If your thumbnails are not getting the clicks you want, there is a good chance this is why. Most new creators pack too much into their thumbnails. A face, a title, a subtitle, a logo, a background scene, maybe some icons. The thinking makes sense. More information should mean more context. But the viewer's brain does not work that way. You have less than a second to get understood. The more elements on the thumbnail, the harder that becomes. The rule that keeps coming up in thumbnail analysis and CTR data is to stick to three elements maximum. A face or main subject to create the emotional connection. One supporting visual that tells the story. Text that seals the promise in two to four words. That is it. If you can remove something and the thumbnail still makes sense, remove it. A good test is to shrink your thumbnail down to the size it appears on a mobile phone and ask yourself if you can understand it in one glance. Most phones show thumbnails at roughly the size of a postage stamp. If it does not land at that size it is going to get scrolled past. What does your current thumbnail look like? How many elements are you working with?

If you've been struggling to get started with Shorts, this might help. YouTube has quietly rolled out "Edit with AI" inside the Shorts creation tool on the app. Add your raw clips, up to 25 images or videos totalling 3 minutes, tap Edit with AI, choose a style, and it generates a first draft for you. It picks the best moments from your footage and puts them together into something watchable. It won't replace your creative judgment, but it gives you something to work with instead of a blank screen. Worth testing if you've got unused footage on your phone.

I’m planning to start hosting monthly workshops / masterclasses. If you could attend one and walk away with total clarity on something specific, what would it be? Where are you currently stuck? (here are a few ideas, but rather hear from you) - Writing stronger scripts? - Designing thumbnails that actually get clicks? - Packaging your videos for Browse? - Clarifying your personal brand? - Monetizing your channel? - Generating better content ideas? - Creating consistently without burnout? Tell me exactly what you’d want help with. The more specific you are, the better I can build it around what you actually need.

Hey All - Unfortunately I am under the weather today, but I didn't want to leave you hanging without something to think about. So I recorded this video discussing Search vs Browse to follow up on the video I posted here a few days ago. If you have any questions, feel free to ask below. Have a great Valentine's Day weekend.💝 In Finland it's called "Friend's Day" and everyone celebrates their friendships. So hyvää ystävänpäivää (happy friend day) to you!

I hit 100 today! Yea! On Thursday's Live call I reported that I had been stuck at 28 new subscribers over the past 28 days for a very long time but that stat started climbing over the last few weeks. This morning I discovered I have 100 new subscribers in the last 28 days for the first time ever. Total subscribers is 2,895. If you're not aware this is from middle panel of the Analytics Dashboard.