How to be a successful blogger

March 28th, 2012 • Uncategorized

As I have never blogged, except in this class, I decided to do research on what were effective methods of blogging!

1. Start blogging and don’t stop blogging

It is important to only launch your blog when it is properly set up. (Well I have already failed there.) Pick a topic and stick with it. It is important to be consistent. Make sure you get to your point.

2. Content

Pick a topic for your blog and make sure you generate relevant content where you can encourage comments. Make sure there are pictures. Set up an about page and a way for visitors to contact you online and offline.

3. Provide Value

Why do people come to your blog and keep RETURNING? Do you provide value through a service or through your content? Get friends to check out your blog and encourage linking.

4.Offer an email version of your RSS feed

According to  Copyblogger, offering an email version of your RSS feed can double your subscribers.

5. Network

Get integrated into niche communities and link other bloggers.

6. Simple and attractive format

This is almost as important as the content. People are visual and you should try to choose a theme which suits your niche.

7. Don’t expect to make money from blogging

It is important to have a side job and not be completely focused on blogging because you will get frustrated if you are only focused on the blog. As well, don’t put too many ads because it is unattractive to the reader who is looking for quality information. Many people go into blogging for the purpose of making money but it is important to focus on building a community instead!

Anyways, start blogging!

Interesting online ad

March 26th, 2012 • Uncategorized

I’d have to say this is the funniest online Ad I saw this year. This is a beer ad from Argentina’s Andes beer.

Watch the ad and let me know what you think? I thought it was a pretty engaging way to get the consumer involved. Is this an unethical product? Is it memorable?

Seems pretty funny to me. I can see how this ad went viral in South America.

Grantoo: An online game platform that gives educational grants

March 20th, 2012 • 3 comments Uncategorized

Grantoo has come out with an amazing way to provide a better incentive for online game playing. Often times students will procrastinate and waste their precious study time on games such as: poker, puzzles, and quizzes.

Grantoo says that a Cone study has shown 83 percent of Americans want brands to support a cause, and the new gaming platform hopes to offer a way for them to do this. Their idea is to give young people a better reason to be gaming while allowing for businesses to show their benevolence in supporting a good cause.

Hype Machine: A great way to find songs and publicize songs

March 13th, 2012 • Uncategorized

With all the hype of bills such as SOPA and PIPA the past year, I have really begun to think that the music industry really needs to start adapting. I think the future is going to be with blogs and companies which focus on booking live performances. Artists can become famous on their own and with the internet there is an emergence of a DIY attitude.

I would like to introduce Hypemachine. This website has been around since 2005 and  I became a user in 2009. The neat thing about this website is it aggregates the most recent postings from a number of blogs. Through your account you can track your favourite blogs and favourite artists. The songs from these blogs and artists are presented in an easy to use format with a link to the blog posting.

Artists can send their music to these blogs and not only will it be posted on that blog but it will be linked through Hypemachine where they have an opportunity to reach the charts on the Hypemachine website and gain more publicity.

The great thing about this website is you can be the first to find the newest songs! Definitely something worth checking out.

KONY 2012: Enlightening as to the power of social media?

March 10th, 2012 • 1 comment Uncategorized

I have a huge problem with this. Invisible Children attempts to make Joseph Kony famous in this 30 minute documentary which is available through Vimeo and Youtube and has been posted numerous times on Facebook.

Let’s talk about the power of social media; as well, let’s explore what is wrong with this documentary.

1. People are sheep– This Youtube video now has 74 million hits over the past week and people will argue that this has caused much awareness. Realistically though, how many people did more research than reading the blogs criticizing KONY 2012 or looking up news articles in support of the documentary? I highly doubt that it motivated numerous people to research the history of Uganda in the last 20 years or even know the general location of Uganda on a map of Africa.

I mean is KONY 2012 and different than this?

2. Just because they’re doing some good, doesn’t mean it’s all good– We are all in awe by the amount of interest this documentary has stirred and we would like to believe that it is for a good cause. However, not everyone starts a non-profit for good intentions. It is hard for me to trust founders who would take a photo like this:

This may seem trivial to some yet if the founders don’t understand the importance of good PR for a non-profit then that is a fundamental flaw in their understanding of how non-profits run. Being a fundraiser myself, I know how important it is to withhold a certain image which is in line with the organization and any PR that deviates from this image could be detrimental to the non-profit organization. These men should have been fired from their organization after this photo.

This image and the use of the KONY 2012 kits, makes me wonder what Bailey, Poole, and Russell’s intentions are. There is a fine line between doing something because it will raise great awareness and doing something for celebrityhood which can come across as gimmicky.

3.Issues with the message- If you look at this video below you will have a better understanding of why the message of KONY 2012 is misleading and how it has angered citizens of Uganda. I was interested to know that making a KONY shirt was extremely insulting. I suppose it would be like wearing a Hitler shirt in Europe.

4.North American Attitude- Finally, this form of online marketing and use of the KONY kit is a North American solution. The CEO’s of invisible child may argue that they Ugandans don’t understand these methods of promotion which will eventually solve the problem. In an interview I watched Jason Russell talks about how it is important to have a “bad guy” that everyone can relate to similarly to all the fairy tales we read as a child. He stated that by focusing on this one person it was easier to get people to support the cause. His method of publicizing Kony is a paternalistic attitude where the North Americans “know” what they’re doing and are solving the Ugandans’ problems for them. Frankly, it is insulting, even if there was good intention.