Top 7 Best Thumbnail Makers Apps for YouTube Videos

An attention-getting thumbnail on your YouTube video can make all the difference in the world regarding whether a viewer clicks on your video or scrolls right on by. However, if you don’t have the best skills when it comes to graphic design, how are you supposed to create them? The best way, of course, is to use a thumbnail maker app. 

These apps can help you create amazing thumbnail images for your videos that will increase your views and subscribers. The best part is, you don’t need fancy, complicated graphic design software or design skills to create them. 

You’re probably wondering if thumbnails really make that big of a difference. The short answer is yes, they do. In this article, we’ll explain why you need great YouTube thumbnails as well as a few best practices for YouTube thumbnails. After that, we’ll start talking about the top 7 best thumbnail makers apps for YouTube videos. 

Finally, if you have not already created your YouTube channel- what exactly is it that you’re waiting for? At the end of the article, we’ll explain how you can get started with setting up your channel so you can share your knowledge with the world. 

Why Do You Need a Great YouTube Thumbnail? 

Though we’re taught from a young age that we should never judge a book by it’s cover, people still do. This is why thumbnails are so important. Your thumbnail is your first- and in some cases, only- chance to catch the attention of your potential viewers. Therefore, it’s important that your thumbnail is engaging and shows people what your video is about. 

Since YouTube is a video platform, the visuals are what matters. Sure, there are some videos that are basically a voice-over on top of a presentation- but those also need to be visually appealing or educational if they expect to get views. 

Your thumbnail is your video’s “cover”. This cover needs to grab the attention of potential viewers so they click on your video instead of your competitors. 

Best Practices for YouTube Video Thumbnails

If you want to increase your views on YouTube, here are a few best practices to keep in mind. The thumbnail on your YouTube video is just as important as the title for getting viewers to stop and click on your video. Of course, a quality thumbnail and title are not done in lieu of a quality video- but in conjunction with. If your content is high quality, it deserves high quality thumbnails and titles. This will get you more viewers. 

Following are 4 best practices that will help you make your thumbnails work for you. 

Make it Simple 

You don’t want to write a summary of your video on the thumbnail because they are so small. Keep in mind that most of the views on YouTube come from mobile devices, which means your thumbnails will be that much smaller. In order to neutralize that, you should avoid including a lot of text on your thumbnail. 

Many creators will put the full title of their video on the thumbnail, but ideally, you should try to condense it to the important words over an image or background. 

Make it Relevant 

YouTube is just like other search engines, it rewards content that answers questions of users. Therefore, your video thumbnail needs to be relevant to your video and should include keywords that communicate important information to your viewers. 

Your thumbnail is there to encourage potential viewers to click- but if you don’t provide what you’ve promised, your bounce rates will increase. This will result in YouTube ranking your video lower. 

Make it High Contrast 

If you really want to snag the attention of potential viewers, you want to use high contrast colors. Don’t use black, white, or red because those blend in with the branding of YouTube. Instead, in order to make your videos stand out, you’ll want to use yellow, blue, orange, and green. Consider searching your target keyword and then use a color that is contrasting to what your competitors are using. 

Make Sure it’s Branded 

Since you don’t have much room, you might be tempted to not put your logo on your thumbnails. However, you don’t want to do this. Including your logo will boost your brand awareness. Ideally, you should include your logo in such a way that you can tell it’s there, but not in your face. 

Consider adding your logo to one of the corners of your video. Avoid the lower right, as it would be covered by the video length. You can check your YouTube analytics if you want to measure the impact of these best practices. 

Top 7 Best Thumbnail Makers Apps for YouTube Videos 

Now that you have a better idea of why you need a thumbnail and some best practices for creating your YouTube video thumbnail, let’s look at the top 7 best apps for creating thumbnails for YouTube videos. 

Canva 

One of the absolute best online graphic design tools is Canva. This tool includes templates that make it easy to create professional YouTube thumbnails, whether you have experience with design or not. 

You can use Canva for all of your graphic design needs. This tool contains more than 1 million images, photos, templates, fonts and graphics and an easy-to-use drag and drop interface. 

While it’s free to use Canva, there are some paid elements such as clip art and certain sock photos, which are clearly marked with dollar signs ($). If you would rather, you can purchase the Pro version for $120 per year. 

Adobe Spark 

Adobe spark provides customizable thumbnail templates for YouTube videos that can be used to quickly create amazing thumbnails. There is no charge for using the pre-made thumbnail layouts and there’s even a category specifically for thumbnails. While it’s true that some of the features might be basic. Adobe Spark does allow the addition to custom text, backgrounds, and colors, as well as other elements to make your thumbnails stand out. If you wish, there is a premium plan available for $100/year. 

Fotor 

Fotor features amazing tools for creating thumbnails that allow you to start from a well-designed template that you can customize until you’re happy with it. The interface is really simple and easy to use, providing you with everything you need to create attention-grabbing thumbnails. Fotor also includes design and text elements, such as stickers and emojis to create modern-looking thumbnails. 

This app is free to use- but there is a $40/year option that will provide you with more features and will take away the ads. 

Snappa 

This is an online YouTube thumbnail maker that features gorgeous templates, a variety of high-res images, and everything else you can think of that you might need to create thumbnail images that viewers will want to click on. 

This tool is easy to use and versatile, which means it’s a great choice for those that have little to no experience with graphic design. The options for creating your thumbnails are almost endless. You can start from scratch, add custom backgrounds, add custom fonts and add other design elements as desired. 

There is a free and paid version for Snappa as well. You’ll get all you need with the free version- but if you wish, you can pay $120/year to access additional features. 

Visme 

This is another tool for creating YouTube thumbnails that is easy to read. This drag-and-drop platform features a variety of templates. You can edit the entire template, including: size, shape, and location. 

If you wish, you can bring in new sections from the panel on the left, including graphics, custom text, and icons. You’ll also find that it’s easy to apply your existing color scheme to match your branding. 

Visme does offer a free plan, but that is limited to 5 projects. After that, the pricing is tiered, based on how it’s being used: personal, individual, educational. The paid plans start at $168/year. 

Creatocopy 

This YouTube thumbnail editor provides you with all the tools you need to create attention-grabbing thumbnails that will stop potential viewers and encourage them to click to learn more. The templates on Creatocopy were built by professional designers, so they are gorgeous.

In addition, you can customize them as needed to mesh with your brand.

Creatocopy does offer a free version, but this is limited to 3 designs. You can subscribe to the platform starting at $17/month, which is billed annually. 

Fotojet 

Finally, Fotojet is another incredible tool for making YouTube thumbnails. This tool not only provides you with everything you need to create amazing thumbnails, it also provides the ability to make collages, edit photos, and do some graphic design. 

This tool features over 500 templates for YouTube thumbnails. Users have the ability to rotate, resize, and crop images, as well as add filters. This all comes with an easy-to-use interface that can be used without signing up. 

Once again, there is a free plan, but there are also paid plans as well. Fotojet Plus will cost you approximately $40/year. 

Create Your YouTube Channel 

Now that you know how to create your YouTube video thumbnail, let’s take a look at how to create your YouTube channel. After all, he already know what videos you’re planning to make an the covers you’re going to make for them. You just need a place that you can host them.

If you don’t already have a YouTube channel, what are you waiting for? YouTube has more than two billion viewers each month. This is a huge potential fan base that you can only tap into by creating your YouTube channel and sharing your videos.

Of course, even though YouTube is a video-only platform, there is still a lot that can be done by creating videos. However, there’s more to being successful on YouTube than creating a channel and posting videos. This process does take some time and effort- but as long as you have some guidance, you’ll be able to get it done. Following are 7 tips for creating and running a successful YouTube channel. 

Basics of Creating Your YouTube Channel 

If you already have a Google account, you won’t need to create a separate YouTube account. Simply use your Google credentials to sign into YouTube. On the other and, if you don’t have an account, you’ll need to create your account by clicking “Sign-up”. 

Before you do anything else, you’ll be prompted to fill in your information, choose a name, add a cover photo, etc. You’ll also introduce yourself and your brand, as well as the content that users can expect to find on your platform in the “About” section. 

Take Time to Research 

Before you start creating your content, you need to first \ determine who it is that you are targeting. This is the reason it is critical to do some research and learn more about your target audience.

Though your channel might be new, you can find these insights from your other social media platforms. For example, your website can provide lots of information about your customers and what they prefer. You can also gain valuable information from your social media sites that you can use for your YouTube channel. 

Plan/Upload Content 

Many people don’t realize it, but there’s a lot of time that is spent in the creation of content for YouTube. There’s much more to it than simply posting random videos. You need to make sure that you choose the type of videos that you’ll make for your audience. 

Additionally, consider planning ahead and creating a content calendar/content pipeline outlined. This will help make sure that you don’t run out of ideas and have posts that you can make on a regular basis. It will also help you avoid last minute challenges and make your life that much easier. 

Optimize Titles/Descriptions 

In addition to being a platform for sharing videos, YouTube is also the world’s biggest video search engine. In order to optimize your YouTube channel for keywords, you need to maintain good SEO. 

Since your content is video only, the titles and descriptions are the best place to use keywords. Your primary keyword should be in your title. A video title should be short, relevant, and catchy. 

Additionally, the descriptions of your videos should be optimized for keywords. Since the character limit is higher, you can add primary and secondary keywords. Here are some tips for optimizing your video descriptions: 

• Write descriptions that describe your video in a clear, precise manner that will attract viewers
• Avoid revealing too much information- make people curious so they want to watch the video
• Make sure that you’re using long-tail keywords, since that’s typically what people type in when they search for something
• Using hashtags in your video descriptions will help categorize your videos and improve your SEO. 
• Make your description mobile-friendly and easy to read by keeping sentences and paragraphs short. 
• Descriptions can be used to direct viewers to other resources by adding a URL. 
• Include your website link in the description to direct people to your website. 

Incorporate Your Website and Other Social Media Accounts 

Most businesses will not stop after they create a YouTube channel and start getting subscribers. There’s more to their business strategy than that. Social media is simply a tool for achieving your larger marketing goals of increasing traffic and sales. 

Therefore, you must find creative ways to direct your viewers to your other platforms, including your website. You can do this by adding links to your “About” section or place links to your products/services in your descriptions. 

You can also consider embedding your profile links in your right cover image in the form of social sharing buttons. 

Another option is to add links at the end of your videos in the form of a CTA. 

Use Other Platforms to Cross-Promote your YouTube Videos 

Creating great content does not guarantee success. You can have the most amazing YouTube channel in your niche- but if you don’t promote it, people won’t even know about it. In order to expand the reach of your videos and increase views, it’s a good idea to cross promote your videos on other platforms. 

Analyze Your Performance 

Finally, take some time to review your analytics and analyze what is working and what is not. The analytics will provide you some insight into your audience, including demographics and interests. 

Additionally, you’ll receive information regarding the keywords that your videos are ranking for. This will help you with your SEO strategy. 

The more understanding you have about your audience and account performance, the better you can perform in the future. A successful YouTube channel takes time and effort. The more you tweak your strategy, the better you will perform in the future. 

Conclusion 

While we’re taught that we should never judge a book by it’s cover, we still do. Your YouTube video thumbnail is the cover for your video. This is what will either get the attention of your potential viewers or make them keep scrolling.

While it’s true that you can create your own thumbnails from scratch on the website, there are several tools that you can use to help you. Most of them are free- at least for a certain period of time. These will help you to create high-quality thumbnails. 

Of course, if you don’t have a YouTube channel, there’s no point in creating thumbnails- so follow the steps provided here to create your channel today.