Category Archives: Tips

streamlabs setting up a donation link

Streamlabs: Setting Up A Donation Link For Live Streamers

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streamlabs setting up a donation link

 

While I don't think pushing for donations should ever be a top priority for streamers, I think it is wise to get a donation link setup in case someone asks. It is also a good idea to put a link within your live streaming profile. There are many options to choose from when creating an account for donations. Take a look at the options out there and weigh the benefits. Keep in mind that some sites take a portion of your donations, including PayPal.

I personally use Streamlabs as it is simple to setup, links to a PayPal account, has options to add credit cards as a donation option and Streamlabs does not take a percentage of your donations. I also use a Business PayPal account as tracking for tax purposes is easier and it also allows you use a business entity name within your correspondence. If you were to use a personal PayPal account, the name on your account will be included in email correspondence. This may be a concern for some.

 

 

Setting up the Streamlabs donation link is fairly simple. Head over to the Streamlabs homepage and click the 'Login' button.

 

Streamlabs login

 

Select your account login of choice. In this example, we are logging in via Mixer. If you've completed any of the other Streamlabs guides then you should already have your permissions setup, but if not go ahead an accept all the permissions  to continue logging in.

 

streamlabs login mixer

 

 

  1. Once logged into Streamlabs, click on 'Donation Settings' 
  2. You will see a link in gold, which will be your direct link to your donation page. It should simply be streamlabs.com/yourusername. Copy this link and use this in your profile, bot, etc.

You should then see the available accounts you can link to your Streamlabs account. I personally use PayPal and also setup the Credit Card option as those seem to be the most popular donation methods in my channel.

 

Streamlabs Donation Setting

 

 

Linking PayPal with Streamlabs 

 

Linking PayPal is simple. Click on 'PayPal' and just enter your PayPal email address. Ensure that you have a PayPal account already created or go ahead and create one prior to completing this step. Remember to weigh your options of a personal vs. business PayPal account. Once you enter your email and click 'Submit', it will appear on your Donation settings page.

 

Streamlabs PayPal setup

 

 

Disconnect or Change PayPal account from Streamlabs

 

If you ever want to remove or change your PayPal account, just click the PayPal option again and click 'Disconnect'. You can then re-add a PayPal account.

 

Streamlabs disconnect PayPal

 

 

Accept Credit Card Donations in Streamlabs

To accept donations via credit card, click the 'Credit Cards' option and fill in the required information. Keep in mind there may be fees associated with credit card donations. They will most likely be taken out prior to you receiving your cut. Once setup, you should see 'Available Balance' and 'Pending' under your 'Donation Settings'. Remember that credit card payments will not be sent to your PayPal account. For me, the credit card donation will be pending for a few days then eventually switch over to your available balance (minus fees). These funds will sit within your Streamlabs page until you link a bank account and transfer the donation to your bank.

 

Streamlabs credit card connected

 

Note: When setting up credit card donations, you may receive an account verification popup.

Streamlabs verify account

If this is the case, head over to this Streamlabs support page and follow their guidelines to verify your account. While this may be a hassle to do, bravo on Streamlabs for keeping account security a top priority.

 

 

You should be all setup and ready to go. Again, use the unique Streamlabs donation link found in  your 'Donation Settings' page. Copy and paste this link wherever you see necessary. Some potential locations would be within your live streaming profile, a command within your bot, a bot message on a timer, etc.

Your link is now live and set to accept donations. The last thing you want to do is miss a donation during a live stream. You can follow this guide to get your Streamlabs donations notifications to pop up on stream.

 

discords stream announcement bot m8

Discord Live Stream Announcement Bot

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discords stream announcement bot m8

 

A great tool to help attract and keep people in your Discord is the use of an auto announcement bot to shout out your live streams. This can help out streamers by providing a bigger audience over the percentage of their actual followers from Mixer or Twitch. I've discovered great streamers via this method and I think this should be a staple to all live streaming Discord communities out there. The bot in this example is M8 Bot, which is a powerful resource with additional commands and tools built in.

This guide will show you how to invite the bot to your server, set it up with the proper permissions and edit some basic settings for stream announcements.

 

 

Pro Tip: The first step is to ensure that you have 'manage server' privileges on the Discord server you are trying to invite M8 Bot into.

 

Head over to https://m8bot.js.org/

 

m8 bot logo

 

Scroll down the page and click the 'Get M8 Bot' button.

 

 

 

Authorizing and Inviting Bot:

An authorization pop up will be displayed. Click the pulldown and select the server you are inviting M8 bot too. Again, ensure you have 'manage server' privileges to the server, otherwise this will not work. You can leave all the options checked, then click 'Authorize'.

 

 

 

M8 should now be in your Discord server. Find the bot on your viewer list, left click it and you will see that it is given the M8 bot role with the permissions you allowed. I also went ahead and added M8 Bot to my 'Bots' role which group it with my other channel bots.

 

m8 bot discord

 

 

To Add Streamers:

Head to the channel that you would like your announcements displayed in and use the following command:

 

!addmixer [streamer] for Mixer

!addtwitch [streamer] for Twitch

 

For example: !addmixer spammarino

You will then get a similar confirmation after you add each streamer:

 

 

To Delete Streamers:

Head to the channel that you would like your announcements removed from and use the following command:

 

!delmixer [streamer] for Mixer

!deltwitch [streamer] for Twitch

 

 

Disable @here Pings:

By default, @here pings are enabled. What this means is that members with access to this channel will receive a notification for each message. Pings can be a touchy subject to some especially if they add up quickly. Personally, I do my best to minimize pings on my server and leave pings mainly to important announcements. To disable pings, type the following command. FYI: This is case sensitive.

 

!set edit livePing false

 

 

Change Announcement Message:

If you would like to change the default announcement message that shows up in the M8 bot messages use the follow command:

 

!config edit liveMixerMessage {{streamer}} is now live on Mixer!

 

The part after 'liveMixerMessage' is what is displayed as the message. Use the '{{streamer}}' variable to display the streamers account name.

 

 

To Verify Your Settings:

run the !config command

M8 bot config

The livePing setting should be set to 'false' to ensure @here pings are disabled.

Your modified liveMixerMessage should also be updated and displayed here in the config settings.

 

 

Go Live and Confirm The Bot is Working:

 

Now all you or your added streamers have to do is go live and M8 bot will do the rest.

 

 

The announcement message is a nice clean message showing your Mixer avatar, a screenshot of the game you are streaming, game title and some of your current stats (follower count, Mixer level, total views) along with a timestamp of when the message was posted.

 

 

Clean Up Old Messages:

 

If you run a large Discord server, your M8 announcement messages can add up pretty quickly. To delete old messages, simply run the following command. Enter an actual number, up to 100 at a time.

 

!purge [number]

 

General Tips:

  1. Create a separate channel dedicated to stream announcements so your General Chat doesn't get clogged up.
  2. If you have a public Discord server, add regulars and your loyal supporters as opposed to just anyone. Your goal is to to create a community, so ensure your streamers are giving back and supporting your cause.
  3. Encourage members to actively view your announcement channel and check out some streamers they might not yet follow. To be honest, I use my Streamer-Promotion channel as my main notifications when looking for streamers to watch since the Mixer notifications can be hit or miss at times.
  4. Since you must execute commands directly within the channel, when I am making bulk changes (adding a lot of streamers, etc.) I temporarily disable the channel, again to avoid excess alerts to members (even if @here pings are off).
  5. Scroll through some of the older announcement messages and make note of some of the listed stats. This is a nice quick way to see your follower and total view growth.
  6. To check out the full list of commands and options that M8 has to offer, head back to https://m8bot.js.org/ and check out the setup, commands and help sections. This tutorial just cover a small portion to get you and your streamers added to M8 bot's auto announcement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

streaming tips

Streaming Tips

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streaming tips

 

Don't have time to sit and ready through all the Streaming 101 info? Or did you read through it all and are looking for more info? Either way, here are some quick summary tips and highlights from this section. Best of luck in your streaming endeavor. If you have any further questions feel free to get in touch with me or our awesome community in the Discord server or leave a reply here.

  • Relax and have fun!

  • Do not worry about follower numbers when you are just starting out

  • Stream games that YOU want to play

  • Be consistent in your stream times

  • Practice interacting with your audience even if you have zero viewers in the room

  • Networking is key to build your community! Spend time actively viewing streams and interacting

    • Choose some like-minded streamers to hang out with

      • Join their Discord(s)! Yes. All of them! Continue to interact outside of the streams.

    • Get to know their followers and friends of their stream

    • Follow along on raids and expand your network

  • While you are building your community, Keep in mind that you need to consider yourself a brand and build your channel around this brand...theme, currency, graphics, etc. Invest in yourself.

  • Jazzing up your stream with better equipment and stream quality is a time and financial investment. Plan ahead!