New Avidadollars

OK, it has taken me longer than I myself expected because I thought that I needed to change the DNS settings whereas I actually only needed to cancel the domain forwarding. Now, it is all resolved, and here is the new Avidadollars: http://www.avidadollars.com/. The feed address that you may be very kind to follow is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/avidadollars/New. That place will feature my [expert, no doubt ] views on Online Marketing and Social Media, particularly blogging. The museum articles will also now be appearing there. It also includes an updated CV.

As for the old and much-loved WP Avidadollars, it will continue to have its place under the virtual sun. I started it nearly two years ago, and as you can imagine it would be a shame to lose 2 years’ worth of search history.

Last but not least, many thanks for following me, staying with me, reading me, and sending all the lovely comments at the turn of 2008/2009. See you again!

Another Blog Move Heads-Up

2008 has seen many well-known platforms notching up their interfaces, and as for me, I’ve moved my blogs around. Some of them went to their own domains. And as I told you before, this was going to happen to this WordPress blog. But, as you know, it hasn’t.

It will happen before the end of this year, but this is what the working knowledge of various platforms gives you: the ability to make an informed decision of whether or not to continue staying at the same home. I have never yet hosted any of my websites or blogs on my own server, and this is unlikely to happen in the very near future. I am still tied to WordPress own hosting platform, but that places strong limits on my opportunities. For one, I cannot use JavaScript analytics tools, and I don’t have access to the CSS. Even a Java FeedBurner isn’t allowed. This may sound like not a big deal – I could only start hosting the blog on my own server. But when you consider that Blogger and LiveJournal offer you free hosting, and TypePad offers free hosting once you purchased an account, one really has to ask why WP couldn’t do the same. Even to move a blog to its own domain is a huge problem: not only do you have to purchase a domain credit, you also have to ensure that this domain is without ‘www’. OK, LiveJournal doesn’t really let you play around with CSS in the same way as Blogger or TypePad do, but the above three platforms do favourably stand out in comparison to WordPress.

The fact that I cannot alter the WP-hosted blog’s CSS or add Java and Flash widgets means that I have no way of seeing the ROI of this portfolio. Fair enough, I don’t earn money from the presented articles (again, even if I wanted to, the way WP operates, I wouldn’t be able to earn a penny unless I obtained my own hosting first). However, the ROI of a non-commercial blog that utilises an RSS consists of a readers’ count, outgoing clicks stats, and of the ability to see and analyse such important metrics, as keywords. I am using an HTML version of StatCounter, which, combined with WP’s internal statistics, can help at unveiling the visitors’ behaviour. But this isn’t enough, and doubtless, very time-consuming, especially when compared to the opportunities of a Java counter.

For the same reason, I cannot display a FeedBurner RSS icon, hence I have no idea how big the readership is. I could turn a blind eye to this insofar as this blog has been a practically static website. But as I am planning to use it more for blogging and marketing myself as a copywriter, translator and Search Engine Marketing consultant, I therefore need access to this statistics. The fact that my Twitter posts don’t get displayed also puts me off. I cannot register this blog to BlogCatalog that has been a good source of traffic and connections for me. In addition, although I have been using Akismet Spam protection since 2007, the amount of spam comments I’d received on WordPress is staggering in comparison to either Blogger or TypePad. In short, however, the impossibility of using JavaScript and Flash widgets in WordPress-hosted blog is the reason why I decided to move to a TypePad-hosted blog.

However, I chose not to move the entire site, as the majority of content has been here for nearly 2 years. In addition, it’s good to stay in tune with the happenings at WordPress, and this is generally not possible without a working blog account. So, I will republish the work-related pages to a new website and create a comprehensive list of backlinks to the articles on this blog. I will continue using avidadollars.wordpress.com, probably as a photo blog. But otherwise my copywriter/translator/SEM professional’s home will relocate to TypePad.

I will keep you posted re: the new blog’s address.

Branding and Conversation, or Who Is Really Enthusiastic About Social Media?

I posted recently about the Social Media Cafe in Manchester, and by the look of it one of the members is about to start a blog. From where I and a few pals stand, things looks bright for Social Media and its use in Manchester, as elsewhere. But there are yet too many hurdles to overcome. Whilst my journalist friends are looking at the use of Social Media tools in the traditional media, I decided to narrate the two experiences I have recently had in dealing with an art depository and a fashion network’s event. In the light of this experience, Manchester has got a lot to improve.

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It’s been twice in the space of November that I had to deal with the rather suspicious attitude to Social Media, and blogging in particular. First, I went to one of Manchester’s major museums where it turned out that I needed to fill out a photography permission form. I know the collection well: I have been visiting the museum since 2002; a lot of paintings displayed there are in the “knowledge minimum” for the History of Art, which I do know well, being an historian; and, most importantly, I can access many, if not all of them, online, either via the gallery’s website or via several online museums.

The pictures I wanted to take were therefore not “for personal study purposes”: for those purposes I can browse the images online, or read a specialist monograph. I wanted to take the photos of paintings as they are in the gallery space, in frames, among other works, possibly with the visitors standing in front of them. The photos would be uploaded to Flickr and used on my Arts and Culture blog, to tell my visitors about the collection.

Some of you may already be asking themselves: who would need that, if the gallery has got a website? This is a good question. My answer is: the gallery’s website does not provide a feel of the collection. I see my duty as a blogger to tell precisely about this side of the museum, rather than some well-known facts, and for that I need pictures of the gallery space. As a visitor, I am empowered by a few means to make the gallery collection appear more vibrant and appealing to prospective visitors – and I don’t ask to be paid for it.

Update: I have been given a permission to use the photographs after I showed which ones I was going to use. I was also explained the problems the depository encounters even when trying to produce the photographic images on display for their own purposes. There are still many things that the museum can do to improve their interaction with Social Media, and their use of up-to-date means of online communication on the website is one of the things that are begging to be changed.

In hindsight, I should probably have written to the museum, explaining my intention. My only excuse is that this was the first time in England that I had to ask for a photography permission: I genuinely assumed that this would not be a problem as it has not been with very many other art collections and depositories where I have taken photos previously. I generally have no problem with photography not being allowed at the special exhibitions. But the collection in question is on a regular display.