YouTube Tips A Little Insight Into A Recent Discovery

[Stanley | Team TB]

So over the weekend I had a pair of videos pop... no telling yet how far this is going to go but I do see some signs that these will at least be channel drivers for me. I immediately went into 'study' mode so I could determine what happened and what I could reproduce. And I am going to share with you my findings now.

Mind you... you need to have an open mind about this (as I did). This may not be what you want to hear.

There are several variables that these two videos have in common. Both were edited very carefully to ensure that they offered a quick cadence with little downtime or fluff footage. Both offer an above-average payoff (in my case I caught two very large fish) and as such the videos were given a little extra treatment when it came to filming additional b-roll and editing. I also made sure to include more lively conversation in these videos than most, an adjustment that made an immediate and noticeable impact in the video performance and watch time. One thing I did to beef this up was go back after filming and edit in additional audio commentary and effects. That sound design is paying huge dividends; I'm seeing similar results in every single video I have tried this with.

Another similarity is I feel like I have finally tuned in to a good thumbnail design and title approach. I've had problems with this historically. I can make a good thumbnail and have some pretty decent graphic design skills... but I am aware that I may lean too heavily into this rather than taking the time to craft and create a compelling thumbnail. There is a difference, and compelling beats skilled hands-down. This has proven to be the critical improvement I believe. Where improved audio techniques and improved videos reflect better performance than not improvements to my thumbnail design and titles have paid immediate, drastic dividends. I went looking back to videos that I made last year and several had very similar view durations to these two that I am currently studying but they flopped and the reason in hindsight is very apparent; my CTR sucks. Mind you, the thumbnails are excellent. In fact I have one thumbnail in particular that I worked on for a week and had enlisted the assistance of a half-dozen YouTube creators with 40,000 to over 100,000 subscribers help me with. It just didn't click with my audience or those viewers who are searching that topic. Looking back I can see similar trends across my entire channel for last year; a lot of really good thumbnails that simply were not designed to garner clicks.

Today I am focused less on the graphic design elements of my thumbnails and more on the composition of a title that causes a viewer to stop and question the topic. My thumbnails are more simplistic but feature something that grabs attention and serves to increase intrigue.

I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and I still have a lot to learn. But after five years of this YouTube journey I feel like something is finally beginning to click; it feels right. More right than it has felt in several years. Now the true test; I know what to do... how long does it take to master?

 

[MattCommand1]

This is the kind of stuff I love to read. It makes my head hurt a bit and I have to be more thoughtful to interpret what you are saying and try to adapt to my own situation.

One of the benefits of producing more videos is that you have to learn how to create more thumbnails. Sometimes a concept comes together for me, other times I struggle really hard. I am still changing thumbnails AFTER a video is released.

Whether I spend one hour or three hours on a thumbnail doesn't seem to materially help me. What seems to help is that over the course of real-time, I view my own thumbnails a bit differently or have a different perspective and then make changes. I will revisit my own thumbnail a week or even a month down the line to see if I see things differently.

Everyone wants to be excellent at everything within a couple of months but it generally doesn't happen that way. No matter what you do, there are certain things that can only be learned through the passage of time. I am very confident that Youtuber I become 4 years now will be different than the Youtuber I am today (14 months in with my current channel).

People need to be prepared for the long haul but it seems the majority of people jumping into YT seem to have a short-term mentality. One year is not long-term. One year is a good start at best.

As you say, what is being said here may not want to be heard. I like the word you used, "compelling". Boy, that is a tough one for me to execute without the benefit or passage of time.

I am constantly torn between doing more edits and refinements as you have done or fewer edits which is a big killer of my time & mental energy. There is always some cost (and benefits) one way or the other.

 

[Super Cooper Hobbies]

I honestly don't put much effort into fancy thumbnails, I just do the bare minimum, but I've never taken the time to take a dive into the data to see which thumbnails really do work. I think that my simplistic ones work for the style of video I do, but I think I understand what you're getting at here, that you need to look at what works, not what design makes you happy.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

This is the kind of stuff I love to read. It makes my head hurt a bit and I have to be more thoughtful to interpret what you are saying and try to adapt to my own situation.

One of the benefits of producing more videos is that you have to learn how to create more thumbnails. Sometimes a concept comes together for me, other times I struggle really hard. I am still changing thumbnails AFTER a video is released.

Whether I spend one hour or three hours on a thumbnail doesn't seem to materially help me. What seems to help is that over the course of real-time, I view my own thumbnails a bit differently or have a different perspective and then make changes. I will revisit my own thumbnail a week or even a month down the line to see if I see things differently.

Everyone wants to be excellent at everything within a couple of months but it generally doesn't happen that way. No matter what you do, there are certain things that can only be learned through the passage of time. I am very confident that Youtuber I become 4 years now will be different than the Youtuber I am today (14 months in with my current channel).

People need to be prepared for the long haul but it seems the majority of people jumping into YT seem to have a short-term mentality. One year is not long-term. One year is a good start at best.

As you say, what is being said here may not want to be heard. I like the word you used, "compelling". Boy, that is a tough one for me to execute without the benefit or passage of time.

I am constantly torn between doing more edits and refinements as you have done or fewer edits which is a big killer of my time & mental energy. There is always some cost (and benefits) one way or the other.

This is so true... and such a hard concept to explain. I am always telling people to push through that 'first 100 videos...' this is one of the many reasons why. You need to have 100 thumbnails to start judging so you can begin to make adjustments and experiment with variations.

You said you make changes after you publish... I would make that a common practice. There will always be a video on your docket that is performing better than normal but which is not getting the CTR it deserves. It should be part of your 'programming schedule' to go in and change/test/improve your worst performing thumbnails. Sometimes as a test, other times it's because the video performance warrants it.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

I honestly don't put much effort into fancy thumbnails, I just do the bare minimum, but I've never taken the time to take a dive into the data to see which thumbnails really do work. I think that my simplistic ones work for the style of video I do, but I think I understand what you're getting at here, that you need to look at what works, not what design makes you happy.

You should REALLY take several months to improve this portion of your craft. The importance of your thumbnails can not be overly emphasized.

 

[MattCommand1]

This is so true... and such a hard concept to explain. I am always telling people to push through that 'first 100 videos...' this is one of the many reasons why. You need to have 100 thumbnails to start judging so you can begin to make adjustments and experiment with variations.

You said you make changes after you publish... I would make that a common practice. There will always be a video on your docket that is performing better than normal but which is not getting the CTR it deserves. It should be part of your 'programming schedule' to go in and change/test/improve your worst performing thumbnails. Sometimes as a test, other times it's because the video performance warrants it.

Yeah, that first 100 videos is an important milestone. So much learning happens on the way there. In some ways, it is like going through puberty before you become an adult. LOL!

 

[Super Cooper Hobbies]

You should REALLY take several months to improve this portion of your craft. The importance of your thumbnails can not be overly emphasized.

Noted! Will do!

 

[Damon]

What I love about this is looking at your own data, then deriving methods and principles to move forward. This is one reason I no longer listen to YouTuber teacher types. Your own data often tells a very different story that what the experts say you should do.

I've often wondered if catching big fish is really the ticket for growing a fishing channel. Those big fish don't always show up! This the next quest is how do you replicate something irreplaceable? Perhaps we should all start a "River Monsters" series. It's always something. The bigger fish you catch, the harder it is to replicate the catch, the fewer videos you'd produce, so on and so forth.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

What I love about this is looking at your own data, then deriving methods and principles to move forward. This is one reason I no longer listen to YouTuber teacher types. Your own data often tells a very different story that what the experts say you should do.

I've often wondered if catching big fish is really the ticket for growing a fishing channel. Those big fish don't always show up! This the next quest is how do you replicate something irreplaceable? Perhaps we should all start a "River Monsters" series. It's always something. The bigger fish you catch, the harder it is to replicate the catch, the fewer videos you'd produce, so on and so forth.

I Totally agree with this. I love the 'teacher' guys, and I think the best of them do a great job getting you to 1,00 subscribers and teaching best practices et cetera. But once you hit 1k little baby-bird has to learn to fly.

My best performing videos... well they are the ones with the biggest fish that I've caught. But I honestly believe that performance is directly affected by the excitement and passion I get from catching the 'big fish' and making a great video out of it. We've talked about that; it's about the storytelling. In fact I can say that one of the top-5 channel-driving videos on my channel is one where I got skunked... but had a blast filming the experience.

 

[Damon]

It's about the storytelling.

Oh, yeah! I almost forgot!