Friday, July 28, 2017

Guide For Mobile SEO Techniques In 2017

July 28, 2017 0
Millions of users these days access the web using smartphones running on Android, iOS, or Windows. Hence, it has become imperative that websites adapt themselves to this changing environment and make suitable changes in their website design to attract more viewership.
The desktop version of a site might be difficult to view and use on a mobile device. The version that is not mobile-friendly requires the user to pinch or zoom in order to read the content. Users find this a frustrating experience and are likely to abandon the site. In contrast, a mobile-friendly version is readable and immediately usable.
A recent Google update makes it mandatory that a website should be mobile-friendly to be effective on Mobile Search Engines. Note that a website that is not mobile-friendly will not have any impact on regular search engines either.
In this chapter, we will see how to make a website mobile-friendly in order to ensure the visitors who access the website from mobile devices have an optimized experience.

What is Mobile SEO?


Mobile Search Engine Optimization is the process of designing a website to make it suitable for viewing on mobile devices of different screen sizes having low bandwidth. Apart from following all the SEO rules which are applicable to a desktop website, we need to take additional care while designing a website for mobile devices. A website is mobile friendly if it has the following attributes −
  • 1.A good mobile website has a responsive design which performs well on desktops as well as mobile devices. It not only reduces the maintenance of the website but also makes the content consistent for the search engines.
  • 2.The contents of a good mobile website are easy to read on a mobile device without having to zoom the screen. It has appropriate fonts, colors, and layouts.
  • 3.It is easy to navigate through a good mobile website on a small screen. It provides links and buttons that can be easily maneuvered using a finger.
  • 4.A good mobile website is lightweight such that it takes less bandwidth and time to load on mobile networks.
  • 5.The Home Page of a mobile website plays the most important role in connecting users to the content they are looking for. Therefore, good mobile websites make sure the most important links are displayed on the Home Page so that they get enough visibility.
The ranking of a website depends heavily on how user friendly it is. You can follow the guidelines given below to design a great mobile-friendly website.

Optimize Your Site for Mobile

If your site is already optimized for search engines, then it should not be too difficult to optimize it for mobile devices. First, let us understand what it takes to go mobile. We can categorize the steps into three broad categories −
Step 1 − Select a Mobile Configuration
Step 2 − Inform Search Engines
Step 3 − Avoid Common Mistakes

Select a Mobile Configuration

There are three different mobile configurations that you can choose from −
Step 1 − Responsive Web Design
Step 2 − Dynamic Serving
Step 3 − Separate URLs
Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Google recommends responsive design, however it supports all three configurations. The following table shows how the mobile configuration affects your URL and HTML code −
Mobile ConfigurationURLHTML
Responsive Web DesignStays the sameStays the same
Dynamic ServingStays the sameDifferent HTMLs
Separate URLsDifferent URLsDifferent HTMLs

Responsive Web Design

Google recommends responsive web design become it is the simplest mobile configuration and very easy to implement. It serves the same HTML code on the same URL, however it adjusts the display based on the screen size of the mobile device.

Dynamic Serving

Dynamic serving is a type of mobile configuration where the URL of your website remains unchanged, but it serves different HTML content when accessed from a mobile device.

When your content is dynamically served from the server, make sure you inform Google that the content it is crawling may look different on mobile devices. A major drawback of this approach is that you will have to do additional processing on your content at the server level before severing it to the user. This approach puts unnecessary load on your server and makes it slow.

Separate URLs

When you maintain two different URLs — one for mobile users and another for desktop users – make sure you inform Google explicitly when to serve which version. Google does not recommend separate URLs because it can detect automatically that your mobile pages are different from your desktop pages.

This approach is not practical when you have a big website because maintaining two versions of the same website will require double the effort and money. At the same time, you cannot avoid various discrepancies in your content while maintaining two versions.
From the viewpoint of SEO, each URL performs separately. Hence your desktop ranking will never be added to the mobile ranking and they will always be assumed as separate websites. We don’t recommend maintaining different URLs for mobile and desktop versions if you want to draw the benefits of SEO.

Inform Search Engines

Make sure Google and other search engines understand your mobile configuration. Most important of all, Google must understand your page so that it can rank your website properly. How you inform Google depends on which mobile configuration — responsive web design, dynamic serving, or separate URLs — you have opted for.
In case your site has a responsive design, Google’s algorithms can understand it automatically without you having to inform Google. When you have a responsive design, just make sure you have the following meta-tag in your webpage header −
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
The viewport decides how your webpage will be displayed on a device. A site with responsive design varies its size based on the size of the device screen. Declare a viewport so that your webpage displays correctly on any device.
If your website is dynamically served, make sure you allow Google detect your configuration using the Vary HTTP header −
Vary: User-Agent
The Vary header is important to tell the search engines that different content will be served on desktops and mobile devices. This header is really important when your content is served by any cache system like a Content Delivery Network and those systems will make use of this header while serving content on different devices.
In case you maintain separate URLs, e.g., example.com and m.example.com, then you can inform Google by adding a special link rel=alternate tag in your desktop version and vice versa as follows.
Desktop page should have following in its header:
<link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)"
href="http://m.example.com" >
Mobile page should have following in its header:
<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com" >

Avoid Common Mistakes

In order to optimize your website for mobile devices, make sure you avoid committing the following mistakes −
  • Slow Mobile Pages − Mobile networks are slower as compared to wired Internet networks, so it is important to pay attention to how fast your mobile pages load. It is a critical Google ranking factor. Use a mobile SEO tool to find out your mobile page speed. Google provides a number of good tools that you can use. Browse the following link −https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
  • Don't Block CSS and JavaScript − Google recommends to use inline CSS and Javascripts for mobile friendly websites so that they can be downloaded along with the content. So if you don’t have much CSS, then try to adjust it within the tag itself; but if you are using a lot of CSS in separate files, then try to include it at the bottom which will stop blocking the other content being downloaded. The same rule applies to Javascript, which can be kept inside the page itself or included at the bottom of the page. If you can avoid including the file at the top of the page, then make use of async attribute while including them.
<script async type="text/javascript" src="jquery.js"></script>
  • Mobile Redirects − Since mobile networks are normally slow, too many redirects can hurt your page speed. If you are maintaining multiple URLs, make sure all your links point to the relevant pages. In case you maintain multiple URLs and you recognize a user is visiting a desktop page from a mobile device and you have an equivalent mobile page at a different URL, then redirect the user to that URL instead of displaying a 404 error.
  • Heavy Images − Heavy images increase the load time, however we cannot completely get rid of them since they are useful and effective. Therefore you should maintain a good balance between text and heavy images. Use a good tool to optimize your images and save them at low resolution to avoid heavy downloads.
  • Avoid plug-ins and pop-ups − Plug-ins like Flash and Java may not be available on user’s mobile device. Always ensure you don’t have any unplayable content on your mobile page. Avoid using pop-ups on mobile pages because it becomes quite clumsy to close these pop-ups on a mobile device.
While creating a mobile page, always keep in mind that the user has limited space to work on. So, you need to be as concise as possible while creating titles, URLs, and meta-descriptions – of course without compromising the essence or quality of information.

Useful Tools

Here is a list of some useful tools that you can use to find out how mobile friendly your site is −
  • Google Webmaster Tools − Use the available Google tools and techniques to understand what should be used and what should be avoided while designing desktop as well as mobile websites.
  • Mobile Emulator − It lets you see how your site appears on a wide variety of mobile devices.
  • Moz Local − Use this tool to ensure that your local SEO is in order.
  • Responsive Web Design Testing Tool − Use this tool to see how your responsive site looks like on a variety of mobile devices with different standard screen sizes.
  • Screaming Frog − This is a useful tool that allows you to analyze your site and double-check all the redirects.
  • User Agent Switcher − This is a Firefox add-on that you can use to find out how your site looks like when accessed from a different user agent.
There are various other tips related to SEO. We have not categorized them into any special category and hence, putting these in miscellaneous category. Go through these tips one by one.

To-Don't List


  1. Don't keep hidden text on your webpages.
  2. Don't create alternate image spamming by putting wrong keywords.
  3. Don't use meta tags stuffing.
  4. Don't use frames and flash on your site.
  5. Don't exchange your links with black listed sites.
  6. Don't try to fool your site visitors by using misspelled keyword.
  7. Don't send spam emails to thousands of email IDs.
  8. Don't use too much graphics on your site.
  9. Don't create too many doorway pages.
  10. Don't try to create duplicate content of pages.
  11. Don't submit your website many times in a single search engine.
  12. Don't use sub-directory depth more than 1-2.
  13. Don't create too many dynamic pages. Try to convert them into static pages.
  14. Don't bloat your pages with code.
  15. Don't nest your pages.

To-Do List

There are various other tips which can help you to optimize your website for many search engines.

  1. Create logs of pages and each page should however contain a minimum of about 200 visible words of text to maximize relevance with Google.
  2. Create a Sitemap, Help, FAQ, About Us, Link to Us, Copyright, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy pages on mandatory basis.
  3. Create a homepage link to each and every webpage and provide easy navigation through all the pages.
  4. Pay attention to your dynamic page URLs. Google can crawl and index dynamic pages as long as you don't have more than 2 parameters in the URL.
  5. Check your complete site for broken links. Broken links will reduce your other pages rank as well.

We have covered almost all major concepts related to Search Engine Optimization. Now you are familiar with most frequently used SEO related terminologies as well.
You have learnt how to optimize keywords, title, alt, metatags, anchor, and other text from the viewpoint of SEO. You also have learnt the importance of having good content in your website. In the Miscellaneous Techniques chapter, we have suggested you other important points which will help you optimize your website.
In a nutshell, we can have the following points as the ethical strategies for achieving optimal ranking in the search engines:
  1. All pages must conform to W3C standards.
  2. Keyword density is never abusive.
  3. Always include: robots.txt, sitemap.xml, and urllist.txt.
  4. Keywords are prominent in the Title, Metatags, and Headings.
  5. ALT tags and Title tags are not forgotten.
  6. Nomenclature is fundamental to being indexed.
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Thursday, July 27, 2017

GOOGLE INTRODUCES INARTICLE AND INFEED ADSENSE NATIVE ADS

July 27, 2017 0
Google is introducing two new ad formats and it is asking publishers to join the beta test. The InArticle and InFeed Adsense Native Ads are the two new formats, the first in line for a new native ad race.
Advertising networks are coming up with new ideas to improve users interaction with the ad and decrease the intrusiveness. InArticle and InFeed ads are Google’s answer to one of the biggest questions that publishers ask: Is it going to affect website’s user-friendliness?

Both of these ad formats, that Google is introducing through Adsense, are native in nature. This means the ads match with the website’s own layout and follows a ‘flow’ from a reader’s perspective.
Let’s see in details what these two ads have to offer for the publishers as well as the visitors.

Google InArticle Adsense Native Ads

Many eligible publishers have been making good use of Matched Content. Google is further pushing the limits of this feature by enabling publishers to use the InArticle Ads between content paragraphs. The ad dimension will be a minimum of 250px side and it will show content recommendations for publishers whose website or blog is eligible for Matched Content.
According to AdSense Help Document, InArticle ads only use creatives that have high quality assets (for example, the responsive ads in AdWords). This means that while InArticle ads can be more visually appealing to your visitors, they may have a lower CPM than you’re used to in the short term.
The font, headline, description and background of InArticle ad can be customized to match with the style of the website. You can also let Google recommend styles from which the suitable one can be picked.


Google also promises that high-quality advertiser assets will be available for InArticle ads.

Google InFeed Adsense Native Ads

Feed ads have been around for quite some time now but Google is adding some really fancy features for its InFeed ads. InFeed ads are just similar to InArticle ads when it comes to being native, however, they cannot be auto-optimized by Google. Publishers will have the power to customize the ad according to the needs to their website and monetize website or blog without disrupting the visual flow.
Parts of the ad that can be customized includes headline length, font, wrapping and alignment for text assets (headline, description, URL), button colors and borders, and the padding.

Both of these ad formats are currently available for a limited number of publishers. It is being expected that the ads will be rolled out to the public later this year.
Do you like the new ad formats? Let us know through comments.

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Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Best Vlogging Tips For Beginners

July 19, 2017 0
It’s a funny sounding word that’s short for “video blogging” and a great option for blogs that cover teachable or demonstrable topics.
Some might argue that vlogging isn’t as effective as it used to be, since “everyone” is doing it.

But the truth of the matter is a lot of the videos floating around out there are poorly made, so if you’re putting out high quality, useful content you’ll still stick out from the crowd.
Here are some simple tips to help you get started:

1. Get a good camera

Crisp video and clean sound is one of the easiest ways to make sure your vlog is better than 90% of what’s out there. I’m a big fan of the Canon EOS Rebel T3i since it’s affordable, easy to use even if you’re a beginner, and it shoots fantastic still photos in addition to really high-quality HD video.

2. Use a tripod

Make it easy on yourself. A tripod keeps you from having to worry about shaky hands or whether you’re still in the shot. Handheld is a pain if you’re shooting by yourself. If you’re filming in your office or a small space, consider using a sturdy desktop tripod.

3. Find a quiet location

It’s best to use a clean, quiet room without a distracting background. Avoid filming outdoors since the background noise can be distracting. Avoid wearing stripes or bold patterns.

4. Make sure we can see you

Low light results in grainy videos and grainy is good for bread, but not so much for video. Make sure you shoot during the day with plenty of natural light. If you don’t have a quiet room with lots of natural light, you can fake it with a simple kit like this one to brighten things up a little.

5. Get rid of extra head room

You should frame up a medium shot, from the chest up. Also make sure that you’re close enough to the camera for your viewers to see your facial expressions hear you clearly.

6. Use a script

The best video blogs out there may loook unscripted, but they’re not. Writing out what you’re going to say before you say it will save you a lot of time. You don’t have to follow your script verbatim, but use it as a blueprint to make sure you’re not forgetting any important points.

7. Relax

Be yourself and speak to your viewers as if you’re talking to a good friend. Just don’t talk too fast. Most viewers won’t bother rewinding if you’ve sped through some important information. Remember that you can edit to make your video shorter, but not longer.

8. Edit on the cheap

You don’t have to spend a lot (or any) money to edit a good video. iMovie and Windows Movie maker are beginner-friendly and come with your computer. YouTube even has a decent video editor now, so if your videos are under 15 minutes (which they should be), you can edit them directly on Youtube after uploading them.

9. Keep it short

Edit your video so that it gets right to the point. Numerous marketing studies have shown that most people will stop watching a video after 30 seconds if it hasn’t grabbed their attention by then. Open with a call to action or summary of what you’re going to talk about, then hit each point clearly and concisely. Under 2 minutes is ideal.

10. Save 1000 words

If your video is mainly you talking (as opposed to teaching or walking through a physical tutorial), it’s a good idea to add some visual variety by inter-cutting images, captions, charts, or graphs.

11. Video SEO

Before you upload your video, use keyword research to give it the best possible title. After uploading it to Youtube or Vimeo, tag your video with your keywords. This will help your video get discovered through relevant search engine results.

12. Keep your files safe

Since even small videos can take up a lot of space, it’s a smart idea to invest in an a good external hard drive. For one thing, it’ll keep you from using all the storage space on your laptop or desktop. Secondly, it’s a good way to safely backup all of your files and data in case anything ever happens to your computer.

13. Consider transcription

Transcribing your video is always a good idea, since there will be occasions when someone isn’t in a place where they can watch your video but they still want the information you have to offer.
Vlogging can give you a break from regular posts, or you can use it as your sole method of blogging if you have the type of personality that people would be happy to watch and listen to on a regular basis.
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Monday, July 17, 2017

How to Do SEO Keyword Research and Put them in Article

July 17, 2017 0
If you are new to SEO, you may be surprise that,” What is Keyword Research for SEO Or How to Do SEO Keyword Research ?” Here is the Guide of SEO Keyword Research would conducting your blog in the effective way.
Keyword is words that type into Search Box. For Blog SEO, there is in the article need to use Keyword and Keyword Phrase. A Keyword can be a particular word; it can be a phrase or combination of 2+ words.

In this post, today I am going to discuss about below topics-
  1. What is SEO Keyword Research
  2. Importance of Keyword Research
  3. Keyword Research technique

What is SEO Keyword Research?

Keywords are the most important focus in SEO and they are most important base for all your other SEO efforts. So it must be done suspiciously. Without Keyword SEO has No importance as well as No meaning. “Content is King” the phrase would not going to be doing well for your blog if you don’t know proper Keyword placement as well as Usage.
Even you have most informative and useful article, those will not get the press it deserves if you choose irrelevant Keyword. You need to use your (Article, Article Image, Text Document, Video, Blog page or Web page) Keyword properly and wisely for the sake of getting organic traffic as well as rank high rank in the SERPs.
Selecting the Correct Keyword is an essential method in the On-Page SEO process. Selecting the Wrong Keyword can’t get any Good result, regardless of what you give effort in terms of On-Page Optimization as well as Off- Page optimization. You may never acquire your investment which you expand in SEO. So Selecting the Correct keyword is the Most important part of SEO and that’s lead Blog with Great Starting.
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Importance of SEO Keyword Research

SEO keywords are the Keywords or phrase used in your blog article which make it possible that people get your blog via Search engines. You need to how people find your blog or information or tips that you offer, otherwise they will land on another blog. Conducting Keyword Research for SEO is significant as increasingly. Keyword Research for SEO will help your blog rank high in the SERPs than your competitors.
Keyword Research is one of the most important and high return factors on the SEO. This is   why developing a list of Keywords make your effort fruitful to make a successful search engine campaign. Lacking Keyword Does not make any sense to your SEO success, its well importance the time to make certain your SEO Keywords are highly relevant to your visitor or users. Here I will confirm you that How to Do SEO Keyword Research and how to put them in your blog article.

Best 5 Technique of SEO Keyword Research

Keyword Research is one of the Significant and difficult Research to your article marketing career. High-quality SEO campaign needs start with Proper Keyword Identification as well as Categorization.
Here are those techniques that help you conduct to Keyword Research.
1. Do SEO Keyword Research With a Brainstorm List
Create a long list of keywords that are relevant to you blog which are indicating your article and services as a result the searcher may be found and interested in what you offer. Now make your primary Keyword list using your sense, competitor’s insight, Keyword Research tools, internal search data and analytics data. Just think about your reader or visitor what would they searched for your Blog, services and information in the search queries?
2. Use Tools For SEO Keyword Research
Use the Keyword Research tool to analyze the Keyword List as well as to understand the search volumes of all your keywords. You can enter each of your keywords from your keyword list. If you enter keyword with broad match after that it will show you broad result as well as suggested keyword those are related to your entered Keyword.
Keyword search volumes are main point to get top Keyword. For Example, if first keyword has 15,000 monthly search volumes and second keyword has 10,000 monthly search volumes then you should select first keyword but don’t get imagine you will get 15,000 traffics for the first keyword. I want to suggest a formula for doing Well Keyword Research-
LC (Low Competition) + HSV (High Search Volume) = Get Rocking Keywords
Those will help you get top position in the Search Results, Categorized your target keyword so as to medium to low Competition, Target keyword phrase instead of single word. Now choose top five to ten keywords from the list those are highly relevant to your blog.
3. Use Keywords perfectly explain the Article
After selecting significant and highly relevant keywords, now you should use them correctly in your article. If your Keywords or Keyword Phrase that does not explain the topic on your article, mind it those keyword won’t be anything good to your SEO campaign. So, sensibly use your keywords that exactly explain your article.
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4. How Many Keywords you should target?
You should not selecting long tail keywords for targeting SEO, you should not select one keyword that high search volume for the reason that one keyword are not enough to get your blog in top position in search result page. You also should not target tons of keywords like 15, 20, 25, etc. to a single page because tons of keyword does not explain a page specifically. So how many keywords essentially you should target? Well, check out these tips & tricks for Keyword Targeting.
  • Home Page– Your home Page is the most authoritative page on your blog so you can take full advantage for optimization. You can target 4 to 8 Keywords.
  • Article page- If you write good as well as high quality article, you can use 4 keywords for this article page. You can use these keywords as long tail keyword in the article. You can use 4 to 5 keywords per content page that those are explain article very specifically.
  • Category Page- Category page include general information so you should target most article page that most general Keywords. You can target 2 to 4 Keywords per page.
  • Privacy policy and Contact Us- These page not require any keyword for the reason that these page do not provides information to people.
5. Keyword Targeting On Article
Once you have completed your keywords identify now you can being entering these significant as well as relevant keywords to specific page. There are 7 palaces that you can use your keywords on your blog pages. These places are Page Title, Page URL, Heading Tag, Body Content, Internal as well as external links, Article image tag and description. Meta Keyword tag is also one more place where you can put your keywords but Google Does not count tag in ranking for the reason that it’s too easy to manipulate as well as. Using this tag also helps your competitor to what accurately keywords you targeting. Correct using these tags with your targeting keywords that help Google to make out your landing page.
SEO Keyword research is the primary procedure than other procedure. Keyword phrases and keywords that help people to find your blog, therefore you should to spend more time to Keyword research to find out which keywords are valuable for your blog.
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Sunday, July 16, 2017

Complete Guide Make Money with Your YouTube Channel

July 16, 2017 0
In this YouTube monetization guide, we go over strategies to help you make money with your YouTube channel. While Google AdSense is a primary source of revenue for many YouTubers, it’s not the only way to earn money on the platform. From sponsorships to selling eBooks and branded channel merch, we go over some of the best ways to earn revenue as a YouTuber.

How to Make Money with Google’s AdSense Program

Advertising on YouTube is one of the most common ways to earn revenue as a creator, and Google AdSense makes it easy to earn money with your YouTube channel. The AdSense program for YouTube is designed to be targeted for your viewers, so it’s definitley something that’s effective and can help you monetize your content. Learn about how AdSense works, how it can help you make money on YouTube, and what not to do when you have AdSense ads on your channel and videos in this helpful article.

How to Make Money Selling Channel Merch

This guide is all about how YouTubers can create and sell channel merch that their audience will love! Thanks to print-on-demand sites, you don’t have to invest a lot of money or time into producing and distributing shirts, caps, mugs, and other cool branded merch that you’d like to design for your YouTube channel’s audience. There’s so many POD platforms that take care of inventory and distribution for you, so that your focus can be on designing and marketing. Here’s how you can make money on YouTube by selling merch for your channel.

How YouTubers Can Create and Sell an eBook

Are your YouTube videos based on providing viewers with helpful information in your channel’s niche or topic area? Can you go more in-depth on the tips and advice you share? An eBook could be a really good way for you to make more money with your YouTube channel. If your viewers come to you for the advice and entertainment you give in your videos, they already know that you’re an expert. In this guide, you’ll learn all the basics of writing and selling an eBook to go with your YouTube channel.

How YouTubers Can Make Money by Starting a Blog

Blogging is great for increasing your YouTube channel’s exposure, but it’s also a really effective way to help you make money with your YouTube channel. With a blog, you can sign up for Google AdSense to bring in ad revenue. You can partner with brands that you love to do affiliate marketing, write sponsored reviews, sell branded merchandise, and/or sell direct advertising. Learn all about how you can make money with a companion blog for your YouTube channel.

How to Make Money by Selling Branded Clothing

When you think of making money with your YouTube channel, you probably automatically think of advertising, but did you know that ads aren’t the only way to make money on YouTube? In fact, you can earn revenue while promoting your channel with branded clothing. With your official logo and some cool designs relevant to your channel, you can create an online store to sell t-shirts, hoodies, tank tops, and other branded clothing, and when your audience wears your clothes, they’ll help grow your YouTube channel’s brand at the same time!

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How To Earn Money on Your YouTube Channel by Selling Branded Merchandise

July 16, 2017 0
Advertisements aren’t the only way that YouTubers can make money from their channels. If you brand your YouTube channel right and make a few smart marketing choices, you could promote brand recognition while, at the same time, bring in new forms of income for your channel by selling branded merchandise.
Think of the coffee mugs in your kitchen cabinets. A lot of them have branded slogans on them, right? What about the tote bags you take to the grocery store with you to save on plastic bags? How about the T-shirts and hoodies in your closet? Branding is everywhere around you, and people spend money for hot designs on branded merchandise all the time. Why not sell your own?

What Is Branded Merchandise?

First, though, let’s talk a little bit about what we mean by branded merchandise. Branded merchandise is anything that you sell that’s specifically branded for your company. It doesn’t necessarily have to have your name or your logo on it, but it does have to be recognizably branded for your business (in this case, your YouTube channel).
For example, a T-shirt with a Swoosh™ on it is obviously a Nike-branded shirt, whether or not it says Nike or has any other identifying images or words on it. A sticker of a white silhouette of an apple with a bite out of it is recognizably a sticker for Apple products. People all over the world recognize the blue and white BMW logo.
When you see mugs, T-shirts, stickers, hats, toys, phone cases, jewelry, and other items branded with a logo, a saying, or any other decoration associated with a particular brand, you’re looking at branded merchandise.
By creating a certain brand voice, a certain style, and treating audience members and customers a certain way, each brand builds a rapport with its target audience. People want to be a part of the brand. They identify with it and thus want others to identify them with it, too. They can do this by purchasing and using branded merchandise.

Making Money by Selling Branded Merchandise

In the old days, if you wanted to sell merchandise for your brand – whether you were a musician, an artist, or a business owner – you had to make a pretty big investment to start out. You had to find a company that would fabricate and/or print your items, and then you had to buy a certain minimum order. If you miscalculated the demand for your products, you could end up with cases upon cases of mugs, stickers, hats, and more, all representing a bunch of wasted money as they sat gathering dust in your basement.
With the age of the Internet and the birth of print-on-demand (POD) services, you don’t have to invest any money at all. The way that POD sites work is pretty brilliant, actually. Most of them won’t require a minimum order from you because they won’t print any of your items until someone makes an order. You can use this kind of service to make money with your YouTube channel.

Creating Branded Merchandise

First, let’s talk about your designs. If you don’t already have a great logo that’s vectorized so that you can scale it up and down for everything from stickers to posters, T-shirts to mugs, then it’s time to do this.
Branding your YouTube channel and your videos is absolutely essential to creating brand recognition and building awareness of your channel so that you can expand your audience. So, first things first, if you haven’t already, hire a graphic designer or use a service to create an awesome logo for your video brand. Also make sure that the file they give you for the finished product is high-definition and scalable, as we mentioned a moment ago.
Once you have a great logo, look at the videos you’ve already posted. Is your tone consistent? Do your videos follow a cohesive theme? If so, you’re on your way. Now, watch them again with an eye toward creating branded merchandise.
Do you have a catchphrase or tagline that you use a lot? Is your intro or outro very memorable? Is there a particular joke or topic that went over really well with your audience and that they keep mentioning in the comments? Read the comments on your channel, as well as the comments and posts on your social media platforms, too. Look for the things that your viewers really liked that you can turn into branded merchandise.
The key is to tie the product into the subject matter and further build the bond you have with your viewers. You can do that by offering them products that they’ll love and use often that will also remind them to check back in with your YouTube channel and stay up to date on your YouTube videos.
Also, when they use your branded merchandise in public, others will see it and begin to recognize your logo. It’s an effective way to help you earn more money and get more of an audience for your channel.
There are a lot of ways to earn revenue from branded merchandise. Just remember to keep the products relevant to your audience’s interest and to create quality, attractive designs, too. Make it recognizable for all of the right reasons.

Promoting Your Super Cool Merchandise

Now, you’ll have to do a little bit more than just design and create quality branded merchandise if you want to make money from it. After all, if no one knows about it, it could be the most attractive merchandise on the planet, and it still wouldn’t sell at all.
You have to let your audience know that they have the option to support you and your channel and to really become a part of a community by purchasing your branded merchandise.
How can you let them know? You can promote your branded merchandise in a lot of different ways, actually. To start off, use some good old-fashioned product placement in your YouTube videos. If you drink from a coffee mug while you talk to your guests in your videos, make sure it’s one of your signature branded mugs. Wear one of your branded T-shirts and/or hang one in the background. Hang a poster up in the background, as well, to give your setting a more cohesive, branded feel.
Since you’re already monetizing your YouTube channel through the YouTube Partner Program, take advantage of the opportunity to integrate annotation links into your videos. If you’re showing off a new piece of branded merchandise but you don’t want to take the time out of your video to talk about it, you can have an annotation link pop up that points to the item and links to your online store. It can say something like, “Have you noticed my cool new mug? Betcha want one, right? Find mugs and more here!”
Don’t just promote your products in your videos, though. Whenever you roll out new branded merchandise, be sure to post about it and highlight it on all of your social media pages. Post pictures and links on Facebook and Instagram. Retweet users on Twitter that are mentioning and enjoying your brand’s merchandise. The more you let people know that they can buy your branded merchandise, the higher the sales potential.
You can also promote this merchandise just by using it on a daily basis. Get yourself a cell phone case with your logo on it. Wear your own T-shirts. Carry stickers with you. Drink your coffee from your branded travel mug. Be a walking, talking billboard for your YouTube channel. When people see your cool merchandise, they’ll ask you about it, and then you can tell them about your YouTube channel and get them to check your videos out.

How to Sell It and Earn Money

Now that you have some good tips for promoting your merchandise, you’re probably wondering how and where you’ll get and sell it, right? Well, as we mentioned earlier, if you use a POD service for your branded merchandise, you can create an online store with a selection of awesome designs and products at no cost, with no minimum order.
Check out sites like District Lines, SpreadShirt, and CafePress. Each of these sites lets you upload your own designs and use them on hundreds of different products. You can create one-off products for yourself and your friends or for special contests and giveaways, but that’s not all. Each of these services allows you to set up an online store that you can use to sell your branded merchandise through their site.
A lot of these sites also allow you to decide whether or not you want them to send your merchandise directly to your customers or whether you want more control over orders. This latter option is usually a little bit more work and a little bit more cumbersome, but it will allow you to do things like send personalized packaging, include a special note and/or sell limited edition autographed gear, posters, and other merchandise. You can also do that by purchasing these items yourself and then selling them or giving them away in a special forum or on a special part of your site.
As you create, promote, and sell your branded merchandise, though, be sure to focus on quality. If your viewers know that they’re going to get quality materials, they’ll be more than willing to spend a couple of extra dollars on your merchandise. If they think you just have cheap low quality stuff that will fall apart in no time, they won’t waste their time or money on it at all. So, be sure to focus on quality!
Have fun designing your very own vlog channel merch!

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How to Earn Money by Starting a Blog for Your YouTube Channel

July 16, 2017 0
Did you know that starting a blog for your YouTube channel can help increase your ability to make money from your great content?
Thanks to advertising, promotions, and sponsorships, blogging can be incredibly lucrative for YouTubers. You can also take advantage of some of today’s easy and effective print on demand services to create quality branded merchandise that your fans will want to buy. In short, all signs point to blogging as a great revenue builder, especially when you use your blog as a companion to your YouTube channel.


What Is a Blog?

Blogs (short for web logs or weblogs) started out as personal diaries that people kept on the Internet, but, as you’ve probably noticed, they’re so much more than that now. With the advent of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, microblogging has taken over the realm of personal blogs. Most of the blogs you come across today aren’t personal notes. Instead, they’re almost all created with a specific niche/industry in mind, and they read a lot more like online magazines and guides than diaries.
As a YouTuber, this is a great opportunity to grow your video brand and earn more revenue. Not just any blog will do, though. You’ll need to create a blog that really complements your YouTube channel. You can do as little with it as include transcripts of each of your YouTube videos, along with links to the videos. This will put almost all of the content you have in your videos in a format that search engines can read (bringing you more traffic and views). It will also help people who can’t watch a video right away get a better idea of what they’ll be watching when they come back to your YouTube videos later.
We recommend including more content in your blog than simple transcripts, though. You can really increase the scope of your YouTube by creating a companion blog. For example, you may only be able to create a single video per week due to time constraints, editing, etc. However, you can increase interest and anticipation for your videos by posting behind-the-scenes pictures and content, short how-to articles, teasers, relevant news, tips, updates and other related material to keep your audience engaged, even when you don’t’ have new material to add to your YouTube channel.
Let’s take a look at a few ways for YouTubers to make money by starting a blog.

Earning Money with Google AdSense


Google’s AdSense Program is a directed advertising placement service. It uses keyword targeting and other factors to place ads on your blog and/or YouTube channel that will be of interest to your viewers and readers.
These banner ads are either text or image based, and they are specifically targeted at people who enjoy the kind of content that you provide. When someone visits your blog and clicks on an advertisement, you basically earn a commission from Google for providing the space for that advertisement.
The more people engaging with these ads on your blog, the more you earn. But, make sure to never encourage clicks or engagement with these advertisements in any sort of way as this is against AdSense TOS and will get your account flagged or banned.
That said, AdSense isn’t the only way to make money through advertising and marketing on your blog for your YouTube channel. You can also make money through affiliate marketing and through direct advertising, as well.

Earning Money with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing and direct advertising seem very similar but have a few key differences. We’ll go through the particulars of each and discuss how you can make money for your blog with either or both.
Instead of trusting Google AdSense to post ads that are relevant to your audience, if you choose to make money through affiliate marketing, you’ll choose the companies you affiliate with. You’ll have full control over the products and services you advertise on your blog. When you choose a company to partner with for an ad campaign, you’ll then post a banner ad on your blog, and when your readers click on that ad, it will use your affiliate link to take them to the company’s page.
When you choose affiliate marketing, you’ll only be paid a fixed commission rate when readers make a purchase for products/services from the company’s website (you are not paid for general clicks or visits like with AdSense).
However, you’ll have more control over what does and doesn’t show up on your blog, and you’ll usually get a better price for your “commission” than a couple of ad clicks.

Earning Money with Direct Advertising

With direct advertising, you’ll also seek out companies, products, and services to advertise on or sponsor your blog. This is by far the most time-consuming of the three advertising options, but it’s also the most profitable. Like affiliate marketing, you’ll have complete control over what goes on your blog. Unlike either affiliate marketing or pay-per-click programs like AdSense, though, payment is guaranteed.
With direct advertising, the companies you partner with will pay you to place their ads on your blog, give their products reviews, mention their name in a positive light, and/or whatever else you agree to for your advertising contract. Your payment won’t be contingent on clicks, just on fulfilling your end of the contract.
You will, however, have to take on the responsibility of handling all of your advertising and sponsorships. You’ll be in charge of finding them and keeping them happy, but you won’t have to split advertising money with any other parties, either. You can see how, if you have the time and passion for it, direct advertising can be the most lucrative way to make money through advertising on your blog.

Earning Money with Sponsored Reviews

You can also talk with companies that make products relevant to your audience about sponsored reviews. For example, if you’re a beauty vlogger, you could write and/or film a review of a new makeup brush that’s just come out on the market.
Because so many potential customers look for online reviews of products (especially new ones) before they commit to purchasing them, companies are more and more eager to partner with bloggers and YouTubers for sponsored reviews. Reach out to the companies that make products that you’d like to review for your viewers and readers and see what they’re willing to do for you.
Some companies will only go as far as to provide free products, which is enough for some bloggers, especially if we’re talking about products they’d like to use anyway. Other companies will partner with you and sponsor your post, blog, or YouTube channel in exchange for a detailed, high-quality review of one of their products.

Branded Merchandise and Clothing

Creating branded merchandise and clothing for your blog and YouTube channel has never been easier. Print on demand (POD) sites like CafePress, Zazzle, and Spreadshirt all let you upload your own designs to create branded merchandise like T-shirts, posters, mugs, cell phone cases, etc. to sell online.
Each and every one of these services requires no initial investment. They all just want you to sign up, upload your designs, choose products to sell, and create an online store. Most will give you code to embed in your blog or website so that you can promote your branded merch and clothing (with ad banners and blog widgets). They’ll also give you the opportunity to create an easy to remember URL for your online shop through their site. You can link to this URL in your blog posts and navigation menu, or even take screen shots of your final products and upload them as images on your blog that link to your online store.
Not only that, but most print-on-demand sites will take care of all of your orders for you, and they take care of your product expenses by simply deducting them from the price of your merchandise.
Considering you didn’t put any money into the front-end and you’re not paying any rent, employee wages, or other inventory maintenance fees on your products, that amounts to a good profit for you.
Another popular option is to open up your own e-commerce store connected to your blog with a platform like Shopify. If you can get branded clothing or merchandise made yourself, either by ordering it in bulk or finding a great manufacturer, take care of the distribution and other relevant tasks, then this can bring you a lot more revenue.
And you can boost sales of your branded merchandise by posting about new and featured products on your blog. You can easily embed code for the product pages themselves in posts, or you can link to your online store to give your readers a chance to see all of the other cool branded merchandise you have for sale there, too.

Make Every Blog Post Count

The goal of your blog shouldn’t just be to generate revenue. If that’s the case, your viewers will sense it almost immediately, and they won’t stick around to click on any ads or purchase any merchandise. Your goal should be give your readers and viewers reasons to visit your YouTube channel and check out your videos.
Through consistent, high-quality, informative and entertaining content with links to your YouTube channel and videos, you’ll be able to create and maintain a successful blog that will function as a wonderful companion to your YouTube channel.
Don’t forget, however, to advertise your blog on your YouTube channel and vice versa. The more you cross-reference these platforms and link to them on your social media platforms, the more visible you’ll be to search engines and to a wider Internet audience, too. Remember, more traffic leads to more revenue from both your blog and your YouTube channel.
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