Fast forward to May 2005. I decided it was time to bring back e-tap.com, but in a bigger and more organized way. I came up with the name United Taps, and decided to start by creating video clips of every step I knew. You can explain a step all day long, but sometimes it's just easier to watch it. I figured I would just go into the studio, video my steps, convert and post them. Piece of cake, right? HAH! Nothing is ever as simple as it seems. Here is the short version of my successes and failures:
Late May 05: FAILURE - My first attempt at videoing turns out to be a flop due to too much echo from video taping in a large room. All the steps I shot had to be refilmed.
Late May 05: SUCCESS - I fill an entire video cassette with steps and begin to fill a second.
Late May 05: FAILURE - I accidentally changed some setting on the video camera so all the steps filmed on the second tape had an orange tint to them. All those steps had to be refilmed.
Early June 05: SUCCESS - I refilmed the second tape and it turned out well.
Mid June 05: SUCCESS - I began making headway, very slowly, converting the video of each individual step and step combinations into 3 different file sizes. There were over 2000 separate videos when I finished. I didn't have very good video editing and converting tools, so there was NO AUTOMATION. I did each video one at a time! This process was ssslllllooooowwwwww.
Late June 05: MAJOR SUCCESS - All video files had been converted, compressed, and named. I began work on writing the actual web pages. This was more work than I had bargained for. Each and every link (over 2000) had to be written out by hand!!
Late June 05: CATASTROPHIC FAILURE - My hard drive crashes and I lose ALL my video files (over 2000 of them). I thought I had them backed up on an extra hard drive, however, dragging the files to the extra hard drive only created a shortcut to the files and didn't actually back them up. Talk about getting sick to your stomach. Words cannot express how upset I was.
Early July 05: SUCCESS - Slowly I began to reconvert all the video files from tape to computer, and compress and label them, again.
July-October 05: SUCCESS - A little bit at a time, I gradually converted all the video clips to a web friendly format (I got a new computer which helped a lot).
November 05: FAILURE - I review all my video files and find several are not good enough, either due to my tapping or video glitches, and a few are missing (can't blame the dog on this one).
November 05: SUCCESS - I refilm the bad video clips and reconvert them.
November 05: SUCCESS - I create links to all 2009 video files. Every link had to be typed out one at a time as they are all different. This process was the definition of monotony.
November 29th 05: SUCCESS - I post all the web pages and get ready to start uploading the video files.
December 1st 05: SUCCESS - United Taps is online! (below is a picture)
In the late 1990's I started a web site called e-tap.com. I put up some videos to show how to do certain tap dance steps. The response I got was great, but I eventually took it off-line because I didn't have time to work on it. Below is a picture of what it looked like.
United Taps Story
May 18th, 2006: SUCCESS - United Taps begins branching out to collaborate with Drew Tyler Bell on a new show called "Garage Tap!" at garagetap.com (no longer up, but you can still find the shows on youtube).
Some Time in 2006: SUCCESS - I offer sales of my first album, No Rest, through unitedtaps.com
...time drifts by......
April 2008: MAJOR SUCCESS - I refilm all the steps on my site (but not the mini combinations). At least as many as I can remember. About 275 steps in all. This time I break them down (Why didn’t I do that the first time?). It took about 6 hours of non-stop filming in a hot garage. I also put them in flash format (like youtube videos) so all you have to do is hit play instead of downloading a file.
Nov 27, 2008: SUCCESS - Virtually all of the video dictionary steps have been uploaded now. I have redesigned the site with a new logo and a new look.
Dec 31, 2008: SUCCESS - I added a tap dance syllabus in video format covering all the steps in my tap dance video dictionary. I added an iPod Video download of my entire syllabus/dictionary. I added my new album ACTION. I also added a new tap forum and discussion board.
Jan 24, 2009: SUCCESS - I have done a complete redesign, again, after seeing tapper Michelle Dorrance’s web page. (Good page and good tapper. I just felt my site looked so outdated, so I revamped it.)
Feb 27, 2009: SUCCESS - I have made an individual page for each of my steps in the tap dance dictionary. Two reasons; First, I read google likes big sites and gives them higher rankings (true or not? Who knows?). Second, I figured this way I’d get the revenue for the ads on the video page instead of giving it to revver (which is not a good company in my opinion).
Feb 27, 2009: SUCCESS - I have set up the music section now so you can hear each song individually before you buy, and now you can buy by the song instead of just by the album.
March 15th, 2009: FAILURE - So offering songs for sale on an individual basis has severely reduced my music sales. Thus I am returning to offering my music as albums only. Sorry!
May 16th, 2009: SUCCESS - I have finally videoed a new routine for sale called Djemborita (pronouced jem-boar-eetah).
May 26th, 2009: SUCCESS - I have posted a brand new beginner, intermediate, and finally, advanced class! I have been wanting to do this for a while. These will be the first of a complete series for each level.
July 26th, 2009: SUCCESS - I have produced a beginner level practice pack and posted it for sale.
August 2009: FAILURE - My wife has joined my team and we have been through copious versions of website redesigns. At one point we thought we had settled on a design. We went ahead and began changing pages. After 50+ pages, we changed our mind on the design and ended up back at square one!
September 5th, 2009: SUCCESS - We have decided on the new look (so we think!) for the website, and have begun the process of updating each page, one at a time. Talk about a slow process!
Spetember 2009: FAILURE - After settling on a look and converting every single page, I change my mind again and create a new look and have to change all 300+ pages!
September/October 2009: FAILURE - I try to create a technical help section with instructional videos. I use an old windows machine and the videos turn out poorly.
October 2009: FAILURE - I switch over to a new payment transaction company and my first sale doesn't work! Turns out there is a file limit hidden in fine print on a DIFFERENT page than the one I signed up on.
October 2009: SUCCESS - I finally get the instructional videos to work (running windows on my Mac), and I get the payment system working as well.
November 2009: FAILURE/SUCCESS? - I got some new software (Freeway Pro) which will give me more freedom than iWeb and will create faster loading pages as well. Could I just copy and paste the pages from iWeb to Freeway? Of course not. And in the process I'm doing another redesign. I may seem crazy constantly redesigning, but everytime I do it the site gets better in some way. The new improvements will be well worth it. I'm hoping to be done with redesigns for a while after this one.
December 20th, 2009: SUCCESS - The redesign is done. I have to make tapdancelessons.com match the new look here at unitedtaps.com now.
Early 2010 SUCCESS - tapdancelessons.com is redesigned to match the look of United Taps.
Early 2010 FAILURE - I decide to replace my halogen lighting I use for filming for 3 reasons: 1) the lights are hot, 2) they use a lot of electricity, 3) they trip my circuit breaker. I replace them with compact florescent bulbs. The compact florescents aren't bright enough and the video turns out dark and grainy.
Early 2010 - FAILURE - I add more compact florescents and part of the video turns out to be washed out. I'm having a lot of trouble getting these lights right.
Early 2010 - FAILURE -I accidentally break my mirrors I use for filming and replace them with plexi-glass mirrors. The plexi glass mirrors warp their reflections despite mounting them to a flat board. I have to buy new glass mirrors.
April 2010 - FAILURE - I order a test poster with my logo on it for the set. It turns out great so I order a second to match it. The second one arrives and does not match due to an upload error on my part so I have to buy yet another one to match the original.
April 2010 - SUCCESS - I finally have all the needed pieces to assemble my new film set - my new glass mirrors are mounted to a wood backboard, my new sound absorption sheets are mounted in a wood frame and mounted to the wall, my new posters are mounted on the back "fake" walls, new baseboard is added to the back "fake" walls and additional sound absorption sheets are hung off camera to further reduce echo. I'm still considering buying higher-end mics for the cameras but I want to see how they sound with the new sound absorption materials first.
April 17th, 2010 SUCCESS - I freshen up the website design with a new menu and title bar and create a new format for purchases. I have an official seller's permit and can now sell physical media such as cd's and dvd's.
May 9th, 2010 - FAILURE - Because I'm now offering DVD's and am now splitting downloads into either Mac or Windows and I'm offering HD, the purchase options for my customers have gotten ridiculous. I have made several charts to make it easy to figure out what to order, but none have been good enough yet.
June 2010 - SUCCESS - I end up redesigning the site again. Graphically it's as cohesive as it's ever been. I've added several new pages as well. I have filmed and edited the first 4 beginner lessons in HD.
February 22nd 2011 - SUCCESS - I have switched to a new transaction company and they are working well after a rocky start.
March 2011 - Failure/Success - I basically finished a complete redesign only to change design directions at the very end. For the redesign I also resturctured so I have broken all the sub-sections of United Taps into separate but tightly linked sites. This allows each site to prosper on it's own and makes it more focused for targeting search engines. I will also be devoting 2 days a week exclusively to United Taps starting summer 2011. This is a big change because up to now all of this has been done in my spare time.
I want to say thank you to someone who saw something in me when I was just starting out tapping. He worked with me and taught me so many things both inside the studio and out and I wouldn’t be where I am today without him. Thank you so much Gregg (Russell). I couldn’t have done it without you! Keep on Tappin’!
