Yes, we have an issue that we need to resolve.  In this blog, I am going to explain it all to you clearly and with some numbers.  Hopefully at the end of the blog you will have an understanding, and also have a certain level of enthusiasm to get this going.

Let’s do some Youtube Math

It has been brought to my attention that people are actually downloaded the classes and videos that I have uploaded from youtube! While that may not shock you, it certainly shocked me. Why? There are a few reasons, and they are good reasons.

Let’s travel back in time a bit first. I have been creating fun, interactive and educational embroidery classes for almost 5 years now. Yay! The feedback is that the classes are great, and people learn so much about embroidery and improve their skill. The only hard part to my knowledge was paying for the classes. Well, it’s not really a downside, but people had a hard time paying for them.
I know I have said this before, but I came up with the idea of Youtube. I thought it was a fantastic idea that really suited everyone! It was brilliant, really! You get free classes, machine instructions and tech talk, plus lots of embroidery learning fun. The most important thing you get are CLASSES!! Full, complete detailed classes that will teach you some cool embroidery skills. Perfect, right? In my eyes, it sure is. You guys get what you want, and I get to DO what I want and we can all have fun. There is only one tiny thing to consider – and believe me it is not the MAIN thing that I consider, but it is there. And that’s money. Yes, that evil money rearing its big, fat head. Do you work for free? Do you spend time and money ever single day, 7 days a week doing stuff to help other people? No? Well, I do! I have been uploading a video and classes 5 days a week for 3 months. Woohoo! People are having fun with the lessons and classes and quick tips. But, money money again, I am not getting paid. Ok, this is really not about me becoming rich or any big deal like that, I am only looking for minimum wage, ish. No biggie.
No, I am not asking you to pay some cash for anything. I am not selling anything anywhere. I am not doing any work for anyone else – my main daily focus is on videos! Live videos, too! So how am I supposed to get paid if you don’t do it? YOUTUBE. Let me explain clearly how it works, and then I will get back to the downloading issue.

People that have a youtube channel can make money – depending on how many viewers you have, you can make a little or a lot. But how? It doesn’t make sense to most people.
Let’s break it down into simple ways that I can make money from youtube. Youtube tracks numbers for everything that goes on with the channel – and these numbers can add up quick.

SUBSCRIBERS: youtube pays attention to the number of subscribers you have – the more the better. The more subscribers you have, the more important youtube thinks you are, and youtube will change it’s algorithm once you start getting more and more subscribers. What that means is that if you are popular by having lots of subscribers, everyone will see your videos – youtube might even put them on the home page! Youtube liking you will lead to more subscribers and more people watching your channel.
VIEWS: views are very important to YT! As with everything, the more you have the better! YT loves viewer engagement, and the number of views fits into there. What is considered a view? Every time to watch the video, even if you only watch part of it! Every time counts!
LIKES: well, this is probably too easy – the more likes you have, the more engagement you have and the more youtube will pay attention to you.
SAVES IN PLAYLISTS: maybe you don’t know this one, but every time you save a video to a playlist, it counts. Along with all of the other things above, youtube will find the channel more valuable and engaging, and that goes around in the big circle again – if youtube sees an engaged, happy channel with views, likes and shares, it is going to get to work and make sure people know about the most popular video!
COMMENTS: again, comments show engagement and values the videos more to youtube. So even if you comment with a 😊 it counts as engagement, and helps show the value of the video and the channel to youtube. If everyone did these things for each video, wow. Things would move along.
SHARES: Yeah, if you share the video (there is a link so you can grab the URL or share directly to facebook, pinterest etc.) Shares are very important for so many reasons. Shares show engagement and also VALUE. Huh? If you like, save and share the video, it shows that you value the video – that you are engaged in it and find value in the video – enough to tell your friends how awesome it is, and save it for later.
TIME WATCHED: Yes, it is actually important how much you watch the video – it again shows engagement! If you put up a ton of videos and no one watches them, youtube will not pay much attention – you are not putting out valuable content.
Those are the main things that youtube looks for – and these are the things that youtube values – and if youtube values it, then it becomes more popular, gets more views, likes and shares and MORE people can benefit from the content. More, more more and then more! It works very well really! I have done my part, I have put out valuable content – classes, tutorials, challenges, Crazy quilt lessons, and so much more. I need YOU to do your part now. I find it hard to believe that no more than 200 of you viewed the classes in 3 weeks? Or months? I just can’t figure it out.
BUT LET’S NOW DO THAT MATH QUIZ AND LOOK AT WHAT DOWNLOADING DOES TO THE NUMBERS.
If you watch a video and then download it, I get 1 view, 1 like and 30 minutes of view time. You don’t save it to a playlist and you don’t view it on youtube anymore. That’s something, right? That’s helping, right? Yes, and no, not really. 1 view is great, but how many times are you viewing the download? I thing probably quite a few times. How about 10? Probably more, but 10 is a nice number. So whoop-de-doo, right? 10 lousy views. But wait. You are not the only one doing this. I know people are downloading the videos because the numbers do not add up properly. Math time.
Let’s take that 10 views that I have lost. There are 1K people in the group, and 7K+ subscribers. So 8,000 people are engaged with a class. OK, probably not everyone is engaged, so lets drop that number down to 6,000.
So if half the people that are engaged are downloading the classes, that would be 3,000 people.
For those 3000 people that have downloaded the class, I lose 10 views each.

3,000 x 10 = that is 30,000 VIEWS LOST! AND THAT’S JUST FOR ONE CLASS.

I have around 30 classes….so lets take that 30,000 lost views x the 30 classes that I have:

30,000 x 30 = 900,000 VIEWS LOST.

WOW.

LET’S THINK ABOUT THAT A BIT.

Can you see why this is not working out? I am losing nearly 1 million views. Having that 1 million views will send the channel into a whole different level. Youtube will pay attention. If youtube pays attention, the channel will get more popular and I can do more vidoes!

Please stop downloading videos to your computer. Please watch them on youtube again and again. SHARE. LIKE. COMMENT. PUT VIDEOS IN A PLAYLIST. It all counts! THAT’S ALL YOU HAVE TO DO TO KEEP GETTING NEW VIDEOS – NEW CLASSES – NEW IDEAS – Like, comment, share and playlist.

Along with someone telling everyone that you could easily download the videos, another person said that she paid a fee for a software so she could download the classes. Wait. You actually paid a fee so you could download my Free classes and not give me any credit for it? Or help the channel in any and every way possible. Like seriously, people are going to pay SOMEONE ELSE, but won’t pay for my classes? Or won’t click a like button, comment and share the videos – all of which takes like 1 minute for each video and is free! REALLY?

What am I supposed to do now? Maybe you don’t understand all of this, or maybe you think I am being too picky or too money oriented, but I want you to think about this. WHERE CAN YOU GET FREE CLASSES AND FREE HELP FOR THOSE CLASSES? Anyone? Anyone at all? Does anyone else put up videos that are truly free, not trying to sell you a design, or sell you software? Most other videos out there are really trying to sell you something, even if you don’t realize it. I am not selling anything. I don’t work for anyone. Everything is REALLY FREE.

THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A BIT.

I THOUGHT THIS WOULD WORK. I THOUGHT EVERYONE WOULD BE HAPPY. I ACTUALLY THOUGHT THAT EVERYONE WOULD BE EXCITED…AND SHARE, AND LIKE AND PARTICIPATE AND HELP ME BACK so I am able to do MORE and BETTER.

So, let the feathers be ruffled, let people be outraged at my blog, let people voice their opinions. Let’s go. Bring it on.   If anyone has any idea as to why this is not working, other than mentioned above, please let me know in the comments.

I am going to take a bit of a break. This downloading issue discovery has upset me so much, and it’s not good for my health and my heart condition.

Until next time,

Sue