You spent 10 hours editing your video, but you only spent 10 minutes on the thumbnail. This is the fastest way to kill your channel's growth. Here are the 5 deadly sins of thumbnail design you must avoid.

Always keep the bottom right corner empty. If you put your text there, it will be covered by the black time box.

Your Click-Through Rate (CTR) is one of the two most important metrics on YouTube (the other being Watch Time). Even if you have the best video in the world, it doesn't matter if nobody clicks on it. Here are 5 data-driven strategies to design thumbnails that get clicks.

1. The "Less is More" Text Rule

A common mistake is repeating the video title in the thumbnail. Don't do this. Instead, use the thumbnail text to complement the title.