Tips Tuesday – Video SEO, Make Video Money, Cloudflare Tutorials

Hello Happy Site Owners and Webmasters!

Tips this week include:

• Recipe video SEO tutorials are underway
• New Cloudflare tutorials for webmasters published
• Celebrating a big milestone on Heartwood Art and new tutorials that will come of
• New coalition of vendors happening
• What’s up with HeroPress expanding into the HeroPress Network
• A summary of WordCamp US that happened last week
• Genesis blocks now has new mobile options
• How SiteGround centralizing their DNS might affect you
• YouTube pays out the equivalent of 394,000 full-time jobs
• The huge news with YouTube making transcripts searchable
• How videos are replacing blog posts in search
• Should you always own your own content platform?

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Spill the Beans Livestream tonight

Do join us live tonight at 8pm ET / 5pm PT on the BlogAid Facebook Page. We spill the beans on this week’s news, breaking stories for the day too, and special info just for those who watch. And the replay is available here on this Tips Tuesday post later too. But the live party is so much more fun.

Replay

Who I Help

All BlogAid posts and tutorials are intended to assist business-minded, hands-on bloggers and webmaster designers who are serious about making money and who want to stay up-to-date with site changes. And our BB Hub is a private member site and Facebook group for my site audit clients that has lots of extra perks and support.

BlogAid Happenings

Happy Thanksgiving week to my Canadian followers.

This past week has been so exciting!!! I’ve got all kinds of goodies for you. And that includes a big batch of new tutorials.

Recipe Video SEO tutorials are underway

I’m thrilled to report that my testing is finished for the recipe video SEO tests, at least with the WP Recipe Maker plugin, which is what most of y’all use.

And, my tests for Mediavine video ads are finished as well.

I’m even more delighted to report that you don’t have to give up video ad money to get more SEO on your post, and that there is no conflict of schema markup when you include video ads.

But, there are most definitely best practices with these posts and that’s what I’m in the process of writing tutorials on right now.

We’re going to end up with a whole section in the Video SEO Booster course dedicated to recipe posts.

I’ll be emailing course members as I get those tutorials posted for you.

New Cloudflare tutorials for Webmasters

A whole batch of Cloudflare tutorials have been posted to the Webmaster Training for designers course. 

Those include a run through of current Cloudflare settings as well as info on all of the new betas that Cloudflare has recently released.

Did you know that there are over 30 settings in Cloudflare that need to be configured for max speed and security?

Yep, just being on Cloudflare is not enough. It has to be set up properly too.

Celebrating Heartwood Art milestone

Woot!!! I am thrilled to report that my Heartwood Art woodworking YouTube channel went over the 1,000 subscriber mark this past week.

And it’s all organic.

It really took off to 3x growth after I got serious about video SEO and all of the growth has been organic from within YouTube and from my blog where the videos are embedded.

And let me tell you, those embedded videos have significantly contributed to my blog’s search engine ranking too.

Average time on site is 5-7 minutes. 

Bounce rate is low and I can see the flow of clicks in Google Analytics.

My optin rate is growing too, but slowly because I don’t have a freebie incentive.

I’ve had enough watch time on the videos all year to meet the monetization requirements on YouTube.

And now I have the subscriber numbers to qualify.

So, that’s my next big thing to do for it and I will be including tutorials for that in the Video SEO Booster course too.

New coalition of vendors

In recent Tips Tuesdays you’ve heard me mention that I’ve been seeking partnerships with folks who offer courses and services so that I can expand how I can help you make money online.

Well, the universe has continued to spin in that direction to bring some great folks into my path.

This week I’m excited to be meeting with a group of providers to help us create a program for helping you move into e-commerce, member sites, and paid digital downloads.

Each of us will specialize in different aspects of it so that we can help you make a plan and then we have a team of vetted providers to help manifest it for you.

Doing it this way also ensures that you get the highest level of help in each area because they are all specialty services.

And, it means that you get folks like me who are keeping on top of changes in each part of those industries and they can deliver the most up-to-date info and services for you too.

But more than anything, it means that we are all on the same page and can bring you coordinated services without a ton of wait time for each piece of it.

I’ll have more details for you as we work out the logistics.

My goal is to make it super easy for you to transition into new ways to generate revenue online and avoid expensive mistakes.

You’ll get the right, integrated setup the first time and launch in a way that starts paying for itself immediately.

Site Services update

I’m still at quadruple my normal client load for now and it’s working great to help fill in the gaps from folks who are coming to the top of the wait list, but who are on vacation or such and need to delay.

I’m bumping up my BB Hub folks who are coming in for their regular audit checkup and putting those projects into the gaps. Those checkups are fast and cheap and we move through them in just days.

And it’s helping me get back to bringing on projects around the time I guestimated we would be doing it.

All new project requests are estimated to be in February at this point.

And just a reminder that I do half days on Saturday, off on Sunday, and half day Monday to produce Tips Tuesday. And, I may try to sneak off for a few days next week.

That’s all of the news from around here. Let’s jump into this week’s tips.

WordPress Tips

HeroPress expands into the HeroPress Network

I heard about HeroPress when they started back in 2015 and kept my eyes on it for a while. But they never met their financial backing goals and it seemed to fizzle.

Well, their back and they have expanded into a network where they hope to become a gathering place for those active in the WP community.

They will have a Slack channel and a WP podcast repository and more.

I think they have lofty ambitions as a for-profit company that intends to make their content free.

Webmasters, you may want to bookmark this site and keep an eye on them just like I’m doing. It could end up being a good networking resource for how the WP ecosystem is changing.

WordCamp US 2021 Summary

WordCamp US 2021 was last week. It was a single day virtual event.

And I was a little shocked that Matt Mullenweg did not give a keynote address, nor any other address. So, that was a little odd.

The nice folks at PostStatus have a good summary on the event and the speakers and topics.

I strongly suggest that all webmasters have a look.

I was unable to attend live, so I’m still getting caught up on replays myself.

Theme Tips

New Genesis Blocks with mobile options

Highlights from the September Genesis Shapers meeting included questions about the new features in the Genesis Blocks plugin for mobile-specific styling options.

I don’t believe this is production-site ready yet, but definitely something webmasters who work with Genesis will want to check out.

There was also a LOT of discussion about Genesis and Woocommerce integration, including more styling options for products.

I can see this being a huge focus through 2022 as well as more and more bloggers move into selling their own products, including digital downloads.

Hosting Tips

SiteGround centralizes DNS

A few years ago, SiteGround ran into some real issues with scaling their goofy hosting setup.

So, to help facilitate moving to cloud server setup, they had a big announcement that all new sites would be set up on the new servers and that all existing accounts would be moved over to the new servers.

Mixed in the middle of that was getting folks off cPanel and onto the new SiteGround custom control panel.

Well, that plan fell apart when they ran into all manner of issues with the new server setups and control panel.

And it got a LOT worse when they started moving folks with cPanel over to the new setup. In fact, I think they halted that huge migration for over a year.

They finally got the kinks worked out and now everyone is on the new server setup.

But, those migrations from cPanel setups and servers required some odd virtual DNS pointing to accomplish.

And now SiteGround is moving everyone into a new centralized DNS setup.

They will now have one pair of nameservers for everyone.

That means one thing – lots more virtual DNS pointing on the backside.

They said they will be emailing folks when their DNS is about to be updated.

If you are one of my clients, you need to tell me immediately when you get that email so we can make arrangements for it, if needed. Just forward the email so I can see what they are telling you to do. And since your site is on Cloudflare, we only have to be concerned about any IP changes, not the nameservers. But, we’ll want to monitor to ensure their goofy virtual pointing doesn’t get screwed up.

And, if you are still on SiteGround – why?

For years now I’ve been telling you to leave that goofy hosting.

Please put in your request for a migration/audit combo and let’s get you out of there and onto better hosting.

If you are a returning client, you can also request the HOA hosting that’s a special little place for us on our new boutique host too.

VideoTips

YouTube pays out the equivalent of 394,000 full-time jobs

YouTube recently released a report which outlines their contribution to the global economy via payouts from their YouTube Partner Program (YPP).

YouTube has paid $20.5 billion dollars to over 2 million creators in 2020.

Of that global total, they estimated that the money paid to US creators was the equivalent of supporting 394,000 full-time jobs.

This report is not just YouTube beefing up its numbers. The study was done in conjunction with Oxford Economics. But, we do need to keep in mind that it covers payouts for 2020, and CoVid coop up may be responsible for some of these higher numbers. However, they say it is only a 23% increase over 2019, so that’s not overinflated growth.

The article in Social Media Today about it also highlights criticism YouTube has received for not doing more to stop misinformation about the CoVid, specifically the vaccination.

Since this article came out, YouTube took steps to ban all videos about the vaccination, so that should help. And they already have restrictions for hate speech and such, so they are doing what they can to keep the platform from getting mired in current mudslinging.

As I reported in a recent Tips Tuesday, YouTube is also expanding its payout incentive for Shorts creators.

And you better believe that since I now have the ability to get into the YouTube Partner Program with Heartwood Art that I’m going to be focusing on getting in on as much of these direct creator payouts as I can and encourage you to do the same.

YouTube makes searchable transcripts

The title of this post from Social Media Today highlights the new caption options on YouTube, including automatic captions on live streams.

But, I think the bigger news is later down in the post.

YouTube is now making transcripts searchable.

That is huge!!!!

Keep in mind that YouTube as a search engine is second only to Google.

And those transcripts help your video get found in Google more too.

And I teach you the best way to add those transcripts for max effect in the Video SEO Booster course.

I can also tell you that they work – like crazy – to help get your video into the Featured Snippet area at the top of page 1 of Google too.

SEO Tips

Videos replacing blog posts in search

I want to share a conversation with you that I recently had with a long-time client.

When we first did her audit, she had like 18 sites and a whole bunch of SEO hoohaa because of it.

We merged content down into 3 sites, and most of that was on her primary blog.

Even before we finished with the full project, her books and book reviews and such suddenly hit page 1 of Google. She was making sales like crazy, and had a ton more affiliate income.

Well, those blog post reviews have since disappeared off page 1 of Google.

Guess what they have been replaced with?

Her videos of those reviews!!!!

They are all in a carousel on page 1.

And she will likely be taking the Video SEO Booster course to see if she can bump them up into the Featured Snippet area, as that’s what Google wants to showcase there now.

Not only will this bump up her affiliate book sales, but it’s going to get her more folks into her courses and into buying her own books.

THIS is the sheer power of videos.

And the SEO part of it makes a world of difference to be discovered on the 2 largest search engines in the world, which are Google and YouTube.

And with Google promoting YouTube videos in search, it’s a win/win for you.

Monetization Tips

Should you always own your own content platform?

The short answer is no.

The idea that the only place you can make money is from the content on your own site is dead.

Surely the YouTube payout report I mentioned earlier makes that clear.

If it doesn’t, I want to share this quote from a Post Status article titled, Think About This Before Saying “Own Your Own Content”.

“If you own a business and it’s primarily running on a social network or in the hands of a third party network like Twitch or YouTube, you should own your own content — if you can afford to do so. This is a message that WordPress and other open source solutions can get behind to educate more people. That said, I have yet to see a clear business case and technical roadmap for moving someone from a business on Facebook to a WordPress-based solution, and I don’t see hosting companies targeting influencers at Instagram or Tiktok. That is probably because those networks draw so much attention and ROI that in the minds of their users it’s simply not worth their time to maintain a website or blog as well.”

I’m not saying that you should abandon your blog, or even WordPress.

I’m saying that you need to adjust your mindset into realizing the truth.

Sending visitors to your WP site as the ONLY way you can make money is dead.

Creators are getting paid directly from building an audience on other platforms.

And the goal of those platforms is not to send folks back to your site, but to a sales page of some sort.

Brands are crawling all over themselves to get to some of my clients who have built a good Instagram and/or TikTok following.

Brands are not clamoring to do sponsored blog posts nearly as much now.

If you want to work with brands and get paid, it will have very little to do with your site or your site traffic anymore.

It will have everything to do with the eyeballs you have gathered in tribe to you on other platforms.

And I have clients that are nearly exhausted from doing all of the sponsored jobs they have been presented with. So, this is not one here and one there type money. 

It’s consistent income.

Want to do affiliate marketing?

The real money is not going to be from links in your blog posts.

I’ve got clients making a killing from doing video reviews on Amazon.

Clients who are getting their YouTube videos into the Featured Snippet on Google are driving up their watch time on YouTube, and that’s attractive to advertisers.

Niche sites for courses and products may not blog at all. They do videos and run ads and webinars and such. And they may or may not be running those courses and products on WP. They may be doing Shopify or Kajabi or such.

The truth is, the only thing you really own is your email list.

If you’ve got that, then you are platform independent.

No matter where you go, you can take your peeps with you.

I’m not saying you should dump your blog.

I’m saying that you should get off that hamster wheel and start creating transitory content that will reside only on other platforms that have gazillions of users.

Some of you spent a ton of time creating hundreds and hundreds of graphics for Pinterest. 

How’s that working for you now?

It doesn’t matter.

You made the most of that platform in its heyday.

Now it’s time to make the most of others – and get paid directly from the platform where you upload it.

Wrap Up

That’s a wrap for this week’s Tips Tuesday.

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