Tips Tuesday – AWS Down, In-Person Video Intros, Free YouTube or Paid Course
Tips this week include:
- AWS causes global disruptions
- What gets clicked in AI Overviews
- Why in-person video intros are so important
- Change of plans with my video creations – again
- Free YouTube vs paid course
- Gen Z is driving Pinterest and YouTube clicks
- Cater to generational homes and personal expression
- WP Accessibility Day affects everyone
- Playground with Gutenberg
- Local development improvements
- Doing safer updates
Internet Outages
AWS Causes Global Disruptions
AWS, which is Amazon Web Services, had a hiccup on Monday that caused a global issue with sites not being available or limping along. And it affects way more of them than you think, even Google services.
Some folks are calling this an internet outage. The internet is working fine. The stored data can’t be retrieved/accessed. I know that seems like a petty distinction, but it’s not, at least for those who have to fix it, and how long that might take.
Tom’s Guide has a running story on the outage as it keeps changing. It’s up, it’s down, it’s sort of working, etc.
FYI, all of my membership tutorials are stored on AWS, so there may be some disruption with availability. Or maybe everything will have been resolved by the time you read this.
SEO Tips
What Gets Clicked in AI Overviews
I suggest you read this entire Search Engine Journal article where they interview Google’s VP of Search about what gets clicked in AIO and how Google is responding to what it shows.
Reid said that Google is tracking user engagement and surfacing more of the type of info they are clicking on, especially those where the searcher doesn’t bounce back immediately to Google. (FYI, that has always been true with regular Google Search too.)
Over and over again she highlighted that searchers want depth of content that has a unique perspective.
She said that they consider low-effort spam content to be blogs that state what is already commonly known.
Keep in mind that Google is always experimenting and tracking to see how searchers respond to the choices given.
And what Google is discovering is that searchers still want to go beyond obvious answers.
And more and more now they are preferring content made by someone who they can tell is a real person with a real viewpoint from their experience.
To me, that is exactly what video provides, especially those where someone shows their face.
I also believe that as AI becomes ubiquitous, searchers are going to want more personal, human connection from a source where they can build trust.
Let that be you.
Video Tips
Why In-Person Intros are Important
Most of my BlogAid video tutorials have an intro with a picture of me on the title screen, and me doing a voiceover.
But with Heartwood Art, I always do an in-person intro and outro. The rest of the video is mainly showing my hands or a closeup of the tool working or such.
I think that’s important because folks have the opportunity to build trust with me, as a person, and see where I’m coming from with the info I’m providing. And they most definitely honed in on my overalls and Southern accent too!!! So, I wear that getup every time I’m on camera. (Actually, it really is what I prefer to wear in the shop anyway.)
This new YouTube channel, that I’ll be releasing later this month, involves screencast recordings, much like my BlogAid tutorials.
But, I think it’s super important for me to do an in-person intro for them for a couple of reasons.
Many folks who teach this software never show their face. They miss building a personal relationship with their followers.
Most folks who teach this are men, all of whom are younger than me, that I know of. That’s because most of the end-users are of that same demographic.
So showing my older self, and being a woman, are big risks, but ones that I think will pay off. I’ve worked in men’s fields all my life, and out-performed most of them, so I’m ready for the reactions.
It comes down to one thing – either you know what you’re talking about or you don’t. And I do.
If they stick around past the intro, they’ll see that too.
Change of Plans – Again
Y’all know that I’ve been doing deep research on what type of series I want to create next with Heartwood Art.
First I was going to do tool reviews. But tools change every year or two and my tools are too far out of date compared to what’s on the market now. So that’s out.
Second, I was going to do a series on how to use your tools. And I still may, but what I’m finding is that most beginners want in-person shop training, not more videos where the only hands-on is by themselves.
Third, and what I reported on last week, was doing “tantalizing title” videos for techniques where I know there are 14 ways to do something and/or how folks do things incorrectly. I am most definitely going to do those.
But, I close the shop over the super cold winter months and we will be very close to that by the time I finish up the current video project I’m on.
Plus, I’m in a couple of women’s woodworking groups where folks are begging for help with learning CAD programs.
Yep, I can teach that and do well with it!!!! In fact, there are 2 popular CAD programs that I can teach.
Most of the existing tutorials are either out of date, or are not beginner-friendly, or do beginner tuts on non-beginner designs.
So, that’s what I’ll be doing next, as I can clearly see the angle I want to take on it that will fit the audience I want to attract.
Monetization Tips
Free YouTube vs Paid Course
For these CAD tutorials, I think it’s a FAR better idea to do them on YouTube than running another paid course for them.
Here’s why.
One of the BIG issues I ran into with the AI Images for Profit course was being able to market it.
To show folks what can be done on the different AI platforms, I would basically have to demo the exact same info in the course, but do it for free on YouTube and social media.
In other words, I would have to give away the store with free samples, and I don’t think that is fair to the folks paying for that same info.
On the other hand, I know for a fact that you can give away the ham one bite at a time, and folks will still buy the whole thing just to have it all in one place and in step-by-step order.
So, here’s my bet with the free CAD tutorials.
YouTube has a member program available.
If folks who like my tuts ask for it, I could start a “members only” type section for livestreams or where I answer their questions or help with their designs.
Or, I could set up my own membership and do live Zooms where they can share their screens and discuss their projects or such.
The point is, I will have the opportunity to get paid while I’m building the audience, because the Heartwood Art channel is already monetized.
And then, if there is a call for it, take it up another level.
Gen Z is Driving Pinterest and YouTube Clicks
Last week, I was chatting with my client Lisa Pinder, who runs a Pinterest Management Agency.
She mentioned that Gen Z is the biggest growing demographic on Pinterest now.
And this report from YouTube confirms that Gen Z is driving the most sales on YouTube as well.
So, if you’re looking to grow your business, you may want to get in touch with what 14-24 year olds are interested in.
And it may not be what you think!!!
One of my other clients, Elizabeth DeCroos of Epida Studio says that the Gen Z folks love to make their own apparel and lots of them are getting into sewing of all kinds.
Cater to Generational Homes and Personal Expression
With rent and mortgages being through the roof, and no sign of them coming down, lots of Gen Z folks can’t afford to live away from their parents now. Or, they need to find a way to make a multi-roommate situation work.
Both of those things mean that they don’t have a whole space to furnish and decorate in their own style.
And that means that they have to figure out ways to express their preferences in smaller, more personal ways.
Fashion is a way to do that.
Small decor is another way.
And perhaps cooking for their friends or family could be a way to do it.
So maybe begin thinking about how to angle your niche to cater to the needs of Gen Z, or those that they live with, and start reaching a whole new audience.
Webmaster Tips
WP Accessibility Day Affects Everyone
Last week was the big WP Accessibility Day, and in this podcast from WP Minute, they discuss why site accessibility is both a legal and moral obligation.
While the lawsuits have stopped for bloggers who haven’t taken proper accessibility measures with their sites, the importance of doing so has not waned.
Most website designers don’t even follow best practices with it. Hell, they don’t even know what those best practices are or how to test sites for them!!
The designers I recommend have done deep dives into accessibility and you better believe the sites they create pass muster!!
They also know how to make sites work on all screen sizes and have good SEO and speed too.
Site design is about way more than pretty.
So, take that into consideration when hiring a designer.
Playground with Gutenberg
A year or so ago, WordPress released a thing called Playground where you could spin up the equivalent of a WordPress site in your browser to test and play with things.
Since then there have been several tangent versions of it, like one to test PHP code.
And now the Suggerence Gutenberg Edition of Playground allows you to prompt AI and it will create a blog post with a wireframe layout, content, and even images from WordPress’ Openverse assets.
They have a working demo available and you can sign up to be notified when the full release goes live.
So, if you’re stuck on layout ideas for a client theme build, this may be a way to get your creative juices flowing.
Just don’t copy/paste anything from it, no more than you would from ChatGPT responses or such.
Local Development Improvements
If you like to design locally instead of spinning up and securing a site on a host, you may want to listen to this podcast with Nick Diego on improvements to WordPress Studio.
Doing Safer Updates
For webmasters who maintain sites for clients, you may want to check out this new feature from Modular DS: Safe Updates + Update CoPilot.
The regular Modular DS dashboard works like a combo of MainWP and WP Rollback. But beyond allowing you to do updates en masse and create a set point for rollback, it also has a preview so you can see the site before the update takes hold.
And the new CoPilot can be used to analyze the update before you install it to assess how risky it may be.
We don’t have nearly the trouble with updates that we used to, but when you’re updating 20-70 sites at a time, even one disruption could ruin your week, right?
