@Roman Bellic the better advice I can give you is to get into your YouTube home page and study some thumbnails. Also look in your suggested row. Ask yourself - what question does this thumbnail bring up? Where's the curiosity? What's the difference between the thumbnail and the title? This puts you in an empowered state where you can start understanding what makes up a good thumbnail. If we give you thumbnails, that's like putting a band-aid on the problem for you. Hope this is helpful.

@Peggy Bishop Here's a screenshot of a winning thumb and title. Notice the emotion in the title - "will shock you". Also cheap watercolor paper - specificity. The only thing I don't like is that the title and thumbnail text is basically the same. The second video title and thumb about wasting paper performed even better. People hate to waste things - especially their time and money. Add a bit more specificity to your title - cotton paper? Budget? Here's 3 for you. 1. "This Watercolor Paper Changed EVERYTHING – I Tested 4 So You Don’t Have To!" Why it works: Adds emotional payoff and positions the video as saving the viewer time and money. Echoes the "shock" language that worked in similar videos. 2. "I Tested 4 Watercolor Papers… and One Blew Me Away!" Why it works: Creates curiosity (which one?), emotional engagement ("blew me away"), and a clear value proposition. 3. "STOP Using the Wrong Watercolor Paper – I Found the BEST One!" Why it works: Urgency with “STOP,” plus emotional relief and a strong payoff – aligns with the structure from “Stop Wasting Expensive Watercolor Paper.”

@Peggy Bishop I'm so glad it helped :-)

If you have a wordpress site, you can use a plug in called Pretty Links. It works great. Shortens links, has good tracking. And it's accepted on all sites.

@Jim Shane It's not necessary to repeat your whole story in the intro. That kills the hook. Hook first, then short Hey, Jim here, author and creator of the core method. (after a while, I when views stabilize and the channel is growing, I'd drop the whole thing and just intro your name. You can also put your story in the intro video people see when they access your channel. And in the description. People will look you up if you keep the videos engaging.