The money is in the list!
That’s what everyone says.
So I decided that i’d better start sending out a regular newsletter.
For my Estepona website I’ve started building an email list using a simple popup that I created with the amazing Spectra Page Builder.
The list is growing slowly, but steadily.
In this video, I take you through how I’ve been sending out a weekly inspiration newsletter using Omnisend.
It’s really easy to create some good looking, engaging emails that get read and get opened.
I hope you find the video useful. If have any questions or comments, please leave them below.
Things mentioned in this video
Good luck with your emails!
]]>In this video I take show you Kittl and how you can use it to design your t-shirts that you can sell.
Things mentioned in this video:
Share your designs in the comments!
]]>WordPress can get hacked. It’s just one of those things.
With the huge range of themes and plugins available its inevitable that security breaches happen.
The other week, when PopcornTheme.com got hacked, I was able to quickly clean and secure the site using the Malcare Plugin.
Malcare is a full security suite that not only can clean your website but protects it too.
Malcare is a free plugin, with premium plans available. that includes
The clean up process was quick and easy.
Here’s how I did it:
Add you sites URL and then you can install the plugin.
Either submit a WordPress login or download the plugin and install it manually.
Once installed the plugin will run a full scan of your website.
Malcare will identify any malware or problems as well as secure your site so your protected from future threats.
Click the button to get your site clean.
You can reset your passwords and security keys here too.
And that’s it!
You can run a scan again to check that your site is clean.
Let me know in the comments if you were able to secure and clean your site with Malcare.
]]>In this video, I explain how I created an AI website for my imaginary building firm, Eagle Builders.
The tool I used was the very useful ZipWP.
Take a look at the site—I’ve not edited it; it’s just what the AI created for me.
I think it’s a pretty decent starting point…
Here’s the process to create your own site or sites for local businesses using AI.
You’ll need an account with ZipWP to get up and running.
They have a free plan, so you can test it all out without having to spend a penny.
Once you’re ready, you can upgrade to the right plan for your needs.
The sign-up process is really easy and only takes a minute or so.
Once you’re signed up and logged in you can start to create a website with AI.
The blank website option is useful if you want to play around and test out some WordPress stuff, like themes or plugins.
On the next page you simply need to enter some basic information about the business you’re creating the website for.
Here you need to enter as much information as possible about the business. Remember to include the key services and some background stuff about the company.
You can use AI here to help you fill it out.
This section is straightforward.
Just enter all the contact details, including links to social media.
Now it’s time for the images.
Ideally, you’ll want to upload your own images.
If you don’t have any right now, you can search for and select some stock photos.
Based on the information you just provided, you’ll see loads of different designs for your new website.
Select the one you like by clicking on it.
You now need to upload your logo. You can always quickly design on in Canva.
Decide if you want to show the site title and adjust the width of your logo so it all looks sweet.
You can also select the fonts and colors you’d like to use on this page.
You’re almost done! Select if you want any final features added to your new website.
Then click start building!
You’ll see a confirmation screen.
Click start building again, and the AI will go to work on creating your website.
Once the website is ready, you’ll be given all the necessary information to make your customizations.
Make a note of the username and password now.
To make some changes, click on Customize Website, and you’ll be logged into WordPress.
It’s easy to make changes using the Spectra page builder with the block interface.
And that’s it. You’re all done.
I hope you were able to get a website setup using AI.
Let me know in the comments how it went! I read all the comments I get.
We may earn a commission if you click on the links within this article. Learn more.
There are several reasons why copying and pasting affiliate links into your content isn’t great.
Reasons like:
That’s where a link management plugin comes in as it provides a solution to all these problems.
I’ve used plugins like PrettyLinks and Lasso before and they are both really good, however they are quite expensive.
I was recently introduced to ClickWhale, and I’ve been really impressed with it as it’s far cheaper than those two while still providing excellent functionality.
ClickWhale
Super good value link management plugin
Here’s what you get with ClickWhale
This is the main feature of the plugin.
Easily manage all your affiliate links in one place.
They’re super easy to add and edit and you get:
A link page is a sweet-looking page that contains affiliate links.
You can choose which links go on here.
Maybe you’ll use it for your most popular or useful ones. It’s a bit like my essentials page.
They are really easy to set up and share. They also look great on mobile!
ClickWhale tracks the clicks on your affiliate links and presents them to you in a really nice, visual way.
This is perfect for seeing which links are performing well or for double-checking that your affiliate links are tracking correctly.
Clickwhale also has a number of other cool features:
You should check it out! I think you’ll really like it
Let me know if you’ve tried out ClickWhale or your thinking about it…
I read all the comments I get and will try to reply to them all.
To add the popup we’re going to use the Spectra Page builder plugin.
It’s a great addition to any WordPress website and includes an easy to use popup builder.
Here’s what to do. You’ll find more details in the video.
You can easily add the plugin from within the plugin section in the WordPress dashboard.
You’ll find the popup builder in the Spectra options down the left side.
You have the option to create a simple bar across the top of your site, although you’ll probably want to go for the more traditional overlay style popup.
You’re now ready to create your popup. The popup builder uses the block editor so it’s very easy to do.
You can drag and drop any blocks you like into the popup.
To see exactly how I create my beautiful popup, be sure to watch the video.
If you want extra options like the ability to set when and where the popup displays, I suggest you upgrade to Spectra Pro.
You’ll probably want to add a form like I have.
You can use any form plugin to do this, like Gravity Forms or WPForms as both of these can connect to a wide range of popular email marketing platforms, like Mailchimp.
In the video, I use WPForms.
Install the WPForms plugin in the usual way from the plugins sections.
Once activate you should be greated with a welcome screen. Click the big orange button to create your first form.
if you don’t see this page you can find the option in the WPForms section in the left side menu.
WPForms has loads of templates. The newsletter signup one is perfect for a popup.
Give it a click.
You can now customize your form.
I like to do the following to give it a sweet look…
I do this on all the fields.
Click Save when you’re done.
In the marketing sectiojn within WPForms you can connect your form to your email marketing platform.
If you’re not using constant contact you’ll need to upgrade to WPForms Pro.
Go backinto the Popup builder and edit your popup.
Insert a WPForm block to add the form.
For more flexibility, add the block inside a container block.
And that’s it. Make your final adjustments, and you should be ready to go.
Remember, there are more details on my exact process in the video above.
I hope you were able to get your popup working quickly and easily.
Let me know in the comments how it went! I read all the comments I get.
To complete the tutorial you’re going to need Vizard.ai.
It’s really good value, and they have a free version, so you can play around with it to see if it’s helpful for you.
Short form videos are a great way to increase your reach. With platforms like Tiktok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, X and Pinterest all supporting them you’re seriously missing out if you’re not creating them.
For my new project, Estepona.Life I’ve gone in hard with social media.
I’ve been publishing daily on all the social networks and most days I’ll post a short video.
And I’ve found that it’s working really well, especially on Instagram.
I do create a lot of the videos from scratch as native short videos but I also create long-form videos and turn them into short videos.
To help me do this, I’ve been using Vizard.ai.
I find it very helpful as it makes editing the short, creating captions and inserting cool emojis really easy.
It can also automatically chop your long videos into short clips using its AI (however, I don’t often use this feature).
Watch the video above for my full process of how I use this tool in the video, but he’s an overview if you’re in a hurry:
You’ll need to sign up for Vizard.ai first, of course.
Why not try the free plan to get you started?
Grab your link from YouTube and paste it into the tool. If you’re not on YouTube for whatever reason, you can just upload the file from your computer.
Click the button, and it will generate some edited clips for you. You can skip this step if you want to edit manually (like I do), but I often run this process anyway because I’m always curious to see what it comes back with.
If you like the clips you can jump into the editor and make your final changes.
I prefer to choose what’s going in my short video. I find the AI often just chooses one section at a time to create the clips whereas I like to use multiple parts of the longer video to create the short.
To do this, click on the edit original video button.
You’ll want to unhighlight the bits that AI has chosen (probably).
You can then go through the transcript and highlight the bits that you want.
You can also correct any errors in the transcript at this point.
Once you’ve highlighted what you want click on the highlights buttons and tick all of the ones you want (all of them probably).
Then click Create Clip, and it’ll do some magic for you.
You can get the tool to auto-reframe, but again I like to do this myself.
It usually only takes a few seconds to create the clip.
The editor is pretty easy to use if you’ve ever edited videos before.
Which I’m guessing you have as you’ve got long-form content.
The main thing you’ll need to do is the reframing. Click on the video and adjust the crop and position to do this.
You’ll probably also need to adjust if it’s in 9:16 format or 16:9 format. In the example in the video there is a section where I walk into the pub and it doesn’t look good in vertical format so I adjust it to be widescreen.
You’ll find loads of cool layouts to do this by clicking on the layouts button.
You can also add a background. I always go for the blurry option.
If you need to split sections of the clip, switch to audio view (the toggle is just above the timeline), select where you need to split with the scrubber, and click on the scissor icon.
You’ll want to ensure the video is less than 60s as platforms like YouTube shorts only like videos of that length.
You can reduce the length by dragging the ends of the sections in the video when in audio view.
Vizard will of already created and added the captions for you.
But you’ll want to position them, style them and probably add some emojis.
Click on subtitles on the left side.
To add Emojis automatically click on the AI button and you’ll find the option.
To style the captions click on style. There are loads of templates included and you can also create your own look.
You can position the captions by dragging them.
You’ll want to position the captions towards the bottom but don’t put them too low or they will be obscured by the text and stuff the social platforms display over your video.
To make further corrections, click on the words in the left-hand panel.
You can also manually add colors and emojis.
You’re about done!
Click on export in the top right corner, and your video will be made. You can then download it as an MP4, ready to upload.
To speed up my upload process I use Buffer so I can post to all the networks in one place.
Remember, you can post short videos to YouTube, Facebook Reels, Instagram Reels, X, and Pinterest!
Did you make an amazing short video? I’d love to know.
Why not share the link in the comment below? I read all the comments I get.
I’ve recently been playing around with a really good plugin that makes your WordPress website really fast without the hassle of ticking boxes and configuring a load of settings.
The plugin is called Airlift and is FREE!
Here’s how to get it setup.
You’ll want to know where you’re starting from.
Head over to the Google Pagespeed score and enter your URL.
It will let you know your score. If you’re not getting 100 or very close, move to Step 2.
Head over to Airlift and get yourself signed up.
It’s easy, enter your email address and password.
Enter your URL (website address) into the box. Easy!
On the next page click on the big green button to download the plugin..
Once you’ve downloaded it to your computer, login to your website and install it.
You can do this by going to Plugins -> Add New -> Upload
Once it’s uploaded, click Activate.
To connect your website and test everything is working, click the Test Plugin Button.
Hopefully your plugin has connected successfully.
If it has, it will analyze your site and come back with an improvement on your Google pagespeed score.
This process can take up to 5 minutes.
I’d love to know what scores you’re now getting on your website.
Let me know in the comments!
]]>In this video, I share my experience using AI tools to convert YouTube videos into articles for this website (like the one you’re reading).
I’ve tried a few different tools, but Google Gemini works best for me.
It does a great job of mimicking my casual and friendly writing style, which is important to me.
Plus, it’s really easy to train Gemini on my own writing style by just pasting an article.
Here’s my process for using Gemini to write articles from my videos:
It’s important to note that I usually rewrite the articles a little bit before publishing them on my website to make them more casual and friendly.
But overall, Gemini is a great tool that saves me a lot of time and effort.
If you’re interested in trying out Gemini for yourself, you can check it out here.
The other tool I use in the video is Harpa.ai.
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!
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