#serving niche those niche memes for 3 people in the world

[loutalksanime]

The Death of Ani-Twitter | A Brief Pre-Mortem

The sun is setting on the quasi-toxic anime community that has, for better or worse, served as a centralized hub for anime discourse. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t our fault. Known Tokyo Ghoul enthusiast, Elon Musk, has compromised to a permanent end the platform that our niche, little community called home. Anime Twitter wasn’t all that bad mind you. Many of us forged bonds with people from around the world over our shared love/hatred of Japanese cartoons. I’ve attended Ani-Twitter weddings, have been to world premieres for shows with friends I have made on the platform, and have seen new generations of otakus discover a medium that has been a major part of my life for well over 3 decades. Despite recognizing it as a hell-site, it was a huge part of my life that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Maybe Twitter gets the last second bullshit shounen power-up and survives this death blow, but I’m not counting on it.

I believe that in its final hours credit should be given to the content creators on that platform that brought us together. While anime brought us to the dance, they were the liquor in the punch bowl that got us all to talk to each other. From journalist like the folks that work for ANN, to anime youtubers, to independent ani-bloggers, many of us can trace our initial thought to create an account and send a sternly worded tweet to an individual person on the platform. To those people who depended on the platform to monetize their content and earn a living, I’m sorry that this is happening and wish you all the luck in the world. Hopefully I will see you all again somewhere down the road.

To wrap things up before I get all emotional, I want to thank you all for getting me to give a chance to shows I wouldn’t have given a second look like Magical Circle Guru Guru and Odd Taxi. Thank you for posting sakuga clips and memes. Thanks for being there when my life was falling apart. You all saved me, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

[drugtripglasses]

so that's where my afternoon went

[shihtzu-exchange]

4 Reasons Why NFTS Will Skyrocket in 2022

Many experts are hailing 2022 as “The Year of NFTs” because a variety of reasons and market dynamics are pointing towards an unbelievable skyrocketing of the NFT market.

These non-fungible, one-of-a-kind assets are considered to be the next frontier of art and asset ownership thanks to their irrefutable record of all transactions. It means that can anyone can check and know for certain who the creators, buyers, and sellers of these tokens are. While the personal details of those people are never shared, their wallets are publicly trackable.

With that said, let’s look at some of the reasons why this unique and exciting class of virtual assets is going to launch into the stratosphere in 2022.

1. NFTs Can Represent Much More than Digital Art

Many people make the mistake of thinking that NFTs are digital arts and assets. While those are the most popular applications of these tokens today, they’re far from the only options.

A non-fungible token at its core is nothing more than an ownership record. It’s like a property deed that serves as proof of who owns the property. Even though a property deed is just a piece of paper, it can encapsulate the value of the real estate because this is how the ownership is managed.

NFTs are the same as they serve as a record of ownership for the underlying asset. In other words, the ownership record is what gets stored in the blockchain, not the underlying piece of art or any other asset itself.

Here’s why that’s a big thing. It means that you can use NFTs to represent the ownership of anything. From digital art and in-game collectibles to vehicles and acres of farmland, everything can be represented through an NFT because only the ownership data is stored on the database.

As the market realizes the true potential and implications of this mechanism, we’re going to see a huge uptick in innovative applications. For instance, companies are already starting to sell real estate NFTs, which means that you can even divide a property into 100 parts and then sell all the NFTs. The ownership will belong to all the holders, who can then get their share of the rent and price appreciation at the time of sale.

2. NFTs are Becoming Part of the Mainstream Culture

Just this month we saw big names like Justin Bieber spend upwards of a million dollars to acquire pieces from the iconic Bored Ape collection. So even though social media celebrities like Gary Vee were the first to join the NFT craze, Hollywood celebrities, sports athletes, and business people from every corner of the world are cashing in on the NFT storm.

However, it’s not just the famous and wealthy that are buying these non-fungible tokens. Whether you walk into the halls of a school or the premises of a networking event for farmers, the one asset that you won’t stop hearing about is the whacky world of NFTs.

When you think about it, it makes perfect because NFTs, unlike traditional art, reflect the rapidly evolving Internet culture and the interconnected world that we live in today. There are tons of small and niche communities, and memes and lighthearted art are the language of this digital-first generation.

This is also why many experts think we’re living in a meme economy, as memes are where our collective attention and the translation of our modern interactions take place. Wherever memes go, the modern consumers follow.

3. NFTs Offer Much More than Profits

You may think that NFTs are all about speculation-driven price actions and making profits. But as we elaborated in the previous point, these assets reflect the modern, fast-paced, and scattered world that we live.

There are lots of niche segments, each with its own individual tastes and preferred phrases and lingo. Mainstream art doesn’t hold the same sway over them as specialized pieces that reflect their side of reality.

As such, NFTs are enabling people to come together and live in a new reality where their passions can be part of their professional commitments. People are able to join communities with shared values and showcase their commitment by acquiring relevant NFTs.

Community and connection are a big part of the NFT revolution, as these assets express the rarest forms of human emotions.

4. NFTs are The New Rolexes and Lamborghinis

It may be hard to admit, but humans find great value in signaling status to other members of the community. Everybody does this. It’s the reason why people want to be the next millionaire and acquire expensive items like luxury watches, supercars, massive mansions, and bespoke highest-end clothing.

At the same time, the digital revolution is kicking in at full speed, as we’re starting the same amount of time in the digital realms as we do in the physical world. In fact, the time spent in virtual worlds is more than physical interactions when you consider all digital device usage.

Furthermore, we’re quickly moving to a time where the metaverse will eventually rise and grip the minds of billions of people from around the world. The pandemic has already shown us that work can be done entirely over the internet, without any need for lifeless commutes and hurtful office politics.

All of this means that the digital world will get more of our attention than the physical world in the coming months and years. But as games like Clash of Clans, World of Warcraft, and Fortnite have shown us, people will happily spend billions of dollars to buy virtual items that will help them stand out in the digital realms.

Since NFTs are likely to be integrated into all facets of digital life, people will naturally pay more and more money to acquire these assets and show them off to their friends.

Don’t Get Left Behind in the Great NFT Revolution

Shihtzu Exchange is creating a unified platform for all creators and consumers to come together and profit from the NFT revolution without spending endless hours figuring out technology.

Our platforms will help you make a profitable entry into Web3, including NFTs and metaverse. Learn more by exploring the following links:

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[usatshirtsonline]

Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt

The Social Dilemma’s critique Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt . Comes at an interesting time when more of us than ever are dependent on digital modes of connection. “Social media can wreak havoc with our confidence but can also keep us feeling less lonely and more connected,” explains Tabitha Goldstaub, it is in the first place but U.K. government’s A.I. council and author of How to Talk to Robots: Hoodie, long-sleeved tee, female tee, men's tee, 3-hole tee, V-neck tee. A Girls’ Guide to a Future Dominated by A.I. As many of us are forced to socially distance, we have found a lifeline in social media’s ability to keep us connected to our loved ones. In the absence of physical interaction, we have learned new virtual languages—sharing texts, memes, and emojis—with friends, family, and colleagues that can only serve to better our collective mental health.COVID-19 aside, social media has been pivotal in connecting like-minded people.Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt, hoodie, sweater, longsleeve and ladies t-shirt

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Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt

The Social Dilemma’s critique Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt . Comes at an interesting time when more of us than ever are dependent on digital modes of connection. “Social media can wreak havoc with our confidence but can also keep us feeling less lonely and more connected,” explains Tabitha Goldstaub, it is in the first place but U.K. government’s A.I. council and author of How to Talk to Robots: Hoodie, long-sleeved tee, female tee, men's tee, 3-hole tee, V-neck tee. A Girls’ Guide to a Future Dominated by A.I. As many of us are forced to socially distance, we have found a lifeline in social media’s ability to keep us connected to our loved ones. In the absence of physical interaction, we have learned new virtual languages—sharing texts, memes, and emojis—with friends, family, and colleagues that can only serve to better our collective mental health.COVID-19 aside, social media has been pivotal in connecting like-minded people.Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt, hoodie, sweater, longsleeve and ladies t-shirt

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Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt

The Social Dilemma’s critique Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt . Comes at an interesting time when more of us than ever are dependent on digital modes of connection. “Social media can wreak havoc with our confidence but can also keep us feeling less lonely and more connected,” explains Tabitha Goldstaub, it is in the first place but U.K. government’s A.I. council and author of How to Talk to Robots: Hoodie, long-sleeved tee, female tee, men's tee, 3-hole tee, V-neck tee. A Girls’ Guide to a Future Dominated by A.I. As many of us are forced to socially distance, we have found a lifeline in social media’s ability to keep us connected to our loved ones. In the absence of physical interaction, we have learned new virtual languages—sharing texts, memes, and emojis—with friends, family, and colleagues that can only serve to better our collective mental health.COVID-19 aside, social media has been pivotal in connecting like-minded people.Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt, hoodie, sweater, longsleeve and ladies t-shirt

Classic Women's

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Classic Men's  It has played a fundamental part in various forms of grassroots activism—Black Lives Matter or the #MeToo movement—that have caused some of the most substantial social changes we’ve seen in years Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt .In the same way, the growth of specific-interest online communities has had a positive impact on some people’s mental well-being. For example, research shows that social media can help marginalized teens—such as those who are neurodiverse or identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community—forge new social connections. “It can make us feel part of a global niche community that you’d never have been able to bond with in the same way pre–social media,” says Goldstaub. Thank you for visiting Eternalshirt.com. “The fact that people anywhere in the world can find someone to connect with is pretty magic.” For her very first FaceTime appointment earlier this week, Bornstein said she and the client worked on figuring out fresh new looks that didn’t involve having to buy any new product. “We made looks and she took pictures of them, and now she has a whole new folder of looks. You Can See More Product: https://eternalshirt.com/product-category/trending/ Read the full article

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Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt

The Social Dilemma’s critique Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt . Comes at an interesting time when more of us than ever are dependent on digital modes of connection. “Social media can wreak havoc with our confidence but can also keep us feeling less lonely and more connected,” explains Tabitha Goldstaub, it is in the first place but U.K. government’s A.I. council and author of How to Talk to Robots: Hoodie, long-sleeved tee, female tee, men's tee, 3-hole tee, V-neck tee. A Girls’ Guide to a Future Dominated by A.I. As many of us are forced to socially distance, we have found a lifeline in social media’s ability to keep us connected to our loved ones. In the absence of physical interaction, we have learned new virtual languages—sharing texts, memes, and emojis—with friends, family, and colleagues that can only serve to better our collective mental health.COVID-19 aside, social media has been pivotal in connecting like-minded people.Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt, hoodie, sweater, longsleeve and ladies t-shirt

Classic Women's

Long Sleeved

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Classic Men's  It has played a fundamental part in various forms of grassroots activism—Black Lives Matter or the #MeToo movement—that have caused some of the most substantial social changes we’ve seen in years Don’t Make Me Call My Mormor T-shirt .In the same way, the growth of specific-interest online communities has had a positive impact on some people’s mental well-being. For example, research shows that social media can help marginalized teens—such as those who are neurodiverse or identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community—forge new social connections. “It can make us feel part of a global niche community that you’d never have been able to bond with in the same way pre–social media,” says Goldstaub. Thank you for visiting Eternalshirt.com. “The fact that people anywhere in the world can find someone to connect with is pretty magic.” For her very first FaceTime appointment earlier this week, Bornstein said she and the client worked on figuring out fresh new looks that didn’t involve having to buy any new product. “We made looks and she took pictures of them, and now she has a whole new folder of looks. You Can See More Product: https://eternalshirt.com/product-category/trending/ Read the full article

[mildlymaddy]

Yearly (Belated) Review

Alright, there it is. My answers to the Yearly Review meme. Honestly I found this SO HARD. Not only was it hard to find positive things to say about my writing, but also I don’t remember anything of what I wrote last year? It’s hard to answer these questions if you don’t even remember any detail about your own fics.

It’s really weird because I take so much pride in my actual job, like I know I’m good at it, I know exactly what I’m good at, I could answer all the questions in the world about it. I also think that I’m a really good beta reader, like I’ve never found anybody else like me? Someone who will actually nag at you and go deep and force you to rework stuff and get even better. All of this, I can easily see and appreciate. But my personal writing? UGH. Nothing to keep, throw it all away please.

Writing this was really painful for me, when it seems to have been so much fun for everyone else (as it should be, because y’all are so fucking talented and I’m glad you realize it)... but you know what, soldiering through actually helped me take a step back and force myself to see what was good about my writing. I’m incredibly grateful for it.

1. List of works published this year:

This one at least is easy, you can find the list here.

Except that I forgot my original ficlet I wrote, a soft lesbian summer haze story inspired by some Danielle Campbell photos! It’s there and I think only two people in the world have read it but I really like it.

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

Hahahahahahahahaha…. hahahaha… haaaa.

Sorry.

Um.

I guess, maybe, the Lilo Brits verse? Because it’s like, one of the more “serious”, angsty things I’ve written (and La helped me make it good).

I guess it’s pretty clear I have a real big problem about thinking “happy” fic is meaningless, which is kind of a downer considering it’s almost all I write (and probably what I’m best at).

Oh, okay, I’ve just re-read that ghost!Liam lirry fic and it’s surprisingly nice. I guess I like the way it’s a total crackfic and yet it’s very tender and bittersweet. I can grant myself that. :)

And now that I’ve found back that Danielle fic I linked to above, I can honestly say that I’m super proud of it. I’m proud of how soft it is, and how tentative, and I just… I really like how poetic it is? The words came out exactly as I wanted them to. I really love it.

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

Most of them? Like, they’re okay, but most could have been infinitely better if I’d just forgotten about them for a bit and come back to them with fresh eyes, instead of posting them straight away. There’s stuff that people loved that I’m re-reading today and I literally cringe thinking of how much better they could/should have been.

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

I couldn’t say. Like, it’s not just that I’m super harsh on my writing, but how am I supposed to remember everything I wrote?? The way you guys all managed to answer this one is what baffled me the most, because I legitimately cannot do it. I’d have to re-read everything I posted (and even then I probably wouldn’t like anything enough to think it’s worth quoting here).

But one thing I can say is that I have a huge soft spot for my Lilo fairy verse. It’s not the most amazing thing in the land but I think Louis as a fairy works really, really well, and it’s just silly and happy and I’m glad I wrote it. :)

 5. Share or describe a favorite review you received:

This one is surprisingly hard to answer! I mean, obviously, @catateme9 is the most supporting reader and friend anyone could wish for, by far. The way you boost authors you like is heartwarming, and shows that you don’t need to actually put out material to be a vital part of the fandom. <3

I’m also just really grateful when people yell at me in their reblog tags, which happens often, it’s probably the most satisfactory feedback anyone can get.

I’m sorry, I feel bad for not being able to recall a really good one, I just… any kind of feedback makes my day. I cherish each and every comment/tag/message I get about my fics, so it’s just impossible to pick one.

 6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

Honestly ask me for a time when writing was easy, it’ll be easier to pinpoint. Writing is torture, all the fucking time. But some of the random ficlets I wrote in bed were wonderful gifts, sudden unexpected inspiration that I managed to see through in one sitting.

But writing has been especially hard for the past couple months, I have to say. I used to constantly daydream about my plots and now there’s only static in my brain.

 7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

I guess all the het fic I wrote. I’ve always written exclusively slash, even back in my HP days (the only Hermione/Ron fic I can remember writing was PG, I couldn’t stomach the idea of writing a sex scene). I think because for a long time I wanted to get as far away from heterosexuality as I could. I guess me writing all those elounor, or elounorexha, or louelle fics shows my own real life path towards accepting I’m bi and that there’s nothing wrong with “het” sex.

 8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

I don’t think I grew at all. Queen of stagnation, that’s me. 😞

 9. How do you hope to grow next year:

I… don’t know? Maybe just… learn to give myself more credit? Be as kind to myself as I am to other writers? Oh and also if I could stop comparing myself to all of you and feeling terrible because I’ll never be half as talented, that’d be nice.

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

@ferryboatpeak will never not be wonderful. She uses both the carrot and the stick to keep me on track (or tries to, at least), and she’s also sent me some DELIGHTFUL things to beta, for which I’m always so grateful because honestly, reading her stuff and then seeing her turn my suggestions into gold is a fucking privilege.

To be fair, I have a lot of incredibly talented writers as friends. You’re all inspirations in some way, but I’ll mention 3 writers that have really stood out for me this year (please don’t get offended if you’re not in the list you KNOW how much I admire and love all of you, omg, so much!!)

@queerlyalex the sheer range of what you write, and the softness with which you tackle tricky subjects, is absolutely incredible. Your fics aren’t only perfectly written, they’re also so enlightening, and eye-opening, and as someone who was very very clueless before I joined Tumblr, they’ve been a wonderful, soft way of truly realizing there is so much more than what I’ve experienced, and getting my head around some stuff. I feel so incredibly grateful to be your friend.

@polaroidgirlfriend, I’m sorry I haven’t yet read your fionrry, but I still think about your university Narry fic all the time. I’m still floored by how perfect and honest it was, you have a way of… of getting at hidden, unspoken human emotions that is so gentle and yet so uncompromising, it’s a testament to your beautiful soul.

@1000-directions, your love for the boys’ girlfriends (and friends, like Bebe) is the most heartwarming thing ever, and I’m so happy you’re constantly putting out these empowering, woman-positive slices of life out into the fandom world. We need more people like you here. I also love what you said about learning to write for yourself and not caring about how niche something is, that is something I could dearly do with.

I think it’s telling that the three people I’ve picked out have that one thing in common, your way of gently dissecting relationships to get to the heart of them, unflinchingly uncovering the good and the bad bits. You somehow all manage to depict love as a bloody beating heart, both beautiful and terrible, soft and ragged, full of hope and despair, and I just… love this so much about you. There’s a line in one of my fics (that sounds so pretentious omg) which goes “so she’ll stop cutting his heart open as softly as if it was a peach”, and that just really sums it up. I only wrote that one sentence, but y’all actually do it in every one of your fics, and I’m just... in total awe of you. ♥♥♥

 11. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

Pretty much everything I write is about me. I get sick? I’ll write some sickfic. I’m super tired? Louis can’t seem to get any sleep. Little gestures I love end up in my stories. Things I crave end up in my stories. Often I’m embarrassed about just how much my stories are a reflection of myself, to be honest. I’m an open book.

 12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

I’ll share wisdom from my actual job : do not cling to your ideas. It doesn’t matter how cute/sexy/well written that paragraph is, or how brilliant that idea is, if it doesn’t fit with the rest of the story or if it’s blocking you up, GET RID OF IT. Seriously. Being able to just delete chunks of your own writing when you realize it’s not serving your story will save you a lot of pain and time.

 13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

Any of my WIPs, god, please. I started so many things and they fell through the wayside and I feel so guilty and gutted about it.

The most important thing of all would be finishing Take These Chances, because I still get comments on it from time to time and I’ve dropped it just before Louis and Liam finally realized they were in love and it’s just… it’s terrible. I want to finish it, I just don’t know how to make myself do it.

But I also have that summer heat nouis fic, puppy/kitten lilo, the lilourry mermaid thing, lilo new year’s kiss, another lilo fic about kisses in which liam must kiss louis every hour to make up for waking him up early, the nouis watching Stranger Things, a new installment of caldell highschool au, that hendes fic, a steamy Elouelle ficlet, the follow-up to the sleep-deprived Louis fic… all of these are half-written or more, they just need a little more work, but I can’t. seem. to do it!

If anyone’s got idea on how to motivate me through this, I’m ready to hear them.

 14. Tag three writers whose answers you’d like to read.

I don’t need to tag anyone, you’ve all done it already (and they were a joy to read). ^_^

[magalarajoonideprohvetid]

1.10.2 ramadan.man [in english]

First part, Ramadan.man_12.1_last_saved_02/07, published in Nihilist.fm on 03/07/15;

second part, Ramadan.man_12.2_last_saved_17/07, published on author’s blog on 17/07/15;

full text in estonian in 6ism2e_dpi_error:_unsupported_personality, 2016, Nihilist.fm and ZA/UM, pages 89-98;

translation by Kristi Ockba

1.10.2 ramadan.man

Ramadan.man_12.1_last_saved_02/07

<><><><><><><>

It is evening. The boys were watching yet another episode of Avatar before I sent them off to bed. The time is 22:30 and I will soon be able to eat. The first day of fasting is about to end.

«Boys, today you must go to bed on your own.»

«Why?»

«Because I must now eat.»

«Why now?»

«Because it is Ramadan now. I do not eat during the day, but when the sun sets, I can start eating.»

«Why are you eating now?»

I am tired and hungry and so I snap: «Because otherwise I will die, if I don’t eat during the day and I don’t eat during the night either!» This was the wrong thing to say, but I am hungry and tired.

«I don’t want you to die!» Happy starts to cry.

«I don’t want to sleep, I want to eat,» Generous says without a care.

I love Happy’s sentimental sensitivity and Generous’ raw carelessness. I console and comfort Happy until he also decides that he would like to eat something. It is 11:00 pm. The three of us are sitting in the kitchen. Generous is eating some fried ham and Happy shares my Ramen noodles while his spaghetti is boiling. We are happy, happy to be the way we have been created. This is a tribal thing. The Vihalem tribe of United Autonomous Individuals. UAI —  it’s a tribal thing.  We are happy and free. Unfortunately millions of people around the world are not.

<><><><><><><>

My senses are tight, loaded. Supersensitive. I smell cigarettes before non-smokers do. At the Kristiine youth center some guy on his way out lights a cigarette. The hoodlum wanted to act tough and bend the rules. He was barred from the center for life. Serves him right, his stupid behavior didn’t just end badly for him, but also made me crave for a cigarette.

Walking down the street I can smell lovely perfumes, feminine and sweet, and the smell of cigarettes coming from those girls walking a few steps ahead of me.

There is a terrible smell coming from three guys sitting in bus number 46, just a few rows ahead of me. They smell of ethanol; it exits their bodies with every breath, from every pore. As they get up to get off the bus, I can sense garish stench of smegma. Bastard, wash your self or go get circumcised. Hobos.  

I can smell the aromas of food – everywhere. All food smells good. My stomach is no longer growling. It is much too empty to growl. Food is beautiful. I am on the terrace and I am thinking how  beautiful food would be in my mouth. The wind brushes through the leaves of trees. The wind is beautiful. It brushes me. Somewhere in the distance some people are making sandwiches and fruit bars. The time is 16:30 and I would be able to eat them in six hours and twelve minutes. By that time they will most probably be eaten.

I sense a some kind of smell, sweet, carried by the wind from the leaves. I do not know the source, but I can sense it sharply, suffocatingly. My senses are loaded. My senses are my superpowers. I am a starving superhero, I am Ramadan.man.

<><><><><><><>

I have started reading the Koran again. After the second Sura I always find myself thinking about Harut and Marut. Two angels, sent to earth with free will. On the first day they get everything wrong. In addition I am reading Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali’s Rescuer from Error/The Niche of Light. I so hope it will not be a disappointment. In the meantime, I skim through the posthumous catalog of the Polymer Cultural Factory, which I received from the compiler for a pleasurable barter deal. The first five chapters of Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness also seem great.

I like to read during Ramadan. This is my only passtime, self-education, my only entertainment, the consumption of which I do not feel guilty. I don’t feel guilty feasting letters with my eyes, rapaciously, as if someone were trying to take it away from me.

I am focused, fast. Hunger concentrates me. I am Ramadan.man. Superhero, with supersenses, a superreader.

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Ramadan.man’s superpowers do not include fixing things. One can say that one of Ramadan.man’s superpowers is messing things up. For instance, that’s what happened to my bike last year.

First of all I wanted to oil the wheel collar and then screw it shut. When I unscrewed them it was evident that the rings had been rusted and the wheel bearings fell apart. I should not have touched it to begin with. The same applied to the pedals; I wanted to change them but I accidentally screwed it in the wrong direction. The stem threads were completely ruined. This year, I started to clean the ventilation of my laptop and ruined the motherboard. At the same time, the desktop computer that I was using to view the tutorial to open the laptop stopped working. Yep, superpowers.

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Midsummer day. At home. No grilling what so ever. Not even meat free. I was ready for it. I built a lego house for Generous. He was extremely happy. Maybe in his eyes I have some superpowers?

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I enjoy watching films. Especially in the summer and especially vampire films. This Ramadan I finally watched a movie that has been on my list of films to watch for a long time, and this film became the winner of my top five vampire films.

The movies left out of my top five list were Shadow of a Vampire (2000), Interview with the Vampire (1994) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). The first one I just really liked and the second was my first. I went to Kosmos cinema to see it when I was seven years old. The third… the only guy who could pull of a 90’s tribal tattoo is George Clooney. For sure.

TOP 5:

5. What We Do in the Shadows (2014). New Zealand. Mockumentary. It is funny. Really funny.

4. Thirst (2009). South-Korea. From the same director of Old Boy. Need I say more?

3. Let the Right One In (2008). Swedes can do and show you all kinds of things in their films. For God’s sake don’t watch the 2010 film Let Me In!

2. A Girl Walks Home Alone (2014). A feminist Iranian vampire film. Thank you, Ernest, for recommending!

1. Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). An ocean of references. Music. Tangier. Drinking blood from drams.

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I sacrifice this world, the comforts of this world. And I sacrifice myself. I watch this world, I try to be only an observer. My presence is perceivable; I perceive my own presence. And at the same time I am vanished. And that doesn’t matter. The sun climbs across the building. These are it’s final rays. I look desperately at the sky and search for the moon. The sun and moon determine my situation, my condition, my position in this world, that I bring for a sacrifice. My sacrificed self-position. Sunset and dawn rays determine me as alive or an observer. The crescent starts from the right and grows towards the left. Half means a quarter and a full moon means half. The full moon scares me. Too many lunatics, who find themselves just then. During Ramadan I don’t feel myself loosing my mind, I am too tired and empty. There is just the reflections of a past madness, reflections of primal madness. I throw stones at those reflections, to get to the primal madness, to look it in the eye. I am afraid.

I cry a lot, more than I can consume water. My heart is tender and soft, this must never change, it must never petrify. I cry because people die in the hands of crazy people, because of how wonderful children can be, because of how much a brother can love his sister. I would like to cry more because of how much good there is in this world but unfortunately I can’t. My sacrifice is trivial, a trivial disciplinary exercise, a reminder and a self admiration in comparison to the millions, who must daily endure hunger and thirst. In the best case scenario, this is a preparation for times when winters are long and droughts hit the summer, and the only one’s who survive are the ones who do not care about their presence.

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Have a lovely Ramadan, only a full moon’s worth is left. Mustamäe, 07/15

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Ramadan.man_12.2_last_saved_17/07

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Hunger has disappeared. I can’t feel hunger anymore, I have no more strength to feel it. Hunger made me awake, made me want, need, desire. Hunger made me jump. 3 hours and 50 minutes. With every night I eat less, and with every day I do less. I have the feeling I am disappearing, vanishing. With every day there is less «I», my body is in permanent ratio with my ego, with the forward-leaning and active one. Imagine people who have been starving for years –– how much can they do for themselves? Their families, their communities?

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Why am I always trying—and always pointlessly—to define myself? Who I appear to be, how I label myself,  as what I feel myself, to what can I connect myself? Am I a vegan, a nationalist, a feminist, a chauvinist, a capitalist, an anarchist, an islamist? Ist-ist-ist. Who is «I» without anything? What is left of «I”, if I have no history, name, background system? Who am I? A living being? A human? How much have I tried to discover what a human is? Evolution, the history of humanity, the stories of creation, genes, processes, memes. Am I able to look at my self as a noumenon or am I just a holistic phenomenon? Am I a dirt, a «sounding clay» or an intermediate link in evolutionary chain?  Am I all at the same time or none of them? Creator/created, conflict, an independent communicator or a syncretist? Maybe I am not set in stone, maybe I am not a static character, but a constant adaptor? The history of «I» consists of development, movement, change, adaptation. «I» is a human. Do you feel the same?    

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I sleep everyday until the midday prayer. Sleeping saves my energy. Today I had to wake up early, to make it to the MA admission test. I feel like vomiting, I feel really bad. Not sure what I would vomit. Three quarters have past, I am enfeebling.

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You know this refugee thing. I have spent too much time on it. I wrote many pages on what I find to be wrong with it. It’s crap, both what I wrote and how it is dealt with. I am not willing to criticize, argue nor ramble anymore. I basically refuse to fall into the spiral of online commentaries, where some guy wants to say some absurdity and expects someone to answer. I don’t see a reason for this, I can’t see what good it does, it is not good for me, it is not good for my emotional and psychological wellbeing. All people have equal rights, the right to life and freedom. For all! There is no difference whether the color of your skin is «white» or «black», whether you are a woman or a man, your right to life and freedom does not depend on your passport or your personal ID, it depends on working heart. And you have the right to strive towards life and freedom.

Fuck, I started preaching again. You know what I mean… Think good, speak good, do good.  

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We went to watch Minions with the boys. It was the 10:00 PM screening. As true westerners we broke our fast in the middle of the movie with nachos with melted cheese and Coca-Cola. After the movie we came home. Whilst waiting for the elevator, Happy noticed CCTV cameras in the waiting area and said: «This is freakin’ creepy.» Right on, boy, this is creepy. While the West killed God, the All-Seeing eye, we birthed Big Brother who watches over our every step, every action, every time we scratch our asses. Freakin’ creepy.

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It’s 1:42 AM and freshly asphalted road underneath Tammsaare/Järvevana viaduct is sprawling in front of me. Tires chirr on fresh asphalt, and thou the rear wheel is wobbly and chain covered with dirt, my bicycle scampers surprisingly fast. Today was the last tarawih prayer; I am glad that I was present. It was good, good for my body, soul and mind; they needed it. An hour and half of praying, four raka‘āts of evening prayer and twenty four raka‘āts of tarawih prayer. An hour and half out of that four hours, during which I could have been consuming, eating and drinking. Penultimate sacrifice before the end of the lunar-month. Last time I saw moon crescent was seven days ago. Clouds were slicing it horizontally into pieces. Now I can’t see it anywhere. Moon is dead. Dead to be born again. And the circle starts again.

This Ramadan is the twelfth Ramadan of my life. Every one of them has been different, but that doesn’t matter. Tomorrow is left. I must remember the two days I traveled and two days I fasted in Mecca time. Two full nicks and two half ones. I hope the rest will be accepted.  

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Tonight, I read the children’s encyclopedia for Happy. In the beginning there was the Big Bang. It seemed to me that he did not fully understand all of this talk of compression of matter and the ever-expanding universe. Or I was not able to fully explain it to him. It was all too abstract, it was much easier to talk about planets and stars. I assume it is quite similar, if I had to talk about God to him.

Doubt, doubt is constant. Doubt follows me all the time. I doubt in everything – actions, principles, the actuality of my faith, the existence of God, my existence, the norms of society, reality. Doubt is good. Doubt is an earthquake that destroys badly constructed buildings to build new ones. Doubt makes the mind soft like crying does for to the heart. The mind must not harden, a petrified mind is evil, it is not capable of dialogue.

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Happy Holidays! Mustamäe, 07/15

[geeksperhour]

via Screaming Frog

I got a job offer to be an SEO Consultant for Screaming Frog while I was sat in a rather goofy graduation hat and gown.

My parents then humiliated me by running around telling all the other parents of my uni pals (who we’d literally just met for the first time) about how I now had some fancy job at Google.

Me coping with the realisation that I was going to be an SEO

That was five years ago this month, so now is an excellent time to put that history degree to good use (It cost me enough!) with some musings on how the SEO industry has changed in the last half-decade.

1. Becoming Lord of the SERPs Is Harder Than Ever

Google’s been following their own advice.

The search engine has been gradually expanding the content of results pages with more and more useful features. Their bounce rates must be at an all time low, with users increasingly finding everything they need within the SERP itself.

The age of ’10 blue links’ is long over.

And it’s not just the distracting new bits and pieces they keep adding, such as user-uploaded video-answers to questions about ginger:

Everything you ever wanted to know about ginger. RIP Ginger-Facts.com.

FAQ Mark-up below existing organic listings, as one example, can also be a killer for sites just off the first page:

Yuck.

Roast Agency do a really good list of all the possible SERP features, but honestly my finger aches trying to scroll down all of it, there’s just so many.

Paid placements are also increasingly chipping away at organic real estate- especially on mobile.

The shift in gear from ‘Sponsored Links’ in a big blue box, to the much more concise ‘Ad’ in a yellow box, to ‘Ad’ in a green box that is conveniently the same green as the URL in the snippet; has undoubtedly reduced our organic CTRs.

Does this mean SEO is dead? No.

It just means smart SEO is more necessary than ever- the huge opportunities for traffic and sales are still out there, they just require more brains and budget to access.

2. Link Building Got Wayyyyy Tougher

I have a confession to make.

Not all the content I made for links in 2015 was ground-breaking, newsworthy, data driven #content that shook up the media landscape, went viral, and built 2,000 DA 99 followed links.

Much of it was infographics, which are now synonymous with low quality ‘link bait’ content.

But that was okay, content back then didn’t have to set the world on fire.

Times have changed, and the big dogs are investing more of their Xmas TV ad budget into this whole ‘digital’ thing. This is starting to trickle down into SEO and link building- which is pushing standards up.

When a journalist has 400 press requests in their inbox, and many are well researched, innovative interactive assets; they are sadly unlikely to go for your infographic on the top 10 fictional books that appear in fiction.

Formats come and go, so innovation is key if you want to stay ahead.

Really scientific slide I presented to BrightonSEO about how link building tactics are getting more complex. You had to be there.

But that’s not to say you always need a huge interactive map to win big links. The story is what journalists are interested in. Even small brands with small budgets can be nimble, and outflank those glitzy campaigns you see from the big retail giants.

Outreach has changed a lot too.

You can’t just blast the same email to 200 journos, sit back, and watch the links flow in.

It’s a game of cat and mouse, and (sometimes frustratingly) we have to do the hard work for ’em by tweaking our content so that it’s bespoke and relevant for each publication.

The alliance between PRs and SEOs, especially at agencies, is stronger than ever. Agencies need personal people who can establish long term relationships with the key influencers in the right niches, as much as they need competent SEOs who can establish the right link building strategy for the client.

SF PR Manager Amy carries me every day.

Link building in 2020 is no easy feat, but it’s definitely still undervalued by a lot of brands. Work with the people who value it and you will still succeed.

3. Not Everything Has Changed

Despite the doom and gloom of those timely and well targeted yearly SEO prediction lists:

Google is still the dominant search engine.

Voice search still hasn’t transformed the landscape.

The Yahoo! Toolbar still exists.

Most content still isn’t video.

Users still trust organic results more than ads.

People still use ‘content is king’ in blog posts.

The Apple Watch didn’t transform local SEO… why would it have..?

The web isn’t 100% AMP and all held ransom in some dark Google-owned server.

There will come a time when SEOs no longer post memes on Twitter, but it is not this day.

You can’t (yet) automate good SEO.

I still have much to learn.

Hindsight still makes writing history easy.

Even in a global pandemic we keep getting results, attending virtual SEO conferences, and Friday beer o’clock is stronger than ever.

The Screaming Frog ‘Guess That WFH Desk!’ Quiz. Hours of fun.

4. Tech SEOs Have Had to Understand People Too

As with the macarena at the year 6 disco, algorithms are getting more complex, and so must our work to keep up with the crowd.

After real-time Penguin 4.0 launched in October 2016, Google’s fight against spam was largely over. They then turned their attention to improving how they understand website quality.

The speed and mobile friendliness revolutions have come and gone. Moves toward ‘page experience’ will be the next battleground, and this time they’ve been kind enough to give us a heads-up.

SEOs need to go beyond reviewing copy and 301 redirects if they want to stay ahead of the game.

We now need to be working with in-house marketing teams, designers, and developers to ensure that site design moving forward not only satisfies technical best practices, but also improves on what’s offered by competing sites to deliver a superior experience for users.

Searcher intent too, especially post-Medic Update, is an area that Google’s gotten much better at.

Through properly researching what sort of content is ranking for generic keywords that were previously exclusively ‘commercial’ or ‘informational’, we can do a better job of serving users exactly what they’re after.

Google often discuss the importance of ‘Micro-Moments’, which are the most crucial ways users interact with search before they take an action which might be beneficial to your business. There are four main micro-moments that Google highlights:

I want to know- about ways I can find love

I want to do- a course on writing persuasive text for billboards

I want to buy- a billboard to advertise that I’m single

I want to go- to the best bar in town with my date

If you’re only going for landing pages around ‘I want to buy’ then you’re missing out on a lot of your potential customer’s time and attention.

Google have always pushed that we should build sites for users. Previously you could skirt around this with black/grey hat techniques- but in 2020 it’s next to impossible to see long-term success without just focusing on what will make users happy.

5. You’re (Still) All A Bunch of Legends

This list has been a little depressing.

But the only reason SEO is becoming more challenging is because everyone in the industry is maturing and getting smarter.

And that’s largely due to the crazy amount of collaboration and support given out, even amongst rival agencies and freelancers.

Whether it’s detailed analysis, actionable advice, creative inspiration, inclusive career support, or ideas for blog posts to rip off, SEOs have always gone above and beyond to support each other. And a lot of it is free.

(But no, I will not update this post to give you a link. That’s where I draw the line.)

Frogs after a long day of drinking up knowledge at our fave conference

My IT teacher told 15 yr old me: “Most of you lot will have jobs that haven’t been invented yet.”

At the time I thought that was nonsense, but now I am a (Senior) Search Engine Optimisation Manager. That was never a thing before!!

For a young industry with not much in terms of ‘official’ recognition, it’s humbling to see the staggering amounts of resources, talks, and blogs available to help newcomers learn and improve on what has been written already. I can only imagine where we’ll be in another five years time. Especially on the meme front.

My dad’s an accountant. Can you imagine a bunch of accountants on Brighton pier sharing ideas over a beer?

Neither can I.

The post Five Ways SEO Has Changed In the Last Five Years appeared first on Screaming Frog.

[luxus4me]

Social Media Today RSS

I’m convinced those of us guiding social media strategy at B2B brands have to be even more creative than our B2C counterparts in many respects.

No offense to my awesome B2C colleagues - many of whom are creating great social experiences for their fans - but B2B brands have to work harder because they generally don't have the same broad appeal and brand affinity built in that B2Cs typically come with.

Simply put: We’re niche. Moreover, our brand voice is often less playful than our B2C counterparts and, thus, less of a natural fit for the lively, snarky, cacophonous conversations happening on most social networks.

It can sometimes feel like we’re the Carlton of the social media world.

But, being B2B is no excuse to be boring. The social medium specifically encourages users (brands and individuals, alike) to leverage emerging communication methods to more deeply engage with their audience.

B2Bs, when crafting your posts, bear this in mind.

1. Be decisive with content guidance and governance

Fundamentally, your brand’s social presence should align to your corporate brand - this means you need to be thoughtful and diligent in planning on what networks to activate a presence, and what your mix of handles ought to be. And, if there’s a handle that’s not performing, then be bold enough to shutter it.

Oftentimes, having too many LinkedIn pages, Facebook pages, or Twitter accounts serves to only fragment your brand identity, especially if these various accounts aren’t regularly sharing unique content and, instead, parrot one another. There’s no real value in that.

As an example, we at Level 3 continually evaluate our various Twitter handles - and in fact, right now we're discussing whether one of our handles should be shuttered or if we can pivot our content strategy to see greater success. I also spend a great deal of time in content creation discussions offering guidance (based on our data) around what content performs best on social (hint: NOT brochures). Not all content we produce makes it to our social networks.

2. Use memes, GIFs, and more

As  noted above, social media specifically encourages us to utilize various communication methods.

In a medium where character count is everything, including memes, GIFs, emojis, video, and the like not only serves to give your brand personality, it also helps extend the conversation beyond character limits. And in the perma-scrolling environment that is most social networks, it can help capture greater attention from your audience.

If we can’t get our audience to stop scrolling and read our post, how can we expect them to engage?

Pro Tip: Google has just launched their own GIFmaker. Use it in good health, friends.

3. Go non-traditional

Test networks you wouldn’t normally consider. For instance, we have an active presence on Pinterest and Spotify. Both add personality to our brand and help buttress our overall social content strategy.

4. Deliver exceptional CX

Any brand delivering a particularly excellent customer experience is already ten steps ahead of everyone else.

A good example here: Buc-ee’s. The Texas-based company, doesn’t particularly excel in social media – they haven’t tweeted once this year. However, a quick search of what folks are saying about the brand on Twitter and it’s obvious they're well-loved.

Now, are they missing out on some unique opportunities by not being more social? Yes, but the point here is this: If you get the experience right, your audience will do the heavy lifting for you.

And customer experience is definitely social. Commit to make your social customer experience outstanding (even if other areas of your business will need to catch up). For us at Level 3, that’s taken the form of regular review and collaboration on our crisis communication plan and process in an effort to expedite resolution times.

5. Leverage other people’s good stuff

It gets said regularly:

“Brands, stop talking so much about yourself.”

Because, really, stop talking so much about yourself.

One way to do that is to include other references and sources in your social content calendar.

Read a great research report? An interesting infographic? Share it – even if not sponsored or authored by your organization.

The content you share on your social networks should be all about what’s valuable to your audience, not what’s valuable to your brand.

In addition, activate your employee base. Go out and build that employee advocacy program to not only expand your reach, but to also utilize your employees’ good content. I regularly retweet our employees when they share an interesting story

Get excited – there’s a lot of opportunity to take your brand from “A Carlton” to a “Fresh Prince.” If you're in B2B, I'd would love to hear more about how you’re using social media as an effective brand communication channel. Leave a response in the comments below.

http://j.mp/2rsAKnX via Social Media Today RSS URL : http://j.mp/2ayHahq

[sandranelsonuk]

How to Create a Content Brand Strategy for Your Blog

Do you have a content brand strategy for your blog?

Or is your content more random?

In today’s episode, I walk you through how to create one and how doing so will allow you to stand out from the crowd and dominate your niche/industry.

What is a Brand

According to Wikipedia:

“A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes one seller’s product from those of others”

One of the companies that has shown us a lot about what it takes to have a very strong brand is Apple.

When it comes to their brand, it’s less about their product and more about what they stand for (or have stood for in the past).

In Steve Job’s own words:

“What we are about isn’t making boxes for people to get their jobs done . . . Apple at the core – it’s core value is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better”.

The result can be seen in their 1997 “Think Different” commercial.

What Steve understood was that marketing had little to do with your product. Instead, it had to do with your core values.

How does this apply to your blog?

Here’s a summary:

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe” – Simon Sinek

In other words, you need to get very clear about your why. Said another way – define your blog’s core value.

How to Find your Blog’s Core Value

Before you identify your blog’s core value, you need to start with determining YOUR core values. To do this, answer the following questions:

What’s important to me?

Define Your Blog’s Core Value

When you think about your life, what are the values that stand out as being very important to you?

Are they things like authenticity, good will, helping others, spirituality, confidence, happiness or creativity?

Start by making a list of these things. This is a good start.

What does success mean to me?

Yes – that word keeps coming up – success. How do you define success? Is it living a happy life? Being surrounded by people you love? Having a positive impact on the world?

Once again, write these things down as a starting point, then move on to this next, important question:

Where does your blog topic fit into your core values?

This is where the magic happens. Once you’re able to see where your blog fits into the things you hold dear, you can then create a Content Brand Statement.

Your Content Brand Statement

Now that you know where your blog fits into your core values, it’s time to come up with a Content Brand Statement.

Content Brand Statement is what your content (and your brand) stands for.

Your Content Brand Statement is a statement that defines how people view your content and you as a content creator. In other words, it’s what your content (and your brand) stands for.

Create a concise statement that summarizes your content brand. Here are two examples:

My biology blog: I create short, 3-5 minute weekly videos explaining complex biological concepts in a fun, entertaining, and easy-to-understand way so that university biology students can easily grasp the content.

Become a Blogger: I create podcast episode, written articles, and videos that empower my audience to start and grow blogs where they can have a positive impact on the world while building successful online businesses.

Five keys to building a timeless content brand

Create a timeless content brand – one that will stand the test of time.

It’s one thing to have a content brand statement, but another to create a timeless content brand – one that will stand the test of time. Here are some tips on how to do the latter. Your content needs to:

make it clear that you understand your audience

serve your audience’s needs

be consistent

build your authority

be high in quality

If you can accomplish those five things with your content, you are on the way to building a successful brand with your blog.

How to Create Your Content Brand Strategy

Now that we understand the basics of content branding and creating your content brand statement, let’s get into how to create your content brand strategy.

It is important to understand that content marketing is a funnel. In order for your content brand strategy to be effective, you need to identify your content marketing goals.

As a blogger, here are some of the goals you may have:

Build awareness for your blog

Get people to engage with your brand

Get people on your email list

Sell your products/services

Keep in touch with your customers

The key element that will help you accomplish those goals is the content you create.

Here are some tips to help you come up with a solid content brand strategy…

Do Your Research

Do your research on other blogs in your niche.

Taking some time to do research will go a long way to help you craft your content brand strategy.

Look at other blogs in your niche and analyze what they are doing (and more importantly, what they aren’t doing). Browse through Social Media to see what your audience is talking about.

Join relevant Facebook groups and see what discussions are happening.

The key things to analyze while doing these activities are:

What are people in your audience talking about?

What are other content creators talking about?

What are people struggling with?

What’s missing?

I like to call this first kind of research External Research.

The other kind of research is Internal Research.

This is where you go into your Google Analytics to determine what blog content is performing well. This will give you an even better idea of what your audience resonates with.

Analyze the Content You’re Already Creating

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to do some introspection. Look at the titles of all the blog content you’ve been creating.

Are they in line with your content brand statement?

If so, you’re heading in the right direction. If not, it’s time to revise your content creation habits.

Create Your Content Plan

Become a Blogger 2017 Blog Content Calendar

You’ve done your research and analyzed what you’ve already done. Now it’s time to create a content plan that is in alignment with your content brand statement.

A great way to get started on this is by getting my 2017 Blog Content Calendar Spreadsheet.

Continually Monitor Your Content Once Published

Your job isn’t over once your content is published. Building a strong content brand is an ongoing process.

You will need to monitor your content on a regular basis. Check your analytics, social share, comments, etc.

What content is your audience resonating with? What should you change? Make this monitoring a part of your routine.

Types of Content You Should Create

The beauty of the internet is that there are so many kinds of content. Different people have different preferences for the kind of content they like to consume.

Is your content in line with your content brand statement?

Using multiple types of content is a good way to cater to these different preferences. Here are some kinds of content to consider.

Written content: These can be step by step articles, tips, basic info, list posts, news articles, case studies, ebooks, etc.

Visual Content: These are great for your blog AND social media. Examples are pictures, illustrations, infographics, memes, comics, and slideshows.

Tools: Canva and PicMonkey

Video: This can be prerecorded or live.

Interactive content: This is the kind of content where you get others to engage with you. I.e. Social media posts, questions, quizzes, surveys, and contests.

Stories: Regardless of the type of content you create, it’s a great idea to use stories. They are easy to relate to and more memorable (when done well).

REMEMBER: Everything you create should reinforce your content brand.

Repurposing Your Content

Now that we’ve covered various types of content, let’s talk about repurposing. Fortunately, you don’t always have to start from scratch when creating a new piece of content for a different medium.

Repurposing your content is a great way to reinforce your message and reach your audience on different platforms.

This can be done by rewriting and updating your blog posts, repurposing for different platforms by cutting it into chunks, changing media, creating slide shows and other tactics.

I covered this extensively in episode 179 – Ten Ways to Get More From Your Content.

The key is this – run all of your repurposed content through “The Value Test”. Ask yourself “Does this new content offer some unique value?”

If your answer says yes, you’re headed in the right direction.

In Conclusion

Having a unique content brand strategy that involves creating the kind of content that resonates with your core value and focuses on your audience is a great way to grow your blog’s authority.

Take action by:

Deciding on your core values

Creating a content brand statement

Coming up with a content brand strategy

Implement that strategy

By doing this, you will help me on my mission of “Changing the world one blog at a time”. You will be creating something of value to the world.

Question: What is one core value that relates to your blog?

Resources Mentioned

2017 Blog Content Calendar Spreadsheet – you can use this to start with your blog content plan for the whole year

Tools I recommend for creating visual content for your blog:

Canva

PicMonkey

Ten Ways to Get More From Your Content –  Become a Blogger Episode 179 where I talk about repurposing your content as part of creating content for your blog.

Infographic

How to Create a Content Brand Strategy for Your Blog

The post How to Create a Content Brand Strategy for Your Blog appeared first on Become A Blogger by Leslie Samuel.

from Julia Garza Social Media Tips http://www.becomeablogger.com/24197/content-brand-strategy/

[laurendcameron]

How to Create a Content Brand Strategy for Your Blog

Do you have a content brand strategy for your blog?

Or is your content more random?

In today’s episode, I walk you through how to create one and how doing so will allow you to stand out from the crowd and dominate your niche/industry.

What is a Brand

According to Wikipedia:

“A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes one seller’s product from those of others”

One of the companies that has shown us a lot about what it takes to have a very strong brand is Apple.

When it comes to their brand, it’s less about their product and more about what they stand for (or have stood for in the past).

In Steve Job’s own words:

“What we are about isn’t making boxes for people to get their jobs done . . . Apple at the core – it’s core value is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better”.

The result can be seen in their 1997 “Think Different” commercial.

What Steve understood was that marketing had little to do with your product. Instead, it had to do with your core values.

How does this apply to your blog?

Here’s a summary:

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe” – Simon Sinek

In other words, you need to get very clear about your why. Said another way – define your blog’s core value.

How to Find your Blog’s Core Value

Before you identify your blog’s core value, you need to start with determining YOUR core values. To do this, answer the following questions:

What’s important to me?

Define Your Blog’s Core Value

When you think about your life, what are the values that stand out as being very important to you?

Are they things like authenticity, good will, helping others, spirituality, confidence, happiness or creativity?

Start by making a list of these things. This is a good start.

What does success mean to me?

Yes – that word keeps coming up – success. How do you define success? Is it living a happy life? Being surrounded by people you love? Having a positive impact on the world?

Once again, write these things down as a starting point, then move on to this next, important question:

Where does your blog topic fit into your core values?

This is where the magic happens. Once you’re able to see where your blog fits into the things you hold dear, you can then create a Content Brand Statement.

Your Content Brand Statement

Now that you know where your blog fits into your core values, it’s time to come up with a Content Brand Statement.

Content Brand Statement is what your content (and your brand) stands for.

Your Content Brand Statement is a statement that defines how people view your content and you as a content creator. In other words, it’s what your content (and your brand) stands for.

Create a concise statement that summarizes your content brand. Here are two examples:

My biology blog: I create short, 3-5 minute weekly videos explaining complex biological concepts in a fun, entertaining, and easy-to-understand way so that university biology students can easily grasp the content.

Become a Blogger: I create podcast episode, written articles, and videos that empower my audience to start and grow blogs where they can have a positive impact on the world while building successful online businesses.

Five keys to building a timeless content brand

Create a timeless content brand – one that will stand the test of time.

It’s one thing to have a content brand statement, but another to create a timeless content brand – one that will stand the test of time. Here are some tips on how to do the latter. Your content needs to:

make it clear that you understand your audience

serve your audience’s needs

be consistent

build your authority

be high in quality

If you can accomplish those five things with your content, you are on the way to building a successful brand with your blog.

How to Create Your Content Brand Strategy

Now that we understand the basics of content branding and creating your content brand statement, let’s get into how to create your content brand strategy.

It is important to understand that content marketing is a funnel. In order for your content brand strategy to be effective, you need to identify your content marketing goals.

As a blogger, here are some of the goals you may have:

Build awareness for your blog

Get people to engage with your brand

Get people on your email list

Sell your products/services

Keep in touch with your customers

The key element that will help you accomplish those goals is the content you create.

Here are some tips to help you come up with a solid content brand strategy…

Do Your Research

Do your research on other blogs in your niche.

Taking some time to do research will go a long way to help you craft your content brand strategy.

Look at other blogs in your niche and analyze what they are doing (and more importantly, what they aren’t doing). Browse through Social Media to see what your audience is talking about.

Join relevant Facebook groups and see what discussions are happening.

The key things to analyze while doing these activities are:

What are people in your audience talking about?

What are other content creators talking about?

What are people struggling with?

What’s missing?

I like to call this first kind of research External Research.

The other kind of research is Internal Research.

This is where you go into your Google Analytics to determine what blog content is performing well. This will give you an even better idea of what your audience resonates with.

Analyze the Content You’re Already Creating

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to do some introspection. Look at the titles of all the blog content you’ve been creating.

Are they in line with your content brand statement?

If so, you’re heading in the right direction. If not, it’s time to revise your content creation habits.

Create Your Content Plan

Become a Blogger 2017 Blog Content Calendar

You’ve done your research and analyzed what you’ve already done. Now it’s time to create a content plan that is in alignment with your content brand statement.

A great way to get started on this is by getting my 2017 Blog Content Calendar Spreadsheet.

Continually Monitor Your Content Once Published

Your job isn’t over once your content is published. Building a strong content brand is an ongoing process.

You will need to monitor your content on a regular basis. Check your analytics, social share, comments, etc.

What content is your audience resonating with? What should you change? Make this monitoring a part of your routine.

Types of Content You Should Create

The beauty of the internet is that there are so many kinds of content. Different people have different preferences for the kind of content they like to consume.

Is your content in line with your content brand statement?

Using multiple types of content is a good way to cater to these different preferences. Here are some kinds of content to consider.

Written content: These can be step by step articles, tips, basic info, list posts, news articles, case studies, ebooks, etc.

Visual Content: These are great for your blog AND social media. Examples are pictures, illustrations, infographics, memes, comics, and slideshows.

Tools: Canva and PicMonkey

Video: This can be prerecorded or live.

Interactive content: This is the kind of content where you get others to engage with you. I.e. Social media posts, questions, quizzes, surveys, and contests.

Stories: Regardless of the type of content you create, it’s a great idea to use stories. They are easy to relate to and more memorable (when done well).

REMEMBER: Everything you create should reinforce your content brand.

Repurposing Your Content

Now that we’ve covered various types of content, let’s talk about repurposing. Fortunately, you don’t always have to start from scratch when creating a new piece of content for a different medium.

Repurposing your content is a great way to reinforce your message and reach your audience on different platforms.

This can be done by rewriting and updating your blog posts, repurposing for different platforms by cutting it into chunks, changing media, creating slide shows and other tactics.

I covered this extensively in episode 179 – Ten Ways to Get More From Your Content.

The key is this – run all of your repurposed content through “The Value Test”. Ask yourself “Does this new content offer some unique value?”

If your answer says yes, you’re headed in the right direction.

In Conclusion

Having a unique content brand strategy that involves creating the kind of content that resonates with your core value and focuses on your audience is a great way to grow your blog’s authority.

Take action by:

Deciding on your core values

Creating a content brand statement

Coming up with a content brand strategy

Implement that strategy

By doing this, you will help me on my mission of “Changing the world one blog at a time”. You will be creating something of value to the world.

Question: What is one core value that relates to your blog?

Resources Mentioned

2017 Blog Content Calendar Spreadsheet – you can use this to start with your blog content plan for the whole year

Tools I recommend for creating visual content for your blog:

Canva

PicMonkey

Ten Ways to Get More From Your Content –  Become a Blogger Episode 179 where I talk about repurposing your content as part of creating content for your blog.

Infographic

How to Create a Content Brand Strategy for Your Blog

The post How to Create a Content Brand Strategy for Your Blog appeared first on Become A Blogger by Leslie Samuel.

from Lauren Cameron Updates http://www.becomeablogger.com/24197/content-brand-strategy/