So many Namastream teachers reach out to us asking, “How can I possibly be successful when there are so many other yoga teachers, health coaches, fill-in-the-blanks, online already?” The answer we always give is, “But they’re not YOU.”

There are a lot of Facebook Pixel resources floating around the Internet, but many of them are overly complicated and weirdly vague. (What’s up with that?)

When we recently announced that Namastream teachers could begin installing a Facebook Pixel on their studio sites, we were immediately peppered with eager questions from our community. How should they do this? Is it essential? What are the benefits? How will it help them grow their online businesses? And just what the heck IS a Facebook Pixel anyway?

How to Light Your Yoga Videos on the Cheap: If you want to create professional looking videos for your virtual studio, good lighting is mission critical. Lighting is an art form that can seem intimidating when you’re first starting out as an online teacher. (For many of us, chatting happily into an iPhone camera feels worlds different than filming in a studio with a big, bright, professional lighting setup.) But there are some super simple yet effective ways to control and manipulate lighting in your yoga or fitness videos.

When you’re creating a new online offering, it’s awfully tempting to stick to a format you know well and try to wedge your content into it.

But that can lead to watering down your best ideas, or presenting them in a way that feels awkward or unnatural to your community. You’re be better off by focusing on the end-goal: What do you want this content to accomplish? What should it DO for your clients? Those questions should guide your product design choices, even if they drive you toward a delivery setup that’s a tiny bit outside your comfort zone.

Music is an integral part of many wellness classes, and can be especially important to online instruction.

The right playlist adds depth and personality to a yoga video, helping set the tone for the class and creating a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere for the student. But music use can be tricky. Especially if you want it to be fully legal (which, of course, you do!)Playing music during a live or recorded class is considered to be a “performance,” which means if you do it without the proper licenses in place, you can get slapped with hefty fines! It’s easy to think that, as a small studio or single teacher, you might be able to fly under the radar.

As a wellness practitioner, you might be under the impression that you should market yourself to everyone you encounter. Just about every single person on the planet could benefit from what you have to offer, right?

Instagram has maintained its status as a social media mega-force for several years running—quite an accomplishment in this ever-changing digital landscape! And yet, we entrepreneurs, bloggers, and businesses have become frustrated by the platform’s limitations, especially when it comes to linking back to our own websites. Many of us post a single link in our bios, but this workaround can feel clunky and limiting.

Crafting an effective, on-brand lead magnet is no small task. You want this free piece of downloadable content to encourage email list subscriptions, but it also needs to address a real need among your followers. It takes time, insight, and creativity to cook up an opt-in that does its job properly.

Those of us in the health and wellness world are a pretty upbeat bunch. We love our jobs, our clients, and the flexibility we gain by teaching our classes online. We know that spending our time and energy helping people gain strength and stamina, heal from injuries, and lead more grounded lives is rewarding and life-changing work.

Remember buffering? That seemingly endless state of early-Internet limbo that occurred when you tried to load a beefy video or animated graphic? With today’s lightning-fast fiber optic connections, buffering has (thankfully) become a thing of the past. But those same lightning-fast connections have shifted expectations: If your video takes too long to load, viewers lose interest and click away.

Which is why it’s crucial that you learn to optimize your online video files for fast, easy viewing. They need to load quickly, run smoothly, and look fabulous in every frame! Learning to compress your videos the right way will ensure that your content is viewed and enjoyed. And since the Namastream team wants your content to draw as many eager views as possible, we put together this video compression primer to help you puzzle out the basics.

It’s easy to overlook Pinterest. This visually-driven medium is no longer the new kid on the block, and some of it’s buzz has been stolen by trendier social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. But Pinterest is holding steady in the market with nearly as many users as Instagram, and has several important advantages over competitors:

Launching your online yoga, wellness, or coaching business is an exciting and challenging first step. Creating your initial online presence takes courage (#bebrave) and requires some deep strategic thinking. But what happens next?

Virtually all Internet users have at least heard the term SEO, but I’d wager a handful of you aren’t clear on definitions and details. You may know it’s something essential to blog success, but aren’t sure why or how to make it work for your own website. Let’s break it down…