Noted: @Unsplash Provide Thousands of @CreativeCommons Images for Free

This is quite an amazing resource. It is so large it is almost difficult to contemplate how to make the best use of it. A search for coffee turns up 407 amazing photos on all aspects of coffee. Yikes! You could lose a lot of time in this collection, but also create some interesting stuff for your own web sites and projects — Douglas
Piotr miazga 119426Sylwia bartyzel 87907Thought catalog 188056
 

New Media isn’t Just for the Big Guys from New Media Interchange 20

New Media isn’t Just for the Big Guys from New Media Interchange 20

by Douglas E. Welch

Nmi big guys

It is too easy these days to focus on the big entertainment news coming out of New Media and ignore all the things that New Media can do for everyone else from individuals to freelancers to small companies and beyond. Sure, it’s great to see new shows with big name starts being picked up by Netflix and exciting to hear about one company buying another, but for me, this isn’t the heart of what New Media is about.

Eleven years ago, when I started podcasting, I saw it is an opportunity for letting the world hear the underheard and see the underseen. It was about giving distribution and exposure to millions of people who never would have made it through the gatekeepers of mainstream media. Mainstream media, by the very nature of its technology had extremely limited time available for shows, so the competition was fierce. This often drove content to the lowest common denominator, designed to please the widest range of viewers possible — and deliver the largest number of eyes and ears to advertisers — rather than produce great content.

New Media had no such constraints. You could do a show about woodworking, or knitting, or gaming, or butterflies and easily make it available to those who wanted to see or hear it. You didn’t have to garner 3 million viewers to stay on the air. You only had to create a show that served an interested and devote niche base of fans. We have lost of a bit of this idealism, though, as money and the influence it buys started to make its way into New Media. It took a long time — and much outright denial — for mainstream media folks — actors, directors, producers — to understand New Media, but now they are taking over.

Read the entire article on New Media Interchange


NMI Logo 3PM brand 2000x2000

 

New Media Interchange — Please subscribe, review and rate the podcast via iTunes

Noted: Beyond Blogging: Why Content Creators Are Making Mugs, Sweaters, And Moisturizer via Fast Company

Beyond Blogging: Why Content Creators Are Making Mugs, Sweaters, And Moisturizer via Fast Company

 Beyond Blogging: Why Content Creators Are Making Mugs, Sweaters, And Moisturizer via Fast Company

Sweaters, mugs, and wall hooks. These are not products one typically associates with bloggers. In fact, blogging and hawking wares does not seem like a natural fit, exactly.

But bloggers often feel the desire to move beyond the two-dimensional landscape of their websites and create physical products. Take John and Sherry Petersik of Young House Love who designed quirky wall hooks sold by Target, Kendi Skeen of Kendi Everyday, who set up her own brick and mortar boutique or lifestyle blog The Everygirl, which creates tumblers and mugs emblazoned with inspirational quotes. (Oh, and let’s not forget Gwyneth Paltrow’s foray into selling overpriced sweaters on her blog, Goop.) It seems easy enough to jump from editorial to creating real life products, but is it?

Read More


“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.

Find more Noted items here

Noted: Study: In social advertising, YouTube converts more customers than anyone else via Venture Beat

Study: In social advertising, YouTube converts more customers than anyone else via Venture Beat

Study: In social advertising, YouTube converts more customers than anyone else via Venture Beat

When it comes to paid advertising on social platforms, YouTube is the clear winner in introducing new products and helping consumers make their purchasing decisions, according to a new study Aol Platforms released today.

Read More


“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.

Find more Noted items here

Real World Example: Share your businesses’ “House Music” with Your Patrons via Social Media

Real World Example: Share your businesses’ “House Music” with Your Patrons via Social Media

Businesses using streaming radio services like Pandora and iTunes Radio have one more great item to share with their patrons, customers, and community through social media

I have had several new, artisanal food businesses open in my neighborhood over the course of the last year. I love to support local, non-chain, businesses whenever I can, so I often spend a lot of time visiting, shopping, eating and sharing the business with as many people as I can.

One thing all business owners try to establish right away is the mood, setting or feeling of their new business. Music is often used to establish this mood — from the raucous beats of pop and rock for a teen clothing store, to the more eclectic sounds of hot jazz or bossa nova for a hip and cool coffee shop.

Real World Example: Share your “House Music” with Your Patrons via Social Media

In the past, most business owners would have simply chosen a local radio station to play and left it at that. The advent of Internet radio services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes Radio has given business owners an entirely new way to establish music and mood in their businesses while keeping the advertising at bay or removing it completely. Even better, Internet radio stations can be fine tuned by selecting particular artists, particular tracks and particular styles. Using these tools each business owner can create their own unique house sound which grows and changes over time.

Sure, you could buy each piece of music you would like to use and create your own local music “mix”, but playlists with less than 100 or so tracks can quickly grow repetitive for your regular customers (and certainly for your staff). Such a playlist also stagnates quickly without the constant influx of new material — something that Internet radio stations can provide automatically as new, appropriate tracks are added to the overall service. You can also develop different stations for different times of day and easily switch between them to set the mood for the morning rush, the lunchtime crowd or the late nighters.

Real World Example: Share your “House Music” with Your Patrons via Social Media

Finally, one great advantage to using an Internet Radio service is that it is one more item, one more unique part of your business, to share with your patrons. You can share Pandora and iTunes Radio stations via Facebook, Twitter, your company web site, or by using the direct link, anywhere and any anyplace you wish.

For example, you could have a flyer in your business that says,

“Enjoy our music mix in your car or home! Check out the MacLeod Ale Brewing Co station on Pandora – http://url/macleod”

You can, and also should, share this same information via all your social media accounts. You can even share each time you “Like” a new song or a new station and add it to your playlist or when you create an entirely new station to meet each particular mood or time of day.

All businesses are looking for unique things to share on their social media accounts and your Internet Radio stations are just one more piece of your unique brand and personality to add to the mix. Let your customers take a little piece of your business home with them and subtly remind them that they want to return again and again.


Noted: Keeping Readers Interested: 17 Things to Write About on Your Company Blog via Search Engine Journal

Keeping Readers Interested: 17 Things to Write About on Your Company Blog via Search Engine Journal

Keeping Readers Interested: 17 Things to Write About on Your Company Blog via Search Engine Journal

A company blog is a great way to engage your customers, showcase your company and demonstrate your industry expertise to prospects. However, you have to provide useful, engaging content for the platform to have real use.

Good blogs are a goldmine of value for both your readers and your company. To learn what successful online writers include on their company blog, we asked 17 startup founders and YEC members for suggestions.

Read More


“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.

Find more Noted items here

Noted: Now That I’ve Created Something, How Do I Spread It? via Fast Company

Now That I’ve Created Something, How Do I Spread It? via Fast Company

Noted: Now That I've Created Something, How Do I Spread It? via Fast Company

“I enjoy helping entrepreneurs figure out how to start and grow businesses. And I’ve had a chance to work with some new entrepreneurs at Starter School here in Chicago. At a recent talk I gave, one question stuck in my mind. The young entrepreneur asked, “Now that I’ve built a product, how do I get it to spread?” This entrepreneur recognizes that having a good idea and building a great product isn’t enough.”

Read More


“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.

Find more Noted items here

Noted: Follow What Interests You With New Pinterest Category Pages via Search Engine Journal

Follow What Interests You With New Pinterest Category Pages via Search Engine Journal

Follow What Interests You With New Pinterest Category Pages via Search Engine Journal

Today, Pinterest announced an update to its category pages. Each category page now has a whole new selection of related interests to browse through. You can also follow specific categories to get Pins from other like-minded users delivered to your home feed.

For example, if you go to Outdoors category you’ll now see related interests like Hiking, Camping and Running spread out across the top of the page.

Read More


More book on Pinterest on Amazon.com


“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.

Find more Noted items here

Noted: This New Tool Will Make Your Articles Effortlessly Tweetable from The Buzz Bin

This New Tool Will Make Your Articles Effortlessly Tweetable from The Buzz Bin

Tracy interview

Whether you love it or love to hate it, the New York Times is the king of digital journalism for a simple reason: it’s always innovating. Beyond making “snowfall” a verb, the so-called Gray Lady has in recent months overhauled its website, introduced new revenue streams, produced a viral video based verbatim on a deposition, bought its own native ads, launched an explainer microsite, and built a suite of apps. And that’s all before last week’s release of the paper’s internal “innovation report,” which has been called “one of the key documents of this media age.”

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“Noted” items are particularly good finds from my daily reading which I share via all my social media accounts.

Find more Noted items here

New Media Prescription: Think small. Get started. Don’t be overwhelmed.

It seems that every time I am at an event these days — Garden shows, Literacy Events, Business meetings — I am quickly pulled into a discussion of New Media/Social Media and how it can and should be used. almost universally, though, everyone I speak with is adrift in any new media plans. They might have a Twitter accounts, Facebook page or Instagram photos, but thy don’t know how or why they should be using them.

See more New Media Prescriptions here

One simple tweet

It is easy to set up accounts, of course, so nearly everyone has done that. Then the accounts site there, empty, doing nothing for no one. They could, instead be spreading your message, talking to clients, selling your products 24/7, but leave them empty and they are worthless, if not outright damaging to you. If people find your accounts online, they expect to find something there and will be disappointed when there isn’t. Don’t disappoint your audience when it is so easy to feed them the information, the products, the content they desire.

In an effort to help you jumpstart your own usage of New Media, I present this selection of small, doable actions that you can take — every day — to start making New Media work for you. If you like these ideas, please consider scheduling a consult with me so that together we can craft a New Media plan that is customized to you and the needs of your life, business and products.

1. Start small

Select one online social media source and concentrate your actions there. Does your life lend itself to a more visual presentation, start with Instagram, Flickr or other photo sharing site. Set a goal to post 1 new item each day. It’s OK if you don’t make it every day, but try. In most cases, I think you will fin that you easily have at least 1 item to share per day, if not more. You just need to keep the thought in your mind throughout your day. If you do, you will be more inclined to capture those photos you may have simply walked by before.

2. Collect ideas

If you are like most people, you will easily have more than 1 item a day that you would like to share. If so, collect up these “extra” ideas in a list so that they are available when needed. Maybe you had a busy day and weren’t able to take that daily photo. No problem. Find one of your “extras” and post it today. Problem solved!

This same idea works with any sort of content. Write as many Twitter messages as you can. Take as many photographs as possible, Write articles for your blog when you are “in the zone.” Then you can easily have those off days without feeling like you have failed. You shouldn’t feel that way anyway when you miss a day, but I know from personal experience that those feelings can creep in sometimes and actually prevent you from posting in the future. Keep a ready supply of content at hand and you’ll never have to worry about content again.

Need examples of the type of info you can/should share? Need ideas of how you can use multiple sites. Check out my social media accounts below and use me as an example.

3. Expand to new services one by one

Once your feel you have your rhythm down with one service, consider adding another. In most cases, you will find this much easier than starting in the first place. If you are already taking photos for Instagram, those same photos can and should be easily be shared on Facebook, or as part of your blog or Google+ page. You have different audiences in each of those locations, so don’t worry about duplicating content. Sure, some folks may see the same post in 2 different locations, but many, many others will be seeing it for the first time.

As you add new services, you will start to develop a system for sharing your content. I have a list posted on my monitor to remind me of the places I need to share content so that I don’t forget. As it stands now, I have about 13 places I share each piece of content I create. These services ebb and flow as I discover which ones work best for me and I am constantly trying out new services as they are introduced. This might sound overwhelming, but on average it takes me maybe 5 mins to share new content to all of my other accounts now that I have my system in place. I don’t spend hours sharing on New Media and you don’t need to either.

For more on this idea, read my previous post, Benefiting from the “New Media Multiplier”

4. Produce your content and help your audience find you

I often hear from people that they can’t imagine who would be reading their content, listening to their podcast or looking at their photos. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but this isn’t your concern. Your audience will find you, no matter what, if you put your content out there. It is nearly impossible to know exactly who your audience is, but you must remember that everyone has an audience — they just need to find it.

Your job is to produce content and share it so that your audience can find you. Make it easy for them to stumble upon you through referrals from other web sites, search engines, friends, family and random synchronicity. This is the biggest reason why any of us share anything on our blogs or social media sites. It allows our audience to find us and share us with their audience — and so on, and so on, and so on!

Don’t worry about your audience. Worry about your work, your writing, your products, your promotion, your sharing. Do this and your audience will easily find you.

Getting started with New Media is equally the easiest and most difficult part of the process. It is easy to set up accounts, but it can be difficult to discover what you want and need to share there. This takes time and a bit of thought, but the advantages to be found in using New Media, whatever your goals far outweighs the difficulties. Get started today!

Great places to start your New Media journey. Pick one and get started! :

Need help jumpstarting your New Media usage? Ask your questions in the comments, email me at douglas@welchwrite.com or schedule a New Media Consult to help develop your own, unique New Media plans!

New Media 101: You are an expert! from “Blogging and Content Creation”

Part of the Blogging 101 series…

A quick tip from this 53 minute presentation — Blogging and Content Creation at the San Fernando Valley WordPress Group.

 
B101 expert
 

Transcript:

I often tell people that you are an expert if you have one more piece of information or one more experience than somebody else.  If you have that, someone else wants to know that. If you have experience putting a plugin the WordPress Plugin Directory — and dealing with that — there are other people that want to know that. Ok? Because they are trying to do it, too, and they want someone with experience to lead them through the process. So you have automatically something  that you can share that will find an audience because people will do those searches online — people will ask those questions elsewhere — and there will be someplace for them to go for that information.

 

Previously on New Media 101/Blogging 101:

More information on Douglas E. Welch and Careers in New Media:

Capture your “content” and share it! Please! – End of the Day for March 30, 2014

End of the day Logo

(Originally from End of the Day on My Word with Douglas E. Welch)

After an extremely busy day yesterday, we were all pretty tired this morning and got off to a rather slow start. Thankfully nothing required us to get up an moving — until we discovered that a friend was holding a boo reading and signing at Diesel Books in Malibu. Being that he is a very good friend of ours and I need little excuse to go to Malibu on such a beautiful day — we cleaned ourselves up and headed down.

As I usually do, I took along my cameras — both still and video — and figured I could capture a bit of the reading to share here on the blog and YouTube. I do this because I don’t believe in throwing away “content” that other people might enjoy. If I am going to enjoy an experience then it is a good possibility that others will, too. They might not be able to come to the event otherwise due scheduling or, more likely, because they live at great distance form where the event is happening. Why not share the fun when it takes relatively little work to do so?

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You’ll be seeing the results of today’s event in a few days, but as always, it makes me wonder why more people — especially creative people — and businesses — especially bookstores — don’t make more of an effort to share their events in whatever way possible. For me, taking few pictures, grabbing some video — even with a smartphone — is far preferable to doing nothing. Events, once passed, are lost if you don’t do something to capture them. More importantly, everyone NEEDS to be capturing their content because this is the media you will use in selling the current book, song, movie, etc and also the media you will use to sell your NEXT book, song, movie, etc. If you don’t capture this content, you are crippling yourself, your sales, your promotion and possibly even your career.

It is so easy to capture and share content these days. We really don’t have an excuse for NOT capturing it. OUr smartphones take 1080 HD video and record CD quality sound. Our point-and-shoot cameras take pictures far better than anything in the past. It is the “will” that is lacking. Most of us have still not realized the deep importance in capturing our content. We don’t make it an automatic part of our life and work. We let things happen and then let them go without ever realizing the value these events carry for our future.

People often ask me why I go through the effort of capturing content for other people. First, I gain value from the content by sharing it online, on my blog and YouTube. The subject the event also gains value from increased exposure and the chance that an audience will stumble upon their book, music, etc and find they that they like it. Third, I also do it as a way of showing (and hopefully) convincing others of the value of capturing their content. It is “Real World Example” of how to capture it, how to package it and how (and why) to share it. By providing a good example, I hope to bring others along with me on this New Media journey.

The next time you are involved in a creative project, an event, a fundraiser, whatever — please, please, please at least consider capturing the content surrounding the event. Share your photos via Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and others. Upload the video to YouTube and share it on social media. Send links to the content to everyone involved and ask them to share it with their friends, family and business contacts. I think you will greatly — and pleasantly — surprised by the results.

 

Previously on End of the Day:

Why should you blog, podcast and share? – End of the Day for March 11, 2014

End of the day Logo

This post originally appeared in My Word with Douglas E. Welch

As you can tell by this blog (and my others) I have been putting a lot more time into writing new content and sharing content from others over the last several months. Partially, this is because I now have more time to create content since I am no longer doing day-to-day computer support, but also because I have a great need and desire to share my interests with others. It is so fun when someone comments on a recipe or gardening post, finds a TechnologyIQ post that solves their computer problem or enjoys one of my photographs. There is certainly a lot of reward in that, but I also blog for another reason — to share what I do and how well I do it with others.

Photo-A-Day for October 13, 2006

The writing and sharing that I do is directly designed to provide what, I hope, is a good real world example of how blogging, podcasting and social media (in fact, all the New Media tools available) can be used to improve your life and the lives of those around you. This improvement then leads to money-making projects and consulting contracts where I can go even deeper in helping others share their (and their company’s) story with the world. This is exactly how I came to work as a blogger and representative for Troy-Bilt back in 2011 and 2012. They discovered my work on the web and when they had an opportunity to hire people to represent them, my name was already in their mind. This is a great example of “attracting opportunity” instead of spending your days looking for work.

These “End of the Day” blog posts are a bit of departure for me. They are much more personal and reflect not only on my work but also my life in general. This demonstrates another idea I cultivate, too, though. A blog is really just a reflection of your life and work, not matter what the topic. The best blogs use real life as an opportunity to illustrate important concepts and teach important lessons. On several of my blogs I even have series entitled “Real World Examples” where I highlight just this idea. When anyone comes to me asking how they can get start blogging I always say “start with your life.” What interests you most? What are your biggest questions? What questions do you get asked most? There is much knowledge (and blog content) to be found there. Even more, their is an audience out there waiting for your to share your ideas, your thoughts, your questions with them. All you need to do is speak to them.

In an effort to attract more opportunity to me in the coming months, one of the best ways you can help is by sharing my blog posts, my podcasts, my shared items, everything I do with those people you think might be interested. Share a link via Google+, Facebook or Twitter. “Like” on Facebook or YouTube. Email a blog post to someone you think needs to see it. Opportunity is a numbers game. The more people who “stumble upon” my work, the more opportunities that will appear. If I help you in any way with my work here, please help me, yourself and your friends and family by sharing it further. This allows me to continue creating more useful material for all of you!

Check out the share buttons at the bottom of every post on every blog here at DouglasEWelch.com. This makes it easy and convenient.

 

Previously on End of the Day:

Audio: Douglas appears on the Bigg Success Podcast: Creating Video Content: Overcoming Objections

I sat down with George and Mary-Lynn over at Bigg Success recently and we talked about Overcoming business owners objections to creating video content.

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Video Content Douglas E Welch

Video content has become an important tool for reaching a wider audience, yet most professionals and small business people don’t use this form of media. Today, we’ll take on some of the biggest objections for not doing it with new media guru, Douglas Welch.

A complete transcript is available on the Bigg Success web site and you can listen to the podcast using the audio player below.

Listen to Bigg Success: Creating Video Content: Overcoming Objections

There is a lot of great content over on Bigg Success, so be sure to check out their site.

Tip: Add YouTube Subscribe badge to your site and blog posts

Every YouTube Producer knows how important it is to gain subscribers to their YouTube Channel. Subscribers drive the views, minutes watched and likes that help to raise their channel above the other noise on YouTube. One great way to increase your subscriber is to include an easy-to-use subscribe button alongside your video blog posts and on our blogs and web sites. It’s even easy to do.

You can create your own YouTube Subscribe button by visiting this Google Developers Page

Youtube subscribe

You’ll find a few configuration options there…

Youtube subscribe config

…and even a tool to help you create the HTML code for the button. Simply enter your channel ID (in my case, dewelch), set your size and color options and the HTML is created for you to cut and paste wherever you wish.

Youtube configure

Here are the results for my own channel.

 

Video: “Demystifying the Business of Feature Film Writing” with Laurence Rosenthal from “Cut to the Chase”

The sixth in a series of videos we produced for the UCLA Extension Writers Program to accompany their new books on television and screenwriting, Cut to the Chase and Inside the Room.

There will be 12 more videos from various chapter authors released over the next several weeks.

Uclawp rosenthal

Laurence Rosenthal, Producer; Development Executive; UCLA Extension Writers’ Program instructor; and author of Chapter 14 in Cut to the Chase: Writing Feature Films with the Pros at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, talks about how to get an agent, how managers differ from agents, and why branding in important in a writer’s career.

Buy the books!

 

Video “Polish Workshop: Making Your Best Even Better” with Michael Weiss from “Cut to the Chase”

The fourth in a series of videos we produced for the UCLA Extension Writers Program to accompany their new books on television and screenwriting, Cut to the Chase and Inside the Room.

There will be 14 more videos from various chapter authors released over the next several weeks.

Ucla weiss

 

Video: “Jump-starting the Screenplay” with Jon Bernstein from “Cut to the Chase”

The third in a series of videos we produced for the UCLA Extension Writers Program to accompany their new books on television and screenwriting, Cut to the Chase and Inside the Room.

There will be 16 more videos from various chapter authors released over the next several weeks.

Ucla bernstein

 

Video: “Building Characters” with Cindy Davis from new book, “Cut to the Chase”

The second in a series of videos we produced for the UCLA Extension Writers Program to accompany their new books on television and screenwriting, Cut to the Chase and Inside the Room.

There will be 16 more videos from various chapter authors released over the next several weeks.

 

 

Video: “Writing the On-Air One-Hour Drama Spec: The Script” with Charlie Craig

The first in a series of videos we produced for the UCLA Extension Writers Program to accompany their new books on television and screenwriting, Cut to the Chase and Inside the Room.

There will be 17 more videos from various chapter authors released over the next several weeks.