CLICKBAIT vs ATTENTION GRABBING

We see plenty of negative comments about clickbait then in the next breath read all the information about how important it is for your thumbnails to attract viewers and how you should put greater effort into this side of things to grow your channel. 

An Attention Grabbing thumbnail is our goal. That's an image and tagline of something directly related to the Episode content that attracts the eye and interest. It doesn't need to be the majority of the content but definitely be in there.

Clickbait to us is an image that has no or little relationship to the content, such as some extreme examples we've seen with G-String bikini on the bow shot when the episode is winter sailing and the entire crew is in foulies for the whole Episode. 

Here are some classic examples of photoshopped thumbnails. The first three of these thumbnails belong to the top four YouTube channels of all time. The fourth one is of course of the very popular sailing Channel SLV.

All thumbnails undergo some level of photoshopping – whether it involves enhancing colors, adding colorful text banners, framing the photo with colorful borders, incorporating items that were never originally in the photo shot and text that evokes emotion or curiosity.

In Learning By Doing’s latest Episode Thumbnail they have used a
number of elements we talk about below to perfect their thumbnail, which by no means is Clickbait 
You can watch Sailing Learning by Doing ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/learningbydoing

Just like anything in life, the more saturated things are — the more alive they appear to be. In order to bring life into images, people edit them with a favourable mix of color and brightness. Highlight an image with an outline or add a tone to the background that will make their thumbnails pop right out of the screen. These tactics can be done through many applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Pixlr, and PicMonkey. Creators spending time to make their thumbnails more animated, will stand out from the crowd get people intrigued to click on their videos because they can immediately tell that there is effort being put into the content. YouTubers who fuse a good balance of color and brightness to their thumbnails are not only learning a new skill, but drawing in more people with a style that is hard to resist.

Whether you realize or not, text can make or break a thumbnail. It is important to have words or phrases on top of your images because it instigates curiosity and creates drama. For example, you can have a title called “Insane Lie Detector Game…” and text such as “Did You Have Sex With My Ex?!” to bring intensity to the topic that you will discuss. Regardless if the truth is stretched or exaggerated, the text strengthens the thumbnail and encourages the viewer to click on the video. At the same time, you want to make sure your title and text are not completely misleading because it will backfire sooner than later. The text you put on your thumbnails needs to be provocative enough so that people click on it, but at the same time it should not place you in a bad light. One way or another, typing words or phrases in a certain fashion will bring in more viewers that can either benefit or sabotage your channel in ways you did not expect.

All of this is essentially a form of advertising.

And advertising is defined as - a means to capture the public's attention towards a product or service.

For a YouTube channel to thrive:

It must stand out to be noticed.

It needs watch time to thrive.

It requires subscribers for growth.

Without these elements, having a YouTube channel would be pointless.

The key question raised is, what is Clickbait and what defines Attention-Grabbing thumbnails?

Many argue that if a photoshopped thumbnail doesn't relate to the video content, it's considered Clickbait; however, if the thumbnail accurately reflects the episode, is it deemed Attention-Grabbing or is it still Click-Bait?

Here are two thumbnails from our great mates from Sailing SV Cordelia 
The first one is a set photo that they have taken 
The second is photoshopped. Which one if either is clickbait?
You can watch SV Cordelia ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/SVcordilia

In the case of the four thumbnails of the top YouTubers provided, none of them could be authentic photos; even David Attenborough couldn't have captured that many wild animals in one photo whilst navigating an uncharted River in Borneo, in the case of SLV photo.

Humans are drawn to dramatic stories - major news stories often involve disasters, fires, death and destruction. Mainstream media has conditioned viewers to seek excitement in their content. Clickbait headlines use sensational language to evoke curiosity or emotions to attract clicks, reads, and shares.

On YouTube, the currency is not "trust" like in traditional media formats; it's "entertainment." YouTube creators are in the entertainment industry. Without providing value or entertainment, viewers won't return, no matter how engaging the thumbnail is. Ultimately, the success of a YouTube channel is about retaining viewers with captivating content, irrespective of how they were initially drawn in by a thumbnail.

For us the proof is clearly there that sensational thumbnails draw attention and thus draw viewers, the content needs to keep them. We hope we're on the right track with this and the analytics for the first 24 hours of our latest episode are encouraging for our little channel. All we need to do now is come up with something as catchy for our next episode which won't feature any crocodiles unfortunately. 

And yes, of course it's Photoshoped. That's what the program's for. 😜😂😂 you can watch this episode ▶️ https://tinyurl.com/DreamtimeSailEp90

So why do YouTubers go to all this trouble. Is it for fame and fortune? 

(See our Blog ▶️ The Truth About Sailing YouTube Channels $$$$)

Success isn't always about money; it's sometimes about receiving positive comments, gaining subscribers, getting a thumbs-up, leaving a legacy for future generations  or simply knowing that you are learning skills and content is improving.

Thanks for catching our latest Blog, cheers R&K 

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We found paradise but we may never leave as our anchor is stuck solid. You can watch it here. 👉  http://tinyurl.com/DreamtimeSailEp87

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