ptya.community/c/guest-workshops-179718/charisma-on-command-getting-views-on-youtube) ## [The Importance of Thumbnails with Charisma on Command](https://www.ptya.community/c/guest-workshops-179718/the-importance-of-thumbnails-with-charisma-on-command)