Being Transparent

If you have to hold back saying what you think you are not being honest with yourself, yes there has to be a level of decorum to what you put down, but if you have something to say you should feel that you can say it. I’ve got political ambitions (not MP style expenses crap that’s going on at the moment), community based, local government that you can’t make a living from, ie doing it because I want to rather than to live off it. As someone new to the scene, people need to feel that you give your heart, soul and your time to a project.

Which is why being transparent is so important, so show you are who you say you are…. one word….. Integrity.

Keep your licensing simple

The license for this site is Creative Commons (not a pure copyright), so if someone uses ANY of my text, words or video they MUST link back to where they found it, which allows readers of their content to verify what has been said. (So you don’t have to worry too much about being misquoted)

Legacy

Make them proud, a quote from Gary Vaynerchuk in that he wants his grand kids to watch the videos that he puts online and to be proud. As I said before with archive.org anything you put online, be that video or textual content is archivable, searchable and mashable. Be aware though that yes anyone can read what you put and it’s likely that anything you publish can be saved, copied and redistributed. Remember that this is your content, and the essence of you, being able to look back is as important for you as it is for anyone else.

HR Googling your name

Recently I had a conversation with Franky and he suggested that my website is too open, too much personal information on, that a HR department would Google my name and instantly not progress me to the next stage of interview. To me this assumes one thing, that firstly I want to work for a company that spies on it’s employees. I have no intention of ever being a robot, I’m an individual and any company that tries to stiffle that creativity and that individuality isn’t a company worth my time.

Creativity is what makes us human, it allows us to see a problem and come up with a solution, and I feel that is much more important in any business than employing a robot that looks at the clock every 2 minutes waiting for that 5pm to pass.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’m having a go with video editing, with narration, with reporting, with counseling. Covering everything from sex and relationships to philosophy to local issues. Following the Preston Bloggers talk from a professional blogger (and other influential bloggers I’ve met) I’ve tried to follow (and generate) advice for new bloggers.

One of the key motivating factors though has to be, keep it relevant, keep it local, keep it fun!

So at the moment I’m putting myself out there, seeing what targets and target audiences I hit.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The most important piece of advice and help is “Have a go… find your feet”. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)  is of low importance at the initial start for a blogger, and you should more get used to using the tools that are available. (Blogger, WordPress etc)

What should I blog about?

What do you want to say and who to? Have a “ThoughtShower” (Brain storm for any 80s child and younger) and write down what you are passionate about.
Take out all the dross, pick out the keywords (that’ll define what the site will be about), what you are interested in.
Now use blog searches to find out more about those subject areas. What is  and what isn’t being typed about at the moment. Use these sites to emerse into the preformed community.

Profile/Brand building

Get to know the community. Make friends rather than make traffic
Commenting on other people’s blogs is key. Most of the conversation about your blog should not be on your blog, but on other peoples sites. Your blog should be your “Base of operations” – most of the work happens away from the blog
Use a BlogRoll on your site (Blogs that you also read)
Representation of a brand, be that an individual or a business. Traffic will come later
Consistent online presence, have a tag
Link Bait – purposeful comment that initiates conversations that can get quite heated.

Blog Statistics

Referral statistics – important to know who is talking about you
Blogging cycle – when is most appropriate time and day to post, better Monday and Sunday, not on Friday afternoon

Content Tips

Use strikethroughs and updates rather than deleting.
Feedburner & RSS feeds – get the word out. Don’t worry too much about advertising revenue in the early stages.
Video on the blog – embed yes, but use youtube to host your videos
Creative Commons – “Can’t really see how people would be able to my work on my website and use it as ‘fair use’ but be as open as you can. CC can generate comments much more than copyrighted information. People want clear instructions on what they can and can and do with your words.

External tools for your blog

Twitter – lots of people will read the comments more so than on a website.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.