Tips Tuesday – Meta Business Suite Mastermind, YouTube Monetization Updates, Making Year-End Money 

Tips this week include:

• Why I’m glad I asked about changes to Tips Tuesday
• Meta Business Suite Mastermind this week
• Quick seasonal homepage updates
• Internal issues with WP core development Teams
• YouTube announces dynamic ad placement
• New product and brand deal opportunities
• My money-making year end plans

BlogAid Happenings

Glad I Asked

Thanks to everyone who replied about the changes to Tips Tuesday last week!!

I sure appreciate you letting me know how much this weekly post helps you, plus what you find most useful.

With that feedback, I believe it will be best to keep going with the trend I have now.

That means when you just need to know news, but don’t really need an explanation, I’ll give you the headline and a link to read more. Updates with the WP court cases would be a good example of that.

When you need clarification about why something is important, and/or how it will impact you, I’ll give more details. And if that warrants a full post, I’ll link to that.

I’ll do the same for any news that might be alarming, just so you know whether to be concerned or not.

Most everyone said they appreciated the expanded social and video news too, as WP is only one part of being a content creator and running an online business.

The most common comment was a recognition of time savings for you in keeping up with all of the changes. And that’s my main goal – to be a rich resource that saves you time and money.

DIY SEO Happenings

Meta Business Suite Mastermind This Week

Over the last year, Meta has strongly encouraged us to connect our accounts and assets in Meta Business Suite.

I did those things as the notifications popped up. But I continued to go to each account/page/profile any time I wanted to post on it or check it.

When I started getting interested in having a bigger presence on both Instagram and Facebook, I checked into using Meta Business Suites.

What a complex mess that was to figure out!!!

And the deeper I dug, the more concerned I became about the settings and connections between accounts and the people who can manage them.

I think I got all of the basics figured out, and that’s what we’ll be covering in the next live session for the DIY SEO Everywhere course on Thursday.

Plus, I’ll show you some of the notifications I ran into and we’ll be fixing those during that session too.

I already like MBS for scheduling to both my FB Page and its associated IG account, which is not a combo you can do from either of those accounts individually.

So, it’s well worth the time to dig into it a bit and ensure everything is set up properly, especially with who has access to what. I wasn’t even listed as having full access on one of the Business Portfolios!! I am now!!!

Content Tips

Quick Seasonal Homepage Updates

Oh, how I live Kadence!!!!!!!

I wanted to remake some parts of my Heartwood Art home page to feature my new Halloween posts.

All of the sections on that page were made with Kadence Blocks.

So, all I had to do was tweak the section for Recent Posts that used:

• Row Layout with a background color
• Heading 2
• Post Grid (the one in Kadence Blocks)

In the Post Grid, I set it to only display posts in the Holiday Builds Category.

And then I edited the header to Fun Halloween DIY.

Then I used the Gutenberg move tool to place it above the section for Popular Posts.

And done!!!!

Took all of 2 minutes to do!!!!

And when I start publishing my Xmas posts, all I have to do is tweak the Heading and maybe the category for just Xmas, instead of the broader Holiday Builds, so it will knock out the Halloween stuff.

I could just as easily choose the posts to show, like I did in the Popular Posts section.

The point is, building with Kadence makes changes like this super fast and I can easily keep my homepage current with the season without having to republish posts to get them to the top of the category again, or other such nonsense, that goofs up your SEO too.

FYI, in the DIY SEO Everywhere course, we covered how to use these blocks to make your own “Link in Bio” type page. (It’s in the On-Site SEO section, and is the very last tut listed on the course page.) So, you can get tips on using these blocks with this tut, you just don’t have to make the page narrow or such.

WordPress Tips

Internal Issues with WP Core Development Teams

Development of WordPress has long been the product of individual groups creating specific things, like the Gutenberg group, and then the release cycle group who determines what advancements from each of these specialty groups will have their changes put into WP core for that release.

The problem, in my mind, is that there is always a brand new release group, and that means no central oversight.

Well, the Executive Director of WP decided that there needed to be a standing oversight committee to help coordinate all of this. 

It’s about damn time!!!!!

However, that doesn’t sit well with factions involved in the legal parts of WP.

So, there’s a bit of new WP Drama happening internally.

I don’t know what will come of it, or how it will affect the next release.

You can read more about it here, if you’re interested.

And I’ll keep you posted on anything that actually affects us.

Monetization Tips

YouTube Announces Dynamic Ads

I’m excited about this and want to thank long-time client, Jodi Murphy, for bringing it to my attention. She helps run the website for Dorktales Storytime Podcast.

The ability to dynamically insert ads has long been a perk for podcasters.

And now YouTube is adding dynamic ads for those with brand partnerships.

This is going to be way better than burning in a sponsorship for the life of the video.

You can now run more short-term sponsorships. And that means evergreen videos can earn over and over with multiple brands. That’s way better than you only getting paid once, yet them getting exposure forever.

And that means you make more money in the long run.

New Product and Brand Deal Opportunities

At the YouTube Create gathering last week, they introduced a slew of new features and tools.

One of them involved ease with tagging products directly in the video. 

And another is providing a way to hook up creators with brands.

See all of the new monetization features YouTube released.

My Money-Making Year End Plans

I’d like to share an update with you about what I’m doing to diversify my income streams through the end of this year and into the first of next. I hope that it will inspire you.

Halloween Posts

Earlier this summer I made plans to publish more holiday-themed content for Heartwood Art.

And I had planned to invite kids over to help paint the Halloween stuff, but that didn’t pan out. Plus, having to do all of the drawings and paintings myself delayed the project further. 

I posted the long-form videos first, and then discovered that YouTube doesn’t really push holiday content months early, like Pinterest does. So, I delayed posting Shorts until September, and that has worked out well.

Plus, I had to take Pinterest courses to get familiar with what works on that platform now too, and that put me a little behind schedule with posting there. But I’m delighted that those first Pins started getting views in less than 2 weeks. 

And they are doing okay on Facebook and Instagram too, but not as well as on Pinterest and YouTube.

But, at least now everything is scheduled for daily or weekly posting all the way through October and I can move on to other things.

The main thing is, I now have a better idea of what to post, and when, on each platform too.

Christmas Posts

I’m doing my best to get myself into the Christmas vibe while it’s still 90 something degrees outside. I’m sorting ideas of what I want to make from scrap wood right now. I got into the shop on Sunday and started making the first set of things.

I’m in a bit of a hurry to get these things completed and the videos scheduled out by the end of this week because I have a new thing starting in October.

No Music Video Channel

Because so many platforms are downgrading channels that produce AI Slop, I’ve decided to postpone doing a music video channel for profit. None of it would have been AI generated, but it certainly could have been mistaken for it.

So, I don’t want to build something that may get shut down.

New Video Creation Channel

Instead, I’ll be launching a new channel to teach the very complex software that I’ve been using to build the worlds or scenes for the videos. This software has several flavors and most folks are building worlds for games. But it does have a film section to it. And major studios are now using it for movie location backgrounds.

So, there are a lot of folks looking for tutorials, but most all of those tutorials start with the game branch.

I’ll be teaching the film branch, and that’s the angle/niche that I think will bring the most viewers and money.

Plus, there is almost nobody who teaches at a true beginner level anymore. And you know I’ll be a standout with that!!!

I actually wrote all of the tutorial scripts last month, but due to the Halloween video creation delays, I postponed making these new tuts as a new version of the software is due out at the end of this month. Thank goodness I waited as the big updates are on the main things I’m teaching.

So, once I get my Xmas vids wrapped up, I’ll dive into the new release and tweak my tuts accordingly. It will be a HUGE bonus for my new channel to post them right after this new release too!!!

The Joy of a Repeatable Series

The best part about choosing to teach something like this is that there will always be 2 new versions a year. So I will always have something to post about, and new series projects to make on each version. I can easily see posting at least twice a month, if not every week. And I can batch make those videos too. Plus, making Shorts should be just a matter of editing, like I’m already doing with Heartwood Art.

New Tools Posts 

Everybody buys woodworking tools during the holidays. So that’s a good time for me to release tool review videos. I’ll be starting on those before the end of October, I hope, so they can gain some traction before the holiday sales hit.

And then in January, everybody is looking for tuts on how to use their new tools. And I plan to jump on that before the end of the year too.

Plus, I need to get finished with all of my woodshop posts before the super cold winter weather hits, as I close the shop from January-March.

Amazon Reviews

As you can see, my plate is full into next year already.

I’m still doing research on Amazon Reviews, but I don’t see how I can get them done this year.

That’s especially true now that I found out how much time has to be spent looking at metrics, as there are conditions where your review is the deciding factor, but you won’t get the commission on it. And I would want to pull those reviews for a time. I’ll tell you more about that, and what else I’ve learned, as I get to this project.

I hate missing the holiday season on doing this, but there’s always next year!!

What Are Your Holiday Plans?

For us content creators, that question hits a little differently, doesn’t it?

Do you have an established workflow for your holiday-related content?

If so, do you look for new opportunities and trends, or do you stick with the way you’ve always done things?

It’s been important for me to keep up with the news and with trends so that I know that I’m spending my time on the right things to get traffic and make me money.

More importantly, I want to ensure that I’m not wasting my time on something that could be taken away later because of platform rule changes and such.

Plus, some things need extensive research before jumping in, as influencers don’t always tell you the down sides and caveats with things.

Time is money, and I want to make the most of both by doing my research, getting in on new trends, and avoiding what is on its way out.

How about you?