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Creating your own YouTube channel is easy and believe it or not – it only takes a couple of minutes (yes, this quick!). No matter if you’ve already started using YouTube for content promotion or don’t know where to begin – let me show you step by step how to create a YouTube channel, and share a few simple tips and tricks that will help you build a larger audience.

How to sign up for a YouTube channel

All you have to do to create a YouTube channel is sign up for a Google account. If you already have one, you can just log in.

The good news is that you can use one Google Account for multiple channels. In the long run, this solution proves to be perfectly convenient – if you need to manage different brands or projects, you can do so under the same Google Account, quickly switching from channel to channel, using the Channel Switcher link.

Now that you’ve signed into your Google Account, you have to create your new channel. To do that, just go to YouTube and click on your account thumbnail image (available at the top right corner of the screen) to open a drop down menu.

From there you can either click the “Creator Studio” or the gear icon to access the YouTube settings. In both cases you’ll end up on another page, where you’ll find the link allowing you to create a channel.

After hitting Create a Channel you’ll see a dialog box where you can choose who’ll be using the new channel.

If you want to use it for your own purposes, just type in your name.

If you prefer to use it as a business or someone else, just click the option available at the bottom.

This will take you to another page where you’ll be able to name the channel and choose an appropriate category for it.

The channel name is especially important as it’s often the very first thing your users see. It has to be clear and easy to remember. If your content is great, viewers will be recommending your channel to others, often through word of mouth, so you don’t want the name to be too difficult.

Once you’re done picking your name and selecting the category, check the terms box, and click done.

And there you have it!

Making your channel

You’ve now officially created your YouTube channel. Now all you have to do is make it look amazing to attract a big audience. Not sure how to do it? As promised at the beginning of the article, here are my tips that will help you make the most of your video content marketing efforts with YouTube.

Select an eye-catching profile image

When a user enters your channel, the first thing they see should be a properly prepared profile image that will entice them to stay (or scare them away, but we don’t wish you that). Your goal is to wow the visitor within the first seconds they spend on your channel.

Make sure you don’t use just any image you came across when browsing your files and thought was awesome enough to publish. Check the image size and proportions first, and make your profile image fit perfectly.

As you can see, making a tiny strip of image may not be enough, as every image is automatically adjusted to desktop, tablet, and smartphone screen dimensions (responsive design, baby!).

Luckily, the file below should help you adjust the profile image so that it looks perfect on any device. The format (.psd) requires using Adobe Photoshop to open it – feel free to download the file here.

To add a profile image, you have to log into your newly created channel. You can do so by following this link.

Once you’re there, just click on the pen tool which appears as you hover over the profile image area, or click the Add channel art button.

As mentioned in the previously shown image, the recommended dimensions for your profile image are:

• TV – 2560 × 1440 pixels
• Desktop – max 2560 × 423 pixels
• Tablet – 1855 × 423 pixels
• Desktop – minimum and mobile 1546 × 423 pixels
• Text and logo safe area – 1546 × 423 pixels

Choose an attention-grabbing channel name

Another essential step to creating a professional-looking YouTube channel is getting a unique URL address. In a nutshell, it’s a sort of a channel name to replace the automatically generated channel’s URL. Editing the URL is easy as ABC – just visit the YouTube account settings page and click “Create unique URL”.

Your channel will probably look better in search results with a legible and catchy name, such as “AwesomeMarketingVideos” instead of „sjsuenvmwkdhvnvxcbadwkeyvnd”. Remember that once set, you can’t edit the channel’s unique URL again. Give it some time and thought to create a proper, memorable, out-of-the-box name.

If you can’t see the option to change the URL, that may mean you’re not eligible for one (just yet!). Below you’ll see some of the Google’s requirements for custom URL:

• Have 100 or more subscribers
• Be at least 30 days old
• Have an uploaded photo as channel icon
• Have uploaded channel art

You can also qualify for a custom URL that aligns with your web domain by linking and verifying your official webpage with your connected Google+ page.

Automation means more free time for you… and your family

There’s one great hint to managing all YouTube accounts effectively: don’t waste your time on manually sharing the video content on Google+ or Facebook. You can easily automate this activity within your YouTube account and give yourself more time for other content ideas… or some jogging in the park to get a bit of inspiration.

Integrating your YouTube channel with Facebook and Twitter profiles is all it takes to share your new content on social media (Google+ shares it automatically – yay!). To enable this option, visit the account sharing settings page.

Let others find you

Have you ever thought about the way you look for information on the Internet? You may realize it or not, but most of the times you use keywords to search for the information you need.

They key to success is the ability to think the way your potential viewer thinks and mark your channel with the keywords that will make it easier for viewers to find your content amongst the competition.

You can add new keywords using the advanced setttings page. Select them carefully and help your potential viewers find themselves watching your videos! Just please don’t use such cheap tricks as adding “free videos”, “discount coupons”, or similar to your keywords list if you don’t offer any of these.

Advanced settings is also a place where you can change your avatar, which serves as a profile image for your Google+ account.

Size matters

After signing up for your own YouTube channel, you should pay close attention to verifying your account as soon as possible. Once you do this, the search engines won’t treat you like a bot that starts fake accounts, but like a real human actually using the service. To go through the verification process successfully, take a look at the Verify page.

The service will ask you to type your phone number and will send you a text message or make an automatic call to this number. Once your account is verified, you’ll get an instant functionality upgrade to your account. From now on, you’ll be able to upload videos that are longer than 15 minutes – sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

Final touches

There’s one important element of your profile you can’t forget about – describing your channel in a few sentences and adding social media links or other contact information so that anyone can reach out to you easily.

Your channel description does not only provide useful information about the content you post, but also has a strong influence on the search results. Make sure your description includes adequate and true information, but sprinkle these with a few keywords as well. You can edit this information in the My Channel view.

Just don’t over do it – it’s just like adding too much salt to your favorite soup.

After all these tricks, your channel is ready – go and attract new subscribers, upload dozens of videos, and build your own engaged community.

All in all, your creations deserve to be watched by hundreds (or thousands!) of viewers, right?

And if you’re eager to learn more, check out these two articles on how to use YouTube Captions and Video Content Marketing Guide for SMBs.

The post Things to Remember When Starting a YouTube Channel appeared first on GetResponse Blog – Online Marketing Tips.

Blogging is at the core of today’s online businesses, and you too should be producing high quality content which educates your audience and also helps them resolve the issues they might face. It’s necessary for your company to have a blog and publish articles on a regular basis.

However, apart from knowing what to write about, you should also learn what the correct content structure for maximizing your blog performance is. Without the right approach and plan, it’s likely you’ll be stuck with a great concept, without knowing how to express it.

Today you’re going to find out how you can use a helpful formula to create the perfect article that will allow you to convey your content in the most compelling way. Let’s dive in!

Data-driven content ideas

First of all you need to come up with content ideas for the next three months. Once you have your list of strategically chosen topics, create a schedule or a calendar calendar. This will organize your workflow and let you focus on writing timely content.

The process of generating ideas for blog posts should be based on:

• your keywords list
• competitor analysis
• market trends
• and your buyers’ expectations

All these factors are equally important upon implementing your strategy. Make sure you don’t skip anything mentioned above. It’s best to aim for evergreen content ideas because they will never go out of style and will continually drive organic traffic. Once you know what to write about, you can wrap it around the right structure to create the perfect blog post.

The one and only – headline

What gets read more than anything else on your site is the headline. Hence, you ought to become a master in headline writing because this is the most powerful component of your article which is indeed a make or break factor.

According to Copyblogger, the 80/20 rule works best when writing headlines:

“On average, 8 out of 10 people will read the headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. This is the secret to the power of your title, and why it so highly determines the effectiveness of the entire piece.”

Search results, social media, publishing platforms – they’re all overcrowded with high quality, compelling content; and the competition is tough. You should learn how to make your blog posts stand out and craft killer headlines that will convince people to click-through. The better your title, the more attention it will grab.

Take a chance and learn a few techniques of headline writing:

The main takeaways are:

• Your headline should appeal to emotions and desires. This means that it needs to raise the right questions – typically the ones your buyers frequently ask you – and in order to provoke the expected reaction, it should be formulated using words that your prospects commonly use.

It’s scientifically proven that headlines affecting strong emotions drive the most attention. However, “positive headlines tend to perform better than negative sentiment.” However, we don’t recommend click baiting.

• Include a keyword within your title. According to Ahrefs’ research, keyword placement on your page correlates with your rankings, and the use of an exact-match keyword within your headline is one of the most important locations to optimize in order to improve your search rankings.

Moreover, they stated that placing your target keyword at the beginning of your title also makes a positive difference.

• Your headline should accurately and neatly summarize your whole article. Let people understand what they should expect to read before they click on your link. This way, you’ll avoid disappointment whilst lowering your bounce rate.

• Keep your headline to maximum 55 characters. According to Coschedule: “Headlines of about 55 characters long tend to earn the highest number of click-throughs.” 

Besides, Google search results are limited by length; so, longer headlines can get cut off and won’t be fully displayed. This is why it’s best to stick to this rule.

• Anytime you want to check if your title is good enough, use Coschedule Headline Analyzer. Coschedule Headline Analyzer is a free and user friendly tool that will score your headlines and give you various suggestions to help you craft a real diamond out of them.

In addition: use numbers, make lists and how-to guides, use trigger words, make promises, and most importantly, keep on executing superior work.

The introduction must be captivating

The introduction is very important for your writing because it defines the flow and progress of your piece. It’s mission is to attract your readers to continue reading.

a) The perfect introduction, according to Neil Patel, is one that shares the main idea of the article. You should start with describing the current situation on the market, justifying the importance of the particular problem and explaining how it affects people – your users. Then you should emphasize on the value that your readers will get as a result of reading your article. This will glue your audience to your article.

b) Another successful tactic for the introduction is to start with telling a story. The Groove HQ team tested what the the best way to start an article is, and they found that storytelling is key. According to their study, posts with storytelling drove 300% more readers than posts without storytelling.

Pro-tip: It’s best if you give a personal story or anecdote of an influencer for example. This will make your story authentic. No matter what tactic you decide on, remember to keep your introduction concise – about 6 sentences – and simple. Plus, use easy language, and keep your sentences short for better readability.

Divide your blog post into concise paragraphs

Paragraphs make your content structure clear, organized and easy to scan. They improve the readability of your post and its overall aesthetic. Furthermore, a transparent outline is necessary for organizing your content because the majority of visitors just scan your article instead of reading it. They look for something that may be appealing and try to estimate how much there’s to read. Help them with that and go for short paragraphs.

Each of these paragraphs should begin with a subheading – H2 or H3 to define the title for each following paragraph.

What’s best? Subheadings like H1, H2 or H3 will help you optimize your page for a target keyword. They’re number of on-page SEO locations where you may want to place your keyword. Make sure you add them to your next post!

There’re other methods for organizing your content and making it more reader-friendly. When possible, use bullet points, quotes, bold a fragment, and italicize some keywords. Plus, don’t forget about visual representations such as charts, infographics, illustrations, and screens.

Pro tip: It’s a good idea to number your content. It’s both helpful to your readers and easier for you to write.

Content writing itself

The most essential part of all the elements that cohesively create a perfect blog post is, of course, the writing itself. Devote some time to diligently research and find the best resources for your post. You can use tools like BuzzSumo.

BuzzSumo provides you with articles that gained the most shares over a chosen period of time. You can also use Buzzsumo to see influencers in your field and then check if they have any content covering your topics. This could be a very helpful tool when looking for topics or curating content.

Next, don’t forget to check the search results for a given subject and see what’s on the first page. In the top 10 results – in incognito mode – you’ll find competing articles. So read them all and treat them as your guidelines.

Visuals that add value

Apart from a well written copy, incorporate fine quality and relevant visuals that add value to your writing. Blog Pros analyzed about 100 high ranking articles and came to the conclusion that the best performing posts had an average of 3.2 images. Moreover, blog posts with images have been proven to attract more backlinks, and backlinks have an essential impact on your search results.

Pro-tip: Don’t forget to credit the borrowed images. For legal purposes, they need to be linked to the source.

The perfect length

SerpIQ studied the average content length of the top 10 results and it’s visible that content exceeding 2,000 words tends to perform best. The higher word count correlates with better search traffic.

Optimize for on-page SEO

As mentioned at the beginning, content writing should be based on SEO.

Add a call-to-action

Yeah, content marketing should focus on educating and helping readers with their real life issues, but also inspire them to take action. This is why a subtle call-to-action will make your perfect blog post complete.

Enclose a subtle offer or bonus material like a downloadable eBook in exchange for an email address. The requested action shouldn’t be demanding: don’t ask for too much.

Place your CTA in the header, sidebar, or footer of the post. Test their locations and change them if necessary to maximize results.

Small additions that make a big difference

Mobile Optimization

Check how your blog posts display on mobile devices. Are you ready for the era of the mobile device? Nowadays, people effortlessly switch between devices, so it’s a must to make their mobile experience flawless. This mobile-friendly test by Google will analyze a given URL and report if the page has a mobile-friendly design. Use it and verify your website.

Social Sharing

Always incorporate a social sharing feature on your blog. Since social sharing has the potential to improve the reach of your post, it makes sense to include social buttons on your page. Also, it’s a good idea to have one or two ready “Click to tweet” boxes on your page that cover a quote with a mention for the lazy ones.

Back to you

Perhaps you have your own pattern? Or some additional ideas that I forgot to add? If so, don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments below.

The post A Simple Formula For Writing The Perfect Blog Post appeared first on GetResponse Blog – Online Marketing Tips.

Affiliate marketing and automation go hand-in-hand. However, while many eCommerce sites – often following Amazon’s footsteps – are taking automation very seriously for their B2C operations, their affiliate programs are very far from a functional, result-oriented automation.

In this three-parts overview, we’ll see together how to set goals, assess the current situation, implement, benchmark and improve your affiliate program with automation.

What automation is here for

A very important disclaimer. Automation is not here to substitute your affiliate manager, nor to replace the relationship management that make or break an affiliate program. Automation is here to take care of the repetitive tasks, so your affiliate marketing team can focus on adding value where the human component does make the difference.

What are your affiliate program goals?

While each and every business would love to grow their sales exponentially overnight through affiliate marketing, there’re several variables that influence your realistic affiliate goals. They include your business type (B2C, B2B, C2C, etc.), your target markets, and the maturity stage of your vertical and Company.

If you’re a well-known brand, which has already invested millions in awareness and engaging customers, you’ll need automation to segment, inform and motivate the scores of affiliates who’ll become part of your affiliate program. In this case, your goals with affiliate marketing and automation are likely to be focused on providing timely updates to your top, professional affiliates about promos etc. And to educate your long-tail affiliates about effective and efficient way to use SEO, SEM, Social Media, etc to bring commissionable sales.

If you’re a new entrant, offering new solutions to a clear market’s need, then automation will be mainly about providing customizable content to affiliates, so they can use it to educate the market. To share with your affiliates your successes and milestones, in line with their promotional methods. That can be a special coupon to celebrate your first 1million users, a limited edition for a tangible product, etc.

What are your affiliate program needs?

Affiliates want reliable, real-time, clear measurements of what’s working for them, and what’s not. Let’s imagine I offer you to promote my services. You’re not exclusive to me, nor I’m exclusive to you. Anyone else can accept my offer, meaning there’re no barriers to entry. On top, you do all the work upfront, without any compensation in advance. In the best case scenario, I’ll pay your dues the month after you delivered me sales.

Under these circumstances, you’d at least expect me to give you accurate updates about how many eye balls are turning into leads, how many leads are turning into buyers, and how much buyers are spending. So, you can scale-up on the segments who work well, and cut-back on (or redesign the campaigns for) the segments which aren’t converting into sales.

This is the easy part of automation for affiliate marketing. There’s a wide variety of SaaS and installable affiliate tracking solutions, plus affiliate networks you can join. A tracking solution just offers KPIs like clicks, leads, sales and commission amount. Then you have to find your own affiliates. Where an affiliate network comes to play, plus its own affiliates, that you can invite to promote your program. It makes affiliate recruitment easier.

What are your affiliate program wants?

This is the area where there’s plenty of room to grow, and to gain an edge on your competitors. By making automation the rule, and not the exception, you can streamline your affiliate marketing efforts, and focus your affiliate mangers time on what matters, instead of taking care of repetitive tasks.

Aspects of an affiliate program that you can improve with automation include:

1) Sending relevant updates to your affiliates, based on their promotional methods

2) Sharing coupons and deals

3) Implementing funnels to activate, retain and grow your affiliates, based on what do and don’t do (first login, first sale, first substantial commissions, last login, last sale, etc.)

What do you want to know?

This is your opportunity to speak-up and be heard. My next articles will keep in consideration the main areas of interest that you have when it comes to affiliate marketing and automation. Are you just starting your affiliate program, and trying to understand if you should go for an in-house affiliate program manager or an affiliate outsourced program management (OPM). Are you already a maverick of affiliate marketing, and you want to bring your program to the next level with automation?

Back to you

Thanks for being part of this conversation!

Post your questions, dilemmas, strategies, successes and challenges.

The post Affiliate Marketing Automation: Goals, Needs And Wants appeared first on GetResponse Blog – Online Marketing Tips.

[avatar user=”Jon Flatt” size=”thumbnail” align=”left” link=”www.jonflatt.com/about” target=”_blank” /]

This election cycle has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that this country, the Great US of A is bankrupt of true leadership. Because I have learned from such great leaders such as Red McCombs and many others, and now that I teach and mentor leaders myself, this election has been incredibly difficult to watch. When you analyze these two candidates it’s really not hard to see how and why they became the nominees for the next president. I Say “We the People” are to blame.

Many people may read this article and say well “that’s just how it is” that’s how politicians are” that’s just the world we live in today” it’s just reality. Well, don’t we spend the majority of our life changing our reality, and striving for something better. In our heart of hearts as misguided as some people’s intentions are, most are striving for a change. And in order to change you must believe that you can.

So how did we get to this place? How did we get to a place where millions of people will support candidates that are proven liars that have made terrible decisions and have destroyed innocent people’s lives for the sake of power. It seems daily we see a news clip or some form of media that completely contradicts something that the candidate said or did days or weeks before. The sheer abundance of caca is unprecedented!

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There Is a very strong argument to be made that both of these candidates Clinton and Trump are terrible leaders. Keep in mind a great manipulator is not a great leader. A great salesperson is not necessarily great leader. A great negotiator is not necessarily a great leader.

Trump struggles to communicate effectively. His divisive language alienates groups of people and leaves even supporters scratching their heads. His latest debacle of locker room banter on the bus of the media outlet furthers the argument that he is a misogynist who cares nothing or has no respect for women. While this may be untrue and while he may not be a prejudice maniacal misogynist bigot, his words leave you questioning his judgment. Great leaders communicate effectively. Trump has also continuously lied about his own words, about previous statements and in my personal opinion manipulated the religious community into thinking he is something he is not. Trump will engage in petty arguments and will lose focus on W.I.N. (What’s Important Now) Great leaders focus on priorities and do get distracted with emotional pettiness.

Hillary Clinton has a long track record of scandal, lies and corporate interests. The decision to set up a private email server supposedly for convenience would leave anybody in the technology world baffled. She clearly lied on several occasions and the true intention of the private server is still unknown. This should be disturbing to any intellectually honest American who cares about their country. Self-Accountability is a key principle of any great leader. She has gotten away with so much that she is the poster child of what is wrong with our government and how there is little to no accountability for persons in great positions of power.

Clinton’s treatment of the women who accused her husband of either an affair and in some cases sexual assault was truly contradictory of her so-called feminist position. Great leaders do not destroy the character of innocent people in order to further their gains. Great leaders hold onto their values and convictions.

We are all to blame as we have allowed ourselves to become divided by skin color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, income and political party affiliation. It seems the media, no matter what category you fall into, will always portray that it’s you against them. We live in a time of verses. Black vs white. Cops vs black lives. Homosexuals vs religion. Rich vs Poor. Democrats vs Republicans. We have all heard the phrase divide and conquer. Great manipulators use this to distract from their own flaws as they portray themselves as great leaders.

In our envious obsession with money, fame, materialism and pop culture, we have been distracted from the true principles that make life fulfilling. Love, Integrity, honor, conviction, passion, spirituality, hard work, family, friendship, creativity, charity, empathy and TRUTH.

Great leaders preach these principals and bring people together for the betterment of all. Unfortunately, these types of leaders in politics seem to be a thing of the past. If there’s a Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan out there, I certainly hope they come to the forefront of the political leadership in the United States of America.