Simple steps to a better blog: A picture is worth 1,000 words and nothing beats eye candy
By Carolyn Tann-Starr
You have been waiting patiently. You have your blog in draft. You’ve picked out your field electronics and are ready to capture images to share with your sphere of influence (and the rest of the blogosphere) except there is just one teensy weensy little problem: you have no idea what to capture and which shot to create to illustrate your blog post.
Hmm… You are back because you came to get more advice. Okay. Here it is:
Snap out of it (LOL).
Stop making clicking the aperture more complicated than it really is. It’s a button… Push it. Push it a lot. Take an obscenely excessive amount of photographs so you can select one later. You never know if you grow your collection of images and keep sharing them with the world you may one day become the next Richard Weisser.
His post entitled “The power of the Internet merges with print publishing to produce a match made in Heaven… or at least South Georgia” could very well read “or at least New York” and be all about you if you would just take a leap of faith in yourself and jump into the digital divide. (Here’s the link to Mr. Weisser’s post: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1619745/the-power-of-the-internet-merges-with-print-publishing-to-produce-a-match-made-in-heaven-or-at-least-south-georgia- )
Still hesitating or wondering why one takes the jump into the digital divide?
Well… um… why not? After all, rumor has it that it’s your social media resume, your writing portfolio, your mind being shared with anyone willing to sit down and listen to your inner most thoughts. It is an opportunity to brand yourself and your business. It is also an opportunity for people with similar interests to discover you.
Networking comes in all shapes and sizes. There is no cookie-cutter pattern or magic formula that will make you successful, or prevent you from failing in your first attempts to make contact with the virtual world. Nothing beats a try and there are certainly enough free and fee blogging platforms available to get you started. For those of you New York mommies living in beta and still in draft, yes, we will talk about those next time. Promise… but I digress, back to our talking points (LOL).
“All Social Media Roads Lead To Rome,” is a very interesting article written by Amber Naslund. Amber has some great talking points and here is a very useful quote (with a bulleted list), “We often cite these things as our goals for participation in social media, for marketing, for communications of all kinds:
• Brand Awareness
• Engagement
• Relationship Building
• Trust
• Thought Leadership
• Loyalty
But while they might be *a* goal, they are not *the* goal. They’re merely a point on a path toward the main objective, which is to grow our business by having people choose us instead of someone else.”
(http://altitudebranding.com/2010/05/all-social-media-roads-lead-to-rome/ )
The first people slated to choose you are the people in your sphere of influence. A picture is worth a 1,000 words and nothing beats eye candy to help people make up their mind if they are interested or not. You are not just writing to your friends, you are writing to the world. The Internet is global. You want your first visual selection to complement your writing and may be wondering if graphics will eventually need to be added to watermark your name or explain the shot. Some of you are not even sure if you want to buy a professional product like Photoshop because the learning curve is starting to grow in leaps and bounds as you silently panic over how much is too much, too many or not enough?
Take baby steps and remember there is no need to panic. Start by going somewhere you know, somewhere you like and introduce us to what you see, think and feel. Grab your fave set of New York mommies, pack activities for the shorties so the wee people can amuse themselves while you get ready for some serious girl talk about your writing or you wanting them to write with you. You may need them as models for your blog. You also may want another perspective to share and friends are a great place to start if you need to collect opinions. You may want to highjack their cute kids. You also may secretly crave the company because friends have a way of encouraging and inspiring the people they care for.
It is not about quitting your day job, it is about expressing yourself while discovering a new adventure that may open doors to an enriched life and possibly lead to other streams of revenue. There are a number of popular Mommy Bloggers making a decent living talking about their day. You could be one of them if you start collecting neighborhood photographs and sharing what only the native New Yorkers know about their fave, secret hole in the wall places. So many businesses have neglected their on-line presence. You could introduce us to them simply by talking about where you go, what you do and whom you know.
Here is a simple exercise for your test run. Pick a well-known street, select a neighborhood landmark, and then start writing about what you know. You do not have to write a lot, but you do have to write something about why it interests you. Check out Robert A. Swetz on blogger http://vegasevents.blogspot.com/ and compare it to his ActiveRain.com blog here: http://activerain.com/blogs/swetz777 (notice the difference? You can be the same person and present your ideas with a distinct style and personality for each category of writing you decide you want to do).
It is all about sharing. It’s time to do some sharing. Let’s get started, shall we?
According to Wikipedia, “Union Turnpike is a thoroughfare stretching across central and eastern Queens in New York City. It runs from Myrtle Avenue in Glendale to Marcus Avenue in North New Hyde Park, about a mile into Nassau County, New York. Initially designed as a toll road, it takes a straight-arrow path from Kew Gardens Hills towards Glen Oaks and Floral Park on the Queens-Nassau border.”
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Turnpike_%28New_York%29 )
One famous landmark, St John’s University (http://www.stjohns.edu/), has an 105 acre campus that can be accessed from Union Turnpike. If you continue a short distance on the thoroughfare to Fresh Meadows, you will discover Cunningham Park (http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/cunninghampark), which is also a favorite landmark of Queens County mommies because it is a great place for wee people to play (and there is a lot of very tasty food within a short walking distance on Union Turnpike). According to the NYC Parks Department, it is “one of the largest parks in Queens. Assembled between 1928 and 1944 and named Cunningham Park in 1934, the space has developed into headquarters for countless athletic leagues, animals, playmates, and barbecue enthusiasts.”
If you happen to be on the corner of 188 Street and Union Turnpike, just a few blocks down from Cunningham Park, directly across the street from the bank (approximately three doors down from the corner) you will discover Yotveta.
Yotveta is a small, kosher dairy restaurant with an intimate setting and excellent menu. It happens to be a favorite haunt of neighborhood writers looking for a soothing place to relax and play wordsmith. St John’s University students who are looking for a tasty late night meal after class and taking a break from their studies also frequent it. They have a Facebook page but have to set up a business website for the establishment. Kid friendly with a spanking desert menu, Yotveta would make a lovely place to stop if you are ever in the neighborhood. According to Amanda Marie, a Kings County resident who has relatives living in the area, “Their Sea Bass is a very popular dish on Wednesdays. Sometimes I have dinner for breakfast. It’s that good.”
Today’s mission, if you decide to accept it, is to go out and show the world your eye candy while sharing your thoughts on the subject of your choice. Feel free to let us know how you are doing in the comments section.
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