Teachable

Boost your YouTube workflow: Top AI tools for video creators

Software Stack Editor · June 10, 2024 ·

Our view at Stack - Teachable’s is an online training platform and it's key features include an intuitive course builder, rich multimedia lectures, and powerful sales and marketing tools. It offers flexible pricing options, advanced analytics, and student management capabilities. Additionally, it provides great customer support and mobile accessibility

Creating engaging and professional videos for YouTube requires time, effort, and a ton of creativity. This can be tough for many aspiring creators, especially those with limited resources and tight schedules.

Like in many other areas, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now making it easier for creatives to work more efficiently while spending less. In fact, data shows that using AI tools can cut the time and cost needed to make videos by up to 80%.

This major reduction makes video production more accessible to creators of all skill levels and allows for quick scaling of content without sacrificing quality.

But you need to have the right AI tools for this to happen. After extensive testing of 50+ AI tools for video, here are our top picks, at least until Sora hits the ground.

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What is a YouTube workflow, and how can AI tools help?

A YouTube workflow is a structured sequence of steps tailored to streamline the entire process of creating and publishing videos on YouTube. This workflow typically includes stages like:

Content ideation,
Scripting
Filming
Editing
Distribution

Each stage involves specific tasks and decisions that contribute to the efficient and effective production of high-quality video content.

AI tools can significantly enhance a YouTube workflow by automating and optimizing several of these steps. For example, AI-driven software can assist you in generating video ideas and creating detailed scripts based on trending topics and SEO best practices. This can significantly speed up your pre-production phase.

Likewise, during the editing process itself, AI can offer advanced features like auto-editing clips, enhancing sound and video quality, and generating suitable captions and tags, which not only saves time but also improves the overall production quality.

Additionally, AI tools can help in batch processing videos, where multiple videos are edited at once, maintaining consistency across videos while significantly reducing the manual effort involved. They can also analyze the performance of videos, providing insights that can inform future content creation, thereby making the workflow not just faster but also more aligned with audience preferences.

AI-assisted brainstorming & scripting

When it comes to brainstorming video ideas and scripting content, AI can be a huge timesaver. Instead of staring at a blank page, these tools use machine learning to generate fresh concepts and flesh out scripts based on your inputs. Here are some top AI options to try:

Pictory

Pictory is an AI-powered video creation platform designed to transform text-based content into engaging videos. It is particularly valuable for content creators, marketers, and educators who wish to convert articles, blogs, and scripts into dynamic video content quickly and effortlessly.

It’s praised for its user-friendly interface that requires no prior video editing experience. It includes various AI-powered tools that facilitate the creation of professional-looking videos by automatically adding subtitles, trimming content, and adjusting visual aspects based on the content’s context.

Key features

Script-to-video. Converts written scripts into fully formed videos with visuals and audio.
Article to video. Transforms text articles into summarized videos by extracting and visualizing key points.
Edit video using text. Allows editing of videos by cutting or adjusting sections based on a text transcript.
Auto highlights. Automatically creates highlight reels from longer videos, focusing on the most engaging parts.
Voice-over integration. Adds AI-generated voice narrations to videos in multiple languages.

Pricing: Pictory offers three pricing plans: Standard, Premium, and Teams. The Standard plan is $19 per month annually and suits new creators. It also has a free trial that allows you to create three video projects, each up to five minutes long.

Rephrase.ai

Rephrase.ai (recently acquired by Adobe) allows users to generate professional-quality videos using a digital avatar from just text input. This tool is especially valuable for marketers, educators, and content creators who need to produce high-quality videos quickly and efficiently.

I like that the platform is designed to be user-friendly, allowing even those without prior video editing experience to create videos easily.

Key Features

Digital avatar video creation. Rephrase.ai allows you to create professional-quality videos using digital avatars from text input, simplifying the video production process.
Custom media upload. You can enhance videos by uploading your own images or animations.
Accurate lip sync. Ensures that the avatar’s lip movements are synchronized with the audio, adding realism to the videos.
PowerPoint conversion. Converts PowerPoint presentations into dynamic video presentations instantly, adding a visual and engaging element to presentations.

Pricing: Rephrase.ai pricing starts at $25 per month. Plus, it offers a free trial to test its capabilities before committing to a paid plan

AI Video Editing Made Easy

Editing videos can be a massive time drain. However, AI tools are making the process faster and easier than ever. Here are some top options for AI-assisted video editing:

Descript

Descript is a versatile AI-powered tool that simplifies video and audio editing. It’s particularly celebrated for its intuitive design, which allows users to edit media files as easily as a text document, a significant time-saver for content creators.

Descript’s integration capabilities with other tools like Slack and Final Cut Pro also make it a flexible option within various workflows, particularly for team collaborations that benefit from its real-time editing features.

Key features

Transcription. Automatically converts speech into text with high accuracy.
Overdub. Allows text edits to be converted back into audio, mimicking the original speaker’s voice.
Filler word removal. Automatically identifies and removes filler words like “uh” and “um” from audio.
Green screen effect. Enables background replacement in videos without needing a physical green screen.

Pricing: Descript offers a free plan but with limited features. If you want more features, there are three premium plans: Creator, Pro, and Entreprise. The Creator Pro plan costs $12 per month and is good enough for someone starting out.

VEED.io

VEED.io is an online video editing platform designed to simplify video creation and editing for users of all skill levels. It offers a range of features that cater to both beginner and professional needs.

I like that it also includes AI-powered tools like object detection and tracking, and a unique feature that uses AI to generate video content from text prompts. It essentially serves as a “video chatbot.”

Key features

Automatic subtitles. Automatically transcribes audio to text for subtitles.
Screen recording. Captures screen and webcam footage, ideal for tutorials and demos.
Filters and effects. Enhances videos with visual filters, brightness, and contrast adjustments.
Music and sound effects. Allows the addition of music tracks and sound effects to videos.
Object detection and tracking. Uses AI to detect and track objects within videos.
Customizable text and captions. Offers various fonts, colors, and styles for text overlays.

The platform is particularly valued for its cloud-based accessibility, ensuring that users can work on their projects from any location. It also supports a variety of video formats, enhancing its versatility for different project needs.

Pricing: VEED.io pricing varies depending on the plan, starting with a free tier suitable for basic projects. However, you can only access its comprehensive features through paid plans from as low as $12 for the basic plan.

Runway

Runway is a versatile AI-powered video editing tool that caters to a variety of creative needs, from professional filmmakers to content creators on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. It offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to enhance the video creation process through advanced AI technologies.

It’s designed to be user-friendly, supporting creators with various tools that simplify complex video editing tasks such as object removal, style application, and scene detection.

Key Features

Text-to-video generation. Runway can create videos from text descriptions, which is ideal for producing animated explainers, product demos, or even music videos.
Background manipulation tools. The platform includes tools for blurring, removing, or replacing video backgrounds, which helps you focus on the main subjects or customize the videos to your specific needs.
Custom AI model training. Users can train custom AI models to generate unique content that aligns with their specific style and requirements.
High-fidelity video output. The latest updates have significantly enhanced the video quality, bringing it to near photorealistic levels.

Pricing: Runway offers a range of plans from a basic free tier to more advanced subscriptions, catering to different user needs and budget constraints. The paid plans provide more features and higher video generation capabilities.

AI-Generated YouTube thumbnails

Creating click-worthy thumbnails is crucial for driving YouTube views, and AI can definitely lend a hand. While you’ll still want to inject your own creative flair, these AI thumbnail tools take the busy work out of design. Here are some of the tools we found useful:

Canva

Canva is a widely used online graphic design tool that simplifies the creation of visual content through an intuitive, drag-and-drop interface.

Thankfully, Canva is still not a victim of app modernization, as their focus is still on user-friendliness, which is apparent, especially if you start off by doing the simplest graphics using templates.

Key Features

Extensive template library. Canva provides thousands of templates for various design needs, making it easy to start projects quickly.
Drag-and-drop interface. This feature simplifies the design process, allowing you to create designs efficiently without needing advanced technical skills.
Real-time collaboration. Canva allows multiple users to collaborate on designs in real time, which is especially beneficial for remote teams.
Mobile app availability. Canva offers a mobile app that enhances flexibility by allowing users to design on the go.
Brand Kit. This feature supports consistent branding by allowing businesses to store and apply their logos, color schemes, and fonts easily across various designs.
Social media integration. Direct integration with social media platforms simplifies the posting process, making it easier to share designs directly.

Pricing: Canva operates on a freemium model, offering a basic free version that is quite functional. For more advanced features, Canva Pro is available starting at $12.99 per month for the first user, with discounts for additional users. There is also an enterprise version tailored for larger teams, which includes enhanced collaboration tools and support

Thumbly.ai

Thumbly.ai is a sophisticated AI-powered tool designed specifically for creating standout YouTube thumbnails. It leverages advanced AI algorithms to analyze YouTube data, ensuring that the thumbnails generated are optimized to capture attention and increase click-through rates.

Thumbly.ai is celebrated for its effectiveness in boosting YouTube channels’ performance metrics, such as viewer engagement and click-through rates. It supports creators from various niches, whether novices or seasoned YouTubers, by offering a tool that combines efficiency with creativity.

Key Features

AI-powered thumbnail generation. Utilizes machine learning to produce eye-catching thumbnails that are tailored to the video’s content.
Quick thumbnail creation. Allows for the efficient creation of thumbnails, significantly reducing the time spent compared to manual designing.

Customization options. Offers extensive customization features, allowing users to align thumbnails with their brand’s identity.

Pricing: Thumbly.ai was initially free with a waitlist, suggesting there might be different tiers or features available upon official launch or subscription.

Thumbnail AI

Thumbnail AI is a specialized tool designed to simplify the process of creating YouTube thumbnails. It’s particularly user-friendly, making it accessible even to those without any graphic design skills.

The tool offers a variety of templates and customization options, allowing you to tailor each thumbnail to fit your content style and preferences efficiently. You can even “upgrade” your thumbnails by adding things like QR codes for registration, brand colors, and even experiment with new styles.

Key Features

Ease of use. The interface is straightforward, allowing quick thumbnail creation without requiring complex design skills.
Customization. Users have access to a variety of templates and design elements, which you can customize to ensure that each thumbnail reflects the specific style and essence of the content.
Efficiency. The tool is designed to boost click-through rates and viewer engagement by producing eye-catching, professional-quality thumbnails quickly.

Pricing: Thumbnail AI uses a free model that caters well to beginners.

AI for YouTube SEO & keyword research

Optimizing your YouTube videos for search is crucial for getting discovered, and AI can give you a serious edge on keyword research. Here are some top tools:

TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy is a versatile YouTube channel management tool that offers a wide range of features aimed at optimizing video performance and simplifying channel management. It integrates directly into your YouTube dashboard and enhances functionalities with its browser extension.

The tool is praised for its ease of use and comprehensive set of features. It’s highly regarded as an essential tool for serious YouTube creators looking to grow their channels efficiently.

Key Features

SEO tools. TubeBuddy provides robust SEO tools, including keyword research and optimization, tag management, and SEO Studio for crafting effective titles, descriptions, and tags.
A/B testing. This feature allows you to test different titles, descriptions, and thumbnails to see which combinations perform best, helping you refine your content strategy.
Bulk processing. Save time with bulk editing tools that allow you to update video metadata, such as tags and descriptions, across multiple videos at once.
Video analytics. TubeBuddy offers detailed analytics that helps you understand the performance of your videos and overall channel health.

Pricing: TubeBuddy offers several pricing tiers, starting with a Free plan that includes basic tools. Paid plans: Pro, Star, and Legend, provide more advanced features, such as full access to keyword research tools, A/B testing, and advanced analytics.

VidIQ

VidIQ is a comprehensive tool designed to enhance YouTube channel growth through a suite of features focused on analytics, keyword research, competitor analysis, and video optimization.

It’s ideal for YouTube creators aiming to grow their audience, enhance video quality, and gain strategic insights from analytics.

Key Features

Keyword tools. VidIQ provides extensive keyword research tools, helping you discover effective keywords to optimize your videos for better visibility and ranking.
Competitors tool. This feature allows you to monitor competitors’ strategies, providing insights that can help you adjust your own tactics to stay competitive.
Channel audit tool. Offers an in-depth analysis of your channel’s performance, identifying strengths and areas for improvement.
Trend alerts and most viewed. These tools help you stay on top of what’s trending on YouTube and identify high-performing content in your niche or globally.

Pricing: VidIQ offers a basic free plan with essential tools and offers advanced features like content and script generators.

Keyword Chef

Keyword Chef is a specialized SEO tool designed to simplify the process of finding low-competition, high-potential keywords, particularly for bloggers and content creators. It’s praised for its ability to uncover keywords with real search intent and eliminate irrelevant data, making it highly effective for optimizing video content with targeted keywords that are easier to rank for on search engines.

Keyword Chef is particularly suited for users who need a straightforward tool to find niche keywords without the complexities and higher costs associated with more advanced SEO tools. Its focus on long-tail keywords and user-friendly approach makes it a valuable addition for content creators looking to enhance their SEO strategy efficiently.

Key Features

Google autocomplete scraping. Automates the extraction of long-tail keywords from Google’s autocomplete suggestions to save time and effort.
SERP checker. Analyzes the search engine results page to identify easy ranking opportunities by spotting low-authority sites.
Keyword filters. Allows users to refine their keyword search based on specific criteria such as search volume and presence of YouTube videos.

Pricing: Unlike many SEO tools that require monthly subscriptions, Keyword Chef operates on a pay-as-you-go model. This makes it more accessible for individuals or small businesses who do not want to commit to a recurring fee.

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AI-Powered transcription & subtitles

Creating accurate transcripts and subtitles for your YouTube videos can be a massive time drain. Luckily, AI-powered transcription tools have your back. Here are some top options:

Otter.ai

Otter.ai is an elaborate AI-powered tool designed to enhance productivity in meetings through its robust transcription and collaboration features. It offers a range of functionalities suited for different organizational needs, from individual professionals to large enterprises.

Otter.ai integrates well with commonly used platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, allowing it to automatically join meetings and provide transcriptions. You can even interact with the transcription by highlighting text, adding notes, and creating actionable items directly from the interface

Key Features

Real-time transcription. Transcribes speech to text during meetings automatically.
Speaker identification. Recognizes and labels who is speaking in the conversation.
Searchable transcripts. Allows you to search through the text for specific words or phrases.
Integration with Platforms. Works seamlessly with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.
Collaborative tools. Enables users to highlight, add notes, and share actionable items within the transcript.

Pricing: Otter.ai offers a Basic (Free) plan with 300 transcription minutes per month. It also offers paid plans starting at $10 per month. There is also an Enterprise plan with custom pricing for larger organizations needing advanced security and compliance features.

Zubtitle

Zubtitle is an online video editing tool designed to help content creators enhance their videos for social media platforms by adding subtitles, resizing, and incorporating various elements such as logos and progress bars.

Key Features

Automatic subtitles. Generates subtitles automatically using AI, supporting over 60 languages.
Customization options. Customize subtitle fonts, colors, and positions to match your brand.
Video resizing. Resize videos to fit various social media platforms, including square, vertical, and widescreen formats.
Headline and branding. Add headlines and logos to your videos for better branding and engagement.
Progress bars. Add progress bars to videos to keep viewers engaged.
AI content repurposing. Use AI tools to create text for descriptions and social media posts from your video content.

Pricing: Zubtitle offers three main pricing plans to cater to different user needs. The Free Trial allows users to process 2 videos per month with basic features like automatic captions and video resizing. The Standard Plan, priced at $19 per month, includes 10 videos per month with added features like premium support and custom headlines. The Elite Plan costs $49 per month and includes 30 videos per month, offering advanced customization options and priority support.

Scribie

Scribie is a transcription service known for its high accuracy and affordability. It offers both automated and manual transcription options, with a focus on delivering over 99% accuracy through a four-step process involving transcription, review, proofreading, and quality checks.

This meticulous approach ensures consistent and reliable results for various professional needs, including legal, medical, academic, and business transcription.

Key Features

Accuracy. Scribie guarantees over 99% accuracy for its transcriptions thanks to its rigorous four-step process.
Quick turnaround. The standard turnaround time for transcriptions is 24 hours, with options for expedited service if needed.
Human verification. All transcriptions are manually verified by human transcribers to ensure the highest quality.
Multiple formats. Scribie supports various audio and video file formats and offers additional services like SRT/VTT subtitle files, strict verbatim transcripts, and time coding.
Confidentiality. The service emphasizes strict confidentiality, with all transcribers bound by non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

Pricing: Scribie’s pricing is competitive, starting at $0.80 per minute for standard transcription. Additional services, such as strict verbatim transcription or rush orders, incur extra costs. This pricing structure makes Scribie an affordable option for high-quality transcription needs.

FAQ

What’s the best AI YouTube thumbnail maker?

One of the best AI YouTube thumbnail makers is Thumbnails.ai. It stands out as the top AI thumbnail generator specifically designed for YouTube creators. It automatically produces on-brand, clickable thumbnail options tailored to your video content and niche – complete with graphics, text overlays, and images. While some human customization is still ideal, Thumbnails.ai streamlines thumbnail creation immensely.

Is there a free AI tool for YouTube video editing?

Yes, Studica is one of the best free AI video editors for YouTubers. This web app uses machine learning to transcribe audio and generate subtitles, allowing you to edit videos just by editing text. It offers basic trimming, noise reduction, and even AI voiceover regeneration – great for vlogs.

Can AI write YouTube video descriptions?

AI writing tools can generate decent draft video descriptions, but human oversight is still required. Feed your video topic and keywords into AI assistants like Jasper or Copy.ai, then refine the AI-generated text for quality and accuracy. This AI-plus-human approach produces compelling, on-brand video descriptions efficiently.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

9 Digital Product Ideas You Can Create This Weekend

Software Stack Editor · June 10, 2024 ·

As the saying goes, “All rivers flow to the ocean.” For creators, we can think of rivers as different streams of income and the ocean as your wallet. To help get you flowing with inspiration and on your way toward financial stability and abundance, we’ve rounded up 9 digital products you can create this weekend to diversify your revenue–really!

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The importance of diversifying revenue streams

Before you start considering different ideas, you might be wondering why even invest your time in digital product creation. Having multiple revenue streams means not placing all your eggs in one basket. Being flexible with your offerings is ideal for unpredictable markets. Adding a digital product or products into the mix can mitigate risk, while increasing income stability and business scalability.

Why digital products are a great option

Not only does digital product creation provide opportunities to earn more money, it also gives you, the creator, different outlets for creative exploration. Meanwhile, it meets customers, new and existing, where they’re at. Different formats at different price points can appeal to a wider range of audiences, due to preferences, abilities, learning styles, and budgets.

Additionally, digital products offer great potential for a return on your investment (ROI). Something you create once can generate passive income and continue earning your money for years to come.

Can you really create digital products in a weekend?

It really is possible to create at least one digital product on this list in one weekend. Not all listed are going to align with your strengths and skill set. Therefore, notice which one you naturally gravitate toward and feels manageable. Start with one that feels easiest to execute, then come back to this list and work your way up to ones that feel more challenging but that still align with your creator-career goals.

Digital product ideas

Here are 9 digital product ideas you can create this weekend and start selling online.

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1. Ebooks and guides

Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer, it’s easier than ever to self-publish ebooks and guides. This can be short and sweet—5,000 words, even—and on a simple PDF, which is ideal for downloading or EPUB, which can easily be transferred to digital readers.

How to choose a topic

It’s always best to write what you know, whether that’s your field of study, career, or a hobby you have much experience with. When it comes to choosing a topic for a book, it can be easy to get carried away and select something that you aspire to write about it. But start with something you have an abundance of information about or that people already come to you for to get a feel for the process—and start earning quicker.

Tips for writing and formatting

If you’re new to writing ebooks, it might be a good idea to outline your book with all the chapters and sections you want to include, not only to organize and map out what to accomplish but also for consistency for your readers. Consider making all sections the same length, give or take, and that headers, fonts, and margins make for easy reading. Visuals, such as diagrams or charts, can also be helpful in breaking up text and holding readers’ attention.

As you write, keep your audience in mind. You might even imagine you are writing to one person in your target audience to keep your content engaging and relevant. When you’re done, be sure to edit thoroughly and even ask some people you trust to proofread and give feedback.

Promoting and selling your ebook

When it comes time to promote your ebook, start marketing early to build anticipation. Make your ebook available on many different platforms, and encourage readers to leave a review, so it gets more traction. You might also consider collaboration with influencers to spread the word and/or offering incentives, such as bonus offerings, to people who preorder the ebook.

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2. Online courses

We don’t believe the old adage, “Those who can’t do, teach.” In fact, it’s best to teach something you know through direct experience, whether it’s a technical skill, artistic skill, or form of fitness. Enter online courses.

Identifying your expertise

You don’t have to limit yourself to your career or academic field. Instead, start with something you have a sincere interest or passion in. From there, weave in your experience, be it work-related, something you’ve studied, or a hobby you have done consistently for a significant period of time. Another formula we’ve offered for course ideation: the intersection of your knowledge, passions, and a profitable niche.

Additionally, you might want to test your ideas by surveying your intended audience and/or offering a pre-sale before moving on to course creation. Creating an online course might already be a growth edge in itself, but as you consider the subject matter, consider the people you population(s) to serve and why the content matters to them—and you.

Creating engaging course content

Once you’ve selected your area of expertise, it’s time to consider how to make your content engaging and rewarding for your students. With them in mind, craft your learning objectives and outline your course.

As you build out your content, back-up your content with relevant sources, research, and real-life examples within each module. Consider providing information from a wide range of perspectives and social locations.

To appeal to a wide range of students, including those with visual, audio, and kinesthetic learning styles, offer content in multiple formats, for instance images, audio files, readings, videos, etc. In addition to different forms of multimedia, engage students with interactive elements, such as polls, quizzes, discussions, surveys, etc. Consider if there are opportunities to offer personalized learning pathways, peer collaboration, and mentorship through feedback and extra support.

Choosing a platform to host your course

Teachable! In case you didn’t know, we offer everything you need to bring your course to life. In addition to supportive tools, we offer a user-friendly interface and marketing features, as well as easy integrations with other platforms.

Some other online course platforms include:

Udemy – While it doesn’t offer much as much customization, Udemy is a good option if you want a built-in audience and tap into the platform’s extensive reach. We go into detail of the differences between Teachable and Udemy in this article.

Thinkific – Similar to us, Thinkific offers a platform ideal for customization options for brand consistency and marketing tools.
LinkedIn Learning – If your course(s) is for professional development or skills, you might consider hosting on LinkedIn Learning. Subscribers get access to the collection of all videos, and you will get paid based on views. There are paid plans for individuals or businesses, and if you’re active on LinkedIn, this could be ideal for branding and staying on one platform.

Coursera – Similarly, Coursera partners with universities and organizations to provide educational courses and degrees, including certificates of completion. While there isn’t as much creative freedom, this is a great option if your courses are academic or credentialed and students are wanting to receive certificates to enhance their curriculum vitae.

YouTube – If you’re not ready to commit to a paid plan, you can start uploading your videos to YouTube. To offer online courses on YouTube, you’ll want to create a channel, followed by high-quality videos for each of your outlined modules that you can organize into playlists. Within the video and/or description, you can include supplemental materials, such as links to PDFs or additional resources. While there are many limitations to using YouTube, rather than actual online course platforms, there are ways to monetize (namely through advertising, sponsorships, and affiliate marketing) and it’s a great option for getting started on a budget.

3. Printables and worksheets

Printables are a fairly simple product to create and a great complement to other digital products, such as ebooks and online courses.

Types of printables and worksheets

The sky’s the limit when it comes to what kind of printable or worksheet you can create. Some general categories include checklists, planners, goal-setting, calendars, templates (for instance, budget tracking), coloring sheets, and journaling prompts.

Designing attractive and functional products

When it comes to designing printables that are both functional and attractive, first consider what will truly help your audience. What is the information they need or the pillars that need to be included for your worksheet to bring them value. To determine this, you may need to do some surveying or market research.

Once you have finalized the elements of your print-out, you can start designing something aesthetically pleasing. You might consider something aligned with you or your company’s branding, so that customers that purchase and download will keep you top of mind. On the other hand, you might feel inspired to go in a different direction based on the content or subject matter. Canva, an online graphic design app, is a great creator resource with countless templates and beginner-friendly tools—and is free to use! (Upgraded plans with more advanced features available.)

Marketing and selling your printables

The best place for your printable to live is on your website or course hosting platform. Once you’ve created a landing page for your digital download, you can start promoting it on social media and in newsletters. Add an automated email to your online orders, so you can have the download emailed immediately to anyone who purchases it. Set it, and forget it!

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4. Stock photos and graphics

If photography or graphic design is more your forte, you might consider packaging and selling your art.

Building a cohesive collection

Select a common denominator to create a collection. This might be a specific place, color palette, or subject. When deciding how to group your artwork, it’s a good idea to consider your audience or niche, as well as your brand identity. Once you’ve gathered an overall aesthetic vision, start gathering options and pare down to images that showcase your range while staying consistent and balanced.

Tips for shooting and editing photos

When shooting, there are many different factors to consider, including diversity in models, avoiding unnecessary clutter or anything distracted, carefully-considered props, and leaving space for text overlay. Remember, since you’re selling as stock images, the people buying your photos will often need some space to add text if using for promotional purposes. Another tip is to offer photos in various sizes, layouts, and formats. Since you won’t know the customers’ needs beforehand, give them an abundance of options to work with.

It’s important to understand the basics of photography, including lighting, balance, and white composition. While you generally don’t want photos to be overly doctored, minimal editing can help enhance cohesion in your collections. You might consider filters or presets, or even some basic editing tools to achieve a similar aesthetic. If you’re not familiar or need to brush up on your photography skills, consider investing in a course.

Invest in quality equipment

Photography

The essentials for getting started are a camera (DSLR or mirrorless), lens, and tripod. You can gradually build your tool kit by investing in lighting accessories and backdrops. Read more about our top picks for different budgets in this article.

Graphics

Meanwhile, for graphics, you’ll want a computer with adequate storage and memory, software, such as Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, and possibly a drawing tablet.

With both photography and graphics equipment, it’s always a good idea to invest in quality and quantity. You can always begin with basic equipment and improve as you learn and hone your skills.

Selling on stock photo websites

Canva, which we mentioned above, is a great place to sell stock imagery, as is Adobe Stock and Shutterstock. When promoting on these sites, use SEO keywords in photo titles and descriptions, so that people can easily find them. You might even create a sample mock-up of what your image might look like in a promotional layout, to help potential customers visualize its potential.

5. Templates and themes

Templates and themes give users a starting point for their content. Pre-designed, they offer users a cohesive look and feel, as well as the ability to customize with their own assets and information.

Identifying popular template types

As with worksheets and printables, there are many different templates and themes to consider creating. These include social media templates (for instance, Instagram grid and/or story posts), newsletter templates for email marketing, website templates for various landing pages, and templates for video editing. Theme packs can come in different formats (website, wallpaper, etc.). Similar to stock photo and graphic collections, they usually center around a theme or aesthetic.

Designing user-friendly templates

Templates should be simple and straightforward for your customers. In addition to creating an easy-to-use interface, you might even create instructions for them, walking them through how to use them in an easy-to-understand way or address any questions they might have. It’s also important to consider accessibility and make sure your designs can be accessed by all users (for instance, by choosing large fonts and colors that are easy to read, simple layouts, and alt text that describes the images – learn more about accessibility standards here).

Promoting your templates on marketplaces

Etsy – While known for artisans to showcase their handmade goods, Etsy is also a great space to sell your digital products, especially templates and themes. Ideal for niche products, Etsy draws many visitors to its marketplace and allows you to make your shop page customizable to align with your brand.

Creative Market – With its vast community and expansive categories, Creative Market is a popular platform for digital products like templates and themes.

Envato Market – Envato Market makes up many digital marketplaces that offer website themes, graphic templates, plugins, and more. It is trusted among its many site users, thanks to a review process, and could be a great option for housing your digital templates.

Adobe Stock – If you’re an Adobe Creative Cloud user, Adobe Stock is convenient, as it’s already integrated, and allows you to license your assets directly.

6. Digital planners and journals

We touched on planners in the printables section. Rather than a simple PDF of a daily, weekly, or monthly template, you might create an entire planner or journal. Many people need help in the organization and time-management department, and a thoughtfully-created digital planner or intentional journal may be just the ticket.

Creating functional and visually appealing designs

Again, there is a lot of overlap with designing digital planners/journals and printables/worksheets. To create products that are both functional and attractive, consider your audience’s needs and wants. Consider something aligned with you or your company’s branding, so that customers that purchase will keep you top of mind.

Offering customization options

You can create a variety of journals from the same template, switching up the colors, fonts, cover designs, etc., so that your audience can choose one that appeals to them best. Additionally, you can make fields, such as headers, editable, to make them even more tailored to your audience (not to mention great go-to gifts!).

Marketing your digital planners and journals

If you choose to go the customization route, it’s best to sell on websites with ecommerce capabilities or platforms like Etsy, Shopify, and, of course, Teachable.

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7. Presets and filters

Presets and filters are settings for photos you can apply to add a unique, usually artistic look. When you play around with editing a photo, adjusting different effects, such as contrast, brightness, and highlights, you can save the settings as a preset. Meanwhile, a filter is a one-time adjustment that applies a different effect to the photo.

Developing unique and versatile presets

When developing your own presets, you will need to use photo editing software, such as Lightroom or Photoshop. Before you start experimenting with different settings, consider the look and feel you’re going for. You might not know until you’re actually playing around with settings, but it can be helpful to consider your aesthetic before you start. After you come up with a good combination, experiment with different photos and adjust certain settings as needed.

Compatibility with popular software

Once you’ve found the combination you like, make sure your download is compatible with most software systems – .xmp files generally work across many platforms and are convenient for customers.

Promoting your presets on social media

Then start sharing! Showcase your work with side-by-side views of images without and with your presets. Consider who your presets and filters are most suited for, and from there you might do targeted ads or collaborations with influencers relevant to your audience. If you’re just starting out, you might consider discounts, promotions, or giveaways to spread the word.

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8. Audio and video content

For those of us that like to be seen and heard, here are digital products that get you on air and/or on camera.

Types of audio and video content

There are many types of audio content, such as podcasts, music, interviews, and audio books, to consider. Many of them can even incorporate video, offering multimedia assets to work with. For instance, many podcasts are offered as audio versions on podcast platforms, such as Spotify and Apple’s Podcasts app, but have video footage to accompany, either on the platform itself, on YouTube, etc. Then, there are other kinds of video-specific content, such as vlogs, TikTok, Reels, tutorials, product reviews, and more. When deciding whether to record audio, video, or both, consider the content and information you’re presenting. Would it be better seen, heard, or both?

Recording and editing tips

Similar to photography, you’ll want to invest in quality equipment (again, we have some of our favorites in this article), considering both lighting and sound. It’s always best to record in a small area using a good microphone. Because attention spans are less and less, you’ll want to edit and trim out any unnecessary footage. As you’re recording, consider ways to keep your audience engaged to hold their attention.

Distributing and selling your content

With most audio and video content, you can distribute among different platforms for different benefits. Consider the platform that feels most aligned as the home of your content (for instance, YouTube for long-form video content), then what other channels can support getting your audience there. Offering sound bites and snippets of your video is a great way to promote on social media and in newsletters. If your videos are really compelling interviews or narratives, consider if it makes sense to make just the audio available on podcast platforms to attract different audiences. Or vice versa – if you’ve created compelling audio content, consider if there is any bonus video content you can offer listeners.

To monetize, you might consider advertising, such as YouTube ads. You could also offer the content as a paid download or subscription (see below).

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9. Membership sites and subscription services

Any time you can get your audience to subscribe or commit to an auto-renewing payment, it saves you the trouble of having to continue marketing your digital products. With a membership site or subscription service, customers get access to a library of your content, ideal if you’re already creating regular content.

Choosing a niche and target audience

As with other digital products we’ve covered, it’s best to choose a niche you have some familiarity with, as well as an audience you can truly serve (or have served). While this doesn’t have to be your career or area of study, it should be something you have a lot of knowledge of and direct experience with.

Creating valuable and exclusive content

Membership adds an exclusivity element that can be tempting for your target audience, especially if you’re already delivering them free quality content. The best way to offer valuable content is to dive deep into your topic area for your audience–really over-deliver. You might do some market research ahead of time or ask for feedback to see what they’re really wanting and needing. Once you’re up and running, be sure to deliver content consistently, and keep engaging with your community to make the subscription feel worth their while.

Setting up and managing your membership site

There are many outlets to host your membership site, including all-in-one platforms such as Teachable (yours truly), Kajabi, Thinkific, as well as website platforms, like SquareSpace and plugins for WordPress. Consider your specific needs and what functionality will best serve you. Is there one that aligns with your other offerings or what you hope to offer in the future?

When it comes to managing, keep your subscribers in mind every step of the way, from a clear onboarding process, regular communication, consistent content release schedule, community building and facilitation, etc. Be available and open for feedback to keep your community happy and committed.

Wrap up

We hope this guide has offered you some ideas and inspiration to start creating your digital product this weekend. We’ve touched on products that involve teaching, writing, photography, editing, creating art, and more. If you’re still not sure about where to start, consider who you are as a content creator, teacher, and even learner – do you gravitate more toward audio or visual content? Are you a writer or an artist? What skills come easily to you? Questions like these can help guide you to the digital product(s) that will be easiest–and most enjoyable–for you to create. Again, not all products on this list are going to align with your business, skill set, or even desires. But adding one to your offerings to diversify your revenue can positively impact your income.

FAQs

What are the best digital products to create and sell?

It varies by creator. The best digital product for you to create and sell will be different from any other creator, not only due to your skill set but also your worldview and lived experience.

What skills do I need to create digital products?

Skills vary by digital product but generally include writing (eBooks), graphic design (worksheets), editing (all products listed), on-air recording (audio and video content; online courses), and photography.

How can I create a digital product quickly?

It depends on where your strengths already lie, what you already have experience with, what comes most natural to you. If you’re not sure what that is, read through the below list. Take note of which ones seem manageable and which you don’t feel prepared to take on—at least not in a weekend.

How do I price my digital products?

Find a sweet spot based on the time and energy it took to create the product, production costs, etc., that honors your creativity and ingenuity, while being competitive with similar products on the market. Pricing too low may cause customers to undervalue your product, while pricing too high can lose your audience that feels it’s not within their budget. You can always lower prices through seasonal promotions, but it can be harder to raise your prices once they’ve been set.

Where can I sell my digital products online?

We touch on many resources in this article! Check the online courses, templates, and membership sites sections.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

YouTube demonetization: Guide for creators

Software Stack Editor · June 7, 2024 ·

When creators first start their YouTube channels and work hard to grow them, YouTube demonetization is probably the last thing on their minds. Most people focus on monetizing their videos and making money from ads, but not many think about what happens when you lose the ability to monetize your channel.

More creators than you know probably have run into an issue of YouTube demonetizing one or more of their videos. It’s part of being a YouTuber. So, what do you do if that happens to you? Let’s talk about what YouTube demonetization is, why it happens, what to do if it happens, and how to foolproof your business.

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What is YouTube demonetization?

So, what does “demonetized” mean? Well, YouTube demonetization is a process when a YouTube channel loses the ability to earn money from the ads shown on the channel’s YouTube videos. YouTube might demonetize one or a few of the videos, or they might demonetize the whole channel.

All YouTube channels that qualify for the YouTube Partner Program are allowed to run ads on their videos and earn income that way. Just because you qualify for the Partner’s Program and are able to monetize your videos is only just the tip of the iceberg. To make money, those videos have to adhere to pretty strict advertiser-friendly content guidelines, or those videos and the whole channel might be at risk of being demonetized.

Demonetized YouTube channel creators can completely lose their income. And if it’s the creator’s only or primary income source, then it can be a terrifying experience. In some cases, YouTube might completely remote the YouTube channel from their platform.

Common reasons for YouTube demonetization

So, there are two main reasons why certain videos or a whole channel might be demonetized by YouTube:

1. Your content doesn’t meet advertising guidelines

As we’ve mentioned earlier, in order to earn income from ads shown on your videos, your videos have to follow the advertiser-friendly content guidelines. Those guidelines are pretty strict, and there is a lot to be aware of. But YouTube outlines them on their website to help creators understand what’s allowed better:

2. Your content doesn’t follow YouTube community guidelines

Now, even if your videos comply with advertiser-friendly content guidelines, you also have to ensure that your videos follow YouTube’s community guidelines. It’s their internal set of rules you aren’t allowed to break if you want to have your channel eligible for monetization.

YouTube aims to create a respectful and safe space for everyone on its platform, so it doesn’t allow spam or misleading content, nudity, sex content, content that puts children at risk, or violence and crude content.

YouTube also pays attention to the content and whether or not it’s original to the creator. So, it’s important to use copyright-free content (like a soundtrack) and avoid using borrowed content because it might increase the chances of your videos getting flagged by YouTube’s video review system.

Step-by-step: what to do if you’re demonetized

So, you have a YouTube channel, you are a part of their Partner’s Program, and your videos are monetized. You received a notice from YouTube that one or more of your videos are not going to be monetized anymore. What do you do now?

Here’s a simple step-by-step process to help you resolve the demonetization issue:

Step 1: Identify the problem

First, you’ll want to figure out why your video was flagged by YouTube’s system and demonetized. If YouTube sends you an email, it might outline the reasons for you. It should also show up on your YouTube Studio.

Before you do anything else, review your video to identify the issue outlined by YouTube yourself. That’s important because you must know whether it was a mistake or whether your video violated guidelines.

Step 2: Review the guidelines

Once you have reviewed your video, you want to review the guidelines. Diligently review the advertiser-friendly content guide and YouTube’s internal guidelines and evaluate where and why your video might have caused an issue.

Step 3: Make adjustments where needed

If you notice where your video content violates the rules after reviewing it, fix it. Remove any copyrighted sounds, vulgar words, and other sensitive content. Even the smallest thing might set off YouTube’s review system; removing it can help you resolve the issue quickly.

If you have yet to find any issues with your content, and you think it was YouTube’s mistake, then skip to the next step.

Step 4: Submit the appeal

Finally, the most crucial step in getting the monetization back for your YouTube channel is to contact their Creator Support team and submit an appeal. Once you do that, YouTube will manually review the videos (or videos) that were affected to determine whether your content truly violates their guidelines.

You can contact Creator Support through your YouTube Studio, and waiting times can vary greatly, so be prepared to be patient. After the review, your video should be back to normal, and if it’s not, you can repeat the process and re-submit your appeal.

Step 5: If everything else fails

Some creators get lucky and get the monetization put back into place super quickly. Others have to jump through a lot of hoops to get their channel monetized again. In those more complex cases, creators often go public with their demonetization issues, which might not be a bad idea.

YouTuber Tyrone Magnus got his channel demonetized, and when he couldn’t solve the issue himself, he turned to his subscribers and asked them to help him by contacting YouTube support on his behalf. Having multiple people contact YouTube might be a way to get noticed quicker and help you resolve the issue.

Can you get remonetized on YouTube?

Just because YouTube demonetized your channel doesn’t mean it’ll be this way forever. In some rare cases, when the channel or a video severely violates YouTube policies, you may not be able to turn the monetization back on.

If the violation wasn’t severe or it was a mistake on YouTube’s part, and if you are willing to put in the time and effort, you can follow the process we outlined above and try to get your channel monetized again.

Be aware that it might be a long and challenging process that requires a lot of patience. YouTube is known for taking the time to address these matters and making mistakes that cost the creators time and money.

Beyond AdSense: monetizing a YouTube channel

Even if your YouTube channel is thriving and all of your videos are successfully monetized, it’s worth being aware that YouTube might change its mind at any time. So, the best way to protect your income is by diversifying it. Here are some of the most effective strategies for monetizing your YouTube channel without relying on ads:

Sell online courses

Ali Abdaal is a YouTuber with over 5 million subscribers. He creates videos about productivity, business, and creating the life you want. Despite his large subscriber number and advertiser-friendly content, his main income stream is not AdSense but his online course, Full-Time YouTuber Academy, which does multiple millions in revenue every year.

Create an online course you sell and market it on your YouTube channel. Online courses require little monetary investment to create, they have great margins, and if you use platforms like Teachable, the whole process is quick and painless.

Offer coaching

Leila is a small YouTuber who recently quit her job to pursue her passion for personal finance. She makes videos on personal finance, budgeting, and investing, which are all advertiser-friendly topics. Due to the size of her channel, she only makes a little money from ads. Instead, she focuses on her coaching services, which she often promotes to her viewers in her videos.

Offering coaching is super easy. There is probably a topic you’re knowledgeable about that you can instruct other people on—anything from fashion, business, weight loss to personal finance.

Create an online community

YouTube is one of the best ways to find, build, and nurture a community. Even YouTube itself offers a new monetization option that allows you to create a community and charge a fee so people can access exclusive content. Many YouTubers use this feature, but you can create a community even outside the platform. An online community or a membership site can be lucrative for many different niches, from personal finance to wellness.

Create and sell digital products

Sarra Cannon is a YouTuber, author, and online course creator. She is the perfect example of diversifying YouTube income to make the best out of it. While her channel is modest in size, she doesn’t focus on AdSense income but rather uses her channel to promote her digital products—one of which is digital printable planner templates for authors.

If an online course feels like too much or doesn’t align with your business vision, a great alternative is to create and sell digital downloads. You can create PDFs, worksheets, templates, ebooks, and so much more.

Sell physical products

Some YouTubers opt to sell physical products like Raisa Martin. She’s a small YouTuber and business owner from Canada. She creates personal finance and luxury goods videos, which help promote her small stationery business, which sells budget templates and physical planners.

There are many different physical products you can sell, and they don’t have to be complicated. The easiest and most popular amongst YouTubers who have loyal audiences is merch. If it aligns with your brand, you can design and sell merch to your audience, which can further deepen the sense of community.

Case studies: thriving after demonetization

If you have one or more of your videos demonetized, know that you’re not alone in this. Many creators have faced this issue, and many have overcome it and still have thriving channels to this day. Let’s look at some of those examples:

Tolu Frimpong

Tolu is a small personal finance creator who was demonetized out of the blue last year. While YouTube ads weren’t a significant income source, it still jarred the creator, who had worked so hard to grow her channel and monetize it.

Of course, she submitted the appeal to YouTube, and while she waited for the answer, she decided to focus on things she could control that could help her be better prepared in the future if something like this happens to her channel again. So, she doubled her efforts in building an email list and growing her blog.

Slay The Renee’ Way

Renee is a small YouTuber with just over 100K subscribers on her channel, which suddenly got demonetized in September 2023. She wasn’t specifically told which videos were flagged, but her whole channel was demonetized, and she couldn’t make money from the ads anymore.

Of course, she contacted Creator Support and appealed YouTube’s decision. It took her three months, but she finally managed to get her channel monetized again. Since then, she has grown her channel to 100K and continued to make videos and build her community.

MxR Plays

MxR Plays is an adult comedy and commentary channel created with a large subscriber base and massive views on their videos. Their channel was demonetized last year, and it wasn’t the first thing that happened to their channel.

The couple asked their community to contact YouTube on their behalf so that YouTube would actually look at their appeal and help get it sorted sooner rather than later. Their YouTube subscribers helped, and the channel was monetized once again within a matter of days.

One thing that MxR Plays emphasized in their video to their community and that helped them survive the unexpectedly lost ad revenue was their Patreon. Because they had income coming from their Patreon, and they weren’t relying on YouTube ads alone, it helped them get through the whole situation without worrying about their livelihoods.

FAQs

Let’s answer some of the most frequently asked questions about YouTube demonetization.

Can I fight YouTube demonetization?

Yes, absolutely! Having one or more of your videos demonetized doesn’t mean you won’t be able to make money from ads ever again. You can always review your content and contact the Creator Support team to appeal their decision and get your videos monetized once again.

Be aware, though—in some cases where content severely violates YouTube’s guidelines and policies, it might not be possible to monetize it again.

How long does it take to get remonetized on YouTube?

All appeals for demonetized videos and channels go through manual review by the YouTube team, so it’s hard to say how long it might take. Some creators had ads put back on their videos within days of submitting the appeal, while others had to wait weeks, if not months, for YouTube to review their content and make the decision.

What are the alternatives to YouTube ads?

The great news is that there are many alternative income streams. You don’t have to rely on YouTube ad income alone. Some other alternative income streams include Patreon, selling online courses or digital downloads, offering coaching services, selling physical products like merch or stationery, and so much more.

What does being demonetized on YouTube mean?

So, every channel on YouTube that meets the requirements can apply to the YouTube Partner Program, which allows creators to put ads on their videos and earn an income from all the ads that people view.

For the video to be eligible to run ads, it has to adhere to advertiser-friendly content rules from Google and YouTube’s internal community guidelines. If a YouTube video doesn’t follow these policies and guidelines, it gets demonetized, which means that the creator loses the right to make money from ads that run on their videos.

What is the demonetized policy on YouTube?

The demonetization policy on YouTube is pretty straightforward but strict. All videos that are eligible to run ads have to adhere to Google’s advertiser-friendly content guidelines and YouTube’s community guidelines. If a video violates any of those rules, it is not eligible for monetization.

Is YouTube demonetizing AI videos?

The answer is—it depends. Recently, YouTube introduced new policies that require all creators to mark their videos with a tag that shows the viewer that some (or all) of the video was created with the help of AI.

YouTube doesn’t have monetization policies for AI video content specifically. However, some of their other monetization eligibility guidelines often make AI-generated content ineligible to make money from ads, like duplicate and repeated content or using copyrighted materials.

Will YouTube send my earnings to AdSense if I am demonetized?

If your channel is demonetized, all your earnings from ads shown on your video will remain in your Partner Program account until your channel is monetized again. While your channel is demonetized, you can still upload videos and grow your subscribers, but during that time, no ads will run on your videos, and you won’t make money.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

What is a UGC creator and how to become one

Software Stack Editor · June 7, 2024 ·

In the creator world, buzzwords and acronyms abound. And while not everyone is relevant to you, UGC might be one to pay attention to. First off, what does UGC stand for? Simply put, UGC is an acronym for user-generated content and has been a tried-and-true marketing tactic for brands for years. Brands rely on this user-supplied content as a way to garner social proof, promote their product or service, and market themselves.

However, gathering authentic UGC—and lots of it—can be difficult, especially if you’re a newer brand. This is where UGC creators come in. UGC creators help brands develop an entire library of user-generated content that doesn’t feel pushy or promotional and resonates well with each brand’s target audience.

In this post, you’ll learn more about what exactly a UGC creator is, what a UGC creator does, and how you can become one to bring in even more income.

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What is User-Generated Content (UGC)?

UGC or user-generated content (otherwise known as consumer-generated content) is original and authentic content created by customers about a brand or a product at no cost to the brand. It can be a short-form video like a TikTok or Instagram Reel, an Instagram post, a review, or a testimonial.

Originally, UGC was organic content that didn’t cost a brand anything. What people say about their product and how they showcase it was out of the brand’s hands. However, once brands noticed how successful their customer creative efforts were, they started to use paid UGC, meaning they paid professional UGC creators to create UGC for their products.

What is a UGC creator?

A UGC creator is a content creator who focuses specifically on creating user-generated content for brands. While this is paid content and not organic UGC, it still follows the same formula that makes organic UGC work so well.

User-generated content is so popular because it appeals to the social proof side of marketing psychology. Social proof is a phenomenon that dictates that consumers tend to copy the actions of others to emulate their experiences. For example, if someone sees a TikTok video of a woman with great skin sharing a skin care product she loves, they will be much more likely to purchase that product than if they saw an ad directly from the brand talking about the product features and benefits.

This is where UGC creators come in. They are paid to create that content—the type that entices regular everyday consumers to make a purchase because they see other regular everyday consumers use it and enjoy it.

UGC creators vs. content creators

A content creator is a professional who creates content for brands for a living. They might create blog content, graphics, videos, ebooks, online courses, and more. Content creators differ from UGC creators as UGC creators tend to make this type of content on the side. They’re regular social media users rather than professional creators.

UGC content creators vs. influencers

Influencers focus on building up their audiences. They also work with brands for paid promotional content, but they’re typically sharing the content on their own social media sites rather than sending it to the brand for their content platforms.

Influencers must have a large audience for them to appeal to brands. UGC creators don’t need any type of audience—they just need to be able to create good content for the brands to use.

How to become a UGC content creator

If UGC content creation sounds like something that might be right up your alley, let’s walk through a few steps you can take to become a UGC creator all on your own.

1. Choose your niche

This tip is the same across the board, no matter what type of content creation business you find yourself getting into. Niching down helps you attract more of the businesses that you actually want to work with. Plus, then you have a portfolio filled with content that looks like what they’d probably be looking for. Choose a niche that you actually enjoy and are passionate about. For example, you might focus more on makeup or skincare products. You might want to work with home and gardening brands. Or you could choose to create content for cooking companies.

It’s not necessary to completely box yourself in—feel free to take any kind of work that you think seems interesting. But you don’t want to accept projects just for the sake of it to realize you have zero inspiration down the road.

2. Get your filming setup together

UGC content can consist of a number of things—case studies, graphics, photos, and videos—but one of the most common types that brands hire creators for is video content.

This means that once you’ve decided what types of businesses you’d like to work with, it’s time to set up your filming. You’ll need the right tools to record and edit your footage, as well as a nice, bright area to film in.

You can simply use your smartphone to record your video footage, but other tools you might want to acquire include:

Ring light or other lighting additions to supplement more light for your videos
Lavalier mic to catch your voice and other sounds (like ASMR) while you record
Backdrops to help provide different looks and feels for each video
Props to use throughout your video content
Editing software (or you can use the TikTok app) to finalize your video content

3. Create your starter portfolio

Once you’ve got your filming setup ready to go, it’s time to create sample content to build up a portfolio. Many UGC creators will grab products they already have and use those to create examples of the types of UGC content they could create for other brands.

Put together several videos—ideally using products within the niche you hope to work in—and add them to your portfolio. You can create your portfolio using a tool like Canva and then easily share it with prospective brands.

4. Network with brands you want to work with

The next step is to begin outreach. Create a list of brands you’d be interested in working with and locate their social media handles, websites, and any other potential contact information.

Before you start your outreach, create an email address and social media handles specific to your new UGC creation business. Use these new profiles to follow all of the brands on your list. You can also start to network with other creators in the community.

Then, start interacting with all of the brands you’d like to work with as well as any marketers or founders you can find for each one. Formulate your pitch and share it with them either on the social media platform you’ve been using or via email.

When you first start, finding work might be a slow process, but don’t be discouraged. Keep pitching, and eventually, you’ll start seeing some deals come in.

Pros and cons of producing user-generated content

Like with any other creative endeavor, there are pros and cons to creating user-generated content.

Pro: Easy to produce

User-generated content is fairly easy to create. Even if you don’t have any video creation experience or fancy filming equipment, you can learn how to create UGC with your phone alone and a little bit of practice. You don’t need a studio or professional background–you can easily film your content in the comfort of your home or any other spot (coffee shop, beach, friend’s house, etc).

Because of its casual nature, UGC also doesn’t have to be highly produced, so the editing should be minimal and mimic regular content from people you see on social media platforms.

Con: It might take trial and error to figure out what works

While it’s pretty easy to get started with UGC, and it requires minimal skills and effort to produce, it can take time to learn the best tactics for creating engaging content. When you create UGC, you want to show the brand that you know how to hook the viewer and showcase the best side of the product you’re creating content about.

That might require some trial and error and studying the best UGC examples to get it right. You might want to invest in a UGC course from other content creators to help you understand the specifics and strategies better, or simply try and test out different tactics yourself and learn from your experience.

Pro: Great earning potential

Probably one of the biggest pros of being a UGC creator is the great earning potential. While as a beginner, you might start off charging only $50 per piece of content, you can easily increase your rates with experience. The sky is the limit when it comes to how much money you can make doing UGC for brands, and it makes it a very lucrative creative endeavor.

Con: You need to always be on top of trends

It’s no secret that success on social media platforms like TikTok greatly depends on understanding trends. Those trends change more rapidly than ever, which means that to create engaging, trending content people want to see, you’ll have to be quick at recognizing trends and jumping on them at the right moment to maximize the gains.

While it might not be a con for some, it might be a huge disadvantage for others. So, before you jump into being a UGC creator, that’s something worth thinking about and considering how to navigate to get the best results for your clients.

Top UGC platforms for creators

There are also a number of platforms that UGC creators can join to help them find work. Social media in itself can be powerful, but here are a few platforms to pay attention to.

1. Join Brands

Join Brands has a creator platform that interested creators can join. Rates start at $60 per video and $15 per photo—plus free product to use when creating the content. Easily sign up to be a creator with Join Brands and start getting work with big brands in your preferred niche.

2. Billo

Billo is an app for video UGC creators to find clients and get paid. There are two tiers: Beginner Creator and PRO Creator. Beginners can have a basic film setup and is the perfect starting place while PRO creators are required to have a full film setup and professional knowledge of product video creation. This app is for US-based creators only.

3. Insense

Insense is another app made to connect creators and brands. The cost for brands starts at $50 per video, so the payout per video is somewhere in that ballpark for creators. It’s easy to apply and start finding brands to work with. Some creators working with this platform have made thousands of dollars creating UGC.

4. Brands Meet Creators

Brands Meet Creators is essentially like a job board to easily connect brands and creators. Creators can sign up to receive emails of opportunities or check out the board of available creator jobs. You can apply to jobs that interest you and brands get to sift through the applications to choose the best fit.

5. Upwork

Upwork is a creator marketplace for all sorts of creative jobs—writing, video editing, graphic design, virtual assisting, and so much more. But the platform also has plenty of UGC creator jobs to check out as well. Look through the gigs to see if any interest you and start applying.

6. Target Creator Program

Target Creator Program is an affiliate program where creators earn commission on sales they attract by creating content. The commission rates are up to 8%, and anyone is free to apply (however, not everyone will be accepted).

7. Trend

Trend is a platform that connects brands who need UGC content with creators who want to get paid for creating UGC content for brands. They have an iOS app where you can browse gigs (they add them daily), apply, and submit content. One advantage of Trend is that they provide their creators with free products and monetary payment on successful brand deals.

8. Tribe

Tribe is another great platform to find UGC gigs in one place. You need 3,000 followers to start making money. You pitch brands your creative ideas for Instagram and TikTok campaigns, which allows you to really tap into your creativity and show off your skills.

9. Influee

Influee is a global agency that connects brands and UGC creators. They have an app where you can browse and apply for gigs with brands, which is super easy and convenient.

10. UGC Shop

UGC Shop is a smaller global agency and online platform that works with brands and UGC creators. Anyone can apply, and you don’t have to live in the United States to be eligible to start working with brands, receive free products, and get paid.

11. The Right Fit

The Right Fit is a platform where you can create your creator profile, browse available brand partnerships, and then apply for jobs that fit your experience and personal brand. You can manage all the applications, collabs, and content directly on their app, which is quick and convenient.

UGC Success Cases

To give you a better idea of what being a UGC creator is like, let’s look at a few successful UGC creators.

Emma Lorrae

Emma is a full time UGC content creator and strategist. She has worked with a variety of brands to help them create engaging UGC. On her website, she has portfolio that showcases the high quality videos she created, and brands she collaborated with, which include Girl Code, Waterdrop and more. She makes around $7-8k/month from UGC partnerships.

Hannah Jefferson

Hannah is a full-time UGC content creator and mentor from the UK. She creates beautiful aesthetic videos for her own platform and for brands. She mainly focuses on hair and beauty, wellness, jewelry, and fashion industries and has worked with brands like Motel, Wild, GHD London, and more.

Ashlee Sulens

Ashlee is a full-time UGC content creator from Australia. She creates content about hair, beauty, wellness, food, and lifestyle and has worked with brands like Wild, Esmi, Afterpay, and more. Her rates start at $150 AUD for a video, but she offers various packages for brands to choose from.

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FAQs

Now, let’s answer some of the most frequently asked questions people have.

Do UGC creators make money?

Yes! UGC creators can make a good part-time or even full-time income. How much UGC creators will make can vary greatly due to their niche, following, and results. If you can demonstrate to the brand that you can create content that generates engagement, you can charge much more than other creators in your niche who have the same following.

One UGC creator on TikTok shares that in 2023, she made between $7-8k each month from UGC content alone. Another UGC creator on TikTok shared that, on average, she makes around $15k per month by creating UGC content for brands. As you can see, the sky is the limit here.

How much should I charge as a UGC creator?

Your rates will depend on your experience and the size of your portfolio. Minimum rates might start out at $50 for a single piece of content and can go up to $500 or more. One UGC creator and educator on TikTok shares that if you’re a beginner, your rates should be $150 for a video and $20-$30 for a photo. She also suggests offering bulk discounts to encourage brands to book content packages with you.

How do I get UGC for my online course?

The easiest way to get UGC for your online course is to tap into your past and current student network. Chances are that some of them are creating content, or would be interested in creating content. So, reach out to them and ask if they’d be interested in a collaboration.

You can incentivize your students to create UGC around your course by running giveaways, offering discounts for the UGC they share online, or running contests with prizes. Make it fun and engaging so that your students are more willing to participate.

Is user-generated content legal?

Yes. But, before using UGC, you always have to get explicit permission from the creator to use their content. This is very important for each piece of content every time you want to post a UGC. The same applies if you create UGC and the brand wants to use it–they should always request your permission.

What are the best UGC examples?

Some brands do UGC better than others. ASOS uses hashtag #AsSeenOnMe on Instagram to encourage their customers to share their OOTD (outfit of the day) on their socials wearing ASOS clothing. In 2014, on their website, they launched an As Seen On Me section where they feature outfits they choose from people who used the hashtag on Instagram.

Another brand that utilized UGC very well is Aerie. When, in 2014, they launched their campaign against retouching models’ pictures, they invited their audience to share their own pictures showing off wearing Aerie clothing with all of their imperfections using hashtag #arieREAL.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

How to grow an online community

Software Stack Editor · June 5, 2024 ·

There are many benefits to being an online creator, most of them involving independence and autonomy—things like having a flexible schedule, location freedom, and therefore the ability to travel, etc. On the flip side of these perks can come feelings of isolation or a lack of community.

While community used to be limited to people that lived nearby, our digital world allows us to be in community with people all over the world. Many creators are catching on to why community is not only an essential support system in their own lives but also an attractive (and lucrative) benefit to offer their audiences.

In this article, we’ll explore why community is so important and how to create it. Even if you don’t think you need community, find out why cultivating connection is important for supporting yourself and the people you serve.

Why should you build a community?

As social creatures, humans are hard-wired to seek out connection for a sense of well-being, happiness, and even survival. In fact, belonging is recognized as a core human need in psychologist Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Recent research consistently supports the importance of social relationships and community.

Living in a digital world can really take a hit on our ability to connect with others. Even for those who don’t consider themselves creators, innovative technology designed to bring people together can actually inhibit true connection, as we hide behind our smart devices. In a world where we can work remotely, stay in touch with loved ones via social media platforms, and send gifts without leaving our couch, many of us suffer from a community deficit.

On top of that, creators often walk a road less traveled, as it’s often a path they pave for themselves. Blazing your own trail can be lonely, and many feel like they have to do everything on their own. It can be hard to ask for help, which is why many creatives shy away from community.

Related: How to build an online community

The myth of being self-made

Meanwhile, Western culture is rooted in individualism and loves to glorify the self-made. That, coupled with our own distorted comparison traps, makes it easy to believe people can and must go it alone.

Don’t get me wrong, there is A LOT we can do on our own. But the reality is we can’t do it ALL on our own. There is support that is seen and unseen all around us. Don’t believe me? Consider:

The virtual assistant you hire to help with administrative tasks
The copywriter or graphic designer you work with

But wait, I’m using AI these days, you might argue. Let’s Zoom out a bit further.

The engineers that developed AI in the first place
The people who manufactured the laptop you do all your work on
The software developers at Teachable and/or any of the apps you use that make it possible for you to have a thriving business
The teachers and mentors you learned from
The authors of the books you read that inspired you to create your own business
The people who believed in you (even the people who didn’t believe in you and motivated you to believe in yourself)
The clients, students, customers that make it possible for you to sustain your business

Zooming out even further, consider all the ancestors that came before you, making it possible for you to be here today.

Even though we might feel alone or like to believe we are completely self-sufficient, the reality is we are not alone. And we need each other.

Why don’t people join communities?

That said, there can be a very real and understandable fear of community. You don’t have to look far back in the past (or even around in the present) to find examples of communities that require you to fit in or conform to avoid rejection. Even when not life-threating, fear can come up because we want to be accepted by others, especially our peers.

Unlike fitting in, Brené Brown recognizes true belonging as “connection to a larger humanity [that] gives people more freedom to express their individuality without fear of jeopardizing belonging.” In her book Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience, she writes, “True belonging doesn’t require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.”

Given our culture’s community deficit, along with our human need for true connection and belonging, creators have a great opportunity to offer community to their audiences.

“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” –Helen Keller

Related: Engaging your online course community with purpose

What are the benefits of creating an online community?

Offering community, when done right, can offer the belonging and true connection that humans not only want but need. Brown defines connection as “the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”

While creating a community does not automatically make it a safe space, allowing space for members to share with and witness each other can build trust and safety over time. Through sharing and witnessing, members can:

Feel seen, heard, and understood—and therefore less alone.
Process challenging experiences.
Share resources and wisdom.
Find inspiration.
Feel supported.

Related: Revive an online community that’s lacking engagement

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How to cultivate an online community

1. Make people feel seen in your community

“Never underestimate the power of being seen,” Brown writes in Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone. Before you can ask members of your community to be brave and share vulnerably, lead by example. “You will always belong anywhere you show up as yourself and talk about yourself and your work in a real way.” Modeling vulnerability and authenticity can show members what belonging can look like and encourage them to follow suit.

Truly seeing members of your community might look like:

Sharing the spotlight – giving a shout-out, featuring the work they’re doing, or expressing gratitude
Asking for help, feedback, or recommendations
Offering inquiry questions (i.e. journal prompts)
These examples can empower and validate community members, while showing you value their opinions and insights.

2. Be open and available to interact with your community

Holding space for others requires your presence and availability—not to fix or change anything, but to acknowledge where others are at when they share. This is a part of truly seeing someone.

“True belonging is not passive,” Brown continues. “It’s not the belonging that comes with just joining a group. It’s not fitting in or pretending or selling out because it’s safer. It’s a practice that requires us to be vulnerable, get uncomfortable, and learn how to be present with people without sacrificing who we are. We want true belonging, but it takes tremendous courage to knowingly walk into hard moments.”

3. Make people feel safe in your community

In theory, calling your community a “safe space” sounds great: a space where members of a group feel physically, mentally, and emotionally secure and are free to express themselves without fear. While most have the intention of their community being a safe space, we can’t always guarantee that it feels safe for everyone and shouldn’t assume that it is. We can set a collective intention for the community to be a brave space, but what’s even more responsible, inclusive, and equitable is to offer an accountable space.

At Teachable, we’re proud to offer community to our network of creators through teachable:hq, a creator hub available to all Teachable members on a paid plan. And, we’re making it even easier to create your own community with an even more engaging learning experience.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

How to generate sales on LinkedIn for your creative business

Software Stack Editor · June 4, 2024 ·

LinkedIn is known as a social network for professionals to talk business. This means it’s the perfect social media platform to start generating sales for your business.

The same goes even if you’re a creator, selling digital products like online courses and digital downloads. Finding the right audience on LinkedIn and putting products that they need front and center can help you generate more sales.

Throughout this guide, we’re going to walk you through how you can use LinkedIn to increase sales for your creative business.

Related: The Anatomy of a good LinkedIn post

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1. Complete your LinkedIn profile

First things first, you need to fully flesh out your LinkedIn profile before you begin any promotion. This will help you provide a clear background into who you are as well as additional details about what you offer and what got you into this type of business.

We’re going to walk through every section or area of your LinkedIn profile that you need to fill out and how to do so. This will be a comprehensive guide for those brand new to LinkedIn. If you’re simply optimizing your profile, you may not need all of this information, so simply skim for the sections you need help with.

Profile and background photos

The first thing to pay attention to is your profile photo and background photo. These will appear at the top of your profile, like so:

Your profile photo should be a professional headshot of you. Bonus points if it’s the same image that you use on your website, email address, and other social media platforms for consistency and recognizability. This should be a high-quality square image around 400 x 400 pixels.

Get creative with your background photo. The recommended dimensions for this image are 1,584 x 396 pixels, providing you with a great way to grab attention and share more about what you offer.

Some ideas include:

A graphic sharing your product or service offerings
A graphic showcasing pages from your digital download
An image of you at work
An image from an event you attended or spoke at
A stock image relevant to your work
A graphic showcasing your creative business’s logo

Sophie Van Tiggelen’s profile below showcases a great example of what you could do with your background photo:

Intro

Next is your intro. You’ve already seen a couple different examples of intros in the last section—this is all of the information that appears at the top of your profile, right underneath your profile and background images.

It includes details like:

Name
Name pronunciation
Pronouns
Headline
Contact info

Click the pencil icon in this section to edit your own information. You’ll get a pop-up like this:

Scroll down to fully fill out this introductory area so you can provide as much helpful information as possible.

The area you’ll want to spend the most time on is your headline. You have a maximum character limit of 220, and you want to use it as strategically as possible. Your headline appears within the LinkedIn news feed, so it should be an accurate description of exactly what you do, cut down to a concise 220 characters.

Here’s an example of a more creative headline from Tyler Hakes:

However, you might choose to use more space to really detail out what you do and how you can help others, like in this example from Kawusara Salley:

About

Your LinkedIn summary has a character limit of 2,600 characters, which means you’ve got plenty of space to tell your story. Use this space to introduce yourself and talk more about your background.

Include things like why you do what you do, what got you into this industry, how you realized there was a pain point you wanted to solve with your creative business, and other important information.

Here’s an example of what this might look like from Polly Clover:

Services

If you offer any services on top of any digital products you might be selling, you can include those in a section on LinkedIn. This way, interested users can create a proposal for your services, starting the conversation about working together right on LinkedIn.

They’ll appear like this on your profile, and potential clients can click “See more” to learn more and create a proposal:

Experience

Next, you’ll want to input all relevant work experience to your existing creative business. Your first jobs or any random work you’ve done over the years don’t need to be listed; instead, you want to focus on your applicable experience.

Input each job or project you’ve worked on over the years, as well as a summary of what you did and how it’s helped you gain necessary experience for the business you run today.

Education

If you have formal education, feel free to list it here. However, this section isn’t really necessary, especially if you may have a degree in a different field from what you now work in.

Licenses and certifications

This section is often more pertinent than listing formal education. If you’ve taken well-known online courses or certifications that are relevant to your business, those can be helpful for potential clients and customers to see.

Here’s what this might look like:

Miscellaneous

Remaining sections include Skills, Courses, Languages, Interests, and Causes. Fill out as much of these sections as is pertinent to your experience and your business. They aren’t required sections as they don’t add a ton to your profile, but can still be fun to have.

2. Create a content strategy

Just having an optimized LinkedIn profile won’t be enough. Once you’ve completed your profile, it’s time to build out a content strategy so that your posts might reach your intended audience.

Your LinkedIn content strategy should include details like:

When to post
How often to post
What to post

LinkedIn recommends aiming to post new content at least once each day, however, if you look at Sprout Social’s data from LinkedIn engagement, you’ll see that it’s best to stick to weekdays as not many users are checking in on weekends.

So we’ve covered the first two sections: aim for at least once daily on weekdays. Around 10am-12pm is best.

But let’s talk about what to post. How can you create content that grabs attention and brings your target audience into the folds of your business?

A few ideas include:

Sharing a personal story or anecdote that related back to your business
Writing out helpful or actionable tips about your industry
Sharing company or industry news and updates
Linking to blog content or other interesting information online
Promoting your services and/or digital products

3. Promote your digital products

And that brings us to our third tip. If you want to generate more sales, you need to ask for them directly. Make it easy for LinkedIn users to see what you offer and make a purchase.

There are several ways to do this, but each of them involves creating engaging content that mentions any digital products you have to offer.

Here’s an example that can at least start getting people in the door. CJ Haughey shares an actionable tip that he then ends with two call-to-actions: one is to connect with him for more tips, and the other is to DM him to get access to a free digital download.

This is a great way to start building your network and even your email list—offering free value on LinkedIn and a free lead magnet for new subscribers.

Or, you can promote a fully paid digital product by sharing a tip that’s covered within the product and linking to it. Take a page out of this creator’s book by also offering a discount to further incentivize purchases:

Make sure your digital products are a regular topic of conversation in your LinkedIn content so you can increase awareness about what you offer as well as sales.

4. Incorporate LinkedIn into your sales funnel

Your creative business should already have a solid sales or marketing funnel that helps bring potential customers down the pipeline. What we mean by this, is that the sales journey often follows a funnel.

Said funnel looks like this:

Source

People enter the top of the funnel as they learn about your business. But only those who need your product will funnel through to become customers.

However, you can help some of those customers make it through the funnel by creating content and other marketing assets specifically for each stage of the funnel. And to generate sales on LinkedIn, that means incorporating this platform into your existing funnel.

To do this, you’ll need to be more strategic about your content creation, ensuring you post LinkedIn content that fits each stage of the funnel.

For example:

Top-of-the-funnel posts: Stories, introductory content, tips, how-to’s
Middle-of-the-funnel posts: Lead magnets, freebies, webinars
Bottom-of-the-funnel posts: Your paid digital products

Create a variety of funnel content to help consistently bring new people into your sales funnel and help them find their way through to the bottom: becoming a customer and purchasing one of your digital products.

5. Take advantage of LinkedIn creator tools

LinkedIn offers a number of creator tools that can help you further provide value to your network and increase their buying potential.

Some of these creator tools include:

Writing articles
Creating a recurring newsletter
Live streaming to your audience
Promoting virtual events
Accessing analytics

These tools help you to create even more valuable content—and analyze its performance—to ensure you’re reaching your audience, resonating with them, and making an impact.

6. Engage with your network

Our list tip is all about engagement. Sure, if you create great content, hopefully they’ll all flock to you. But that isn’t realistic. You need to put in the work as well to engage with other users on the platform.

This looks like:

Sending notes alongside your connection messages
Reacting to posts you enjoy
Commenting on posts when you have thoughts to share
Reposting content from others in your network
Attending virtual events

The more that you engage with others, the more likely they are to see your content in their feeds and interact with it themselves. With this in mind, make sure you’re consistently connecting and engaging with users who may be in your target audience to increase the chances they’ll want to buy from you.

Start increasing sales with LinkedIn

Start creating and selling your own digital products and online courses with Teachable. You can easily promote them via LinkedIn or any other marketing channel of your choosing, building up a profitable creative business.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

6 YouTube video ideas to promote your digital products

Software Stack Editor · June 4, 2024 ·

If you have a YouTube channel as a part of your creative business, you might be looking for ways to use video content to help promote your new digital products. Putting together a promotional strategy for all of your products is a great idea—but you need to come up with unique ideas catered to each platform.

We’ve put together six YouTube video ideas—with examples—to help you promote your digital products with long-form video content. Keep these ideas in mind the next time you put your YouTube content calendar together.

Do an introduction video

Let’s start with something simple—a basic introduction video. This is a great idea if you release a similar product that gets updated each month, quarter, year, etc. You can simply put together a video sharing the details of your new digital product.

This YouTube video idea is simple, yet effective. Here’s an example of what this might look like—creator AmandaRachLee put together a video introducing her new digital planner for 2024 and how it works.

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Try this idea out before moving on to some of the other more complex or comprehensive video examples.

Create a tutorial

Create a video that walks viewers through exactly how to do something using your digital product. You can include a link to purchase or download your digital product within your video description.

This helps to showcase how helpful your product can be in a process that your target viewer is trying to complete.

Here’s an example of this done well. Abbie Emmons is a self-published author who runs a creative business helping others to write and publish books as well. One of her recent videos is all about creating a character profile for each character in a book—of course, using the character profile sheet that she created and sells for an incredibly reasonable $5 on her website:

[embedded content]

By creating a video tutorial that fully centers around using her digital product, she’s compelling her viewers to purchase it and use it for themselves once they see how helpful it can be.

She’s also added the link to purchase the character profile sheet right at the very top of her video description, making it as accessible as possible to those who want to follow along with the video and fill it out themselves.

Participate in a challenge

Participate in a challenge—or build your own—and center it around your digital product. This works well for organizational, fitness, health, and other more motivational creative businesses. Gamification can be a powerful motivator, so framing the use of your digital product as a challenge can be a great way to increase purchases.

Let’s take a look at an example of this in action. Jules Acree is a digital entrepreneur whose business focuses on productivity and wellness. She created a Notion template pack called “Design Your Year,” then created a “Design Your Year Challenge” video series so participants can follow along with her.

Here’s an example of one of her videos, walking viewers through one of the “Design Your Year” steps:

[embedded content]

Jules has gamified this further, though, by creating a free Notion hub for everyone to follow along with each step of the challenge and by entering everyone who participates into a giveaway.

The “Design Your Year” Notion pack sells on her website for just $33, making this an affordable and fun challenge to take part in. Consider if your digital product can be configured into a challenge as well, making it more fun and motivating for people to purchase and participate.

Host a Q&A

Hosting a Q&A is also a great way to introduce and promote your digital products. You can hold this on YouTube Live and take questions as they come in, you can post on social media to crowdsource questions, or you can pay attention to common questions you get in comments and put together a Q&A surrounding those.

Here’s a great example of a Q&A where creator Caroline Girvan teases a surprise at the end by writing, “This is my first Q&A! I hope you enjoy it… there is a little surprise at the end!” in the video description.

[embedded content]

She’s broken up her video with each question and at the end, turns a question into a fun announcement, sharing that she’s creating a 10-week training schedule for her viewers.

Note that in this specific instance, the training is actually completely free and will simply be hosted on YouTube. However, you can still use this idea for a paid digital product or just rely on generating income via YouTube ads and other monetization tactics.

Create a listicle

Who doesn’t love a good listicle video? This is a seamless way to create engaging content while also doing a slight promotion of a digital product or two.

Here’s an example of this being done by Dr. Sarah Nicholls, a health and wellness creator. She created a video sharing 30 habits she’s made that have improved her life. In it, she mentions a free habit tracker that she uses as a lead magnet to build up her email list.

[embedded content]

So while she gives away the aforementioned habit tracker, she’s also building her email list of potential future viewers and customers to help her generate more income later. But you can always use this to promote one of your paid digital products as a part of your own listicle video.

Share your own success

Finally, share a success story with your audience. And as part of that success story, promote one of your digital products by sharing how it contributed to your success.

Here’s an example of what this could look like from social media marketer Katie Steckly. Her video is all about her Instagram strategy and discusses how by using a strategy like the one she covers in the video (and she shares her exact content calendar), she had the biggest year of growth on Instagram.

[embedded content]

While Katie actually focuses more on offering services, this is also a great way to share a digital product, like if she sold content calendar samples or templates.

Showcase how your own digital products have been a source of success for your own business. This is a great way to prove their value and make your viewers that much more interested in buying one for themselves.

Start promoting your digital products with YouTube

Want to make more sales? Finding the right promotional tactics is essential. And one great way to do that is by subtly using your YouTube channel for video marketing. Keep these six YouTube video ideas in mind so you can sell your own digital products.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

How to create a compelling link-in-bio page

Software Stack Editor · June 3, 2024 ·

When social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok limit you to only a couple of external links leading from your profile, you have to get creative. And one option that has come out of this is a link-in-bio page.

A link-in-bio page is a landing page that you can link to from your social media platforms in an effort to lead visitors to a larger number of links. There are many ways to create these pages, but our goal here is to help you create one that’s easy to navigate and compelling for your audience to click through.

Learn more about what a link-in-bio page is, how you can create one, plus a handful of great examples of creator bio pages in action.

Related: A common Thread for creators: Meta might have a cash bonus with your name on it

What is a link-in-bio page?

A link-in-bio page is a landing page created to lead visitors to more links than you’re allowed to use in other areas on Instagram. Because the platform doesn’t allow links in photo or video captions, many people will use this landing page as a way to make things more linkable.

However, this page can be used in several ways. Let’s look at an example to give you an idea of how a link-in-bio page works.

As you can see below, this plant influencer, @houseplantplus, has their bio link as “houseplantplus.com/bio-link.”

Click on it to access a landing page with a number of different links:

Several of these links lead to affiliate tracking links, her other social media platforms, and her merch. This means she’s using her link-in-bio page as a way to help her make even more money from her Instagram.

By using a link-in-bio page, this influencer has turned her single bio link into 15 different links!

How to create a link-in-bio page

Let’s get ready to create your own link-in-bio page. This way, you can also offer more than one link to your social media followers. While the link-in-bio is most often used on Instagram and TikTok, where you can add links within your posts, it can work for any social media profile.

Find the right link-in-bio tool

Your first step is choosing a link-in-bio tool. Some people will simply create one on their own website—i.e., through WordPress or Squarespace—and then share it on social media, but there are also easy-to-use tools for this as well.

Browse between some of these top options to find the best for your needs:

Linktree: One of the first link-in-bio tools created, Linktree is a popular way to create a basic landing page filled with links.
Lnk.bio: Create a minimalistic and visually appealing micro-landing page for your Instagram bio link.
Campsite: Drag-and-drop software for creating an on-brand link-in-bio page.
Beacons: Create a unique link-in-bio page to house all the links you want to share with your followers.
Milkshake: An easy-to-use website builder that can help you create the ultimate link-in-bio page.
Komi: Built for creators, Komi is a great option for building out your link-in-bio hub.
Pallyy: Create a basic link-in-bio page while also getting access to other great social media management features.
Bio.site: Use different widgets to help build a useful and appealing link-in-bio page for your needs.
Hoo.be: Another tool built specifically with creators in mind, hoo.be can help you promote your most important links via social media.
Later: This social media management software created its own link-in-bio tool to help brands and creators build visually appealing bio landing pages.

Find a link-in-bio tool that works best for what you need. You might want one that focuses its efforts on helping creators like you. You may prefer a tool that offers a specific widget you want to use, like an embedded podcast episode or YouTube video.

Also look at pricing to find a tool in your budget. Many link-in-bio tools come free, but others may have premium features hidden behind a paywall.

Related: What is a micro-influencer? What to know about the small, powerful community

Add your links

Once you’ve chosen the right link-in-bio tool for your micro-landing page, it’s time to add your links. You’ll want to add links that can help boost your creator income, promote your other channels, and facilitate a better experience with your Instagram, TikTok, etc.

Some ideas of links to include are:

Your other social media profiles
Your website
Your online shop
A digital product you want to push
Your latest YouTube video or podcast episode
Affiliate links to products you’ve recently promoted
A contact page

You can always update your links regularly, as well, to make sure that any links you’ve recently mentioned appear at the top, easily accessible by those who’ve seen your content.

Design your page

Each link-in-bio tool will have its own method of designing your landing page. Some offer templates for you to customize, while others let you create more one-of-a-kind landing pages.

You may even be able to add in photos, information about you/your creative business, and other useful information.

However you choose to do it, make sure your link-in-bio page matches your branding, is visually appealing, isn’t overcrowded, and is easy to navigate. It should improve the overall experience with your creative business on social media, making it easy for people to find what they’re looking for.

Consider asking friends, fellow creators, or even some of your top followers to beta test your link-in-bio page to make sure it’s simple to use and nice to look at.

Add to your social media profiles

Finally, once you’ve added all your links and finalized your page design, it’s time to add it to your social media profiles. While platforms like Facebook and X/Twitter allow you to include links in your post captions, it may still be a smart strategy to use your bio link across all platforms.

Copy the link your link-in-bio tool gives you and place it in your bio on platforms like:

Instagram
TikTok
Pinterest
X/Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
LinkedIn

This is because the point of your link-in-bio page is to provide a single place for the most important links and information regarding your creative business. Share it wherever you can in order to increase clicks, reach, and potential income.

Related: 16 Instagram influencers share the apps that they can’t live without

5 link-in-bio page examples that inspire

Now let’s take a look at a few link-in-bio pages that are done well, and why we love these examples so much. This can help you gather inspiration for your own link-in-bio page.

1. Lauren Perrotto – @happilyeverlcp

Lauren Perrotto is a family and lifestyle influencer who shares photos and videos of family life, budgeting hacks, style, and more. She also offers an Instagram subscription to make additional revenue on top of the affiliate marketing she typically does.

Lauren uses Milkshake for her link-in-bio page, creating a beautiful and minimalistic landing page that includes a cover photo, tagline, and several affiliate links.

2. Dr. Stephanie Wigner – @thewealthypractitioner

Dr. Stephanie Wigner is an entrepreneur with a podcast focused on business coaching for other entrepreneurs and professionals.

She uses Linktree to create a basic landing page with links to promote some of her offerings, like a weekend retreat, online coaching course, and more. This helps Stephanie promote the products and services that she offers in order to increase her business income.

3. Shanté Gorman – @sugarpunchmarketing

Shanté Gorman is a digital marketer that offers a number of helpful digital products to help brands and marketers create better marketing strategies. She has online courses, templates, an online community, a podcast, and more to help marketers learn more about marketing.

Shanté’s link-in-bio page was created as a mobile-friendly landing page on her website, ensuring that it perfectly matches her branding and fits well with the rest of her content.

4. Mariah Harman – @mariahgrows

Mariah Harman is a plant influencer who shares photos of her plants alongside plant care tips. She also offers a subscription on her Instagram for people interested in exclusive content and 1:1 coaching on plant care.

Mariah uses lnk.bio for her micro-landing page, and has created a page with a plethora of affiliate marketing links for plant care products that she uses and loves. This helps her audience take better care of their plants and helps her generate an income from her Instagram.

5. Katie – @paperbacksandicedcoffee

Katie is a book influencer on Instagram who shares book reviews and recommendations. She also has a book-related YouTube channel and a newsletter that she shares with her followers.

Katie uses hoo.be to create a visually appealing, image-heavy link-in-bio page. She promotes her other social media platforms, includes an embedded YouTube video, and makes it easy to see what her other links are all about.

Create your own link-in-bio page today

Find the right tool for your needs, promote your other channels, and start selling more of your digital products. Use your link-in-bio page as an extension of your website and social media sites, making your creative business even more accessible to your followers.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

2024 Instagram Marketing Tips for Course Creators

Software Stack Editor · May 28, 2024 ·

When it comes to your courses, products, or offers, people buy because of you. Because they know, like, and trust you. Isn’t that the case for most—if not all—of the offerings you sell? And these days, it’s imperative that you build your audience before you’re in launch mode for your course. How does your audience get to know you before you’re running your next course launch? Through social media platforms like Instagram. Here are some Instagram marketing tips that will help increase your course sales—for free.

A behind-the-scenes hub

These days, your phone is like what the TV was back in the 1950s—a hub for news and entertainment. Now, TV is being phased out (just like radio was at that time) and the smartphone is the new hub.

Instagram is the go-to app where you share the journey and the behind-the-scenes of your life as a course creator and educator.

Plus, when you’re sharing behind-the-scenes content viewers are able to get to know you on a deeper level. They’re also seeing the work you’re creating on your other channels like your blog, Facebook live show, or podcast, for example.

Exclusively you

As you share your journey and give sneak peeks of your upcoming projects, launches and products, your followers are invited to get to know you and your business on a level that’s unlike anywhere else. Plus, as you share the behind-the-scenes of your work with your students inside your courses, as well as your student success stories, outside viewers will want to be inside your course the next chance they get so they can get that high-touch experience with you for themselves.

As you continue to stay interesting and relevant to them, your followers will sign up for your course the day that they need it.

The key most course creators miss

Whether you have zero or 100k Instagram followers today, you can use Instagram for marketing and attract the right followers who will turn into students of your courses. Your goal? Attract quality followers over quantity.

That’s right. You don’t need 50,000 followers on Instagram to make an impact to your course sales. Even with 100 followers, you can generate sales from Instagram. Even if 3% of your followers convert and join your course, that’s three students you didn’t have before. That is why following along our Instagram marketing for course sales tips is crucial.

Is more better?

Here’s the thing: It takes dedication and consistency to grow one account well that attracts your target follower.

But most online business owners and course creators typically have two accounts. One for their personal life (cute kids, food pics, funny selfies) and another for their business life (very professional, everything branded to a T, posts that look like ads). The key to growing a high-quality following is to grow one account that’s a happy medium between the two accounts that most entrepreneurs juggle.

This means scaling back on the personal content that doesn’t relate to your target follower at all. And we’re going to add more of a human element to your business-related posts. Think: less sales driven and more people driven. The reason we do this relates to the first point: Followers enroll in your courses because they know, like and trust you as the course teacher.

Thematically you

As a personal brand, you want to choose between two to five themes that you’ll share on a consistent basis. These are themes related to you and your business. They’re also themes that your target or ideal student can relate to. For example: You’re a jewelry maker whose ideal customer is a women ages 25-30 who believes in sustainable living, loves animals, and isn’t waiting around for a partner to buy her a piece of jewelry. Then as a personal brand, you may share posts related to these themes:

Pets
A dating life or love life
Green beauty products
Independence, motivation, and drive

These themes don’t specifically relate to jewelry (and that’s the point). But they all speak to and attract that ideal customer so that they actually care about you and your business, as well as your jewelry that resonates with them.

Instagram marketing tips to implement now

1. Be authentic: Optimize your personal brand

Here are a few Instagram strategy tips for utilizing Instagram for business. Optimize your one profile to be an impactful personal brand and effective marketing tool for course sales.

Your username

Your username is also known as your Instagram handle. For example: ours is @teachable. As a personal brand, you want this field of your profile to be as close to your personal brand name as possible. Keep it simple and memorable. And avoid long, complicated, hard-to-read or, double entendre letter combinations.

Your name

The name field is the primary part of your Instagram profile. Why? Because it’s searchable. This is where you share a targeted keyword or two that your ideal followers are already searching for on Instagram.

Not sure what keywords your target follower is using?

Ask yourself:

What niche is your account in? Travel, fashion, business, health, etc.
What is the purpose of your account?
Who is your ideal follower?

For example: The niche for @EliseDarma’s account is travel. The purpose of her account is to help others travel more by starting their own freelance business. Her ideal follower is someone who is interested in travel and becoming a digital nomad. So in her name field, she’s used the keywords “Digital Nomad Entrepreneur.”

You only have 30 characters for this field, so take your time finding the best search-friendly keywords.

Your bio

This is where you showcase your personal brand as a course creator and let a future follower know what the value is in following you. In 150 characters or less, you need to describe who you help and how you help them, plus include a compelling call-to-action to your link. For example: if you teach people how to make their own jewelry, the Bio could say that you help budding designers tap into their talents through the art of custom-made jewelry.

This lets a potential follower know the value they get by choosing to follow your account. Be clear about what they’re in for so don’t be afraid to use the lingo and jargon of your target follower, too.

The CTA

Next, don’t forget the all-important call-to-action to the one link in your Bio. That’s right–with Instagram, you have just one link that you can drive people to (that is, until you hit 10,000 followers and can use the “swipe up” feature in your Stories to share multiple links).

The last line of your Bio needs to tell people why they should click on the one link you’re given to share on your profile. What’s in it for them? Be specific.

It could lead to:

Your latest blog post
A free guide
Your latest YouTube video
A 10% discount code to your product shop

Finally, if it fits within the tone of your brand, don’t be afraid to use emojis to add some personality or save on character space to get your message across.

2. Attract your targeted followers on Instagram

Let’s get into the nitty-gritty details of how you can grow on Instagram to reach 1,000 or 10,000 highly targeted followers that will become course students. Two major things will help you reach 1,000 quality followers: content shared in your posts on your feed and content shared in your Instagram Stories.

What you share in your Stories will become the content for your Highlights, which are the “bubbles” below your Bio that permanently live on your profile, directly on top of all your posts. Highlights are gold. They are like your own mini personal brand website–without followers even having to leave the app.

The types of content to share in your feed

First, let’s talk about the content of your feed and the kind of posts you will share. A lot of course creators get stuck at this part. Consider the following types of content.

Personal images

These are of yourself, your workspace, your lifestyle, etc. Basically, images that represent those themes you already chose for yourself as a personal brand.

Quote cards

Create quotes that literally speak directly to your target follower to inspire, educate, or entertain. We like to use Canva to makes these for free, and Pinterest is a great resource for inspiration.

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Copyright-free stock photos

Stock photos aren’t all cheesy. There are amazing, high-quality sites like Unsplash and Pexels that offer very Instagram-friendly photos. With curation, stock photos can take your feed far.

Reposted images

It’s best to get permission from the original poster first and then give their handle credit the caption. But some big accounts only share other people’s images. It’s possible to grow using just this tactic.

Videos

These can be quick snippets filmed while on-the-go and edited using apps on your phone, or even reposted from your Stories.

3. Optimize the content you share in your feed

One of the best Instagram marketing tips is all about optimization. We find that content has a huge impact on how fast you grow and the quality of followers you attract. Consistency is definitely key. Posting once a day seems to be the sweet spot for most. But, there’s also strategy to your content game.

When it comes to posting content, we like to use the acronym CHECT.

Content

Instagram is a visual platform. Your content in your feed needs to be high quality (in resolution, framing, and editing) and consistent to what attracts your ideal follower.

Hashtags

It’s best if you use hashtags that are targeted to your niche, industry and the lifestyle interests of your target follower. Avoid using hashtags that have millions of posts already as they’ll likely attract bot accounts or spammy comments.

Engaging

By engaging, we mean you need to engage with the comments on your posts by replying back. What’s more, engage with other accounts in your niche or industry (see more about engagement below).

Captions

Think of your captions as mini or micro blogs. Use this space to share value (educate, entertain, or inspire), tell stories about yourself or your students, share student wins, and to give hacks or tips that your target follower and future student would find insanely helpful.

Tagging

By tagging, we’re referring to a few spots like the location of the post or your location when sharing the post. We’re also talking about other accounts. For example: brands, other people’s handles, repost or feature accounts or big accounts in your industry.

As far as Instagram marketing tips go, CHECT is a solid start. Using this checklist each and every time you post on your feed, your content will attract and resonate with your target follower who’ll most likely become a course student.

4. Use Instagram Stories

Using Instagram Stories is the second component to attracting your 1,000 quality followers. But how do you know the difference between what to post in your feed versus what to post in your Stories?

As a general Instagram marketing tips rule of thumb , put your best foot forward with high-quality posts and captions in your feed. Then share your behind-the-scenes, raw moments and your “journey” in your Instagram Stories. Instagram Stories can help boost your course sales in two ways. First, it can drive attention to your latest posts. Secondly, it can permanently live in your Highlights saved on your profile.

5. Boost engagement with Instagram Stories

Since the newsfeed of Instagram is no longer chronological, all your followers may not see your newest post in their feed. This is where Instagram Stories come in handy.

You can use them to drive attention to your latest post in a few ways:

Share a screenshot of your new post in your Stories and have fun with the text, gifs and eraser tools to create curiosity
Share a screenshot of your feed with the latest and newest post hidden behind an emoji or blurb of copy
Ask a question and let your followers know that the answer is in the caption of your latest post
Share a poll with your audience. Tell them that you shared your thoughts on this topic in your latest post…so they have to go there to find out what you think!

6. Use Instagram Highlights

Your Instagram Stories are an excellent place to be consistent on sharing the themes you already selected as part of your personal brand. Why? What you share in your Stories can later be saved as Highlights on your profile (those “bubbles” that live right below your Bio).

Highlights are hugely powerful on Instagram because they are like your own mini personal brand website. As a course creator, you want these Highlights to mimic the topics you’ve already featured in your website’s navigation bar, as well as feature tangible peeks at your course and student successes.

Here are some ideas for Highlights you could feature on your profile:

Top Tips
Faves
Student Reviews
Contact Me
Team
Podcast
Tutorials
Freebies
Templates
Weekly Review

By strategically sharing updates in your Stories that can be saved as evergreen content in your Highlights, new followers will quickly get a sense of your expertise as a course creator within the first few moments of finding your profile.

7. Go behind the scenes

Behind-the-scenes (BTS) content is a great way to connect with your audience. It offers exclusive access, which can make them feel valued and build trust. It also offers an authentic, human touch that is often lacking in picture-perfect social media feeds. To that end, it might require less editing and therefore be easy to produce.

8. Lean into UGC

User-generated content (UGC) is content that is created by your customers, people that have tried your products and are willing to share their experience. While videos are increasingly popular in the world of Instagram marketing, photos, testimonials, reviews, and comments are also beneficial. UGC is a form of social proof, helping you build trust among your audience. It can also help widen your reach by introducing your offerings to the user’s network, boost engagement, and create community. You can create a hashtag specific to your brand to encourage your audience to engage and offer incentives for UGC with giveaways and contests and/or partnering with micro-influencers. There is no one-size-fits-all method, so experiment accordingly.

9. Get carousel creative

The carousel feature on Instagram allows you to post more than one photo or video—up to 10—to your feed, allowing viewers to swipe through. This gives you, the course creator, more space for creativity and your audience an opportunity to engage by swiping. You can use this feature to share information, tell a story, introduce an offering, and more. In addition to story-telling and educating, a carousel could be used to show different features or modules of your course or spotlight testimonials and social proof.

10. Consider collaborations and cross promotion

As mentioned above, partnering with micro-influencers can support your UGC strategy. Additionally, you might brainstorm other opportunities for partnerships and collaborations. Cross promotion is when you promote another brand or creator in exchange for them promoting your online course. Consider what brands or individuals align with your online courses and how a partnership can be mutually beneficial.

11. Offer live sessions

Another way to connect with your audience is to go live on Instagram. This offers your audience the opportunity to tune in with you live, perhaps for a tutorial or Q&A session. You can also gauge interest in a topic area or offer a snippet of content you’ll be covering in your online course. At the end of the session, you can reuse the content by saving the video and posting the replay to your grid.

12. Interact to increase engagement

If you want engagement from your audience (and you do!), you need to engage and interact with your audience. In addition to boosting your engagement for the sake of the algorithm (in other words, for Instagram to prioritize your content), this is an important part of your strategy because it creates a sense of community. It makes your audience feel seen and connected. That human touch is important for building and strengthening relationships.

13. Set clear goals

While it may seem obvious that you’re using Instagram marketing for course sales, get even more clear and specific about what your goals are. What is the sales number you’re trying to hit? How many customers would you like to convert? Who are you trying to reach? Beyond that, where are your Instagram promotions leading your potential clients? What is the CTA? Is there a clear path that guides them to your course landing page? What stage of the marketing funnel is your content? Once you know where you’re going, you can outline a clear path to getting there.

14. Review analytics

Reviewing the analytics of your Instagram posts via Meta Business Suite can offer valuable insight into what is and isn’t working. This can save you time and money by knowing where to focus your resources. Meanwhile, you can get a better understanding of your audience through demographic stats, as well as spot trends based on what is performing well. Take advantage of this wellspring of information that is available to you.

15. Boost posts

Once you have quality content that meets your goals, you might consider boosting them through Meta Business Suite to expand your reach. Promoting on the platform allows you to allocate a budget, set your audience, and track how well your Facebook or Instagram ads do.

16. Show proof

As we’ve explored, social proof is the psychological idea that customer decision-making is influenced by others. UGC is one form of social proof. Others include testimonials, media mentions, numbers and ratings, and more—all of which you can use for selling courses on Instagram. Choose a range of testimonials that highlight various benefits—not just praising the course but why and how it provides value. It can also be helpful to include credibility boosters, such as the reviewer’s name, title, company name, and even photo.

Wrap up

Instagram growth is about consistency—one of the top online course marketing tips we can share. Stick with it, aim for quality over quantity, and keep going. Follow these simple Instagram marketing tips to build your brand, attract an audience, and sell your course.

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Try these 7 underrated ways to maximize revenue from digital products

Software Stack Editor · May 17, 2024 ·

When it comes to digital product and online course marketing, the process for maximizing digital sales is cyclical, not linear. Meaning, it’s not a step-by-step process you will do once and forget about. Unlike passive income, where you can “set it and forget it,” maximizing digital product revenue requires revisiting often.

The good and bad news: There is not a one-size-fits-all model for how to go about this. Rather, it requires a unique combination of strategies determined by what your product is, who your audience is, market conditions, and more. The good news: We have seven approaches you can take no matter what you’re selling. Adapt them to your own business to evolve your earning potential. Learn how to boost sales and generate more income from your online courses, e-books, and templates with these seven steps.

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Identify your target audience and niche

For online course marketing and more, understanding who your target audience is key to delivering them quality content they’ll be excited to buy—ideally again and again. Before you determine your target audience, consider where there might already be a demand. Is there a demographic that is already interested in your content or products? Focus on the people you can best serve (or are already serving), and consider how you can serve them even better by determining their wants, needs, and desires. This can be done by asking for feedback from existing or intended customers, analyzing customer data already at your disposal, and conducting your own market research.

Once you’ve done your homework, you can narrow a broad market group down to a specific niche. This involves getting even more specific about who your audience is, beyond just their demographics and preferences. Want to learn more about identifying your niche? Check out this blog post.

Why is this so underrated?

Many creator businesses underestimate the power of truly understanding their target audience because it seems like common sense, yet they often rely on broad assumptions rather than deep insights. This oversight can lead to generic marketing strategies that fail to resonate on a personal level, missing out on significant revenue potential. Additionally, the process of gathering detailed customer feedback and conducting thorough market research is time-consuming and requires effort, which many companies are reluctant to invest. However, those who do take the time to intimately know their audience can create highly targeted and compelling content that drives repeat purchases and fosters brand loyalty.

Create high-quality, valuable content

This brings us to our next step: As you consider who your audience is and how you can best serve them, you can start to design and create valuable content they truly want and can benefit from. Do your products solve a problem or satisfy a need? Once you know how they will bring value to your customers, you can build accordingly. Create products that are high-quality and user-friendly. Even if this takes more time, energy, and resources, it will help you build trust among your audience and encourage repeat purchases, organic referrals, word-of-mouth marketing, etc. to maximize digital sales and sustain your business.

Why is this so underrated?

Some creators undervalue the impact of creating high-quality content because they are often focused on quick wins and immediate sales rather than long-term growth. The pressure to produce content rapidly can lead to a compromise on quality, which ultimately undermines customer trust and satisfaction. Furthermore, high-quality content requires a significant investment in terms of time, creativity, and resources, which many companies are hesitant to commit. However, those who prioritize quality over quantity can differentiate themselves in a crowded market, leading to increased customer loyalty, higher conversion rates, and sustained revenue growth through repeat purchases and positive word-of-mouth.

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Develop a strong marketing strategy

Before we get into effective marketing, you’ll need to price your product. Pricing too low may cause customers to undervalue your product, while pricing too high can lose your audience that feels it’s not within their budget. Find a sweet spot based on the time and energy it took to create the product, production costs, etc., that honors your creativity and ingenuity, while being competitive with similar products on the market. You can always lower prices through seasonal promotions, but it can be harder to raise your prices once they’ve been set.

Once you have the numbers set, it’s time to plan your digital product or online course marketing strategy. Leverage different marketing channels that feel aligned to you (in other words, what you know you’ll communicate regularly, consistently, and comfortably on) and your product. This will increase your visibility and attract potential customers to your product.

Why is this so underrated?

Many businesses overlook the importance of a strong marketing strategy because they assume a great product will sell itself. This can lead to missed opportunities and disappointing sales. The process of crafting a comprehensive marketing plan—balancing pricing, selecting channels, and maintaining consistent communication—requires a strategic approach and ongoing effort, which some find daunting. Without a targeted marketing strategy, even the best products can get lost in the crowded digital marketplace. By investing in a well-thought-out marketing plan, businesses can boost visibility, attract more customers, and ultimately increase sales and revenue.

Leverage email marketing for promotion

Once you have your product and marketing in plan in place, utilize your email lists to communicate the value of your product. With all marketing channels, you have a limited time to hold your audience’s attention. People are inundated with work and marketing emails daily, and attention spans are more limited than ever. Grab attention with a subject line that speaks directly to your target audience.

Next, tailor your email communications based on your relationship with your audience—how they would want to hear from you. Perhaps you position yourself as a trusted friend, the authority on a certain subject, etc. You might write them in letter format in a newsletter, whereas on other marketing channels you would grab their attention in a different way.

Finally, show don’t tell: Rather than simply telling them what the product is, explain why it’s important and how it will impact their lives. Highlight unique benefits relevant to them, and always circle back to your call to action (CTA)—the action you want the customer to take to achieve your goal of maximizing digital sales.

Why is this so underrated?

Email marketing often flies under the radar because many businesses see it as outdated compared to newer digital platforms. There’s a misconception that social media or other channels are more effective, leading to underutilization of email’s direct and personal approach. Crafting impactful email campaigns requires careful planning and personalization, which can seem daunting. However, when done right, email marketing can build stronger relationships with your audience, leading to higher engagement, trust, and more sales.

Utilize social proof and testimonials

You can establish credibility and continue building trust through social proof—the psychological idea that customer decision-making is influenced by others. Simply put, if others give your product(s) their stamps of approval, others are more likely to follow suit. This can be achieved by displaying testimonials, media mentions, numbers and ratings, and more on your product landing page and within your marketing channels.

Choose a range of testimonials that highlight various benefits—not just praising the product but why and how it provided value. It can also be helpful to include credibility boosters, such as the reviewer’s name, title, company name, and even photo.

The more you can communicate how tried and true your product is, the higher your conversion rate and digital product revenue will be.

Abagail Pumphrey of the Boss Project Honest Teachable Review

Why is this so underrated?

Many creators and digital business owners overlook social proof because they often focus on their content and product features instead. This can lead to missed opportunities for building trust with potential customers. Collecting and showcasing authentic testimonials can seem time-consuming, but it’s a powerful way to demonstrate the real-world impact of your product. By sharing genuine customer experiences, you can enhance your credibility and make it easier for new customers to feel confident in their purchasing decisions, thereby increasing your conversion rates and sales.

Offer upsells and bundle deals

To maximize digital sales, you can consider relevant products to recommend to your customers through upsells and bundle deals. As a reminder, an upsell is an opportunity to encourage customers to upgrade or make an additional purchase. This could be additional products or add-ons, or upgrading for access to premium features. Bundles take it a step further, offering an incentive to buy multiple products at a time. This could be as simple as “people also bought” recommendations, a promotion where you have to buy a certain number to receive a discount, or bundling products together for a specific reason.

Why is this so underrated?

Upsells and bundle deals can be powerful tools that business owners selling digital products tend to overlook. Don’t miss out on valuable opportunities for increasing profitability by only focusing on the initial sale. The idea of suggesting additional products or creating bundle offers may seem daunting or even unnecessary to some. However, by taking advantage of these strategies, digital product businesses can not only increase their earnings but also provide added value and convenience to their customers, enhancing their overall experience.

Continuously analyze and optimize your approach

As with many things in life, it’s important to reflect on this product cycle and evaluate what’s working and what isn’t. This is where revisiting the process, as we mentioned at the beginning of this article, comes into play. Consider how you can consistently improve your digital products and retain your customers.

For both, customer feedback can be really valuable for adapting your strategies to meet their wants and needs. In addition to feedback, provide your customers with excellent service and support and continue to engage them through your marketing channels. Other ways to improve your offerings include monitoring metrics and continuing to do your market research. Use this information to enhance or shift if need be.

Ultimately, optimization through evaluation is key for maximizing your digital product sales.

Why is this so underrated?

Regular reflection and evaluation are essential for growth and success. By revisiting and refining your processes, you can identify areas for improvement and adapt to meet the changing needs of your customers. Embracing customer feedback, providing excellent service, and staying engaged through marketing channels are important steps in this ongoing optimization journey. Understanding and using metrics and market research allows you to make informed decisions and stay ahead of the curve. Prioritizing optimization through consistent evaluation can really help in your quest to maximize digital product sales and revenue and sustain long-term success in the creator economy.

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Wrap up

We’ve discussed why maximizing digital sales is not a linear, one-time process but a series of strategies you will want to come back to again and again. Before you start creating your high-value products, identify who your audience is and what they really want or need. Develop a strong marketing strategy that leverages email and social media marketing. Lean on social proof, and consider creative promotions. And finally, evaluate and repeat.

FAQs for maximizing your digital product sales and revenue

How can I increase sales of my digital products?

Increasing sales requires constantly reevaluating your products to determine how you can better serve your customers. It is not a linear, one-time process but a series of strategies you will want to come back to again and again. Before you start creating your high-value products, identify who your audience is and what they really want or need. Develop a strong marketing strategy that leverages email and social media marketing. Lean on social proof, and consider creative promotions. And finally, evaluate and repeat.

What marketing strategies work best for selling online courses?

Leverage different marketing channels, including email and social media, that feel aligned to you and your product. This will increase your visibility and attract potential customers to your product. With your niche in mind, consider targeted, content, and affiliate marketing. Leverage social proof, such as testimonials, reviews, and media mentions, to build trust, as well as limited-time promotions and offers to elicit urgency.

How do I price my digital products effectively?

What are some ways to promote my e-books and templates?

Similar to online course marketing, utilize different marketing channels, including social media and email marketing, as well as optimizing for search engines (SEO), when promoting e-books and templates.

For ebooks: Start marketing early to build anticipation. Make your ebook available on many different platforms, and encourage readers to leave a review, so it gets more traction. You might also consider collaboration with influencers to spread the word and/or offering incentives, such as bonus offerings, to people who preorder the ebook.

For templates: Templates, on the other hand, can be promoted through tutorials, comparisons, and even free samples. Consider who your templates are most suited for, and from there you might do targeted ads or collaborations with influencers relevant to your audience. If you’re just starting out, you might consider discounts, promotions, or giveaways to spread the word.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Zoom vs Meets 2024: Here are the Differences, Pros and Cons

Software Stack Editor · May 17, 2024 ·

The video conferencing market has shown significant growth in recent years. For instance, in 2023, North America had a substantial share of the video conferencing market thanks to giants like Google Meet and Zoom.

Of course, the choice of video conferencing software can make a significant difference in the success of live courses and webinars—but which one reigns supreme for your educational needs?

In this comprehensive article, we’ll explore the nuanced differences between Google Meet and Zoom, focusing on features that matter most for live instruction and interaction. From user interface and accessibility to unique functionalities for educators, we’ll guide you through each platform’s offerings to help you make an informed decision.

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How to choose video conferencing software

When selecting video conferencing software for hosting live courses and webinars, it’s important to prioritize features that enhance interactivity, reliability, and user engagement. Look for platforms offering robust video and audio quality to ensure clear communication. High-definition video support and superior sound clarity can significantly impact the participant’s experience.

Interactivity tools such as live polling, Q&A features, and even breakout rooms are all essential for engaging participants and fostering interaction in educational settings. You should also consider the software’s scalability, and it should accommodate your expected audience size without compromising performance.

Key features of Google Meet

Google Meet offers a suite of features tailored to facilitate effective online courses and webinars, ensuring a seamless and interactive experience for both hosts and participants.

High-Quality Video and Audio: Google Meet provides high-definition video and audio conferencing, which is essential for clear communication and engagement. Its adaptive layout automatically adjusts to accommodate multiple participants efficiently.
Screen Sharing and Presentation: Instructors can share their screens or present slides, documents, and videos, making it easier to convey complex information or demonstrate processes live.
Real-Time Captioning: Utilizing Google’s speech recognition technology, Meet offers real-time captioning, enhancing accessibility for participants with hearing impairments and aiding comprehension in noisy environments.
Breakout Rooms: This feature allows hosts to split participants into smaller groups for discussions or workshops, fostering collaboration and deeper engagement in the course material.
Polls and Q&A: Engage participants with live polls and Q&A sessions, enabling real-time feedback and interaction, which is crucial for dynamic learning environments.
Integration with Educational Tools: Google Meet integrates seamlessly with various educational platforms and tools, including Google Classroom and G Suite, providing a cohesive ecosystem for managing courses, materials, and communication.
Recording and Replay: Hosts can record sessions for later review or for participants who couldn’t attend live, ensuring that the educational content is accessible anytime.
Adjustable Layouts: Participants can choose their viewing layout, focusing on the presenter, a specific document, or a gallery view of all participants, tailoring the experience to their learning preferences.
Security Features: With robust security measures in place, including encryption and meeting controls, educators can maintain a safe and secure learning environment.

Key features of Zoom

Zoom has emerged as a powerful tool for virtual learning and webinars, offering an array of features that cater to the needs of educators and hosts.

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HD Video and Audio: Zoom for webinars provides high-definition video and audio conferencing, which is essential for maintaining clear and effective communication. This clarity is crucial for keeping participants engaged and ensuring that content is delivered successfully.
Interactive Breakout Rooms: A standout feature for education and training, breakout rooms allow hosts to divide larger groups into smaller, focused discussions or learning groups, enhancing engagement and collaboration.
Webinar Tools: Zoom’s webinar functionality is robust, supporting large audiences with features like attendee registration, polling, and Q&A sessions, enabling real-time interaction and feedback.
Screen Sharing and Whiteboard: Presenters can share their screens with ease, facilitating detailed demonstrations and presentations. The whiteboard feature allows for real-time collaboration and illustration of concepts.
Recording and Transcription: Sessions can be recorded for later review or for those who cannot attend live. Automatic transcriptions help provide an accessible text version of the content discussed.
Virtual Backgrounds and Touch-up Features: These features help presenters maintain a professional appearance and minimize distractions in their background.
Integration Capabilities: Zoom integrates with numerous educational and productivity tools to streamline the workflow and enhance the overall learning experience.
Polling and Hand Raising: Engage participants with interactive polls and allow them to signal when they have questions or comments, fostering a dynamic and interactive learning environment.
End-to-end Encryption: With enhanced security features, including end-to-end encryption, hosts can ensure that their sessions are secure and private.

User experience: Google Meet vs Zoom

The user experience of Google Meet and Zoom directly reflects their design philosophies and target audiences, with each platform offering distinct features and interfaces that cater to various user preferences and requirements.

Ease of Use

Google Meet is renowned for its simplicity and integration with Google’s ecosystem. Its interface is straightforward, allowing users, especially those already familiar with Google products, to navigate and utilize its features effortlessly. Meeting setup is quick, and joining a meeting is intuitive, requiring just a few clicks, which is particularly beneficial for users with varying levels of tech-savviness.

In contrast, Zoom offers a more feature-rich interface that, while slightly more complex, provides quick access to a broad range of functionalities. Its user interface might require a bit of a learning curve compared to Google Meet, but it allows for more flexibility and customization by catering to users who may require more advanced features.

Features and Interactivity

Zoom takes the lead in terms of interactive features, such as breakout rooms, virtual hand raising, polling, and a wider range of reactions, which all enhance and improve participant engagement. These features make Zoom particularly suited for dynamic and interactive webinars or classes.

Google Meet, while more limited in interactive features compared to Zoom, offers a clean and uncluttered interface, focusing on simplicity and ease of use. Its recent updates have introduced more interactive options, such as hand raising and polling, but it still maintains a focus on straightforward, no-fuss functionality.

Google Meet also has better image quality, which can be great for video presentations and especially for people who are joining via smartphone and want to view things like images or documents in a React app more clearly. Designers and other visual creators should definitely prioritize this.

Performance and reliability comparison

When comparing the performance and reliability of Google Meet and Zoom, it’s crucial to consider various factors like stability, video/audio quality, and scalability to gauge which platform offers the most dependable experience.

Stability and Uptime: Both Google Meet and Zoom are known for their high uptime and stability. However, Zoom has carved out a reputation for robust performance, even under heavy loads, which is vital for hosting large webinars or meetings without interruption. Google Meet also offers reliable performance, particularly benefiting from its deep integration with Google’s infrastructure, ensuring a stable service for users.
Video and Audio Quality: Zoom provides superior video and audio quality, which remains consistent even with larger participant numbers. Its ability to deliver high-definition video and clear audio without significant lag is a key strength. Google Meet also offers high-quality video and audio, though some users report slightly lower consistency in quality during large or extended meetings compared to Zoom.
Scalability: Zoom stands out for its scalability by effectively accommodating a large number of participants without a drop in performance. This capability is particularly important for webinars or large classes. Google Meet has improved its scalability, but Zoom still leads, especially in handling large-scale and complex meetings.
Technical Support and Reliability: Both platforms offer substantial support, but Zoom’s extensive support resources and rapid response can be crucial for troubleshooting during important sessions. Google Meet benefits from Google’s overall infrastructure and support but may not match Zoom’s specialized attention in every scenario.

Integrations with online course platforms

The integration of video conferencing tools like Google Meet and Zoom with online course platforms significantly enhances the digital learning experience, providing seamless interaction and content delivery. Here’s how each platform fares in terms of integration with popular educational platforms.

Google Meet’s Integrations

As part of Google Workspace, Google Meet offers natural and straightforward integration with Google Classroom and other Google apps, facilitating a unified educational environment. Teachers can schedule and start Meet sessions directly from Google Classroom, streamlining the process and enhancing the user experience.

Zoom’s Integrations

Zoom offers more extensive integration capabilities with a range of learning management and educational platforms, including:

Canvas
Teachable
Moodle
Blackboard
Google Classroom

These integrations allow educators to schedule and launch Zoom meetings directly from within the course management system, providing a seamless transition for students. Moreover, Zoom’s features, like attendance tracking, recording storage, and in-depth analytics, all add value to its integration, offering educators enhanced tools for monitoring and engagement.

Both platforms facilitate easy access to video conferencing within course platforms, making it easy for Teachable course creators to present their content the way they imagined it.

However, Zoom’s broad integration capabilities and additional features give it an edge, particularly for institutions using a variety of learning management systems. In contrast, Google Meet’s advantage lies in its deep integration with Google Workspace, ideal for educators and institutions already embedded in Google’s ecosystem.

Pricing and plans

The pricing structures of Google Meet and Zoom are designed to cater to a range of needs, from casual users to large enterprises, with specific considerations for those hosting webinars and courses.

In comparing overall value for money, Zoom typically offers more flexible pricing, especially if you require specific webinar features without needing a broader suite of business tools. Google Meet, on the other hand, provides better value if you’re already using or plan to use the Google Workspace suite extensively.

Google Meet

Initially free for basic use, Google Meet’s more advanced features, which are particularly relevant for hosting courses and webinars, require a subscription to Google Workspace.

The Workspace plans start with a Business Standard tier, which provides meeting recordings and larger participant capacities, and scale up to Enterprise levels, offering advanced control and security features. It’s perfect for those who don’t like long-term subscriptions and want to escape vendor lock-in that’s often the result of longer-term software purchases.

Pricing for Google Workspace begins at $12 per user per month for the Business Standard plan, escalating to higher tiers for more extensive needs.

Zoom

Zoom provides a free Basic plan, suitable for smaller, more informal meetings. However, for hosting larger webinars and courses, their paid plans are necessary. The Pro plan starts at $14.99 per month per host and supports up to 100 participants with meeting durations longer than 40 minutes.

For webinars and larger meetings, Zoom offers specific add-ons; the Webinar plan can accommodate up to 10,000 view-only attendees. Zoom’s pricing escalates with the number of participants and additional features, like increased cloud recording storage.

Because of this, you shouldn’t overburden your small business savings account with Zoom’s higher-tier plans if your primary need isn’t for large webinars or extensive meeting durations. Overinvestment in such specific features can lead to unnecessary financial strain, especially if your business doesn’t frequently host large-scale events.

Security and privacy: which is safer?

When evaluating the security and privacy of Google Meet and Zoom, it’s essential to consider the measures each platform employs to protect users and data.

Google Meet: Built on Google’s secure infrastructure, Google Meet benefits from the same robust security measures that safeguard other Google services. This includes things like two-factor authentication, encryption in transit and at rest, and advanced protection against phishing and malware. Google Meet automatically encrypts all data, and meetings are given unique, encrypted IDs to help prevent unauthorized access. Google’s commitment to user privacy ensures that Meet does not use customer data for advertising and complies with stringent global compliance certifications.
Zoom: Following some initial security concerns, Zoom has significantly strengthened its security features. It now offers end-to-end encryption for all users, password protection for meetings, and waiting rooms to control access. Zoom’s role-based user security, meeting locks, and watermarks add layers of security, especially for sensitive communications. Furthermore, Zoom complies with a range of compliance certifications and conducts regular third-party security audits.

Both platforms are continuously updating their security measures to address evolving threats and maintain user trust. However, the choice between them might depend on specific security needs or organizational compliance requirements.

For instance, organizations deeply integrated into the Google ecosystem might prefer Google Meet for its seamless integration and uniform security policies. At the same time, those requiring detailed user access controls and customization might lean towards Zoom.

Likewise, one has to imagine how both platforms will be vulnerable to things like employment identity theft down the road—AI deepfakes are on the rise, and we all know how trusting everyone is to a colleague’s smiling face on video.

Pros and cons of Google Meet

Pros of Google Meet

Integration: Meet seamlessly integrates with Google Workspace, enhancing productivity and collaboration through shared calendars, documents, and more.
Simplicity: Known for its user-friendly interface that makes it accessible for users of all skill levels.
Accessibility: Offers real-time captioning and is accessible on various devices, promoting a greater degree of accessibility and inclusivity.
Security: Benefits from Google’s robust security infrastructure to ensure a high level of data protection and meeting privacy.

Cons of Google Meet

Features: Lacks some of the advanced interactive features and customization options available in other platforms like Zoom.
Scalability: While suitable for a range of meeting sizes, it may not perform as smoothly as competitors in very large webinars or events.
Dependency: It’s best leveraged within the Google ecosystem, which might limit its appeal for users or organizations not fully invested in Google’s suite of products.

Pros and cons of Zoom

Pros of Zoom

Feature-rich: It offers extensive interactive tools like breakout rooms, polls, and virtual hand-raising, enhancing engagement in webinars and courses of all kinds.
Scalability: Excellently handles large numbers of participants without compromising on performance, ideal for big webinars.
Customization: Provides numerous settings and options to customize meetings and webinars to suit specific needs.
Integration: Integrates with a variety of educational tools and platforms, offering flexibility across different learning environments.

Cons of Zoom

Security: Despite improvements over the years, early security concerns have left a lasting impression on some users’ perceptions of its safety.
Complexity: The wide array of features can be overwhelming for new users, requiring a steeper learning curve compared to more straightforward platforms.
Pricing: While it offers a free tier, access to advanced features necessary for larger webinars comes at a higher cost compared to some competitors.

Making the decision: which is right for your needs?

At the end of the day, choosing between Google Meet and Zoom hinges on your specific needs and preferences. If you prioritize a user-friendly interface and seamless integration with Google Workspace tools, Google Meet is the optimal choice. It’s particularly beneficial for those already embedded in the Google ecosystem, offering a straightforward, secure experience.

If you require a platform with advanced interactive features and customization options to engage participants actively, Zoom is more suitable. Its ability to handle large webinars, extensive integration capabilities, and detailed control over user interactions make it ideal for dynamic and large-scale events.

Learn more about Teachable’s Zoom integration

Check out these resources:

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Embracing creative authenticity: Whitney Freya’s formula for increased income and impact

Software Stack Editor · May 14, 2024 ·

In the vast landscape of online education, few stories are as compelling and transformative as that of Whitney Freya. A self-proclaimed “wannabe artist” turned influential creator, Whitney has carved a unique niche in the art world by intertwining the essence of personal growth with artistic expression.

Her journey from door-to-door book sales to establishing a pioneering online platform is not just about teaching art—it’s about fostering a life-art synthesis that empowers individuals to create the life of their dreams.

We recently interviewed Whitney to hear more about her journey and her top tips for growing creators. Plus, discover how her transition to online teaching via Teachable allowed her to expand her reach beyond physical borders, touching the lives of thousands globally with her innovative approach.

In this post, we’ll discuss…

How Whitney’s early experiences and personal challenges shape her courses
Key obstacles Whitney faced in her transition to teaching online and how she overcame them
How Whitney uses Teachable to create transformations in her students
Practical advice from Whitney for other creators looking to make more income and impact
What Whitney believes is coming next for creators and education business owners

How Whitney’s challenges shaped her courses

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Whitney Freya wasn’t always the artist she is today. Initially, she was just someone who longed to create but felt sidelined by early discouragement. Like many of us, Whitney was harshly critiqued by an art teacher growing up. She never really saw herself as an artist until she read the book Zen and the Art of Making a Living, which profoundly shifted her perspective.

The book’s message, quoting Nietzsche, posited that “the proper task of life is art,” suggesting that everyone has the potential to craft their life with the creativity of an artist. This message resonated with Whitney at a time when she was searching for direction, having been discouraged from pursuing art in her youth due to a negative early experience with an art teacher. Her realization that art and life are inseparable was pivotal.

“The quickest way to having an overall holistically successful and abundant career is to absolutely be yourself first and foremost, be as authentic as possible” – Whitney Freya

Various early setbacks, coupled with the inspiration from her readings, led her to create a space where others could also explore their creative identities without judgment — which is why she founded the Creative Fitness Center.

This center was a place to exercise the creative muscles that everyone possesses, proving that skill or technique was secondary to awakening the artist within.

Whitney’s approach is fundamentally shaped by her belief that overcoming personal challenges through creativity allows individuals to see life’s obstacles differently.

This inclusive and holistic approach to art education, inspired by Whitney’s early challenges and breakthroughs, ensures that her teachings are accessible, relatable, and profoundly impactful, making art a means of navigating and enhancing one’s life journey.

Key obstacles Whitney faced in her transition to teaching online and how she overcame them

Transitioning to online teaching wasn’t a walk in the park for Whitney.

Starting in 2009, she faced the significant challenge of moving her vibrant, hands-on art classes into the digital realm—a space that was quite primitive in terms of interactive online learning platforms at the time.

“It was just step-by-step photos back then; we didn’t even have video capabilities that were feasible for what we needed. It felt like we were building the plane while flying it.” – Whitney Freya

One of the main hurdles was the lack of direct interaction, which had been a cornerstone of her physical workshops. To overcome this, Whitney pioneered creative ways to engage her online students, ensuring her teachings remained interactive and personal. She introduced structured creative prompts and began using emerging tools to simulate a classroom experience as closely as possible.

Another challenge was the technical aspect of running an online platform. Whitney had to navigate various online tools and platforms before settling on Teachable, which provided the streamlined functionality she needed. She appreciated how Teachable handled much of the backend work, allowing her to focus more on her art and students.

“The opportunity to reach people globally, regardless of where they lived, was something I couldn’t pass up. Despite the challenges, the potential to share and grow was too compelling.” – Whitney Freya

By embracing these challenges and leveraging the right tools, Whitney successfully transformed her teaching approach to thrive in an online environment, proving that with creativity and resilience, barriers can turn into gateways for growth.

How Whitney uses Teachable to create transformations in her students

Using Teachable has changed the way that Whitney approaches teaching and engaging with her students. Teachable empowered Whitney to extend her reach globally while giving her everything she needed to connect and impact her students’ lives.

“I use Teachable as space for me. It’s creating space. I love to create space. I love to create a structure within which people can experience things.” – Whitney Freya

Whitney utilizes Teachable’s versatile features to create a dynamic and interactive learning environment. Her courses are designed to engage students in a holistic journey of personal growth and creative expression. Her courses include video tutorials, live Q&A sessions, and community challenges that encourage active participation and personal exploration.

One of Whitney’s core beliefs is that feedback and community support are pivotal in the learning process. Through Teachable, she has set up a system where students can submit their artwork and receive personalized feedback.

Whitney harnesses the power of multimedia to enrich her teaching. Teachable’s ability to support various media types allows her to incorporate videos, podcasts, and downloadable resources seamlessly. This multimedia approach caters to different learning styles, ensuring that all students can engage with the material in ways that resonate most deeply with them.

Whitney continuously adapts her courses based on student feedback and emerging educational trends. Teachable’s analytics tools help her monitor course engagement and effectiveness, allowing her to refine her approach and content to better meet her students’ needs.

“Teachable’s been amazing and has grown along with me like I’ve seen a lot of the new offerings and it keeps coming and it’s fabulous.” – Whitney Freya

Whitney’s practice advice for creators

Whitney encourages creators to dig deep into what truly excites them and share that passion openly. This genuine approach not only attracts attention but builds lasting connections with your audience.

Don’t just stick to one platform; spread your presence across the digital world. From Instagram stories to YouTube videos, your audience is everywhere. Whitney advises using every tool at your disposal to share your journey and engage with your community.

Stay curious and responsive. Pay attention to what resonates with your audience and what falls flat. This feedback is invaluable for refining your approach and staying relevant.

“Whatever is lighting you up about your business, you want to share from that place… if you’re not passionate about what you’re offering and sharing that energy, people don’t remember exactly the words you say, but they remember the feeling of watching you on their computer or their phone.” – Whitney Freya

Actionable steps for authentic creators:

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Embrace your unique story: Dive into what genuinely excites you and share that enthusiasm without reservation.
Engage on all fronts: Utilize multiple platforms to share your work—Instagram, YouTube, blogs, and more. Each platform can help you reach different segments of your audience.
Learn, adapt, and grow: Continuously gather feedback, observe which efforts resonate with your audience, and adjust your strategies accordingly.
Consistency is key: Regularly update your content and stay engaged with your community. Consistency helps build trust and keeps your audience coming back.

What Whitney believes is coming next for creators and education business owners

Whitney Freya envisions a future where creativity transcends traditional boundaries and permeates every aspect of our lives. As we shift towards a more interconnected and digitally enhanced world, Whitney predicts that creators will play a pivotal role in shaping new ways of thinking, learning, and interacting.

Here are her key predictions and insights for the future of creators and education business owners:

Integration of self-discovery and creativity: Whitney believes that the future of creation will increasingly involve a spiritual component, where creating becomes a holistic practice that impacts all areas of life.
Empowerment through online teaching: She emphasizes the role of digital platforms in democratizing education and allowing creators to reach a global audience, transforming how knowledge and creativity are shared.
Emphasis on authenticity: In a world saturated with content, Whitney predicts that authenticity will become the currency of trust and impact. Creators who share their true selves and are passionate about their offerings will forge deeper connections and have a more substantial impact.
Greater creative freedom: The future holds a promise of greater creative freedom where creators can seamlessly blend different mediums and disciplines. This cross-pollination of ideas will lead to richer, more diverse creative expressions.
Community and collaboration: Whitney foresees a stronger emphasis on community and collaborative efforts among creators. The collective energy of a community will not only enhance personal growth but also lead to significant societal transformations.

“The creativity and the artistry was taken away from us to give us an opportunity to be like, ‘Oh, that’s what the world is like without owning how powerfully creative we are.’ And now we get to take it back.” – Whitney Freya

Begin creating greater income and impact with Teachable

Want to grow your business authentically while selling more without selling out?

We have something just for you. Teachable offers the tools, technology, and support needed to turn your passion into a profitable endeavor. From comprehensive course-building tools to integrated payment systems,

Teachable makes it simpler to reach and teach your audience effectively—no matter where they are in the world.

Join thousands of successful creators like Whitney and start your journey on Teachable today. Unleash your potential, inspire people around the world, and build a business that speaks to your authentic story.

Sign up now and start making a difference with Teachable!

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Should You Rebrand Your Business for Growth?

Software Stack Editor · May 8, 2024 ·

Rebranding your business is a normal part of business evolution. Even 74% of S&P 100 companies have rebranded within their first seven years of operation. When done right, a rebrand can completely transform your business. Not only can rebranding improve your brand’s value, but it can also attract new audiences and bring in more business.

While rebranding is inevitable at some point for many businesses, it can still be a long and challenging process. If your business is considering a rebrand, then you’ve come to the right place. Below, you will find a comprehensive step-by-step guide on how to rebrand your business.

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The decision to rebrand: When and why

First, we need to talk about why you want to take your business through the rebranding process. Intention for your rebrand is important to ensure that you are successful in your efforts. Here are a few valid reasons to consider a business rebrand:

Update brand identity

According to a survey from Bynder, the most common reason why businesses choose to rebrand is to update the brand identity. It’s normal for your business to change and evolve, and to keep up with the changing world and consumer needs, an up-to-date brand is key for success.

Market positioning

The second most popular reason why even 45% of businesses rebrand is to reposition the business in the market. Your brand is what connects your business to your customers. If you are looking to reposition your business in the market by targeting new locations and offering new products or services, then a rebrand is a smart choice.

Change target audience

41% of businesses undergo a rebrand because they want to change the audiences they target. When you want to attract new customers and reach an untapped market, you want to ensure that your brand will catch their eye.

Brand equity

Brand equity is the value of your brand to your business. If you see that your current brand is not working as well as you would like it to, then a rebrand could be a solution. By making strategic changes to your brand identity, visuals and even mission and vision, you can improve your brand equity.

Mergers

If your business was bought by another business or if you have acquired a new business, it makes sense to rebrand. A rebrand will allow you to merge the two (or more) businesses and ensure that all businesses are aligned.

Defining your new brand identity

Customer perception

Understanding how your current customers see your brand can be very helpful in crafting a new brand identity. Tap into your audience through social channels, email, and online surveys to learn as much as you can about customer’s perceptions.

Visual identity

Visual identity is the first thing your audience notices. It’s the first impression of your brand, and it’s extremely important. Visual identity includes things like:

Logo
Color palette
Typography
Visual assets like shapes and icons

So, when you are building a new brand identity, you want to make sure that all of your visual identity assets are on-brand, consistent, and professional.

Brand guidelines

Most successful brands have brand guidelines. Essentially, it’s a document that holds all of your brand’s visual assets, information on your brand’s tone of voice, and even the mission and vision. It’s not something you share with your audience, but it’s essential for internal use. Being consistent with your new branding will help your business, and that’s the key to success—consistent branding increases sales by 10-20%.

Brand storytelling

55% of people are more inclined to buy from a business if they like the brand’s story. Brand storytelling is an essential part of your brand’s identity, and you want to make sure that your brand’s story and tone of voice are compelling. It will help you connect with your audience and build trust with your new brand.

The rebranding roadmap

Here’s a simple and easy step-by-step roadmap you can follow when you are ready to rebrand your business:

Step 1: Brand management

Brand management involves analyzing your current brand’s performance. It’s an essential first step in rebranding your business. Do market research to find out how your competitors are doing and how you could improve your business with the new rebrand.

Before you can create a new brand, you must understand how your current brand is performing. Analyze your current and new target audiences and what type of brand you need to create to appeal to them. Once you have a full analysis, you can proceed to the next step of your rebrand.

Step 2: Brand positioning

Brand positioning is the key step in a rebrand. It describes the unique value your brand presents to customers. In other words, it defines your unique value proposition—what does your new brand have to offer customers, and why should they choose your brand over other brands?

Nailing down your unique value proposition will allow you to build a successful rebrand strategy. It will make it easy for you to create the brand’s story, determine the tone of voice, and even create new offers for your customers.

Step 3: Visual brand identity

Your visual brand identity is probably the most important part of your business rebrand. It’s also the most challenging part to update and one that will take the longest. On average, it takes marketers around seven months to update a brand’s visual assets after a rebrand. Create a step-by-step plan for how you will implement the changes for your visual brand identity you and your team can follow.

Step 4: Corporate identity

A rebrand affects your business internally just as much as it affects it externally. If your brand mission and vision change with the rebrand, it will impact the company culture, too. So, the first step will be to align with your team on the new direction of your business, and the new vision of your brand.

You might want to create an in-house presentation with the Q&A session so you can fully translate the new strategy moving forward to your team and help them familiarize themselves with the new corporate identity and company culture.

Step 5: Organizational change

To ensure a smooth and successful rebrand, you want to have a detailed plan for how your company will transition into the new brand. Whether you are a small business or a medium-sized business, there are many moving parts. So, make a detailed plan for internal and external changes and assign the tasks to teams or people who will need to execute the changes.

Step 6: Digital marketing strategies

The last step, of course, is to overhaul your digital marketing strategies to fit your new brand. You want to make sure that your marketing efforts align with your new brand and that you have a solid plan for launching your rebrand and marketing the new brand after the launch.

Step 7: Market differentiation

After the rebrand, you might need to change your marketing strategy to target both your old and your new audiences. It will require you to understand both segments of customers well and create custom marketing strategies for each angle. While it requires more effort than targeting one audience only, this strategy can help you maximize the success of your new brand.

Communicating your rebrand to your audience

Creating a communication plan is essential for a successful rebrand. Work with your team to devise a strategy for conveying the most important message to your audience about the change and why you are rebranding in the first place.

Depending on the size of your brand, you might only use your own communication channels like your blog, email and socials to announce the rebrand to your audience. Or, you might send out official PR releases to the media and try to get the coverage of different media outlets (national or local) to help spread the word about the change.

Leveraging online platforms for your rebrand

Your online platforms will play a key role in the success of your rebrand. So, make sure you create a plan and utilize them.

Marketing strategy

Create a solid marketing strategy for your rebrand launch! Consider sending our email newsletters, hosting Instagram or Facebook Live Q&A sessions, and posting on all of your social channels on the official day of the launch.

Invest in paid media and advertising to announce the rebrand to as many people as possible. A strategic marketing plan for launching your rebranded business will communicate the change to your current audience and will catch the attention of a new audience.

Audience engagement

Invest the time to engage with your audience online. Answer all the emails, comments, and DMs. Encourage people to share your posts. To do that, you have to create content that’s engaging and incites people to share and talk about it. Remember, all social platforms reward high engagement, so the more excitement from your audience you can generate, the more chances you will have to reach a broader audience.

Case studies: Company rebrands

Now that you have a clear roadmap for a successful rebrand let’s examine some of the most successful rebrand examples from other brands. Analyzing them can offer inspiration and show you the right way to rebrand your business.

Dunkin’

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Everyone knows Dunkin’. Before January 2019, they were known as Dunkin Donuts. After some testing, the company decided to drop the “Donuts” from its name so it could be known for more than its original product—donuts.

With over 60% of their sales coming from their beverages and not the donuts, it was a smart choice. They have positioned themselves as the key player and the go-to place for people to get a coffee and breakfast, not only a donut.

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Weight Watchers

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Even a company as big and influential as Weight Watchers needs a rebrand once in a while. To keep up with the changing climate in the health and wellness space and to reposition their product as more than simply a weight-loss product, they rebranded as “WW” back in 2018.

This rebrand allowed the brand to target a new audience and position itself as a company that focuses on health and wellness, which is an industry that’s been growing rapidly in the last decade.

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IHOP

IHOP, or International House of Pancakes, has been known as the best place to get pancakes for years. In 2018, they announced that from now on, they want to be known for their new product launch–burgers. So, they rebranded from IHOP to IHOB for the launch of the burger, and that got people talking.

While IHOP kept its new IHOB name and logo for a while, eventually, the brand announced that the rebrand was only a ploy to get people’s attention and get them talking, and it would be switching back to IHOP. It’s definitely a risky strategy to employ, but it worked brilliantly for IHOP.

Measuring the success of your rebrand

So, once you have finalized your rebrand, the next step is to measure the success of your rebranding efforts. How can you do it? There are a few key metrics that you want to pay attention to:

Consumer behavior

Your audience will let you know whether or not your rebrand efforts were successful. So, pay attention to your customer behavior. If people are engaging with your new brand, and you see better growth and increased sales, you can rest assured that your rebrand was a success.

Brand loyalty

Brand loyalty means that people buy from you repeatedly. Tracking how loyal your customers are can indicate success or failure. If you notice that after a rebrand, people come back to purchase from you more than once, it means you are doing the right job. It means your new branding efforts are capturing their attention and building trust.

Digital metrics

Tracking analytics across all of your platforms will also show you whether or not your rebrand has been successful. Keep an eye on things like:

Website traffic (how many visits and how long people spend on your website)
Social media followers, comments, and mentions
Paid advertisement clicks and conversions
Email newsletter sign-ups
Google ranking

Brand awareness

Brand awareness is a key performance indicator to pay attention to after a rebrand. It means tracking mentions across social media to see whether people are talking about your brand and if they are interested in sharing it with their social circles. Your social media analytics allow you to see your reach and how well people are interacting with your brand.

Next Steps

Now that you understand what goes into rebranding your business, are you ready to take the next step? Whether you are only doing a small brand refresh or a complete brand overhaul, it can take your business to a new level and skyrocket your growth.

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Business rebranding FAQs

Now, let’s answer some of the most popular questions people have about how to rebrand a business.

What are the signs that my small business needs a rebrand?

You should consider a rebrand for your small business if you are considering targeting new audiences with new products and services. Or, if you want to target a new location, for example, expanding internationally.

Also, if you notice that your current brand is not speaking to your audience, meaning it does not bring in the sales you desire, or your marketing ROI is not as good as it should be, it could also be a sign that you might need a rebrand.

How do I develop a new brand identity?

To build your brand identity, you need to:

Know your target audience: To build a strong brand, you need to know who you are trying to attract. So, make sure you put together your ideal customer avatar.
Define your brand’s mission statement: Your brand mission statement will be the key element of your brand. It can be short and simple, but it must clearly explain to people what your brand is about, what your values are, and how you can help them.
Craft a compelling brand story: Storytelling is the way to connect with your audience. It moves people and helps build trust. So, ensure your brand story is compelling, honest, and authentic.
Have a strong visual identity: When crafting your brand identity, you must consider how your brand appears visually. You want to have a consistent visual identity and ensure that people can easily recognize your brand.

What if my rebrand fails?

Rebranding is a complex process, which makes it very easy for brands to do it wrong. The first mistake brands make when they are rebranding is doing it for the wrong reasons. If you are trying to cover up an internal business issue with a new brand, it will not work.

The second pitfall is not communicating the rebrand with your audience. A rebrand should not be a surprise because people might not understand it and connect with it, which can result in people leaving and losing interest.

The third common pitfall is not being strategic with the rebrand. To ensure that the rebrand is successful, you want to do the research beforehand and create a clear plan you will follow. A chaotic rebrand can do more harm than good, and without a clear direction, it might not bring the results you were looking for.

How can I ensure my audience embraces our new brand?

Simple—communicate with your audience about the changes. You have to be comfortable with the idea that not all of your current audience will embrace the change. If your rebrand is extreme, you might lose some of your customers. But if you communicate about the rebrand and are clear about the new direction, you will minimize the losses.

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Make vs Zapier 2024: What’s the Difference

Software Stack Editor · May 3, 2024 ·

The business process automation market is projected to reach $19.6 billion by 2026, up from $8 billion in 2020. This growth is accompanied by an acceleration in process automation, with about 80% of businesses increasing their focus in this area. Moreover, a substantial portion of businesses, 50%, are planning to automate all repetitive tasks going forward.

In the quest to find the best automation tool to help streamline your business processes, you’ve probably come across two big names: Make and Zapier. Both tools promise to simplify your life by automating routine tasks, but picking the right one for your business isn’t as straightforward as it seems. That’s why we’re taking a closer look at what Make and Zapier bring to the table.

We’ll break down the differences, weigh the pros against the cons, and help you figure out which tool aligns best with your business goals. Whether you’re managing a startup, freelancing, or steering a larger enterprise, understanding these tools can really revolutionize your workflow.

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Overview of Make and Zapier

Make, formerly known as Integromat, and Zapier are two leading automation platforms that empower users to optimize workflows by connecting various apps and services.

Both tools serve the primary function of automating tasks across different online applications without the need for extensive programming knowledge, catering to a broad audience ranging from individual users to large enterprises.

Make offers a visually intuitive platform that allows users to create automation “operations” through a drag-and-drop interface. It stands out for its depth of customization and the ability to handle complex workflows, appealing particularly to users who need detailed control over their automation processes. Its rebranding from Integromat to Make symbolized a step towards broader capabilities and a more expansive vision in the automation market.

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Zapier, on the other hand, is renowned for its vast library of app integrations and ease of use, making it a go-to solution for individuals and businesses looking to automate routine tasks efficiently. With a straightforward approach to creating Zaps, or automated workflows, Zapier emphasizes speed and user-friendliness, allowing even non-technical users to set up and deploy automations quickly.

Key features: Make vs Zapier

When comparing the key features of Make and Zapier, it’s clear that both platforms offer robust cloud-based automation capabilities, yet they each have distinct strengths that set them apart.

Make distinguishes itself with its visual scenario builder, which offers a comprehensive and detailed view of automation workflows.

Users can design complex automation sequences using a series of modules connected on a virtual canvas, providing a high degree of granularity and control over each step of the process. This allows for intricate workflows that can handle conditional logic, multiple operations, and data transformations within a single scenario. Make’s HTTP/SOAP and JSON modules further enable advanced users to perform custom operations that go beyond standard integrations.

Zapier, in contrast, excels in user-friendliness and accessibility. While it may not offer the same level of depth in customization as Make, Zapier provides a vast array of pre-built app integrations, facilitating quick and straightforward automation setups.

Zapier’s user interface is intuitive, making it easy for users of all technical backgrounds to create and manage automations. Its built-in apps, like Formatter by Zapier and Webhooks by Zapier, add versatile functionality to workflows without complicating the user experience.

While Make offers more robust options for users who need complex, detailed automation workflows, Zapier caters to a broader audience by prioritizing ease of use and rapid deployment of automations.

User interface and experience

The user interface and overall experience of Make and Zapier significantly influence how users interact with these platforms, impacting their overall satisfaction and productivity.

Make offers a visually engaging and detailed interface where users can design and visualize their automation workflows as scenarios. The platform’s approach to automation, with a focus on a graphical representation of workflows, allows users to see the entire process at a glance, from triggers to actions.

While this detailed visualization is a boon for crafting complex automations, it may present a steeper learning curve for new users who are not accustomed to such a granular level of control and visualization.

On the other hand, Zapier’s interface is renowned for its simplicity and clarity, making it incredibly approachable for users of all skill levels. The clean, straightforward design actively guides users through the process of creating Zaps with minimal complexity, thereby emphasizing a more linear and less cluttered workflow.

Integration capabilities

The integration capabilities of Make and Zapier are pivotal features that define their effectiveness and appeal. Both platforms support a vast range of applications, including learning management platforms like Teachable, but they approach integrations with different philosophies and strengths.

Make offers a unique integration environment that is highly customizable and versatile. It provides users with the ability to connect a wide array of apps, not only through pre-built integrations but by allowing for custom, in-depth connections as well.

This process enables the creation of more tailored and nuanced automations that can cater to specific needs, which is especially beneficial for users who require advanced integration functionality beyond standard offerings.

Make’s focus is on the depth of integration platforms, offering detailed control over the data you exchange between apps and the ability to handle complex data transformations and logic within its scenarios.

Zapier, in contrast, emphasizes the breadth of its integration capabilities. With thousands of apps in its library, Zapier boasts one of the most extensive collections of pre-built integration templates available, making it exceptionally easy for users to find and connect the apps they use.

In addition, Zapier shines with analytics-based integrations, as marketing teams can, for instance, automate notifications when someone uses a QR registration feature in their app and then further store the data in a Google Sheet/ClickUp list.

So while Zapier’s integrations may not offer the same level of depth and customization as Make’s, they are designed to be incredibly user-friendly, allowing users to set up automations quickly without needing technical expertise. Zapier’s strength lies in its ability to provide a vast array of simple, effective, and easy-to-implement integrations, making task automation accessible to a broader audience.

Make pricing vs Zapier pricing

The pricing models of Make and Zapier are essential factors for users to consider when deciding between the two platforms.

Both offer tiered pricing structures designed to accommodate a range of users, from individuals and small businesses to large enterprises, but they differ in specifics and value propositions. As far as which is cheaper? Well, it really all depends on your specific situations and needs.

Make provides a free tier, which is particularly generous in terms of the number of operations and data transfer it offers, albeit with some limitations on the complexity of the workflows and the frequency of operations.

The paid plans increase in cost based on the number of operations, execution speed, and access to premium features like advanced error handling and logs. The higher-tier plans cater to businesses with extensive automation needs, offering more operations, faster execution times, and priority support.

Zapier’s pricing model also starts with a free plan, which allows users to create a limited number of simple Zaps with a restricted number of steps.

As for their paid subscriptions, they scale up from the basic tier, adding more Zaps, steps per Zap, and faster update times, as well as additional features like conditional logic and support. Higher tiers are aimed at teams and companies, offering collaboration tools and higher limits to accommodate their greater needs.

Pros and cons of Make

Pros of Make

Comprehensive Customization: Make excels in offering deep customization options, enabling users to tailor their automation workflows extensively and handle complex logic and data processing.
Powerful Visual Programming: The platform’s visual approach to creating workflows allows users to design and tweak their automations with a high degree of precision, making it easier to map out and understand intricate processes.
Extensive Integration Capabilities: Make supports a wide array of integrations, including the ability to create custom connections. This allows for a broad range of applications and services to be automated.
Strong Community and Support: Make has cultivated a strong community and offers substantial support resources. Users benefit from a wealth of shared knowledge, templates, and a responsive support team.

Cons of Make

Learning Curve: The platform’s advanced capabilities come with a learning curve. New users or those with limited technical experience may find it challenging to fully leverage Make’s potential initially.
Pricing Structure: While Make provides a robust free tier, its more advanced features, and higher usage limits are gated behind premium plans, which can be expensive for power users or businesses with extensive needs.
Resource Intensity: Complex scenarios in Make can be resource-intensive, potentially leading to slower execution times compared to simpler, more streamlined automation tools.

Pros and cons of Zapier

Pros of Zapier

Ease of Use: Zapier is highly intuitive, making it easy for users of all technical backgrounds to create and manage automations. Its simple, clear interface reduces the learning curve significantly.
Extensive Integration Library: With thousands of apps in its integration library, Zapier offers unparalleled breadth, enabling users to automate tasks across a vast array of services and platforms.
Quick Automation Setup: Users can quickly set up automations without delving into complex programming, thanks to Zapier’s straightforward ‘Zap’ creation process.
Reliability: Zapier is known for its consistent performance and reliability, ensuring that automations run smoothly with minimal downtime or errors.

Cons of Zapier

Limited Customization: Compared to platforms like Make, Zapier offers less depth in customization, which might not suffice for users with highly specific or more complex automation needs.
Pricing: While Zapier provides a free tier, its more advanced features and higher task limits require premium plans, which can get expensive for heavy users or larger businesses.
Complexity with Advanced Features: While basic usage is straightforward, leveraging Zapier’s more advanced features and creating multi-step zaps can introduce complexity, and the same goes for slightly more complex tasks, such as merging PDF files or even altering the code of a particular app.

Real-world use cases and success stories

Taking a closer look at some real-world use cases and success stories of automation tools like Zapier and Makehelps highlights their practical value in all kinds of different business scenarios.

For instance, a company can use Zapier to automatically sync sales data from a CRM platform to a database, which is then analyzed using business analytics tools to generate insights on sales trends, customer behavior, and product performance.

Similarly, Make can orchestrate a workflow optimization where it pulls data from social media interactions, email marketing platforms, and online sales, compiling it into a comprehensive dashboard that reflects real-time marketing campaign performance and ROI.

There are also some more direct examples that help directly highlight how these automation tools are actively helping businesses streamline their operations today.

One compelling example involves Volcanica Coffee, which utilized AdRoll and Zapier to boost its digital marketing efforts, demonstrating a significant impact on growth and operational efficiency.

In another example, a knowledge repository was created using Airtable, Zapier, and Slack to aggregate and organize shared links and information, improving accessibility and knowledge sharing within a team.

There aren’t many specific case studies or success stories about Make, but the platform is well-known for its robust capabilities in automating a wide array of tasks, being used by the likes of Meta, Spotify, and Personio. Plus, it’s always getting a steady amount of praise on forums like Reddit and StackOverflow.

Similar to the examples for Zapier, Make enables businesses to streamline their operations by connecting various applications and automating workflows. From marketing to project management and customer service, Make offers a plethora of automation opportunities that enhance efficiency, reduce manual effort, and optimize business processes.

How to choose the right tool for your needs

Selecting the right automation tool between Make and Zapier should be a decision informed by a thorough understanding of your specific requirements and how each platform’s strengths and limitations align with those needs.

Nature and complexity of automations

If your automation needs are complex, involving detailed workflows with conditional logic, multi-step integrations and processes, and data transformation, Make’s granular control and customization capabilities might be more beneficial. Its ability to create intricate and highly tailored automation can be vital for users with specific and more advanced requirements.

Conversely, if your automation requirements are more straightforward or if you prefer a quick and easy setup for connecting various apps and services, Zapier’s user-friendly design and extensive library of pre-built ‘Zaps’ would likely be more suitable. Its straightforward approach helps users automate tasks with minimal setup time and less need for technical depth.

It’s still unclear how Zapier would perform during multi-chain integrations that are all but a must during complex instances of Workday staff augmentation, updating internal databases, or dumping old code.

However, considering Zapier’s ongoing efforts to enhance its integration capabilities and introduce more advanced automation features, it’s plausible to expect developments in this area as part of its commitment to meet the evolving needs of its user base.

Integration ecosystem

Make sure to take the time to carefully evaluate the range and type of apps you need to integrate.

Zapier boasts a vast integration library, making it likely that the apps you use are already part of its ecosystem to facilitate quick and easy automation setups. This extensive range can be particularly valuable if you rely on less common or niche apps. However, we also should note that Zapier typically works best with something like a simple WordPress platform, as its code integration and more advanced features can be hit or miss most of the time.

Make, while offering a robust set of integrations, shines in its ability to provide deeper and more customizable integration options. If your conditional logic workflows require interacting with APIs or API connectivity, performing complex data parsing, or integrating with custom or in-house applications, Make’s advanced capabilities might be more appropriate.

Pricing and value for money

Consider your budget and how each platform’s pricing structure aligns with your usage intensity and desired features. Zapier’s pricing plans are straightforward and scale with the number of tasks and complexity of the Zaps but may become costly for high-volume users or those needing advanced features.

Make’s pricing also scales with usage but provides a different value proposition, especially if you need advanced features that are only available in its higher-tier plans. Ensure that the cost aligns with the depth of functionality you require.

Support and Community

Access to support and a user community can be invaluable, especially when dealing with more complex automations.

With this in mind, make sure to carefully consider the level of support offered by each platform and the vibrancy of its user community, which can provide insights, templates, and troubleshooting assistance.

The future of automation tools

As we look ahead, the trajectory and future of automation tools like Make and Zapier are pretty exciting.

Make is set to further innovate with more complex automations, potentially incorporating cutting-edge AI to give users even more control and customization options. It’s all about empowering users to craft even more nuanced and intelligent workflows.

Zapier, known for its user-friendliness and expansive app connections, isn’t likely to rest on its laurels either. We can anticipate it broadening its integration spectrum and possibly weaving in AI elements to make automation creation not just easier, but almost instinctive. Try to think of Zapier becoming even more of a mind reader—predicting just what you need to be automated next.

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Best AI tools for creator workflows in 2024

Software Stack Editor · May 2, 2024 ·

AI is rapidly transforming the creative process across industries like art, writing, music, and more. In fact, more than 86% of professional creators agree that AI has contributed positively to their work processes.

While early AI tools focused on optimizing workflow, the latest wave of AI goes far beyond productivity hacks. We now have models that can do most of the heavy lifting, giving you more time to do what you do best — create.

Hence, his article will discuss some of the best AI tools that are currently available for creators and how you can use them for maximum productivity.

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What is generative AI

Generative AI is the proper term for the technology used to create the content most creators use – text, video, art, and music. This content is ‘generated’ by machine learning models called large language models, or LLM’s. These models, like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Mistral AI, to name a few, use vast amounts of data to generate human-like content. Most generative AI-driven companies today, use one of these LLM’s application programming interfaces, or API, to help create the tools we will discuss in this article.

GPT = Generative Pre-trained Transformers

The rise of generative AI in content creation

AI is completely changing the game of how content is created across industries. The global generative AI market is expected to reach $66 billion by the end of 2024. From writing and visuals to music and filmmaking, AI tools are augmenting and accelerating the creative process in unprecedented ways.

AI language models like GPT-4 can assist with ideation, structuring, editing, and even generating images. This means that authors, journalists, scriptwriters, poets, and course creators alike, are incorporating AI writing aids into their workflows to overcome writer’s block, refine prose, and explore new creative avenues.

For visual artists, state-of-the-art image generators like DALL-E 3 are also making work efficient in many ways, while models like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, which even has video generation features, have also thrown their hats in the ring.

AI tools aren’t just accelerating content creation; they’re evolving into collaborators that enhance the creative process. Even some of the most popular WordPress plugins have begun adding AI features. For instance, Yoast SEO, which has more than 13 million downloads, has added an AI feature allowing creators to quickly generate SEO-optimized titles and meta descriptions for their work.

As AI capabilities grow, creators who strategically combine these tools with their own skills and vision will be best positioned for success.

How AI tools empower creators

AI allows creators to focus on high-level creative work. Surprisingly, even insurance companies and banks are using AI for insurance risk assessment, which means creators can flip the script and use AI in most of their processes, including managing their finances, gauging offers and packages, and generally, managing and analyzing all business-related data.

That said, here’s how AI tools are empowering creators:

Better creator workflows

AI streamlines the creative process by handling monotonous and time-intensive tasks, significantly enhancing efficiency. This acceleration in workflow empowers creators to rapidly refine their work and generate more content within shorter periods.

AI also does the heavy lifting, like setting up a document generation system for analytics reports, analyzing the numbers, and offering tips on what to fix or improve. This means creators can spend more time on creative aspects of their job, such as creating quizzes, and less on the tedious, administrative tasks.

Idea generation

Creators often struggle with creative blocks. To speed up the process, AI can analyze existing works, identify new connections, and generate totally novel ideas outside of an individual’s life experiences. This sparks creativity and helps creators receive exposure to concepts that they wouldn’t have otherwise run into spontaneously.

Personalization at scale

Using AI, creators can cost-effectively customize their creations for individual viewers, listeners, or readers. AI optimizes creative works for personal preferences, but only if it’s been trained on the right dataset. You can feed an AI tool info about your learners, and create a custom curriculum that fits their particular needs.

Expanded possibilities

AI algorithms can produce outputs that would be extremely difficult or impossible for humans to manually create from scratch. For example, commercially available LLMs will soon be able to make a website in its entirety, foregoing the need to hire a front-end developer. This expands creativity and allows creators to bring even their most wildly imaginative visions to life.

Top 11 AI tools and generators for creators

Beautiful.AI

A presentation tool designed to simplify and speed up the process of creating visually appealing presentations, Beautiful.AI offers a wide range of smart templates across various categories such as startups, business, marketing, sales, and more. Users can easily edit slides, add animations, and even include audio.

The platform provides an intuitive interface that automatically adjusts and formats your content to ensure professional-looking presentations. Features include the ability to create presentations from a text prompt, extensive slide editing options, and various export formats including JPEG and PPTX.

ChatGPT

Although OpenAI is now pivoting towards enterprise solutions, ChatGPT still remains the best and most accessible AI tool for content creation. Initially meant for just text and code generation, it has been since updated with the full suite of OpenAI products, including DALL-E 3, custom chatbots trained on specific data, and much more.

The GPT-3.5 model is free and specializes in speed and efficiency, while GPT-4 is the true pinnacle of modern-day AI-assisted content generation, despite requiring a monthly subscription.

Copy.AI

An AI-driven writing tool designed to help you generate human-like text, Copy.AI is useful for creating various types of content, including headlines, email subject lines, meta descriptions, blog intros, and more.

The platform is celebrated for its ability to produce compelling copy, assisting business owners, marketers, and copywriters in turbo-charging their creativity. In terms of long-form content, AI models like GPT-4 and Claude Opus blow it out of the water, though.

Midjourney

Midjourney is an AI system that creates detailed images from text descriptions. It was developed by researchers and uses machine learning to understand written prompts and generate corresponding pictures.

Midjourney is popular among artists and designers because it can make beautiful, imaginative, and conceptual artwork across many styles and topics. With its easy-to-use interface and improving abilities, Midjourney has made AI-generated art more accessible and expanded what’s possible with this technology.

Soundraw

Soundraw is an AI-powered tool designed for content creators who require unique, royalty-free music. With Soundraw, you can generate an unlimited number of songs tailored to your specific needs, including YouTube videos, social media content, corporate videos, web ads, and more.

The platform operates on a freemium model, allowing free generation of music with advanced features available for paying customers, which is tailor-made for course creators.

Podcastle

Podcastle is one of the versatile and accessible platforms tailored for podcast creators of all levels. It simplifies the podcasting process by integrating recording, editing, and enhancing features into one user-friendly interface.

With Podcastle, all you have to do is upload your content, and the AI will produce a professional-sounding edited version in a snap. As such, it serves a

Canva

Canva, known as a go-to tool for graphic design, also includes AI content generation. With a simple drag-and-drop interface and a wide range of customizable templates, Canva empowers users to design professional-looking graphics, presentations, posters, and more without any design experience.

Whether you’re a student, small business owner, or social media influencer, Canva offers a variety of tools and features to bring your ideas to life. Plus, it’s accessible both on desktop and mobile devices, making it convenient for users to design on the go.

Synthesia

As an AI-powered video creation platform that simplifies the production of professional videos, Synthesia leverages over 160 AI avatars and supports customization for a personal touch.

It enables script generation and voice cloning and integrates seamlessly with various languages across 130 voice options.

PlaygroundAI

PlaygroundAI is an artificial intelligence system that can generate images, videos, and other media from text prompts. It uses advanced machine learning models to understand the words you give it and then creates visuals to match your description.

You can use PlaygroundAI to make art, design products, create scenes for movies or games, and more. It allows anyone to produce AI-generated media easily by just typing in what they want to see.

Runway

Runway is a creative tool that uses AI to empower artists, designers, and creators. It offers a user-friendly platform where you can explore and experiment with AI-generated content.

With Runway, you can generate realistic images, videos, and interactive experiences using cutting-edge AI algorithms. The platform provides accessible tools for unleashing your creativity and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in art and design.

Krisp

Krisp is an AI tool that improves audio quality by filtering out background noise during calls and recordings, making it ideal for remote work and professional recordings. Its noise-canceling technology ensures clear communication, free from disruptions caused by external sounds.

Krisp is designed to boost productivity and enhance the audio experience in virtual meetings, podcasts, and any scenario requiring clear audio.

How to effectively integrate AI into your creative process

Integrating AI into your creative process can significantly enhance efficiency and creativity. Here’s how you can effectively incorporate AI tools into your workflow:

Identify your needs. First, identify areas in your creative process where AI can assist. Whether it’s generating ideas, improving content quality, or automating repetitive tasks, understanding your specific needs will guide you in selecting the right AI tools.
Research AI tools. Explore available AI tools tailored to your requirements. Look for platforms that offer features such as content generation, image and video editing, and data analysis. Consider factors like user-friendliness, customization options, and integration capabilities with your existing tools.
Experiment and learn. Once you’ve chosen AI tools, take the time to experiment with them. Familiarize yourself with their functionalities and explore how they can streamline your creative process. Don’t be afraid to try new approaches and learn from your experiences.
Integrate AI seamlessly. Integrate AI tools seamlessly into your workflow to maximize their benefits. This may involve customizing settings, setting up automation processes, or incorporating AI-generated content into your projects. Ensure that AI complements your creative vision rather than overshadowing it.
Collaborate with AI. Treat AI as a creative partner rather than just a tool. Collaborate with AI in brainstorming sessions, idea generation, and content creation. Leverage AI’s capabilities to explore new perspectives, overcome creative blocks, and enhance your creative output. Never release AI content into the world without giving it a firm human touch.
Evaluate and iterate. Regularly evaluate the impact of AI on your creative process. Monitor metrics such as productivity, content quality, and audience engagement to assess the effectiveness of AI integration. Iterate your approach based on feedback and continuously optimize your workflow.

The future of AI in creativity

The future of AI in creativity looks promising. The tools will change how we create and enjoy content and will become essential partners, helping with ideas, content creation, and design. This means more people, even those without technical skills, can express themselves creatively.

To stand out among the competition, creators need to embrace and understand how each AI tool works for their respective industries.

As a creator, you should also consider educating your followers about the perils of AI, such as how to tell if a website is fake and how to recognize AI-generated videos/images. This can result in you becoming a foremost authority in this new niche, further increasing the trustworthiness surrounding your personal brand.

In the future, AI will not just help us. It will reshape how we think about creativity, leading to exciting new possibilities for everyone.

Best AI tools for content creators FAQs

What are the best AI tools for content creators?

The best AI tools for content creators include:

ChatGPT for versatile text generation
Claude 3 for text generation
DALL-E 3 for innovative image creation
Copy.AI for effective copywriting
Jasper for comprehensive content creation
Grammarly for writing enhancement
Krisp for noise cancellation in audio recordings

These tools cater to a wide range of needs, from writing and design to audio editing and SEO optimization, making them essential for content creators looking to streamline their workflow and improve their content quality.

How can AI generators enhance my creative work?

AI generators can significantly enhance your creative work by offering fresh perspectives and ideas, speeding up the content creation process, and providing tools for unique content generation across various mediums.

Are AI content tools worth the investment for creators?

Yes, AI content tools are worth it for creators. They streamline content creation, saving time and effort. AI enhances creativity, aiding in ideation and generating quality content, and improves efficiency, enabling creators to produce more content in less time.

How does AI impact the digital content creation process?

AI streamlines content creation by automating tasks like writing, editing, and generating visuals. It speeds up production, improves accuracy, and enhances creativity. With AI, creators can analyze data to understand audience preferences and trends, tailor content accordingly, and optimize for better engagement.

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Biden signs TikTok ban bill – what comes next for creators?

Software Stack Editor · April 24, 2024 ·

TikTok has grown far beyond its origins as a platform for viral dances and lip-syncing challenges. Today, it’s a crucial space for creators sharing everything from how-to guides to personal stories, commanding the attention of millions worldwide.

But for the past few months, TikTok has been on shaky ground—caught in the crosshairs of U.S. lawmakers over serious privacy and national security concerns.

What is the new bill that President Biden signed?

The crux of the matter is a new bill signed by President Joe Biden, inside a hefty $95 billion aid package aimed at supporting U.S. allies. The national security package includes a directive that could force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its stakes within a year or face a possible ban in the States.

Thanks to the law, TikTok might have to pack up its U.S. bags unless its Chinese parent company ByteDance cuts the cord within a year.

This isn’t just about government oversight. There’s a deep unease about TikTok’s links to China, with fears that ByteDance might share sensitive data on American users with the Chinese government. The stakes are incredibly high for both TikTok and its vast user base.

How should creators respond to the new bill?

For creators who’ve built their audiences and livelihoods on TikTok, the potential ban is more than an inconvenience—it’s a threat to their financial and professional stability, as TikTok creates an estimated $24 billion annually in the U.S. market.

With the clock ticking on a nine-month deadline for ByteDance to sell (extendable by three months), TikTok users and creators are left in a state of suspense. Should they start scouting out alternative platforms or double down and hope for the best?

Meanwhile, TikTok isn’t taking this lying down. They’ve rallied the troops, urging users to speak out against the ban, hoping to turn their massive user base into a political lobbying force.

But can a bunch of viral video makers sway the powers in Washington? Only time will tell.

What happens if TikTok actually gets banned?

If TikTok goes dark, the ripple effects will be huge. Think about it: platforms like Instagram and Facebook could see a tsunami of TikTok creators looking for a new place to post.

And here’s the kicker: TikTok is gearing up to fight this ban in the courts, claiming it’s a free speech issue. This battle could set a precedent for how foreign tech companies operate in the U.S., which is big news for everyone in the digital space.

So, what should creators do? Keeping all your eggs in TikTok’s basket might not be wise. Now’s the time to diversify your social media portfolio, maybe beef up your presence on other platforms, or even explore newer ones. Staying informed and nimble is your best bet as this drama unfolds.

In a nutshell, TikTok’s situation is more than just a regulatory headache—it could reshape the social media landscape and redefine what it means to be a digital creator in the U.S. Whether TikTok can dance its way out of this tight spot remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure: creators need to stay sharp, adaptable, and ready to pivot. After all, in the fast-paced world of social media, change is just another day at the office.

Related post: Everything for creators to know about a potential TikTok ban

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Is X still a valid platform for creators?

Software Stack Editor · April 23, 2024 ·

Social platforms regularly face a slew of government regulations, creator backlash, and data usage debates, but X (formerly known as Twitter), may be taking the word ‘controversy’ to a whole new level.

The platform has seen major changes since Elon Musk bought it for $44 billion in April 2022. Not everyone is thrilled with these changes, to say the least.

Here’s just a handful of the headline-worthy changes X has recently faced…

A new pay-to-tweet model that allegedly comes as a solution to “curb the relentless onslaught of bots”
Platform restrictions in Brazil, Pakistan, and Australia for unhinged content and user accounts
Misreported brand-safety ratings from DoubleVerify
Over 30% decrease in market value and billions lost since Musk’s takeover
Advertisers rapidly leaving or decreasing spending on the platform
Elon is being sued for more than $500 million in unpaid severance after laying off over 1,000 employees.

For Creators, the stakes are high as they face a new reality where visibility comes with a price tag—both to their wallets and their reputations.

So does that mean that creators should avoid X at all costs? Well, maybe. One thing is for sure: Creators need to be in the know and leverage the changes to stay ahead.

In this article, we’ll unpack some of the most vital changes and challenges X has been facing and explain what you need to know about growing your audience on X.

A brief overview of the X-travaganza

Here’s what you need to know about the significant shifts that are reshaping X and what they mean for you as a creator.

You may need to pay to Tweet

Elon has been floating around the idea of requiring users to pay to Tweet for several months, but a recent rise in bot accounts has pushed him to take action. New users on X will need to pay $1 per year to post, reply, like, and bookmark Tweets.

While the fee is almost minor for most users, it marks a significant departure from the traditionally free access that social media users are accustomed to.

This move might deter new creators and casual users from joining X, potentially reducing the diversity of voices and content.

For you, this could mean less competition and a more select type of audience that agrees with—or at least tolerates—the changes on the platform.

X is in the middle of several government regulation challenges

On top of the new fees, X is facing legal and regulatory challenges in several countries.

Recent bans and restrictions Pakistan, Brazil, and Australia are particularly troublesome if you’ve cultivated a following in these regions.

These bans not only restrict your content’s reach but also complicate engagement with a segment of your global audience.

Adapting might mean finding new ways to connect with these followers outside X or using other platforms to maintain your presence in these areas.

Advertisers are spending less on X

The financial health of X has been rocked not just by a declining user base but also by a significant retreat of advertisers.

After misreported brand-safety metrics by DoubleVerify came to light, showing a lower safety rate than actual, many advertisers reduced their spending or left the platform entirely.

This reduction affects the platform’s revenue and could lead to fewer resources for creator support and innovation.

A steep decline in market value by over 30% signals a lack of confidence in X’s direction and management under Musk’s leadership.

For creators, this volatility suggests that investing heavily in X might come with risks, including reduced platform support and potential instability.

Diversifying your social media presence can help lower these risks, ensuring that changes at X have less impact on your overall online presence and income.

Next steps: Strategies for savvy creators

X’s latest changes don’t have to be doom-and-gloom for you as a creator.

Here are a few ideas for you if you already have an audience on X or if you’re just starting out:

For creators who are already using X

Get more cozy with your audience: You’ve worked hard to build your audience; now it’s time to deepen those connections. Consider more direct communication methods, like newsletters or exclusive content on other platforms that your audience can follow without interruption.

Monetize creatively: With ad revenues potentially dwindling, look to diversify your income. Think about direct sponsorships, launching paid subscription models, or using X to drive traffic to monetizable platforms like Teachable, where you can sell courses directly related to your X content. Learn how you can create a new stream of income by creating and selling an online course on X.

Check out the latest features: Despite its issues, X continues to roll out features to enhance user and creator experiences. If you qualify, tap into free premium features that could help expand your reach and refine your audience engagement.

For creators who are new to X

Evaluate the cost-to-benefit ratio: Given the new pay-to-tweet model, it is crucial to decide if potential reach and engagement on X justify the cost. Start small, test the waters with minimal investment, and track your ROI closely. Consider testing out similar platforms like Threads.

Build your audience across multiple platforms: Don’t put all your eggs in the X basket. Establish your presence on multiple platforms to safeguard against sudden policy changes or platform instability. Exploring rising platforms like LinkedIn can be beneficial.

Check out our article on the recent growth of LinkedIn as a creator platform.

Capitalize on niches: X’s shifting landscape might deter broader audiences, but niche communities may become more vibrant. Tailor your content to these specific groups to build a dedicated follower base quickly.

As we watch how X evolves, remember that the core of your strategy should focus on audience engagement and content value, which are pivotal regardless of platform changes.

So, what’s the verdict? Is X still a valid platform for creators? The answer isn’t as straightforward as a simple yes or no.

As with any platform change, creators need to keep a keen eye, a steady hand, and perhaps a bit more courage than before. But where there is change, there is an opportunity to grow your impact and income.

Start by identifying the audience that you’re excited to serve with this free worksheet.

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If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Digital Product Creation Tools and Resources

Software Stack Editor · April 23, 2024 ·

We’re a big fan of digital products – and for good reason. As we’ve explored in depth, digital products, such as digital downloads, are a low-risk way to generate passive income with minimal investment necessary. Meanwhile, they offer convenience and support to your audience, not to mention are here to stay. Deloitte’s ConsumerSignals recently found that “US adults surveyed estimate spending from $120 to $130 per month across 12 digital goods and service categories” and that, as a spending category, digital products and services measured comparably to traditional everyday categories, such as apparel and electronics.

We’ve covered what digital products are, the numerous types to consider, and why to sell them, but when it comes to getting started, it can be easy to get overwhelmed or stuck somewhere along the way. Whether you’re in the ideation, design, marketing, or selling phase, we’ve rounded up everything you need to get them up and running – and working for you. Here are digital product creation tools to help you execute with ease.

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Starting your journey: Idea generation and market research

For many digital product creators, coming up with an idea is the easy part. In fact, creators may have so many great ideas that they can’t commit to or follow through with any of them. Fortunately, there are resources to help you flesh out an idea, so that it can move forward into being executed.

Basic and traditional software, such as Microsoft Office and Google Drive, is helpful but limited, in the sense that capabilities are linear in scope. Fortunately, there are innovative brainstorming apps and mind-mapping tools to make collaborating more effective.

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Brainstorming and mind-mapping resources

MindMeister

With MindMeister, you can visualize ideas with different mind map layouts to choose from, collaborate with your team, and manage tasks – all in one place. On the free plan, you can create up to three mind maps with unlimited collaborators. Paid plans are under $20/month per user but require a 6 or 12-month commitment.

Coggle

Similarly, Coggle is a web application that allows you to create branching diagrams and collaborate with others. While it doesn’t have as many bells or whistles as MindMeister, let alone the capabilities of Miro or Stormboard, it’s a simple, easy-to-use, and effective resource for organizing thoughts and collaborating with others. With the free plan, you get three diagrams. Paid plans are under $10/month per user.

Miro

Miro is also a collaboration app with a much wider range of templates and integrations. It facilitates visual project management, making it ideal for team communication. Comparably priced to other mind-mapping software, Miro is ideal if you’re looking for versatility and enhanced capabilities over basic functionality.

Stormboard

Finally, Stormboard has a more corporate look and feel, helping teams stay on track. Like the others, it offers many interactive features. In addition to collaborative templates, you can hold meetings, manage projects, and facilitate structured brainstorming sessions. While it is trusted by many corporate organizations, the business plan for digital product creators and small-business owners is under $10/month.

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Market research resources

Once you have some potential product ideas, you can test them out using simple market research tools. Even if you’re not a researcher or marketer, these simple resources can help you get into the mind of your customer:

Google Trends

Google Trends is helpful for identifying topics that are trending, as well as keywords for content planning and search-engine optimization (SEO). It gives you insight into what people are searching for generally, and you can utilize this free service to discover what people are interested in – what there is already a demand for – and brainstorm product ideas accordingly. In addition to seasonal trends, you can also take note of trends by location and analyze competition.

AnswerThePublic

AnswerThePublic is similar to Google Trends, only it expands on topics, so you can get even deeper into the minds of your audience to see exactly what they’re asking about them. Hello, editorial calendar cheat sheet! You can also see analytics and similar search terms to help with SEO efforts. With the free version, which you simply need to create an account to use, you get three searches a day. Upgrading to the $11/month plan gets you 100 free searches a day.

Google Forms

Create an easy-to-use form with various fields, including short and long answers, multiple choice, checkbox, and dropdown, to ask your audience simple questions and gain valuable data about their preferences. Market researchers and public relations specialists use surveys to get feedback directly from their audiences about their likes and dislikes, pain points, experiences, etc. to create a product, service, or experience tailored to them. Google Forms allows you to customize fields and appearance, while collecting, organizing, and analyzing responses that can also be easily transferred onto a Google Sheet or exported.

(Pro tip: Squarespace and Wix users can also create forms connected to your website. You can get notified when new responses come in via email and sync your Google Drive to collect responses in a Google Sheet. Depending on what kind of survey you’re creating, having it live on your website, rather than linking away to a Google Form, might be a better user experience for your audience – and keeps them engaged on your site.)

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Section 2: Bringing your ideas to life – easy design and creation tools

Graphic design resources

You don’t need to be a graphic designer or artist to have visually-appealing, attention-grabbing graphics. In fact, with the resources in this section, people will think you have an amazing graphic designer on your team.

Canva

Canva is by far the best for beginners, with endless templates, sorted by asset type (i.e. Instagram post – square, YouTube thumbnail, etc.), and even an expansive library of stock photos to choose from. Beyond social media assets, Canva also offers templates for presentations, resumes, whiteboards (similar to the digital product creation tools mentioned in Section 1), and more – all quick and easy to create, especially with their new free AI image generator. Additionally, Canva has the functionality to collaborate with other team members. There is a free version, but the $15/mo paid plan is well-worth the investment, thanks to the high value and endless features for digital product creators.

Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark, on the other hand, offers more advanced design and professional-level features. You might choose this platform if you’re working on more complex customization projects. While it is ideal for intermediate designers, newly-introduced AI features can accomplish advanced-level tasks. If you’re an Adobe Creative Cloud user, Adobe Spark is an obvious choice for seamless integration.

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Website resources

Once you have a product to sell, as well as design assets to promote said product, it’s time to showcase your products on a website. Selling products on your website can come with an additional monthly cost (which is why we’re a bit biased that Teachable truly is an all-in-one solution). Nevertheless, these website-building platforms are great for offering digital products:

WordPress

Ideal for tech-savvy creators, this classic website builder boasts endless themes and plugins to work with. Be mindful, though, that there are two WordPress routes you can take:

WordPress.com takes care of hosting, security, and maintenance for you, but has limitations on customization and plugins.
WordPress.org requires you to find your own hosting provider and take care of security and maintenance, but allows for full customization and plugin installation.

Wix

With Wix, you can stay connected to third-party apps you know and love, as well as utilize its business-essential tools, such as email and SEO. With many templates to choose from, it’s on the intermediate side but still easy to use with many support features, including AI plus community of Wix users.

Squarespace

Squarespace has similar features to Wix, but is even more user friendly with simplistic functionality, such as a drag-and-drop builder, and aesthetically-pleasing templates that are easy to customize.

Course creation resources

Teachable

Of course, if you don’t want to go through the trouble of website maintenance, you can lean on us. Teachable is a one-stop shop for creating, hosting, and selling digital products and online courses. We even have built-in AI features to support you in the process!

Video creation resources

Whether it’s essential to your digital products or not, video content is a great skill to have and addition to either your offering, marketing strategy, or both. Fortunately, it’s even easier than ever to create quality videos with the help of these reliable resources.

VideoAsk

VideoAsk is a beginner-friendly platform that’s great if you’re dipping your toes into video creation. It allows you to add interactive elements, such as polls and questions, to your videos. As with all video resources in this section, there are various pricing tiers tailored to experimenting (with the free plan), individuals ($30/month or 20% less with annual subscription), and businesses ($50/month or 20% less when you pay annually).

Descript

Descript, on the other hand, offers advanced editing features, ideal if you’re already somewhat familiar with creating and have content to edit. These features are ideal for fine-tuning and include transcribing and collaborating tools.

AI options

You can even leverage AI for video content creation. While we firmly believe AI is not a substitute for human creativity or originality, it can support you in the complex content creation process. Here’s how:

ChatGPT is ideal for creative writing, so you might consider using it during the initial brainstorming process, as well as for scriptwriting. It can also lend a hand for research, summarizing, and curating your content.
Powered by Google, Gemini is also a great resource for brainstorming and scriptwriting, especially if you want to factor in trending news and information, plus SEO optimization. ‍
Claude AI is best for ethically-sourced information, so consider when you need credible sources, fact-checking, and to explain complex material.

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Section 3: Getting the word out – marketing for beginners

Once you have a home for them, it’s time to spread the word and promote your digital products by sharing the link with your audience. Social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook, are an obvious place to start. And if it doesn’t feel that obvious or simply feels unnatural, know that you have to talk about your digital products, so that your audience can know they exist. Engaging on these platforms also helps your audience grow by allowing your ideal customers to find you!

Social media resources

Streamline your social media communications with the help of beginner-friendly social media scheduling tools:

Meta Business Suite

You don’t have to look far for help scheduling social media posts; you can schedule Facebook and Instagram posts all from Facebook’s creator hub, Meta Business Suite. All you need to take advantage of the professional dashboard is a page or business account, which is free. In addition to scheduling, you can also create ads, see analytics on post engagement, and more.

Buffer

If you’re looking for a simple, streamlined service for scheduling posts and reviewing analytics, Buffer is your best bet.

Hootsuite

If your social media strategy is a bit more complex and nuanced, Hootsuite is a great go-to, as you can manage multiple accounts and collaborate with team members.

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Email marketing resources

Email marketing is essential for communicating with your audience through newsletters or email blasts. Many website builders, including Wix and Squarespace, now have email marketing features. While you don’t need a website to sell digital products, if you do have one, utilizing built-in email marketing is great for branding and cohesion, as well as keeping everything in one place. If you don’t have a website your products live on, a newsletter provider can help you stay in touch with your audience and communicate how they can find your products and offerings.

There are many email marketing platforms to choose from with comparable pricing (including effective free plans) and features. Here are some options we recommend and why you might lean toward them:

SEO resources

As we’ve touched on, SEO stands for search-engine optimization, and it refers to how easily your product can be found when people are searching for something similar on the web. Fortunately, there are easy-to-implement tools, so SEO can be one less thing you have to stress over.

Yoast SEO for WordPress

Yoast SEO is a WordPress plug-in that will scan and rate the copy on your web pages. It offers recommendations for how to improve SEO, making it a must-have for WordPress users.

Google Keyword Planner

If you’re not a WordPress user, you can turn to Google Keyword Planner, which is a free tool to help research, identify, and assess relevant keywords you can incorporate on the front and back-end of your website and product page.

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Section 4: Understanding your audience – feedback and analytics tools

Analytics resources

Reviewing website visitor behavior is valuable information to understand what is and isn’t resonating. One way to do this is with heatmap tools, which offer color-coded maps of where users click, spend their time and for how long, etc. Understanding user engagement can help with ways to improve and optimize.

Google Analytics is a great resource for overall analytics, while Hotjar and Crazy Egg have advanced heatmap capabilities to increase conversion. It’s always a good idea to start with the essentials and work your way up to diving deeper as you grow and learn.

Customer feedback resources

Similar to creating forms for market research and analyzing initial ideas, you can also utilize simple surveys to get feedback about your current product offerings. By tracking product performance, you can gain more valuable insight on ways you can improve or what more customers might be willing (and eager!) to buy from you. As mentioned above, this is a technique many public relations specialists utilize to understand the public even better.

Google Forms

As mentioned above, this is a convenient option that is already connected to your Google Drive. It’s easy to customize and helps organize and store the data you collect.

SurveyMonkey‍

A third party app that can easily be integrated into other web platforms, SurveyMonkey is a tried-and-true survey app that allows you to go deeper with your survey needs. Whether you’re requesting simple feedback or complex research, SurveyMonkey has a vast collection of templates and question types, plus analytics and reporting features. It also comes in the form of a third-party integration, so it’s most likely compatible with your other digital product creation tools.

Typeform

Typeform offers an engaging user experience, beyond a basic survey. With its interactive interface, aesthetically-pleasing themes you can customize, and conversational functionality, it’s great for engaging with your audience.

Website Forms

Again, most website-building platforms, including Wix and Squarespace, have forms that can be directly embedded onto your website. Not only can you collect information at any time if it’s always available, it’s also a lead magnet opportunity – to capture site visitor information, so that you can connect with them in the future, build a relationship, and market your digital products to them.

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Section 5: Continuous learning and support

Digital product creation comes with a learning curve. Technology is constantly evolving and adapting to offer more intuitive tools and features. It’s important to stay up to date with industry trends. Fortunately, we have many opportunities to support your continued learning, including our blog, podcast, teachable:u (mini courses), teachable:hq (online community) educational events, and more.

Even if you don’t tap our resources, there are many creators and experts with their own platforms for sharing digital product creation and selling information, not to mention other online communities and forums, such as Facebook groups or Reddit subreddits, to connect with other digital product creators and learn from their experiences. Research your niche or topics that resonate with you to find some individuals or groups to follow and connect with.

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Conclusion

Every digital product creator will have different tools in their toolkit. While there are seemingly endless resources to consider, it’s a good idea to consider and weigh your specific wants and needs before committing to all of them. The key to success is to start with simple-yet-effective, multipurpose resources that are compatible, and gradually build up your tool kit as you scale your offerings and business. (Pro tip: When considering some of these third-party resources, research to see if there are integrations or plug-ins for what you already know and use.)

Embrace the learning process by being open to trial and error. You have all you need to take action and create your first digital product today.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

Behind the scenes: Carrie Brummer’s blueprint for building a community

Software Stack Editor · April 19, 2024 ·

After a decade dedicated to teaching teenagers, Carrie Brummer pivoted to focus exclusively on adults, many of whom are self-taught artists grappling with the nuances of their craft.

This shift led to the creation of Artist Strong, an online school and community that has become a sanctuary for artists seeking to refine their skills and express themselves more confidently through their art. Through Artist Strong, Carrie leverages her extensive experience in the art world, including her active engagement in solo and group exhibitions.

Carrie wanted to provide “a more asynchronous experience where people don’t feel this like rush that they have to respond right away to things.”

For years, Carrie struggled to find a platform—outside the confines of social media platforms—to host her growing community of artists. That’s when she turned to Teachable.

We recently interviewed Carrie to learn how she is building an impactful community on Teachable, balancing running a community with growing her existing course business, and how you can craft a community for your students.

Here’s what we’ll cover in this post…

Why is creating a community important for impact-focused creators?
What were some challenges that Carrie faced when building her community?
How is Carrie currently using a community to serve her students?
How can you start using Teachable to build a community?

“I always wanted a community component…I had a lot of people who would constantly email me, telling me that they don’t want to be on social media all the time.” -Carrie Brummer

Why is creating a community important for impact-focused creators?

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For impact-focused creators like Carrie Brummer, building a community is essential for educational purposes and fostering a supportive network that enhances the transformative impact of their teachings.

This shift was also motivated by the need for a focused space that was free from the distractions of social media, “They don’t like that it sucks them into other things and that they’d be distracted.”

By fostering a community, Carrie aims to provide a platform where artists can “fill in their learning gaps” and develop a strong voice in their artwork, away from the fast-paced and often superficial interactions on social media.

What were some challenges that Carrie faced when building her community?

One of the primary hurdles was managing multiple platforms, which often confused and frustrated her students due to different logins and interfaces. Carrie discusses her students’ difficulties with technology, noting, “People complain about having multiple logins; they don’t like having to keep track of all of the passwords and how they sign into things.”

There were also numerous technical integration problems across platforms: “But we still had endless tech issues where people couldn’t still use the single sign-on to get into the other platform.”

Carrie also faced the logistical challenge of making sure that her students could easily access and utilize the community space without feeling overwhelmed: “And my students were constantly saying they tried to show up and they couldn’t, and they’d give up because they were tired of trying.”

The frustration from these complications led her to search for a better solution, which she found in Teachable’s community feature. This feature allowed her to consolidate her educational content and community interactions in one place, greatly simplifying the user experience for her students.

‍“It’s so much easier that they can go into the course, work on something in the program, and if it’s not pertinent to the direct comments of that lesson, they can still hop on over to the community and post their art or get feedback or ask questions.” -Carrie Brummer

The switch to Teachable also addressed the problem of student engagement and retention in the community.

By integrating the courses and community into a single platform, Carrie not only streamlined the process but also enhanced the interactive aspect of her teaching, thereby alleviating some of the major challenges she initially faced.

How is Carrie currently using a community to serve her students?

Carrie Brummer uses her Teachable community to enhance the learning experience by providing a structured, supportive environment where students can engage deeply with content, receive personalized feedback, and interact with peers.

Carrie explains: “I have one signature program. It’s called self-taught to self-confident. And that’s where I spend most of my time.” She structures this community around several vital activities:

Weekly Check-Ins: “So one is called the weekly check-in… they need to post their questions and artwork before Monday because they have a call with me every Monday.” This regular interaction ensures that students remain engaged and receive timely feedback that helps them progress.
Art Sharing and Feedback: “Then I also wanted them to have a space where they could just post things like accountability… I don’t really need feedback on them, but I wanted to show you guys I’m showing up.” Carrie encourages continuous sharing to foster a habit of regular practice and community support.
Celebrating Wins: “And the third category for self-taught to self-confident is actually a wins category. I’m trying to make sure they’re actually promoting and celebrating their strengths.” Highlighting successes is crucial for building confidence and motivating students.

By facilitating these structured interactions, Carrie’s community goes beyond typical course offerings, providing a space where students can grow their skills and develop their artistic voices in a supportive, interactive environment.

Start building your community on Teachable

Are you looking for a place to host your growing community? Teachable offers the tools and support you need to create an engaging and supportive environment, much like Carrie Brummer has with her community.

By leveraging Teachable’s integrated features, you can facilitate meaningful discussions, share resources more efficiently, and encourage peer-to-peer support among your students.

When you set up your community on Teachable, you’ll get access to…

Structured Interaction: Organize your community into categories that promote ease of use and enhance member interaction.
Seamless Course Integration: Connect your courses directly to community discussions to provide a comprehensive learning experience.
Active Engagement: Keep your community lively with multimedia posts, regular challenges, and celebratory milestones to encourage continuous participation.
Supportive Environment: Foster a welcoming space that encourages new members to participate and existing members to thrive.

Teachable simplifies the management of your courses and community and amplifies the impact of your educational content. With all the tools in one place, you can focus more on teaching and less on tech challenges.

Ready to start your community? Click here to use Teachable to set up and manage your courses and community.

If Teachable is of interest and you'd like more information, please do make contact or take a look in more detail here.

Credit: Original article published here.

A common Thread for creators: Meta might have a cash bonus with your name on it

Software Stack Editor · April 10, 2024 ·

Has the golden era of earning cold-hard cash from social media platforms finally returned?

We’re staking it at a solid maybe.

Meta recently announced the launch of a new performance-based payout campaign on Threads and Instagram. This move comes off the back of a wider Meta initiative to help creators monetize across their platforms that goes beyond limited ad revenue sharing.

At its core, Meta’s latest updates aim to simplify and amplify the way creators earn money online. With the introduction of performance-based bonuses, creators can earn based on the engagement and performance of their content—think views, likes, shares, and overall virality.

But before you start counting your digital dollars, you need to read the fine print of these new updates.

Find out how much content creators actually make on different platforms—plus their monetization strategies.

What are the new performance bonus programs?

Meta just introduced new performance bonus programs across Threads and Instagram. These innovative initiatives mark a significant departure from traditional ad revenue-sharing models, focusing instead on rewarding creators for the engagement and performance of their content.

Here’s what sets these programs apart:

Performance-based cash bonuses: Unlike previous models that paid creators based on ad placements within their content, these new programs allocate bonuses based on content performance metrics such as views, likes, and shares. This shift prioritizes content quality and audience engagement over mere ad visibility.

We’ve had a long-standing belief that a creator’s value lies in the work they produce and the audience they cultivate. So for many Teachable creators who already thrive in this environment, this will be a welcome move.

No monthly earning limits: In a bold move, Meta has removed the cap on how much creators can earn per month through these programs. This unlimited earning potential is designed to motivate creators to produce more engaging and high-quality content.

Threads bonus program: This program rewards creators for engaging content based on performance metrics or the volume of posts. It’s a move that incentivizes creativity and consistent engagement with the audience.

Instagram bonus program: This initiative targets Reels, photo carousels, and single-image posts, offering bonuses for content that captures audience engagement and adheres to Meta’s content standards.

Will you be eligible for Meta’s performance bonus programs?

So, you’re probably wondering, “Am I going to be one of the lucky ones getting those sweet, sweet Meta bucks?” Well, it depends. Meta is hand-picking creators for the programs before opening performance bonus-earning opportunities for a wider variety of creators.

If you’re aiming to get noticed and considered for the Threads and Instagram performance bonus programs, here are a few ways you can stand out…

Get familiar with Meta’s monetization policies: Make sure you’re aligned with Meta’s community standards, residing in an eligible country, and staying clear of hate speech, violence, and sexualized content.

Promote authentic, organic content: Meta has made it clear that they value natural and real audience interactions. That means artificially boosted followers or views and paid engagement strategies may disqualify creators from performance bonuses.

Post and engage consistently: Building and growing an established presence on Instagram and Threads is important for securing cash bonuses. This includes having a significant follower base and a history of regular, consistent content that resonates with your audience.

Make sure your content is 100% accurate: Content flagged as misinformation or false news may make you ineligible for monetization.

There are plenty of lucrative ways for creators to monetize outside of platforms. Check out how everyday creators made their first online sales, without going viral or having millions of followers.

What should you do next?

Savvy creators will see the new Meta performance bonuses programs as a way to supplement their income, not as their main income source.

The truth is, you can’t rely on Meta to keep its word on what program rollouts will look like. Meta has changed the terms and conditions of its program—or even canceled program plans entirely—with little for creators. Which is why it’s important to diversify your income sources

While getting a nice cash bonus is great, full-time creators need to gain full control over their income. That’s where selling your own products like digital downloads, courses, and community membership comes into play.

Read this article to find out how you can create and sell your products from scratch and start owning your income and impact.

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