Tips Tuesday – Selling Direct on Pinterest and YouTube, More Videos in AI Search

Tips this week include:

• DIY SEO – more Technical SEO checks this week
• Clients getting the help they need
• Selling direct from Pinterest
• Selling direct from YouTube
• WP 6.9.1 release
• More videos shown in AI Search
• Clawdbot scam

Happenings Around Here

I hope y’all are surviving all of the winter storms.

I kept power throughout, but I’ve been iced in for a week and likely will be all this week too. 

We do have some warm days on the way, though. But the ice is super thick, so it will take a while yet.

DIY SEO – More Technical SEO Checks

This week in the DIY SEO course we’re continuing our “back to basics” checks to ensure all is well with our Technical SEO.

We’ll be checking our Yoast SEO settings to ensure everything is set up properly as there have been several super important changes.

I found a few settings that I’m 100% sure I had turned off previously, and now they are on again.

This is why it is so important to do these checks at least annually.

Clients Getting the Help They Need

I did several live sessions with clients this past week to help correct issues that they ran into and we got them resolved quickly.

One was due to a rest of the nameservers during a domain renewal.

And another was changing a Pinterest seller verification script in the header.

Another was adding additional security for bots hitting on the subscriber forms.

Things like these are included in their site audit Hub subscription.

Plus, we share issues and tips in our Facebook group as well, and everyone benefits.

My clients are thrilled not to have to rely on wild guesses in blogger groups to get the help they need!!!!

Monetization Tips

Selling Direct From Pinterest

As I just mentioned, one of my clients will be selling directly on Pinterest and needed a little help with adding the verification code.

She’ll be selling from her Shopify store as they have a native integration for Pinterest.

I’m thrilled that she is using more social selling outlets for your downloadables!!!!!!!

Selling Direct From YouTube

Another client wanted to sell directly on his YouTube videos, but he uses affiliate links, and that is not allowed in the YouTube Shopping program.

It is allowed in the video Description, though.

But, we will be looking into ways to partner with brands to make direct sells.

I want to do this as well because I have several video reviews of products on my Heartwood Art YouTube channel too.

WordPress Tips

WP 6.9.1 Release

The new bug fix release should be rolling out today.

I’ll be testing it and letting my site audit Hub clients and webmasters know if it’s finally safe for everyone to update.

AI Tips

More Videos Shown in AI Search

Gemini is what powers Google’s AI Overviews.

Read this quote from Yoast SEO in their January SEO recap:

“Gemini is now pulling YouTube videos into its responses, even for non-video queries. If you’re not repurposing content for YouTube, you’re missing an opportunity. Optimize video titles, descriptions, and transcripts so AI can find and cite your work.”

There are several AI tools that will help you easily repurpose your blog content into a video.

There are plenty of AI tools to help you create a video from your still images too.

There is no excuse for not getting into video these days to help ensure your content gets seen.

Clawdbot Scam

You need to be aware of this scam because it shows just how fast hackers and scammers can take advantage of you.

You may be familiar with Claude, which is Anthropic’s AI LLM.

Developer Peter Steinberger created a self-hosted AI Agent/Assistant called Clawdbot. It went through the roof in GitHub downloads.

And then he got a cease and desist order from Anthropic due to having a name that was too close to their bot name.

During the renaming process, there was a 10-second window where the Clawdbot domain was up for grabs.

And crypto scammers acquired Clawdbot during that opening – yes, it happens that fast when they are monitoring it.

Within hours, fake crypto $CLAWD tokens were available for purchase.

So far the scammers have made $16 million in market cap!!

This is Why Security is So Important

You may think there is nothing on your site that would interest a hacker.

Think again.

Stolen emails and login credentials alone make hackers millions on the dark web.

Most hackers don’t want you to know they are there while they silently steal subscriber and user emails off your site.

Getting exposure via spam comments still makes them money – that’s why they keep doing it.

Beyond your audits, it’s super important to do your part to keep your site safe – like:

• Doing regular updates
• Ensuring your login password is unique on every online account you have
• Rotating passwords annually
• Closing unused browser tabs before you open a new tab to log into your site – or any other account

There’s more, but at least following these best practices will foil many bad actors and help you stay safe.