Tips Tuesday – WPCode Plugin, AI Content Generators, YouTube Integrates Shopify

Hello Happy Site Owners and Webmasters!

Tips this week include:

• BlogAid’s Super Summer Sales Event ends this weekend
• PHP 8 testing almost complete
• Insert Headers and Footers is now WPCode and tests are underway
• How to use AI generated content the right way
• 10 best AI content generator tools
• A report on writing with Yoast SEO and the Bertha AI content generator
• New Video Index report in Google Search Console
• New text markup for YouTube video descriptions
• Where to post video beyond YouTube
• YouTube integrates with Shopify
• More ways to use livestream video
• 13 ways to make money with your site

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BlogAid Happenings 

Oooweee! It’s been a very productive week of getting more clients moved to better hosting. And many of them are combining a site audit with it and saving even more money.

Super Summer Sales Event Ends Soon

Speaking of saving money, be sure you get in on the hot deals in this year’s Super Summer Sales Event.

All courses are $100 off.

And there are just a few slots still open for consults and site services.

The sale ends when July ends, which is just a few days away.

So, get it before it’s gone.

BlogAid Village Happenings

PHP 8 Testing Almost Complete

Thanks to all of my BB Hub site audit clients and webmasters for jumping on the PHP 8 testing.

I sent a new status report of what we have found broken with themes, plugins, and at several hosts.

We were also able to get or find fixes for most all of it or we have submitted support tickets with specific errors to the plugin vendors so they can get their fixes done.

The good news is that the overwhelming majority of plugins are PHP 8.0 compatible.

The seriously bad news is that the overwhelming majority of hosts don’t have good PHP settings now for 7.4 and they are even worse for 8.0.

We are definitely going to be hearing non BlogAid peeps screaming come November when hosts do the forced upgrade.

And us BlogAid peeps will be calmly going about our lives because we took care of it in a non-chaotic manner that was way ahead of the curve.

If you’re not a site audit client or webmaster yet, why? 

That’s all the happenings around here. Let’s jump into this week’s tips and news.

Plugin Tips

Insert Headers and Footers is now WPCode

The Insert Headers and Footers plugin has been totally rebuilt and is now called WPCode.

The name change was necessary due to the new features and functions in the plugin – specifically the ability to now add code snippets too.

Me and one of my BB Hubbers and webmasters are running tests this week to recreate the functions we’re using the Code Snippets plugin for and we’re now running them in the WPCode plugin.

Once those tests are complete I’ll be making tutorials because this will mean we can use one plugin for both our header/footer scripts, like our Analytics code, and for our code snippets, like adding a schema markup filter to stop some themes from outputting markup that competes with Yoast.

And reducing the number of plugins we use where we can is good, as it gets rid of one more potential security issue too.

SEO Tips

How to Use AI Generated Content the Right Way

Have you thought about using an AI content generator? 

I think they are great for getting fresh spin ideas on your content. But I would not publish a post written entirely by the AI generator.

While AI generators are improving all the time, Google can still pick out that spun content.

If you’re thinking about using an AI content generator, be sure to read this post from the nice folks at the Content Marketing Institute on how to avoid the downside of it.

10 Best AI Content Generator Tools

As mentioned, I do think AI content generators are really helpful to freshen up your content ideas, especially if you write about the same sort of thing a lot.

I mean, just seeing how something can be phrased another way can really spark your creativity.

The nice folks at Convince and Convert have a super list of the top 10 AI Content Generator Tools.

I’d like to invite you to give at least 2 of them a try and see what they spit out on the topic info you give them.

It might just reinvigorate your writing.

Writing with Yoast and Bertha

One of the really popular AI Content Generation Tools is called Bertha.

And the nice folks at Yoast wrote a post in collaboration with Bertha.

Go check out their story on how it went, in fact the post you’re reading about it is that collaboration.

So, you’ll get a sneak peek into how well it works.

 Video SEO Tips

New Video Index Report in Google Search Console

Have you seen the new Video Index report in GSC? It took a while to roll out for me so I’m just now getting a look.

The new report is a Video tab in the Enhancements section.

I have the tab, but the number of videos it shows as Valid is much lower than how many videos I have on the site for BlogAid. It’s about the right number for Heartwood Art. And there are no errors or such, so I don’t have anything to tell you about it yet.

If you are in the Video SEO Booster course and have this new report and are seeing any errors or such, please contact me so we can dig into it.

And this new report is different from the Video option in the Performance report that we’ve had for some time now.

This new index report is just that, how many videos Google has found on your site and if there are any issues with them.

The Video view in the Performance report is about how your videos are doing in search results, like how many times seen and clicked on, just like your posts.

New Text Markup for YouTube Video Descriptions

Oooo, I’m excited about this!!

YouTube has finally given us a few ways to markup our text in the video description area.

We can now do:

• Bold
• Italics
• Strikethrough

I’m most excited about bold to be able to easily set off different sections of the content areas.

I’m going to make a day of changing my default description and updating my most popular videos.

Where to Post Video Beyond YouTube

We all know that making videos takes time.

So it’s important to get the most bang for the buck with viewership on them.

Team Yoast has put together an excellent list of where to upload your videos besides YouTube.

And they include the specifics for each platform too.

I’m going to make a checklist for myself and try to find a sweet spot for my tips videos so I can upload them to all platforms.

And then I’ll be making another checklist for my tutorial videos and all the places I can upload those.

And some of these platforms have monetization potential, so it’s definitely worth looking into for that too.

Monetization Tips

YouTube Integrates Shopify

Y’all have heard me saying this year that I’m very bullish on Shopify as a storefront.

Google indexes Shopify now.

And Yoast has made an addon to get better SEO on your Shopify products too.

Well, now YouTube has made a way to integrate with Shopify to not only give folks a buy button right there, it shows them inventory in real time and more.

You can now display your Shopify products below your videos, at the end of your videos, and even during live streams.

Let me tell you, live social selling is HUGE business now.

You may recall me reporting a few months ago how one influencer sold over a billion dollars worth of product in one live stream session.

You can basically now run your own QVC channel on several platforms, including limited time deals that are only valid during the live session.

More Ways to Use Lives

Forget doing webinars to pitch products and services.

More and more folks are doing lives.

And they are selling way more than tangible products or ebooks or such too.

They are selling courses, consults, and more.

The trick is to build your audience with short, free content and capture them in some way, like a newsletter.

And then let folks know when you go live – and this is something you need to put on a regular schedule.

It doesn’t have to be a long session either – anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

And you may need to schedule at least 2 of them so you can vary the time and/or day to catch even more folks.

I most definitely plan to do this for my new “secret” project.

I may do it for BlogAid in the form of site reviews and Ask Me Anything, as those were insanely popular back in the Blab days. But honestly, Blab itself may have been part of the reason for that, as it had super discoverability. I would have to focus on building an audience that would be interested in that first, and I don’t know if I have the bandwidth for it or not. So, I’ll use it, but I need to be clear on my goals for it. And I also need to be careful that I’m attracting my ideal client with it.

That’s actually why I stopped doing TikToks for BlogAid except for Tips Tuesday. I was attracting non-target audience folks. And lives there might just turn into one long tech support session, which I don’t want to do.

So, it may be just for my new secret thing. We’ll see.

13 Ways to Make Money with Your Site

I know that way too many of my followers are relying heavily on ad revenue.

Some have dipped their toes into a little bit of affiliate marketing.

If this is you, please do go read this post from the nice folks at Blogging Wizard.

They tell you 13 ways you can make money with your site.

And they give you tips on how to get started with each one.

I even bookmarked this post for myself as there are several ways to make money for my new secret project that aren’t appropriate for BlogAid, but will do very well in other niches, maybe even for Heartwood Art.

You’re making the content.

This post will help you make the most money from it.

So do go give it a read.

Wrap Up

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

Thanks for sharing this podcast and post with your blogging buddies, and for leaving comments and reviews too.

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Be sure to visit BlogAid.net for more tips and resources and I’ll see you online.