why are some videos irresistible While others are easily ignored in this video we'll uncover the secret strategy used by all of your favorite creators to make their content get millions of views but that's not all we're also gonna go in depth into how to craft the ultimate titles and thumbnails in my research I found something that every viral video has in common what's the secret they all create at least one captivating reason to watch them I'm gonna show some videos of popular creators to reveal how they make reasons to watch their videos pay really close attention because there's a pattern in the way they do it that's really important this video asks a simple yet intriguing question giving it a universal appeal show this video to a really wide audience and most people will be interested planting a question in the viewer's mind is the leading method to get them the click also the question doesn't need to literally be written in the title like this video it throws you into the middle of a story which creates the question of what happens next another method is seen in this video which promises an exciting Journey Everyone likes to see a good story so that's a reason to watch this video addresses something interesting people like to learn about cool stuff did you catch the pattern a pattern is that the reason to watch the video is immediately apparent for your video if it takes longer than a second to think of a reason or if your reason is far-fetched then your sucks titles and thumbnails need to build off one another not copy each other here's what it looks like when they repeat the title and thumbnail gives the exact same information both tell you that the videos about airplane facts what's so bad about that it's too slow the video's information is given at a snail's pace meanwhile viewers who may have clicked it are getting interested by other videos that explain themselves faster remember there's going to be 10 other interesting videos next to yours at any given time what successful creators do is they utilize both the thumbnail and the title to give information and they do it quickly take a look this thumbnail builds off of the title instead of repeating it it's pretty simple so it quickly and clearly explains that you should board a plane last obviously that's kind of weird and therefore develops interest in the video there it is there's the captivating reason to click it but there's more next the viewer reads a title and learns that their secrets being kept from them now they get even more interested they start asking what secrets are they hiding from me are planes more dangerous than thought there's now two more for a total of three questions that the viewer has this video could be put next to plenty of other videos that also give good reasons to click them and it would still perform well that's because it leverages all of its room in the thumbnail title to create the most Intrigue possible so the goal is to create as many captivating reasons to watch the video as possible but first you need people to actually look at the video in the first place and that is the job of the thumbnail one of the best ways is to put your face in it that's because expressive faces always grab attention after all our eyes are naturally drawn to them we even see faces in places where there isn't a face faces are great because they act as a spa day element that's what I like to call the part of your thumbnail that stands out not just from the rest of the image but the whole page of YouTube but while they're the easiest method faces aren't the only way to create a spotlight on your thumbnail text is a great Spotlight element to use just like faces short pieces of text attract people's attention just know that to stand out text will be pretty short so don't use it to explain anything using a familiar object can also be a spotlight element the channel 5 minute crafts uses this method for almost all of their thumbnails they even take it a step further by doing something really weird with the object which is what starts creating questions however it's often a great choice to keep the thumbnail simple as it allows the spotlight to be more striking take a look at the YouTuber lemonos thumbnails he takes on a minimalistic art style incorporating one or two familiar objects which catch your eye but he's also cheating let me know his thumbnails do something amazing they stand out and at the same time suddenly convince people that his video is worth watching he manages to do all this by making thumbnails that look professional like art because the image is visually appealing it stands out against the rest of the not so pretty thumbnails that most people make some YouTubers do the opposite making thumbnails that look crude instead of artistic which works too to stand out but making artistic thumbnails like lemino does leads to viewer to develop some trust in the quality of your video overall making the thumbnail stand out is as simple as incorporating one of the three Spotlight elements a face a familiar object or a short piece of text you can also follow a style that's unique in your Niche to get attention but getting attention isn't the only thing that the thumbnail is good for here look at this video from Ryan Trahan what part of it do you think is really good it definitely stands out Ryan and the orange jumpsuit pops out from the rest of the image and the contrast of it all pushes it to stand out even when visualized on the homepage Ryan's video also promises quality with its cinematic photography there's something more though the image does something really special do you see it yet his posture practically shouts out that something's wrong he's also sat in the middle of a large empty room which speaks volumes of him being isolated the room has a harsh design In The Bleak industrial lighting further contributes to the feelings of uncomfort what do you think Ryan's doing with all these subtle details the colors his posture the land of the setting and the text up top it all tells a story a story of a great challenge something interesting and this video explores it all of these details make the promise of a great video better than any text in the title could ever do so take that opportunity to utilize the extra room in your thumbnail to build more Intrigue and remember it should be subtle too why one such opportunity is through color it evokes specific moods and emotions which contributes to the driving questions to do this consider the theme and tone of your video and choose colors that illustrate or complement it for example warm colors like red and orange can evoke feelings of excitement survival and fun while cool colors like blue and green can create a sense of calm intelligence and creativity in that video you also saw how text can enhance the storytelling Challenge videos often include texts like Day 2 or 41 minutes in this helps to already build up excitement over the magnitude of the challenge in just a thumbnail little pieces of text can also help with other elements of Storytelling or give extra context like in this thumbnail in some cases a little bit of extra work needs to be done to ensure that the viewers look at different aspects of the thumbnail in the correct order this is important to get them to have the right questions arrows circles or borders around elements are a great way to do this with colors take care that they align with your target audience overwhelming your thumbnail with tons of sash traded colors can attract a younger audience but it repels older viewers it's pretty obvious what color choices work for different ages and topics just be aware of what you're doing and play into your demographics that thumbnail also demonstrated the power of playing around with the setting in his actual video here's what the room really looks like it looks nothing like the one in the thumbnail the reason Ryan didn't photograph his thumbnail in the real room is because that mood did not match the mood he's aiming for the mood in this room magnifies a challenge which develops trust in the video and Intrigue over why the room is so difficult you're probably starting to catch on to a pattern here it's one of the biggest mistakes that people make are you making it it's the source your thumbnail elements from the video itself or even worse just take a screenshot of the video and call it a day get your elements from separate photographs or images that way you can actually put into practice what I've been teaching you in most cases your thumbnail has not done enough to tell vivira what your video is about that leaves a title with the job of explaining what's going to happen but be careful when you're explaining it don't feel the need to title your video too literally look at this video cool right it's a brilliant example of getting creative with the type the video itself only uses a title to quickly segue into a lesson on web apis imagine the video is instead titled that how web apis shaped internet history or with this video what if it was titled spending 45 minutes in the world's quietest room that's so boring it's way more interesting when you play around with the wording be dramatic build curiosity spark up the viewer's imagination over the video Mr Beast has mastered this his titles always leave the fear imagining what will happen he makes his titles in a way that offers a glimpse of the highlight of the video take this video for example if he were to title it literally it would be destroying stuff on other cool experiments but instead he took the coolest experiment and explained that if you ever get stuck don't worry there's a cheat code which I've always used to title my videos see if you can catch it [Music] foreign I didn't bother to explain what happens in the video no I just asked a question that leads into the video the trick is to title the video the driving question thinking outside the box to create your titles is a great way to create more driving questions however there are some cases where to avoid confusion or click bait you need to title it literally Can you spot what's wrong with this title is it too wordy that's a start but the first thing you should consider isn't actually the length some videos are able to go viral with titles so long that they get cut off definitely avoid long titles but there's something even more important here read it again and see if you catch it look at where the word Mysteries is the most important part of the title as well as the videos topic is at the end the last word anyone would see don't do that but the most important and interesting words at the start use short and common words that have a very clear meaning some tools for this are thesaurus.com and chat GPT titles and thumbnail should have the goal of creating as many reasons to watch the video as possible but creating a good thumbnail and title is only the start of a great YouTube video the average video loses over a third of its audience in just the first 30 seconds that's because the title and thumbnail are not compatible with the intro click here to change that with your videos