Of course, five years ago, if you asked me ‘How are your thumbnails doing?” I would naturally reply, “Well, I don’t bite them as much because I use the nail clipper.”

If eyes are the windows to a person’s soul then YouTube thumbnails are the store front to a Macy’s department store, that made sense right? Thumbnails are the first image seen on YouTube.com. It’s important that you make every effort on your thumbnail to stand out and be intriguing because you literally have split seconds to capture a potential viewer.

First: Know your measurements! YouTube thumbnails pixel size is 1280 x 720. What does that mean?

Second: It means to use a photo editing software, like Adobe Photoshop and make the background to that size. Do not use YouTube’s self-created thumbnails where it gives you three random clips to choose from.

Third: Captures a story. Does your thumbnail look intriguing? Desire more answers? Have high contrast resolution and sharpness image? Can I see the whites of the eyes of a person on the thumbnail? If you said yes to all these then…you have a good thumbnail!

Stay tuned to the next issue of Hmong Times where I show the importance of title.