Martin Koss – thinking out loud…
I don't mean to be so opinionated and argumentative, it's just me…
Saturation Point
There was a thread, an interesting one, on a Facebook Business Page. I had commented and I followed a couple of links from it. I went off to do something Continue reading
WordPress to Facebook – A Reality
Confession: This is a downright shameless plug!Not sure I ever wrote a shameless self-promotional blog posts before, so this is new to me too!
Content Management for Facebook
Over the past couple of years I’ve seen many businesses spend a lot of money on find new and exciting ways to add their own custom content to their Facebook Business Pages, only to have to pay out again following changes made to the Facebook platform.
Last year, for example, there was the big hoopla when FB dropped the available space down to just 520 pixels and then, more recently, the clear indication that Static FBML was being phased out.
Phew! A lot to keep up with for small businesses and a lot of expense keeping on top of all the reconfiguring of content.
On top of the changes at Facebook, there’s the non-stop upgrades on their blogs. Install a WordPress blog and a handful of plugins (some work, some don’t) and you can almost guarantee that you’ll be upgrading something at least once a week… And what if the upgrade breaks the site? Oops!! Continue reading
This Shit Has Got To Change
Did I just say ‘shit’..? Oops. Well, sorry, but, on this occasion I couldn’t think of a better word.
FB rewrite the rule book constantly and the ‘free’ marketing platform is actually a lot of work – especially for small businesses – trying to keep up.
No wonder Facebook has spawned an industry of ‘experts’ – the average ‘user’ simply cannot understand so much of what it does or what it may do tomorrow or what it it did do but doesn’t do any longer..! That is aside from the every changing privacy issues and settings.
The ‘thrill’ is gone – for sure. In fact, not sure I really saw a ‘thrill’ in it. I saw (and still see) loads of bullcrap and things to frown / laugh at.
But it’s not just Facebook. The internet has to change and it is far too far down the road for Google and Facebook to put right what is wrong… How can they suddenly fix the unfixable?
Why Muppets Should Not Design Websites
Here’s a clear demonstration of why a Muppet should never be allowed to use design software or be left alone with a wordpress blog to screw up.
I went to read a blog post and tried to comment on it Continue reading
“Experts” Say My Blogging Attitude Sucks
Looking around the web, if we take all the ‘expert advice’ too seriously, then we would reach the conclusion that most of us know bugger all about how to write and present content via websites and, most relevant to this post, blogs, and only a select few really know how to be what some of us think we are; content creators… bloggers.
A great post by Mr Brogan a few months ago reminded us (and believe me, there are many who desperately need the reminder) that “your blog is not your job” but then the folks at ‘Copyblogger’ would have us convinced that we’re not a true bloggist unless we blog 5 times a day, every day – while abiding by ‘their’ published ‘rules’ of course – ‘cos they know best, of course.
Anything less than the consistency and regularity that one achieves with an All-Bran diet is a clear sign of a ‘bad attitude’ apparently.
So, with my non-scheduled, niche jumping, random sporadic approach to blogging, I have a bad attitude, apparently.
Oh gosh – who is right?
Well, in some ways – both and neither. Continue reading
Blogging Without Pictures – Breaking The Rules?
I got a criticism the other day – yep – criticised for doing what I love – the way I feel most comfortable doing it.
You see, I love writing (some will have already noticed that). But, believe me, I don’t love scouring the web for the perfect complimentary ‘royalty free’ photo from Flickr or Big Stock Photos – just to add the obligatory photo alongside a blog post.
Some may say, and, I suppose, they’d be right by saying that I can’t be arsed. Fair enough – I can’t. All that techy stuff gets in the way of my ‘flow’ and that stresses me out. I don’t want to get to the end of the day regretting that I didn’t write xzy post because I lost so much time looking for, saving, editing, uploading, embedding, (not forgetting linking to the photo ‘owner’) the ‘must have’ photo on the other post I wrote.
Does that make me lazy? Apparently. But not in my game. Continue reading
‘New’ Content really is King
It’s been said by pretty much everyone at one time or another that ‘content is king‘ – but what really is ‘king’ in the eyes of the Google algorithm is new, fresh content.
Here’s the bottom line: The more your create, the more your content is indexed. But, the more up to date, the newer and more ‘fresh‘ your content is, the higher your content ranks – but not forever – hence the need for new and fresh content added consistently.
Look at the way Google’s new algorithm ranks the latest content above older, stale, content… That’s a good thing for you, me and everyone relying on the mighty Goog for what is relevant to ‘me’ right now. Afterall, when you search for some info you don’t want some old regurged content from 5 or 10 years ago (that’s been said before, many times).
We all want, need and get much more use from what is, in fact, new – relevant right now. Continue reading
It’s Just Another Pointless Blog
I visited a factory up the road the other day and the MD was showing me this wonderful switchboard. He said he could hit any of those switches and his company would instantly transform what colour his frontage was, what colour the bricks were, it changed the style of the roof and added some shadows to the left with this switch and a moonlit kind of overcast shadow with this switch – but – he hastened to add – it doesn’t change a darn thing about whats inside…
He was joking around of course about how easy so many people think they can transform their business with a lick of paint or a new ‘theme’… It’s what’s inside that counts. What the company produces, how well it produces there widgets and how well it adds value at every stage for each and every customer.
It’s all about the content and creating value.
Just being bright and shiny and showing off the latest and greatest ‘whatever is hot right now‘ doesn’t guarantee great content and great value.
Don’t Just Retweet It – “Re-Think” It
More channels = Repeats… More social channels = more cross-posting and more ‘duplicate content’. Where’s the future in that? Seriously. If you were looking in the TV guide and at 10am there was 17 channels all showing the same repeat of the same program, how cool would you think that is?
If at 7pm you tuned in and skipped through all 400 channels to find different presenters all saying almost exactly the same thing about the hot topic of the day, how cool would that be. Nothing new. Nothing different. All the same?
The web is full of repeats – Who wins?
The winners are: 1. The person who breaks the news and writes the first, truly inspiring and interesting version of the story or event or trend. 2nd winner is the one who tells the story from a clearly ‘human’ stand point. The one who adds some history and some interesting viewpoints.
In the ‘duplicate / cross-posting’ war, the outright winner is the one who Continue reading
Get A Life – You Blog Spamming Morons
A quick message to Gregory and Bob and Roberto and Douglas and Edward and Elmer and Julian – and not forgetting Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dummer:
Writing a blog is often a passion, often something the writer does because he/she loves writing and loves writing about things they do and enjoy doing, things they can write to help others and things they just want to share with the world for no other reason but because they love to write. You see, there are no particular reasons and many reasons all at the same time. Continue reading →