This episode is brought to you from Sitelock. When I was coming up with this post title and I decided to go with 'Google Money' I had sort of a scary thought. That 'Google Money' probably isn't as far fetched as that sounds, right? I mean... we have bitcoin (although I can't say that I totally understand bitcoin). Then of course if you're a fan of Mr. Robot there's e-coin (I think that's what they call it). But since we don't live in the fictional world of Mr. Robot nor is Google creating its own currency... let's get back on topic. If you've been listening to this show (and hopefully Freedom Papers), you know that one of the things I've been talking about a lot lately is the 'Acres of Diamonds' idea. Meaning, what do you already have that could bringing you income but you're sitting on it or not even aware that it's there? I think as business owners we're so close to our own stuff that we forget to take a step back and look at what we've created or accomplished from a different perspective. I know I did that... and still do at times. But not as often as I used to. So what is Google Money? In this case, it's Adsense revenue. I finally took a harder look at my YouTube channel and have begun doing some tutorial videos again (I got away from them over the last year and a half because I didn't like Camtasia for the Mac and couldn't really get into Screenflow, until the recent update. Which I love). I had always put my videos up on YouTube but never dove into what I need to do to ensure they were optimized and working for me. The videos were working for me in terms of building an audience and people connecting with me but there was so much more I could do. Which is when I reached out to my friend Steve. Who I knew had a much better grasp on YouTube and what I should be doing. I knew I wasn't interested in becoming a 'YouTuber', nor did I want to go buy some huge YouTube course. I simply wanted to do a better job with what I had already uploaded and would be uploading. Remember, I'm not trying to create more work in my life... no more hustle for this chick. So after having Steve take a look at my channel and what I was doing wrong (which was really more about what I wasn't doing) I followed a few simple suggestions of his and went about my happy way. Then got a #notifcationofpayment from Google. I had just received a $120 payment from Adsense for the month (i.e., Google Money). Thank you more please! I have a decent amount of subscribers and views. Of course now I have to go back and tweak all my previous videos, but that's O.K., that's the kind of thing I can do at night when I'm watching TV (I've gotten pretty good at knowing which tasks I can do when). This is a perfect example of 'Acres of Diamonds' in action. My Favorite New Tools You guys know by now that I'm a complete geek about finding tools and plugins to use. As I write this I'm wondering if this is something I should bring up with my therapist?... kidding of course. There are a couple new tools and plugins I've been using a LOT lately and decided it was high time I share them with you. You'll be hearing more about each of these in individual posts or follow up podcasts (I have a couple interviews done with a couple founders), but I didn't want you to have to wait until those posts went live. The first tool I'm having a ton of fun with is actually a WordPress plugin, by one of my favorite companies, Thrive Themes. Thrive Headline Optimizer This isn't a new plugin by any means (although it was released this year, so it's kind of 'newish'), but I've finally started using it more. It's about as easy as it gets too. You enter your headline, then you can enter additional headlines (you can split test two or as many as you'd like). Thrive Headline Optimizer will then alternate showing the headlines to different visitors. You get to decide how long you want to run the test for,