Cereal

If this isn't the first series you've put together before starting your Cereal site, you're in luck! Cereal helps creators bring in all of their existing video content from YouTube easily, so your site is ready to go in minutes. Before we get started, if you're interested in hosting a series that isn't complete, or hasn't started yet, make sure to [use this guide](https://blog.trycereal.com/blog/390f9de4-c3c1-492b-ba6d-a4c08f77dcff) as a reference instead. Now let's take a look at how the import process works in Cereal.
 
## 1\. Create a new Series

Navigate to the Series tab, and click "New" to start creating a new series. This is how you'll begin whether it's to import an existing series, or get set up for a new series you're planning to run.
![alt text test](https://cdn-prod.cereal.app/page/55c5a145-d4ed-4edd-9535-8b88b44c14bc/upload-1643049314915.png)

 
## 2\. Get the YouTube Playlist ID

Identify the YouTube playlist you want to import, and copy the Playlist ID from its URL. This will be everything after the "list=" part of the url.

![alt text test](https://cdn-prod.cereal.app/page/5167f53e-4eae-4da6-a4ce-5f6464922db7/upload-1643049639642.png)

 
## 3\. Paste in the YouTube Playlist ID and Save

Once you've filled out the YouTube Playlist ID field like below, this series will be used to import the playlist from your YouTube channel and serve it as a series.

![alt text test](https://cdn-prod.cereal.app/page/57878aae-1516-4198-b5e6-4a27e69d1c88/upload-1643049738722.png)
You can come back to the series and verify that everything's been imported by opening up the series in the admin view, and scrolling down to see the video list. This will show all imported videos now tied to the series.
![alt text test](https://cdn-prod.cereal.app/page/4e59c716-5416-4373-84c1-031560c33c8e/upload-1643049957763.png)

Creator Guides

How to Import an Existing Series

Having people organically discovering your content is an important way to grow your audience, and it's one of the important things that your Cereal site will do for you over time. You may heard of phrases like Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or have heard talk about how important keywords are to your brand. In this article, we'll focus on the clear and meaningful things you can do within Cereal to make sure you are best positioned for organic discovery on search engines.
 
## 1\. Set Up your Site Info

This step one should be easy to knock out, after all it's the first thing you do when you start your Cereal site! Specifically, Site Title and Site Description are two fields that will be returned with every single page of your Cereal site, in the "Meta Data" of the page, which is used by search engines like Google to decide how to label your content (and its relevance to the user that performed the search), and by platforms like Twitter or LinkedIn in labeling the link card when you share a link to your site.

The key to this is to be clear, succinct, and make sure to call out your brand name.

![alt text test](https://cdn-prod.cereal.app/page/c87d8fba-f0ef-464d-a6a7-8d079fc11498/upload-1643050773323.png)

## 2\. Use a Clear Post Excerpt

The Post Excerpt is a field that's available on Video posts. Think of this field as the "summary" field, which is used by platforms to determine what the show when you share the link to the post, or search engines as an option for a description for the page. This is generated automatically as a truncated version of your post description, but should be edited for clarity.

## 3\. Cross Link Appropriately

A great way to build up a reputation as a high quality content site, is to have other high quality sites vouch for you. That means other sites, news sources, or other creators you collaborate with linking to your site. This is one area to be careful with, as low quality site links or spamming platforms with your link will have the opposite impact, and can reduce your ranking on search engines (not to mention diminish trust from your audience).

The best thing to do as a growing creator will be to have your collaborations with other creators cross linked between your site and theirs, building a positive link web over time.

## 4\. Post relevant content consistently

What's good for audiences tends to be good for being discovered by new audiences. So this step is an ongoing, never ending step (kinda like running up the endless staircase in the Mushroom Castle from Super Mario 64). Search engines will favor high quality, relevant content created over time, and a creator that keeps delivering to their audience will see the same favor with their fans.

![Super Mario Runs Up The Stairs In Super Mario 64](http://mrwgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Super-Mario-Runs-Up-The-Stairs-In-Super-Mario-64.gif)

How to Master Search Engines as a Creator

If you have a video series you're interested in hosting under your own brand on Cereal, you might be wondering how best to set up your series to get the most out of the platform. You are in the right place! We'll cover how to set up the series, how to upload videos to a series, as well as some tips and tricks on membership features as it relates to video content. Before we get started, if instead you're looking to import a series or playlist that has already been completed, check out [this article instead](https://blog.trycereal.com/blog/573b2216-2fe0-49e1-912b-f98a34360902).

Let's get to it!
 
## 1\. Create a Series

Navigate to the Series tab on your admin view, and create a new Series. It's important that since this is a new series that you leave the "YouTube Playlist ID" blank. Otherwise, make sure to include a title, description, and a series cover image.

The series cover image will be displayed with the following safe zones, the horizontal slice will be user for the series page itself, while the vertical slice will be used as the series card image throughout the site.

![](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/930958617623003237/930962847335329834/series-safezone.png)

Two other options in creating a series that are worth mentioning are the "Default Post Access" field and "Feature Options" section.

Default Post Access lets you set the access to the series across all posts within the series. You will be able to override the access level on each individual post. This is useful if you want the Series itself to be accessible for paid tier members, but make the first episode available for free tier members, as an example.

Feature Options lets you decide if you'd like to feature (or highlight) this particular series on the front page of your Cereal site. All featured series will be shown right under the home page banner, in the order you indicate, and with an additional line of text from the "Featured Headline" displayed when the user hovers over it.

![alt text test](https://cdn-prod.cereal.app/page/fe386196-a031-4439-9fc5-a8fbd0f454cc/upload-1643053623512.png)
 
## 2\. Create the First Episode

Now that you have your Series created, we need to create the first Video Post (or episode) for the Series. To do this, navigate to the Post tab, create a post, and select Video Post. Note that Blog Posts and Poll Posts can also be assigned to a series, and will show up in a separate tab. For now we'll focus on video.
Once you're on the "Create a new Video Post" screen, you can add your video link from YouTube, Vimeo, or Twitch. Unlisted videos are supported as well. Once you have the link and paste it into the upload field, you'll get a prompt to automatically populate the post with information from the video. Select Yes to populate, and then edit or update fields as needed.
![alt text test](https://cdn-prod.cereal.app/page/32ea8d53-e557-4cda-954b-e6953c3dd2e1/upload-1643054132142.png)
Once you're happy with the content on the page, make sure to update the "Series" field to tag it against the series you created in the previous step. This is also the time to assign it the "Post Access" that you would like for the episode, note that the access level you set when you created the series is the default selection. Lastly click "Save and Publish" and your video and series will be pushed out to subscribers as well as displayed on your Cereal site.

Voila! You have your series and first episode created and online!

## 3\. Tips and Tricks

In this article we reviewed the steps to create a series and launch the first episode, but you may have noticed a lot of tools and fields available that we didn't cover. In this section we will briefly review a few strategies to customize and get the most out of Cereal.

**Tip #1 Mix access levels**

A great way many creators on Cereal get engagement and incentivize fans to subscribe to paid tiers is by creating a premium series, and making a few adjustments. Creators have seen results in making the first episode free, or by changing the access level on the episode from paid to free after a certain amount of time, or even making it free but require a sign up before watching. The sky is the limit, so of course feel free to experiment with what works best for your content, audience, and offering.

**Tip #2 Add text and poll posts**

While many of the creators on Cereal focus on video content, often the most valuable content they produce is either text or poll based. Since creators are able to tag blog posts and poll posts to a series, and post access applies to those posts as well, it's a great opportunity to publish supporting material to a series. As an example, a creator hosting a series on best restaurants during travel can publish a restaurant guide as a post, or even create a poll to ask their fans where to visit next.

How to Host a Series 

If there's one thing we know being a content creator going into 2023, it's that it's easier with friends.

From having an editor to streamline your storytelling, to another pair of eyes to help pick a thumbnail, or even other content creators to manage a podcast; collaboration shows up in many ways through the creation process.

In Cereal, bringing your team to help manage your site, or other creators to join your content network, is easy as a few clicks. Creators can add two types of user roles to their site, “Admins” and “Creators”. Based on the roles you’ve selected, the team member has different level of access and control across the site.

1. **Admin** roles are for users that need to be able to manage the site fully. These users will have full access to all the content and site settings, and be able to manage content such as view draft and published posts, and make edits. They will also be able to view analytics for member signup, update membership plans and offerings, and view the list of members across the site. This role is a best fit for a partner or editor that you want as a team mate in managing your site.
2. **Creator** roles are for users that need to be able to independently manage content and have their own page as a content creator. These uses will be able to scoped to a specific creator profile and manage and publish content only under that profile. They will be able to manage their own creator profile, and [publish their own series](https://blog.trycereal.com/blog/390f9de4-c3c1-492b-ba6d-a4c08f77dcff), videos, posts, and more. This role is a best fit for a creator contributing to your site, such as a frequent guest blogger, or a content creator in your network.

 
Setting up users in either case is very simple, so let’s get to it!

1. Navigate to the Authors tab on the side navigation menu, and select the Admin Users tab on the page.
2. Select “Create a new admin user” and fill out the form with the email of the user you want to invite. Note that users that are already members of your site can also be invited.
3. If you’re creating an “Admin” user, find the user’s name on the page and update their “Role” to “NetworkAdmin”.
4. If you’re creating a “Creator” user, there is an extra step of navigating to the Creators tab on the page and creating a new creator. All you need to do is add their Creator Name on this form for now, once they’re in they can update everything on this form including their name.
5. Lastly for a “Creator” user, navigate back to the Admin Users tab and open up their profile. You should be able change their role to “Creator” and then select the creator profile you created under the Assigned Creator from field.

 
And you’re done!

Users invited will receive an email with a temporary password and be able to login to the [Cereal Studio](https://cereal.studio) and start contributing. If you’ve invited a user that was already a member of the site, simply instruct them to visit the Cereal Studio and reset their password to login.

Admin roles are available to all Cereal sites on the Creator tier and up, and additional Creator roles are available to creator sites on the Network tier. If you are interested in upgrading or learning more, reach out to our team via email or chat bot.

Adding Collaborators to Your Cereal Site

Learn to elevate your brand with in-depth guides on Cereal!