Page 119 - Christian Training Guide

SEO-empowered text. And don’t forget to link to the video from your email newsletter (just

do a link, please – embedding video in email is a no-no).

#2 Boost Suggested CTR with a Great Thumbnail

It seems counterintuitive, but after direct links and embeds, most YouTube views come as a

result of being related to other videos. And one of the most important ways to get

more “suggested videos” from your own channel showing up in the right-hand column is to
have proper custom thumbnails.

Your thumbnails can also benefit from a “branding stripe” running the full height of the
left-hand side of the image. This is key because it makes them stick out in the suggested

videos column. Remember, most people see these images very small (at just 120×68 pixels,

to be exact), so the image has to pop.

The image below is a good example of a custom thumbnail: uniform branding stripe on left,

close-up face, looking at the camera, eyes and teeth visible, expressive face, speaking mid-
sentence. We wonder what he’s saying, so we’ll click. Note that it will still look intriguing at

roughly 120×68, which is how many people will see it.

Additionally, playlists are essential to driving suggested videos, because YouTube looks to
playlists to understand which videos are related. There’s practically no limit to how many