Tips Tuesday – What’s Next from BlogAid

Hello Happy Site Owners!

Tips this week are all about the new happenings at BlogAid. Get a sneak peek into what’s coming to help you become and stay a successful site owner. 

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Live Video Recap

Streamed live Tuesday evening!!

Like the BlogAid Facebook page and turn on notifications for when I go live Tuesday night with more breaking news and add your comments/questions too!!

The replay will be posted here and on the BlogAid YouTube Channel.

BlogAid Happenings

This week I want to share with you more details on how BlogAid is changing to better serve you and sustain my ability to do that.

I really think you’re going to like the changes and you’ll certainly be able to get the help you need a lot easier and faster too. 

New UpdraftPlus Tutorials Released

UpdraftPlus has officially become my backup recommendation for small to medium sites, and for migrating those sites.

I hope you’ve seen the two UpdraftPlus tutorials I posted last week.

• UpdraftPlus Free version
• UpdraftPlus Premium version

This week, look for a comparison post of all three UpdraftPlus plugins, including the free, premium, and Migrator plugins, to help you choose the right fit for your needs and budget.

I’ve also released new UpdraftPlus tutorials for the Migrator plugin in Level 2 of the Webmaster Training courses.

It also includes mini tutorials on the 4 ways to transfer files when migrating a site, including how to directly transfer the files between the sites.

That is the bomb!!!! And it’s just one of the reasons I’ve fallen in love with this little plugin. It’s a must have for every designer.

I appreciate you using my affiliate link for the Migrator plugin too!!

The new Webmaster UpdraftPlus section also includes the two publicly released tutorials, plus new tutorials soon on restoring a site, especially all of the different things you can do with the database restore when using the premium version or the Migrator plugin.

I’ll also be reworking the order of the tutorials in that section, to keep all the different plugin tutorials together in one lump, instead of dividing them out between backup and migration.

And then a section for what’s common for all of them, like backup tips in general and such. 

You can catch those same backup tips in the UpdraftPlus Free Plugin tutorial too.

Return of the BlogAid Live Show

Thanks to prodding from my buddy Ileane Smith of Basic Blog Tips I’ve been playing with livestreaming on YouTube. You know, it’s changed.

I think that’s a great place to bring back the BlogAid Live Show for the summer, like the weekly show I ran on Blab.

I’ll be making the join link available publicly so you can jump in live with me too, just like we did on Blab!!! That’s so exciting!!

That means we can chat and you can share your screen, and it’s a great way for you to get the help you need.

I’m thinking I’ll do them on Fridays, in the early afternoon, as a fun way to wrap up our week together. What do you think? Leave a comment here to let me know.

I want to give a shout out and huge thank you to the following folks for helping me get situated again on YouTube Live:

• Ileane Smith
• Barb Tomlin
• Terry Johnson
• Larry Snow
• And my new friend and nearly neighbor, Andrew Hatchett who is in Nashville. 

Join Me Live

Be sure to Like the BlogAid Facebook page and turn on notifications so you can jump on when I’m live and make comments and ask questions too.

Please be sure to Subscribe to the BlogAid YouTube Channel and click the little bell to turn on notifications so you know when I go live there anytime.

I hope you noticed the new Live Video Recap section on the Tips Tuesday post.

For now, I’ll still be streaming that on the BlogAid Facebook page for BlogAid Today Tips and the Tips Tuesday Video Recap. So be sure to Like that page too, so you get notified and see it in your stream.

New Site Audit VIP Group

Sunday, I sent out a special invitation to my more experienced site audit clients for a new VIP group that I’m launching in July.

If you’re a site audit client and did not receive the invite, don’t feel slighted. I’ll explain why, and what’s in the works for you.

I’ve been having long chats with my clients over the past few months. And what I’ve discovered is that the more experienced and savvy site owners really have very few, to no, good places to get group help or advice.

So, many of them email me.

And what they need help with falls into two basic categories.

• Quick answers or letting me know about things or quick live sessions
• Longer paid support or deeper live sessions or chats

It’s not really worth it to set up invoicing for that quickie help on an individual basis. But, when I get 40 such emails a month, I’m losing a substantial amount of billable hours.

So, this new VIP group is a great way to resolve those problems for all of us, plus it has substantial perks for everyone, like:

• Private membership level in the BlogAid Learning Center
• Private Facebook group
• Live group chats via Zoom
• Help from both me and the village

That’s just to name a few of the benefits!

I made this new group invitation only for a very good reason.

For a group to be really successful and helpful, it needs to be filled with folks who are at the same level of experience. And those who received the invite for this VIP group are mature, savvy, and more experienced site owners who are already earning a living with their sites and want to continue to improve it

This pilot program starts July 1 and will run through the end of the year.

And it will be a learning experience for me too, as I see what resonates and works best for everyone.

I’ll take that experience and see about launching another group for site audit and training clients that are just starting out, or who have been at it less than 2 years.

I think having two groups works better, so folks are getting the type of help and replies that best fit where they are in their site owner journey.

And we don’t have experienced site owners worn out with newbie questions. Plus we don’t have newbies getting answers that go over their heads and are too advanced for their tech and site skills.

So, if you didn’t receive an invite, don’t feel left out. I’m trying to develop resources in a way that are most beneficial and enjoyable to everyone. And I serve a wide variety of clients. 

More Changes Coming to BlogAid

One of the things y’all have heard me talk about over the past year is the need to pivot the BlogAid business.

The way I had been running it for the past 5-6 years is now unsustainable. That’s mainly due to the extreme increase in how frequently everything changes now.

For example, when I started out, WordPress was only updating twice a year. Now, it’s every 3 months.

On top of that, SEO, plugins, and everything else that integrates with our sites is changing daily.

It’s a LOT for one person to keep up with.

So, I started tracking just how much time it takes now for me to follow about 100 blogs a week, test new or changing elements, and deliver free info to you through blog posts and Tips Tuesday.

Back when I first went full time with this, I was giving $250 worth of billable time a week to it.

Now that is more like $500-$800 a week.

And I work more hours than ever before too, to the tune of 10-12 hours a day, 7 days a week.

That is unsustainable with the programs and services I offered, like the lifetime memberships and such.

And that’s why I’ve been pivoting the business over the past year.

So here’s what I’m doing about it. 

More Workshops

Instead of a behemoth video library to keep updated, I’m doing more workshops.

They have two benefits:

• You get the most up-to-date info.
• You carve out butt-in-seat time to just get it done.
• You can ask questions

I’ve heard feedback from a lot of you that when you have tutorials sitting there all the time, you just aren’t motivated to watch them and get things done.

The workshops help motivate you to make the time. And, the support group gives you a way to ask questions as you go, for clarity, and for what uniquely applies to your site.

And then I can make those recordings available on a pay-per-view basis if that’s appropriate. And then replace them with the next workshop on that topic so they are always up-to-date.

Doing group workshops is cheaper for everyone, and sustainable for me as well. So win-win. 

More Services

In the past month I’ve launched multiple new stand-alone services.

Services include:

• Secure site setup
• Restore backup check
• Full site audit
• Live plugin review
• HTTPS conversion
• Google Connections
• Site Repair

This opens a way for site owners at all sorts of levels to get just the help they need. 

And I appreciate you sharing the Site Services page link with those in your groups when they need help too.

New Affiliate Programs Coming Soon

I already have an affiliate program for the Webmaster Training courses that is open to all members at all levels.

I’ll be introducing a new affiliate program for the DIY SEO course and SEO workshops in the BlogAid Learning Center over the summer too. It will be open to anyone in those courses.

The delay in getting that done is because I literally have to dismantle the purchase methods and affiliate program from the old Site Success Courses site first. And that’s going to take some time. I’ll have it complete before I run the next SEO workshop so you can get in on it. That will be this fall, and I appreciate your patience.

I’m also adding a push for the vendors of hosting, apps, plugins, and software that me and my clients use more too, like the new UpdraftPlus series of tutorials and reviews.

By using my affiliate links to purchase, folks have the opportunity to help support all the free info I deliver on the site and via video livestreaming and free webinars. That’s a win-win too.

What you will never see on BlogAid are affiliate links for anything that I can’t personally vouch for. I’ve either used it on my sites or my clients are currently using it with great success.

Your trust is what I prize most and I will never trade that for a measly commission.

That’s also why you actually have to be in my courses before you can become an affiliate of them too. I want those who share my offers to be able to personally vouch for me as well.

It goes both ways.

Diversifying Income Streams

I see how much income Pat Flynn, and other entrepreneurs like him, make a month. One of the tricks they know that I haven’t employed is diversifying my income streams.

Some of you may not know that I’m an internationally recognized wood carver.

You can see my carvings on the Heartwood Art site.

I was featured in several magazines and even have a standing book offer from the biggest carving publisher in the world.

A shoulder injury sidelined me from carving for a while. And then BlogAid took off.

Well, now I’m getting back into carving.

And because I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with so many craft and DIY blogger clients, I can see how to run that site for passive income, even when I’m not actively carving, or when some of those carvings take 3 months to complete, which is the timeframe for those beautiful tree carvings.

And, I had quite a following back when Twitter first started too, and I miss socializing with other carvers and those who enjoy carvings too.

I’m also a multi-instrumentalist and composer with airplay in 14 countries. Years ago you may have even heard some of my music on shows like:

• Ellen
• Saturday Night Live
• The Young and the Restless

Right now I’m taking up my 8th instrument, which is cello and loving it.

The music biz has changed radically since I left it many years ago, back when everything was just turning from tape to digital. And now I don’t have to rely solely on agencies and sound library houses to sell my music anymore either. I can do it directly.

So, I’ll be exploring that option as another income stream as well. But mainly I’m looking forward to doing it as an avenue to have fun online. I expect most of the music will be free, with the site sponsored by ads and such.

I think doing these artsy projects will be fun, and will help me better understand the world so many of my niche blogger clients are in. And that will help me help you even more. 

More on the Way

There are plenty more new offerings on the drawing board for BlogAid.

I just wanted to take a moment today to give you a heads up into how and why things are changing. 

Your Support is Crucial

And I also want to thank you for your support as I make these huge changes.

I hope this time next year that I’m not still the best kept secret for DIY site owners and webmasters.

From the bottom of my heart, I appreciate everyone who is sharing my info and telling others about me. And for everyone who takes a moment to Like a post, or who shows up to my livestreams or make a comment on them. It really encourages me more than you know and I feel your support.

Thank you!!!

Wrap Up

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

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