here's how to 5x views and clicks from your thumbnails

Hey guys, I just met Stephen and we are planning to work together on his future thumbnails.

Your title and thumbnail have to work together in combination.

There is no yin without yang. There is no good thumbnail without a good title.

Your thumbnail needs to do two things

How do you catch people's attention?

use remarkable images - maybe you hanging off a cliff or on top of a train
(least applicable option for most of us that aren't Mr. Beast but this does work)
use faces - and use faces with emotions
(here are the 6 universal human emotions)
use text - very minimal, sometimes you don't even need it, most people have way TOO MUCH, keep it less than 3-4 words
but if you want to create more intrigue with 1-2 words, DO IT
use colors (use contrasting colors that really pop out, yellow on purple, white on black, red on white)
blur out the background, lower the saturation of one object and really increase the saturation of another one
you have to make them STOP SCROLLING

How do you get the viewer interested?

show your video idea displayed in a clear, concise manner
ask yourself what's the most interesting part of your video?
try to display that part in your thumbnail
if you're doing a book review of Atomic Habits (a book on building better habits), then show a picture of you overweight before, and then fit after with the book in your hand
because the most interesting part of the book was how to actually stick to habits

OK SO we have caught your viewer's attention and got them interested.

NOW, LET'S HOOK THEM IN.

We do this through a curiosity gap using the combination of a compelling title and thumbnail.

Don't just write the title "5 Books I Read In 2023".

We want to attract new people that don't know about you.