You need help because you want your videos to look good (to other people)! Often course creators are so excited to finally get a video recorded that they just want to publish it and move on to the next video. However, if you're asking students to stare at your face for even 5 minutes, you should do your best to make sure the experience is as painless as possible.

​Take a look at the 2 screen shots below - can you see a difference between them? Which one would you rather watch during an online course?

Can you tell what changes I made to get the top video looking like the bottom one? 

• I zoomed in so there aren't giant black bars on all sides.
• I positioned the lady & her table in the center (there is equal amount of wall on both sides).
• I straightened the image.
• I brightened it.
• I reduced the highlights a bit.
• I adjusted the color so it's not so pink.

I did all these things using Adobe Premiere, before I started breaking the video into clips and adding text and images to make the content easier to follow.

So, the first thing you do when you record a new video? Make sure it looks good! Ask people what they think or what they'd change. And if you don't know how to fix it, learn how on YouTube or ask someone for help!

Often video editors ask for at least 2 hours of post-processing time per hour of video recorded. Why does the editing process take so long? In this video, I'll show you some behind-the-scenes footage of what video editing looks like in Adobe Premiere and explain why you want to allow plenty of time for editing video and audio so it sounds clear and looks good.

Beyond the details I explain in the video, there are also a bunch of other things that take time:

• moving the video & audio files from the camera to a computer or alternative storage device
• renaming files so we can keep track of them easily
• creating new adobe files
• formatting and exporting slides so they match the video format
• editing audio files so sound levels are consistent
• editing out video/audio content that is distracting, inappropriate, off-topic, etc.
• dividing the video into sections that are usable to clients (usually people don't just want a whole, unedited video - they want just the parts where they are teaching or saying something useful)
• exporting the videos with the appropriate settings
• sharing the videos in a way clients can view them (often this means uploading them to Dropbox or YouTube, since video files are too large to be emailed)

If you're selling exclusive access to part of your website, whether clients are paying you or it's a way to funnel new customers into your business, you should make sure that it’s reflective of the quality of your products & brand. Members-only areas are sometimes neglected, since we assume those people like us already anyways, while we focus on bringing in new customers. However, these restricted areas of your website are RARELY the end of a funnel, or the highest profit product or service you offer. If the goal is to convince your members to purchase more expensive things from you, whether it’s 1:1 coaching or online courses or other products/programs, you need your members-only areas to be attractive, well-organized, and consistent with your brand.

I helped a client update her paid members-only page the other day, and wanted to share some of my process with you. Below are 6 tips to apply to your members-only area to improve your client’s experience and make sure you’re putting your best face forward to build trust with you and your brand. 

1. Use your brand colors (or choose at least one consistent color) and start using them in titles & as background colors on your website.
2. If your navigation bar is cluttered, go through the links and decide which are most important to you and the mission of your business.
3. Reduce the size of photos or number of items at the top of your page and create an enticing headline that draws people down into the page content.
4. Delineate sections with background colors (or lines if you can’t change your site’s background) and clear, large titles.
5. Make sure any link away from your website opens in a new page so visitors can easily return to where they were on your site, and try to embed videos rather than sending people to YouTube.
6. Separate text into smaller sections so they’re easier to process. Consider adding bullet points, paragraph breaks, &/or images to break up the text.

If you’d like to see exactly how I applied these strategies to my client’s site, sign up below and I’ll email you a PDF with details and a link to a screencast video where I demonstrate all 6 of these tips.

~  Teacher Kendall

I'm working on all-things-branding right now, trying to get my website to a place where it's a reflection of me. Red is my favorite color, so I'm ignoring everyone who says that red is too aggressive for marketing and using it anyway!
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I was inspired to include more flowers while creating a header for my new coaching service. It looked so boring with just the words, and not very bespoke, so I added a little flair. It makes my heart happy!

Finally, I had to go back to my boring old blog title and give it more pizzazz to fit with my new theme. 

What do you think of my branding choices? For me, they're easy to read, but still a little fun. And most importantly, they reflect me and my history. 

​~ Teacher Kendall

I'm excited to be writing my first blog post for the new Teacher Kendall website. As a multi-passionate educator and entrepreneur, I need a central location to showcase all of my passions and projects, and this is it! I plan to use this blog to share my thoughts about education, kids, parenting, and anything else I just feel like writing about (because hey, why not?). 

I'm currently working on an online course called "Nurturing Independence" and I'm SUPER excited about it. I love the creative process of making complex, jargon-y ideas tangible through real-life scenarios, videos, and graphics. Looking forward to sharing updates with you as I move toward completing this course. 

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to comment below or send me an email if you have a question about education or just want to say "hi."

~ Teacher Kendall