Hello gorgeous!
Just when we thought things were going back to normal after the last few weeks of madness, we ended up with the following:
- a leaking tank in the loft,
- a complete change to my YouTube strategy, and
- totally overhauling Pinterest strategies across the board (work and personal brand).
So I guess we should probably start there this week!
Do You Have Pinterest Business?
Did you know that Pinterest is the 3rd most used search engine after Google and YouTube?
Yes, you read that right, it’s not a social media platform, it’s a search engine. You can be forgiven for thinking it was a social media platform (like I did) because it’s included in things like Later, Metricool, Buffer, and other social media scheduling tools, but in fact, it’s a search engine.
Well, I guess it’s more of a hybrid, if you’re pinning, you should be engaging with pinners’ comments on your pin to get conversations going. But, while other platforms don’t like you sending people off their platform (looking specifically at YouTube and Twitter), Pinterest was built to allow you to signpost potential customers off their platform.
It’s not until you start really looking into it that you begin to realize how beneficial it is for businesses. This is something that I’m heavily involved in at work, and I love finding new information and guides that are coming out now! I’m working out Pinterest strategies for my brands and for agency clients, and it’s a blast! I can’t think of a single person I know (entrepreneur friends or clients) who wouldn’t benefit from having a Pinterest strategy in their business arsenal…seriously.
Do you have a Pinterest Business account? If not, it might be worth having a bit of a Google to see the benefits it could give you. I’ve created a page (basically for me so that I can keep track of everything,) which you can find on the button below. If you’re working with an agency, it might be worth asking them if they offer this as a service.
YouTube is Delayed
I know, I know, I told you that YouTube was coming in my last email. And it still is, but it’s a bit delayed (see my rant about hot water below)!
I’m still building my list of YouTube videos that I want to do, but I went to Jessica Stansberry’s webinar the other day about YouTube, and I’m having a bit of a rethink about my strategy.
My original plan was that I would release a YouTube video, and every single one would have a handy dandy download with it. A download could be a PDF or workbook or in-depth how-to guide of how to do the thing that I was talking about in the video.
This meant that I would have to build the freebies first and then record the video because there’s no point in creating a video and not being able to release it because I haven’t built the thing that it was about!
Well, Jessica has another suggestion, and this is the way that she’s been ‘doing’ YouTube for years, so I will bow down to her superior knowledge on this one! Her plan is a 4:1 ratio. You have 4 videos in which you just share knowledge and educate your viewers on a topic, and then in the 5th video, you can sell your thing. You can put the download link (or sign-up page) in the description of all of your videos, but don’t mention it in the videos until you get to no. 5, then I can “sell” it, even if it’s a freebie.
This strategy makes a lot of sense to me because YouTube won’t look favorably on someone sending people off the platform in every single one of their videos. This will likely impact who they show/promote my videos to. They’re not going to rank reasonably if, in every video, I’m sending people off YouTube. So that makes sense. But now I have to work out which videos go together and come up with new ideas so that they essentially form a 5-video series on a single freebie.
Do you have a YouTube strategy like this? As I said, Jessica’s advice really makes sense to me, and I can totally understand why it works. I would love to hear from you if you do something else and if it works or if you’re going to implement the 4:1 ratio like I’m planning on doing.
Hot Water is a Luxury
Last Monday at midnight, we noticed that we had a single drip coming from the ceiling on the landing. Shortly followed by having to remove the fuse to the electricity upstairs because the drip had turned into more of a waterfall and had decided to come down through the light fitting…
That ended in a 24-hour plumber coming out at 1.15 Tuesday morning! The hot water tank in the loft (that’s been there since the house was built in the 60s) has rusted through and was emptying its entire contents out over the landing.
Cue all of us running around the house turning all the hot water taps on to empty the tank, turning the water off, turning the fuse for the boiler off (so we didn’t do anything drastic if we accidentally turned the hot tap on by accident) – all in the dark at this point because we pulled the fuse for the electrics.
We can get a new (plastic) tank for the hot water in the loft. The problem is the boiler (which is actually working perfectly) was installed in 1994. That’s 30 years next year. And while it’s still working, after almost 30 years, we know that it could go at any point, and no one can repair it because they just don’t make the parts anymore.
Two plumbers later, I think the technical term for the tank is “fucked.” So, do we spend $1,000 on a new tank for the loft, and run the risk that the boiler will fail this winter, or 4 times that price for a new combi-boiler that doesn’t need a tank in the loft at all?
Thankfully, we have a cold-fill washing machine and dishwasher! Not only that, but we have wonderful neighbors who let us shower in their new wet room! We’ve been assured by both plumbers that we’re classed as an emergency, as we have no hot water in the house. Although we’ve only got one quote back so far, so we can’t be seen as that much of an emergency.
Side note: Did you know that they put galvanized tanks in the loft for the hot water, THEN put the roof on? And when they fail they can’t get them through the loft hatch, so they cap off the pipes and leave them up there? Nope, neither did I! Obviously, I’m talking about the old-style boilers, not the new combi efforts!
So, that’s it for this week…
Yup, it appears I’m still living a slight fustercluck, which is showing no signs of buggering off and leaving me alone. Ho hum. These things are sent to try us!
The Men replaced the landing ceiling rose and bulb yesterday with a new one and turned on the electricity upstairs, and nothing went ‘pop,’ so I think everything has dried out properly! I should be able to get back into the office today (she says, crossing her fingers!).
I hope everyone is wonderful and awesome and feeling fierce as we start a new week. Here’s a song that always gives me good vibes (I’ll admit, I can’t play it just once), enjoy:
Until next week, when I might have hot water!
Stay strong, Esme xx
