Now is The Time to Monetize Yourself with a Vlog!

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article, Now is The Time to Monetize Yourself with a Vlog!

Don’t sit around waiting to be told by the TV when the covid lockdown ends so you can return to your nine-to-five grind or that horrendous night shift job you’ve wanted to leave for years. Now is your chance to capitalize on yourself – your talents, whatever they are, by building an online presence on video platforms and monetizing your web traffic.

Where to start?

Start with your passion!

If you’re not doing what you love to make a living, I’m sorry but you’re doing it all wrong.

Whatever your passion in life, you have gained knowledge and experience which could have immense value to others.

To monetize that passion, all you have to do is let other like-minded people know you exist. One of the easiest ways to do that is by making and uploading videos. Here are some strategic ideas to build an online audience and turn visitors into cash.

Monetizing Video Content

You can monetize your passion with vlogs. Photo by Alexander Mils from Pexels.

Video platforms offer a variety of monetization options. The highest paid YouTubers in 2019 were worth between US$11 and 26 million, according to Forbes. Their videos go viral for various reasons and they become sought after influencers, for a while.

Nevertheless, tens of thousands of individuals earn a regular income from YouTube and other monetized video platforms simply for sharing their experiences, ideas, beliefs and projects in video logs or video blogs (vlogs).

With a few thousand subscribers, you can regularly earn a few hundred dollars just for speaking your mind.

Youtubers generally monetize their content in these four ways:

  1. Revenue earned from ads displayed before, during or after their videos through Google Adsense.
  2. Product placement or recommendations in videos for affiliate marketing partners
  3. Directly advertising your own product or services
  4. Accepting donations such as superchat during live streams and support from Patrons through Patreon or a similar account.

There are many alternative platforms to YouTube, where you can create your own channel, post videos free of charge and monetize your content. Here are just a few of them:

  • Patreon – a membership platform that makes it easy for artists and creators to get paid
  • Vimeo – grow your business with video creation, hosting, and marketing tools
  • Dailymotion – News, entertainment, music and sports
  • Instagram TV (IGTV) – Videos for Instagram
  • Twitch – Live streaming platform for gamers

Clearly define your niche and target market

Do this first! It’s really important to narrow down the definition of the one single thing you do really well, or the one single “product” you have to sell.

Selling your product(s) isn’t always a straight forward transaction. There are tangible and intangible products. Your particular product can be anything of value to others such as knowledge, advice, a video, a piece of music, how-to instructions, a whiteboard presentation… Anything which gives your online audience something to take away after watching one of your videos.

Even your personality can be a product. Maybe there’s a million-dollar YouTuber in you bursting to get out. You might have a unique and engaging presentation style that appeals to a particular demographic.

That demographic sliver of the world’s web traffic is your target market. You must aim your marketing directly at them; just as a sniper uses a rifle, not a shotgun.

When you are on target, your audience grows organically and you see improvements in the ratio of conversions in your visitor numbers.

How to Encourage your visitors to perform an action (convert)

A conversion can be anything that has engaged your visitor and prompted them to do something. It could be one of the following:

  • Watch a video
  • Download a file
  • Click on an affiliate link
  • Subscribing for news and updates
  • Make a comment
  • Buy something
  • Click through your web pages
  • Read through a blog post or two

All these actions or conversions can be monetized. The direct sale of a tangible product is obviously a simple financial transaction which directly translates into money.

Downloadable digital products such as books, manuals and music are more profitable, because you only have to make one but can sell it over and over again.

Offering cheap digital products gives you a better chance of improving your conversion rate.

Buy Web Traffic to Boost Video Views

Once you have your video channel up and running, you need views and subscribers to monetize your content.

Most video hosting platforms provide built-in marketing tools to help you increase the size of your audience but you need to bring viewers in from outside too.

If you don’t have one already, get a website to direct web traffic to your videos and centralize your marketing efforts.

Embedding your videos in your website’s landing page is an effective way to boost video views and subscribers. A website visitor watching one of your videos on your web page counts as a conversion.

Gaining popularity organically through search results alone takes a long time. You could be pounding away on social media for years before benefitting from any serious monetization

One of the quickest and cheapest marketing strategies to kick-start video monetization is to buy targeted traffic directly to the web page featuring your video content.

When you buy targeted web traffic from a reputable vendor you can reach real people interested in your niche or based in a specified geographic location. If visitors find your videos interesting and watch them all the way through, you have converted those visitors and will benefit from the video monetization methods mentioned earlier.

The cost of web traffic varies, depending on the number of visitors you want in a specified time period, as well as the variety of niches available to you. Web traffic vendor MaxVisits has a cheap traffic wizard which gives you a variety of transparent options, letting you tweak and fine-tune your web traffic plan to suit your budget and niche audience.

Free & Cheap Video Production Tools

Almost anyone can make and upload videos with a few basic essentials. A standalone video camera is worth investing in if you want to make solid productions with different angles, zoom and other handy features not available on phones and webcams. Most smartphones and webcams will suffice though, if your face or the screen is always the focus of attention.

Free Video Recording & Editing Software

You can produce professional videos without paying a penny by downloading free recording and editing tools. OBS Studio is popular among gamers for live streaming on YouTube and Twitch while playing the latest shoot-em-up. As you can record and stream your own screen with OBS, it’s also handy if you want to make a slideshow or Powerpoint presentation.

Shotcut is a free open source cross-platform specifically for video editing available for FreeBSD, Linux, macOS and Windows. You can use it to convert your OBS recordings to Mp4 format to upload to video hosting platforms such as YouTube. You won’t need any more than that, unless you are doing advanced special effects.

Cheap Audio & Video Hardware

If you have a good PC, laptop or mobile phone, you should already have enough internal hardware power to produce videos that are good enough to view on mobile devices. However, to make sure you can produce high quality videos with good sound it’s worth investing in a few essential pieces of hardware.

Good Audio is Essential

The audio quality of a video makes the difference between and a mature and professional production. Bad quality audio with wind, hiss, pops and crackles or low volume is an instant turn off. If there’s one thing you should invest in for your vlogs, it’s a good microphone. Webcam mics just don’t cut the mustard.

There’s a good selection of professional Rode and Cannon brand microphones available at discount rates this April and May with a Media Markt voucher.

Make sure you get a mic with a foam sock to cover it to prevent popping sounds from bursts of wind when you speak or are filming outdoors in the wind. This is one investment you’ll be pleased you made when your voice comes over like a news presenter.

It’ll Be Alright on The Night!

It’s perfectly normal to be nervous for your first vlog. Some prefer to pre-record and edit everything before uploading. Others just throw all caution to the wind and go live, warts and all.

See what works best for you. Interacting with your audience during a live stream can really help make your broadcast entertaining and engaging.

Don’t procrastinate. Get proactive and start earning a living just being you!

A Step-by-Step Guide to Improve Your Business Writing Skills

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article | A Step-by-Step Guide to Improve Your Business Writing SkillsToday, a significant portion of business activities refer to communications, and writing is the most demanded ability, among other communication skills.

Despite its importance, many professionals lack this ability and have trouble writing business materials.

An excellent approach to deal with this problem is to hire a pro essay writing service to compensate for your shortcomings. If you are constrained on money, however, here’s everything you need to compose an acceptable business document:

Have a Plan for Your Writing

While improvised writing deviates you from important issues, having a mental plan helps you to address intended writing objectives. Whether it’s a memo, a proposal, or a report, you should consider the following questions and, accordingly, have a systematic plan of what you are going to write.

  • What do I intend to tell?
  • What should the audience do after reading my piece of writing?
  • What evidence, statistics, and documents do I need to attach?
  • Who is my audience, and which style should I follow in this writing?

Do Not Postpone Your Message

In today’s fast-paced world, business people are not willing to read lengthy introductory paragraphs. They want you to get right to the point and don’t have extra time for unnecessary sentences.

Unlike what you learned at school, in business papers, you’re not going to write a catchy introduction, three body paragraphs, and a perfect conclusion for every email you send to your colleagues.

All you need is to present your message right at the start, be clear, and do not make your readers look for the required information.

Make It Easy to Read

When reading a business writing, people take a quick skim to see what it aims to describe and decide whether or not they should read it. Here are a few tips you can use to make it simple for your readers:

  • Include subheadings for each particular message/call to action
  • Use bullet-form lists to highlight crucial points
  • put the primary issues at the top
  • write vital pieces of information in bold or highlight them

Cut The Jargon

Every industry has its own technical or career-specific terminology. However, if you use too many buzzwords or complicated terms, your writing will create confusion for your target audience, especially when you’re writing for clients, stakeholders, or other non-experts out of the organization.

You don’t want to showcase your field expertise or have your partners check the dictionary to understand your purpose. Your main objective is to communicate a message as quickly as possible. So eliminate complicated words and make your writings more reader-friendly.

Note: In some business documents (e.g., project report), adding technical description may be unavoidable to some extent. If you’re not familiar with your field-specific terms, legitimate essay writing services can be a good help.

Keep It Professional

Avoiding jargon doesn’t mean you have to write in a completely informal manner.

When you have a close relationship with your colleagues, it’s all easy to include a joke or an office gossip in your business correspondence. However, it can pose an adverse effect on your content, harm your reputation, and probably lead to a misconception.

A great way to evaluate the level of professionalism in your business writing is to ask yourself, “Do I feel comfortable if my boss reads this email?” If the answer is no, you ought to rethink and rewrite the email.

Keep It Short

Emails and other electronic documents are more likely to be read if they are brief. If your email took more than half a page, email is probably not an ideal way to convey that information. Maybe you can call that person to talk about the issue or find another way to meet your needs.

Save Templates

As you may know, many business writings follow a similar pattern. Once you wrote a good article, letter, or email, you can save it and use it as a template for your future documents.

Another advantage of this method refers to the tight deadlines where you always rush to give in some report, post some advertisement content, or request a tender. When you are in a hurry, errors, typos and confusing phrases are more likely to appear in your pieces- an embarrassing fault that can be nearly avoided by using pre-written formats.

This is also true about professional essay writing services. Having worked with more than a thousand clients, these essay services have a rich source of pre-saved templates that can be used to construct a superior document for you.

Don’t forget to Proofread

Before pressing the ‘send’ button, take a moment to read your work. Check for potential misspellings, fill out incomplete data and omit extra ones. Put your self in readers’ shoes and see whether he/she can connect with your intentions. Always remember that even a single mistake can cause great embarrassment.

Bottom Line

In today’s information-driven world, every worker- irrespective of their role and operating field- must know how to construct business documents. The above-mentioned tips are great for improving your business writing skills, but if you are short in time, you can also write essays online by paying an urgent essay writing service.

Tips To Improve Your Business and Project Management Skills

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article | Tips To Improve Your Business and Project Management SkillsBusinesses need managers to run successful operations at various levels and across various departments. These managers efficiently plan, manage, supervise, control and monitor business operations. Senior managers need to develop communication, motivational, and leadership skills to further the success of the company. Self-management and time management are also attributes that successful managers display.

If you want a corporate career as a business manager or a project manager, you are aware that meeting and exceeding goals and objectives are key to your success. Efficient project managers and business managers are required to have a set of unique skills that enable them to execute their tasks better and meet deadlines well within time. However, developing these skills is not matter of joke. They need dedication and time on your part and a focused guidance to help you achieve your career goal.

Here are some handy tips to improve your management skills:

Master the art of time management. It makes for a loss as a manager to waste time since time is a limited resource. You just have 24 hours in a day. Time management skills come helpful in optimising time to meet your project deadlines. Allocating jobs skillfully to team members is a key responsibility area of a manager. Displaying good time management is evidence that, as a manager you understand the significance of productivity.

Learn from the past. There will be time in your career when your project will be halted due to unforeseen reasons. This is the time to bring out the best in you to be able to take the right decision. While seeking the advice of your immediate seniors is the obvious choice of many, reviewing successful old projects to understand the current problem better is helpful. This helps to take valuable ideas from the reviewed projects to run the current project efficiently.

Get better at communication. Effective communication with your team member is vital to the progress your project. Talk, hold meetings and respond in time to build confidence in your team through communication. Communication also established transparency among the team and boosts the morale of the team to deliver the project in time.

Set Expectations and Monitor Deliverables

A part of effective communication is also about letting your team members know what is expected of them. It is imperative to set expectations, so that everyone is aware of his responsibility. This helps in the team to follow process and guidelines and deadlines.

While setting responsibilities and expectations, you should keep a watchful eye on the timely delivery of work from your sub-ordinates. Monitor productivity closely on a day to day basis to optimise operations.

A good manager will require to master a number of different skills to progress in his career. Many graduation courses in Business and Project Management are available that help you sharpen your skills. Your online courses with Learning Cloud will offer you a vast array of business management courses that will imbibe managerial skills in you so that you can reach your career milestones earlier than others.

Is It Time to Upgrade Your Office Setup?

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | Is It Time to Upgrade Your Office Setup?

Whether it’s a home office or the top floor of the tallest building downtown, upgrading your office space can transform your business’ productivity more than you might expect. While you might have a sleek and stylish office already, it can always be better. Upgrading your office could spark increased creativity, satisfaction, and a feeling that you and your employees can get this done, whatever this might be.

But where do you fall behind when trying to upgrade your office? There are so many things to consider, from the equipment you use to your surroundings. Here are some tips on what to consider upgrading your office setup and reaping the benefits.

The Equipment

Whether it’s your computer, office chair, desk, printer, or even desk toys, upgrading the equipment in your office can make everything run smoothly. If you’re looking for increased comfort, investing in better ergonomic chairs for you and your employees will prevent the back stains and complaints. Likewise, company-provided laptops will make it easier for everyone to complete work from home.

When upgrading your office chairs, you have many options available. For instance, many modern office chairs are popular because they have ergonomic, aesthetic designs. They’re usually made of metal and leather for durability and longevity. For instance, Steelcase office chairs and other ergonomic chairs have either aluminum or platinum base with steel adjustable armrests, leather backing, and seating. They deliver full support for different body sizes and shapes, providing a perfect fit.

As mentioned, you may also want to upgrade your office desks. Office desks come in different designs. You might want to install standing desks, like adjustable height desks, to promote your employees’ comfort. This type of desk is adjustable to prevent unhealthy, prolonged sitting. Furthermore, you can install corner desks to use office space efficiently.

In addition, a vital factor to consider when upgrading your office desk is the surface material. Whether you prefer one with some storage drawers below or a desk to securely hold your desktop computer, the material reflects how the desk feels and looks in the office.

There are too many businesses that rely on old equipment because they don’t feel it’s worth upgrading it. But outdated equipment can ruin productivity and lead to nothing but frustration for your staff. If you’re looking for a happy office with top morale, the best place to start by investing in shiny new toys for them to play with.

The Systems

Network systems are something you must keep up to date, as this ensures that you can keep your data and information safe from hackers and similar security threats. Investing in robust Network Cabling Services will make this a reality and also mean that you have a system you can rely on.

It might also be worth thinking about upgrading the operating systems that your company uses. While most people will use Windows 10 or macOS 10.15, company computers seem, curiously, stuck in the past, with some machines still running Vista. While this could be considered more secure than others, it also cannot handle the programs that could be beneficial for your business, so even jumping up to the next generation would make a huge difference.

The Energy

Being energy efficient is a significant thing in the modern business world, and it doesn’t matter if you work from home or run a large office, you want to do everything you can to save money on your energy bills.

Upgrading from your existing, migraine-inducing fluorescent lights for something more comfortable on the eyes is the first step. Still, you can also consider looking for a way to bring more natural light into the office. It is, however, unlikely that you’ll be able to replace windows outright. Even so, you can think about rearranging the office layout to make the most of the light and space available.

The Surroundings

No one wants to sit in a dull and study office, but while you don’t want to fill it with too many distractions, such as a ping pong table or something similar, it doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun with the overall design of the office.

Everything from employee artwork to house plants dotted around will create an atmosphere that you and your employees will be glad to work in. It will provide a sense of personality to the office’s overall style and design, and make it a place where you and your staff will feel comfortable, relaxed, and ready to get on with the day.

The Policies

If you’ve not already noticed, the professional world is changing. Companies are embracing the opportunities of working remotely, allowing flexible hours, as well as outsourcing tasks that will help others free up their time so they can perform better.

It could be that it’s time for your office to update its policies and see the benefits that doing so can bring. Studies show that flexible working can increase employee productivity, despite some believing the contrary. This will only prove beneficial to your business and the morale of everyone in the office.

Space to Breathe

Not every office needs to be a painfully minimalist adventure in subtlety. You can use it to reflect your company and your employees. The days of the stuffy office are long, long gone, now it’s all about personality and oomph to motivate and drive employees, even if the only employee is yourself. Whether you are upgrading your office systems or its surroundings, there is always something that you can explore to boost your satisfaction, security, and quality of service.

The Consequences of Bad Leadership

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StrategyDriven Business Politics Impacts Article | The Consequences of Bad LeadershipAn area of Buenos Aires nicknamed Villa Freud boasts the highest concentration of psychoanalysts per capita in the world. Even the bars and cafe?s have Freudian names, such as the Oedipus Complex and the Unconscious. Many of the residents are therapists, in therapy, or both. In fact, psychoanalysts are only allowed to be therapists if they are in therapy themselves. The requirement creates a self-perpetuating and ever-expanding universe of psychoanalysts and patients. It’s like an inverted – and unhealthy – pyramid scheme. Every new shrink is another shrink’s new patient, and the arrangement keeps both supply and demand perennially high.

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Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review Press. Excerpted from Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders: (And How to Fix It) by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic. Copyright 2019 Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic. All rights reserved.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Tomas Chamorro-PremuzicTomas Chamorro-Premuzic is the Chief Talent Scientist at Manpower Group, co-founder of Deeper Signals and Metaprofiling, and Professor of Business Psychology at University College London and Columbia University