Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

[Blog] Thumbnails (Patreon)

Published:
2024-08-06 19:04:22
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

I Wanna Be Melee Infantry and Orbital Artillery are, by far, my videos with the highest click-through rate, at 7% rather than the typical 5.6%.I suspect that Orbital Artillery is there because the name of the song and Dessy lookin hot. IWBMI, though, is probably the words on the thumbnail and the title, since the art isn't as engaging, I don't think. 🤔I need to get better at making text hooks on my thumbnails.Also, very surprising to me, is that Plight of the Artist has a below-average click through rate of just 5%. That blows my mind because the artwork is beautiful, so I'm ordering if it's the title that isn't working or what. Unlike my other videos, I didn't upload three separate thumbnails to test them.Assuming I finish Air Dominance, I'm already thinking about what a good thumbnail would look like. I also might need to find an artist that can draw the F-22 very well.I swear there was someone in here would emailed me a drawing of a tank that I was super impressed with. If you're in here, let me know. I suppose I could check my email, but that's all the way over there and I have a cat on my lap again.That's all for now.Much love, my lovelies 😘

Comments

Crowmy

Understandable that you can’t check mail when cat on lap. Has a lot of „writing roommates you could yell at to get stuff, but instead opt to write to not disturb the cat“ energy, and I’m here for it. 😄

Charli Morgan

Me too. It's doing bad. Like super bad. Worse than Spooder by a lot, somehow. I think I've been locked into high energy songs on YouTube. Good thing I have y'all to keep my fed so I can keep doing those 🤍

La Vida Awesome

I’m glad to hear the cats are taking good care of you!

Battle Order

The following is just some advice on thumbnails and content strategy but I have to start with *don't* be afraid of doing some content just for yourself. Yeah it might not be what a broad audience expects and will click on, but (1) Keeping the channel something you enjoy doing is important, (2) in the long-run consistency is more important than putting out banger after banger (views wise), and (3) Patrons are generally more motivated to stick around when anything is posted, even if it gets less views. But creators also have to adapt to the signals they're getting so the trend-line keeps going up or at least stays stable, so I'd say do 80% giving the audience "what they want" so to speak and 20% songs just for you. As for content strategy advice, I think part of it is probably songs like Melee Infantry, the Mecha themed ones and the Helldivers themed ones plug into pop culture topics or vibes that people who aren't familiar with you are already interested in or are prone to becoming interested in, whereas Plight of the Artist is more anchored on your own feelings. People can probably name a lot of songs about the sort of emotion in Plight of the Artist, but Melee Infantry/Lip Gloss & Lasers may be the only songs someone could name about a girly infantryman who is also part fighter jet going to war. The underlying concept is more novel and interesting at a glance. Thumbnails are very important but the topic being clickable is also important. Even if the content itself is "good" and well-produced when compared to other things in my content niche I can't get anyone to watch certain topics lol. If I were to breakdown the theme of the videos you gained most of your viewership from it'd probably be "Futuristic military grittiness juxtaposed with girliness", maybe a little NCD memeiness. You tapped into Helldivers a few months ago which kind of also plugs into a topic people already care about, but I would be very careful getting your brand tied to a specific IP (e.g. Helldivers) versus a theme (e.g. mechs, military memes, girly) because if that brand tanks then you tank. But you've already started to get away from Helldivers things tie-ins. Also what makes a performant thumbnail is kind of different than with other types of art/design. I find if I'm too hung up on making thumbnails look tasteful or slick from a design perspective or clever (like making a joke the audience has to think more than 0.5 seconds to get) they are less performant as thumbnails. Without looking at the views, to me Lip Gloss & Lasers, Orbital Artillery and Eagle 1 Re:Arm stand-out from a thumbnail perspective more than the rest of the catalog. Lip Gloss & Lasers especially because the art style is kind of grungy which is a cool juxtraposition with "Lip Gloss", it isn't generic, it is basically clear what the subject of is (some sort of future girl soldier), and it is simple. In Plight of the Artist's thumbnail, it's not exactly clear who that is, it's darker and a little more going on which could lead to it getting visually mixed in with the rest of a feed. Based on the height tickers on the wall I'm also guessing that the subject is getting their mugshot taken because they're metaphorically imprisoned by their craft and expectations? I could be wrong about that but if that is the intent that concept is not immediately apparent. You kind of have to treat the person clicking like they cannot read subtext since they might only be physically looking at your thumbnail for less than a second or in their peripheral. A way of "improving" it if the prison metaphor is actually a thing would be to have one of those mugshot sign boards with their name on it that they hold (maybe with your name on it in chalk instead of having your name off to the side?) and maybe replace the right part of the wall where the paper is pinned with jail bars or something like. Also, are the white semi-circles a branding thing you're trying out? I'd be kind of worried that they're adding busy-ness that makes the thumbnail concept harder to read (when in doubt go simpler). But that I'm not so sure about, would probably need a/b testing. If you need high-res pictures of an F-22 to edit, basically everything on DVIDS is public domain: https://www.dvidshub.net/search?q=f-22&view=grid If there is a situation where you can get away with not spending money, as a Youtuber you have to take those Hope this helps!

Battle Order

But you're also doing good though! It took me a little over a year to get the amount of subscribers you have now. In the long-run there ended up being a much larger audience out there interested in my content than 6.2k subscribers and I think the same is true for you too

RitalinGamer

I mostly just want to emphasize Battle Order's points. I'm a military nerd, so I found you through his channel. And I'm mostly here because you're maybe the only musician making such content - and straight up GREAT songs. Yes, Dessy being hot definitely helps (there's an entire religion around anime girls with cute little fangs) and your thumbnails are generally very good, but that's not why I keep playing these songs. I'll be honest, I haven't listened to your other stuff because I'm less interested in it. I'm willing to give it a shot, especially now. I've also been sick and down lately and something downbeat and emotional isn't what I want right now.

Charli Morgan

🥹 I don't know what to say other than thank you. I think I've moved away from Helldivers. I chose the topic strategically so I could have a built-in audience, but it was always my plan to move away from that. "Military-themed girly-pop" is probably where I'm going to stay for awhile since it's what gets me noticed. But yeah, thank you for this advice. I appreciate it a lot 🤍🤍🤍