Blogger blogging near Seattle
Yesterday I set up a YouTube livestream and, as part of that, needed to whip out a thumbnail. Canva is my go-to tool of choice for such work. As this is for a preschool choir, I searched templates for “youtube children choir”, and THIS shows up in the results:
I found this…fascinating…and absolutely hysterical. Maybe the global AI is just trying to brighten my day.
I’ve known people whose business is dependent completely upon a single platform. YouTube is a huge one, but I also see people 100% dependent on Instagram, TikTok, or even Facebook, for their business. I’ve been thinking a lot about that recently.
A friend of mine, due to the LastPass hack, lost access to his YouTube channel. Then there’s the drama over at Twitter, with people being banned from the platform on the whim of Mr. Musk, and I can continue. So, I hope you’ll understand that I highly recommend that you DO NOT rely 100% upon a single platform where you have no control.
Social media sites are great tools for connection, but they’re best for directing people to a website. One you own, you control. Encourage folks to subscribe to a newsletter, or the website. Then, by combining your website with blog posts and newsletters, and you have a very powerful tool to stay connected with your audience even if you’re blocked from a key social channel. Also, if you have a website connected to your social platforms, your audience has a way to find and reconnect with you if you lose access to YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, whatever.
I particularly like sites built on WordPress, as it’s extremely portable. Wix, Squarespace, and the like are tied to a single provider, too. With WordPress, I can port my website to another hosting company with relative ease (related: make sure you back up your files somewhere other than on the hosting platform).
Be strategic with your digital portfolio. Be prepared for various calamities, as well as for the eventual falling out of whatever must-use platform the people abandon next. Technologies evolve. Audiences evolve. Platforms evolve. Business sustainability requires you to be thoughtful and strategic.
With coronavirus forcing us to transform education and interpersonal communication, the folks at Zoom now find their tool becoming the defacto standard, education and beyond. Plenty of organizations (churches, businesses, non-profits) are utilizing Zoom (why Zoom and not Google Hangouts? Skype? I’m not entirely sure at this point, but think it was because the reached out first…I should explore this at some point).
I’ve been a fan of Steve Dotto for years, and highly recommend his videos for guidance about things tech. Steve created this video (below) as a tutorial for many of the basic features. So, if you haven’t used Zoom, or haven’t used it extensively, I highly recommend Steve’s video. My wife (a teacher), who’s used Zoom quite a bit the past few weeks picked up some great tips. It’s highly worth your time.
I was doing some research recently into the all important bio, that “about me” section of every website. I realize that there are some key things in every bio, and then some crucial differentiating elements.
Key things everyone should have in a bio:
Differentiating Features:
So, like this one, many websites are written about you, so a bio might seem redundant. However, it’s not. It’s a quick overview and a great introduction. Also, a well done bio can be used on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
I recommend you actually start your website efforts with your bio creation. It opens up so very much.
What have I left out? Let me know in the comments.
I easily get caught up trying to make things perfect. I know far too many folks with the same proclivity. I also know that writing is what I need to focus on. Get more posts out, I should create a podcast and vlog…and that conflicts with “perfection”. It gets in the way of my goals.
As a blogger, I need to blog (insert “duh” here). Losing focus on creation keeps me from this. I hate that. So, I am working on simply posting. Posting as often as I can, as best I can. Letting go of it needing to be perfect.
The same goes for design work. Get something done. Finished is better than perfect.
Lately, I found myself struggling with “focus”. Related, somewhat, to perfect, I guess. There’s a notion within blogging that you want your blog to have as narrow a focus as possible. And there’s validity to that. It makes the life of a reader much easier. But a blog is not a book. It’s not a magazine…blah, blah. There’s a personal element to a blog. I have a wide array of interests. It’s perfectly wonderful to explore them all in one place, too.
A blog should be a unique expression, each one one-of-a-kind. They should reflect the writer’s personality. I also believe they should be informal.
What do you like about blogging? What do your favorite bloggers do? And do you discern a particular style of writing to label “blogging”?
I just stumbled on Chris Chalmers (via this video, of all things). Chris was a DJ on a couple of local (Seattle) radio stations. Having helped many folks with their digital presence, I fully get what he’s talking about in this video. Short-term marketing, much less short-term thinking, doesn’t work. Not in the long run at least.
Marketing should be a well thought out and well planned element of your business. Strategic thought, analytics, and deliberate execution all play a part in building the long-term business.
I’ve seen too many folks expect a website, Twitter/Facebook/Instagram account to come in and rain money. 9 times out to 10 (99 times out of 100?) it’s not going to work. Regular focused posts, thoughtful interaction and the well timed/placed promotion are what gets you there. You should consider this to be a multi-year long initiative.
I just read “Fake followers are hard to shake” over at AdAge. Yeah, buying followers is tempting. Sure, it might look good on the surface, to have hundreds or thousands of followers. I’ve had many, many people ask me about buying followers. I think is a waste of money.
I expect that, in the not too far distant future, the various algorithms will easily detect copious numbers of fake followers. And I expect that will hurt you, whether via SEO hits from Google or Bing, or social media feeds devaluing your content. I firmly believe this is coming soon.
So, don’t opt for the lazy and fast. Build your brand slowly, carefully and organically. Engage other folks, post good content, and be your unique self.
Back in the mid-80s I came across a job opportunity in Antarctica. An expedition was looking for database managers. I’d just finished up a technical program for Information Processing. I’d built dBase databases, and pushed the information through Lotus, then used Word Perfect and (I think) Pagemaker to build presentations. I note some additional skills, like I’d converted an electronic typewriter so that it was a printer. I could print letter quality docs straight from my PC. In 1986 that was a unique thing.
I had a vision of the whole journey. Very wrong, of course. Laden with naivete. If I’d pulled that off, though…so much would’ve been different.
I was certain I was a great fit for the job, and that I would get it.
I didn’t get the job.
Back then, I was lucky to received a typed postcard (perhaps a simple 3 x 5 card) acknowledging receipt. Though I received the “No Thanks” letter a few weeks later, it was still pretty cool. The disappointment strong, yet without bitterness.
Looking back, it’s striking how much job hunting has changed. Starting with research. Now, with Google, I could’ve learned about the lead scientists, the focus of their research; I didn’t even know their names!
The typed responses tell me they probably processed a handful of applications. I read about this in an article somewhere. There were no online job boards. A job board was, literally, a bulletin board with job postings on it. They evolved to binders in college placement offices, (and other spots, too). Nowadays, with the online job-search eco-system they’d have hundreds, if not thousands of applicants. An upside: the acknowledgement and decline processes should be fully automated. And the larger recruit pool gives them a better chance at finding a more specific skill set. But, still, thousands of applicants…
It’s striking how different life is now. But it doesn’t FEEL that different. Well, not until I look back. Not that much simpler, though, as opposed to the adage air “simpler times”. The complexities were different. I’m happy, for the most part, with the path of our evolution.
Oh My Lord! This is the best bit of spam I’ve had in a bit:
Immediately made me think of good ol’ Zero Wing.
I value knowing what’s going on in the tech world. Yet, there is so much change, coming so fast, that sometimes I miss the obvious.
I subscribed to YouTube Red some time ago. My focus: ad elimination. So much of my family’s video time is spent on YouTube, so it was a prudent investment.
I didn’t realize that the subscription includes Google Music. I discovered this today, so used it as my music delivery mechanism. Music is such a core part of my being, that the way I access it has value.
I like the interface. So far, the selection has been solid. Spotify, of late, has been quite a resource hog. Accessing via a web browser seems to use resources better, or at least more gently.
Anyway, I’m exploring shifting over fully, and cancelling my Spotify account. I’ll be diving deeper into Google Music and share what I learn.