Transforming Your Channel URL: Step-by-Step Instructions

How to Find and Change Your YouTube Channel URL – Super Easy

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

In order to properly market your page on YouTube for sharing across social media, it is essential that you find your YouTube channel URL. How else can you share your channel? In this article, we are trying to give you a thorough understanding of the YouTube Channel URL and tell you how to get the custom channel URL.

Types of YouTube Channel URL

ID-based URL

YouTube channel URL of this type is based on your channel ID, which consists of numbers and letters. This is the URL of the universal form. For example, “youtube.com/channel/specific YouTube channel ID”.

You can find the YouTube channel URL of this kind by the following steps.

1. Sign in to Youtube.com and click on your profile icon.
2. Select Your Channel.
3. Find the URL on the address bar of your browser. This is exactly the ID-based URL or the standard URL of your channel.

Legacy username URL

Legacy username URL was used by YouTube in the past. If you created your channel in the early days of YouTube, the URL for your channel might contain the username at the end. Although YouTube doesn’t apply username to forming channel URL anymore, you can still use this URL to direct to Your channel. But you should note that the exiting username can’t be changed even if you have changed your channel name. For example, “youtube.com/channel/specific YouTube channel ID”.

You can share the short form of the username URL with the “/user“ being left out, such as “youtube.com/specific YouTube channel ID”. But this may not be available if someone claimed to a custom URL whose short form is the same with the short form of your username URL.

Custom URL

This is a shorter and more easy-to-remember URL that is generated on the basis of your current display name, legacy username, or your linked and verified domain. You can claim for the custom URL if your channel meets certain qualifications.

The custom URL looks like this, “youtube.com/c/display name, legacy username, or your linked and verified domain”. You can also share this URL in its shorter form by leaving out the “/c“, for example, “youtube.com/customed part”.

How to Get a Custom URL for your YouTube Channel

To qualify for a custom URL – one which includes your channel name instead of a random sequence of letters, your channel needs to meet the following standards.

• Be at least 30 days old
• Have at least 100 subscribers
• Use a photo for the channel icon
• Have uploaded channel art

As long as your account meets these eligibility standards, then you can go over the following steps to claim a custom URL for your YouTube channel.

1. Start by signing into YouTube.
2. Click on your profile image on the top right of the screen.
3. Find the “settings” and click on it.
4. Select “Advanced settings”.
5. Click on the link anchored with the word “here”.
6. The “Get a custom URL” box will then pop out. You can select one from the approved options. You may need to add a suffix to make the URL of your channel to be unique.
7. Read the “Terms of use” carefully and then click on the change URL.

Custom YouTube channel URLs are easier for your fans to remember, but once you have one, you can never change it. Your existing subscribers will automatically redirect to your new URL if they try to get to your channel through the old URL.

Where to Find Your Custom URL Once You Successfully Claimed for It?

After you successfully get the custom URL, you may want to know where you can find the custom URL and therefore you can share it anywhere you like. The way to find your custom URL is exactly the same as how you created it. You can get back to the “Advanced settings” by following the above-mentioned steps. You’ll find the custom URL lies right there under your user ID and channel ID.

Who read this article also read:

Good YouTube Names Generators + How to Brainstorm>>

How to Make a YouTube Subscribe Link - Easy!>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

In order to properly market your page on YouTube for sharing across social media, it is essential that you find your YouTube channel URL. How else can you share your channel? In this article, we are trying to give you a thorough understanding of the YouTube Channel URL and tell you how to get the custom channel URL.

Types of YouTube Channel URL

ID-based URL

YouTube channel URL of this type is based on your channel ID, which consists of numbers and letters. This is the URL of the universal form. For example, “youtube.com/channel/specific YouTube channel ID”.

You can find the YouTube channel URL of this kind by the following steps.

1. Sign in to Youtube.com and click on your profile icon.
2. Select Your Channel.
3. Find the URL on the address bar of your browser. This is exactly the ID-based URL or the standard URL of your channel.

Legacy username URL

Legacy username URL was used by YouTube in the past. If you created your channel in the early days of YouTube, the URL for your channel might contain the username at the end. Although YouTube doesn’t apply username to forming channel URL anymore, you can still use this URL to direct to Your channel. But you should note that the exiting username can’t be changed even if you have changed your channel name. For example, “youtube.com/channel/specific YouTube channel ID”.

You can share the short form of the username URL with the “/user“ being left out, such as “youtube.com/specific YouTube channel ID”. But this may not be available if someone claimed to a custom URL whose short form is the same with the short form of your username URL.

Custom URL

This is a shorter and more easy-to-remember URL that is generated on the basis of your current display name, legacy username, or your linked and verified domain. You can claim for the custom URL if your channel meets certain qualifications.

The custom URL looks like this, “youtube.com/c/display name, legacy username, or your linked and verified domain”. You can also share this URL in its shorter form by leaving out the “/c“, for example, “youtube.com/customed part”.

How to Get a Custom URL for your YouTube Channel

To qualify for a custom URL – one which includes your channel name instead of a random sequence of letters, your channel needs to meet the following standards.

• Be at least 30 days old
• Have at least 100 subscribers
• Use a photo for the channel icon
• Have uploaded channel art

As long as your account meets these eligibility standards, then you can go over the following steps to claim a custom URL for your YouTube channel.

1. Start by signing into YouTube.
2. Click on your profile image on the top right of the screen.
3. Find the “settings” and click on it.
4. Select “Advanced settings”.
5. Click on the link anchored with the word “here”.
6. The “Get a custom URL” box will then pop out. You can select one from the approved options. You may need to add a suffix to make the URL of your channel to be unique.
7. Read the “Terms of use” carefully and then click on the change URL.

Custom YouTube channel URLs are easier for your fans to remember, but once you have one, you can never change it. Your existing subscribers will automatically redirect to your new URL if they try to get to your channel through the old URL.

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Where to Find Your Custom URL Once You Successfully Claimed for It?

After you successfully get the custom URL, you may want to know where you can find the custom URL and therefore you can share it anywhere you like. The way to find your custom URL is exactly the same as how you created it. You can get back to the “Advanced settings” by following the above-mentioned steps. You’ll find the custom URL lies right there under your user ID and channel ID.

Who read this article also read:

Good YouTube Names Generators + How to Brainstorm>>

How to Make a YouTube Subscribe Link - Easy!>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

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Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

In order to properly market your page on YouTube for sharing across social media, it is essential that you find your YouTube channel URL. How else can you share your channel? In this article, we are trying to give you a thorough understanding of the YouTube Channel URL and tell you how to get the custom channel URL.

Types of YouTube Channel URL

ID-based URL

YouTube channel URL of this type is based on your channel ID, which consists of numbers and letters. This is the URL of the universal form. For example, “youtube.com/channel/specific YouTube channel ID”.

You can find the YouTube channel URL of this kind by the following steps.

1. Sign in to Youtube.com and click on your profile icon.
2. Select Your Channel.
3. Find the URL on the address bar of your browser. This is exactly the ID-based URL or the standard URL of your channel.

Legacy username URL

Legacy username URL was used by YouTube in the past. If you created your channel in the early days of YouTube, the URL for your channel might contain the username at the end. Although YouTube doesn’t apply username to forming channel URL anymore, you can still use this URL to direct to Your channel. But you should note that the exiting username can’t be changed even if you have changed your channel name. For example, “youtube.com/channel/specific YouTube channel ID”.

You can share the short form of the username URL with the “/user“ being left out, such as “youtube.com/specific YouTube channel ID”. But this may not be available if someone claimed to a custom URL whose short form is the same with the short form of your username URL.

Custom URL

This is a shorter and more easy-to-remember URL that is generated on the basis of your current display name, legacy username, or your linked and verified domain. You can claim for the custom URL if your channel meets certain qualifications.

The custom URL looks like this, “youtube.com/c/display name, legacy username, or your linked and verified domain”. You can also share this URL in its shorter form by leaving out the “/c“, for example, “youtube.com/customed part”.

How to Get a Custom URL for your YouTube Channel

To qualify for a custom URL – one which includes your channel name instead of a random sequence of letters, your channel needs to meet the following standards.

• Be at least 30 days old
• Have at least 100 subscribers
• Use a photo for the channel icon
• Have uploaded channel art

As long as your account meets these eligibility standards, then you can go over the following steps to claim a custom URL for your YouTube channel.

1. Start by signing into YouTube.
2. Click on your profile image on the top right of the screen.
3. Find the “settings” and click on it.
4. Select “Advanced settings”.
5. Click on the link anchored with the word “here”.
6. The “Get a custom URL” box will then pop out. You can select one from the approved options. You may need to add a suffix to make the URL of your channel to be unique.
7. Read the “Terms of use” carefully and then click on the change URL.

Custom YouTube channel URLs are easier for your fans to remember, but once you have one, you can never change it. Your existing subscribers will automatically redirect to your new URL if they try to get to your channel through the old URL.

Where to Find Your Custom URL Once You Successfully Claimed for It?

After you successfully get the custom URL, you may want to know where you can find the custom URL and therefore you can share it anywhere you like. The way to find your custom URL is exactly the same as how you created it. You can get back to the “Advanced settings” by following the above-mentioned steps. You’ll find the custom URL lies right there under your user ID and channel ID.

Who read this article also read:

Good YouTube Names Generators + How to Brainstorm>>

How to Make a YouTube Subscribe Link - Easy!>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

In order to properly market your page on YouTube for sharing across social media, it is essential that you find your YouTube channel URL. How else can you share your channel? In this article, we are trying to give you a thorough understanding of the YouTube Channel URL and tell you how to get the custom channel URL.

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Types of YouTube Channel URL

ID-based URL

YouTube channel URL of this type is based on your channel ID, which consists of numbers and letters. This is the URL of the universal form. For example, “youtube.com/channel/specific YouTube channel ID”.

You can find the YouTube channel URL of this kind by the following steps.

1. Sign in to Youtube.com and click on your profile icon.
2. Select Your Channel.
3. Find the URL on the address bar of your browser. This is exactly the ID-based URL or the standard URL of your channel.

Legacy username URL

Legacy username URL was used by YouTube in the past. If you created your channel in the early days of YouTube, the URL for your channel might contain the username at the end. Although YouTube doesn’t apply username to forming channel URL anymore, you can still use this URL to direct to Your channel. But you should note that the exiting username can’t be changed even if you have changed your channel name. For example, “youtube.com/channel/specific YouTube channel ID”.

You can share the short form of the username URL with the “/user“ being left out, such as “youtube.com/specific YouTube channel ID”. But this may not be available if someone claimed to a custom URL whose short form is the same with the short form of your username URL.

Custom URL

This is a shorter and more easy-to-remember URL that is generated on the basis of your current display name, legacy username, or your linked and verified domain. You can claim for the custom URL if your channel meets certain qualifications.

The custom URL looks like this, “youtube.com/c/display name, legacy username, or your linked and verified domain”. You can also share this URL in its shorter form by leaving out the “/c“, for example, “youtube.com/customed part”.

How to Get a Custom URL for your YouTube Channel

To qualify for a custom URL – one which includes your channel name instead of a random sequence of letters, your channel needs to meet the following standards.

• Be at least 30 days old
• Have at least 100 subscribers
• Use a photo for the channel icon
• Have uploaded channel art

As long as your account meets these eligibility standards, then you can go over the following steps to claim a custom URL for your YouTube channel.

1. Start by signing into YouTube.
2. Click on your profile image on the top right of the screen.
3. Find the “settings” and click on it.
4. Select “Advanced settings”.
5. Click on the link anchored with the word “here”.
6. The “Get a custom URL” box will then pop out. You can select one from the approved options. You may need to add a suffix to make the URL of your channel to be unique.
7. Read the “Terms of use” carefully and then click on the change URL.

Custom YouTube channel URLs are easier for your fans to remember, but once you have one, you can never change it. Your existing subscribers will automatically redirect to your new URL if they try to get to your channel through the old URL.

Where to Find Your Custom URL Once You Successfully Claimed for It?

After you successfully get the custom URL, you may want to know where you can find the custom URL and therefore you can share it anywhere you like. The way to find your custom URL is exactly the same as how you created it. You can get back to the “Advanced settings” by following the above-mentioned steps. You’ll find the custom URL lies right there under your user ID and channel ID.

Who read this article also read:

Good YouTube Names Generators + How to Brainstorm>>

How to Make a YouTube Subscribe Link - Easy!>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Elevating Video Branding: The Art and Science of Youtube Image Designs

How to Make YouTube Banners and Thumbnails

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The art on your YouTube channel – banners, thumbnails, icons, and watermarks – will help to determine how viewers feel about your vlog. If your art does not look like it all goes together then people will get a sloppy, amateurish, impression of your channel. However, if your different pieces of channel art all seem to complement each other and match the tone and theme of your channel then it will help viewers to have a pleasant browsing experience. They will get the impression that you take your YouTube channel seriously and that they can trust you as a source of information, comedy, or general entertainment.

How to Make YouTube Banners and Thumbnails

YouTube Banners and Thumbnails are two of the most important pieces of channel art you will need. This article will explain the best practices for both, and suggest sites where you will be able to build your own banners and thumbnails for free.

1. YouTube Banners

Quick Tips:

1. The image you upload for your YouTube banner should be 2560 x 1440px (pixels).
2. The ‘safe area’ for text, logos, and other important visual information (like faces) is 1546 x 423px.

Your banner is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think about channel art. Banners are the headers that rest at the tops of channel pages on YouTube. Your banner should be 2560 x 1440 px, although not all of it will always be visible. On a desktop computer or mobile device only a 1546 x 423 px ‘safe area’ will be visible. When viewed on a TV screen your entire image will be visible. YouTube does support PNG, but if your PNG file does not upload properly (as has been the case for some YouTubers) then changing your file type to JPEG might help.

YouTube Banners are extremely important to the success of your channel. If you do not have a banner then it looks like you do not really care about your vlog. If you have a basic banner that is not at all personalized then it certainly looks like you care, but it might also look like you are new to YouTube.

The best banners are customized to reflect the kind of experience you want viewers to have on your channel. The banner of a comedic YouTube channel might use bright colors, where the banner for a gaming channel will probably use darker colors similar to the ones that are in the games the vlogger plays. Connecting your banner to the theme of your channel is part of how you define the style of your vlog. It is the difference between being a Beauty Guru and a general YouTuber who gives makeup tips sometimes.

Including a photo of yourself, or your logo if you have one, is a great way to personalize your banner.

2. YouTube Thumbnails

Quick Tips:

1. Search for your video’s topic to see the thumbnails your thumbnail will be competing against.
2. Make any text huge so people can read it on their smartphone screens.
3. Emojis, colored boarders, and graphics are all potential ways to stand out.

Thumbnails are often ignored by newer YouTubers. YouTube selects a thumbnail for every one of your videos and it is always a still image from that video. You can choose which frame you want to use and a lot of people feel like that is good enough. When you create a custom thumbnail, however, you get to not only choose your image but insert a title.

If you are choosing the images you are using for thumbnails you can make sure they are always similar frames. This will help people identify your videos quickly in searches. Using titles in your thumbnails will also help searchers identify your videos, if you always use the same title style. Another benefit of titles is that they capture the attention of people looking for your specific topic. Remember when building your thumbnails that they will appear smaller on YouTube than they probably are while you edit them. On mobile devices, they will look even smaller. So, if you are going to use text in your thumbnail, make sure it is huge.

One thumbnail taboo that you should never break is using an image that has nothing to do with your video. Using an image of a cute cat for a vlog post that has nothing to do with cats is misleading and will anger viewers. You may draw in a lot of viewers who want to see a cat video, but they will leave right away when they do not see a cat and they will never watch anything by you again.

3.Where To Create Banners and Thumbnails

There are sites online that will allow you to edit images and use them in templates for YouTube banners. You can also use these services to edit your thumbnails. Two of the most popular, free, online photo editors are PicMonkey.com and Canva.com.

Canva has templates you can use to create YouTube banners, as well as a variety of stock images you can use in combination with your own when creating channel art. It is free to edit images on Canva, but they do have some premium features which cost $1 each to access. This service has both a desktop version and an iPad app.

PicMonkey lets you import images from your computer or social media accounts, edit them, and use them in templates for YouTube banners or other kinds of social media graphics. PicMonkey is free to use, but you can only access their more advanced editing tools if you buy a paid subscription. Monthly subscriptions are $4.99 per month, and yearly subscriptions are $2.75 per month.

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Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The art on your YouTube channel – banners, thumbnails, icons, and watermarks – will help to determine how viewers feel about your vlog. If your art does not look like it all goes together then people will get a sloppy, amateurish, impression of your channel. However, if your different pieces of channel art all seem to complement each other and match the tone and theme of your channel then it will help viewers to have a pleasant browsing experience. They will get the impression that you take your YouTube channel seriously and that they can trust you as a source of information, comedy, or general entertainment.

How to Make YouTube Banners and Thumbnails

YouTube Banners and Thumbnails are two of the most important pieces of channel art you will need. This article will explain the best practices for both, and suggest sites where you will be able to build your own banners and thumbnails for free.

1. YouTube Banners

Quick Tips:

1. The image you upload for your YouTube banner should be 2560 x 1440px (pixels).
2. The ‘safe area’ for text, logos, and other important visual information (like faces) is 1546 x 423px.

Your banner is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think about channel art. Banners are the headers that rest at the tops of channel pages on YouTube. Your banner should be 2560 x 1440 px, although not all of it will always be visible. On a desktop computer or mobile device only a 1546 x 423 px ‘safe area’ will be visible. When viewed on a TV screen your entire image will be visible. YouTube does support PNG, but if your PNG file does not upload properly (as has been the case for some YouTubers) then changing your file type to JPEG might help.

YouTube Banners are extremely important to the success of your channel. If you do not have a banner then it looks like you do not really care about your vlog. If you have a basic banner that is not at all personalized then it certainly looks like you care, but it might also look like you are new to YouTube.

The best banners are customized to reflect the kind of experience you want viewers to have on your channel. The banner of a comedic YouTube channel might use bright colors, where the banner for a gaming channel will probably use darker colors similar to the ones that are in the games the vlogger plays. Connecting your banner to the theme of your channel is part of how you define the style of your vlog. It is the difference between being a Beauty Guru and a general YouTuber who gives makeup tips sometimes.

Including a photo of yourself, or your logo if you have one, is a great way to personalize your banner.

2. YouTube Thumbnails

Quick Tips:

1. Search for your video’s topic to see the thumbnails your thumbnail will be competing against.
2. Make any text huge so people can read it on their smartphone screens.
3. Emojis, colored boarders, and graphics are all potential ways to stand out.

Thumbnails are often ignored by newer YouTubers. YouTube selects a thumbnail for every one of your videos and it is always a still image from that video. You can choose which frame you want to use and a lot of people feel like that is good enough. When you create a custom thumbnail, however, you get to not only choose your image but insert a title.

If you are choosing the images you are using for thumbnails you can make sure they are always similar frames. This will help people identify your videos quickly in searches. Using titles in your thumbnails will also help searchers identify your videos, if you always use the same title style. Another benefit of titles is that they capture the attention of people looking for your specific topic. Remember when building your thumbnails that they will appear smaller on YouTube than they probably are while you edit them. On mobile devices, they will look even smaller. So, if you are going to use text in your thumbnail, make sure it is huge.

One thumbnail taboo that you should never break is using an image that has nothing to do with your video. Using an image of a cute cat for a vlog post that has nothing to do with cats is misleading and will anger viewers. You may draw in a lot of viewers who want to see a cat video, but they will leave right away when they do not see a cat and they will never watch anything by you again.

3.Where To Create Banners and Thumbnails

There are sites online that will allow you to edit images and use them in templates for YouTube banners. You can also use these services to edit your thumbnails. Two of the most popular, free, online photo editors are PicMonkey.com and Canva.com.

Jutoh is an ebook creator for Epub, Kindle and more. It’s fast, runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux, comes with a cover design editor, and allows book variations to be created with alternate text, style sheets and cover designs.

Canva has templates you can use to create YouTube banners, as well as a variety of stock images you can use in combination with your own when creating channel art. It is free to edit images on Canva, but they do have some premium features which cost $1 each to access. This service has both a desktop version and an iPad app.

PicMonkey lets you import images from your computer or social media accounts, edit them, and use them in templates for YouTube banners or other kinds of social media graphics. PicMonkey is free to use, but you can only access their more advanced editing tools if you buy a paid subscription. Monthly subscriptions are $4.99 per month, and yearly subscriptions are $2.75 per month.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The art on your YouTube channel – banners, thumbnails, icons, and watermarks – will help to determine how viewers feel about your vlog. If your art does not look like it all goes together then people will get a sloppy, amateurish, impression of your channel. However, if your different pieces of channel art all seem to complement each other and match the tone and theme of your channel then it will help viewers to have a pleasant browsing experience. They will get the impression that you take your YouTube channel seriously and that they can trust you as a source of information, comedy, or general entertainment.

How to Make YouTube Banners and Thumbnails

YouTube Banners and Thumbnails are two of the most important pieces of channel art you will need. This article will explain the best practices for both, and suggest sites where you will be able to build your own banners and thumbnails for free.

1. YouTube Banners

Quick Tips:

1. The image you upload for your YouTube banner should be 2560 x 1440px (pixels).
2. The ‘safe area’ for text, logos, and other important visual information (like faces) is 1546 x 423px.

Your banner is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think about channel art. Banners are the headers that rest at the tops of channel pages on YouTube. Your banner should be 2560 x 1440 px, although not all of it will always be visible. On a desktop computer or mobile device only a 1546 x 423 px ‘safe area’ will be visible. When viewed on a TV screen your entire image will be visible. YouTube does support PNG, but if your PNG file does not upload properly (as has been the case for some YouTubers) then changing your file type to JPEG might help.

YouTube Banners are extremely important to the success of your channel. If you do not have a banner then it looks like you do not really care about your vlog. If you have a basic banner that is not at all personalized then it certainly looks like you care, but it might also look like you are new to YouTube.

The best banners are customized to reflect the kind of experience you want viewers to have on your channel. The banner of a comedic YouTube channel might use bright colors, where the banner for a gaming channel will probably use darker colors similar to the ones that are in the games the vlogger plays. Connecting your banner to the theme of your channel is part of how you define the style of your vlog. It is the difference between being a Beauty Guru and a general YouTuber who gives makeup tips sometimes.

Including a photo of yourself, or your logo if you have one, is a great way to personalize your banner.

2. YouTube Thumbnails

Quick Tips:

1. Search for your video’s topic to see the thumbnails your thumbnail will be competing against.
2. Make any text huge so people can read it on their smartphone screens.
3. Emojis, colored boarders, and graphics are all potential ways to stand out.

Thumbnails are often ignored by newer YouTubers. YouTube selects a thumbnail for every one of your videos and it is always a still image from that video. You can choose which frame you want to use and a lot of people feel like that is good enough. When you create a custom thumbnail, however, you get to not only choose your image but insert a title.

If you are choosing the images you are using for thumbnails you can make sure they are always similar frames. This will help people identify your videos quickly in searches. Using titles in your thumbnails will also help searchers identify your videos, if you always use the same title style. Another benefit of titles is that they capture the attention of people looking for your specific topic. Remember when building your thumbnails that they will appear smaller on YouTube than they probably are while you edit them. On mobile devices, they will look even smaller. So, if you are going to use text in your thumbnail, make sure it is huge.

One thumbnail taboo that you should never break is using an image that has nothing to do with your video. Using an image of a cute cat for a vlog post that has nothing to do with cats is misleading and will anger viewers. You may draw in a lot of viewers who want to see a cat video, but they will leave right away when they do not see a cat and they will never watch anything by you again.

3.Where To Create Banners and Thumbnails

There are sites online that will allow you to edit images and use them in templates for YouTube banners. You can also use these services to edit your thumbnails. Two of the most popular, free, online photo editors are PicMonkey.com and Canva.com.

Canva has templates you can use to create YouTube banners, as well as a variety of stock images you can use in combination with your own when creating channel art. It is free to edit images on Canva, but they do have some premium features which cost $1 each to access. This service has both a desktop version and an iPad app.

PicMonkey lets you import images from your computer or social media accounts, edit them, and use them in templates for YouTube banners or other kinds of social media graphics. PicMonkey is free to use, but you can only access their more advanced editing tools if you buy a paid subscription. Monthly subscriptions are $4.99 per month, and yearly subscriptions are $2.75 per month.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

The art on your YouTube channel – banners, thumbnails, icons, and watermarks – will help to determine how viewers feel about your vlog. If your art does not look like it all goes together then people will get a sloppy, amateurish, impression of your channel. However, if your different pieces of channel art all seem to complement each other and match the tone and theme of your channel then it will help viewers to have a pleasant browsing experience. They will get the impression that you take your YouTube channel seriously and that they can trust you as a source of information, comedy, or general entertainment.

How to Make YouTube Banners and Thumbnails

YouTube Banners and Thumbnails are two of the most important pieces of channel art you will need. This article will explain the best practices for both, and suggest sites where you will be able to build your own banners and thumbnails for free.

1. YouTube Banners

Quick Tips:

1. The image you upload for your YouTube banner should be 2560 x 1440px (pixels).
2. The ‘safe area’ for text, logos, and other important visual information (like faces) is 1546 x 423px.

Your banner is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think about channel art. Banners are the headers that rest at the tops of channel pages on YouTube. Your banner should be 2560 x 1440 px, although not all of it will always be visible. On a desktop computer or mobile device only a 1546 x 423 px ‘safe area’ will be visible. When viewed on a TV screen your entire image will be visible. YouTube does support PNG, but if your PNG file does not upload properly (as has been the case for some YouTubers) then changing your file type to JPEG might help.

YouTube Banners are extremely important to the success of your channel. If you do not have a banner then it looks like you do not really care about your vlog. If you have a basic banner that is not at all personalized then it certainly looks like you care, but it might also look like you are new to YouTube.

The best banners are customized to reflect the kind of experience you want viewers to have on your channel. The banner of a comedic YouTube channel might use bright colors, where the banner for a gaming channel will probably use darker colors similar to the ones that are in the games the vlogger plays. Connecting your banner to the theme of your channel is part of how you define the style of your vlog. It is the difference between being a Beauty Guru and a general YouTuber who gives makeup tips sometimes.

Including a photo of yourself, or your logo if you have one, is a great way to personalize your banner.

2. YouTube Thumbnails

Quick Tips:

1. Search for your video’s topic to see the thumbnails your thumbnail will be competing against.
2. Make any text huge so people can read it on their smartphone screens.
3. Emojis, colored boarders, and graphics are all potential ways to stand out.

Thumbnails are often ignored by newer YouTubers. YouTube selects a thumbnail for every one of your videos and it is always a still image from that video. You can choose which frame you want to use and a lot of people feel like that is good enough. When you create a custom thumbnail, however, you get to not only choose your image but insert a title.

If you are choosing the images you are using for thumbnails you can make sure they are always similar frames. This will help people identify your videos quickly in searches. Using titles in your thumbnails will also help searchers identify your videos, if you always use the same title style. Another benefit of titles is that they capture the attention of people looking for your specific topic. Remember when building your thumbnails that they will appear smaller on YouTube than they probably are while you edit them. On mobile devices, they will look even smaller. So, if you are going to use text in your thumbnail, make sure it is huge.

One thumbnail taboo that you should never break is using an image that has nothing to do with your video. Using an image of a cute cat for a vlog post that has nothing to do with cats is misleading and will anger viewers. You may draw in a lot of viewers who want to see a cat video, but they will leave right away when they do not see a cat and they will never watch anything by you again.

3.Where To Create Banners and Thumbnails

There are sites online that will allow you to edit images and use them in templates for YouTube banners. You can also use these services to edit your thumbnails. Two of the most popular, free, online photo editors are PicMonkey.com and Canva.com.

Greeting Card Builder

Canva has templates you can use to create YouTube banners, as well as a variety of stock images you can use in combination with your own when creating channel art. It is free to edit images on Canva, but they do have some premium features which cost $1 each to access. This service has both a desktop version and an iPad app.

PicMonkey lets you import images from your computer or social media accounts, edit them, and use them in templates for YouTube banners or other kinds of social media graphics. PicMonkey is free to use, but you can only access their more advanced editing tools if you buy a paid subscription. Monthly subscriptions are $4.99 per month, and yearly subscriptions are $2.75 per month.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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