YouTube receives 1.7 billion unique visitors a month. But in order for your YouTube channel to gain the traction that it deserves, you need to create eye-catching thumbnails that entice your target audience to click on your videos.
As minor as your thumbnails might seem, they’re an important aspect of every YouTube video that you post. The thumbnail is the first thing that people will see when they’re scrolling on the YouTube homepage. Poorly created thumbnails won’t capture people’s attention and your videos won’t accumulate a decent number of views.
The main goals of your thumbnails are to accurately portray the content of your video, draw people’s attention to your content, and encourage YouTube consumers to check out your videos.
Below, we have discussed the key steps that you need to take when creating attention-grabbing thumbnails when you start your own YouTube channel.
Before you can begin designing a great thumbnail, you need to make sure you’re using the right dimensions. YouTube requires a thumbnail of at least 1280 px by 720 px, with a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Whether you’re using Canva or Photoshop, make sure you’ve got the dimensions correct before you add images and text. Otherwise, your thumbnails might look blurry or out of proportion when uploaded onto YouTube.
The background of your thumbnails is just as important as the foreground. Use a free background remover online to cut out the background of your photos so that you can superimpose them onto a more vibrant, eye-catching background.
Consider creating a plain, one-toned background for your thumbnails using a background remover to make your images and fonts stand out and look clear. It’s a good idea to use contrasting colors for your background and foreground fonts so that the text is easy to read.
We briefly touched on using contrasting colors for your background and text but you also need to consider the fonts that you’re using in your thumbnails. The fonts should be legible and noticeable to people when they’re scrolling through the YouTube homepage.
Pay careful attention to the words that you use on your thumbnail too. Try to convey what your videos are about in just a few simple words. Use words that are catchy, or controversial to capture people’s attention and make them intrigued to watch your videos.
The images that you use in your thumbnails need to be relevant to the video itself while also being eye-catching and visually appealing. Consider using your face in each thumbnail with your eyes looking directly at the viewer.
Showing your face is an effective marketing tactic to connect with people on a human-to-human level and eye contact is the perfect way to communicate emotion, whether it's shock, excitement, anger, or confusion.
