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YouTube Advertising

The Timeline of a High Converting YouTube In-Stream Ad

April 19, 2017 by Jake Larsen

The sequence and formula of your In-Stream ad are critical to the success of your YouTube ad campaign. If you get this wrong, you’re going to be wasting your time and money. It doesn’t matter how much you spend on ads, or how accurate your targeting is. If you’re promoting a bad video, it will fail every time.

Can't Polish a TurdIt’s kind of like the saying: “You can polish a turd all you want, but in the end, it’s still a turd.” We don’t want you advertising a turd video.

If your video follows the correct sequence and formula, it will be able to accomplish 3 things:

  1. Capture the attention of a complete stranger… stop them dead in their tracks.
  2. Change the relationship of a stranger into a warm acquaintance.
  3. Get them to take action by clicking on the video.

We’ve launched hundreds of video ad campaigns in all sorts of industries; Real Estate, eCommerce, Auto, Life Coaching, Business Development, Beauty, Health & Wellness, Electronics, Investing, etc. Although the message changes across industries, the video structure and sequence stay the same.

After years of consulting, we’ve seen people make the same mistakes made over and over. Finally, we created a simple graph so you can clearly see the timeline of the perfect YouTube in-stream ad.

In-Stream Ad Timeline

Capture Attention

The very first thing your video needs to do is capture the attention of the viewer. We’ve all experienced “the longest 5 seconds on the internet”. You’re about to watch a YouTube video that you’re really excited about, but when you click on it, an ad starts playing! You hover your mouse over to where you know the “Skip Ad” button is about to appear and start your countdown. “Five, four, three, two, one…”*click*.

As an advertiser, those 5 seconds are absolutely critical to maximize in order to capture your viewers attention. If you’re wasting time showing your logo or rolling a fancy intro you will lose them. However, if you address your target audience directly, they might pause for just enough time to allow you to hook them in.

Build The Problem

Now that you have their attention, you need to build the problem. They’re giving you their time, what are you going to do for them? What problem are they having that you are going to solve for them? If you just jump right into your sale here, you’ll probably lose them. This will probably take another 5-10 seconds.

TrueView Ad Timeline

Make A Connection

At this point you’ve basically said to your audience “Hey! Are you a [kind of person] looking to [solve X kind of problem]?”. In order to make a connection with your viewer, you basically want to let them know that you know how they feel. Relate to them. Tell them what makes you a credible source to solve their problem. This should usually take about 10-15 seconds.

Offer The Solution

Offer The SolutionHere you go. This is what you wanted to do right from the beginning. Now that your viewer knows that you understand their problem, they’re ready to hear the solution. Tell them. This is where you can talk about your product or service and all of its benefits.

Don’t drag this part on too long though. It should take about 15-20 seconds. Remember, they still have a video that they’re waiting to watch. The second you start boring them, they’ll be gone at the click of a button. Literally.

Give A Call To Action

The call to action is the goal of the whole video. Without a call to action, your video loses SO much value. We always say that if you don’t tell people what you want them to do at the end of the video, then that’s exactly what they’re going to do…nothing.

Most of the time you should use YouTube End Screens for your call to action. You can only put these in the last :20 of your video but they are clickable on both mobile and desktop.

Things to Remember

There are some key elements that you need to understand that lay the foundation of a great in-stream ad:

  1. You only get charged per view. A view is counted when a viewer watches the ad for at least 30 seconds or to the end of the video (whichever is shorter) or clicks on a card or other elements of your in-stream creative.
  2. The whole purpose of the video ad, is to get people to click. Period. You need to build the whole video around the click. The “click” could be a Card, CTA overlay, or End Screen.

Ninja Tactics & More

TELL PEOPLE TO SKIP YOUR AD: Invite the viewer to skip the ad if they’re not your target audience looking for specific guidance. This way you won’t waste your ad spend on people who aren’t interested.

SHOW & TELL: Make sure to give a verbal call to action as well as point to where you want your viewers to click. This will drastically improve your click through rates.

When you follow these guidelines on your video ad, it will have a bigger impact on the viewer. If you have a bigger impact on your viewers, you’ll be able to generate more leads and sales at a lower cost. And if you don’t want that, you probably shouldn’t be in business.

Keep this In-Stream Ad Timeline in mind when you create your next YouTube ad.

The Video Ad FormulaIf you want to take your YouTube ads to the next level, download our “Video Ad Formula”. This free resource includes more useful tips, tools, and examples of how to make effective YouTube ads. You can download it for free by clicking the link below.

Filed Under: YouTube Advertising Tagged With: advertising, in-stream, youtube

Writing A YouTube Ad Script

April 6, 2017 by Jake Larsen

If you’re a savvy marketer who’s way ahead of the curve, then you’ve already dabbled in advertising on YouTube. You probably also know the feeling of getting your video shoot set up, hitting record, and having no idea what to say.

When Video Power first started, we hated recording new ads for ourselves because they were so disjointed and rambling. It took us forever to shoot an ad and get it to a polished final product.

Finally, we came up with a YouTube ad script outline that would help us avoid being in that spot ever again. We’re going to teach you this outline so that you can write an awesome YouTube ad script every time.

Using our YouTube Ad Script Template, you’ll be able to pump out ad scripts in minutes. These ads will not only be easy to create, but will be setup in a way that will grab and keep your viewers attention and get them to act on your offer at the end of your video.

Know Your Audience

First, you need to know who your audience is. The more you know the better. Basic demographics are a must, but if you know what they love, hate, do, think, etc. you’ll really be able to catch their attention.

Next, think about what your call to action is going to be. What do you want your audience to do? If you don’t ask, chances are they won’t do anything at all.

Finally, think about your audiences challenges and desires. What are they trying to accomplish? What’s standing in their way? What frustrations have they experienced in trying to reach their goals?

 

Grab Attention

Grab Viewers AttentionOnce you know your audience, you can use our YouTube Ad Script Template to help you structure your answers into a script.

Start by grabbing people’s attention! We like to do this by calling out our exact audience. “Hey are you {insert your target audience here} looking for {insert one of their desires/goals}?”.

This serves a double purpose. Not only does it catch the attention of your target audience, but it turns away people who aren’t. Because YouTube charges advertisers based on views (if they watch 30 seconds or half of the ad), you aren’t charged for people who skip early.

Build Emotion

Once you’ve caught the attention of your audience, you’ll start to build emotion. Talk to your viewers about the pains and/or desires that they’re experiencing.

The pain is what your customers experience without your product or service. The desire is accomplishing their goal in an easier/faster/better way.

Emotional Connection

Imagine you were struggling to learn how to golf. Two people approached you and offered to help. The first had read every book in the library on how to golf, but he hadn’t actually picked up a club for himself. The other was a pro who had never read a book about golf, but had been playing for years.

There should be little question in your mind as to which one you would rather get advice from. The pro had been in your shoes at some point and had overcome the difficulties that you were experiencing. The other guy might know a lot about golf, but he couldn’t say “I know how you feel. I’ve been there.”

It’s much more effective to be able to relate to your audience than it is to tell them how much you know. One tool that we like to use to help us do this is called the feel, felt, found technique. We actually used this in the opening of this blog post.

Feel Felt Found

Feel, Felt, Found

Feel – Explain to your audience how you think they feel about their situation (Ex: “You probably know the feeling of getting your video shoot set up, hitting record, and having no idea what to say”)

Felt – Relate to your audience so that they know you felt the same way that they do at some point (Ex: ”When Video Power first started, we hated recording new ads for ourselves because they were so disjointed and rambling. It took us forever to shoot an ad and get it to a polished final product.”)

Found – Tell your listeners how you found a solution to the problem that you both experienced (Ex: “Finally, we came up with a YouTube ad script outline that would help us avoid being in that spot ever again.”)

Solution

If you follow all of the previous steps, you’ve created a perfect bridge to present your viewers with the solution to their problem. If this solution isn’t your product or service, then you have lead the audience the wrong direction.

This is where you can talk about product features, service benefits, etc. Show your audience how the solution that works for you (or your other customers) can work for them.

Timeout

Before we get to the most important part of writing a script for an ad, here are a few quick pointers:

When writing your script make it conversational. When you’re talking to the camera visualize that you’re talking with someone. You don’t want to look like you’re reading a script or come off robotic.

Feel free to add little notes or indicators within the script to help with editing. Do you need to point to a link for people to click on? Will you be adding a lower-third? Or will b-roll be covering you up? These notes will help you when shooting the video so you know how to adjust your video while recording.

Finally, make sure you add plenty of keywords into your script. For instance, the video for this post is teaching you how to write a YouTube ad script. When we transcribe the video the keywords in the metadata will match up with the title, description, and tags.

Call To Action

Back to the script now. To finish things off, end the script by writing a call to action that states an offer and benefit. You should ALWAYS have some sort of call to action in any video you make, whether it’s an ad, a how-to, or just a fun shareable video.

Here’s our call to action: If you want access to our easy YouTube Ad Script Template, you can click the button below to download it for free.
 
 
This resource will help you craft the script for a successful video ad that converts in just minutes.

Filed Under: YouTube Advertising Tagged With: advertising, script, youtube

The 3 Kinds of Videos To Make On YouTube

March 23, 2017 by Jake Larsen

You’re most likely hoping to grow your business by putting videos on YouTube. Or maybe you’re a YouTube Creator trying to make YouTube your career. Either way, at some point, you’ve probably wondered what kind of videos to make on YouTube.

Do either of these situations sound familiar to you:

  1. You keep hearing that every business should be using video in their marketing. You don’t really know much about YouTube but you know your company has a few videos lying around somewhere, so you upload those. Weeks later, your video views finally break into double digits…
  2. You have a YouTube Channel that you’re trying to make new videos for all the time. You’ve done every online video trend from the Harlem Shake to the Mannequin Challenge and are just hoping for some of them to catch on.

The Model T.E.A.

Most companies use their YouTube Channel as a junk drawer for crappy corporate videos, and too many Creators run around chasing every online trend they can find in hopes of going viral.

Everyone wants to go viral, but if you look at some of the most successful Channels on YouTube they didn’t get there by creating one viral video, they did it by creating very specific regular content for their audience.

Coming up with ideas for regular new content is not always easy. Luckily, we know what kind of videos YouTube likes to see and we’ve created a content plan for you. The type of content a successful channel should have include teachable videos, entertaining videos, and videos that advertise what you’re all about.

We call this the Model T.E.A. which stands for Teach, Entertain, and Advertise.

The 3 kinds of videos to make on YouTube

Teaching Videos

The first type of videos you need to lay the foundation of your channel are teaching videos. It’s sharing what you know in How To, or DIY videos; even testimonials, reviews, overviews, or FAQ’s. Anything that informs and gives information in your field should be found on your channel especially if you’re a business.

According to Google, 91% of smartphone users turn to their phones to get ideas while completing tasks. They also shared that in the first 4 months of 2015 more than 100M hours of how to content had already been watched in North America alone. Searches related to “how to” on YouTube are growing 70% year over year. People are coming to YouTube to learn, so teach them.

smartphone use for how to content

These should make up about 60% of your videos. Ideally, that would mean posting anywhere from 2-3 times a week, but if you can only manage one of these a week, start there. This type of content is fairly easy to make and we’ll go over that in a future video so make sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

Entertaining Videos

Next you need to create content that is entertaining and lets people know who you are and what you’re all about. This is your weekly content or series, and should make up about 30% of your video content. It’s what people come for when visiting your channel.

This can be an interview series, a vlog, a rant video, or an epic rap battle! Look at it as your regularly scheduled content or your own TV Show.

This could also be a good category to put your videos about the latest trend in. Most of this content won’t be relevant for as long as your teaching videos. Because of that, it might be a good idea to do some keyword research on what’s currently trending before creating these videos.

Advertising Videos

The final type of video you should create on a monthly basis is video for advertising! These videos are meant to convert your audience into subscribers, leads, or customers. They should make up about 10% of your content and can be promoted as In-Stream or Discovery Ads.

If you’re a YouTube Creator thinking “oh that one’s just for businesses”, break out of your box and think again! You need to be looking at your Channel as a business. You can run ads to your Channel to get more subscribers. I used ads to take my family vlog from 0 to 4,000 subscribers in six weeks.

In order for your business or channel to grow you need to build a loyal following. These videos are specific to that purpose. If you need some help with this kind of video, check out our free Video Ad Formula. It will teach you exactly what to say to make the perfect YouTube ad.

The Video Ad Formula

Benefits of the Model T.E.A.

Teaching videos will help you establish yourself as an authority figure in your space. Entertaining videos will help you develop a relationship with your followers and keep them coming back regularly to your Channel. Advertising videos will increase your reach to attract new followers.

The Model T.E.A. will help you overcome that stressful feeling of having no idea what kind of videos to make on YouTube. You’ll be able to bring in more subscribers, provide them constant value, and eventually they’ll turn into customers.

Filed Under: YouTube Advertising Tagged With: channel, youtube

Get Ideas For Video Content By Doing Keyword Research

March 17, 2017 by Jake Larsen

If you’re creating any content for your YouTube Channel, you know that it’s not always easy to come up with ideas for new videos. We want to show you how to use keyword research to create more videos & grow your presence on YouTube.

We all have our favorite creators who put out great content consistently and if you’re like me, you probably wonder:

“How do they do it? How are they coming up with these great ideas?”

Take BuzzFeed for example. They’re putting out multiple videos for multiple channels on a daily basis!

Not only that, but their videos get tons of views and subscribers. Any savvy marketer looks at this kind of audience as an opportunity that can turn viewers & subscribers into leads and sales.

Let me show you the secret to coming up with video ideas and creating videos that people want to see and are searching for.

What Are Keywords

Let’s start from the very beginning. Keywords are basically what Google and other search engines use to find information you’re looking for (for the sake of simplicity we’re just going to avoid other SEO ranking factors right now). When you do a search on Google or YouTube they are basically showing you webpages and videos that are associated with those keywords.

If you make your video content about things that people are already searching for, you’re more likely to get more people watching your videos. Doing keyword research is like reading the mind of the internet so that you can know what people are wanting to see.

Doing Keyword Research

So how do you use Keyword research to generate video concepts and ideas for awesome, searchable video content? We’re going to show you 4 different ways to do this:

YouTube Search Suggestions

The YouTube Search bar is your fastest and easiest way to get ideas for what videos to create. All you need to do is start typing in the YouTube search bar and look at the suggested search terms that pop up.
For example, if you run a channel about video production, start typing in something like “how to make awesome videos”. Here are some of the results you might see:

youtube keyword researchThat alone gives you 5-10 good ideas for new videos that you can create. Not only this, but it will also help you know specifically how you should be titling your videos, which is also important.

Google AdWords Keyword Planner

In order to use the AdWords Keyword Planner, you’ll first need a Google AdWords account. Don’t worry, it’s free and you can just use your current Google account to sign up. Plus, if you’re not already running YouTube Ads–which you should be–you’re going to need AdWords to run those for your business anyway.

Once you’ve logged into the Keyword Planner, you just need to type in one or more keywords into the search box. Not only will this show you how many people are searching for that specific keyword each month, but it will also show you at what time of year it’s searched the most and give you other similar keyword ideas.

Even all of that information is still just the tip of the iceberg with the Keyword Planner. For more in depth information you can check out this article.

Google Trends

This is yet another free and easy resource provided by Google. All you need to do to access it is go to www.trends.google.com.

When you first load the page, you’ll see what’s trending on the internet for that day. This can already give you some ideas if you’re going to be making a video right away. You can change the dates, search by category, compare multiple keywords, or even see what’s specifically trending on YouTube.

Google Trends is a fun and easy tool to dig around in and can give you more useful insights than you might be able to take advantage of.

Plugins & Third Party Tools

We’re not going to dive into specifics with how to use each of these, but we do want to tell you about some of the other tools that we use to help us with Keyword Research.

TubeBuddy is probably one of the most widely used and robust plugins out there when it comes to YouTube management. It provides you with anything from batch thumbnail editing, to analytics, to (of course) keyword research. It will show you where your videos rank on YouTube for certain keywords, give you suggestions for other keywords you could be using, and allow you to see what keywords your competitors are using.

VidIQ is very similar to TubeBuddy but it leans more heavily towards the analytics side of things. It is also very robust and has many of the same features as TubeBuddy. It allows you to see competitor keywords and where your videos rank for specific keywords. There is a free plugin and also paid premium accounts available.

Veeroll is a really cool software that leans specifically towards helping users easily run YouTube ads. With it, you can do crank out keyword lists, neatly organised by the amount of competition, search volume, expected costs and even trending information. It also provides easy video templates that you can use as YouTube ads.

After the Click…

Coming up with great video ideas and videos that are searchable is essential to the success of your YouTube channel, but you also need to learn how to get and keep their attention and build trust..

The Video Ad Formula

This resource will dive into the specifics of how to create a successful video ad that converts and show you how to turn strangers into loyal fans and paying customers.

Filed Under: YouTube Advertising

How To Buy YouTube Views The Google Approved Way

March 10, 2017 by Jake Larsen

Do you want to start a YouTube Channel but are overwhelmed by the thought of starting from ground zero? You know how to make videos but growing an audience from rock bottom is such a daunting task. That’s how I felt when I decided to start our family vlog Channel. However, after years of placing ads on YouTube for businesses, I found the quickest, easiest, and only Google approved way to buy YouTube views & get tons of real subscribers.

The wrong way to buy YouTube views

How cool would it be to be able to generate thousands of real, engaged subscribers for your YouTube channel at the click of a button? Let’s get one thing straight right away, I’m not talking about buying fake, robot YouTube subscribers. I’m talking about using YouTube ads to accelerate building real, authentic relationships.

I’m going to break down a real life case study of how I used YouTube Ads to go from 0 to 4,000+ subscribers in 6 weeks with no previous following, and how you can too.

 

Misconceptions

Before we go further, we need to resolve some misconceptions you may have about YouTube Ads…

  1. Pfffff, YouTube Ads, those are so annoying. Nobody even watches them. That’s what our clients thought too until they saw the kinds of results our video ad campaigns generated. Last month alone we were able to get more than 1.5 million views and 12,000 conversions across our clients campaigns. The truth is, 95% of the YouTube ads out there aren’t even set up correctly AND don’t know how to target the right audience.
  2. I can’t create YouTube Ads, because I’m not a big company. YouTube is not TV. You don’t have to be a big brand or company to run YouTube Ads. We’ve been able to setup campaigns for brands that have reached millions of people. I’ve also created campaigns for myself with as little as $10 a day. And I’ve been able to reach viewers worldwide from from the comfort of my own home..
  3. Isn’t buying YouTube views sketchy?  Yes, it can be sketchy to buy YouTube views (and you can get your Channel in a lot of trouble for doing it), but what you’re really paying for here is distribution. The views, subscribers, and leads that you will acquire are just a byproduct of the distribution. If you want to buy some bread or milk, you go to the grocery store. If you want to buy online distribution, you go to Google Adwords. We’re not buying fake views and subscribers like other sketchy people offer. These are real people who are choosing to watch your video, choosing to click and choosing to subscribe to your channel.
  4. Why would I want to pay for views when I can get them for free? At the end of the day, you have to weigh your costs. You’re investing valuable time and energy making videos. How frustrating is it when they get no views? Your videos are worthless if nobody sees them. It only costs a couple cents per view so it’s worth the investment.

 

Case Study: Larsen Family Soul

Larsen Family Soul LogoMy family and I decided that we wanted to start a family YouTube Channel. In talking to some friends who are currently on YouTube, we heard that it can take a long time of consistently creating videos before you even start to build your subscriber base. Even with a solid video SEO strategy combined with creating daily videos it could take you 3-6 months before you’re starting to get some good engagement.

Everyone I talked to said “Jake, if you want to take YouTube seriously, you’ve got to upload daily.” For me, it felt awkward to think about uploading videos daily that would have zero views and zero comments for the first few weeks or months. Plus, I didn’t have the time to be creating daily videos and I didn’t want to wait 3-6 months to get a subscriber base.

So here’s how I went from 0 to my first 4,000 subscribers within 6 weeks with no previous following. The secret sauce, was knowing how to use YouTube ads.

 

How to Buy YouTube Views (The Right Way)

Here’s the exact process I followed…

    1. First, I created a fun “Channel Trailer” type video that introduced my family, showed some funny clips and asked the viewer to follow along on our adventure by subscribing to the Channel (Click here to watch it). By using our Video Ad Formula, I was able to make sure this was an engaging video that would prompt viewers to take action.
    2. I researched the top 50 Channels that my target audience would be watching already. These are the channels that you’ll specifically be putting your video ad on. Since we had a family vlog, I made a list of 50-100 other family vlog channels on YouTube with the largest followings.
    3. I created a YouTube Ad campaign in Google Adwords and placed my video on the Channels that I had just researched using “Placements” targeting. Once the ads started running I was able to track my costs, views, clicks and subscribers all within AdWords and paused some of the Channels that weren’t getting as good of results.
    4. We started seeing immediate results and comments. When I turned the campaigns on, I almost immediately started getting more views and subscribers. People would see my video ad, subscribe to my channel, then watch more of my other videos.

We were averaging about 670 Subscribers a week without any previous following by promoting just 1 video.

Larsen Family Soul SubscribersIt was like turning on a fire hose! It was really cool to see our subscriber count shooting up and the comments people were leaving.

Here are some of my favorite comments…

David said, “I would just liked to say that I really like your channel! I saw your advertisement and it was the best YouTube Channel ad I’ve ever seen. It was very professional too.”

Said said, “I came here from your ad which made me love the channel already!”

Then you always get those type of comments from people like 9-BBN that say, “You’re the reason people use Adblock”
Larsen Family Soul CommentsI’m totally fine with comments like this because YouTube awards your videos based on watch time and viewer engagement (good or bad). All 9-BBN is doing by leaving that comment is helping more people see our video organically.

 Takeaways

It doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to grow a personal YouTube Channel or a business. YouTube Ads offer instant results. You can use them to get more subscribers, leads, customers, etc.

Now you know how to use YouTube Ads to actually grow your Channel. The process is simple but it does require some work and a little bit of knowledge in setting up the whole process.

If you’d you like further knowledge of our Video Ad Formula, you can download it for free by clicking the button below.

Filed Under: YouTube Advertising Tagged With: advertising, Case Study, youtube

Creating Great Custom YouTube Thumbnails

March 8, 2017 by Jake Larsen

So you’ve spent hours writing, producing, shooting, and editing an awesome video. You upload it to YouTube and sit back and watch the views start pouring in…then your mom calls and says “Honey I’ve already watched your YouTube 300 times! My little star!” Thanks mom.

So how do you get more views on your video that aren’t from your mom? You need to entice people to click on it! And how do you do that? By creating great Custom YouTube Thumbnails.

Why Custom YouTube Thumbnails?

Sure, YouTube will automatically create a video thumbnail for you. Heck, they’ll even let you choose from three (wow!) automatically generated thumbnails from your video! So why waste the time and effort create Custom YouTube Thumbnails for every video?

Think of your YouTube Thumbnails as an awesome movie poster! If you saw a movie poster that was just a randomly generated screenshot from the movie itself, do you think you’d want to see it? Probably a lot less.

Your videos “movie poster” will show up in search results, related videos, & suggested videos. It’s going to be everywhere on YouTube and Google so you want it to look good and be enticing enough for someone to click on it.

The Video Thumbnail is the first thing people see, even before the title of your video, description, or your Channel banner. If it’s boring, they’ll most likely skip right over it.

Enabling Custom YouTube Thumbnails

Before you even think about making your thumbnails, you need to make sure you’re set up to upload Custom Thumbnails on your videos. To enable this feature, you will have to verify your YouTube account if you haven’t already. Next, go to your Creator Studio and under “Channel” go to Status and features. Make sure that the Custom thumbnails box is enabled.

Enable Custom YouTube Thumbnails

Creating The Perfect YouTube Thumbnail

Now that that’s over with, you can open up your favorite graphics editor. We like to use Photoshop, but there are tons of other (and less expensive/free) options.

YouTube recommends that you set the size of your thumbnail images to 1280×720 pixels. Create a new image that size and save it so you’ll have a template to use in the future.

When creating an image for your video thumbnail, you should use an actual clip from your video or something that truly represents what your video is about. If you misrepresent your video with a thumbnail that’s just clickbait, people might click on it, but they’ll leave your video fast! This will cause much more harm than good. YouTube rewards and punishes videos based on how long people spend watching them.

 

The image you pick for your thumbnail should convey some sort of emotion or action. Our friends over at VidPow recommend showing a person’s eyes and face. They’ve discovered that lot of emotion and excitement is shown that way.

To do this, scroll to a frame of your video that you want to use and either export that frame to your image editor or take a screenshot of it (⌘+Shift+4) and import it. Once you have the perfect image, you should then adjust it to have a high contrast, bright colors, and be over sharpened.

Next, add your personal branding using your logo and/or brand colors. You should always be consistent with the style of your thumbnails. This will make it easier for people to identify your video from a sea of other videos. Almost like how you can always pick out a McDonald’s from any other restaurant because it looks the same no matter where you travel.

Finally, you should add some text to let people know what your video is about. Try to pick 3-6 words max that are descriptive of your video. We suggest that you make it blocky and a high contrast from your background image so it stands out easily.

Examples of Great YouTube Thumbnails

Keep in mind that, depending on where your viewers see your thumbnail, it could be big or small. Because of this, you will need to make sure that your text is big enough to be read even if it shows up small to your viewers.

Also remember to not to put any graphics on the bottom right corner because they could be covered up by YouTube’s timestamp overlay.

Uploading Your New YouTube Thumbnail

Once you have your thumbnail all set, save it. Then go back to the video you want to upload it to on YouTube. Click the pencil that says “Info & settings”. All you have to do now is click the box to the right of your video that says “Custom Thumbnail” and select your new image.

 Be sure you save your changes, and then you’re good to go! Hopefully that will get more people (besides your mom) to start clicking your videos.

Getting people to click on your thumbnail image is important but you also need to learn how to get keep their attention and get your viewers to act.

The Video Ad Formula

Download our Video Ad Formula to dive into the specifics of how to create a successful video ad that converts and show you how to turn strangers into loyal fans and paying customers.

Filed Under: YouTube Advertising Tagged With: thumbnails, youtube

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