#Help, my thumbnails aren't getting clicks

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

versed lodge
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I'm creating an anime but nobody watches them on YouTube, although on TikTok and Instagram they have like 50k views, but on YouTube only 100, not 100k, 100 individual views.

0_nazomi_-_halloween5.jpg 0_nazomi_-_halloween4.jpg 0_nazomi_-_halloween1.jpg
dusty mauve
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Its probably because youtube packaging is much more important than tiktok or instagram

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These thumbnails look like parts of the content, but not like thumbnails, if you get what im saying

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There should be a clear message the thumbnail conveys, something you can instantly understand by looking at it

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These ones look pretty good but i have no idea whats going on

versed lodge
dusty mauve
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well, i dont really know anything about the content so its pretty hard to give specific advice, thats why most of the stuff people will tell you is general stuff

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so it really depends on what youre going for, i mean epidsodic content has a pretty big disatvantage on youtube, because if someone sees episode 10 of something they feel like they need to catch up, and are probably not gonna bother, so if you really want to make an anime, i would try making every episode kind of independent of one another, like kids cartoons for example. if you go for that, making the subject of each video extremely clear in both title and thumbnail, while making it seem like the thumbnail is a random screenshot of the content is probably the best choice. this is actually what most comedy youtubers do, so i would suggest studying some (aljokes and trarags are good examples). if you really want to make a full on episodic anime, i would suggest not focusing too much on youtube, as that type of content is very rarely successful

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if you give me a title i can tell you how i would go about making the thumbnail, but right now i dont really have much to go off of

finite swan
versed lodge
versed lodge
# dusty mauve so it really depends on what youre going for, i mean epidsodic content has a pre...

So, if I make a series like: "Nazomi fires employee 1, Nazomi fires employee 2, Nazomi fires employee 3," that's not interesting. But if I make one with a different theme, for example: "Nazomi travels to Antarctica. Nazomi buys a Tesla. Nazomi travels to the moon---," those videos are more interesting because they have varied topics, and they're also less everyday topics, so the ideas seem outlandish?

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🤔 Now I'm not sure if for the title, including the concept is enough, or if I also need to include the objective. For example: option 1 "Nazomi travels to Antarctica" option 2: "Nazomi travels to Antarctica to hunt penguins" or just include the objective, option 3 "Nazomi hunts penguins"

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🫠 Talking to you, I realize how bad the title is too; it's incomprehensible: "Nazomi's Anime Halloween Special"—you don't know what's going to happen. It's about her going trick-or-treating and someone trying to kidnap her.

vapid cloud
versed lodge
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Regarding the thumbnails of animation channels, I felt silly when you said it because it's so logical; instead of looking at thumbnails of people who make podcast videos, it's better to analyze thumbnails of animations directly.

brave orchid
# versed lodge I noticed you often comment on miniatures. That's always been my biggest weaknes...

Haha I know exactly how you feel lmfao.

"How the heck do you make someone curious!?"

Curiosity generally stems from your dopamine reward system. When you make thumbnails, you want to motivate people to click your videos by giving cues to their brain that they're gonna get Dopamine if they click your video

The brain is really good at judging and figuring out "Is this video going to satisfy me?"

Just open the YouTube homepage, I'm sure you'll find kots of videos that make you feel an urge to click, that urge is what motivates you to click.

So when designing Thumbnails and titles, you want to make it visually clear to potential viewers what they'll get out of clicking

Also you usually want your intro to do the same thing, confirm the click and give cues that people will get exactly what they clicked for OR exceed their expectations and give them EVEN MORE/BETTER stuff than what they clicked for

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That's the rule

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The principal

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Now that you understand the rules of the game

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You need to pick techniques to bend this rule to your will

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So

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Go study some writing techniques

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My favorite is conflict

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It's often said you wanna write the title and thumbnail in a way, that gives viewers cues for what's to come, without telling them exactly what that is

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Building anticipation for something that they can only get if they watch your video

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Like you could make a video titled "Do aliens exist?" or you could add some authority and title the video

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Like this is a video I'm working on

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The title implies I'm withholding information that you gotta click to learn

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Something simpler like "Do Aliens really exist?" Would probably work better lol idk

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Gotta experiment to find out 😂

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But then with my intro

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I'd build suspense

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I wouldn't immediately present viewers with infodumps

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Instead, I would keep them excited

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Keep them in a state where they feel like I might have proof aliens exist but they have to keep watching to find out

tulip groveBOT
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gigachadjesusalt has been warned

Reason: Bad word usage

brave orchid
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NOOOOO 😭

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You want the suspense to be visually clear in your thumbnail

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I'm sure you know how to draw dynamic arc since you can draw anime

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You gotta think of your thumbnail in the same way

brave orchid
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Like this is really good in concept

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Dynamic

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But your thumbnails are giant on your computer

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People only look at your thumbnail for .2 seconds

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They aren't going to immediately tell why the pumpkin is there

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And they probably won't even see the knife either

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It's practically invisible

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Checkout this thumbnail by Joseph Blaze

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Everything is extremely visually clear

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You immediately can tell what's going on

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The visual clarity in your thumbnails almost doesn't exist

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Your competition is super aggressive with contrast n stuff

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Contrast is ultra important

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Also like Binnez said, nobody knows your characters and so they aren't gonna care

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Adding names is pointless

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You wanna make your titles and thumbnails interesting to people who don't know you and don't care about you

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But also recognizable to long time fans

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Strong visual clarity

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Only 3 focal points

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  • fingers
  • book
  • the animated cartoon
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You're gonna click cuz you wanna see it animated

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These are two animations I felt motivated to click in the past

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They're more reliant on the titles ig

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I guess I'm clicking because "whoa that looks cool" for all of these 😂

brave orchid
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Thumbnail should be limited to 3 focal points

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1 - Nazomi
2 - penguin
3 - thrusting spear or whatever at penguin

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Or something like that

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Just

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Strong visual clarity

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Having a low saturation background is good too

versed lodge
brave orchid
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Obviously not saying you need that specific title format 😂

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Just showing CLAARIIIITY

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Like adding visual cues to the knife

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The knife is dark black

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On a dark background

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So I put it against a whiter background

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You could even add some shading to the knife

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But like you can see what I mean

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It's a lot more visually clear

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Instead of seeing the random pumpkin

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People can now see your character is about to get stabbed

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Could put a doorway there for the white light lol

brave orchid
versed lodge
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The problem, I think, is that these kinds of thumbnails don't fit with "an anime." I don't know if I'm explaining myself well. It's very difficult to express "this character wants to kidnap this one." I suppose using a closer shot, as if the man were about to attack the girl, while it doesn't fully convey the idea, makes it clearer that she's going to have to fight for her life. I think that's what you guys are trying to explain to me.

image.png
versed lodge
brave orchid
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Forget about topic

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This 3 focal point thumbnail is the same as the smartphone thumbnail

brave orchid
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In fact

versed lodge
brave orchid
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The background HELPS the focal points stand out

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I'm tryna say you wanna be aggressive asf, make focal points clear

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Your colors are a little off, Idk if that's your style tho, cuz that's 🔥 if so

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But like

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Idk wanna say something you already know 😭

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Warm vs cool in thumbnails is 🔥

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Warm focal points

versed lodge
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So what title would you give it?

brave orchid
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Cool non-focal points

brave orchid
versed lodge
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I think so?

0_nazomi_-_halloween6.jpg
brave orchid
# versed lodge I think so?

White knife on grey background = bad

Red knife & hand on brown background = bad

You could put a door entrance there

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Make the door entrance white

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Bring the knife out

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Come on I know you can do it 🔫

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Did you skip art class 😭

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You want contrast against the knife

brave orchid
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Up to you tho

versed lodge
versed lodge
brave orchid
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No good or bad way to do it

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UP TO YOU

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That's style

versed lodge
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"Style" is the word fools use to avoid admitting they don't know how to do something well.

brave orchid
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I'm with you on that perspective

versed lodge
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I can't have style in something I'm not good at.

versed lodge
tulip groveBOT
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gigachadjesusalt has been warned

Reason: Bad word usage

brave orchid
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Ohhh

brave orchid
# versed lodge Title: "He went trick-or-treating at the wrong house"

Conflict that's good

You need to visually convey that conflict

Remove the stabby stab guy from your thumbnail

Show him in front of a house, add some kind of cues that let viewers know YOU CANT TRICK OR TREAT THERE

Could be a sign that says NO TRICK OR TREATING

And then show your character pressing the doorbell (clearly ignoring or not even seeing the sign)

How you convey that the house isn't for trick or treating, is style 🔫

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People gonna click because they're curious to see what happens

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Build anticipation.

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What you see in your thumbnail

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Is not what viewers see

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Your only job

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Is to most effectively communicate your idea to viewers

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Confusion is a sin

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A guy getting shot by a beam of light

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Extreme visual clarity

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Warm vs cool

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A chess piece animated

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Extreme visual clarity

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Force field splitting the two

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It's extremely clear what we can expect

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If I click this video

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I'm going to see two characters fighting

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🔫

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Clarity is a rule of YouTube thumbnails

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Warm vs cool is a technique, to bring that clarity rule out

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there's thousands of techniques

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YouTube is a bit different from traditional art

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Because you need to go beyond

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And exaggerate focal points

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They need to be stupid obvious

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So stupidly obvious that they can't be confused

versed lodge
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Obviously it's a sketch haha ​​not the final version

brave orchid
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Make it clear

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NO ??? Sign

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Show your character holding a basket

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With candy

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Overflowing

brave orchid
finite swan