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Posts Tagged ‘blog’

Aug

Evernote for photographers

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

I’ve had an Evernote account for a while. I think it’s a excellent application, especially for smart phone users.

Since the announcement of the impending demise of Google Wave and my acquisition of an Android phone, I’ve been considering using my Evernote account as a default method to capture inspiration during my travels around the Web.

So far, I’m finding the application to be a winner.

The biggest help has been the addition of the Evernote button on my Firefox browser. It simply allows me to click a button and save the Web page I’m viewing to my account, along with comments and tags.

It works great for the podcast. I’ll usually write a highlight note, give it a couple of tags including “pod” for podcast and the link is automatically attached. The tagging feature makes all my podcast-related notes easy to find.

I’ve also created multiple notebooks so I can keep topics organized. I have separate notebooks for the blog, marketing ideas, clients and photography.

Evernote also is excellent for capturing great photography Web sites for future viewing. I can tag fashion, business, food or interior photography for needed inspiration.

The ability to take notes is an added bonus. Sometimes I’ll come up with a photography idea on the road. I’ll use Evernote to create a voice recording or written note so I will not forget the idea. Trust me, I’ll forget.

Sometimes I’ll see a great location I might want to use later. I’ll take a quick snap shot with my phone and tag the photo with key information. The software can read words within your photos allowing subjects such as signs to be found via search. I can even geo-tag my location with my Droid.

Tagging photographs, audio, video, links or written notes is becoming an important and common feature for many online applications. I believe Evernote is one of the best.

Tagging gives you the access to your information quickly. You can access your desired information with a simple search. You can even save your common searches.

If you feel you are collecting valuable information and don’t want to create a blog, podcast or tweet the information you can enable the share function so others many view your brilliant finds.

Evernote is a great tool for any photographer. Try it out.

Rosh

Thanks to http://www.damego.com for their review on the Droid application.

Tags: blog, evernote, google wave, marketing, pod, podcasts
Posted in Tools, Wave, Web site, blogging | 7 Comments »

Jun

How to write popular blog posts

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

One of the best ways to develop a following is to write blog posts that attract readers. Some blog posts become viral and put your name on the map. Listed below are a few secrets that will help you find your audience.

If you have a photo blog, consider some of the following concepts, but remember to focus on headlines and descriptions of your photographs, including the people involved in the process of creating the image.

Headlines are gold.

People love lists. Don’t overdo it but a good list of The 10 Best Dog Photos or 15 Light Room Techniques have a better chance of being retweeted or shared than a post titled New Picture or A Day at the Park.

Ask a question to entice people to click on your post. Make intriguing statements supporting your readers in their goals.

Look for the most popular topics related to your niche. Use insights for search and Google Web master tools to search for popular topics. Keep a close eye on your analytics to see if people are searching your site for specific topics you have yet to offer.

Follow the most popular blogs in your niche. Some blogs list their top posts. If they don’t make it easy, review the number of tweets or Facebook “likes” to determine what people like to read. Don’t copy the posts, but offer your take on the various subjects and come up with new angles.

Don’t be afraid to rewrite your older successful posts. Once a post is over six months old, the chances of your followers remembering them are slim.

Drop names and use current events and relate them to your blog. Localizing national stories is common practice for local media outlets. You can do the same within your niche.

I still get traffic from a post I wrote more than a year ago: Would Ansel Adams be a great digital photographer?

Every post doesn’t have to be a winner or a hot topic. Remember your goal is to develop your own voice. Doing what everyone else is doing will not help you stand out. But, if you apply the ideas above and test everything you do, success will be a few steps closer.

Success is relative. Don’t compare your numbers with other bloggers. Every niche is different. Set your goals based on percentages, such as increasing your traffic by 10 percent over the next month.

Remember: Social media is an endurance game.

Rosh

Tags: blog, digital, post, social media, Web master tools
Posted in Seo, Web site, blogging, business, social media | No Comments »

May

Hacked!

Saturday, May 15th, 2010

Some of you may have noticed the New Media Photographer Web site was hacked on Thursday. My apologies if you were directed to a malware page or if a virus attempted to download to your computer.

As I understand it, the issue originated on the server-side based at GoDaddy.com. It has affected a number of WordPress sites including some well-known blogs.

I wish to thank those in the New Media Photographer community who alerted me to the issue. First, thanks to my wife, Shirley, for alerting me to the fact that some of our friends’ blogs were under attack by the virus. (My apologies for acting like it wouldn’t happen to my blog.) Also, thanks to Frederic Sune for raising the red flag, to Joseph Cristina for his technical support via Skype, and to Scott LePage, who took the time to call my office to alert us to the problem. All involved helped call attention to the matter so the problem could be quickly fixed.

I was able to fix the issue within an hour thanks to the generosity of the people at http://sucuri.net. I followed the instructions found on their blog , uploaded the script, and cleaned out my system. They even have a free service to monitor your site for malware.

On a happier note, I hope you like the new site design. I’m sorry it didn’t get a better introduction.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.

Rosh

Tags: blog, Go Daddy, Malware, Red flag, skype, Technical support, Uploading and downloading, wordpress
Posted in blogging, scam | 2 Comments »

May

Your personal gold mine

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

You have a wonderful personal resource within your social media archive. Look inside to find a gold mine of information you can use to earn more clients.

Your blog posts, tweets and Facebook status updates are your ideas and personality. They are your online biography. Just because information is shared once doesn’t mean it cannot be reused, repurposed or reinvented to share with a new audience.

Look through your tweets from the last couple months. I’m sure there is information that can be used to develop a new blog post. Consider a link you retweeted. Take the opporutnity to offer new commentary on an old idea. Maybe you shared some midnight words of wisdom with your tweeple. Take advantage of your genius and expand it.

Old blog posts are often neglected. Give them new life by linking them to a tweet. Most likely you have new followers who don’t know about past gems. It’s OK to review old topics. If you have not discussed something in more than six months, maybe it is time to present the information from a different angle or update the article with new information.

If you are looking for inspiration for any of your social media outlets, use your past wisdom for fresh ideas. Reading through old posts helps me rediscover topics that I wished I was able to expand on at the time.

Use your best work to create larger works. New podcasts and videos should be created out of your most popluar posts. Photographers: create an ebook out of a collection of images or develop a white paper out of a series of posts.

Look for themes or trends based on your writing. If you think the topic is strong, take the opportunity to shop your idea to publishers. You never know what could happen.

Rosh

Tags: blog, business, Online Communities, podcast, social media, social networks, Twitter, White paper
Posted in Twitter, Video, blogging, podcast, social media | No Comments »

Apr

Do you need an editorial calendar?

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Photographers who work for magazines are familiar with editorial calendars. They are used to plan future publishing activities, which are usually divided into themes. Having a calendar is useful not only for traditional media planning but also for all businesses.

Marketing, sales, human resources and any department connecting with the public will benefit from a structured, well-planned calendar. The way we promote and grow our businesses is changing. While social media offers new opportunities it should not replace what already works. If a business is going to add social media to the mix then a social media editorial calendar — just like a good overall marketing plan — increases the odds of success.

A calendar helps people avoid reinventing the editorial wheel. Once a plan is in place, the project becomes more about producing great content to fulfill the plan than wasting time or discontinuing the effort attempting to figure out what to do next.

Place someone you trust in charge of the calendar. Use a good alert system to remind all participants of content deadlines or urgent actions. Plan all blog posts, podcasts and videos. Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms should include the theme of the day, week or month.

However, nothing is set in stone.

Scheduled themes based on the realities of your business routine. In most cases, weekly or monthly is the recommended frequency. The key is consistency. There is nothing wrong with updating and changing a calendar. We live in a continually changing world. New opportunities land at our feet every day. Use the calendar as a guide — especially for those days you don’t know where to start.

The more people there are involved, the more important it is to maintain a calendar. When I sit in corporate board rooms, I help the company develop a calendar before they post their first blog entry or Tweet. One of my most important assignments when working with a company is to make sure the calendar is implemented and all participants do what they committed to do to make their social media plan a success.

Do you find yourself off track? Not sure what to do next? Overwhelmed at the prospect of having to create new ideas for years to come? A social media calendar is extremely helpful.

Rosh

Tags: blog, business, Facebook, marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Online Communities, social media, Twitter
Posted in New Media photographer, Tools, Twitter, Video, blogging, business, podcast, social media, traditional media | No Comments »

Mar

Commenting: An old opportunity is new again

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Blog comments are taking a nosedive. People now use Twitter and Facebook to comment about and promote blogs they find interesting. With all this in mind, there are a number of new blog plug-ins available that will track mentions made on the Web of your blog post. These reactions on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms are picked up and then listed along with blog comments. (You can find plug-ins for WordPress at www.wordpress.org.) Only a small percentage of blogs are using this option.

In the past, if a blog had reasonable traffic, it could generate 10-20 or more comments per post. My estimates are that blog comments are 25 percent of what they were a few years ago. This means a blog that received 20 comments then might only receive an average of five comments now. Obviously, the results vary and depend on the community, topic and the blogger. Fewer comments mean you have a better chance of getting noticed.

Everyone is grateful for comments. I’m giddy every time I receive a comment on my blog. It means someone cared enough about what I had to say to add to the conversation.

I make note of who comments on my blog. So do other bloggers. Since the noise level is down, your blog comments stand out to the blogger, as well as to their core followers.

Leave a message with good comments, ideas and add to the conversation. This will help promote you, your brand, your blog and, most important of all, it will foster relationships.

Find a few key blogs on which to comment regularly. Develop a plan. When you see others who comment and leave good information, take the time to look into what they do and comment on their blogs.

Don’t go overboard. There is no need to comment every day. Only comment when you have relevant thoughts to share. Keep your regular blogs in a section or folder in your favorite RSS reader (such as Google Reader) and make sure you check in every day. When you see a post that interests you or is related to your specialties, join the conversation.

Rosh

Tags: blog, community, Directories, Facebook, Online Communities, rss, Social network, Twitter
Posted in Tools, Web site, blogging, social media | 9 Comments »

Mar

Feb

New Media Photographer Podcast 89

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

This week Rosh talks about new technology and his blog posts from the past week.

New Media Photographer: A photographer who publishes to the web.
Time: 30:00
Podcast hosted by Rosh Sillars
This podcast is about new media, social media and digital marketing for the photographer.
Topics on this week’s show: Instapaper, wave, Evernote, Buzzom, Google Buzz, Picscout, squareup.com, Google shopper, Google Goggles Translate via Mashable, Tineye, programs do remove your meta data, Photoshop is 20 years old, Google Adwords for photographers, The magic of compound blogging.
Podcast network commercials from Dave Warner Lensflare35 and Jim Goldstein EXIF and beyond
Photography news by Trevor Current: Currentphotographer.com , twitter – @trevor current.
Photography news Links:

1. Samsung High-Speed TL350 Digital Came

2. Samsung High-End TL500 Compact Digital Camera

3. Samsung’s Waterproof AQ100 and Durable SL605

4. Samsung Announced 5 New NX System Lenses

5. Samsung’s HMX-U20 and HMX-U15 Pocket-Sized Camcorders

6. Adobe Photoshop Turns 20!

7. Joby’s New Gorillapod Magnetic and Ballhead X

8. PicScout and PhotoShelter Partner to Help Sell and Protect Your Images

New media photographer comment line link love: none this week

Become a fan on Facebook
New Media Photographer Twitter @newmediaphoto
Tumblr.com New Media Photographer
Friendfeed – New Media Photographer
Itunes New Media Photographer subscription
Comment line 206 202 3568
Email New Media Photographer
New Media Photographer
Rosh Sillars Photography Portfolios
The Rosh Group, Inc.
Prosperous Artists
The Driven Business
Tags: new media, digital media, social media, photography, photographer, photography marketing, business of photography.
Do you have a recommendation for the new media photographer award?
e-mail

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Tags: blog, BuzzGoogle, Facebook, FriendFeed, google, Jim Goldstein, Tumblr, Twitter
Posted in New Media, Twitter, Wave, Web site, blogging, podcast, social media | 1 Comment »

Jan

Sixty-six ways to promote your blog

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

1.) Comment on other blogs.

2.) Share your new posts on Twitter.

3.) Share your old posts on Twitter.

4.) Use http://su.pr to keep track of clicks and make it easy to Stumble your posts.

5.) Use Digg to promote your posts.

6.) Be a guest blogger.

7.) Champion other bloggers.

8.) Create videos for YouTube.

9.) Create a Facebook fan page.

10.) Write an e-book.

11.) Submit your blog to directories.

12.) Create support blogs.

13.) Use link bait to encourage links to your site.

14.) Use signature links in your blog comments where acceptable.

15.) Start a forum.

16.) List your blog in your e-mail signatures.

17.) Link to other blogs often.

18.) Thank everyone who comments positively about you or your blog.

19.) Use exciting headlines or titles.

20.) Use important key words in your titles.

21.) Don’t forget to use internal links.

22.) Create a newsletter.

23.) Advertise your blog using AdWords.

24.) Advertise on Facebook.

25.) Tag your photographs well for image search.

26.) Use a site map.

27.) Set up a social network through Ning.

28.) Interview a guest on a podcast.

29.) Ask to be a guest on related podcasts.

30.) Create a Squidoo lens.

31.) Create a business card for your blog.

32.) Create a Polldaddy survey

33.) Create a press release and send it to locations like PR Web.

34.) Use the promotion tools available through Feedburner.

35.) Offer to speak to groups related to your blog theme.

36.) Use categories and tags effectively.

37.) Answer questions on Yahoo answers.

38.) Share relevent links on LinkedIn.

39.) Attend conferences.

40.) Attend local Tweetups.

41.) Offer an RSS e-mail option.

42.) Ask your readers for testimonials.

43.) Write an article for traditional media.

44.) Create T-shirts with your blog name.

45.) Create a blog promotion contest.

46.) Submit how-to articles to sites like Ezine.

47.) Post often; the more you post, the more traffic to your site.

48.) Use Tweetmeme to make it easy for people to tweet your posts.

49.) Offer e-cards through Fomoto. Make sure to watermark your blog name on the photo.

50.) Make sure your Permalink names relate to your post.

51.) Ask related bloggers to trade links.

52.) Use link shorteners to test headlines in social media.

53.) Promote your best blog posts with a unique ad on your blog front page.

54.) Trade commercials on other podcasts.

55.) Pull your blog RSS feed into your Facebook account for automatic updates.

56.) Enable Trackbacks.

57.) Claim your blog on Technorati.

58.) Create and use images from a flickr account. (I like the Flickr Widget plug-in for WordPress.)

59.) Create a public Google wave about your blog where others can share ideas.

60.) Create smart phone application for your blog.

61.) Offer an award for top people in your blog niche.

62.) Create a flickr group for your followers.

63.) Display a best of gallery of your flickr group images.

64.) Establish a call-in line for people to ask questions.

65). Create a LinkedIn Group.

66.) Create a list of 66 ways to promote your blog.

Rosh

Tags: Add new tag, blog, Facebook, google, google wave, rss, Technorati, Twitter, yahoo
Posted in blogging | 11 Comments »

Dec

Real-time search ramps up

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Demand is growing for the most current information. Old information is the stuff that was posted last week; timely information is what was posted just a few seconds ago. Internet developers are responding.

Twitter is one of the best locations on the Web to find current information and opinion about a topic.

Sites like Google depend on the expertise of the masses linking to quality information. Unfortunately, over time some of the most linked information tends to be some of the oldest information.

How many times have you typed in search words only to link to something written in 2006? That is the long tail at work. It’s an important and powerful aspect of the Internet. But, it doesn’t always provide people with the most current news, facts or opinions.

The Microsoft search engine Bing has already stepped into the real-time search arena. In October it cut deals with social media Web sites such as Twitter.

Google has always been on board with presenting fresh search results, but with so many variables in their algorithm, it is time to cut to the chase. Google has announced real-time search. At the top of your Google results will be the latest tweets, updates, blog posts and news on your search topic. Finally.

What does this mean for you?

It is more important then ever to produce more content. If you wish to be noticed and share information in the public arena you need fresh content. Tweeting, blogging and updating your status will become even more powerful and important to business because more traditional search users will be faced with social media results.

Rosh

Tags: blog, google, long tail, search, Search Engines, social media, social networking, Twitter
Posted in New Media, blogging, review, social media | 3 Comments »

Posts Tagged ‘blog’

Evernote for photographers

Hacked!

Sixty-six ways to promote your blog

My Book

Blogroll

Network

Resources

Meta