Why Make These YouTube Videos?
Recently someone in the Facebook user group was critical of my YouTube channel for not providing my videos in a particular order conducive to their learning everything about Adobe Captivate. Building an entire training course was never my intent when I started with video number one in August of 2014.
I had been using Adobe Captivate to produce a variety of elearning courses over the years. Still, I had not used the video demo feature to capture my screen for software training. My employer had asked me to investigate using the video demo feature in Captivate to produce training for some software we were rolling out to all the managers. My initial tests of video demo were recorded with one instance of Adobe Captivate while I demonstrated how to use Adobe Captivate on a second instance. It worked well, and I had these recordings of me teaching how to use Adobe Captivate. Rather than just deleting the recordings, I uploaded them to YouTube. I remember thinking that it would be interesting if anyone watched these videos.
The following few videos I recorded and uploaded to my YouTube channel were strictly for me. I had started to use variables and advanced actions in Adobe Captivate to expand what I could do with the software. Knowing that my memory was like a sieve, I captured the steps so I could refer to these procedures later if I needed them.
In addition to Adobe Captivate videos, I also uploaded other things to my YouTube channel. For example, another video I recorded was of a phenomenon involving how sound reflected off the Chichén Itzá Mayan Ruins in México. Because a popular website embedded my video as an example of strange things related to sound, the views on this video shot up to 40,000 over a one-week period. While one or two people would look at my Adobe Captivate videos, this taught me that something I produced could get the sort of views that would later prove to be profitable to my business. Sorry to those who want to see that video. I deleted it from my channel as I’ve dedicated my channel to just eLearning tutorials.
In the beginning, my collective videos would get a dozen views per day, but after the Chichén Itzá video, I started to see hundreds of views and occasionally a thousand views per day. Eventually, I began to include messages in my videos encouraging people to like, share and subscribe to my channel. It wasn’t long until I was able to monetize my videos. I remember that you could set the payout once you earned $100. When I started, Google would mail me a cheque for that hundred dollars, but eventually, I had to connect my bank account to my channel to get direct deposit payments. I should have kept one of those early cheques from Google. They would be a neat keepsake today.
At first, I merely uploaded a video and made it available to the world when I finished recording it. Later, I became more disciplined by recording a new video, uploading it to YouTube, and publishing it on Wednesday morning each week. Being consistent proved to be a good strategy as subscribers began to expect a new video and visit my channel on that day. I think consistency is a solid strategy when building a YouTube channel. I began to follow the same format that I saw other YouTubers use when creating videos as well. I would divide the videos into the following sections:
Me introducing what the video is about
Music and animation
A longer explanation of the video
Tutorial
Closing with a suggestion to like, subscribe, and share
Following this format seems to be the correct approach. As a result, my channel has steadily grown to have 21,000 subscribers, over 2.7 million views, and the payments from Google have steadily grown as well.
Speaking of the money from YouTube, it’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a small amount when you compare it to how I actually make money from my YouTube channel. Most people watch my videos for free. I get a portion of the advertising revenue that YouTube collects for ads that run alongside my videos, but every month, a handful of people reach out to me for one of two things that I offer through my website.
The first is one-on-one instruction. If you like the format of my videos and my style of teaching Adobe Captivate, I offer one-on-one instruction. The benefit of these sessions is that I focus solely on your needs and not the needs of a class of forty or fifty people. This way, you learn just what you need to know. I usually record these sessions and make those recordings available to my clients afterwards.
The second is that I am a working eLearning developer. Some of the viewers of my channel try to develop their eLearning courses, but because they already have a full-time job or simply don’t have the aptitude for learning the software, they hire me. I have developed training courses for clients all over the world.
Whether I teach a student one-on-one or do the development work for my clients, I owe it to my YouTube channel for bringing me these potential customers. It has allowed me to quit my day job and work for myself. I’ve had a few job offers over the years, but I would rather work for all of you than return to the corporate world.
