As a YouTube creator, monetizing your channel opens up exciting revenue opportunities through ad displays. However, it’s crucial to maintain control over the types of ads appearing alongside your content. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the process of managing ads on your YouTube channel, ensuring they align with your values and audience expectations.

Accessing Ad Controls in YouTube Studio

To begin managing your ads, follow these steps:

1. Log into YouTube Studio
2. Click on “Earn” in the left sidebar
3. Select “Watch Page Ads”
4. Click “Manage” under ad categories

Blocking Specific Ads

YouTube Studio offers several ways to block unwanted ads:

URL Blocking

• Enter up to 500 specific URLs you wish to block
• Separate multiple URLs with commas
• Ideal for blocking ads from specific websites or competitors

Sensitive Categories

• Block entire categories like alcohol, gambling, or adult content
• Useful for maintaining a family-friendly channel or aligning with personal values

General Categories

• Block broader categories such as apparel, travel, or sports
• Helpful for tailoring ad content to your audience’s interests

Remember, blocking ad categories may impact your revenue potential,
so consider your choices carefully.

Ad Placement and Types

YouTube has streamlined ad placement for new long-form videos:

• Pre-roll, post-roll, skippable, and non-skippable ads are automatically included
• Mid-roll ad choices remain customizable for videos over 8 minutes

To adjust mid-roll ads:

1. Go to the “Content” tab in YouTube Studio
2. Click the “Details” icon for a specific video
3. Select “Monetization”
4. Review and adjust ad placements as needed

Checking Ad Suitability

During the upload process, you can verify your video’s ad suitability:

1. Look for options to rate your content for language, adult themes, etc.
2. Select “None of the above” if no issues apply
3. Click “Submit Rating”
4. YouTube will then scan for potential monetization restrictions

Disabling Personalized Ads

To turn off personalized ads:

1. Go to YouTube Studio settings
2. Select “Advanced Settings”
3. Under “Advertisements,” check “Disable Interest-Based Ads”
4. Save your changes

Note that this may reduce the number of ads eligible for your videos, potentially impacting revenue.

Joining the YouTube Partner Program

To fully control ads and earn revenue, you must join the YouTube Partner Program. Requirements include:

• 1,000 subscribers
• Either 4,000 valid public watch hours in the past year or
  10 million valid public Shorts views in the last 90 days

Once you’re a partner, you can toggle monetization on or off for individual videos. By mastering these ad control features, you can create a more tailored viewing experience for your audience while optimizing your revenue potential. Remember, the key is finding the right balance between ad revenue and content integrity that works best for your channel and viewers.

This short (see image below), currently ranks #1 on YouTube and has gotten over 75,000 views since it was published and still gets over 283 views every 48 hours.

Notice how my custom shorts thumbnail stands out from all the other shorts thumbnails. It’s also currently ranked on the first page of Google for “how to trim videos on your iPhone or iPad without an app”.

In the video below, I’ll show you how to choose a frame for your Shorts thumbnail when uploading it from your phone using the YouTube app. You’ll also learn how to add text and filters to your Shorts thumbnail after uploading it to YouTube. Later, we’ll look at the best practices of using this tool and how YouTube plans to improve it.

How to Select A Frame for Your Custoim Shorts Thumbnail

• Tap the YouTube app,
• tap the plus sign.
• Select short from the bottom menu.
• Tap add to add the shorts video from your phone.
• Select your video.
• Tap the check mark.
• Caption or title your short. “How to trim a video on your iPhone or iPad without an app.”
• Tap the pencil icon on top left hand corner to select the frame from your shorts video.
• Slide your finger along the bottom to select the frame.
• Add text, emojis and filters by tapping the icons on the thumbnail.
• Tap the text icon.
• Type your text.
• You can change the font by tapping at the top.
• You can add some background to it,
• you can also align it to the left or right.
• If you want to change the color, just tap on the colors, red, green, et cetera.
• If you want to enlarge the text, just move the slider up to enlarge it or move it down to shrink it.
• When you’ve finished adding the text, tap done.
• If you want to add a filter, tap the filter icon. You’ve got all these ones down here.
• I chose the “pop” filter so the colors pop
• When you’ve finished adding the filter, tap the check mark.
• If you want to remove the text, tap the text icon again.
• Tap on the text,
• tap the X on the keyboard
• tap done.
• When you’re happy with the thumbnail, tap the check mark.
• Select your visibility…public, unlisted, or private. I’m gonna select unlisted for now.
• Tap the back arrow,
• tap upload Short. It says, “now uploading to your videos, see video”
• Now you can see the videos uploading and being processed.
• If I tap shorts, then I can see my new shorts video with the custom shorts thumbnail.

Your custom shorts thumbnails will appear on YouTube Search, your channel pages, and even on hashtag pages.

Keep in mind, most viewers will discover YouTube shorts in the shorts feed while scrolling the YouTube app on their phones.

They won’t see your custom shorts thumbnail.

Most viewers found my shorts via external traffic source, which is mostly Google search.

My second highest traffic source was YouTube search, and my third highest traffic source was the shorts feed. Therefore, it makes sense to upload a custom shorts thumbnail so it stands out in the search engines and differentiates your thumbnail from your competitors.

If you go to your video details page and look under thumbnail, it says
“you can change the thumbnail on the YouTube mobile app”.

Currently, you can only edit your Shorts thumbnail after uploading it via the YouTube app. You can’t upload a Shorts thumbnail or customize it by selecting a frame using a desktop computer.

My recommendation is to design a Shorts thumbnail, then add it to your Shorts video during the creation process. You can then select that frame after you’ve uploaded it to YouTube.

Here’s what YouTube says about future improvements.

“Although Shorts thumbnails don’t display in the shorts feed where the majority of views come from, the goal of these features is to give creators more aesthetic control over their short across devices and shelves like home, subs and channel pages.

As a reminder, short thumbnails will only show on search, hashtag and audio pivot pages and on your channels. We’re exploring bringing additional functionality to shorts thumbnails next year, and we’re curious to better understand what you’d like. So leave us your thoughts in the comments. Specificity is appreciated.”

If you want to learn how to create clickable thumbnails that capture the attention of your viewers, watch this video right now titled “How to Create YouTube Thumbnails Viewers Can’t Ignore“

Are your thumbnails struggling to get clicks? 
You’re putting in the effort, but the views just aren’t coming in.

Today, I’m going to break down why your thumbnails aren’t working,
and more importantly, how to fix them fast.

Let’s get into it!

Cluttered Design

When your thumbnails are packed with too many words, images or graphics, viewers won’t know where to focus and they’ll click right past your video. You can fix this by simplifying your design.

Focus on a single clear focal point, whether it’s a face, product or action shot, and keep the text minimal. Limit your design to three main elements like a face, object and an arrow. This helps viewers quickly understand the thumbnails message.

Ignoring Contrast & Color

Colors that blend into each other aren’t going to grab anyone’s attention. Use bright contrasting colors that make your thumbnail pop.

For example, in this thumbnail I use the background gradient colors of purple and blue, so it stands out from my competitors.

Notice how I circle the text “Hindu Dubbed” in this video on “how to reach global audiences with YouTube dubbing”. By circling the text, it immediately draws viewers’ eyes to the thumbnail and makes them curious to want to find out the solutions.

Tiny or Hard To Read Text

Keep in mind, most viewers are viewing your thumbnails on a mobile device. Therefore, if they can’t see the text, they’re going to instantly click away. Stick with bold, simple fonts and keep the text large enough so it stands out on small screens. Also, don’t include too many words in your thumbnail because it’ll just look cluttered. Only include a maximum of up to three words, and sometimes you can even make a thumbnail without words.

For example, this video is titled “Five Surprising Mistakes, killing Your Audience Retention. How to Fix” The Words On the Thumbnail, say, “Fix It Now”, so it makes viewers curious to want to click and watch a video to find out the surprising mistakes.

Here’s a thumbnail that doesn’t use any text, but I use a red arrow to draw viewers’ attention to the object in the thumbnail.

Using Low Quality Images

If the images in your thumbnail are blurry or pixelated, it looks unprofessional and will turn viewers away. To fix this, always use high resolution images so your images are crisp and clean. I always design my thumbnails with a image size of 1920 pixels wide and 1080 pixels high, and with a resolution of 72 pixels per inch. The minimal thumbnail image size to use on YouTube is 1280 pixels wide by 720 pixels high.

For example, Peter McKinnon uses high contrast and vibrant photography. These closeup shots and dramatic lighting help capture viewers’ attention and convey professionalism.

Lack of Emotional Appeal

Emotions are processed faster than rational thought. Therefore, make a thumbnail that evokes an emotional response so it instantly connects with the viewers causing it to click.

One way to do this is to include your face in a thumbnail. It could be smiling or surprised. Displaying these kind of emotions in your thumbnail can help trigger viewer engagement.

Tell A Story

Designing thumbnails that tell a story is a powerful way to capture your viewer’s attention and entice them to click and watch your video.

Here’s a thumbnail I used for a video on how to hack proof your YouTube channel. By just including the one word “HACKED” in the thumbnail, it motivates viewers to want to click and watch the video.

Here’s a thumbnail I used for a video titled “How I ranked a video on the first page of YouTube for multiple keywords” Showing how the number of views increased on my thumbnail,  makes viewers curious to want to find out the solution.

Here’s a thumbnail I used for a video on “how to find hidden content gaps on YouTube” Including the text HIDDEN CONTENT with a red arrow pointing down between two mountainsides makes you as curious to want to check out the content. 

In this video from Mr. Beast titled “Men and Woman Survive the Wilderness for $500,000,”  the thumbnail tells a story comparing men and woman. Doesn’t the thumbnail make you curious to want to hear his story?

Misleading Thumbnails

Creating misleading thumbnails may be good for clickbait, but will hurt your channel in the long run. If you promise something outrageous or incredible in your thumbnail that’s unrelated to the content in your video, it’ll be a big let down for your viewers.

Misleading thumbnails are the classic bait and switch tactic. They might get the click once, but will turn off your viewers to want to keep coming back for more of your content. Make sure your thumbnail is a true reflection of your video content so when they click on the thumbnail, they’ll get the content they deserve. Try to capture the most interesting moment in your video and use that in your thumbnail.

No Focal Point

If you don’t have a single focal point on your thumbnail, it’ll make it more difficult for your viewers to take action. Decide on an eye-catching element such as a face or product, and build a thumbnail around it.

For example, in this thumbnail from Marcus Brownley, the focal point is the Dyson product that he’s holding up to his ear. Adding an arrow and having a contrasting background immediately draws your attention to the product.

In this video from Mr. Beast titled “I Survived 50 Hours in Antarctica”, he uses bold and contrasting colors to draw viewers attention to the thumbnail. Obviously, the main focal point in the thumbnail is himself because he’s the main character in the video.

Not Optimized For Mobile Viewing

Most creators, including myself, designed the thumbnails on a large computer screen, however, when a viewer views that thumbnail on a small device, it can look very different.

Before you upload your new thumbnail, make sure the elements on the thumbnail are clear and readable on a smaller screen so the text and images are not lost.

For example, I used large bold text on this thumbnail, so it not only can easily be viewed on a computer, but also on a smaller screen like a phone.

Inconsistent Branding

If your thumbnails don’t have a recognizable style, viewers won’t connect them to your channel. For example, on my channel, I always include my face in the thumbnail, so viewers immediately recognize which channel it comes from, even if they view the thumbnail in the search engines, suggested videos, or on the home screen.

Try to develop a consistent style across all the thumbnails on your channel. Use similar fonts, colors, and design elements for all your thumbnails. This will help build your brand and make your videos instantly recognizable.

If you rely on a single thumbnail design, it can limit the potential of your video. For example, when I first started my channel, I created thumbnail designs that I thought were great, but were actually horrible because they didn’t win the click. I kept using the same designs, then wondered why I didn’t see an increase in traffic to my videos.

Albert Einstein said:
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.” 

That was exactly what I was doing. 

When I changed the design of my thumbnails from thiS, to this (see image below), I saw a huge increase in traffic to my videos. I also used the a/b thumbnail testing feature from TubeBuddy to see which thumbnail resonated best with my audience.

You can now use the free. test and compare thumbnail tool from YouTube to test up to 3 different designs for your videos.

Watch this video right now to learn how to MASTER YouTube’s
Test and Compare thumbnail feature in minutes.

You’ll be glad you did!

Do you want to maximize the views to your videos? 

In the video below, you’ll learn how to master YouTube’s test and compare  feature in minutes.

Here’s what you’ll learn…
How it works,
The eligibility requirements,
How to use it to get the best results
How to read the test results
Pros and cons of using the thumbnail test and compare feature.

How It Works
– Click on content in YouTube studio
– select the video that you wish to test.
Testing is only available for public long form videos and the testing begins once you publish the video. 
– Hover over your thumbnail, then click on options. 
– Select test and compare. You can  upload up to 3 images to learn which one viewers prefer.

YouTube will show you 3 thumbnails evenly across your videos audience, then select your winning thumbnail, based on which one generates the most watch time share.

Here are my 3 images for this video. YouTube will see which thumbnail performs the best.
Wait up to 2 weeks for the results. 

Viewers will see the winning thumbnail because YouTube automatically updates your video when the test is done.

Later, I’ll show you the test results and the pros and cons of using this test and compare feature.

What if you don’t have the feature yet? 
Here are the eligibility requirements to use the test and compare feature.

• It’s currently only available on computers through the YouTube studio, so you can’t use it for Shorts thumbnails.
  
• You need to enable advanced features to be eligible.
  
  Here’s how to check if you have advanced features enabled.
  – Click on settings,
  – click on channel,
  – click on feature eligibility.
  Make sure you have advanced features enabled.
  
  Here are all the options you get with advanced features,
  including test and compare different thumbnails.
  
  – You can test thumbnails on public long form videos and even podcasts.
  – You cannot test thumbnails if your videos are made for kids, mature audiences or are set to private, therefore, make sure your videos are set to public to use this feature.
  – When your test results are ready, they’ll be available in your YouTube studio.
  
  You can view them by going to your content page, then selecting the video where you’ve run the test. Hover over the details page. Hover over the 3 dots that are on your thumbnail where it says options. Click on that. Click “view test report”.
  
  You can also view your results in analytics.
  
  – Click on analytics,
  – click on the reach tab and here are your thumbnail test results.
  – I could redo the test by uploading 3 different thumbnails or just choose the
  best thumbnail that I think performs the best.
  – Keep in mind, you can test a new video or run the test on an existing video. It’s up to you.

Here’s my test and compare report that tested these 3 different thumbnails.

• Thumbnail 1 got 32.4%, watch time share.
• Thumbnail 2 got 45% watch time share,
• Thumbnail 3 got 22.6 watch time share.
  Because the test results were so close to each other, YouTube says the test finished
  without a conclusive result, so they chose the first thumbnail.

If there’s a statistically significant result, you see the winner label, YouTube will
automatically update your video to this winner.

If you see a preferred label, it means results were not statistically significant, but there was a thumbnail that performed slightly better.

If there’s no clear winner out of the 3 thumbnails that you’ve uploaded to your video, as in my case, YouTube will select the first thumbnail and show it to your audience.

The winning results may take up to a few days or 2 weeks to be finalized.

How’s the winning thumbnail selected? 
YouTube selects the thumbnail that generated the highest share of your videos watch time. Watch time refers to how long your viewers were engaged on your video. The longer the better.

Why didn’t my video have a clear winner? 
Here are 3 reasons why YouTube didn’t select a clear winner.

• There was minimal difference between thumbnails. There was not much difference in design between the 3 thumbnails, so there’s not a measurable impact on the video performance. To remedy this, upload thumbnails that have very different designs. For example, you can upload a thumbnail with a face and one without a face.
  
  You can also try different backgrounds and colors. 
  
• Not enough impressions. If your video doesn’t generate a sufficient amount of impressions, then you may not receive a clear winner. If it gets a higher number of views, it’s more likely that a winner will be selected.

Why is watch time share used? 
A great thumbnail doesn’t just get viewers to click. It also helps viewers understand what the video is about so they can make an informed decision about what to watch. When selecting a thumbnail based upon watch time share, the winning thumbnail gets viewers to both click and to stay to watch the video.

Pros & Cons of Thumbnail Test & Compare Tool

Pro 
Free and as available to all creators.
Con
It takes longer to upload 3 different thumbnails.

Pro
YouTube will select a winning thumbnail.

Cons
If your video doesn’t get a high number of impressions, YouTube won’t select a clear winner.
If the designs are similar across all 3 thumbnails, you may not get a clear winner.

Pro
Easily upload thumbnails from your computer.

Cons
This feature is currently only available on computers through YouTube Studio.
You cannot test thumbnails on videos that are set made for kids, mature audiences, or set to private. 

Pro
The more your thumbnails differ or get a high number of impressions, the faster your thumbnail test will finish.

Con 
The winning results may take a few days or up to two weeks to be finalized.

Pro
Evaluating winning thumbnails by watch time share will best support creators growth. 

Con
3rd party tools like TubeBuddy often optimize solely for click-through rate, which may determine a different winning thumbnail than measuring for watch time share.

My recommendation

• Use this test and compare feature from YouTube since it’s free and available to everyone.
• When you upload 3 thumbnails that have different designs. YouTube will select the winning thumbnail that’s generated the highest share of video watch time. 
• By selecting the thumbnail based upon watch time share, your winning thumbnail is the one that gets viewers to click and to stay and watch your video.

Watch this video on “5 game changing tips that will increase your click-through rate: #3 will shock you!

In the video below, I’m going to show you 10 ways that Mr. Beast, who has the number one channel on YouTube and almost 300 million subscribers, keeps viewers watching his videos and gets over 80% audience retention rate.

His latest video is titled, “I Built 100 Houses and Gave Them Away”, and it currently has 68 million views at the time of recording this content. As you can see, most of his videos get over 150 million views within a few weeks.

How does Mr Beast keep viewers watching? 

Start with a strong hook
If 70% of your viewers or more are still watching your video in the first 30 seconds, there’s a high probability they’ll watch the rest of the video. Here’s an example from Mr. Beast’s video.

“In this video, we are building and giving away 100 houses”.

When you make your next video, start with a strong hook, such as asking a question, making a bold statement or teasing about what’s coming up later in the video,

Emotional Connection
Mr. Beast makes an emotional connection with the audience by telling a story of how he gave away a hundred houses to very poor people in poor countries. This was their reaction.

“Take off your blindfolds and turn around. Behind you is your brand new Home” .

Try to make an emotional connection with your audience by telling your own personal story related to the content of your video.

Preview what’s coming up later
If you preview what’s coming up later in your video, it’ll motivate viewers to keep watching the video to find out the answers. Here’s an example from Mr. Beast’s Video.

“With every single home we’re building in this video, we’re improving quality of life for families who don’t have a safe space to call home, and we spent millions of dollars just on this video building these houses”.

One of the easiest ways to preview what’s coming up later in your video is to create a listicle video. For example, you could list the main points that are going to be covered later in the video.

Use Cliffhangers
A cliffhanger is a situation or part of a play or movie that is very exciting or frightening because you are left for a long time not knowing what will happen next. Here’s an example of how Mr. Beast uses a cliffhanger in his video to keep viewers engaged.

“You are about to witness a family that lives in this house go to living in this house, and I cannot wait to see the look on their faces”.

Think about how you can include a cliffhanger in your own videos so it’ll motivate viewers to keep watching the video. Here’s another example of a cliffhanger used in Mr. Beast video,

“While walking through their new home, we realized they didn’t even know their house was free yet. Oh, you haven’t told ’em it’s free. No, no. Yeah, tell ’em it’s free.”

Add curiosity hooks
Curiosity Hooks are similar to the Strong Hook used in the first 30 seconds of your video, but you can use them throughout your video such as this example from Mr. Beast.

“But of course, this was just the beginning. We were able to build home after home for families in Jamaica, and we weren’t going to stop until we had built 100 houses”.

One way to add a curiosity hook in your own videos is to tease a valuable insight or solution, such as “By the end of this video, you’ll learn one trick that professionals use to engage their audience.” 

Include a subplot
A plot contains the essential elements of a story, whereas a subplot contains extra elements that add interest and depth. Here’s an example clip from Mr. Beast’s Video.

“Come over here. I have something way better than just a picture. Can you ask him if he wants to play football with me?

Yeah.

Well, that’s convenient because not only are we giving this community houses, but we’re also giving them this giant soccer field.” 

Mr Beast includes multiple subplots throughout his video to maintain viewer’s interest. I’ll   place a link to his video in the description.

Keep viewers surprised
If you keep stacking value in the video by keeping them surprised, it will inspire them to keep watching, such as in this example,

“And this got me thinking. While giving away all these houses, I noticed a lot of people were struggling with transportation and I’m gonna solve it with this truck. Open it up. We’ve got bicycles for every single kid in this village.”

Think about how you can include a surprise factor in your video so you can wow your audience.

Higher Purpose
This is what Mr. Beast says on the about page on his channel…

“I give away money because it makes me happy”. Instead of keeping the millions of dollars he makes from his YouTube channel for himself, he gives it away by helping others.”

Do you have a higher purpose for your own videos rather than just making them for yourself? 

Impactful Ending
How you finish presenting your content will determine if viewers will stay watching a video to the end as shown in this example from Mr. Beast

“And finally, house 100, take your blindfolds off and look at your new home”.

You probably won’t be able to create as high impact as Mr. Beast within your own videos because he has a whole team working for him and uses high production graphics

“I say used to because a tornado destroyed it.”

You can add a strong ending to your video by encouraging viewers to watch a related video. This will increase your viewing session on YouTube, which increases the probability of your video being recommended by YouTube.

Connect with viewers
YouTube is a social media platform, so it’s important to connect with your viewers in your videos so you can keep them engaged and keep them coming back for more of your content. Here’s how Mr. Beast. does it.

“Shout out to you guys because obviously if you didn’t watch these videos, we wouldn’t have been able to build a hundred houses, and if the channel continues to grow, I hope to do a thousand in the future.”

Here are the 10 ways Mr. Beast keeps viewers watching his videos and gets over 80% audience retention rate.

Watch this video for “5 surprising mistakes, killing your retention rate and how to fix it.” 

61% of viewers are still watching this video around the 30 second mark, which is above typical.

How did I achieve that? 

If over 60% of your viewers are still watching your video after 60 seconds, there’s a higher probability they’ll keep watching your video all the way through.

Here are 5 tips to make your YouTube Videos more engaging

1. Strong Hook

Some of the ways you can use a strong hook at the beginning of your video is by…
– asking a question
– making a bold statement
– teasing about what’s coming up later in the video
– telling a story.

Here’s an example of a strong hook where over 61% of the viewers were still watching after 30 seconds.

“When I first upload a video, it often only gets a few views, but a few days later, the views skyrocket due to ranking in browse features. How does this happen?”

Use curiosity hooks throughout your video
For example, you could ask a provocative question, such as, “Have you ever wondered why some videos go viral while others don’t?” 

You could present a surprising statistic such as, “Did you know that 80% of people never finished the videos they started watching…here’s how to keep your viewers hooked” 

You can also tease a valuable insight or solution such as “By the end of this video, you’ll learn one trick that professionals use to engage their audience.” 

2. Use Visuals

No one wants to watch a boring video, so if you reset the attention of your viewers every 20 seconds or so using visuals, it helps keep them engaged. You can use pattern interrupts such as props, graphics, transitions, change camera angles, or change scenes.

3. Study Audience Retention Graph

If you click on the engagement tab for an individual video in YouTube analytics, you will see the key moments for audience retention.

• You’ve got the intro where people are still watching around the 30 second mark.
• You’ve got the top moments where viewers are watching for longer than usual. 
• Spikes appear when more viewers are watching, rewatching or sharing moments of your video.
• Dips in your video means viewers are abandoning or skipping certain parts of your video.

When you make your next video, try to eliminate the dips and get more spikes. Ideally, you want to keep viewers engaged all the way through your video.

How to view the key moments for audience retention for the videos
on your channel over the last 365 days. 

• Click on analytics in YouTube studio.
• Under the content tab, select videos.
• Scroll down to where it says “Key moments for audience retention.
• It’s got above typical intros and below typical intros.
• On the right, you’ve got the intro, top moments, spikes and dips.
• If you click on “top moments”, it’ll show the videos with the top moments for audience retention.
• If I click on spikes, it shows my top video with the largest spikes.
• If I click on dips, it’ll show all the videos that got dips for audience retention.
• I can also see how viewers find my videos and also the top videos on my channel that got the most traffic.

When you study audience  retention data in YouTube analytics, you’ll be able to identify what needs to be improved and what needs to be rejected so you can make a better video in the future.

4. Engage with your viewers while they’re watching your content

When you engage with your viewers while they’re watching the content, it’ll help you make your content more interactive.

For example, you can ask a question in your video, “What method do you use to keep viewers engaged…let me know on the comments below?” 

You can also encourage real time interactions, such as “If you find this video helpful, hit the like button and share it with your friends” 

You can also respond to viewers’ comments. For instance, “Last week I asked you about the best camera settings… here’s my answer” 

5. Storytelling

When you include stories in your video, it helps make a deeper connection with your audience.

For example, here’s how I use visual storytelling to make a video on 5 powerful ways to film a cinematic biking video.

“Recently, I biked the Kaikoura Coastal Trail on the east coast of the south island of New Zealand. It takes you along the coast, through native bush, along rivers and across back country roads while giving you picturesque views of the mountains. Watch this video to the end to learn 5 powerful ways on how to film a cinematic biking video as a solo creator.” I’ll include a link to this video in the description.”

What if you can’t break through your creative blocks to find fresh, creative video ideas? 
Watch this video right now for “10 creative ways to find inspiration for your next YouTube video”.

Do you struggle to create new videos that your audience is interested in? 

The new inspiration tab, formerly called the research tab, can help you think of new video ideas your viewers want to watch.

It’ll also save you time by creating an outline for your next video.

Let me show you how to get to the inspiration tab and how it works.

• Click on analytics after you’ve logged into your YouTube channel,
• Click on inspiration. You’ll see…
  get ideas for your next video,
  what people are looking for,
  new ideas to inspire you
  make a short.

Later, I’ll show you how to access the inspiration tab from your phone.

Let’s look at “Get Ideas for your next video”.
Enter a search term under “Get Ideas for your next video.
I entered “YouTube Algorithm”.
Hit return on your Computer.
Under YouTube algorithm, it says “Your viewer’s interest in related topics in the last 28 days”.
If I click the heart symbol, it’ll show me similar topics on my feed.
If I click the 3 dots, I can save the topic, not interested, report or get help.
Under similar ideas, I’ve got..
– how to optimize your videos for search engine rankings,
– tips for optimizing your videos for the algorithm,

If I click refresh, I get even more similar ideas.
If I scroll down, it shows what type of videos people are watching for this particular keyword phrase.
If I click “show all”, it’ll show all the videos that people are currently watching for that particular topic.
If I click on videos, it’ll show all the videos that people are currently watching based upon the keyword phrase “YouTube algorithm”.

For example, this video from Think Media has currently 62,000 views.
This video from VideoIQ currently has 3.7 million views.

Instead of copying the title and content for any of these videos, come up with your own title and content, so your video is unique and stands out from your competitors.

For example, here’s a couple of videos I created on the YouTube algorithm that currently rank on the first page of Google.

If I click on Shorts under the what people are watching then I can see all the top shorts videos for that particular keyword  phrase…. “YouTube algorithm”.

For example, this shorts video made three years ago has 3.4 million views, whereas this video made six months ago has 2.3 million views. I can then study all the top shorts videos to get inspiration for my own shorts video. It also shows me the top searches for this topic, how to break YouTube algorithm, how to check YouTube algorithm, how the YouTube algorithm works.

If I click show all, I’ve got all the top searches for this topic. If I click “content gaps”, it’ll show me topics that I can make new videos on.

What do content gaps mean? 

A content gap happens when viewers can’t find enough quality search results on YouTube for that particular search. You can use content gaps as inspiration for content that doesn’t exist or needs to be improved. A content gap happens when viewers can’t find any results for their searches, they can’t find an exact match for their searches, they can’t find relevant videos for their searches because the videos are too old or of low quality.

The create outline feature included in the inspiration tab can help you quickly generate an outline for your next video. Keep in mind the outline feature on the inspiration tab can only be accessed from a computer, not from mobile devices.

Here’s how the “Create Outline” feature works.

• Enter a topic in the search bar. 
• I entered get more views on YouTube.
• If you want to create an outline, just click create outline,
• Here’s a quick outline,
  – 3 ways to check YouTube video SEO.
  – Check your videos title, description and  tags.
  – Learn how to improve your YouTube video SEO.
  – Get more views on YouTube videos.
  – Improve your YouTube channel rankings.
  – Learn how to use YouTube SEO to grow your channel.
• Copy the outlines so you can use it for your next video.

Keep in mind, this is AI generated content, so it’s going to vary in quality, but I highly recommend adding a personal touch to make it unique.

Here’s how to get to the inspiration tab from your phone

• Tap the YouTube studio app, tap analytics.
• You’ve got Explore Topics, top searches, recent videos, and content gaps for Shorts.
• Enter your search topic. 
• Under “Get more YouTube views” I’ve got recent audience activity, searched on YouTube and watched on YouTube.

If you need more ways to find fresh, creative ideas to overcome your creative blocks, watch this video on titled “10 Creative Ways to Find Inspiration For Your Next YouTube Video”