Tips Tuesday – Google Antitrust Case, Making Downloadables, Conversion Goals

Tips this week include:

• New course for creating digital downloads in Google Docs
• How AI helps make printables pretty
• Boatload of new AI image tutorials underway
• Why Shopify Starter is a good fit
• I’ve been invited to help improve MemberPress
• Google loses huge antitrust case – and what it means for us
• Ranking takes more than pumping out content
• Why metrics matter so much
• Are you meeting your conversion goals?

BlogAid Happenings

This past week I’ve been a tutorial making maniac.

As I mentioned in a recent Tips Tuesday, BlogAid has become the parent company for a suite of businesses. 

Online it’s better to niche, so I have different sites for different business focuses.

But in reality, they all tie in together to bring light to all the things that online business owners need to help them make money.

Monetization Tips

Create Digital Downloads in Google Docs

My primary focus this past week has been making tutorials for how to create digital downloads that you can use as freebie optins, trip wires, as well as PDFs and templates for direct sales.

I know a lot of folks use Canva to create these things. And that’s fine.

But, apps like that can be overwhelming to folks who are graphically challenged.

Plus, there’s too much vagueness in what you can do with the assets they provide.

So, I’m making tutorials for creating things in Google Docs and I’ve been blown away with all you can style in them and how fast it is to do it.

That’s especially true if you start with a template and know how to modify each part of it to make it your own.

So, I’m focusing hard on creating useful templates that you’ll be able to swipe. And then I have break out tutorials for each element so you’ll know how to easily modify everything in it and make your own templates to use again and again or sell directly.

The other great thing about using Google Docs is that you own the files and you can make copies to share and put them in a Drive folder where you control who has access to them. So it becomes your storage and delivery mechanism too.

And best of all, it’s free or cheap and you already have it.

I’ll have things for you to see soon in the eCreators Hub.

AI Makes Printables Pretty

Printables need images. 

I’ve been able to generate everything I need for them using Midjourney.

That includes:

• Full page backgrounds
• Borders
• Corner flourishes
• And images that directly portray what’s in the content.

To me, this is often far faster and easier than trying to source images from an endless pit of assets, with no ability to modify them to fit my exact needs. I don’t want graphics that look like everybody else’s stuff.

And there is no question about commercial licensing with these assets either.

And I’ll be bringing all of those prompts and examples to the AI Images for Profit course soon too.

On a side note, Canva has incorporated AI into their creation process. And recently they acquired Leonardo.ai for creating images and video. That is the one major AI image generator app that I do not cover in the AI Images for Profit course, with good reason. It’s crazy hard to use to get the styling and such that you want, and you end up adding all kinds of negative prompts to clear out things it puts in your images.

So, I’ll be super interested to see how Canva incorporates it, and how they deal with licensing on it.

Frankly, I find that there are just too many other AI image generation options from apps that carry a commercial license and are easier to use.

So, I’ll be keeping an eye on this.

Boatload of AI Image Tutorials Coming

There’s been so much AI image news this past week that I’ve had to adjust my tutorial making schedule 3 times.

I’ve got a WHOLE bunch of news and new tutorials coming for the AI Images for Profit course soon.

I’m super excited about what these new generators and features will help us do with our marketing efforts too, especially on social media.

Shopify Starter is a Good Fit

I have a family member in the music business who is really breaking out now. And I’m helping him establish a central presence online.

We’re making a list of all the integrations he will need with his site and that will include a way to sell his merch (merchandise) that is supplemental to his music.

He’s also an artist and he has prints, T-shirts, caps, and more.

Plus, he needs to be able to sell directly on social media, which is where he has the most fan engagement now.

Shopify has a Starter Plan that is going to be a perfect fit for his needs.

The “store” can be on his website. But more importantly, he will have links that he can post on social media for direct sales.

Plus, he’ll be able to make direct sales at his live shows too.

With this setup he gets:

• The product listing interface
• Print-on-demand and drop-shipping integration
• Payment processor
• Links to sell directly anywhere online
• Back of the room direct sales
• A LinkPop page (to monetize Link in Bio on social media)
• Analytics
• And more

All this for only $5/mo with a 5% flat transaction fee.

Shopify setup and site integration is just one of the done-for-you services I offer through eCreatorsHub.

Invited to Improve MemberPress

On both AI Discover Hub and eCreators Hub, I’ve been trying many of the new features in MemberPress. 

I’ve also been in touch with support to help them work out some kinks and/or to improve how some things are done, or how their tutorials aren’t fully covering how to do a few things.

They’ve reached out to me personally to do a live session for more feedback on how to further improve MemberPress.

And I’m delighted to do it!!!!

They have been working hard to make MP the best all-in-one platform and I’m very impressed with the new features.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

SEO Tips

Google Loses Huge Antitrust Case

That has a big headline, but a very anti-climatic result.

I’m going to tell you this upfront – don’t get your hopes up that this will change anything significant for us with regards to Google Search.

The antitrust case centers on one main thing that the courts have found monopolistic and that is how Google has positioned itself to be the default search engine on devices and browsers.

Here are the bullet points:

• Google paid Apple $330 billion in annual revenue to be the exclusive search engine on iPhones and iPads and Android OS.
• Google paid to be the default search engine for the Safari browser. Naturally, it is the default on the Chrome browser.

Here’s how I think the courts will break up these monopolistic tactics.

• They will ask Apple to stop receiving payment from Google to be the default search engine.
• They will require Apple and others to have a checklist for new user setup that lists all major search engines so that end users can choose.

And you know as well as I do that most folks are still going to choose Google as their default search engine.

So, to me, the real revenue loser here is Apple, not Google.

The Google spokesperson pretty much backs up what I just said, but with the usual Google hubris of being the best:
“This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available. We appreciate the Court’s finding that Google is ‘the industry’s highest quality search engine, which has earned Google the trust of hundreds of millions of daily users,’ that Google ‘has long been the best search engine, particularly on mobile devices,’ ‘has continued to innovate in search’ and that ‘Apple and Mozilla occasionally assess Google’s search quality relative to its rivals and find Google’s to be superior.’ Given this, and that people are increasingly looking for information in more and more ways, we plan to appeal. As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use.”

Here’s the other side of this that few folks are talking about – AI.

Google tracks hundreds of millions of queries entered into its search engine every day.

And it tracks what links folks click on in the search results.

That data is HUGE for training Google’s AI.

Microsoft/OpenAI would LOVE to get that insane volume of data from Bing search.

There is a significant dollar amount attached to having all of these exclusive deals for Google to be the default browser.

But, Google stock barely hiccuped when the news broke. So, the investors are not seeing a significant loss with this court decision.

And it will take time for the court’s decision on exactly how they require breaking up this monopolistic position, and the timeline for implementing it.

My guess is that it will be at least a year, if not two.

So, don’t expect anything to change with regard to Google Search, or how your site is ranking or anything. This suit has nothing to do with that.

It Takes More Than Pumping Out Content

This past week I applied for a content writing job from an online business owner who wanted someone to write in her voice who had strong SEO skills.

I offered to do an SEO and content audit and create a plan for how to make what she had better and to fill in the SEO gaps to strengthen her authority and create the content she was missing for a Content Silo.

She had never even looked at her Google Search Console metrics and had no idea if there were any technical SEO issues with her site. She had installed the Yoast SEO plugin, but had never configured it.

I asked how she would measure the success of someone writing for her blog and she replied that when she Googled a keyword, her site would show on page 1 for her.

And she didn’t think anything other than someone writing in her voice was necessary.

If you’re in my DIY SEO course, you know the 10 reasons why I turned down this job.

And you know why I would never be able to meet this client’s unrealistic expectations.

Metrics Matter

That said, I know there are folks who are reading this right now who rarely look beyond their vanity metrics, or they only do a bit of keyword research once in a while on a free app.

My clients, who make $5,000-$10,000 a month watch their metrics like a hawk.

It was no surprise to me that they were the first folks to sign up for EZ Metrix. In fact, most of them did that half way through the webinar demo.

They knew exactly what an insane time saver this would be to answer every question about how their content was doing.

It took their weekly checks from an hour to 15 minutes.

And then they have a data-driven plan for creating and promoting content that has extreme ROI.

Or, you can stay on the content creation hamster wheel and keep throwing spaghetti against the wall until something sticks.

That’s exactly what that blog writing job would have been for me, and one of the ten reasons I turned it down.

That’s working too hard for too little in return.

Promotion Tips

Are You Meeting Your Conversion Goals?

Do you know where your traffic comes from?

Do you know what posts/pages are bringing them there?

Do you know if they buy anything or optin once they get to your site?

These are questions that GA4 metrics can answer.

And it has a built-in tool to help you track your conversions too, like clicking on specific links.

You can also use Google Tag Manager to track the posts where folks are opting into your newsletter and offers too.

It’s called Conversion Tracking.

I taught all of this in my GA4 course and I’ll be bringing those tutorials forward to the EZ Metrix course soon too.

It’s always nice to know what’s making you money and what type of promotion is getting you the most opportunities to grow your list and convert them into buyers too.