Getting steady clients, though, can be time consuming.

If you’re considering a career in the instructional design or video training field, keep in mind that becoming an Training Video Creator does not require you to have a graduate degree in order to get work. If you’re trying to get a job within a large corporation, a graduate degree helps as it opens doors. However, it’s not a full-proof reason for you to get hired.

Here are 3 tips to get you started on landing that e-learning job that you’re aspiring for:

Tip 1

Use LinkedIn and join LinkedIn groups targeted to e-learning, video-based training or distance learning.

LinkedIn is a social networking site best known for connecting individuals and companies with the same interests. I joined several LinkedIn groups and every single one of them is related to what I’m doing which is often called “e-learning”.

Here’s a list of LinkedIn groups that I have joined that could help you in getting an e-learning job:

· Instructional Design & E-Learning Professionals’ Group

· Instructional Designers

· Online Video Marketing

· eLearning Global Network

· Learning 2.0

· GADLA Chapter

· Webcasting, Webinars & Online Video Best Practices

· ASTD Atlanta Corporate Training Special Interest Group

· Freelance Instructional Designers

· GSU Instructional Technology Alumni

· Articulate – Rapid E-learning (Rapid elearning)

· E-Learning 2.0

· E-Learning Companies

· eFronters E-Learning

· Mintra E-learning Network

· BrightTALK Academy

· TAG Workplace Learning Society

· Technology in Education

· The eLearning Guild

· The Georgia VA Connection

· Trainers United

· United States Distance Learning Association

· Camtasia Users Group

· ELearning Professionals

· Rapid e-Learning

· Atlanta Non-profit Learning Professionals

· Instructional Design Central

· Instructional Design Professionals

· Scrasters: a Group for Screencast Producers

· TrainingPros

Tip 2

Check out the ASTD Job Bank to search for job openings.

ASTD stands for American Society for Training and Development. It is the world’s largest association dedicated to workplace learning and development professionals.

The ASTD Job Bank is a gold mine for e-learning specialists. Every month, I see about 4-5 job postings available that pays a lot of money.

Tip 3

Use Google Alerts .

Google Alerts is a great way to keep track of the e-learning jobs you’re looking for. Simply enter the keywords for the job that you’re looking for and get updates depending on how often you want to receive the search results.

Example Keywords to enter:

· instructional design jobs

· e-learning jobs

· online training jobs

· video training jobs

The key to using Google Alerts is to become very specific to the use of keywords so that you’ll get results based on what you’re looking for.

Doing any or all of these tips can help you start finding that dream job in e-learning. Keep in mind that most clients, if not all, will be looking for a portfolio.

If you don’t have any clients yet, don’t worry. You can still build a portfolio by creating a mock company. Always remember that nothing beats a portfolio for clients to easily hire you. You can sell yourself more if you have a portfolio, even a mock one, as it can show good examples of what you can do.

To help you jump start that portfolio, use Camtasia Studio in creating professional videos that can be used for teaching and training. To learn more, visit LearnCamtasia.com and get top-notch training on how to use Camtasia for e-learning and instructional design.

FYI-This blopost was repurposed from a video created during a recent  webinar.  If you would like articles and blogposts created from your webinars or videos please comment below as I am currently creating a package for that service and would like to get some input .

Best,

“Pinterest is blowing the client’s YouTube traffic out of the water.  However, said Gerencser, their YouTube video views have tripled since they started pinning the videos.”  Quoted from searchenginewatch.com

Video is visual and Pinterest is a social media book marking site that thrives on visually appealing images.   Just as blog owners are getting traffic to their sites with visually appealing graphics, your visually engaging videos can accomplish this same task for your YouTube channel.   Just imagine tripling your video’s views and growing your channel’s subscriptions by pinning them on Pinterest.

For those of us who love to create screencast tutorials, and PowerPoint videos using Camtasia, Pinterest should now be added to our list of “Pinmission” sites.

When you pin a YouTube video into Pinterest it actually plays in Pinterest, here is a link of one of my video pins on Pinterest.

Just like you would optimize your video’s for YouTube, you will want to optimize your your video pins.  These are my suggestions, but first a cool tip Lon Naylor sent to me in an email, he picked this tip up from the guys over at Video Traffic Academy.

Lon’s Tip  * Always try to use an exact search phrase as your video title

Example: “How to create a PowerPoint Video”

Big tip: Once you know your Title phrase, produce your actual video file

with the SAME phrase! YouTube LOVES this…

Example: how-to-create-a-powerpoint-video.mp4

Do the above and here are some more ways to optimize your Pin’s in Pinterest:

• In the description just like you do on YouTube put your link back to your site first. Then go in and edit your pin and type your link in again to where you want it to hotlink to.
• Create a watermark using Gimp (if you don’t know how to use Gimp Angela Wills has a great course).  Or if you have Camtasia create a lower-thirds image in your videos.  You can learn how to create this at Learn Camtasia.
• In the video invite people to pin your video on Pinterest, just like you would invite them to subscribe to your YouTube channel.

Would you like to learn more about using Pinterest? I would like to invite you to purchase my webinar replay ($7.00) where I go in to detail of using Pinterest.  Don’t have a Pinterest account?  Submit a request with your email address (you won’t be added to my list unless you opt in) through my contact form on my site and I will gladly send you an invitation.

Happy Pinning…

Eleanor Prior is a Social Media Marketing, and Virtual Events Specialist who loves WordPress.  She is currently aspiring to add “Online Book Marketing Specialist” to her specialties and certifications.  In Eleanor’s free time she enjoys wine tasting and is a big time foodie.  To find out more about Eleanor visit her LinkedIn profile.

I rarely present in person and I may have been a little too ambitions about what everyone could get done in such a short window of time, but we had some pretty cool videos that came out of the class. The idea was to create a Google Search video like the one here, but to make it about themselves starting with the keywords someone would type into Google to find their business.

Why does this video always give me goose bumps? Am I THAT mushy?

Would you like to give it a try? If so, here is the Camtasia Secrets PowerPoint Presentation and the Step by Step Plan. 

Remember, for a while you can get the audio files and presentations from all 30 instructors along with a free trial membership to NAMS here.

Best,

We know that the quality of the audio is at the top of the list of things that make or break a screencast. But what if your home or office studio or the client’s site just can’t be tweaked enough to produce the quality of audio that the customer is expecting and willing to pay for? Enter the professional recording studio. But wait, isn’t that expensive, especially if you need to make changes later? Not necessarily.

First, do your homework. If you know or can connect to people who are professional voice talents in your community, ask them which studios they prefer and why. My voice instructor, an experienced voice talent, referred me to the studio that I use. It’s not the least expensive studio, but the owner is a professional voice talent and sound engineer with many years experience. And the facilities and equipment are superb.

Your homework should also include visiting studios, talking to the owners and sound engineers and asking lots of questions about their services to determine, for example, what is included in the price, how files will be delivered to you, how far in advance you must schedule and the minimum and maximum time allowed, and what discounts may be available.

My strategy for using a professional studio cost-effectively is to record in batches. This works when I have a client that needs a series of screencast tutorials or a few clients that need a simple screencast within the same time frame. To minimize changes that can result in another trip to the studio, I complete the audio scripts with storyboards and get my clients to sign off on both before I schedule studio time. I also record each script at least twice to have more options when I edit the raw audio files.

Do you use professional recording studios? If so, what other tips would you share?

Christine Fish is an experienced technical communicator, instructional designer, screencaster, artist, and President at Fishco Studios, LLC, in Austin, Texas. She can be reached on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/fishco ) or on Twitter (@Fishco_Studios).

What is Aspect Ratio?

Aspect Ratio is the ratio of a videos width to its height. Every screen resolution has an aspect ratio associated with it. A few of the most common aspect ratios we see today are 4 by 3 (called standard)and 16 by 9 (called widescreen). It’s quite simple: If the aspect ratio of your video doesn’t match aspect ratio of the display on which you want to show it, you will see horizontal black bars at the top and bottom (called “letterboxing”) or vertical bars on either side (called “curtains”), that’s an example of a video that was recorded at a different aspect ratio than it is being presented.

For Best Results

Presentations, images, and videos can be created in any aspect ratio, therefore it is important for you to be aware of your target aspect ratio during planning so you can create all your original content at a consistent size and ratio that will display correctly where you want to display it.

Just make sure you keep the aspect ratio consistent from recording to Production. If you are want to display your video in a standard 4:3, record at 4:3. If 16:9, record at 16:9. Camtasia makes this easy displaying the most common aspect ratios right in the recorder window. 

Then make the same choice as to which resolution and aspect ratio you will edit and produce at.  Be sure you produce at the same 4:3 or 16:9 and you will be all set to go.

Doing it this way ensures that no screen real estate will be wasted, and  your video quality will be much better.

Best,

Today you have a clean slate with a brand new year spread out in front of you, filled with endless possibilities.

How will you harness your potential to create the very best you? I recommend using the teachings of Dr. Maxwell Maltz in his legendary book ‘The New Psycho-Cybernetics’.
Dr. Maltz created the original science of self improvement and success, so who better to turn to when you’re ready to take your life to another level. His teachings have stood the test of time.
Take the following and get all that you want out of 2012:

1) Use Your Imagination

If you thought that imaginations were only valued in preschool, think again. One of the key points in ‘The New Psycho-Cybernetics’ is the technique of using your imagination to reprogram and manage your self image. You may have been exposed to self improvement strategies that tell you to ‘act as if’ or to ‘fake it till you make it.’ Those typically don’t work because your self image is still the same.

According to Dr. Maltz, your self image is the key to changing your actions and habits. If you want to be successful in your Internet business, you first have to think of yourself as someone who is successful.

Spend time in your imagination. See yourself earning a great income from home. Experience a day in your life creating video courses and marketing them.. Imagine everything down to the smallest detail.

According to Dr. Maltz, this imagination time will begin to change your self image to that of a person who is already doing what they love, and your actions and habits will fall into place.

2) Reject Negative Thoughts

Negative thoughts will undoubtedly arise as you use your imagination to see your ideal self. "I’m not really going to learn how to create videos." "I’ve creating videos and screencasts before they always come out crappy. I’m always going to terrible at this." "This imagination stuff is bogus. It won’t work for me."

Dr. Maltz says that the instant you receive a negative thought simply dismiss it. Don’t spend any time on it at all.
The quicker that you dismiss negative thoughts, the less impact they will have on your self image. Also you’ll find that fewer and fewer negative thoughts arise once you get into the habit of dismissal.

3) I’m The Kind Of Person That…

What kind of person are you?

• I’m the kind of person that loves to procrastinate.
• I’m the kind of person that hates learning technical things.
• I’m the kind of person that can’t be successful in my business.

OR

• I’m the kind of person that disciplines myself to learn new techniques.
• I’m the kind of person that implements the things I’ve learned right away.
• I’m the kind of person that runs a home based video service or info product business.

Your self image will fulfill any label that you put on yourself. The power is all in your hands.

What kind of a person do you want to be in 2012? Is using more video and screencasting part of your new years resolutions?

Take it away Eleanor…

Creating Visibility with LinkedIn

The main goal of a business when creating a company page on LinkedIn is visibility and to create awareness allowing companies to build relationships.

And what better way is there to create awareness then using and creating video to build relationships with your connections. Who better understands the value of building relationships and connections than LinkedIn? Paired with video hosted on YouTube, the two engaged together promise a beautiful business marriage.

By creating a company page you are allowing LinkedIn to promote the interests of your business. LinkedIn company page profiles have the ability to appear in Google search results, just like videos on YouTube. Maybe this is why LinkedIn choose to use YouTube to pull in videos for company pages.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Building Thought Leadership and Credibility

Using Video on your LinkedIn Company Page helps build thought leadership and credibility for your  business. By enhancing the valuable recommendations from followers that continually bring new opportunities to build your brand, secure new clients/referrals, and develop/improve your reputation.

Company pages from LinkedIn serve as a provision for business owners to promote their products or  services (visual aka video only enhances this promotion), and the only cost is the time it takes to create the page and videos, or what you pay your Virtual Assistant to create it for you (Shameless plug) or grab my new PDF guide, checklist, and video “Discover How and Why To Create LinkedIn Company Pages“ 

I Love this quote and now it not only includes people worldwide but companies worldwide. “LinkedIn connects talent with opportunity at massive scale, scale that was never possible before because we did not have infrastructure that enabled us to connect 100s of millions of people world wide.”- Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn

Grab your Report

You can grab your report here and let LinkedIn promote the interests of your company today!

(Guest Post by Eleanor Prior)

Let me back up a second, though…

You might have noticed that the name on this post is Angela Wills, not Michelle Schoen. That’s because I talked Michelle into letting me make a guest blog post and share some (hopefully) useful content with you. So here I am. Michelle and I have known each other for many years now, back when she first commented on MY blog. I am the owner of a company that teaches business owners like you how to use WordPress to grow their business at Website Design Mojo.

Now, back to today’s lesson:

How to Make a YouTube Playlist

Let’s start by making a playlist. I’m going to assume that you already know how to make a video and upload it to YouTube. If you don’t, then you’ll definitely want to spend some time checking out Michelle’s content because she’s the lady to teach you about that.

1. Create a Playlist.

So once you’ve got the videos ready for your playlist, you need to go into YouTube and click on ‘My Videos’ in the top right drop-down. Then along the side of the screen you’ll see a list of options, the last being Playlists. You need to click ‘Add New’. Give it a title, and a description, create it and you’ve got yourself a playlist.

2. Add Videos to Playlist.

The next thing you do is click the checkbox next to any and all videos you’d like to add to the playlist. Then you click the button up top that says ‘Add to’. When you hit that a drop-down of your playlists will show up and you need to pick the one you want to add it to.

How to Embed a YouTube Playlist into WordPress

So you’ve got your playlist created and you want to add it to your website or blog. Here’s how:

1. Get Playlist Embed Code

To get your playlist embed code you’ll want to look at that right-hand menu that you see when you click on ‘My Videos’. You should be still on the same screen from when you added your videos. Click on the right menu item that says ‘Playlists’. When you get there you will see any playlists you’ve created. Now you want to click on the playlist you’re looking to add to your site.

To get the embed code you need to click the button that says ‘Share’ (next to the black ‘Play All’), then click on the ‘Embed’ option. It will look like this:

2. Embed Playlist Into Your WordPress Website or Blog

WordPress makes it easy for you to add HTML BUT there’s a catch. If you take that code you see up above and you add it to your blog in the ‘HTML’ section you won’t be able to go back to the visual editor.

If you use WordPress and are not necessarily a HTML Geek than this is an issue!

My solution for you would be to use a WordPress plugin called Easy Embed. Just as the name suggests it makes it easy for you to embed YouTube code into WordPress. It doesn’t just work for YouTube code, though, it works for anything. I’m talking about email list forms, surveys or any code that you would like to put into your pages or posts. It’s a handy plugin that you work all from the Visual (non-geeky) Editor of WordPress.

Once you install Easy Embed here’s what you do:

Create a New Custom Field by using the tool below your post editing area. Like this:

Then make sure click the button that says ‘Add Custom Field’ to save the embed code to your post. Now all you do is put your shortcode into the visual editor for the post, like this:

And that’s it! You now have a great way to embed code while still working within the visual editor in WordPress. Your finished playlist should look something like this (and yes, we’re using the Easy Embed plugin to show you this!):

That’s me talking about WordPress, by the way

I hope you have fun creating YouTube Playlists to promote your business and add value to your marketing, and I hope this post has been helpful to that goal.

Got any questions for me? I’d be happy to answer, just post them below. Or share your comments on how you’ll use playlists for YOUR business…

Take Care,
Angela Wills

p.s. If you want to know more about using WordPress to provide services for clients or to just grow your own business then I hope you’ll come by and join in a free webinar coming up on Wednesday. It’s called ’3 Ways to Earn a Living With WordPress’ and your link is here:
Earn a Living With WordPress

Becoming an independent business is not easy. It takes time until you have figured out what the setup is that works best for you. What type of projects, what type of clients. Through a process of trial and error you get to where you want to be, slowly. Allow time for this process to happen, and realize that you will be constantly moving direction (I still am).

• Small businesses tend to under-invest. Old software, slow computers, small screens. All this is a tax deductible business expense/investment, leverage it to do better work and compete with larger businesses.
• Optimize your workflow. Use Gmail with clever filters to make stay on top of email. Use Dropbox to access your files anywhere from any device. Use Freshbooks to track time and do your billing. Enjoy your freedom from the IT purchasing department and pick the right productivity tools.
• Cut yourself free from a specific location. Take your Laptop out of the house. This is a major stress reliever as you won’t be surrounded by stuff you need to clean.
• Pick your niche and aim high. As a one-person business, you cannot be great at everything. But you can dominate a niche. Digital content can now travel anywhere, so the entire world is a potential customer base. If the market is that broad, you can afford to focus, focus, and focus.
• Invest in a web presence and show your portfolio. By the time someone is contacting you, 70% of the sales work is done through researching you online.
• Fixed prices. As long as you are charging your time out by the hour, you are still an employee. Without a boss that is, but still, a resource that has an hourly price tag on it. The moment you let go of this principle, you become a business. Certain projects will give you large profit, for others you will lose money as you did not estimate the time it would take you correctly. Fixed prices attach a value to your service. The market will dictate whether you are worth the price or not. If potential clients are not accepting your proposals, your value is simply not (yet) there. If you are swamped all the time, you are probably not charging enough.
• Always do great work. Even if you are approaching your project budget, or your client somehow managed to get a really low project quote: deliver the great work and invest the hours at a lost if you have to. Clients do not understand budgets, they see the quality of the work, and they tell other potential clients about it. If you make a project time estimate, you take the responsibility. Do great work, or do not do the work at all if you cannot agree a price with your client.
• Not all clients suit you. When you feel that it is just not clicking with a potential client, let it go and focus on getting those that have instant chemistry. Also, there is nothing wrong with firing a client even after you have worked with them for many years. Maybe the relationship got tired and you can no longer get yourself to do inspiring work, maybe the client fit when you just started out the business, but not anymore, maybe the client cannot afford your new prices. Part as friends, it is better for both of you.
• Set your work hours. Do work when you are most productive. Turn work away if it forces you to work at times you do not want to (evenings, weekends, holidays). A fresh and rested mind designs the best presentations.

That is my advice to you so hope you will find it helpful.

Best,