#also Neil and I are the exact same height | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gerogerigaogaigar · 2 years ago

Text

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Déjà Vu

The first Crosby, Stills & Nash album was good. It showcased the tight harmonies and floaty melodies that the three superstars could produce when put together. But the addition of Neil Young to the group was the catalyst that elevated their second album to new heights. The tight harmonies remain, and many songs have the same lighthearted floatiness, but the album is now tempered by Young's melancholy. Hits like Teach Your Children and Our House still carries that corny optimism and that's good, it gives the album variety. But it's the edgier tracks, Almost Cut My Hair, Woodstock, and Country Girl that make the album stand apart from it's contemporaries.

Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx

Compared to other Wu Tang solo albums Only Built 4 Cuban Linx is the most dedicated to the kayfabe of inner city gangsta attitudes. The album has a loose concept based around the idea of pulling off one more heist before retiring and this lends it cohesiveness. Ghostface Killah is notably featured on nearly every track and I'm not gonna complain. Any two members of Wu Tang Clan have incredible chemistry but Rakwon and Ghost are completely in sync on this album. RZA must be shouted out as usual bringing in his punchiest, most aggressive beats mixed with his signature piano and a touch of string to suggest film music. It should also be noted that Criminology is the best Wu Tang song period. Ghost and Raekwon are showing off their GOAT status with the lyricism, flow, and speed and RZA has given them his best beat ever.

TLC - CrazySexyCool

With one of their members in rehab and tensions running high within the group it's hard to imagine that TLC would pull off one of the best albums of the 90s. But with CrazySexyCool they managed to reinvent themselves as a serious and sensual R&B group with strong hip hop overtones. They also earned a cast of promising guests including production by Sean Combs and Phife Dawg and features by Andre 3000 and Busta Rhymes. Unfortunately due to being in rehab Left-Eye only has a couple of verses on the album, but they are all winners. It's an album that it funky with deep bass grooves but drums that are very danceable. And the beats have to be deep and powerful to match T-Boz and Chili's rich full voices. It cannot be overstated how incredible TLCs vocals are. It's the perfect album for blasting from your car stereo in 94.

Oasis - Definitely Maybe

I don't think I'd go so far as to say Oasis is a good band, but this is at least their best record. Imagine is The Stone Roses second album had been far less disappointing than the one we got but still a little disappointing. That's Definitely Maybe. Oasis' greatest flaw will always be in their production. No band puts out flatter less interesting mixes than Oasis. I'm actually impressed at how they get worse with each album. Definitely Maybe suffers from a lot of the same problems, mainly that it's over compressed and everything is sitting in the exact same place in the mix causing every instrument to vie for your attention with equal weight at all times. It makes it hard to know what you are hearing sometimes. I hate it. But at least this album is aiming for a shoegazey kind of sound so it sometimes works. It's a kind of enjoyable album. I wouldn't ask someone to turn it off.

Elliott Smith - Either/Or

Listen imma have to be real, I cannot review this album. Not really. It's too personal. like do I recommend Either/Or? Yes. Top ten album for me personally. See the things Elliott Smith says and the way he says them resonate with me in a way that I'm not really always comfortable with. He, like myself, struggled with ADHD and chronic depression so the vibe I get of disconnect, dispassion is too relatable. Sometimes depression takes the form of detachment from things that are supposed to be enjoyable and Either/Or plays in that emotional space a lot. This album sees me. There is emotional sincerity and fragility here that cuts me to the core and hurts me. But like, I've stewed on these songs for a long time. I've gone back to them repeatedly and torn them apart to get as much out of them as possible. I have no idea what you might get out of them on a first listen. I guess in all the emotional uncertainty it's worth noting that the album ends on a positive note. Say Yes, where the singer does not expect his love to be reciprocated but it is. Where his depression tells him that he is unlovable but he wakes up to a world where he is loved anyway.

#500 album gauntlet #crosby stills nash and young #raekwon #TLC #oasis #elliott smith

2 notes · View notes

kevin-day-is-bi · 4 years ago

Note

if your still doing prompts

fluffy kevaaron headcanons please (:

Omg hi yes we are still doing prompts!! This was our first hc prompt so yay!

Kevaaron hcs, ft The Monsters

Ok so while both Kevin and Aaron speak multiple languages

They don’t share a language (other than English)

So at some point, because he’s like that and refuses to say anything truly sweet in English, Kevin starts calling Aaron pet names in french

The first time it happens, Aaron asks what it means and Kevin panics and says it means ‘asshole’

(it means beloved)

So Aaron asks him to repeat it and promptly goes and says it to Neil, who almost has a heart attack and then, after much confusion, realizes whats happened and gleefully joins in

Very unbeknownst to anyone, Aaron has been doing the Exact Same Thing but in German

Then Kevin decides he wants to learn German along with his Japanese and French and who knows what else and decides to have Aaron teach him

All the Foxes pitch in, giving him little phrases and such

This goes along fine for a while until one day he hears Nicky say something in German to Erik over the phone and is like ‘why did you call Erik a dick???’

‘that....means ‘I love you’‘

Kevin has an ‘oh’ moment and runs to find Aaron

cue shenanigans and Aaron nearly strangling Nicky

Also-

They are both absolute disaster human beings

Between Aaron spending all his energy on exy and premed and Kevin being literally an exy Queen, they sometimes forget to eat

Or drink water

Or sleep

One time Aaron wanders into the kitchen at 3am and finds Kevin getting out of his exy gear

‘have you had anything to eat or drink today?’

‘yes’

‘oh, thank god-’

‘vodka and a protein bar’

cut to Aaron having an absolute fits despite not having had anything beside a pint of ice cream and an apple Andrew threw at his head earlier

Speaking of

Andrew is horrified by Aaron choosing Kevin

‘kevin’ ‘yes’ ‘kevin, the one obsessed with exy’ ‘yes’ *reaches for knives*

When Andrew gets with Neil Aaron just very loudly says

‘ oh its NEIL. the NEIL who is obsessed with EXY. youre fucking EXY Neil.’

Kevin and Neil: heated exy discussion

Twinyards: oh my god theres two of them

Nicky’s reaction is such a mom reaction

Aaron very reluctantly goes to Nicky when he first gets his crush

He’s very sharp during the whole conversation but when he leaves he very reluctantly goes ‘thank you’ and Nicky almost cries

And then Nicky does that mom friend thing where he always tries to get them paired up for everything

‘wow you guys should do drills together!’

‘theres a foot height difference-’

‘he isnt anywhere near my level-’

Nicky risks getting a limb cut off when he tries to get Andrew out of the dorm so Aaron and Kevin can be alone

This is before theyre together and so Kevin is oblivious and Aaron is mortified

And when Andrew finds out he very much doesn’t let them be alone together

But one day he finds them asleep on the bus and Aaron has his head laying on Kevin’s shoulder and they look so calm

Andrew just glares full force for a solid 2 minutes then just walks away

its never mentioned again

That’s all I got!! Thank you so much, this was super fun. I just discovered kevaaron but they seem like such an angsty ship so this took a lot of thought

#h-mah #kevaaron #kevin day #aaron minyard #prompts #aftg #all for the game #headcanons #fluff

75 notes · View notes

dreamscatch · 5 years ago

Text

tag game

🥰🥰💕 i was tagged by @xingsus and also @hansjisung tagged me to a very similar one recently too (it’s not the exact same but they had some same questions so i’m just gonna go ahead and do this ajshkfj)

name: vee

nicknames: that one ^ is already a nickname even though only my brother and tumblr mutuals use it and everyone else uses my actual name :’D

zodiac: cancer

height: 162-3cm i think?

languages: finnish, english, swedish and i did take a japanese course once but i have forgotten the whole language :’) i’m gonna learn it again at some point i hope!!

nationality: finnish

fav season: autumn and winter

fav flower: i’ve never really thought about it

fav scent: vanilla, lime and rose

fav fictional character: fucking edward elric i guess also diana prince & tony stark & neil josten

coffee, hot tea or hot chocolate: hot tea

average sleep: 8-9h though last night i slept like 6h ugh

dogs or cats: both are good, i’ve never had any pets so i’m not overly attached to either one

number of blankets: one

dream trip: japan one day hopefully! also new zealand

blog established: i want to say either 2013 or 2015 and i’m too lazy to check

random fact: i basically just started a 2 week break from uni because there’s winter break and after that i go to amsterdam so i won’t be attending any lectures then either 😅

gender: woman

current time: 14.15

fav artists: eden, jeremy zucker, syml, the weeknd, lauv, billie eilish, vérité, lorde, sam smith uuhmm i spend all my time listening to music and this list goes on and on and on

stuck in my head: the weeknd after hours (gosh this song is amazing)

last movie i saw: idk what’s the official name of that movie but it was the sequel to ‘to all the boys i’ve loved before’

last thing i googled: guitar chords to blackbird by the beatles

other blogs: i have a studyblr and a blog where i dump things that i need to read later 😅

do i get asks: i’ve had some great discussions with some anons/anon (idk if it’s from the same person askhjh) recently but that’s about it!

reason for url: oh sehun is important also i apparently have some sort of a thing for the word serendipity so i have to include that word everywhere i guess

followers/following: i have 2107 followers and apparently i follow 1169 blogs :o

lucky number: 19 and 7. it’s my birthday and i literally see the number 197 or 1907 everywhere

currently wearing: a pink college shirt and dress pants

dream job: no idea ashdkfj future seems distant

fav foods: chicken, pizza, ice cream

instruments: i play the piano, guitar & ukulele and can also make somewhat reasonable sounds out of a lot of other instruments (like i just remembered that i played the drums for a band in high school for a while shdkj)

fav song: all time fav song is end credits by eden and current fav song is island by amber run

i tag my pals @loverserendipity @sugarplummeting @kiing-pip if u guys want to do this (no pressure 🧡)

#tag game #thanks for tagging me!!! <3

3 notes · View notes

xxisxxisxxis · 6 years ago

Text

Gateway Drug | Part Three

Part One , Part Two , Part Four

Pairing: Douglas Booth!Nikki Sixx X OC

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: Language

Tag list: @fandomshit6000 @lilmou5ie @tamedhearts @divaanya @allieburakovsky @kingbouji3 @evrsncnewyork @6ixx6ixx @ratedrkohardychick91 @floregrohlssard @oldschoolimagineblog @thanks2pete @abaldboi @swoopygorl

**Let me know if you want to be tagged**

———————————————————————

“And Dirty Stripper Viv is back!” Vince exclaims as I stare at the ceiling over Tommy’s shoulder.

“Tommy,” I start, catching his attention.

“Yeah?” He asks me as if nothing is wrong at all and I close my eyes briefly.

“You’re shirtless. I’m shirtless. There’s skin-to-skin contact and I don’t like it.” I say as calmly as I can and he frowns.

“I’m trying to defend your honor.” He tells me and I raise a brow.

“I’m naked, laying on a grungy floor, with an audience.” I point out. “I don’t have much honor left to defend at the moment so it doesn’t matter who sees me put clothes on.” I explain and he furrows his brows slightly before getting off of me.

I pull the dress on as fast as I can, ignoring Vince and Nikki’s prying eyes as Tommy still lingers between me and them, trying to block their view as best as he can until I’m clothed.

“Are you ready or not, man?” Nikki asks him with a sense of lost patience and I get Tommy to zip my dress as he answers:

“Gimme two minutes and I’ll be out.” He tells him, which causes Nikki to roll his eyes and turn to leave.

“What’s up with him?” Tommy asks Vince once Nikki’s out of earshot and Vince shrugs.

“Probably has blue-balls after that show Vivian gave us.” He suggests and I shoot daggers at him with my eyes as he steps closer, pulling a piece of lint off the bottom of my dress before looking me in the eyes. “Who can blame him though, right?”

“No.” Tommy and I say at the exact same time.

Tommy’s idea is that I’ll stay a virgin until I die.

My idea is that I don’t die a virgin, I just stay one until I’m married.

Vince grins like an idiot before looking me up and down, shaking his head a little.

“You keep clinging to the ‘Holy Child of God’ image all you want to, Viv. I give it a year before it wears off and you’re begging for one of us like a bitch in heat.” He states as if it’s a fact.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Vince.” I say dismissively, sitting down on the worn out couch to put my heels on. “As pretty as I think you or Devil-Spawn or any of these rock guys are, I have self-control. Which means I can acknowledge the idea of wanting to do something, but also recognize it’s a horrible idea, so I don’t do it. It has saved me a lot of trouble in my life and maybe, just maybe, if you had even the slightest amount of this magical self-control, I would be able to tolerate you more.” I get my heels on and stand, taller than his height by a few more inches.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Viv.” He replies smugly, giving me one last signature Vince Neil look before he steps out of the room.

Tommy pulls his boots on and stands up, putting his hands on my shoulders.

“I think we might sell out tickets tonight.” His excitement matches a puppy’s and I nod, agreeing with this prediction.

With the way they’ve been playing the past several weeks and the buzz going on, it won’t surprise me if they do sell out tonight.

“I know.” I feel his same giddiness, proud of his success so far.

“Drummer!” Mick’s distinct voice sounds from the other side of the door.

“Kiss your girlfriend bye and come the fuck on!” Nikki says next and I stare at Tommy, who shakes off their rushing with a shrug and gives me two thumbs up before opening the door.

I push past them, avoiding Vince’s wondering hands trying to grope me by sliding between Nikki and Mick with a quick “excuse me”, hearing the sound of Tommy smacking Vince’s hands away from me.

I hold back a chuckle at the sound and continue walking.

Once I join the crowd around the stage, I’m side by side with a blonde that shows particular interest in Vince once he starts singing “Take Me to the Top.”

I’m tempted to shove her off of him when he leans down, singing to her, merely inches from her face as her hand comes up to rest on his bicep.

“Swine.” I mouth to him, earning me a wink.

It doesn’t take long for his girlfriend to find her way to the front of the stage between me and the blonde he’s currently turning himself out to. With one swift shove from his girlfriend has the other one out of the way, becoming Vince’s focus point.

Before he goes in to the chorus, he gives her a brief kiss, causing other girls to scowl at her and I can’t help but laugh.

I try not to hate much of anything unless it’s blatantly disgusting. But groupies...I really, really, really, don’t tolerate very much.

Once the show is over, me and Vince’s girlfriend head backstage.

Tommy meets me eagerly, bouncing up and down, running to me full speed, like a buffalo.

I brace for impact, laughing when his hands capture my waist and he picks me up.

“We fuckin’ sold out!” He shouts cheerfully, gently shaking me.

“That’s awesome!” I exclaim as he hugs me, and I give Vince the benefit of the doubt, holding the palm of my hand out over Tommy’s shoulder for him.

“We fucking did that shit.” He says proudly, giving me a high-five with his other arm draped around his girlfriend.

“I say we celebrate.” Tommy states, putting me down but keeping his hand locked around mine. “Booze and chicks.” His afterthought matches Vince’s, but with Vince’s girlfriend beside him, he won’t admit it. “And you’re coming with us.” Tommy nudges me and I laugh, thinking he’s joking. “I’m being serious.”

“Tommy, I have a curfew and what not and—”

“You are eighteen fucking years old. You’ve been the perfect child for, like, your whole life. It’s time you flap your little wings and leave the fucking nest.” Tommy tells me and I hold back a smile.

“He’s right, Viv. If you don’t try to fly, you’ll leave us no other choice and we’ll just have to throw you out the damn thing.” Vince agrees with Tommy.

“My parents are the ones who’re supposed to throw me out of the nest when they’re ready.” I argue.

“We’re not talking about leaving your house. We’re talking about the little bubble you’ve been living in.” Vince informs me. “The ‘No Fucking Fun’ bubble.”

“I thought it was a nest?” I ask, confused.

“It can be whatever the fuck you want it to be.” Vince goes on. “Point is, we’re popping that bubble tonight.”

“Fuck yeah.” Tommy backs him up.

“We’re kicking you out of the fucking nest tonight.” Vince says next.

“We sure fucking are.” Tommy echoes.

“We’re popping your ‘No Fucking Fun’ cherry.” Vince only gets worse.

“Damn right.” Tommy nods and I try to think through this, not sure whether I should be mortified or laughing.

“See, the thing that happened sophomore year was foreplay, Viv. It is time to let your fucking freak-flag fly.” Vince doesn’t know when to shut up and I pinch the bridge of my nose.

“My freak flag is as existent as your boundaries.” I speak up, noticing Mick and Nikki coming towards us, and I look at Tommy. “I love you,” I kiss his cheek quickly. “I’m gone.”

“Viv, come on!” Tommy calls after me as I head to the dressing room to change clothes.

I toss my heels to the side once I get through the door, stepping further in to the room. The door suddenly bursts open and shuts and I roll my eyes at the sight of the bass playing Devil-Spawn leaned against it, bottle of Jack Daniels in hand.

“What do you want?” I ask, pulling my curled hair in to a low ponytail, trying to pull the zipper from between my shoulder blades, to no avail.

“Get your fucking shoes back on,” he orders me and I raise my brows.

“Excuse me?”

“If you’re so prude that you won’t even be seen out in public with us then fine. But Tommy’s supposedly your best friend. Put your shit aside and act like it. He wants to have fun with his best friend. So get your damn shoes back on,” He slurs slightly, kicking my heels towards my feet. “And get your ass back out there and put your fuckin’ holier-than-thou morals aside, and stop pretending hanging out with us is like shoving a wasp nest up your p—”

“You’re drunk.” I hiss. “And chewing me out, for the umpteenth time this month.”

“And you’re a cunt. Scolding me for the umpteenth time this month.” He mocks me, taking a large gulp of Jack.

“I’m not scolding you. You can drink until your liver shuts down and your kidneys fail. Not my health. Not my problem.” I snap at him.

“That’s a very christianly way of thinking, Saint Vivian.” He argues. “And I’m not drunk. I’m tipsy.”

“Good then you’ll remember me telling you to kindly screw off.” I gather the clothes I wore here, deciding to change in my car. I step to the door, waiting patiently for him to move aside so I can open it and leave.

He steps away from the door knob, letting me open it, but his fist collides with the door just as soon as it opens ajar, shutting it again.

I feel his Jack-laced breath on the back of my neck and squeeze my eyes shut, trying to avoid turning around due to how close he is.

I relent, turning to push him away, but I stop myself. Hazel eyes dusted by strands of teased, black hair, lock with my green ones and I feel a lump in my throat forming.

I can’t seem to form words, and he notices, his ego getting a good rub down by my flustering.

My back sinks into the solid wood of the door when he moves closer to me, his nose brushing against my hair as his lips graze the shell of my ear. With an arrogant voice that could give Vince a run for his money, he whispers:

“Just making sure I can get under that holy-roller skin of yours whenever I want.” He says lowly and I snap out of my trance and push him away from me, causing him to chuckle as I scowl at him. “Your self-control needs a tad bit more practice.” He teases, and I realize Vince put him up to this. “But hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. Even Eve took a bite out of the forbidden fruit after that snake made it look so good.” His tone is like smooth molasses as his eyes move from mine, down my body, and ho again. I swallow the lump in my throat.

“It was Satan. Not just some snake.” I say harshly, opening the door and slamming it shut.

I should have run after that night. I should’ve stopped being friends with Tommy. I was lying to myself by saying I was prepared for everything that was bound to happen. I had a feeling they would get a record deal, their careers would get bigger and they’d be 24/7 rockstars. Meaning tons of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll or, in my mother’s words, “a diseased ticket straight to Hell, a psychedelic ticket straight to Hell, and a loud ticket straight to Hell.”

I never drank a drop of alcohol since that incident at Vince’s pool party, never took drugs in my life, and once the band made it big, that’s all they did while being accompanied by beautiful women and song writing every now and then.

I was proud of myself for staying sober despite being surrounded by all kinds of opportunities to change that.

I didn’t realize people could be just as addictive, paralyzing, euphoric, and toxic, as any drug. I should have run that night, but I didn’t. And that sealed my fate. Little did I know my intuition would soon be drowned out by the Devil-Spawn and his many demons, enticing me with his never ending ways of sinful seduction.

#nikki sixx #vince neil #tommy lee #mötley crüe #douglas booth #machine gun kelly #mgk #daniel webber #colson baker #the dirt #the dirt movie

130 notes · View notes

denimjacketgf · 7 years ago

Text

honestly. i love all the height differences in aftg ships. they’re all iconic and perfect and im losing my mind here. i mean we’ve got:

matt and dan. dan wilds, whom is 5′4″ (five foot, four inches the Fuck tall), and matt boyd, who is an Entire Foot taller than her. at least. good lord

andrew and neil. neil is Three Fucking Inches taller than andrew and god i love it more than i can say

renee and allison. granted this is just a hc but i’ve always imagined that renee is taller than allison when theyre barefoot, but when allison puts her heels on she’s got a decent few inches on renee

katelyn and aaron. idk how tall katelyn is in canon but she’s taller than aaron and idk why but i adore that. also i’ve always loved the hc that she’s just. the Exact same height as neil. and that aaron is pissed when he figures it out

jeremy and jean. im not sure if jeremy is canonically 5′7″ or if thats just a popular hc but for some reason that number sticks in my head. and jean is 6′2″ right ? so. ok. i dated someone in hs when i was 5′7″ and he was 6′2″ so i know from Personal experience this is fucking Incredible. lucky bastards

kevin and neil. again kevin is almost a foot taller than neil. tf. kevin would have to like pick neil up whenever they wanted to kiss or bend down enough to give himself a neck ache

jean and kevin. jean is like. what? an inch or two taller than kevin? and they’re both over six feet tall. god

#loverboy wordz #there’s probably more but like these are all my ships anyway so #add more if u want ?#aftg

80 notes · View notes

ladynorbert · 7 years ago

Text

Tag meme

Answer 30 questions and then tag 20 blogs you would like to know better

Thank you for tagging me, @waddiwasiwitch :)

Nickname: Depends on who you are. Around here, I usually go by Lady, or else some form of either Mother or Empress. Or a combination thereof. @tk31085 occasionally calls me “Majesty,” which is absurd.

Gender: Female

Star sign: Virgo

Height: 5’3″

Time: 4:54 pm

Birthday: September 6

Favourite band(s): I have many, but my absolute favorite is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I usually like solo artists rather than bands, although I’m quite partial to Nickelback, Rush, Imagine Dragons, and a few others whose names are escaping me at present.

Favourite solo artist(s): Lots of these, and I will ask you to remember that I’m much older than most of you - my taste tends to run to soft rock from the 1970s and 1980s. I’m very fond of Neil Diamond, Elton John, Meat Loaf, Owl City, Gordon Lightfoot... yeah, these are all dudes for some reason. I like female singers too, I promise! I’m just drawing an awful blank on names. Oh, except for @themusicalbookworm, I do love my Gio’s music.

Song stuck in my head: At this exact second, it’s “Forever in Blue Jeans” by Neil Diamond. I usually have about four earworms per day - I almost always wake up with one, and they’re never songs I’ve heard within the previous 24 hours.

Last movie I watched: The last one I saw in theaters was The Man Who Invented Christmas, which was terrific. I think the last one I actually watched was Blackway, at my parents’ house on New Year’s Day, and I kind of hated it. Anthony Hopkins is a great actor, but it was just a really disturbing film with a disappointing ending.

Last show I watched: I usually don’t watch shows, to be honest - I fell out of the habit from years of working night shift. Lord Norbert watches them and sometimes I’ll hang out in the same room. I think the most recent incident of this was Shark Tank.

When did I create my blog: 11-11-11, which I only remember because of the repetitious date. It’s also the day that Skyrim debuted, by an odd coincidence.

What do I post: Fanfic, personal thoughts, positivity. I do more reblogging than anything.

Last thing I googled: A Baby-Sitters Club book, as weird as I’m sure that sounds. I was trying, and failing, to find out which one has the “spazzy incident” that leads to Mallory going away to boarding school, since I stopped reading the series long before that happened. (When those books first came out, I was about the same age as the characters.)

Do you have other blogs: I have a couple of sadly neglected RP blogs, as well as @knightsoffandom - I need to get back onto that! I’m better at maintaining @sunny-stories, mostly because there’s not a whole lot of emotional labor involved; it’s just reblogging.

Do you get asks: Occasionally, but not very often.

Why did you choose your url: I'm Lady Norbert, and the whole reason I made a Tumblr at all is because I’m Lady Norbert and, as @jellyjay said when she lured me here, “They talk about you over there.” So it seemed logical.

Following: 522

Followers: 1,124 (why?)

Favorite color: Pink and gray

Average hours of sleep: Between 6 and 8 hours, usually.

Lucky number: 13

Instruments: I can’t even read music, much less play an instrument. I sing though. Not usually where people can hear me, but I sing.

What am I wearing: Fleece pajamas! I’m having a me day and that includes pajamas.

How many blankets do I sleep with: Just one. Lord Norbert is a human furnace so one is all I need.

Dream job: Wealthy philanthropist - seriously, I just want to have bunches of money so I can give it away.

Dream trip: London, England

Favorite food: Mostly things I’m not supposed to eat, seeing as I’m diabetic. Ice cream, for instance.

Nationality: American. If we’re talking ancestry, I’m chiefly a Euromutt, with a small strain of Native American. (My mom had us do the DNA tests with Ancestry.com so I know this is true.)

Favorite song now: Editing to add this! I somehow missed this question. Although come to think about it, I really don’t know the answer...

Tagging is always hard, but let’s try to tag some people I don’t usually tag... and some newbies too... how about @ironbullsmissingeye, @cullenstairshenanigans, @shayasanya, @sternenstaub28, @elevanetheirin, @fannihorvath020, @galadrieljones, @inquizies, @rawrzimon, @sapphiredragonprincess, @savvylittleminx, @ohmytheon, @haymitchdrinksfirewhiskey, @pahndah, @kate-barton93, @emotionalmorphine, @bearly-tolerable, @windrider01, @a-shakespearean-in-paris, and @hawkeyedflame. And anyone else who wants to do it too. :)

9 notes · View notes

oliverphisher · 5 years ago

Text

Steven Lochran

Steven Lochran spent his childhood writing stories and now he gets to do it for a living. He graduated from Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing before going on to write the critically-acclaimed Paladero and Vanguard Prime series. In addition to his career as an author, Steven has also spent the past decade working in the publishing industry, first in the marketing department and then in sales. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and son. The Champions of the Blade, the fourth and final book in his Middle Grade fantasy Paladero series, is out now.

The Edge of the World (Paladero) By Steven Lochran Buy on Amazon

Steven Lochran is a master storyteller. He has written a gripping fantasy story which includes a transgender character, with an amazing insight and feel for the lived experience of trans and gender diverse people. His exploration of the impact families have on the lives of trans people touched so many memories for me.

What are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?

What a simple but sadistic question to ask a writer! I agonised over this for a while and finally settled on the following:

Fantastic Mr. Fox By Roald Dahl

The Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl. One of the first books to spark my love of reading and writing.

1984 (Signet Classics) By George Orwell

1984 by George Orwell. I read this in a formative period of my life and still refer back to it to this day, both as a writer and as an individual.

Less (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): A Novel By Andrew Sean Greer

Less by Andrew Sean Greer. This was obviously a much more recent novel which I loved, not just for the strength of its writing but for taking what could have been a self-indulgent premise and delivering it with warmth, humour and heart. It taught me to not be so self-conscious in my writing and to have courage in my ideas.

What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?

There's a certain type of Staedtler pen that has a very fine but firm tip that I've found very satisfying to write with, particularly in a Spirax notebook; great for making notes and scribbling out rough drafts.

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

I've lost count of the number of manuscripts I've begun or ideas I've started fleshing out which haven't ultimately led anywhere. One of the biggest was the first book I ever wrote that I sent out to multiple agents and publishers with no success. But I learned a lot from that experience and knew what to do better the next time I around. The very next book I wrote ended up being published, and a lot of ideas from that first unsuccessful manuscript ended up being repurposed in the Paladero series. Nothing ever goes to waste.

Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by?

Two quotes spring immediately to mind. The first is paraphrased from a speech Neil Gaiman gave at the 2008 Children's Book Council of Australia conference; "Everything that exists had to be dreamed of first ". This has always stuck with me as a lovely summation of why storytelling is so important.

The other is from fellow Melbourne author Melissa Keil, who very succinctly wrote in an article for the Guardian: “Everyone deserves to see themselves as a hero.” Something intrinsically important to remember when writing for young readers.

What is one of the best investments in a writing resource you’ve ever made?

I studied Creative Writing at uni, which was an immense privilege to be able to do and took about ten years' worth of professional development and concentrated it into three. That isn't to say you need to have a degree to be a professional writer; every author's path is different.

What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?

I love making Spotify playlists as part of my development process. Not a particularly unusual habit as I know a lot of authors do the same, but it's something I get a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction from, almost to the point of neglecting the actual writing in favour of hunting down the exact right song.

In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life?

Parenthood. It's not exactly a belief or behaviour in itself but it's made a massive impact in how I interact with the world, as well as with what kind of stories I'm interested in telling.

What advice would you give to a smart, driven aspiring author? What advice should they ignore?

The best advice I can offer is to not give up. The only time you're guaranteed not to succeed is when you stop trying. So don't stop trying.

I don't know if there's much advice I'd say to outright ignore, but I'd definitely say that all advice is subjective. While there are certain universal experiences of being a writer, every writer's process and personal rules are different. There is no right way or wrong way of being a writer. Your favourite author may swear by their particular method but that's only really true for them. An example; I love Alan Moore's work, and I remember him decrying the use of a thesaurus. But I use a thesaurus all the time. In short, don't let your idols psyche you out.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession often?

"You HAVE to do X, Y or Z to be a writer". Again, all advice is subjective. When an author is giving advice, they're just communicating what works for them. The same won't necessarily work for you, so don't take it as gospel.

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to (distractions, invitations, etc.)?

Not a whole lot, I have to admit. Maybe check back with me in another five years!

What marketing tactics should authors avoid?

Don't spend excessive amounts of your own money on marketing materials like t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc. And don't get caught up thinking you need to build some awe-inspiring social media platform to get published. Focus on your writing and let everything else flow from that.

What new realizations and/or approaches have helped you achieve your goals?

Your writing doesn't have to be perfect from the very first draft. Put down what you have in your head on the page. Keep going. Fix it later.

When you feel overwhelmed or have lost your focus temporarily, what do you do?

Just keep writing, even if it's only a handful of words a day. So long as you're making some kind of progress, that's all that matters. You'll get there in the end.

Any other tips?

Make sure you write down every idea you possibly can. Not only do they disappear like vapour, they can prove invaluable years or even decades later.

________

Enjoyed this Q&A? Want to discuss in more depth? Join Community Writers. You'll get access to 100+ exclusive writing tips. Q&As with successful authors, an exclusive ebook on building an audience and much more. Sign-up for free as a community writer here

source https://www.thecommunitywriter.com/blog/steven-lochran

#Writing WriteMotivation WritingAdvice

0 notes

astro-b-o-y-d · 8 years ago

Text

The More Things Change

Haha, y’all remember when I said I had ANOTHER CC idea on top of that big one I was working on? This was that second idea. Also it’s a sequel/second chapter to Same Old, Same Old, so I suggest reading that first if you haven’t.

[Read on Ao3]

"I do not want to do this."

David chuckled as he set the car to park before turning to Max. "I know you don't. But unfortunately, I don't think your social worker will be happy if I tell her that I allowed you to stop going to school simply because 'you didn't want to'."

Max crossed his arms harder and glared out the window. "I won't tell if you don't."

"Max..."

Max sighed heavily. "Look, what's the fucking point in going anyway? The American education system is fucked beyond belief, so it's not like I'll actually learn anything useful if I go."

"You might make some new friends," David pointed out optimistically.

Max turned his glare from the window to David. "Seriously?"

"Or, if you'd rather not go to school, I could let you accompany me to the daycare center," David said. "Those little tykes love it whenever bigger kids come to play with them."

"I think I'd rather staple my mouth shut," Max said bitterly. "Also, while we're on the subject, can I get my lip pierced?"

"Only if you go to school and stay there all day," David said. "No skipping."

"Can I fight someone?" Max asked.

"Only if they start it, or they say something incredibly, and intentionally, offensive," David said. "While I would rather you not get into fights at all, I'd excuse it in...certain circumstances."

Max raised an eyebrow. "Wow, you're not only telling me to fight someone, but to fight them if they're being an offensive fuckhead? What happened to the passive, white guy who couldn't tell the difference between Native Americans and actual Indians from India?"

"Five years is a long time, Max," David pointed out. "You learn things. You become...ashamed of certain past behaviors. You grow up a bit."

Max stared at him for a moment before letting out a defeated sigh. "Alright, alright, I'll go to school. I won't like it and I don't promise to get straight As or anything. But I'll go."

"As long as you try your best, I'm happy," David said with a smile, as he reached over to ruffle Max's hair.

"Ugh, don't start," Max said, and swatted his hand away before he opened his car door. "Also you better say goodbye to me right now because if you pull some embarrassing shit like yelling it at me when I'm several feet away from the car, I'm going to turn around and throw the nearest heavy object as hard as I can through your windshield. And no 'I love you's either."

"Why don't you just rip out my heart, then?" David asked dramatically.

"...I can put something through the windshield now, if that's what you want."

David shook his head. "Have a good day, Max. Call me if there's any trouble."

"Yeah, whatever."

Max shut the car door and turned to face the building before him with a scowl. He had seen about three different high schools over the course of a year, and all of them looked exactly the same. Just a big, dull building surrounded by depressed teenagers who didn't want to be there.

Well, at least he'd fit in.

The inside of the school looked pretty on par with the rest of his schools, as well. A bunch of annoyingly-bright, neon posters everywhere that advertised some school club or event or whatever-the-fuck-else, more depressed teens, and the faint scent of body spray and whatever they were serving in the cafeteria that day.

Max pulled the sheet of paper that listed his classes and locker number out of his sweatshirt pocket. Of course they'd put his locker on the opposite end of the school. He shook his head and continued on down the nearest hallway, in the hopes he would find the stairwell quickly.

"Max?!"

Max glanced up from the paper at the sound of his name, slightly confused as he looked around for the source. It was his first day, how the fuck did anyone know his name? Then again, Max wasn't exactly an unusual name. Maybe there was another kid nearby that shared the same name as him.

This thought was immediately debunked as he felt someone tap his shoulder from behind, and a strong feeling similar to the one that Max had felt when he saw David for the first time in five years washed over him as he turned around and stared at the person before him.

The boy was thin and lanky, not to mention tall, and Max could see the faintest hint of a soul patch on his chin. His curly, brown hair was about shoulder length, and his bright, blue eyes rested behind a pair of thick-brimmed glasses.

Blue eyes... Curly, brown hair...

Max didn't dare to hope until his eyes landed on the boy's shirt and noticed it had a stupid science pun ("I tell bad chemistry jokes because all the good ones Argon") displayed on the front.

"...Holy shit, Neil?"

"Oh, my god, it is you!"

Max's arms were around Neil in a tight embrace before he could even process what was happening. Neil not only hugged him in return, but also gave his head a playful noogie. "I saw you at the front doors, but I thought it might have been a trick of the light or maybe it was just another kid who looked exactly like that little shit from Camp Campbell. But it's really you! You're really here!"

"Yeah, I...I'm here," Max said, his mouth curling into a fond smile as he pushed Neil off of him. "And you're here apparently. You go to school here? I'm surprised you haven't been accepted into Harvard by now, or something."

Neil scoffed. "Harvard's overrated. Besides, if I went to college now, I'd just struggle to keep up with everyone else. Attending public school allows me to easily keep the highest grades in the school, and the sense of self-worth I tie to such a title, for just a little longer. I know that the grades I get here will pretty much be worthless in the long run, but I take what I can get."

"Still a goddamn nerd," Max said, shaking his head. "A tall nerd. Seriously, how do you not hit your head on the ceilings, especially with how inflated it is?"

"I don't know, how do you manage to reach the doorknob at your height?" Neil said with a smirk as he waved his hand over Max's head. "I mean, did you grow at all since the age of ten?"

"Hey, shut the fuck up before I kick you in the shins," Max said with the little anger he could muster up in his amused state. "Then we'll be the exact same height."

Neil laughed and nudged him. "Still a loudmouthed brat after all these years, huh?"

"And you're still a nerd," Max said, laughing as he pushed him back. "I mean, seriously, what the fuck is with that shirt? And those glasses? Taking the scientist thing too far, huh? Also what the fuck is that on your chin?"

"Hey, these are prescription," Neil pointed out, with a tap to his glasses. "And the frame sizes were my mom's idea."

"Dude, no offense, but your mom wants you to get bullied," Max said. "And I didn't hear any excuses for that shirt or the fuzzy thing on your chin. Seriously, what is that? Do you not know how to use a razor?"

"You make fun of me, and yet you walk about with that thing in your eyebrow?" Neil asked, pointing at Max's piercing. "And a sweater that makes you look like you jumped straight out of a My Chemical Romance song?"

Max smirked and crossed his arms. "Hey, it's better than looking like I walked straight out of The Big Bang Theory."

"...That's cold, Max. That's real cold."

Both boys stared at each other for a moment, before breaking out into another fit of laughter as they hugged each other again. "God, it's really good to see you again, dude," Neil said, staring at him. "You go to school here now?"

Max shrugged. "Not by choice. But you being here already makes it better than my last school, so that's a plus."

"God, it's been, what? Five years?" Neil asked. "What have you been up to?"

Max's smile fell. "That depends. How much free time do you have?"

--------------

"I...I'm so sorry, Max."

"I didn't even find out until I got back," Max said, flicking a crumpled-up piece of paper across the table. "There were police there, and all the neighbors were outside. Some of them looked like they'd seen a ghost when they saw me coming up the street."

Neil gave him a sympathetic look. "So...what happened after that?"

"I bounced from foster family to foster family for most of the year," Max said. "None of them could handle me for more than a month or two. I mean, if you thought I was a brat when I was ten, just add teenage hormones and the loss of my parents on top of that mess."

"...Yikes."

"'Yikes' is fucking right," Max said, as he balled up another piece of paper. "I'm pretty sure the only reason I'm still alive at this point is because the universe hates me too much to end my suffering once and for all."

"...You know, we could talk about something else if you want," Neil suggested. "This sounds like a touchy subject for you."

"Nah, it's fine," Max said, once again flicking the paper ball across the table. "I mean, it's not fine, but honestly, it...doesn't really hurt as much to talk about anymore. Well, okay, it does, but...it's been getting better lately. Which brings me to how I ended up here. You mind if I keep going or do you want me to shut up?"

"I'm all ears, keep going."

"Well, after a couple of families ditched me, I ended up in someone's else care," Max said, leaning back in his chair. "Now, I want you to stop and think about this for a moment, Neil, because this is going to blow your goddamn mind. After losing my parents in a house fire, and being tossed from one family to the next, you'd think the universe was done screwing me over, right?"

"Oh, no, what happened next?" Neil asked.

Max held up a finger. "Just think about it for one moment, Neil. Think about the tiny, angry boy from camp for a moment and the one person he hated most. I want you to take that information and combine it with the previous information I gave you, and then I want you to answer this question: after everything that's happened to me, what else could the universe possibly do to screw me over?"

Neil thought for a moment before his eyes lit up with realization. "...No way. No fucking way."

Max let out a tired, closemouthed chuckle. "Guess who's my new guardian, Neil? Guess who's stupid face I now get to see every goddamn day of my life?"

"David adopted you?!"

"He's fostering me," Max corrected him. "Only fostering. Apparently the law finally caught up to Campbell and the camp was shut down after our summer there."

"They couldn't have shut it down before the summer?" Neil asked bitterly.

"I know, right?" Max said. "But anyway, David said that after the camp closed, he got into the childcare business. Babysitting, daycare...pretty much anything involving taking care of kids. Not a surprise that he eventually wanted some of his own, so he became a foster parent. And, well, being a foster kid who had made a bad habit of getting kicked out of my families, I guess it was inevitable that I would end up in his care eventually."

"Holy shit..." Neil said in disbelief.

"And you wanna know the absolute worst part of living with him?" Max asked. "The absolute fucking worst part that you have to swear that you will never tell David in a million years or I will keep my promise about breaking your kneecaps?"

Neil held up his hands. "Hey, what happens in study hall stays in study hall."

"That's not a saying."

"Just tell me what the worst thing is, dude."

Max sighed. "The absolute worst thing is one of the best. Goddamn. Things to happen to me this year. No joke, no sarcasm, I'm being completely serious here. I've only been staying with him for a week, and yet I'm better off than I've been since my parents died. And I hate it because I guess it's not enough to lose my family and be stuck in an endless loop of being assigned to a foster family and then being kicked out, oh no, the universe decided that I can't even keep my enemies. I mean, what the fuck?"

Neil chuckled. "So, I'm guessing he's not that bad of a dad?"

"He's not my dad," Max said firmly. "But...he's alright. I said he's only fostering me, but...at the same time, I really don't see him getting rid of me like everyone else did. I haven't woken up feeling like it'll be my last day in a home before I have to pack up everything and start all over again for the millionth time since I've moved in with him. He's constantly checking on me, asking if I'm okay. Even when I tell him to leave me alone, he kinda just does that 'okay, but I'm here if you need to talk about anything' thing and still checks on me every so often. It's...weird, but it's not bad, you know?"

Max shrugged. "I mean, he's still overbearing and annoying and if he tries to take me camping with him I'm going to shove that stupid Camp Campbell scrapbook he keeps on the coffee table down his throat, but at least he cares. None of my other families ever really felt like that. At least, not for long."

The bell rang overhead, signaling the end of the current period, and both boys let out a groan. "Ugh, study hall always end too quickly," Neil said. "Well, at least I have science next."

"Oh, what a shocker it is that you're excited for science class," Max said sarcastically, pulling his schedule out of his pocket. "Can you at least show me where my math class is? The rooms in this school are labelled weird."

Neil nodded with a glance at the paper. "Funny enough, it's right next to the lab."

"Oh, so I'll be able to hear you being a massive teacher's pet in the next room?" Max asked. "I can't wait."

"The teacher had to invent the Triple-A-Plus in order to grade my papers more accurately," Neil said proudly. "Another kid once saw my grade when quizzes were being passed back, and I swear he started crying. Like, yeah bitch, you wish you were as smart as me!"

"You fucking nerd," Max said with a laugh, before his expression fell. "Hey, look, uh...sorry for talking your ear off the entire time. I know I kinda unloaded everything on you, and I didn't really give you a chance to talk much—"

"Hey, you've had a rough year," Neil pointed out, as they headed out of study hall. "The most exciting thing I did this year was go to Comic Con."

"Again, nerd," Max said. "But still...sorry. I didn't even ask you what you've been up to or anything."

"I have an idea," Neil said as they came to a stop outside one of the classroom doors. "Why don't we hang out this weekend and catch up some more? I can even ask Nikki if she wants to join us."

"Nikki?" Max asked. "You guys kept in touch?"

"I mean, we only started talking again about a year ago," Neil said. "She lives in the next town, and we can only really hang out when she's not busy with her sports stuff—"

"Of-fucking-course she got into sports," Max said.

"But I'm sure she'll be excited to see you again," Neil said, smiling. "There's this burger place downtown that her and some of her other jock friends like to go to after games. She invites me sometimes, and then yells at the jock boys who try and pick on me."

"Again, of-fucking-course."

"Anyway, we could meet up there if you want," Neil said. "You in?"

Max smiled. "Yeah...alright, it sounds fun."

"Fun?" Neil raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't aware you even knew how to have fun."

"Haha, go jerk off to a picture of Albert Einstein, asshole."

"Joke all you want, but you won't be laughing when you need help on your science homework and I refuse to give it to you because you insulted me."

"You're full of shit," Max said. "But seriously, I average at a D in Science. Do you tutor?"

"Better," Neil said. "I've got notes that go all the way into next year's lessons. I'll make a copy of them for you at lunch if you need them."

Max opened his mouth to speak, but Neil continued before he could get a word out: "And before you ask, yes, I can also give you a page of translations, so you don't have to ask me every few minutes what something means."

Mex smiled fondly. "After all this time, you still get me, Neil."

Neil gave him a wave before heading into the other classroom. Max felt his smile widen as he stared at the laboratory door for a moment before he pushed the door to his own class open and headed inside.

-----------------

"You look a lot less angry than you did this morning," David said cheerfully. "Did you have a good first day?"

Max looked at him. "Did you know Neil went to school here?"

"Neil from camp?" David's eyes widened excitedly. "He goes to your school? Does he live around here? Oh, you should invite him over—"

"Yeah, yeah, already on top of that," Max interrupted. "We're hanging out with Nikki this weekend."

"And Nikki, too?" David let out a happy noise. "Aww, you did make friends today! I mean, technically they were already your friends, but this is so exciting! I'm so happy you had such a good day! You did have a good day, didn't you, Max?"

"Alright, don't get too happy or you'll crash the fucking car, idiot," Max said, turning his attention to out to the window. "And yeah, I guess I did. I know I'll at least pass science class this semester, so that's good."

Maybe school wouldn't be so bad, after all.

#Camp Camp #Foster Family AU #And I guess #High School AU #I dunno I wanted to write more for this AU and...well I did #There you go #Also Ao3 has all my author's notes so I suggest reading it there

73 notes · View notes

atakportal · 6 years ago

Photo

New Post has been published on https://adz.cloud/2019/01/16/5-real-examples-of-advanced-content-promotion-strategies/

5 Real Examples of Advanced Content Promotion Strategies

Content promotion isn’t tweeting or upvoting. Those tiny, one-off tactics are fine for beginners. They might make a dent, but they definitely won’t move the needle. Companies that want to grow big and grow fast need to grow differently.

Here’s how Kissmetrics, Sourcify, Sales Hacker, Kinsta, and BuildFire have used advanced content promotion tips like newsjacking and paid social to elevate their brands above the competition.

1. Use content to fuel social media distribution (and not the other way around)

Prior to selling the brand and blog to Neil Patel, Kissmetrics had no dedicated social media manager at the height of their success. The Kissmetrics blog received nearly 85% of its traffic from organic search. The second biggest traffic-driver was the newsletter.

Social media did drive traffic to their posts. However, former blog editor Zach Buylgo’s research showed that these traffic segments often had the lowest engagement (like time on site) and the least conversions (like trial or demo opt-ins) — so they didn’t prioritize it. The bulk of Zach’s day was instead focused on editing posts, making changes himself, adding comments and suggestions for the author to fix, and checking for regurgitated content. Stellar, long-form content was priority number one. And two. And three.

So Zach wasn’t just looking for technically-correct content. He was optimizing for uniqueness: the exact same area where most cheap content falls short. That’s an issue because many times, a simple SERP analysis would reveal that one submission:

(image source)

…Looked exactly like the number-one result from Content Marketing Institute:

(image source)

Today’s plagiarism tools can catch the obvious stuff, but these derivatives often slip through the cracks. Recurring paid writers contributed the bulk of the TOFU content, which would free Zach up to focus more on MOFU use cases and case studies to help visitors understand how to get the most out of their product set (from the in-house person who knows it best).

They produced marketing guides and weekly webinars to transform initial attention into new leads:

They also created free marketing tools to give prospects an interactive way to continue engaging with their brand:

In other words, they focused on doing the things that matter most — the 20% that would generate the biggest bang for their buck. They won’t ignore social networks completely, though. They still had hundreds of thousands of followers across each network. Instead, their intern would take the frontlines. That person would watch out for anything critical, like a customer question, which will then be passed off to the Customer Success Manager that will get back to them within a few hours.

New blog posts would get the obligatory push to Twitter and LinkedIn. (Facebook is used primarily for their weekly webinar updates.) Zach used Pablo from Buffer to design and create featured images for the blog posts.

Then he’d use an Open Graph Protocol WordPress plugin to automatically add all appropriate tags for each network. That way, all he had to do was add the file and basic post meta data. The plugin would then customize how it shows up on each network afterward. Instead of using Buffer to promote new posts, though, Zach likes MeetEdgar.

Why? Doesn’t that seem like an extra step at first glance? Like Buffer, MeetEdgar allows you to select when you’d like to schedule content. You can just load up the queue with content, and the tool will manage the rest. The difference is that Buffer constantly requires new content — you need to keep topping it off, whereas MeetEdgar will automatically recycle the old stuff you’ve previously added. This saved a blog like Kissmetrics, with thousands of content pieces, TONS of time.

(image source)

He would then use Sleeknote to build forms tailored to each blog category to transform blog readers into top-of-the-funnel leads:

But that’s about it. Zach didn’t do a ton of custom tweets. There weren’t a lot of personal replies. It’s not that they didn’t care. They just preferred to focus on what drives the most results for their particular business. They focused on building a brand that people recognize and trust. That means others would do the social sharing for them.

Respected industry vets like Avinash Kaushik, for example, would often share their blog posts. And Avinash was the perfect fit, because he already has a loyal, data-driven audience following him.

So that single tweet brings in a ton of highly-qualified traffic — traffic that turns into leads and customers, not just fans.

2. Combine original research and newsjacking to go viral

Sourcify has grown almost exclusively through content marketing. Founder Nathan Resnick speaks, attends, and hosts everything from webinars to live events and meetups. Most of their events are brand-building efforts to connect face-to-face with other entrepreneurs. But what’s put them on the map has been leveraging their own experience and platform to fuel viral stories.

Last summer, the record-breaking Mayweather vs. McGregor fight was gaining steam. McGregor was already infamous for his legendary trash-talking and shade-throwing abilities. He also liked to indulge in attention-grabbing sartorial splendor. But the suit he wore to the very first press conference somehow managed to combine the best of both personality quirks:

(image source)

This was no off-the-shelf suit. He had it custom made. Nathan recalls seeing this press conference suit fondly: “Literally, the team came in after the press conference, thinking, ‘Man, this is an epic suit.’” So they did what any other rational human being did after seeing it on TV: they tried to buy it online.

“Except, the dude was charging like $10,000 to cover it and taking six weeks to produce.” That gave Nathan an idea. “I think we can produce this way faster.”

They “used their own platform, had samples done in less than a week, and had a site up the same day.”

(image source)

“We took photos, sent them to different factories, and took guesstimates on letter sizing, colors, fonts, etc. You can often manufacture products based on images if it’s within certain product categories.” The goal all along was to use the suit as a case study. They partnered with a local marketing firm to help split the promotion, work, and costs.

“The next day we signed a contract with a few marketers based in San Francisco to split the profits 50–50 after we both covered our costs. They cover the ad spend and setup; we cover the inventory and logistics cost,” Nathan wrote in an article for The Hustle. When they were ready to go, the marketing company began running ad campaigns and pushing out stories. They went viral on BroBible quickly after launch and pulled in over $23,000 in sales within the first week.

The only problem is that they used some images of Conor in the process. And apparently, his attorney’s didn’t love the IP infringement. A cease and desist letter wasn’t far behind:

(image source)

This result wasn’t completely unexpected. Both Nathan and the marketing partner knew they were skirting a thin line. But either way, Nathan got what he wanted out of it.

3. Drive targeted, bottom-of-the-funnel leads with Quora

Quora packs another punch that often elevates it over the other social channels: higher-quality traffic. Site visitors are asking detailed questions, expecting to comb through in-depth answers to each query. In other words, they’re invested. They’re smart. And if they’re expressing interest in managed WordPress hosting, it means they’ve got dough, too.

Both Sales Hacker and Kinsta take full advantage. Today, Gaetano DiNardi is the Director of Demand Generation at Nextiva. But before that, he lead marketing at Sales Hacker before they were acquired. There, content was central to their stratospheric growth. With Quora, Gaetano would take his latest content pieces and use them to solve customer problems and address pain points in the general sales and marketing space:

By using Quora as a research tool, he would find new topics that he can create content around to drive new traffic and connect with their current audience:

He found questions that they already had content for and used it as a chance to engage users and provide value. He can drive tons of relevant traffic for free by linking back to the Sales Hacker blog:

Kinsta, a managed WordPress hosting company out of Europe, also uses uses relevant threads and Quora ads. CMO Brian Jackson jumps into conversations directly, lending his experience and expertise where appropriate. His technical background makes it easy to talk shop with others looking for a sophisticated conversation about performance (beyond the standard, PR-speak most marketers offer up):

Brian targets different WordPress-related categories, questions, or interests. Technically, the units are “display ads, but they look like text.” The ad copy is short and to the point. Usually something like, “Premium hosting plans starting at $XX/month” to fit within their length requirements.

4. Rank faster with paid (not organic) social promotion

Kinsta co-founder Tom Zsomborgi wrote about their journey in a bootstrapping blog post that went live last November. It instantly hit the top of Hacker News, resulting in their website getting a consistent 400+ concurrent visitors all day:

Within hours their post was also ranking on the first page for the term “bootstrapping,” which receives around 256,000 monthly searches.

How did that happen?

“There’s a direct correlation between social proof and increased search traffic. It’s more than people think,” said Brian. Essentially, you’re paying Facebook to increase organic rankings. You take good content, add paid syndication, and watch keyword rankings go up.

Kinsta’s big goal with content promotion is to build traffic and get as many eyeballs as possible. Then they’ll use AdRoll for display retargeting messages, targeting the people who just visited with lead gen offers to start a free trial. (“But I don’t use AdRoll for Facebook because it tags on their middleman fee.”)

Brian uses the “Click Campaigns” objective on Facebook Ads for both lead gen and content promotion. “It’s the best for getting traffic.”

Facebook’s organic reach fell by 52% in 2016 alone. That means your ability to promote content to your own page fans is quickly approaching zero.

(image source)

“It’s almost not even worth posting if you’re not paying,” confirms Brian. Kinsta will promote new posts to make sure it comes across their fans’ News Feed. Anecdotally, that reach number with a paid assist might jump up around 30%.

If they don’t see it, Brian will “turn it into an ad and run it separately.” It’s “re-written a second time to target a broader audience.”

In addition to new post promotion, Brian has an evergreen campaign that’s constantly delivering the “best posts ever written” on their site. It’s “never-ending” because it gives Brian a steady-stream of new site visitors — or new potential prospects to target with lead gen ads further down the funnel. That’s why Brian asserts that today’s social managers need to understand PPC and lead gen. “A lot of people hire social media managers and just do organic promotion. But Facebook organic just sucks anyway. It’s becoming “pay to play.’”

“Organic reach is just going to get worse and worse and worse. It’s never going to get better.” Also, advertising gets you “more data for targeting,” which then enables you to create more in-depth A/B tests.

We confirmed this through a series of promoted content tests, where different ad types (custom images vs. videos) would perform better based on the campaign objectives and placements.

(image source)

That’s why “best practices” are past practices — or BS practices. You don’t know what’s going to perform best until you actually do it for yourself. And advertising accelerates that feedback loop.

5. Constantly refresh your retargeting ad creative to keep engagement high

Almost every single stat shows that remarketing is one of the most efficient ways to close more customers. The more ad remarketing impressions someone sees, the higher the conversion rate. Remarketing ads are also incredibly cheap compared to your standard AdWords search ad when trying to reach new cold traffic.

(image source)

There’s only one problem to watch out for: ad fatigue. The image creative plays a massive role in Facebook ad success. But over time (a few days to a few weeks), the performance of that ad will decline. The image becomes stale. The audience has seen it too many times. The trick is to continually cycle through similar, but different, ad examples.

Here’s how David Zheng does it for BuildFire:

His team will either (a) create the ad creative image directly inside Canva, or (b) have their designers create a background ‘template’ that they can use to manipulate quickly. That way, they can make fast adjustments on the fly, A/B testing small elements like background color to keep ads fresh and conversions as high as possible.

(image source)

All retargeting or remarketing campaigns will be sent to a tightly controlled audience. For example, let’s say you have leads who’ve downloaded an eBook and ones who’ve participated in a consultation call. You can just lump those two types into the same campaign, right? I mean, they’re both technically ‘leads.’

But that’s a mistake. Sure, they’re both leads. However, they’re at different levels of interest. Your goal with the first group is to get them on a free consultation call, while your goal with the second is to get them to sign up for a free trial. That means two campaigns, which means two audiences.

Facebook’s custom audiences makes this easy, as does LinkedIn’s new-ish Matched Audiences feature. Like with Facebook, you can pick people who’ve visited certain pages on your site, belong to specific lists in your CRM, or whose email address is on a custom .CSV file:

If both of these leads fall off after a few weeks and fail to follow up, you can go back to the beginning to re-engage them. You can use content-based ads all over again to hit back at the primary pain points behind the product or service that you sell.

This seems like a lot of detailed work — largely because it is. But it’s worth it because of scale. You can set these campaigns up, once, and then simply monitor or tweak performance as you go. That means technology is largely running each individual campaign. You don’t need as many people internally to manage each hands-on.

And best of all, it forces you to create a logical system. You’re taking people through a step-by-step process, one tiny commitment at a time, until they seamlessly move from stranger into customer.

Conclusion

Sending out a few tweets won’t make an impact at the end of the day. There’s more competition (read: noise) than ever before, while organic reach has never been lower. The trick isn’t to follow some faux influencer who talks the loudest, but rather the practitioners who are doing it day-in, day-out, with the KPIs to prove it.

Source link

0 notes

beckettsthoughts · 8 years ago

Text

get to know me!

Rules: answer the 20 questions and tag 20 amazing followers you would like to get to know better.

First of all, thank you so much to @strangerdarkerbetter for tagging me in this, not only do I love these a lot but this was brilliant timing now that I’m getting back on my groove with this new URL :)

Name - Beckett

Nickname - Becks, Bex, B (and Becky, to some old friends of mine, though it’s not something I like that much I don’t mind them using it)

Zodiac Sign - Scorpio

Height - 5′7″

Orientation - Aromantic, asexual

Ethnicity - Caucasian

Favorite Fruit - This is a very difficult question because I really like fruit, but probably hand-picked blackberries from the woods or outside school.

Favorite Season - Autumn is my favourite because it’s not too warm but not too cold, rainy and the colours are beautiful. For pretty much the exact same reasons, spring is a close second.

Favorite Book - The Dream Thieves, by Maggie Stiefvater. Equally, Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. This should give you a fair sense of both my love of fairytales and my love of comedy.

Favorite Scent - Rosemary, every time,

Favorite Color - I tend to like colours in combination more than separately, but I like both warm oranges and cool purples.

Favorite Animal - Either ravens or crows, but I’m a big fan of birds in general. I’m also a big fan of little lizards, like the kind we used to see when we went to Spain.

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate - I don’t actually like hot drinks! My favourite other drink is probably apple juice, though. Or French sirop de fraise.

Average sleep hours - 5, at best. I really haven’t been able to sleep well at all recently, though it’s been worse. I’ve been really stressed though, so hopefully it’ll blow over with that.

Cat or Dog Person - I love cats, but I’m allergic. I’m scared of most dogs, but @luuxraay won me over with his adorable little fluffball of a puppy. So I’d probably have to say I’m a dog person.

Favorite Fictional Character - Crowley, from Good Omens. Or Ronan, from The Raven Cycle. I’m also a big fan of Douglas from Cabin Pressure, and Cecil from Welcome to Night Vale. I consume a lot of media, if you couldn’t tell.

Number of Blankets you Sleep With - One, usually. If I’m freezing cold or generally not feeling great, a massive blue weighted blanket is added for good measure.

Dream Trip - I want to go back to Los Angeles. I can’t even describe how much I want to go back there. To be honest, my heart aches for Paris just as much as it always has and I would love to go to Rome, as well.

Blog Created - This one? Literally two weeks ago. My old account that I used up until this week, though, I created just over four years ago.

Number of Followers - 23, on this blog. On my old account, again, I had 569 on my main blog and 213 on my side blog

And I’m tagging: I don’t have many followers yet, but anyone who sees this is welcome to consider themselves tagged. Specifically, I’m going to tag @luuxraay, @outakurebecca, @mcnamak, @tertiarysqueeze, @bye-onara, @baz-pitch-is-alive, @yokitoshi, @shark-myths, @autisticanakinskywalker, @sheisalreadyhere, @assetbucky, @quantum-milktea, @homjom, @aliciachan-rp, @littleduckalex, @finnisnowdeadrip, @windsweptarmadillo, @wetsocks--24pair and @thejaspersnerdpalace

#personal #i love these thank you so much #ask meme

8 notes · View notes

cliftonsteen · 5 years ago

Text

What Is a Piccolo Latte & How Do I Make It?

The piccolo latte is a mysterious drink. This little milk beverage can be hard to find and is commonly misunderstood. However, it can be a great addition to coffee shop menus, with its punchy espresso and smooth milk. For customers, it’s a delicious alternative to the classic coffee choices.

We’re going to delve into the world of the piccolo latte. Join us and find out what it is, where to find it, and how to make it.

You may also like What Is a Cortado?

Barista pouring latte art into a cup. Credit: Neil Soque

What is a Piccolo Latte?

Piccolo translates into ‘small’ from Italian, but this drink isn’t simply a small latte.

The piccolo latte, or piccolo, as it is commonly referred to on coffee menus, is a small milk beverage that’s typically served in a 3–4 oz/85–114 ml glass. Saša Šestić, owner of ONA Coffee Wholesale, and World Barista Champion 2015, describes it as “one part of espresso and two parts of steamed milk with a layer of silky foam on top”. More specifically, he defines the measurements as “a shot of espresso, around 20–30 ml, with 40–60 ml of milk”.

The single espresso shot is topped with steamed, stretched milk, allowing it to blend with the coffee, and has a small amount of foam atop the drink. This means that the flavour of the espresso is able to come through without being overbearing. Ceiran Trigg, Director of Ancestors Coffee in Norwich, UK, suggests that the piccolo is an “option to try for a well-balanced espresso/milk-based drink”.

Barista preparing a Piccolo Latte at ONA coffee. Credit: Nathan Harradine-Hale for ONA Coffee

Why The Piccolo May Be Hard to Find

Have you seen a piccolo on a menu at your local coffee shop? They may not feature as widely as the classic cappuccinos and lattes.

Ceiran explains that a potential reason for the piccolo’s lack of popularity in the UK is “due to consumers’ confusion on what the drink is”. He thinks that “a lot of coffee shops would be serving cortados instead of piccolos and vice versa”.

The definition of piccolos, cortados, and other milk drinks can be confused, which means consumers are less familiar with what to expect when they order. Ceiran follows up with “I feel people take comfort with sticking to the most common drinks such as lattes, cappuccinos, and flat whites”, as these drinks are well-known and generally consistent.

Frederik Schiøtz of True Intent Coffee, Copenhagen states that piccolos are rarely found on menus in Denmark. “Serve a piccolo to a Dane, and they’d probably call it a cortado,” he says, explaining that the cortado is a more popular drink in larger cities in Denmark.

Despite the confusion, you will still find a piccolo in some places. Stevie Hutton, the owner of the UK-based coffee shop 44 Poets, has travelled extensively throughout countries in Asia and says it is “generally the only place I see piccolo latte on the menu everywhere”. Stevie speculates that language may play a role, with Asia “still following the Italian constructs of cappuccino, latte, piccolo etc. No flat whites and other culture drinks as a general rule”.

The problem isn’t the drink – it’s simply that so few people know what it is and how to make it. The more the piccolo is tasted and enjoyed, the more it will find a place in coffee shops.

2oz Piccolo Latte. Credit: Hany Ezzat

The Piccolo Latte vs Other Milk Drinks

The piccolo is commonly confused with lattes, cortados, macchiatos, and more. But each drink offers distinctive flavours and textures.

Latte

The piccolo might have “latte” in its name, but don’t let that confuse you. A latte is significantly larger: although it varies according to the coffee shops, a standard latte is around 8 oz/230 ml compared to the 3–4 oz/85–114 ml piccolo.

The milk consistency is similar. Both drinks have steamed, stretched milk which mixes smoothly with the espresso. Despite this, Saša explains that the piccolo is “a lot more espresso driven than typical lattes; it’s punchier, with more flavour”.

Cappuccino

Although recipes for the cappuccino can vary, it’s fair to say that it’s quite different from a piccolo.

First, a cappuccino is a larger drink, usually served in a 5–6 oz/142–170 ml glass. The milk for a cappuccino will be steamed using more air to produce a drier and frothier texture, which is then poured on top of the espresso. The more aerated milk doesn’t blend with the espresso in the same way as the piccolo, creating more distinct layers instead.

Consumers can taste the bold espresso flavour while drinking both a cappuccino and a piccolo, just in different ways. The dry milk in a cappuccino serves to slightly take the edge off the espresso, which the consumer reaches at the bottom of the cup. The piccolo still has a punch, due to the ratio of espresso to milk, but the difference is the stretched milk blends with the espresso, creating a distinct yet bold flavour.

Flat White

The flat white has fast become a coffee shop favourite. Cappuccinos and lattes can be made with a single or double shot, but flat whites will usually always have a double shot, compared to the piccolo’s single shot.

This double shot is topped with steamed milk with a small layer of microfoam on top in a 5–6 oz/142–170 ml glass. The milk consistency in a flat white is similar to that of a piccolo, resulting in a well-blended drink.

Despite its slightly smaller size and similar milk consistency, the double shot of espresso in a flat white creates a much bolder espresso flavour compared to the piccolo.

Macchiato

The macchiato and piccolo are both small drinks that are typically served with a single shot of espresso. It’s the steamed milk that makes all the difference.

The macchiato is ‘marked’ with similar milk to the cappuccino, which has been steamed with more air, for a dry and frothy texture. Just a few teaspoons of milk are added to accompany the espresso and take the edge off it. This is a different experience to the blended milk and espresso of a piccolo.

Two different size milk and espresso beverages. Credit: Neil Soque

Piccolo Latte vs. Cortado

The cortado serves as an important marker for defining the piccolo. They are commonly mistaken as the same thing: a small milk beverage served in a similar-sized glass with steamed, stretched milk, and a little foam on top.

Grant Gamble, Events Director for the Toronto Coffee Festival (Allegra Group), says, “After spending time in Australia I discovered that a piccolo is a single shot of espresso in a 3–4 oz [85–114 ml] cup with latte-texture milk, whereas the cortado is a double shot.”

What does this mean for the taste of a cortado? The single-shot piccolo is more delicate, less intense, and sweeter. The cortado has a more bold espresso flavour and is less sweet due to less milk in the cup.

“There’s a huge strength difference,” Ceiran says, pointing out that this can create problems if consumers aren’t aware of the difference. “If you’re expecting a certain strength [from the piccolo] then it’s doubled up unexpectedly, it’s not a pleasant experience. The espresso could be misinterpreted as a poor extraction.”

Ceiran also makes the point that if you’re a cortado drinker and you’re served a piccolo, that it tastes “weak and not intense enough”. It’s important that the difference between these two drinks is understood, so consumers know what to expect.

Creative latte art poured into a Piccolo Latte. Credit: Hany Ezzat

Top Tips For Making a Delicious Piccolo

Most importantly: how are you going to make your piccolo? The exact recipe is, as always, down to personal preference – but here are some tips to help.

To make a piccolo, extract a shot of espresso, between 20–30 ml. Steam your milk to around 60°C/140°F, allowing enough air into it to create some microfoam, but ensuring it’s stretched and silky. Pour between 40–60 ml of milk onto the espresso at a slight angle with a bit of height, allowing the milk to mix nicely with the espresso. To finish, allow a little room for a small layer of foam on top.

Saša personally recommends opting for a coffee with “chocolate, hazelnut or caramel notes”. He advises against fruity coffees, since “with such a small amount of milk, they tend to be sour”.

Don’t be afraid to experiment a little to get the kind of flavour you want. Saša says that classic piccolo recipe of one shot of espresso topped with milk will create a bold and heavy flavour. However, if you want a bit more balance in the cup, he suggests “running a full shot of coffee, to get that nice and balanced coffee… 20–22g on each side… take out one-quarter of this, and then pour in the milk”. This should retain the intense espresso but result in a sweeter cup.

Freshly poured Piccolo Latte. Credit: Hany Ezzat

If you haven’t tried a piccolo before, now might be a good time to try. Got an espresso machine at home? You’re good to go. If not, speak to your barista, ask them to try the suggested piccolo recipe, and take it from there. The more the piccolo is talked about and enjoyed in its own right, the more we might see it in coffee shop menus.

There are so many different milk and espresso drinks to try, with their own delicious flavours. Yet the smooth yet punchy piccolo latte deserves a little limelight.

Enjoyed this? Check out What Is a Flat White & How Is It Different From a Latte?

Written by Helena Brown. Featured photo caption: Six piccolo lattes. Featured Photo Credit: Hany Ezzat

Perfect Daily Grind

Want to read more articles like this? Sign up for our newsletter!

The post What Is a Piccolo Latte & How Do I Make It? appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.

What Is a Piccolo Latte & How Do I Make It? published first on https://espressoexpertweb.weebly.com/

0 notes

torentialtribute · 6 years ago

Text

Time for Cardiff to care about money was BEFORE Emiliano Sala died

Again, Cardiff had undoubtedly acted differently in dealing with the transfer and affairs of Emiliano Sala. The fact is that they did not.

They do not pay attention to their return from a private journey to France ; they did not ask too many questions about the interest in their services from other clubs; they were not too curious about who had received what and why, from his transfer.

Until they stayed behind with a £ 15 million bill for a dead rush. Sorry, but that's the bottom line. This is all that it is about now: the bottom line. The dignified ceremonies and speeches are over and what remains is the coldest, hardest dispute about money.

Had the Piper PA-46 Malibu controlled by David Ibbotson landed safely in January 21, Sala was now fully engaged in Cardiff's fight against relegation, had he scored the goals Cardiff hoped they were buying, there would be nothing more to see about any of the goals.

Not only the rent, ownership and stewardship of a light aircraft, but questions about discounts from agents and inflated fees and third-party ownership and Bordeaux 50 percent.

Cardiff does not ask FIFA, FA or the police, according to the latest shipments, to investigate any of their other transfer deals or negotiations.

They do not want them to poke around in the six that related to Unique Sports Management, the company that counts Neil Warnock & # 39; s, for example, is James among his employees. James Warnock is believed to have been involved in Cardiff cases involving at least three players – Sean Morrison, Rhys Healey and Craig Noone – but the club seems happy with that.

They also seem to have no problem with Jack McKay, his Willie McKay who helped to mediate the room deal, signing a two and a half year contract as a professional at the club in January 2018 , despite having less than an exceptional career

McKay started his career at Doncaster – a club with which his father was involved – before he was loaned to Ilkeston, signed for Leeds, loaned to Airdrieonians, signed for Cardiff, and lent to Chesterfield in the National League. Given Cardiff took third place in the championship and pursued Premier League promotion after McKay's signing, this seems an excellent, if not a player who was already 21 and scored only one goal, for Airdrieonians against Peterhead in the third category Scottish football.

McKay is actually a striker.

By happy coincidence, another son of Willie, the twin brother of Jack, Paul, was also considered good enough to be signed. by Cardiff, at exactly the same time. He had also been with Doncaster and Ilkeston, as well as with Gainsborough Trinity and finally Leeds, where he had played one game against non-ally Sutton United in the FA Cup.

This checkered family tree, It was enough to get him a contract with Cardiff until 2020, just like his brother. Paul is now on loan to Morecambe, currently in League Two, where he played 18 games over four matches.

So nothing there that Cardiff might want to see FIFA or the FA – much like the transfer of Sol Bamba, whose move from Leeds was led by Mark McKay, also the son of Willie, through his company ExCel Foot.

Bamba went from the season 2016-17 as the captain of Leeds United to his contract canceled after four games, which means that Cardiff has been added as a free agent.

Cardiff won widespread praise for their worthy dealings with the

They were respectful, they were appropriate, their manager Warnock spoke sincerely about his emotions, their fans Reaction with empathy and heat on the loss.

Then Nantes set the first account.

This is the club that in the year they last degraded from the Premier

This is the club that, after having dismissed Malky Mackay as manager and Iain Moody as sports director, late accusations were made both for unlawful actions regarding transfers and interim payments, which remain unproven, with the case overturned in March 2017. Much of the anger of that time was concentrated around the signing of a young striker, Andreas Cornelius, for a then record price of £ 8m from FC Copenhagen. Cornelius, like Sala, would score the goals to keep Cardiff in the Premier League. He was a nasty flop and failed to find the net in one of his eleven matches.

Vincent Tan, the owner, blamed Mackay and Moody, as if the transfer market is an exact science. I have argued that the real compensation for Cornelius – who has since gone back to Copenhagen, Atalanta in the Serie A and currently Bordeaux – was £ 10 million and that his wage was £ 45,000 per week.

Had he been able to prove that Mackay or Moody acted shamefully, he might have tried to withhold or collect payments to Copenhagen. Room was also a record amount. Does this pattern sound familiar?

Take numbers 2-6, which relate to the crash itself.

Who made the decision to put a room in the room? on the plane Why does not the owner of the plane come forward? Did the plane have a license to take commercial passengers? Was pilot Ibbotson in possession of a permit to transport passengers?

These are things for Cardiff, not for Nantes. The refusal of the club to take responsibility for the bygone journey of Sala would be sad if it was not so tragic. On 19 January Sala & # 39; s transfer was announced by the club.

& # 39; It has been a long process to secure the services of Emiliano, but I am very glad that we are now in a position where we can confirm his signature, & # 39; said chief executive Ken Choo. I'm sure all Cardiff City fans will join me to see that we're drawing our records in a Bluebirds shirt. & # 39;

Sounds quite unambiguous. So why are the Nantes cases that organized his trip two days later? It is said that Cardiff has sent a text message with some British Airways flight options. That is it? A text? No follow-up conversation? No insistence on planned routes?

Cardiff may not have known the exact shortcomings of the arrangements, but let's not pretend they were all over it. This is their record signature – and they do not know who they put him on the plane? They do not know who owned the plane? They do not even know if the flight, or the pilot, had a permit?

Questions 7-10 regarding the transfer: was the space owned by a third party? Yes. Are Sala & # 39; s previous Club Bordeaux due 50% of the transfer fee as part of a resale clause negotiated in 2015? What was transfer from broker Willie McKay? Was McKay's commission, or part of the transfer fee, to be split between other parties involved in the deal – if so, who?

Do they ask the same questions about the Bamba deal? Do they ask why Leeds would cancel their captain's contract and let him go to a rival from the same division?

Do they ask why a club months away from promotion to the Premier League twin brothers would draw whose football experience places them anywhere near that level?

What does Bordeaux want with Cardiff, do you want to see McKay's assignment? None of this is their business;

If someone is still in the dark about motivation, question No 1 should provide clarity: was Sala a Nantes player when I stepped on the fatal flight?

The Premier League also stated that it is not possible to refer to the President of the United Kingdom. that the international transfer certificate of Sala was registered with the FA of Wales, and that he was mentioned in a squadron registered at the death of the Premier League. Cardiff needs to know this, so why are they asking?

Were Cardiff taken for a ride on Room? Remove possible. For unknown reasons, Willie McKay thought it would be useful to reveal an e-mail he had sent to Sala. Prior to the move, which said that he deliberately released stories about the pursuit of rival clubs to only interest you.

Is that ethical? No. It's usual? Absolutely. The media is full of stories planned by agents, by clubs, by managers, by players, to promote their business, to expand markets.

According to reports, Room, who had a productive start of the season

Cardiff could not figure that out? It was not a big deal, but it was not a big deal. They had no other agents to ask, no friends, no allies in boardrooms or backroom staff? Not to mention names, but to find out in which areas a club might look. Of the six noted, only two added a striker to their team in January. Crystal Palace took Michy Batshuayi on loan, Burnley bought Peter Crouch from Stoke.

Playing on the market is a bit like poker or any auction. It is about knowing or feeling a bluff when a rival is willing to go all-in.

The story that connects West Ham, Palace and Fulham with Room can still be found online. It was published in the Daily Mirror on December 4, 2018 and amounts to 209 words, reading as a standard plant of an agent that arouses interest

It is the oldest trick in the book. The people used to have a column in their northern editions called Soccer Scene. It contained short gossip from the four divisions.

Most of the information came from managers. The guy from Doncaster would call. & Arsenal followed our right back. We would let him go for £ 50,000. & # 39; Was Arsenal serious? Maybe, maybe, but if it was in The People, Doncaster could get a scout from Newcastle or Everton to check him out. And they might have a chance of £ 40,000.

Pop in the middle of a manager's office in the middle of the week and, chances were he would have a copy of Soccer Scene on his desk. It ran for decades and since Warnock was a player and manager in small clubs in the north during that time, Cardiff's idea was such rubes that 200 words in the Mirror forced them to divide by £ 15 million, feeling unnecessarily a little ripe

When approaching the January window, all speculation about Sala suggested the presence of a decent goal scorer in Nantes, that the club was willing to raise money and possibly there is competition.

Is Sala's deal above reproach or forensic investigation? No. Too many agents and transparency is lacking in crucial areas. The family of the player deserves better at least, deserves an answer.

Yet Cardiff are the right people to ask the questions and ask for the right reasons? Not really. None of these cruel ethical investigations seemed necessary when Sala lived.

There is a moment when Cardiff begins to care about where their money went. It is when the room disappears from their radar forever.

Source link

#Time for Cardiff to care about money was BEFORE Emiliano Sala died "

0 notes

we-johnnygonzalez-blog · 6 years ago

Text

5 Real Examples of Advanced Content Promotion Strategies

Posted by bsmarketer

Here’s how Kissmetrics, Sourcify, Sales Hacker, Kinsta, and BuildFire have used advanced content promotion tips like newsjacking and paid social to elevate their brands above the competition.

1. Use content to fuel social media distribution (and not the other way around)

(image source)

...Looked exactly like the number-one result from Content Marketing Institute:

(image source)

They produced marketing guides and weekly webinars to transform initial attention into new leads:

They also created free marketing tools to give prospects an interactive way to continue engaging with their brand:

(image source)

He would then use Sleeknote to build forms tailored to each blog category to transform blog readers into top-of-the-funnel leads:

Respected industry vets like Avinash Kaushik, for example, would often share their blog posts. And Avinash was the perfect fit, because he already has a loyal, data-driven audience following him.

So that single tweet brings in a ton of highly-qualified traffic — traffic that turns into leads and customers, not just fans.

2. Combine original research and newsjacking to go viral

(image source)

“Except, the dude was charging like $10,000 to cover it and taking six weeks to produce.” That gave Nathan an idea. “I think we can produce this way faster.”

They “used their own platform, had samples done in less than a week, and had a site up the same day.”

(image source)

The only problem is that they used some images of Conor in the process. And apparently, his attorney’s didn’t love the IP infringement. A cease and desist letter wasn’t far behind:

(image source)

This result wasn’t completely unexpected. Both Nathan and the marketing partner knew they were skirting a thin line. But either way, Nathan got what he wanted out of it.

3. Drive targeted, bottom-of-the-funnel leads with Quora

By using Quora as a research tool, he would find new topics that he can create content around to drive new traffic and connect with their current audience:

4. Rank faster with paid (not organic) social promotion

Within hours their post was also ranking on the first page for the term “bootstrapping,” which receives around 256,000 monthly searches.

How did that happen?

Brian uses the “Click Campaigns” objective on Facebook Ads for both lead gen and content promotion. “It’s the best for getting traffic.”

Facebook's organic reach fell by 52% in 2016 alone. That means your ability to promote content to your own page fans is quickly approaching zero.

(image source)

If they don’t see it, Brian will “turn it into an ad and run it separately.” It’s “re-written a second time to target a broader audience.”

We confirmed this through a series of promoted content tests, where different ad types (custom images vs. videos) would perform better based on the campaign objectives and placements.

(image source)

5. Constantly refresh your retargeting ad creative to keep engagement high

(image source)

Here’s how David Zheng does it for BuildFire:

(image source)

Conclusion

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

0 notes