Podcasts about siteground

Subscriber-only episodeDo you remember your first year in business as a web designer? Are you there now?One thing is common for all of us in the first year…it's a rollercoaster of highs and lows, ups and downs, incredible days and perhaps dreadful days. But if you can survive that first year, chances are you're going to make it.I'm so excited to bring onto the podcast Megan Fletcher who just crossed her first year official year in business and at the same time, had her biggest revenue month to date pulling in over 8k!She's now got her sights set on a 6-figure business and has an incredible foundation to get there in year 2.In this chat, she shares all her lessons learned (both good and bad) from the first year of her business and most importantly, how she weathered a couple storms and got through the tough times.As a member of my community Web Designer Pro, I have to say these success stories are some of my favorites because I often see all the challenges, hardships and coach members when they're in the thick of it…but I know there's always a brighter future right ahead if they just stick with it!! And that's exactly what Megan has done.Enjoy!Head to the show notes to get all links and resources we mentioned along with a full transcription of this episode at joshhall.co/377Big thanks to the sponsors for our upcoming Web Designer Pro CON 2025 event! We couldn't make such a top-notch event for my community without their support

Jump into Web Designer Pro™ for your first month at 50% off with code APRIL50 at webdesignerpro.com. This special offer expires at the end of April 2025, so don't miss your chance to access all courses and join our thriving community!In this Q&A session, we dive deep into what's working right now in the web design industry, answering listener questions on topics from SEO to networking strategies, CRM systems, and leveraging AI effectively in your business.• SEO fundamentals remain largely unchanged despite AI advancements with core principles of good structure and quality content still driving results• Local networking is most effective when you focus on accessing others' networks rather than directly selling to group members• CRM systems like 17hats can dramatically improve workflow efficiency through automation of proposals, contracts and client onboarding• Adding quarterly strategy calls to maintenance plans can generate significant additional revenue while strengthening client relationships• White label services require consistent value demonstration in communities rather than simply asking for work• AI is most effectively used beyond just site building – leverage it for business development, finding networking opportunities, and streamlining operations• The most successful designers focus on helping clients grow their businesses with websites as a tool rather than just delivering websites• Raising your rates regularly is essential for business sustainability, especially as your skills and results improveWatch the full replay hereBig thanks to the sponsors for our upcoming Web Designer Pro CON 2025 event! We couldn't make such a top-notch event for my community without their support

Josh here popping in with a special bonus episode on my thoughts on Ai for web designers. This was taken from a recent panel discussion about Ai on the Small Business Sweet Spot podcast.For the full episode and to hear other opinions on the good and bad of Ai for small businesses in 2025, check it out at:Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/7ByyAcRHME1WiPNvrt0dqz?si=7c07b8e44dfe4673Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fight-it-or-friend-it-ai-use-for-the-solopreneur-ep57/id1728291369?i=1000704431752Blog Post https://compassdigitalstrategies.com/podcast/fight-it-or-friend-it-ai-use-for-the-solopreneur-ep57/Big thanks to the sponsors for our upcoming Web Designer Pro CON 2025 event! We couldn't make such a top-notch event for my community without their support

Cursos de comedia onlineExplicado Pierde monográfico dedicado a LA LLAMA FEST, el festival de comedia independiente de Barcelona.Este episodio está patrocinado por el mejor hosting del mundo, SiteGround.

Hablamos con Daniel Puértolas, cofundador y CEO de Numéricco una compañía boutique, especializada en el diseño y desarrollo de soluciones digitales.Gracias por hacer este episodio posible a Sngular que nos acogió en su espacio y a Shopify y Siteground por patrocinarnos.

Hablamos con Fernando Maciá de Human Level en nuestro primer Escalando Agencias live. Human Level es una agencia de marketing digital, referentes en SEO y otras disciplinas, gracias al posicionamiento en la industria de Fernando, autor de varios libros y uno de los grandes expertos del marketing digital de nuestro país.Gracias por hacer este episodio posible a Sngular que nos acogió en su espacio y a Shopify y Siteground por patrocinarnos.

Hablamos con Sonsoles Piñeiro, Global Chief Officer de SAMY Alliance en nuestro primer Escalando Agencias live. SAMY busca ser un socio estratégico clave para grandes marcas, combinando más de una década de experiencia con un enfoque social y una comprensión profunda de los consumidores para generar crecimiento y construir confianza con sus audiencias.Gracias por hacer este episodio posible a Sngular que nos acogió en su espacio y a Shopify y Siteground por patrocinarnos.

Cursos de comedia: http://www.lallamaschool.com El podcast de IGGY: https://youtu.be/BcxdvCh4ihk Episodio monográfico dedicado a ANNIE HALL. De Woody Allen. Con Raquel Hervás, Kike García, Javi Rueda y Àlex Martínez Vidal. Todas las referencias mencionadas durante el capítulo las encontrarás en nuestro blog: http://LaLlamaSchool.com/explicadopierde Con el soporte del hosting de La Llama School, SiteGround: https://stgrnd.co/lallamaschoolpodcast

La Inteligencia Artificial está disrumpiendo muchas áreas de conocimiento. Tengo mucha curiosidad por ver cómo va a afectando a las más core del marketing digital. Hoy vamos a poner el foco en la planificacion de medios digitales.  No ya la IA generativa, la IA “tradicional” ha venido transformando brutalmente la forma en la que se planifica y optimiza la compra de medios. Por entendernos, es ya raro ver una campaña en la que las pujas se marquen y modifiquen manualmente, sino en base sea a fiarse de la recomendación de la “IA de la herramienta” o a normas automatizadas.  Esta semana hablamos con Ixone Isasi, fundadora y CEO de Paid Strategy, una agencia especializada en planificación de medios online, para contrastar estas sensaciones. ¿cómo se planifica en internet hoy en día? A qué se dedica el tiempo que las herramientas cada vez más automáticas de un Google o un Meta liberan de los equipos de planificación? ¿Cómo se está aprovechando el potencial de las IAs generativas? Enlaces de interés: [Beloved sponsor] Siteground: https://www.siteground.com/?mktafcode=008646990f4d268746bdb1eaf111725c?utm_source=MKT4Ecomm&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=podcast Web de Paid Strategy: https://paidstrategy.com/ 

Konnichiwa, ninja.Este es el último episodio del año y es que me tomo vacaciones del pódcast hasta mediados de enero aprox., que es algo que nunca he hecho, así que creo que son vacaciones merecidas.Vacaciones en las que básicamente estaré trabajando, así que…

Cursos de comedia online Episodio monográfico dedicado al especial de stand-up BONES AND ALL de ANTHONY JESELNIK, Con Raquel Hervás, Kike García, Javi Rueda y Àlex Martínez Vidal. Blog de Explicado Pierde con las notas de cada programa. Con el soporte del hosting de La Llama School, SiteGround

Cursos de comedia: http://www.lallamaschool.com Episodio monográfico dedicado al especial de STAND-UP 'AN EVENING WITH ROBIN WILLIAMS' (1983) Con Kike García, Javi Rueda y Àlex Martínez Vidal. Todas las referencias mencionadas durante el capítulo las encontrarás en nuestro blog: http://LaLlamaSchool.com/explicadopierde Con el soporte del hosting de La Llama School, SiteGround: https://stgrnd.co/lallamaschoolpodcast

Cursos de comedia: http://www.lallamaschool.com Episodio monográfico dedicado al especial de STAND-UP 'AN EVENING WITH ROBIN WILLIAMS' (1983) Con Kike García, Javi Rueda y Àlex Martínez Vidal. Todas las referencias mencionadas durante el capítulo las encontrarás en nuestro blog: LaLlamaSchool.com/explicadopierde Con el soporte del hosting de La Llama School, SiteGround: https://stgrnd.co/lallamaschoolpodcast

Pandora es una marca de joyas inmensa. Con una facturación de más de 3.700 millones de euros a nivel mundial en 2023 de los cuales 750 millones, el 20%, es a través de su web. Tenemos la fortuna de poder decir que su Senior Vice President de Marketing, el responsable del Go to Market a nivel global es español. Raúl Duque, tras casi 20 años en Procter & Gamble en Suiza, ahora vive a saltos entre Madrid y Copenhague, donde están los headquarters de Pandora.  Con él quiero hablar sobre: por qué mover una empresa más hacia la marca que al producto, como está haciendo con Pandora; cómo se organiza un equipo de marketing de 350 personas, cómo se gestiona un presupuesto de más de 300 millones de euros en marketing al año. Por lo que sea… no he tenido oportunidad de sufrir ese problema… cómo se integra en una empresa tan grande una cultura tan avanzada de experimentación como para llevar a cabo más de 250 experimentos de growth al año. No puedes perderte este entrevistón en el que a pesar de la categoría de su cargo Raúl Duque demuestra un control y un nivel de conocimiento de digital impresionante. Enlaces de interés: [Beloved sponsor] Siteground: https://www.siteground.com/?mktafcode=008646990f4d268746bdb1eaf111725c?utm_source=MKT4Ecomm&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=podcast 

Episodio monográfico dedicado al formato ROAST. Con Kike García, Javi Rueda, Àlex Martínez Vidal y David Martos. La Llama School, cursos de comedia online Con el soporte del hosting de La Llama School, SiteGround

A Lazy Man's Guide to Website Building No tech skills required (no coding or setting up a file server) Cheap hosting (>$5/mo) Easy set up (>10 minutes) I've used personally & would be willing to recommend NameCheap $10 a YEAR for a .com offers discount on the longer duration you buy to own the domain Often find coupons on RetailMeNot or just Google “Namecheap coupon” first year = $9 Name Silo cheapest option $9/ year first year = $7 offers discounts on bulk orders (many different domain names) HostGator Pros:Cons:Pricing: 3, 4, 6 Cloud: 5, 8, 10 Wordpress 6,8,10 Bluehost$11 for Unlimited Pricing 8, 11, 15 x10 Hosting Pros:Cons:Pricing: 0, 6 Weebly Pros:Cons:Pricing (5, 8, 12, 25/ mo) Others: Hostinger iPage, SiteGround](https://www.siteground.com/], inMotion Hosting, Wix WordPress On HostGator Build a New WordPress Site Select domain or subdomain On x10 Hosting Open CPanel Scroll down to “Softaculous App Installer” Select WordPress then hit Install Now Blog Title Admin E-mail password domain.com/wp-admin Add posts = blog posts Pages = separate menu items Appearence > Themes Plugins for drag n' drop: KingPoser, Elementor, Wishpond (single landing page) LastPass Password generator (for creating your WordPress login - or any login for that matter): https://www.lastpass.com/password-generator Easy way to store passwords so you don't waste brain energy creating and memorizing them Focus on building a solid blog. You cna add pages later, eventually, whenever, man RANDOM EVENT: Vote for ProcrastiN8r Political Ad by the Lazy Island Pizza Party...a little late for Election Day, as expected. As a matter of honesty and transparency, some of the links included are affiliate links and I do earn some commission if you decided to use the links and make a purchase through them. Your support is greatly appreciated! Built-in site builder (add a blog, newsletter, e-shop) WordPress support Integrate third party shopping carts (like E-Junkie) Unmetered bandwidth Unlimited amount of sites in one plan WordPress Hosting cost more and runs slower without the “WordPress Hosting” shared hosting Includes Domain name Free unlimited Hosted E-mail address one site per login No SSL for free accounts No support for free accounts you have to login once per month on each account or it gets deleted very easy to use . drag n' drop Free with SSL nice built in shopping/e-commerce (paid feature). Will get better too - just bought by Square up to 10 sites per login the free version is a dot weebly address (like tumblr, bad for SEO) unless you're grandfathered in pay per site, no matter what plan very limited plugin options 500MB on free and connect No WordPress $5 just to connect a domain

Wondering which web hosting service is best for your author website? Discover how SiteGround, WordPress, StoryOrigin, and Storiad stack up in terms of cost and features. Uncover the best options for creating a professional online presence as an author. Book Award Pro - https://DaleLinks.com/BookAwardPro (affiliate link) Good Wix - https://www.wix.com/  WordPress - https://wordpress.com/  Better Storiad - https://DaleLinks.com/Storiad (affiliate link) StoryOrigin - https://DaleLinks.com/StoryOrigin (affiliate link) MailerLite - https://DaleLinks.com/MailerLite (affiliate link) Best SiteGround - https://DaleLinks.com/SiteGround (affiliate link) SquareSpace - https://www.squarespace.com/ Subscribe to The Self-Publishing Hub - https://TheSelfPublishingHub.com  Subscribe to my email newsletter - https://DaleLinks.com/SignUp  Join Channel Memberships - https://DaleLinks.com/Memberships Join Me on Discord - https://DaleLinks.com/Discord Check out my main YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@DaleLRoberts My Books - https://DaleLinks.com/MyBooks  Where noted, some outbound links financially benefit the channel through affiliate programs. I only endorse programs, products, or services I use and can stand confidently behind. These links do not affect your purchase price and greatly helps to building and growing this channel. Thanks in advance for understanding! - Dale L. Roberts

Upgrading your podcast's online presence starts with choosing the right website host. In this episode, Tom Hazzard and Tracy Hazzard explore why having a strong podcast website is crucial for building a long-lasting brand. They discuss the importance of selecting a reliable website hosting platform—one that you own and control—to ensure your content is always accessible, secure, and optimized for search engines. Tracy and Tom share practical advice on the differences between popular platforms like WordPress, GoDaddy, and SiteGround, and explain why investing in the right hosting solution is essential for podcast growth. Tune in to learn how to boost your podcast's discoverability and credibility with the right online setup.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://podetize.com/how-to-leave-a-review

Cursos de comedia online: http://www.lallamaschool.com Este episodio está patrocinado por el hosting de La Llama School, SiteGround: https://stgrnd.co/lallamaschoolpodcast Episodio monográfico dedicado a la película Chicas Malas. Con Raquel Hervás, Kike García, Javier Rueda y Àlex Martínez Vidal.

Nikita Vakhrushev has spent the last 7 years immersed in the digital marketing world. After starting his own ecom brand and quickly pivoting into the agency model, he found his place in ecommerce advertising services. After amassing all the marketing skills needed to scale brands, he found great success in email and SMS marketing, which is what he specializes in today! Now after working with over 100+ DTC brands, having the knowledge behind all marketing channels, but sticking with email as his bread and butter, Nikita has a unique perspective on how to get the most out of a brand's retention channels.In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:41] Intro[01:12] Transitioning from retail to agency building[02:49] Transforming solutions into paid expertise[03:27] Learning vs paying to get things done[04:26] Implementing DKIM & DMARC for email security[06:01] Maintaining deliverability with record updates[06:51] Steep learning curves in email configuration[08:04] Navigating DNS zone editor for email verification[09:47] Understanding dynamic and static domain settings[10:51] Navigating edge cases in complex DNS setups[11:46] Creating DMARC records for Shopify and Klaviyo[13:15] Adding DMARC & DKIM to improve email reach[15:07] Suppressing email addresses for better deliverability[17:54] Remove unengaged emails for domain reputation[19:11] Implementing effective list cleaning strategies[20:10] Focusing on email & SMS services across platforms[21:30] Signs you need to seek email marketing help[22:43] ASPEKT: Free audit for your email strategy[23:42] Keep track of your email open rates consistentlyResources:Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on YoutubeEmail marketing agency for Ecom and DTC brands aspektagency.com/Secure your domain dmarcian.com/  Follow Nikita Vakhrushev linkedin.com/in/nikita-v/If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

¡Estamos de vuelta! Este episodio es posible gracias a ⁠⁠⁠SiteGround⁠⁠⁠ y a los Asilers Premium, si quieres unirte, lo puedes hacer ⁠⁠⁠desde aquí⁠⁠⁠.

¡Estamos de vuelta! Este episodio es posible gracias a ⁠⁠SiteGround⁠⁠ y a los Asilers Premium, si quieres unirte, lo puedes hacer ⁠⁠desde aquí⁠⁠.

¡Estamos de vuelta! Este episodio es posible gracias a ⁠SiteGround⁠ y a los Asilers Premium, si quieres unirte, lo puedes hacer ⁠desde aquí⁠.

En este podcast te cuento por qué no deberías vender en Hotmart o Kajabi cursos online aunque estas plataformas te digan que son las mejores y haya mucha gente que conoces usándolas. Tu Academia Online Profesional Sin Pagar Comisiones Ni Cuotas a Nadie https://espabilismo.com/curso-academia Hosting de Siteground con 80% de Descuento https://www.siteground.com/index.htm?afcode=50d021e4f61fa0106bf8518a25dd8a37https://espabilismo.com/curso-academia Mi nombre es Marina Miller, soy una estratega digital con apellido de actriz p*rn0 y la fundadora de Espabilismo, una escuela de estrategia digital donde dejas de criticas a los cracks que tienen éxito para acabar comprando sus cursos minutos más tarde y empiezas a ser parte de esa gente.

¡Estamos de vuelta! Este episodio es posible gracias a SiteGround y a los Asilers Premium, si quieres unirte, lo puedes hacer desde aquí.

¿Te gusta asilo? Únete en asilohacemos.com. Gracias a ⁠⁠Siteground⁠⁠ por patrocinar este episodio y a todos los asilers premium por hacerlo posible :)

¿Te gusta asilo? Únete en asilohacemos.com. Gracias a ⁠Siteground⁠ por patrocinar este episodio y a todos los asilers premium por hacerlo posible :)

¿Te gusta asilo? Únete en asilohacemos.com. Gracias a Siteground por patrocinar este episodio y a todos los asilers premium por hacerlo posible :) Estos son algunas de las preguntas y temas tratados en este episodio: ¿Cuál ha sido la mejor inversión que habéis hecho en vuestro negocio y por qué? (Jaume) ¿Cómo os enfrentáis a la competencia en vuestro sector y qué estrategias encontráis más efectivas? (Juanma) ¿Cuál ha sido vuestra experiencia con la financiación de vuestro negocio (por ejemplo, inversores, préstamos, crowdfunding)? (Mar) ¿Qué papel juegan los datos y análisis en la toma de decisiones en vuestro negocio? (Silvia) ¿Cuál es vuestro enfoque para manejar las crisis o tiempos inciertos en el negocio? ¿Cómo determináis el precio de vuestros productos o servicios para asegurar competitividad y rentabilidad? (Jose)

Seguimos con los episodios multitemáticos: ¿Qué importancia le dais al networking y cómo lo hacéis? (Jorge) ¿Cómo habéis financiado vuestros negocios en las distintas etapas? (Mario) ¿Cuál ha sido vuestra mayor satisfacción como emprendedores? (Jose) ¿Cómo gestionáis la innovación y la creatividad en vuestros negocios? (Sergio) ¿En una tienda online, que creéis que se debe priorizar para crecer? Nosotros nos estamos enfocando mucho en el keyword research y se está creando una arquitectura monstruosa, pero parece que está funcionando, ¿qué opináis? (Ricardo) ¿Cuál ha sido la decisión más difícil que habéis tenido que tomar en vuestros negocios? (Jaime) ¿Cómo encontrasteis vuestro nicho de mercado y qué os hizo decidir centraros en él? (Jose Luis) ¿Cómo encontráis el equilibrio entre innovar y mantener lo que ya funciona en vuestro negocio? (Anna) Gracias a SiteGround, el mejor hosting del mundo, por patrocinar este podcast.

Comentamos las semanas de Joan y Álex en sus 'ajetreadas' semanas y abordamos dudas de los asilers: ¿Qué estrategia de marketing ha sido la más efectiva para vosotros? (Sergio) ¿Hay algún libro, podcast o recurso que haya tenido un gran impacto en vuestras carreras? (Manel) ¿Cómo os mantenéis actualizados con las tendencias y cambios en vuestra industria? (José Luis) ¿Cómo encontrasteis a vuestros primeros clientes? (Pablo) ¿Cómo gestionáis el feedback de los clientes? (Ana) ¿Habéis tenido mentores en vuestro camino? ¿Cómo os han ayudado? (Jesús) ¿Cómo manejáis el riesgo en vuestras decisiones empresariales? (María) Gracias a SiteGround por patrocinar este poddcast y a todos los asilers que lo hacéis posible.

Repasamos las respectivas semanas y comentamos las dudas y preguntas de nuestros queridos asilers. Un episodio patrocinado por SiteGround y AXA.

Hoy probamos como es grabar el podcast en directo mientras lo emitimos por YouTube, Instagram y Twitter. Gracias a SiteGround por dar soporte a este programa. Si quieres hacerlo tu también puedes suscribirte desde este enlace.

Si quieres dar soporte al proyecto únete desde aquí. Patrocinador: El mejor hosting del mundo: SiteGround

As I wrote the outline and script for the show on value shifts, I realised that there is a smaller unit of story that I need to discuss that's integral to understanding value shifts or how a scene turns. So, I considered adding it to that episode but soon discovered that the final version of the episode would be too long. That's why I created this, hopefully, short bonus show where I discuss what is a story beat. And how you can use them to create better scenes.Course, Podcasts, Books, and Tools MentionedCheck Out the Show Notes ⇢ https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/tap047/The previous Episode ⇢ https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/tap046/TAP045, The Anatomy of a Scene ⇢ https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/tap045/TAP041, What is a Scene? ⇢ https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/tap041/Story by Robert McKee ⇢ https://amzn.to/49VnLAe *Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell ⇢ https://amzn.to/3Wcq8eN *Story Grid by Shawn Coyne ⇢ https://amzn.to/4aZNs3O *Suggest an Episode Topic ⇢ https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/request/Ask a Question ⇢ https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/question/Products I RecommendScrivener ⇢ https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener-affiliate.html?fpr=authorpreneurpod *Grammarly Premium ⇢ https://www.grammarly.com/Pro Writing Aid ⇢ https://prowritingaid.com/?afid=22911 *AutoCrit ⇢ https://www.autocrit.com/Marlow/Authors.ai ⇢ https://authors.ai/marlowe/?awref=rt2q4bq7zq *Fiverr ⇢ https://www.fiverr.com/DIVI Theme ⇢ https://www.elegantthemes.com/affiliates/idevaffiliate.php?id=66529 *Other Useful LinksLooking for an affordable premade book cover? | https://levillainbookcovers.com/shop/ **Be on the Podcast | https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/podcast/interview/Host Your Author Website with SiteGround ⇢ https://www.siteground.com/go/authorpreneur *Support the Show.Connect with me on Social MediaTwitter: https://twitter.com/writeradhayFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorpreneurpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorpreneurpodcast/YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/authorpreneurpodcast/videosGoodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/authoradhay/Merch Store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/WriterADHay/shop* This is a service or product offered by me** My bookish merchandise store

So you've probably read the title of this episode and thought, what do cliffhangers have to do with outlining? I'm so glad you asked. Let me explain. If you're the kind of writer who needs to outline every scene, then you need to be aware of the types of cliffhangers and how to effectively use them to create a page-turning effect and not turn readers away. In fact, there is more than one type of cliffhanger—there are four. So, in this episode, I'll unpack the four types of cliffhangers in fiction so that you can avoid the common pitfalls and end your scenes with cliffhangers in a way that keeps the reader turning the page.Without further ado, let's get into the episode.Course, Podcasts, Books, and Tools MentionedCheck Out the Show Notes ⇢ https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/tap046/The previous Episode ⇢ https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/bts057/TAP045, The Anatomy of a Scene ⇢ https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/tap045/TAP041, What is a Scene? ⇢ https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/tap041/Got a burning question that you would love me to answer on the podcast ⇢ https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/question/Answers to Questions on Writing from Previous Shows ⇢ https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/question/faq/Products I RecommendScrivener ⇢ https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener-affiliate.html?fpr=authorpreneurpod *Grammarly Premium ⇢ https://www.grammarly.com/Pro Writing Aid ⇢ https://prowritingaid.com/?afid=22911 *AutoCrit ⇢ https://www.autocrit.com/Marlow/Authors.ai ⇢ https://authors.ai/marlowe/?awref=rt2q4bq7zq *Fiverr ⇢ https://www.fiverr.com/DIVI Theme ⇢ https://www.elegantthemes.com/affiliates/idevaffiliate.php?id=66529 *Other Useful LinksLooking for an affordable premade book cover? | https://levillainbookcovers.com/shop/ **Be on the Podcast | https://authorpreneurpodcast.com/podcast/interview/Host Your Author Website with SiteGround ⇢ https://www.siteground.com/go/authorpreneur *Support the showConnect with me on Social MediaTwitter: https://twitter.com/writeradhayFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorpreneurpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorpreneurpodcast/YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/authorpreneurpodcast/videosGoodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/authoradhay/Merch Store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/WriterADHay/shop* This is a service or product offered by me** My bookish merchandise store

In Episode 9 of Season 4 of the BSuite podcast, host Anne Richardson interviews Tim Frick, founder and president of Mightybytes. MightyBytes is a B Corp certified digital marketing agency that serves social enterprises, sustainable brands, and large nonprofits.  Tim is an active leader and educator throughout the B Corp community and the digital marketing space. In the episode, he shares how he established Mightybytes' Impact Business Models, the challenges that come with using digital marketing tactics in ethical ways, and how business leaders can achieve success while adopting a sustainable mindset.   LINKS/RESOURCES MENTIONED: Mightybytes: https://www.mightybytes.com/ B Lab: https://usca.bcorporation.net/ Jevons paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox Sustainability & The Web: Tim's TedX Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW75oJszcws Solitaire Townsend's LinkedIn Post: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7149030234300809217/ EcoGrader: https://ecograder.com/  Siteground: https://www.siteground.com/  Designing for Sustainability: A Guide to Building Green Digital Products and Services by Tim Frick: https://bookshop.org/p/books/designing-for-sustainability-a-guide-to-building-greener-digital-products-and-services-tim-frick/8133175?ean=9781491935774 Gaia Education: https://www.gaiaeducation.org/ World Wide Web Consortium's Web Sustainability Guidelines https://sustainablewebdesign.org/ Alliance for the Great Lakes: https://greatlakes.org/

So we're kicking off 2024 with a slightly random podcast from the cab of my Land Rover (thank you Craig from New Zealand for telling me he quite likes the rawness - pretty much gave me permission to once again strap on my Madonna-esque headset mic and ad-lib my way through the first episode of the year!) This episode is a blend of a summary of 2023 and some ideas for 2024.  If anyone is curious, the lighting I mention is the Aputure LS60x and LS60d (tunable, focussable LED spotlights), the Aputure Accent B7c and the Phottix TR200R RGB Tube Lights.  All brilliant. The Superclass and Masterclass we will be running at the Societies Convention 2024 can be found at https://thesocieties.net/convention/speakers/paul-wilkinson/ and we would love to see you there - either at the workshops or just for a well-deserved pint! Finally, all of our workshops at our studio can be found at https://www.paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk/photography-workshops-and-training/  Enjoy! Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.  Full Transcript: [00:00:00] I wasn't intending to do too many more podcasts on the Land Rover. Um, however, However a nice guy called Craig from New Zealand emailed me over the Christmas period to say how much he enjoyed the podcast, how much he enjoyed Mastering Portrait Photography the website, and most importantly, at least from the perspective of this particular episode. How much he liked the ones from the Land Rover. To use his words, they feel a little bit more raw, and I don't know what that means. Whether it means unscripted, or whether the sounds of a rattling Land Rover as I travel from point A to point B is somehow an interesting soundbed. I've no idea, he doesn't elaborate. However, thanks Craig partly because it's always nice to know that what you're doing doesn't just disappear into the ether, and I think as photographers we would All appreciate that sensation but also that even when I'm recording things literally in the last few minutes I have between jobs, because that's all the [00:01:00] time I'm managing to find, then even those episodes have their value. So one way or another. A very happy new year. Please forgive the sound quality. I'm Paul, and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast.  Do you know one of the things you're meant to do as a sound engineer if you're recording for either, I guess, a podcast or radio or for video, is to record a sound bed, to record the ambient noise. So, forgive me while I record little bits like this. Yes, just, I suppose in theory it should be silence, but in a Land Rover nothing is silent. But I'm going to need lots of little bits of the audio if I have to do any corrections. I'm off to another shoot. I'm working with the Hearing Dogs [00:02:00] today, just a few miles down the road, in the UK, a typically average journey, I suppose, half an hour or so. Uh, half an hour out, half an hour back. If you live in the US, that's literally like tripping over your own doorstep because it's a journey under two hours. But here in the UK, we're used to slightly shorter journeys. The year has already got off to a ridiculous start. Uh, I actually thought, and every year I think this, that December will quieten down, I'll have a great break over Christmas, January will be quiet until it ramps up. And actually all that happens is I tear through the whole of the holiday period at a hundred miles an hour, hoping I can get a breather. December was really busy, which was good. 2023 however wasn't the year that I'd like to relive. It hasn't been a bad year, but we've had to fight every inch of the way. Nothing has ever landed in our lap. Both Sarah and I and Michelle. are grafters, [00:03:00] all of us work, and work hard for our living. But, last year really was a little bit of a brutal year. Um, just felt like the atmosphere out there in the marketplace wasn't everything it could have been. Um, we've got very, or have had, very high inflation in the UK, certainly for this country. Now, if you're listening to us in Venezuela or somewhere, possibly not quite the same thing. But with inflation rates kicking up, uh, touching out somewhere near 10 percent and then obviously hikes in interest rates by the Bank of England to bring that back down, essentially what you've got is the perfect storm for people like us who work in the service sector, because our costs of production have gone up in line with inflation. At the same time, the costs of living for our clients have gone up by the same amount, and so the battle for us to be one of their priority spends is that little bit more tricky. However, we've [00:04:00] done it, we had a really good year in the end, but like I said, we have fought tooth and nail, uh, to do it, and I think that's the making of a business. I've said over the years, and I think it's probably out there on a podcast, I'd be surprised if it wasn't, that being a successful business when things are going well is actually really easy. There's not an awful lot to it. You do your job, you create what you create, you sell it, you move on to the next one. Don't get me wrong, I know it's much more nuanced than that, I live this world. But broadly speaking, when things are going right, this job isn't that hard. It's when things are tough, that they show your real character. So, I've spoken about customer service, it's when it goes wrong, really, that you show the true Skillset, the true worth in everything that you do. When things are a little bit tougher, that's when you have to dig deep. It's when you have to show what you are made of. And we've done that over the past 12 months, and we ended December with some beautiful shoots, some lovely clients, [00:05:00] one or two unexpected sales that came in from jobs that I guess there was at least one that I had mothballed, to the point of it being in the archive when the orders eventually came in. Didn't expect to hear from them, hadn't heard from them in 18 months. So for a business like ours, where we are very much about a personal service, it's in person sales, it's an in-person experience, it's about memories, it's about laughter, it's about feeling valued. Wherever possible, we do not do remote sales. I don't do remote sales for precisely the reason that it's taken 18 months for one of our clients to come back and order their pictures. And that's in spite of us doing all the usual stuff, we've emailed them, we've called them. Not to be, not to hassle them. Just to see if there's anything we can do to help. But the problem with non in person sales, online sales is of course. You have very few levers you can pull, and there's not a lot you can do. You can [00:06:00] say you're going to take the album down, which we did. In fact, the album was dormant for probably two thirds of that time. We'd just changed the password so that no one could log in. But of course, when they emailed and said, Oh, I've just noticed I can't log in, we opened it back up. So it's not a real lever, it's just A way of us knowing that they're looking at the album again. And the order came through, and it was a beautiful order. So it's great. It's a proper Christmas bonus. Unexpected. Out of the blue. Beautiful album. Beautiful Graphistudio album. Beautiful frames. Big frames. And the whole thing, in the end, closed out at a really nice value sale.  So there's a lesson in there somewhere, which is, you know, don't ever write anything off. And we don't write anything off. I didn't know what the title of this podcast would be. Maybe that's what it should be. It's, you know, don't write any job off. But actually, this is one of those unscripted podcasts where I haven't really got a clue exactly what it was I was going to talk about. So I have this kind of list of things in my head, but who knows whether I'll get to the bottom of [00:07:00] it. Uh, on this year, on the title or on the topic of it being a New Year, of course everybody sits down and makes their list of New Year's resolutions, which actually I don't. I've never been a believer, and I think, I thought that's what the title of this podcast was going to be. I've never been a believer in New Year's resolutions. I don't know why, I just think if you want to do something, do it. Make, make every day the opportunity for a resolution. That's not to say that I'm really good at doing that. That's not to say that every time I've thought, you know what, I'm going to make that happen this year. I'm going to lose three stone and get fit, for instance. You know, doesn't happen. I'm going to stop drinking, doesn't happen. I'm going to become a vegetarian like my daughter, doesn't happen. There are plenty of things that I'd like to do that just Do you know what? They haven't happened. But Equally, I don't wait till New Year to change the big stuff. But, and there is a but, is that New Year does mark a [00:08:00] natural transition, certainly when it comes to reporting your successes as a photography business. We actually don't report our profits December to December. our accounting period is September to September. But we do Internally, track it in standard calendar years. Why? Well, actually because for social photographers there is a natural hiatus around about the end of December. People will have rollover jobs, we will very often have jobs in the diary. In the gap between Christmas and New Year simply because they book in for those. So it's not a perfectly clean break where , it stops, it starts. But there's definitely a feeling in the marketplace that, oh, let's wait till next year. If somebody rings us and says, I want to do a shoot for my family, and if it's any time around November, the chances are they're gonna say, oh, do you know what, let's push that into next year. Let's see what next year brings. There's a lot of that. And so it's [00:09:00] good for us to have a data point that I can compare year on year, decade, on decade these days, . And of course, covid sort of flung that up in the air, uh, three or two and a bit years of not really being able to rely on anything.  Our data is absolutely shot: the trajectories, the averages, our historical patterns have somewhat collapsed. We are getting back, I'll be honest about that, things are beginning to look a little bit more familiar, the end of last year, or the bulk of last year, it was definitely starting to feel that way. However, things that we are looking forward to doing, so some of this stuff kicked off last year, and some of it is things we're gonna do this year. So last year was a big sort of step up in us building our workshops and our workshop community. Lots to do on that front, we're not by any means in the position we are with our photography. Photography was a solid vision [00:10:00] for us. We can take a picture, we've worked out that the quality was good, we have fab suppliers, we have solid workflows, efficient practices, we knew our way around the marketing. Over a few years we built the business reasonably sure footedly. Obviously, we've tripped over some things like all businesses do. Not gonna say for a minute we got it all perfect. But it was something we could get our arms around and could understand. And the minute I knew we had a good product then I knew we could build a business around it. And I knew we had a good product because I've been taking pictures since I was a kid. I've been creating images and portraits since I was 10 years old, so I knew I could take a picture in the end, ignoring the whole kind of self confidence or insecurity bits and the imposter syndromes and all of the rest of the stuff we talk about all the time. I knew I could take a picture.  Training courses and workshops are slightly different. I still know I can take a picture, but whether or not we could run good workshops, whether or not we could supply great materials, [00:11:00] these were questions that we still had in our heads.   So, for instance, one of the things I was curious about was whether it would be a good idea to set the context of each workshop with a little presentation. I'm, I'm not a fan. When I go on a training course, I really, really, really want to see or want to understand how the person giving a workshop does what they do. Whatever it's in, whether it's marketing, sales, Photoshopping 3D, visuals. Customer relationships, I don't know, many, many different aspects to this business. But if I want to go and learn from someone, I want them to hit the road sorry, hit, yeah, no, hit the road quick and get into the nitty gritty. I'm not a big fan of spending hours in a preamble. However, one of the things I did pick up on is that you do need to be organized in your approach. And whether I like it or not, and whether I'm comfortable with it or not, I'm not that guy. I'm not the guy that thinks in a linear fashion. I can [00:12:00] when I have to. You know, I spent 10 years working as a manager in IT. Trust me, I can when I have to. But that's not my natural skill set. I'm not linear. And I can, if I could see Sarah's face when she listens to this podcast, she'd be like, yeah, no shit, Sherlock. You are not linear. Because Sarah's very organized, very drilled, very Put together, and I'm so not those things. I wish I was, sometimes, but out of the same chaos comes the imagery and the ideas that we have. So, I can't turn it off. I don't want to turn it off. If anything, being slightly chaotic is my superpower, because it brings ideas, and it brings energy, and it brings drive. But, equally, it brings inconsistency. It brings me being really easily distracted. Distracted by breathing, you know? It's just ridiculous. So, some of the things we did last year were to [00:13:00] try and see if there are ways in which I can help myself and help the delegates on our workshops not suffer at the hands of my own chaos. And one of them is we do a quick presentation, half an hour, forty minutes. If I get that right, of course that becomes a piece of collateral that we can send out to you if you come on one of our workshops. It becomes a series of ideas and diagrams that maybe I can use for training videos. It becomes some words that maybe I can re craft into maybe a podcast or for when I'm writing with NPhoto magazine or whether I'm writing for Professional Photographer. So these are just parts of the puzzle. And we got that together last year and the feedback we're getting from our workshops is just phenomenal. It's absolutely brilliant that people have come on it. They seem to enjoy it. They come back. So to all of those people who are multiple offenders, thank you. It's so lovely to see you all. It feels [00:14:00] like we're beginning to build a little community. So now I know I've got the product right or we're in the, we're going in the right direction with the product. Now we can really start to focus on it. Forgive the pun. We can really start to drive that home just like we did with the core photography business. And that's the target of this year. Mostly is to drive the training. Drive The platforms, the videos, all of the stuff that goes around that. The podcast is a big part of that. But finding the time when I'm on my own To sit and record is or has proven tricky over the past month or two. So, Christmas and New Year were lovely. I digress here a little bit, but there's a slight point to it. Christmas and New Year were lovely. So, we stopped, we shut the studio down. Day before or two days before Christmas Eve I went shopping with my boy to do some mop up. Spent a really, just had a really lovely day the day before Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve onwards up until, really up [00:15:00] until New Year's Day was spent with family and friends. And I really do mean pretty much every waking minute was with people I love. And now I'm an extrovert. In theory, as an extrovert, every one of those moments with family and friends is a moment to recharge. It's a moment for me to really feel energised. Yeah, that's, that's an extravert I love being around people. But I tell you what, when I got to New Year's Day, all I really wanted to do was just find myself in a dark room. And switch the social side of my brain off and do something much less much less social I suppose is the only word I can think of. I've had a couple of days of that and I'm beginning to get myself back together. And then, uh, last or two nights ago straight back out photographing the Christmas party for the Le Manoir chefs. And the staff, [00:16:00] which is riotous. Now those guys, Le Manoir is two Michelin starred hotel and restaurant, or restaurant with rooms, I think is how they like to call it. It's an amazing place, beautiful food, voted one of the top hotels in the world. It's in the top 50 every year, I think it was in the top 10 this year. Absolutely phenomenal place, and they work hours that make mine look kind of shabby, I think. They work long hours, it's hard graft, they love it, they're brilliant. But when you're thrown into their Christmas party, they don't half let off a little bit of steam, and it is great. So it was really nice to have a couple of quieter days, and then the Christmas party at La Manoire with my friends who are chefs, front of house gardeners, housekeeping you name it, the management team, marketing, sales, the HR team who asked me to do it. They're just brilliant, and I've come away from it buzzing and energized all over again. So I cannot wait for the year. [00:17:00] And on that, we are building the workshops up.  On that note, we have a couple actually, I'm going to be at the convention, the Societies of Photographers convention in January, I'm hoping there's some structure to this podcast by the way I'm gonna have to finish in about 5 to 10 minutes because I'll arrive at my client and I'll pick it up again, but I'll let you bet I'll repeat a bit because I won't remember where I got to, and I don't want to have to spend hours in edit, I don't have time to spend hours in the edit, so this is gonna be one of those podcasts That is pretty raw, it's gonna come out of the recording unit as it is, and it's gonna go straight out. As you're hearing it, I don't think there'll have been very much editing except to stick in some music underneath it, and just to check the sound quality's alright. So, forgive me for that. But it's gonna be well I'm at the convention, 17th, I'm at the whole of the convention, but I'm doing two workshops, I'm doing a super class on the 17th. And a Masterclass on the 18th. The Superclass you have to book in advance. I think there's one place left. That's all. If anybody fancies [00:18:00] it, head over to the Society's Convention and look for the Superclasses. We're gonna spend the whole of that three, three and a half hours. Creating headshots and personal branding images. I've never met the couple who are my models. I'm looking forward to meeting them. They sound really cool. But we're going to explore lighting, how you interact. We're going to talk about whatever people want to talk about. Whether it's the marketing side of it, whether it's the business side of it. Whether it's how you tell a story through the photos. It's whether, how you weave the story of the shoot. Because I think that's an underrepresented part of social photography is how you thread your way in a meaningful fashion through the shoots. That's the superclass. That's on the 17th.  On the 18th, I'm doing a masterclass, you don't need to book for that, but I'd love to see you. It's free if you have a ticket to the event. Come along and we're going to be talking about specifically ten lighting patterns. I'm going to put together ten easy lighting patterns that you can replicate. One of the things I'm acutely aware of is, [00:19:00] I find much of taking a portrait second nature to me. I do it Automatically, I can see light, I can feel it, I can almost smell it out. anD I, I don't know why or how that should be, but it is. So when I'm positioning lights, I know exactly what I'm doing, because I'm simply looking at what's in front of me. But, I've had to critique a few images some people have been on a workshop, some people have simply have asked me for some mentoring, and reading light, it turns out, is not the most natural thing in the world, and I, I assumed it was. So I've clearly misunderstood some aspects of what, how we can teach this, so part of the Masterclass really, or part of the idea behind the Masterclass really, is to see if we can nail down ten lighting patterns with two lights, so we use one light, we'll use two lights, we'll create some drama, we'll create some theatre, we'll create some very basic stuff, [00:20:00] But the idea is we're going to hand over some real examples done live in front of the audience as to how you can do this with basic equipment. We're going to do it in a normal room. It's just one of the meeting rooms in a hotel. We're going to do it with normal kit. I will have two lights I will, I think, have a pop up backdrop, which I'll bring in, just so I've got a plain backdrop, because I can't guarantee it. And we're going to go through some of the ideas. And that's kind of where we're taking all of our workshops now, is to give our delegates things they can take away with them. Proper, right, okay, if you do this, that will work. One of the things I've always fought against, the reason we haven't really gone down that road up until now, is I've Rebelled a lot against people telling me how I should do it. And I never ever, still don't, want to be the guy that says this is how you should do it. And I try really hard to remember at the beginning of every workshop, every presentation I [00:21:00] ever do. I did one the other day, we did a webinar, and I started by telling everybody on it. It's very personal to me. My eyes, my clients, my lights, my camera, my style. All of it is about me and what I like. It might not work for everybody. So I can give you insights into the thought process and this is what I thought we would do. We'll give insights, we'll give ideas, we'll give inspiration, we'll energize. And all of that works. But the problem is if you don't understand the fundamentals or can't read it like some photographers can, then it becomes slightly trickier. So the masterclass, the second of the two classes, the masterclass at the convention on the 18th of January, it's gonna be much to do with that. So if you're round the convention, you're a loose end. I think it's 11 till one 30 on the 18th. So it's a mid-morning slot. You'll finish your breakfast, you'll have had a couple of cups of coffee. You'll be thinking, what the hell am I gonna do today? Why not stick your head in and come and have a play?[00:22:00]  So that's what we're going to do. And at that stage, I'm going to break off here now, because as I turn this left hand bend on a very wet road. Here we go. I'm just going to arrive at my client, which is great. I'm photographing for the Hearing Dogs this afternoon. I'm photographing a re a recipient, so a partnership, a hearing dog and a a deaf person whose story is both heartbreaking and inspirational in equal measure. So I'm looking forward to that. It's going to be a lovely shoot. I will pick up again when I've broken off and let you know how that went. and finish off this podcast. Once again. Craig, thank you very much for telling me that I can, if I wish to record podcasts in the car,  So just to pick up where I left off, just come to the end of a lovely shoot. Sorry, also weaving, or trying to weave through traffic in a very small Buckinghamshire town. Wilmslow, it turns out, is full of tiny little [00:23:00] streets. Many of which I'm navigating a large Land Rover through. It's not easy and speaking at the same time. Apparently, it turns out, I can just about walk and chew gum at the same time, but cannot talk and drive a Land Rover at the same time. too: must be two different bits of my brain. Okay. And a nice person's let me out, and another person has refused to let me out. And there's a motorbike, and I've just landed into school traffic. In Bucks, which means that no one's paying attention at all to anyone except their own journey home and trying to get back for our, I'm assuming, a cup of tea and to get the kids a sandwich. Where are we? So yes, I just finished a really beautiful shoot with a really lovely person who she lost her hearing. Well, she had an illness, went into a coma, came out of the coma, and discovered that she had lost her hearing, one heck of a shock. And so she now has a Hearing Dog, but she's profoundly [00:24:00] deaf, has absolutely no hearing at all. And the hearing dog provides all of the support that she needs. So if the doorbell goes, the phone goes. Smoke alarms, obviously. Every minutiae of life that we take for granted, the hearing dog supports them. A hearing dog. A beautiful spaniel. I'm not going to give any names away, because that's not my place to. But an absolutely wonderful shoot. And I read in the notes that she wasn't particularly keen on being photographed. Not someone who's used to being photographed, not someone who enjoys being photographed. And you read these notes and I would say 80 percent of my clients sit in that bracket. Um, there are days, there are days when I wake up and wished everybody I photographed really, really, really wanted to be photographed. Models and the like. Because man, wouldn't that be just glorious? Really easy too. It'd be wonderful that every person in [00:25:00] front of the camera wanted to show off, and they just loved it, and they were confident, and knew how beautiful they were. But that's just not my world. So the lady, really super smart lawyer didn't really want to be, well my note said that she didn't really feel comfortable being photographed, but it turns out, uh, She could not have been lovelier. Did I just say that right? Lovelier, lovelier. She could not have I'm concentrating on driving. Lovelier. And the shoot has just been absolutely beautiful. The dog was stunning. The light has been really nice. We're under a rain warning at the moment. We're about to get some really heavy rain, but it held off long enough that we've done the whole shoot in the dry. Well, in the dry, but not on the dry. Everywhere. I don't know what it's like where you are around the world, but in Britain, just at the moment, we've had back to back rainstorms of one sort or another. Some of them big enough to be given names. And we've got another tranche of it coming in in about an hour. Oh, half an hour, about half an hour. [00:26:00] I don't know why that matters. I'm one of those people that have to suddenly get to detail. I don't know why. I apologize. Anyway, it's been a brilliant afternoon, and it's these kinds of shoots that remind me why I do what I do. Because just having people like the lady I've just photographed in front of the camera who full of energy, and smart, and laughter. She can hear nothing. Everything is being done through lip reading, which is, for me, is not I mean, I'm used to working around the deaf community, but I'm one of those people that spends a lot of time looking to the sides to see where the next shot's coming from. So, mid sentence, I'll suddenly find myself looking away. And, until working with the Hearing Dogs For Deaf People, I didn't even know I did it. And, of course, it becomes a profound challenge that I need to concentrate and I've spent the afternoon concentrating on making sure no matter who I'm talking to or what I'm thinking for the next shot I must always [00:27:00] have eye contact with the person, the hearing dog recipient because They're relying on seeing my lip movements to be able to understand what's going on. And it, you become acutely aware of it. but equally, she said, it's really bad when people try to talk slowly because that changes her understanding of the words. Because she's lip, because she's lip reading, if you speak slowly, actually that makes it harder to understand the wording. So all in all something I need to continue to work on and get better at. At least I'm aware of it, and I try, I try pretty hard, but the photos we've got are absolutely beautiful. So where were we, where were we? Oh, I think we'd come to a bit, some of that training, I've no idea, I told you I'd lose track. podcast part two, I'm Paul, and this is still the Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. As I wind my way through the lanes. Other things that are happening in the studio. Obviously we're working on the setup of our training and our workshops. I'm about to re [00:28:00] platform all of our websites onto a new platform. Not quite sure which one it's going to be just yet.  But one of the challenges I guess all of us have is our web presence is really important, and so I built all my own websites built it all on WordPress. So all hosted it's all currently hosted on Siteground but over the years, a combination of price walking, which simply means every year it's got more and more expensive. You can get a good deal to start with, but gradually, I mean, we pay now. For two, the two main of our websites, I think the basic hosting is about 1200 quid a year for the two. And on top of that are all the little plug ins that we've had to buy and put in to run things like the shop, to run things like the automated side of it, the emails, to do certain things like display the images the way I want them. All of these bits of software are licensed. [00:29:00] Which is fine, but if you added all of that in to get in as well, rather, I think you get up into the region of sort of 1, 500 quid a year, 1, 600 pounds a year, somewhere around there for the two websites. Now that's fine, we're a big business. We work really hard at what we do, and we can justify paying properly, and paying, well pay our licenses anyway, but we can justify all of the expense of the website simply because it's a part of our turnover.  However, what irks me is firstly how difficult it is to keep on top of all of the updates of all of the component bits of software and also just how expensive it is when it doesn't need to be. It's not about the fact that I have to invest in it, it's about the fact that I don't think I need to do, I need to invest the time and the finances to the level we are. So I'm hunting around at the moment. I think I know what we're gonna do, and I think I know how I'm gonna do it. It'll take time, which is [00:30:00] something I don't have a lot of, but it's still got to be done. But if I can get all of the websites into one place, simplify them down, they don't need to be as comp, I'm really proud of our websites, but they do not need to be as complicated as they have evolved to be. And it's not that I set out to make them complicated, or I set out to do stuff that's particularly difficult. It's just that, year on year on year, as you add functionality, as you try to do new things, as you get on top of SEO, and structuring, and then keeping a track of 301s and 404s, and then you've got to have, like, an SEO tool to help you make sure your SEO's alright. And then you've got albums and portfolio bits of kit. You've got sliders. Oh man, there's so many bits of software. All of which is necessary to do what I have in my head. So what I've got to do first is figure out what's the bare minimum I can get away with. And then secondly, re platform all of that. So the websites will still be [00:31:00] beautiful. But if I can get it all under one roof, it'll be much easier to manage. And I don't have the time, to manage everything anymore, I simply don't. So that's, that's on the list for this year. And the other thing we're gonna do this year, or I've already started doing, is gradually pushing more into continuous lighting and away from strobes. Now, this is one which I don't yet know quite where the journey's gonna take me, but the foray that we've had into it so far has been incredibly rewarding. LED technology now with high CRI LEDs is at the standard where the quality is nearly as good as strobes. It's not, I still love the light you get off a Zenon strobe. There's something really beautiful about the quality of light, and of course, massively punchy. You get a huge amount of light, [00:32:00] a huge amount of kick. out of pretty much any strobe compared to an LED. If you had LEDs as bright as the strobe, as bright as the instantaneous flash of a strobe, people wouldn't be able to see. It's, you know, so bright, there's so much energy in that tiny fraction of a second, that, I don't know, thousandths of a second of light burst. But working with LED makes it easier to do video and you really can see What you're gonna get. And my logic is a very simple one. If it's good enough for the film industry, and the TV industry, Netflix and the like, then it's good enough for photography. Yes, alright, there are some things I'm gonna have to learn how to do differently. But I love doing that anyway. I'm a quick learner on most things. And so, I'm really excited about it. We've started I bought I've got a couple of Aputure Lightstorm Focusable, so these have got focusing lenses on the front focusable spots, and [00:33:00] they've got the old Bowens S type mounts on them, so we can mount pretty much anything. I use Profoto strobes in the studio but I've got these Aperture Lightstorm tunable lights, which are absolutely phenomenal. Really bright when you want them to be. If you turn them right down, they'll last for hours on a single charge. Also I've got a couple of, they were just cheap. I was working in the flash centre doing judging for the BIPP. And it was the flash centre in Birmingham were hosting us. And they had these light strips, just light rods. LED, Phottix. I think they were 40 quid each. I mean, they're really pennies. You know, a tank of fuel in this Land Rover is about 80 quid, so for the price of a tank of fuel, I can get two highly tunable, full spectrum lights that will do any color on the color wheel. As well as doing normal presets. They also do some clever things with, you can make, turn them into police lights and all the rest of it. They're quite cool. [00:34:00] So I got those working in the studio, but one of the challenges when you're working with Available light is the camera is going to capture everything it sees. With strobes, I don't worry about the lighting in the studio because the strobe overpowers it. Doesn't really matter. But with LED, you have to get the lighting, the whole lighting, exactly as you want it. And it caught us out a little bit when we were recording a video recently, and the video is simply too dark because I've lit my subject perfectly. But I haven't lit the rest of the studio because it never really occurred to me, and I need to do it, and it's fine. Everything's okay, and certainly the subject looks incredible, but when you look at the footage of me talking to camera, for instance, I'm in the gloom somewhere. And although we tried to sort it out a little bit, we haven't quite got there. So I've now retrofitted all of the lighting in the studio, so all of our normal overheads, office lighting if you like, in the studio, with, again, made by Aputure. They are, I can't, I think they're called [00:35:00] B7Cs or BL7Cs, which are, they look like a fat light bulb with an Edison screw thread, so they'll fit pretty much any light fitting from 100 volts up to about 250 volts. You screw them into a light fitting, and in normal mode, they just behave like normal light bulbs, except that you can hook them up to the same app I use for the Aputure Lightstorms, and you can control them completely from the phone. So I can control how strong they are. I can also control, again, like the Phottix, light sticks, I can control exactly what color they are. So these things, they're only about 50 quid each, but they are fully tunable. Any color I like and some special effects, if ever I did video that needed to feature, I don't know, police, car or fireworks or firelight, , it does all of those, that's of almost no interest to me. It's quite a cool thing to do, but. Not really for what I do. But I can control their light to be any colour [00:36:00] temperature and any power. On top of that, if you unscrew the light, it becomes a battery powered light. It simply can sit in someone's hand, or you can put it into any light fitting, even if it's not plugged in, and it will work exactly the same. It doesn't really make any difference. It'll last for about seven hours off the battery. These are really cool. So, we've started to experiment. A little way to go. I need some slightly, some LED panels. I've got a couple of bits. I do have some LED panels, but they're slightly older and the high CRI on the newer LEDs, you can really see the difference when you're illuminating skin. But it's a whole new adventure and it does change the way you shoot. So at the moment when I'm shooting, particularly when I'm doing headshots, I'll use, I'll do some with strobes because you get that glorious, clean light. With really deep depths of field. And obviously, ProPhoto units that modifies everything is absolutely stunning. So that's not something I'm gonna [00:37:00] completely get rid of anytime soon because I'm addicted to the quality of the light. But in the second half of the shoot, or maybe for certain shots, I'll bring out some LED lighting, maybe with a soft box or maybe LED, the strips and. You then get this beautiful thing where you can have much shallower depths of field. So, and total control, you can see exactly how the light's going to play. You can change the colours of the lights as if I was gelling the strobes, but it's so much easier. Literally, I can just dial it in to the app and change the colour of the lights. It's opening up new avenues to explore where we can play with colour because it's quicker. We can play with really shallow depths of field. I'm unlikely to ever be able to light, a family easily, because the power you'd need to get the depth of field you need, at least with the ISOs that we're still using at the moment, is possibly a bit too bright. But, [00:38:00] ISOs are becoming normal. The party I shot for the hotel I shot nearly all of it. Our ISO 10,000, ISO 10 K. That's just ridiculous in terms of sensitivity. But I wanted to capture the colors of the party. I wanted to capture the candlelight. I wanted to capture the sort of fairy lights and effects lights that the events company had put on. I wanted all of that, and I didn't wanna bounce, flash in and kill it. I did, obviously, when they're doing their awards. I used a flash gun. I used a, a speedlight on the camera because. Me being creative with the lighting is really not part of that puzzle. They need to be well lit, they need to be clear, they want to be able to celebrate the awards they've won. But, when it comes to the event side of it, the party side of it, I shot nearly all of it at ISO 10, 000 and then simply ran it through, for this particular run, I ran it through Adobe Lightroom, the AI noise reducer. I didn't turn the noise [00:39:00] reduction up very much, 20%? Tiny. But it has a really profound quality to it now. So you can run at ISO 10, 000 and still get pretty clean images. You lose a little bit of detail, it can get a little bit mushy. But it's a 50 megapixel camera, the Z9. And these pictures are not going to be used anywhere bigger, I'm going to guess, than 7x5. That's it. They're not hero pictures, they're not going out as posters. So, I've got a huge amount of latitude. And to be fair, I probably didn't even need to put the noise reducer on it, but I did just because, it's like somebody's going to zoom in and go, that's a bit grainy. Why do you need high ISOs, or clean high ISOs with LED? Well, think about it. Let's say I want to get to f8, right? Let's say I want to photograph a group of four or five people, and I'm going to need f8. To get the front to back bite in the image. So that the person at the front of the shot is nice and sharp, the person at the back of the shot is nice and sharp. Now, with a strobe, [00:40:00] that's really easy. With a strobe, I can turn the power wherever I like it, it won't make an awful lot of difference to the people in the shot, it's just a bright flash, and it's done. And I can set the camera at ISO 100, F8, F11, F16, whatever. Doesn't matter. It'll override all the light in the room, and I've got plenty of depth of field. Really easy. Now. If I turned my LEDs, and I'd need a few more than I own, up to get ISO 100, 100th of a second, f11, that is bright sunlight. That's effectively daylight, but on a sunny day. So, that's not really practical in a studio if I don't want people to be squinting. I could turn the power of the lights down, and use less power on the lights, but then of course I'm going to need to use slower shutter speeds, wider apertures, or higher ISOs. And now, with the ability to clean up even high ISO, [00:41:00] I'm starting to teeter on the edge of being able to do practically what you can do with strobes, with LEDs instead. Not there yet, but we're heading In the right direction. So that's on my list. That's part of this year. I'm gonna re-platform, the websites we're gonna switch over to LED. And we're gonna just see whether, for instance, we can create better videos, more videos, so it in, in the end. This year, it is all about making the changes we need to the business that we are looking forwards to. More about training, more about workshops, more about creating videos, about creating educational materials. Who knows, who knows, one day I might even get around to writing a second book to go with the very successful Mastering Portrait Photography. Mastering Portrait Photography Part 2, the sequel. This time it's personal. Mastering Portrait Photography Armageddon. I don't know, maybe I'll do it like Fast and Furious. We'll just do two, then three, then four, then [00:42:00] five, and then twenty eight. Who knows. But at the moment I haven't got that in me. The problem is always, of course, like all of us, our real clients, the clients that pay our everyday bills, the portrait clients, the wedding clients, the commercial clients I'm gonna have to service those guys first. And that's always the kicker, is how do I manage to keep the revenue coming in just as we need it, while still effectively building an entire add on or new business. It's a new business. So that's the puzzle. I will get to the bottom of it. I will figure it out. I'm enjoying the process very much. And so that, for us, is the year ahead. As I drive through, the rain has just arrived. It's dark and gloomy. My windscreen wipers are now squeaking in the background. I'm sure you can hear that on the recording. I'm driving through a very beautiful bit of the country. I'm running along one of the ridges in the Ridgeway. That's the Chiltern Hills. Just driving along and in spite of it being gloomy and dramatic, there's [00:43:00] fields full of sheep, there's just past an old farm, it's actually one of my clients here, and it's beautiful I'm guessing that is a medieval farmhouse, that is well old, that's got to be, and you're looking at the roof line, it's all sagged and these tiny little bricks and the road dips and drives around into the distance, it's Quite beautiful in spite of the rain. So there you have it. Please do head over to Mastering Portrait Photography. Also have a look if you're interested in the workshops that we're running this year. They're all out all up. The first six, at least, are up. The first few sold out literally within a day or so. Which is really flattering, but then gives me the problem of having to immediately schedule in new ones. There are a few spaces on some of the others though, so if you fancy coming and having an absolute blast about portrait photography in particular, whether it's you want to talk about the business side, the photoshopping side, or camera craft [00:44:00] or studio lighting, then please do head over to Paul Wilkinson Photography and look for the section on workshops. You can just google Paul Wilkinson Photography workshops. And you'll find them pretty quick. Whatever else happens, I hope your holiday season was peaceful. I hope you had a lovely, restful one. If not, I hope you're having an absolute party. And so, here's to 2024. Let's hope that it's Well, let's hope that it's a nicer year than it seems to have been in the first few days. There's nothing in the news that fills me with very much joy. So I'm just ignoring the news. I'm not paying any attention to it. I'm not getting involved. It just upsets me. I'm going to continue to do what I do and enjoy spending time with my clients, enjoy spending time with other photographers. Basically, I'm just going to make the most of my time on the planet. Here's to 2024 and whatever else, remember, be kind to yourself. Take care. [00:45:00]   

Discover the next big players in the self-publishing arena that are poised to rival Amazon KDP. We'll explore alternative platforms, such as BookVault, Draft2Digital, and LaterPress, and delve into whether they're worth considering for your self-publishing journey. Uncover valuable tips and tricks for successful publishing, both in print and on-demand. Dibbly Create - https://DaleLinks.com/DibblyCreate (affiliate link). Use BlackFriday25 for 25% off an annual plan till Nov. 30, 2023. Watchdog List - https://DaleLinks.com/Watchdog  Join Channel Memberships - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl9CjdZQtzufqgYx0CidSbA/join Join my community at: Discord - http://dalelinks.com/discord  Sources: New Feature Available: Apple Books Digital Narration - https://publishdrive.com/new-feature-apple-books-digital-narration.html Publishing Industry Insights Survey - https://www.surveyol.com/r/91EC31B Successful Marketing for Multigenre Authors - https://selfpublishingadvice.org/podcast-multigenre-authors/ YouTube's Unsupported Shopping Content - https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6150006 The Hot Sheet's October 2023 Bestseller Lists - https://hotsheetpub.com/2023/11/october-2023-bestseller-lists/ Amazon to Merge Digital Comics Platform Comixology With Kindle App - https://www.ign.com/articles/amazon-to-merge-comixology-into-kindle Streetlib Promo Opportunity with Kobo - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScSMXFnHd3SVsdGnGqFouBBAStG9IPABLTl1p2h0OrL0w94rA/viewform Kobo Writing Life AMA - https://preview.mailerlite.com/u1a9p8u6p1 Draft2Digital's Publishing Deadlines - https://authoremail.com/email/campaigns/xx023yxf2pc08/web-version/lg0604x35fb97  Bookvault - https://bookvault.app (BVBF23 for 10% off UK print)  Book Brush's Social Media Management Service - https://bookbrush.com/social-media-management/#  (For $50 off the 14-day trial, tell them Dale sent you.) SiteGround - https://DaleLinks.com/SiteGround (affiliate link) Lulu - https://lulu.com Use TWINKLE30 for 30% off books and calendars till Nov. 28  BookBolt - https://DaleLinks.com/BookBoltDeal. Use DALE20 for an additional 20% off.  Uscreen Demo - https://youtube.com/live/Z7WYjxpwp-c?feature=share  Where noted, some outbound links financially benefit the channel through affiliate programs. I only endorse programs, products, or services I use and can stand confidently behind. These links do not affect your purchase price and greatly helps to building and growing this channel. Thanks in advance for understanding! - Dale L. Roberts

PublishDrive, an alternative to Amazon KDP, recently announced the ability to publish AI-narrated audiobooks on Apple. ComiXology is merging with Kindle. The Hot Sheet launches a monthly bestsellers list for indie authors. And, we've got a few great Black Friday deals worth considering. All that and more in the self-publishing news. Dibbly Create - https://DaleLinks.com/DibblyCreate (affiliate link) Use BlackFriday25 for 25% off an annual plan till Nov. 30, 2023.  Join Channel Memberships - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl9CjdZQtzufqgYx0CidSbA/join Join my community at: Discord - http://dalelinks.com/discord  Sources: New Feature Available: Apple Books Digital Narration - https://publishdrive.com/new-feature-apple-books-digital-narration.html Publishing Industry Insights Survey - https://www.surveyol.com/r/91EC31B  Successful Marketing for Multigenre Authors - https://selfpublishingadvice.org/podcast-multigenre-authors/ YouTube's Unsupported Shopping Content - https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/6150006  The Hot Sheet's October 2023 Bestseller Lists - https://hotsheetpub.com/2023/11/october-2023-bestseller-lists/ Amazon to Merge Digital Comics Platform Comixology With Kindle App - https://www.ign.com/articles/amazon-to-merge-comixology-into-kindle Streetlib Promo Opportunity with Kobo - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScSMXFnHd3SVsdGnGqFouBBAStG9IPABLTl1p2h0OrL0w94rA/viewform  Kobo Writing Life AMA - https://preview.mailerlite.com/u1a9p8u6p1 Draft2Digital's Publishing Deadlines - https://authoremail.com/email/campaigns/xx023yxf2pc08/web-version/lg0604x35fb97  Bookvault - https://bookvault.app (BVBF23 for 10% off UK print) Book Brush's Social Media Management Service - https://bookbrush.com/social-media-management/# (For $50 off the 14-day trial, tell them Dale sent you.) SiteGround - https://DaleLinks.com/SiteGround (affiliate link) Lulu - https://lulu.com. Use TWINKLE30 for 30% off books and calendars till Nov. 28 BookBolt - https://DaleLinks.com/BookBoltDeal. Use DALE20 for an additional 20% off.  Uscreen Demo - https://youtube.com/live/Z7WYjxpwp-c?feature=share  Where noted, some outbound links financially benefit the channel through affiliate programs. I only endorse programs, products, or services I use and can stand confidently behind. These links do not affect your purchase price and greatly helps to building and growing this channel. Thanks in advance for understanding! - Dale L. Roberts

En este episodio veremos de la mano de Fernando Tellado, cómo emprender con WordPress. 1.- Nuestro socio principal tendría que ser WordPress y no otra plataforma. 2.- En qué cosas nos tenemos que fijar para contratar un buen hosting. 3.- Miedos técnicos. SiteGround te lo pone fácil. 4.- Temas gratuitos o Premium. Cómo elegir un buen tema para WordPress. ¿Cómo elegimos un tema para nuestro WordPress? ¿Qué temas recomiendas? 5.- Qué páginas serían las necesarias para salir al mercado y no complicarnos mucho la vida. 6.- Qué plugins instalo. Cuáles son los imprescindibles.  7.- Nuestro primer objetivo sería salir cuanto antes al mercado a validar el proyecto y conseguir esa primera venta, esos nuevos leads… 8.- Qué estrategias recomendarías para conseguir visibilidad rápidamente. 9.- Una vez que tenemos lo mínimo para salir a internet, tenemos que hacer mejoras. Cuáles son los siguientes pasos a seguir. 10.- Qué necesitamos para saber si vamos por buen camino y nuestra web está dando los resultados esperados. 11.- Tenemos un canal, el YouTube de WordPress en WordPress.tv  , Qué podemos encontrar ahí. 12.- Para aprender más sobre WordPress tenemos WordCamps y  Meetups  Esto y mucho más en el episodio del podcast.  

Dive headfirst into an urban odyssey on this episode of iCantCU, where I take you on a gripping tale of navigating the bustling arteries of New York City - solo! Yes, you heard that right. I braved the iconic subway alone for the first time, embarking on a quest from an Amtrak train to the number one line, with a mission to reach my daughter's uptown apartment. Imagine the suspense, the sounds, and the city pulse using the feedback from the white cane. But that's not all. Get an exclusive backstage pass to the hilarious world of Laugh for Sight at Gotham Comedy Club! Hear my take on the rib-tickling performances of comedy giants like Jim Gaffigan, Rich Vos, and Bonnie McFarlane, along with the legendary Robert Klein. And let's remember a shoutout to my friend Brian Fischler, the mastermind behind this brilliant event for nearly two decades. The journey back to Philly? It's a story in itself! Join me as I recount the ease of commuting with the morning crowd, only to be met with an unexpected twist in Philly. Have you ever been yelled at to watch where you're going... even with a white cane? Listen for this mix of comedy, chaos, and candid moments that make city life an adventure worth listening to. Show notes at https://www.iCantCU.com/248  Links Mentioned Laugh for Sight: https://www.laughforsight.com  Jorgen Hansson on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWOijo98xvsKVfUYWrRsVQQ Jorgen on Sweden's Got Talent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpoHrk-qiM4   HostGator affiliate link: https://partners.hostgator.com/c/2754730/1772880/3094  My new host is SiteGround (affiliate link): https://www.siteground.com/index.htm?afcode=f59e91b9cbc71a3ef625daed6c2c5810.  Learn More About Descript The transcript from this episode is done using Descript. Squadcast is now part of Descript, and I'm excited to try it when recording an interview. Try out Descript for free at https://www.descript.com/?lmref=Yw2dhQ. This is an affiliate link, so I'll earn a commission if you pay for the app. Thanks! Support iCantCU When shopping at Amazon, I would appreciate it if you clicked on this link to make your purchases: https://www.iCantCU.com/amazon. I participate in the Amazon Associate Program and earn commissions on qualifying purchases. The best part is, you don't pay extra for doing this! White Canes Connect Podcast Episode 088 In episode 088, we relive the tactile astronomy presentation from the 2022 NFB of PA State Convention by Dr. David Hurd and Dr. Matt Marone.  Find the podcast on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/white-canes-connect/id1592248709  Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1YDQSJqpoteGb1UMPwRSuI IHeartRadio https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-white-canes-connect-89603482/ YouTube Https://www.youtube.com/@pablindpodcast White Canes Connect On Twitter Https://www.twitter.com/PABlindPodcast My Podcast Gear Here is all my gear and links to it on Amazon. I participate in the Amazon Associates Program and earn a commission on qualifying purchases. Zoom Podtrak P4: https://amzn.to/33Ymjkt Zoom ZDM Mic & Headphone Pack: https://amzn.to/33vLn2s Zoom H1n Recorder: https://amzn.to/3zBxJ9O  Gator Frameworks Desk Mounted Boom Arm: https://amzn.to/3AjJuBK Shure SM58 S Mic: https://amzn.to/3JOzofg  Sennheiser Headset (1st 162 episodes): https://amzn.to/3fM0Hu0  Follow iCantCU on your favorite podcast directory! Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/icantcu-podcast/id1445801370/  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3nck2D5HgD9ckSaUQaWwW2  Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/iCantCU-Podcast-Podcast/B08JJM26BT  Heart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/256-icantcu-podcast-31157111/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/davidbenj  Reach out on social media Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/davidbenj Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidbenj Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidbenj LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbenj Are You or Do You Know A Blind Boss? If you or someone you know is crushing it in their field and is also blind, I want to hear from you! Call me at (646) 926-6350 and leave a message. Please include your name and town, and tell me who the Blind Boss is and why I need to have them on an upcoming episode. You can also email the show at iCantCUPodcast@gmail.com.  

In the latest iCantCU episode, I peel back the curtain on a whirlwind week! Dive into the highs and lows of the "Believe You Can!" talent show, and get swept away by the heart and dedication of every performer. With Ziggy facing health challenges, I shed light on his journey and what's next. Plus, I grapple with global events that left me reeling, and share an intimate chat with Eliz about our uniquely Jewish surname. In Just Listen, you'll be serenaded by NFB of PA's Angelina's breathtaking renditions of O Canada and the Star-Spangled Banner—just in time for White Cane Awareness Day.  Show notes at https://www.iCantCU.com/247  Links Mentioned Angelina's Youtube Channel: http://www.angelinasings.us   That Real Blind Tech Show Episode 140: https://thatrealblindtechshow.libsyn.com/episode-140-were-sorry-but-farts-are-funny  HostGator affiliate link: https://partners.hostgator.com/c/2754730/1772880/3094  My new host is SiteGround (affiliate link): https://www.siteground.com/index.htm?afcode=f59e91b9cbc71a3ef625daed6c2c5810.  Learn More About Descript The transcript from this episode is done using Descript. Squadcast is now part of Descript, and I'm excited to try it when recording an interview. Try out Descript for free at https://www.descript.com/?lmref=Yw2dhQ. This is an affiliate link, so I'll earn a commission if you pay for the app. Thanks! Support iCantCU When shopping at Amazon, I would appreciate it if you clicked on this link to make your purchases: https://www.iCantCU.com/amazon. I participate in the Amazon Associate Program and earn commissions on qualifying purchases. The best part is, you don't pay extra for doing this! White Canes Connect Podcast Episode 086 In episode 086, Lisa and David speak with NFB 1st Vice President Pam Allen and NFB of PA President Lynn Heitz about the upcoming NFB of PA State Convention in Harrisburg. Pam, who also serves as the Director of the Louisiana Center, is the National Representative for the convention.  Find the podcast on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/white-canes-connect/id1592248709  Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1YDQSJqpoteGb1UMPwRSuI IHeartRadio https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-white-canes-connect-89603482/ YouTube Https://www.youtube.com/@pablindpodcast White Canes Connect On Twitter Https://www.twitter.com/PABlindPodcast My Podcast Gear Here is all my gear and links to it on Amazon. I participate in the Amazon Associates Program and earn a commission on qualifying purchases. Zoom Podtrak P4: https://amzn.to/33Ymjkt Zoom ZDM Mic & Headphone Pack: https://amzn.to/33vLn2s Zoom H1n Recorder: https://amzn.to/3zBxJ9O  Gator Frameworks Desk Mounted Boom Arm: https://amzn.to/3AjJuBK Shure SM58 S Mic: https://amzn.to/3JOzofg  Sennheiser Headset (1st 162 episodes): https://amzn.to/3fM0Hu0  Follow iCantCU on your favorite podcast directory! Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/icantcu-podcast/id1445801370/  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3nck2D5HgD9ckSaUQaWwW2  Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/iCantCU-Podcast-Podcast/B08JJM26BT  Heart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/256-icantcu-podcast-31157111/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/davidbenj  Reach out on social media Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/davidbenj Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidbenj Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidbenj LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbenj Are You or Do You Know A Blind Boss? If you or someone you know is crushing it in their field and is also blind, I want to hear from you! Call me at (646) 926-6350 and leave a message. Please include your name and town, and tell me who the Blind Boss is and why I need to have them on an upcoming episode. You can also email the show at iCantCUPodcast@gmail.com.    

In this episode of iCantCU, I share the story of being put on HostGator's Blacklist. That's not the same one as the one Raymond Reddington is on. I wasn't notified, and it took support more than a day to tell me. I talk about chatting to support without using a screen reader, which is also challenging. Things might have been easier if I had Dembe to lend a hand. Once I migrate all my sites and clients' sites to SiteGround, I'll be done with HostGator after 19 years as a customer. Being in business has challenges whether blind or sighted. Show notes at https://www.iCantCU.com/246  Links Mentioned HostGator affiliate link: https://partners.hostgator.com/c/2754730/1772880/3094  My new host is SiteGround (affiliate link): https://www.siteground.com/index.htm?afcode=f59e91b9cbc71a3ef625daed6c2c5810.  Believe You Can! 2023 The 4th Annual Believe You Can! Talent Show for blind and visually impaired performers is coming to screens everywhere on 10/14! Want to support the Keystone Chapter? Tickets are on sale now at https://www.believeyoucan.live/tickets/. There is a bunch of cool merch for the show! Check it out at https://www.BelieveYouCan.live/gear/. Learn More About Descript The transcript from this episode is done using Descript. Squadcast is now part of Descript, and I'm excited to try it when recording an interview. Try out Descript for free at https://www.descript.com/?lmref=Yw2dhQ. This is an affiliate link, so I'll earn a commission if you pay for the app. Thanks! Support iCantCU When shopping at Amazon, I would appreciate it if you clicked on this link to make your purchases: https://www.iCantCU.com/amazon. I participate in the Amazon Associate Program and earn commissions on qualifying purchases. The best part is, you don't pay extra for doing this! White Canes Connect Podcast Episode 085 In episode 085, David speaks with NFB of PA's Second Vice President and State Convention Chair Emily Gindlesperger about the upcoming State Convention in Harrisburg. Emily tells us about the hotel, the agenda for the event, and everything you need to know about the convention in November.   Find the podcast on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/white-canes-connect/id1592248709  Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1YDQSJqpoteGb1UMPwRSuI IHeartRadio https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-white-canes-connect-89603482/ YouTube Https://www.youtube.com/@pablindpodcast White Canes Connect On Twitter Https://www.twitter.com/PABlindPodcast My Podcast Gear Here is all my gear and links to it on Amazon. I participate in the Amazon Associates Program and earn a commission on qualifying purchases. Zoom Podtrak P4: https://amzn.to/33Ymjkt Zoom ZDM Mic & Headphone Pack: https://amzn.to/33vLn2s Zoom H1n Recorder: https://amzn.to/3zBxJ9O  Gator Frameworks Desk Mounted Boom Arm: https://amzn.to/3AjJuBK Shure SM58 S Mic: https://amzn.to/3JOzofg  Sennheiser Headset (1st 162 episodes): https://amzn.to/3fM0Hu0  Follow iCantCU on your favorite podcast directory! Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/icantcu-podcast/id1445801370/  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3nck2D5HgD9ckSaUQaWwW2  Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/iCantCU-Podcast-Podcast/B08JJM26BT  Heart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/256-icantcu-podcast-31157111/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/davidbenj  Reach out on social media Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/davidbenj Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidbenj Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidbenj LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbenj Are You or Do You Know A Blind Boss? If you or someone you know is crushing it in their field and is also blind, I want to hear from you! Call me at (646) 926-6350 and leave a message. Please include your name and town, and tell me who the Blind Boss is and why I need to have them on an upcoming episode. You can also email the show at iCantCUPodcast@gmail.com.

Hey fashion friends! Welcome back to another episode of The Haute Guide! Today we're discussing first - how to start a fashion blog in 2023. Here's how to get started: Buy your domain: I use GoDaddy Buy your hosting: I use Siteground Point your domain to Siteground: here's a great article on how to do so Install Wordpress into Siteground: here's a great article on how to do so Find a responsive template: I get mine from Heartenmade Also - we're talking about how to pitch yourself for fashion week! Similar to what we talked about on Episode 42: Podcast Episode: Good American x GKJ, Can ChatGPT Really Predict Fashion Trends, & How to Secure Speaking Gigs As A Fashion Expert Blog Post: https://www.akbrownstl.com/how-to-get-paid-speaking-engagements-as-a-fashion-expert-free-email-pitch-template/  Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of The Haute Guide. Don't forget: Subscribe Rate 5 stars Share Follow me everywhere: Website ➭ http://www.akbrownstl.com Facebook ➭ http://www.facebook.com/akbrownstl​​​​​​ Twitter ➭ http://www.twitter.com/akbrownstl​​​​​​ Instagrams ➭ http://www.instagram.com/akbrownstl​​ http://www.instagram.com/fwrdsociety http://www.instagram.com/hauteboss.co http://www.instagram.com/pinkmusestudio http://www.instagram.com/thehauteguidepodcast http://www.instagram.com/thefittingroomlive http://www.instagram.com/thefashionfirmpr

Repasamos las novedades semanales de nuestros proyectos y compartimos nuestras rutinas de ejercicios. Gracias a SiteGround por el soporte y a todos los asilers que apoyan el proyecto por hacerlo posible :)

The Publisher Rocket team discovered a HUGE flaw in the new categories system for Amazon KDP. Shopify is integrating Amazon Prime as an option. And, Spotify is testing out free audiobook trials. Kobo Writing Life wants your thoughts in their latest survey. IngramSpark wants to run your book promotions. All that and more in the self-publishing news for this week! Dibbly Create - https://DaleLinks.com/DibblyCreate (affiliate link) Join Channel Memberships - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl9CjdZQtzufqgYx0CidSbA/join Join my community at Discord - http://dalelinks.com/discord  Source: SiteGround - https://DaleLinks.com/SiteGround (affiliate link) Kobo Writing Life Survey - https://kobo.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_41kvQpaQbtE3BaJ?Q_DL=r8ZB7zM4TYMasbU_41kvQpaQbtE3BaJ_CGC_bni3Php8UzF0JN5&Q_CHL=email The Hot Sheet - https://hotsheetpub.com/ Spotify plans to offer subscribers free audiobook trial, WSJ reports - https://www.thebookseller.com/news/spotify-plans-to-offer-subscribers-free-audiobook-trial-wsj-reports Shopify says merchants can use Amazon's 'Buy with Prime' option - https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/shopify-says-merchants-can-use-amazons-buy-with-prime-option-2023-08-30/?mc_cid=b3768f6797&mc_eid=433332c881  My Apology Video. . . My rant *Ahem!* Update on Stary Writing LTD. - https://youtu.be/7x-c7-RipE0?si=Xphhls4s3k-zmvcq Finding Readers for Your Indie Books: ALLi Ultimate Guide - https://selfpublishingadvice.org/finding-readers-for-your-indie-books-alli-ultimate-guide/  Amazon Book Categories: My Secret Method to Choose Clear Winners - https://kindlepreneur.com/how-to-choose-the-best-kindle-ebook-kdp-category/ Amazon Prime Big Deal Day - https://www.amazon.co.uk/primebigdealdays Kickstarter Basics Masterclass: What is it & What can you do? - https://www.youtube.com/live/CWtWoJzXz_I?si=vJFO-3zI89yzGzrW Fictionary presents: Peter James in conversation with Graham Bartlett - https://fictionary.circle.so/c/events/join-bestselling-author-peter-james-in-conversation-with-his-police-advisor-and-collaborator-former-detective-graham-bartlett IngramSpark: Market Your Book to Book Lovers - https://www.ingramspark.com/ingramid_email Market Your Book to Book Lovers with Ingram iD! - https://youtu.be/T4NMyciW2bs?si=vNr-HhjvBQRXTs2q Update on KDP Title Creation Limits - https://www.kdpcommunity.com/s/article/Update-on-KDP-Title-Creation-Limits?language=en_US&forum=KDP%20Forum Miblart Giveaway - https://DaleLinks.com/Giveaway  Where noted, some outbound links financially benefit the channel through affiliate programs. I only endorse programs, products, or services I use and can stand confidently behind. These links do not affect your purchase price and greatly helps to building and growing this channel. Thanks in advance for understanding! - Dale L. Roberts ​

SEO is not a dark art. If you break it down into the different parts you can decide whether to do it yourself or outsource to the right expert, or a combination of the two.Links mentioned in the episode:Free SEO checklist: https://beyondthekitchentable.co.uk/downloads/Siteground website hosting: beyondthekitchentable.co.uk/hostingLet's Encrypt: letsencrypt.orgCheck whether your website is mobile responsive: search.google.com/test/mobile-friendlyResources:Find us at https://beyondthekitchentable.co.ukFree PDF download: https://beyondthekitchentable.co.uk/downloads/Blog post https://beyondthekitchentable.co.uk/can-you-do-your-own-seo/Follow us at https://www.instagram.com/beyondthektEmail sayhello@beyondthekitchentable.co.uk

Amazon KDP is finally getting some competition by way of this NEW self-publishing company, Bookvault. Draft2Digital rolls out distribution to massive new UK-based retailer. An indie author exposes new scam on Kindle Unlimited. And, OpenAI is in hot water AGAIN with news that they sourced content from pirated ebook sites. All that and more in the self-publishing news! Miblart Formatting & Layout Design Giveaway - https://DaleLinks.com/Giveaway GetCovers Premium Movie Poster Design Giveaway - https://DaleLinks.com/GetCoversGiveaway Join Channel Memberships - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl9CjdZQtzufqgYx0CidSbA/join Join my community at: Discord - http://dalelinks.com/discord  Sources: Storytel enters strategic partnership with ElevenLabs - https://investors.storytel.com/en/storytel-enters-strategic-partnership-with-elevenlabs-and-announces-upcoming-launch-of-new-voiceswitcher-feature/ The Urban Writers (code: NARRATIONJULY) - https://DaleLinks.com/UrbanWriters (affiliate link) Draft2Digital x Gardners - https://authoremail.com/email/campaigns/cv116n5sts937/web-version/lg0604x35fb97 Draft2Digital Print Title Problems - https://authoremail.com/email/campaigns/ww816xrptp046/web-version/eq3389j0wvdc4  SiteGround Web Hosting Sale - https://DaleLinks.com/SiteGround (affiliate link) Smashwords July Summer/Winter Sale 2023 - https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/1/any/any My Author Profile on Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/dalelroberts  OpenAI is being sued for training its AI with pirated books - https://www.gearrice.com/update/openai-is-being-sued-for-training-its-ai-with-pirated-books/ TikTok Sells a Lot of Books. Now, Its Owner Wants to Publish Them, Too. - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/books/tiktok-book-publishing-bytedance.html  Vervante Add-On Options - https://mailchi.mp/vervante/foilstamping-1127415 Caitlyn Lynch Exposes Amazon KDP - https://twitter.com/caitlynlynch6/status/1673215622753456129 Bogus online reviews are targeted by US regulators with new, proposed bans - https://apnews.com/article/ftc-fake-reviews-ban-f86efd3b777fafb37f9cea68a62b5520  Miblart's Birthday (code: BIRTHDAY15) - https://DaleLinks.com/Miblart (affiliate link) Level Up Your Newsletter & Get More Subscribers - https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctc-6rrjsuH9QKYyw2HHYMmRtDDBV5r9AN#/registration Find out how my Pitch Session led to a book & TV deal - https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYlf-yqqTstHtJLyBdqXxi1-9QKXu8f-gV_#/registration How Scammers Are Using Amazon and Amazon Trademarks to Rip Writers Off - https://writerbeware.blog/2023/07/07/how-scammers-are-using-amazon-and-amazon-trademarks-to-rip-writers-off Bookvault - https://BookVault.app - Use coupon code DALE  FAQs for Bookvault US Distribution - https://help.bookvault.app/knowledge/bookvault-us  Where noted, some outbound links financially benefit the channel through affiliate programs. I only endorse programs, products, or services I use and can stand confidently behind. These links do not affect your purchase price and greatly helps to building and growing this channel. Thanks in advance for understanding! - Dale L. Roberts

It's the beginning of spring here in Canada. And with spring comes a desire to put all the messes of winter behind us and clean things up as we prepare for summer. That's where the term Spring Cleaning comes from. However, today, I'm not talking about packing away your sweaters and pulling out your shorts. Nor am I referring to cleaning the yard or washing the grime off the windows. Although, it is time to do all of those things. No. I'm talking about doing some spring cleaning of your design business. More specifically: Cleaning Your Computer Cleaning Your Office Cleaning Your Business Cleaning Your Branding Cleaning Up Your Computer. Spring is an excellent time to review your computer and see what you can clean up. Clean up your Backups. The first thing I suggest is examining your backup strategy. Are you doing everything possible to ensure your important files are adequately backed up? Do you have a good in-house as well as an online backup strategy? The price of hard drives is one thing that doesn't seem to be affected by inflation. You can get large-capacity hard drives for great prices these days. Paired with Time Machine on Mac or an equivalent solution for Windows or Linux can ensure you always have your backups on hand. I recommend Backblaze, a much more reliable backup system for online backups than Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive. And priced as low as $65US per year makes peace of mind very affordable. Speaking of backups. When was the last time you double-checked to ensure your backup files were backing up? You'd hate to have something happen only to discover your most recent backup is months old. Whatever backup strategy you're using, take a few minutes to ensure the backups are functioning and are current. Clean up client files. Clients come and go. So do design projects. After a while, you tend to accumulate a lot of outdated and even redundant files on your computer. Take some time to review your client files and see if you can get rid of anything. Delete or move files off your computer for any client who isn't in business anymore. If you want to keep something for nostalgia, keep the finished files which are often smaller. There's no reason to keep large working files for something you'll never use again. The same is true for old projects from active clients. If you don't think you'll ever need them again, get them off your computer. And all those stock images files you accumulate. Did you know that once you acquire them from a stock image site, you can re-download them anytime without paying again? So there's no reason to keep them on your computer. Clean up your Client List. One thing that can get out of hand in our business is our client list, especially if you do a lot of one-off projects. Depending on the system you use to keep track of your clients, you may want to divide them into Active and Inactive categories. It makes managing it much easier if you don't have to scroll through dozens or hundreds of inactive clients to find the one you're looking for. Clean up your email mailboxes. You may not realize how much hard drive space email takes up, especially in our field, where attachments weigh in at multiple megabytes. Chances are you save any attachments you receive to their respective client folder. It's the smart thing to do. But that means you have two copies of that attachment on your computer. One is stored in the client folder, and one is still attached to the email message. The same goes for attachments you send to clients. On a Mac, a duplicate copy is stored in the Library folder for your mail client. You can easily clean this up by highlighting a group of emails and telling your email client to delete the attachments. Clean up your Mail Lists. Another thing you may want to clean up is the email lists you're subscribed to. It's gotten to the point where you can't enter your email anywhere online without being subscribed to some email list. Take a few minutes to see what's in your inbox that you don't need, and unsubscribe from them. If you want to make it easy, look at unroll.me. Sign up to quickly unsubscribe from email lists you're no longer interested in. And get an easily consumed digest of the ones you want to keep. Clean up your Fonts. The next thing you may want to do is clean up your fonts. As of last year, Adobe software no longer supports PostScript version fonts. If you've been in this business for a while, you've probably accumulated many PostScript fonts. Since they're no longer usable, either get rid of them or convert your old PostScript version fonts to OpenType fonts using TransType 4 from FontLab. Clean up the rest. You can clean so many other things this spring on your computer. Take a few minutes to review your applications folder and delete any you don't use. Remove seldom-used icons from your Dock. Cull down your bookmarks. And update any passwords that need updating. And although it's not your computer. When did you last take inventory of the apps on your phone? If you're anything like me, there are probably a few you can eliminate. Cleaning up your Office. This one is probably the easiest since it's mostly visible. Although, in my case, not necessarily the quickest. Look around your office space and see what you can clean. What do you have on your desk, shelves, and other exposed surfaces? Do you need all of it? There's a fine line between well-decorated and cluttered. I know. I cross it all the time. That's why one of my biggest spring cleaning projects this year is cleaning my office. But it's not just about what you can see. How well organized are your closets, cabinets and drawers? Do you toss things into them to get them out of sight? If so, now may be the time to go through and organize what you need to keep and get rid of what you don't. And, of course, once the clutter is taken care of. A good dusting and maybe washing of windows can help keep your office space as a place you enjoy being in. Man o man, just looking around my office. I have a lot of work to do this spring. Cleaning up your Business. There's no time like spring to look at your business and see where you can tidy up. Clean up your Resume. If working for yourself isn't your goal, then refreshing your resume is something you may want to look at. Clean up your Portfolio. What about your Portfolio? The one on your website, or perhaps Behance or some other online platform? Are the projects you're showcasing up to your current design skills? If not, take them out and replace them with newer work. Clean up your expenses. Is there anything you're paying for that you don't use? Now is a great time to look at your expenses and see if you can cut back on unneeded expenditures. Do you need to pay for all of Adobe Creative Suite if Photoshop is the only application you use? What about your web hosting? Are there better options out there you can move to? BTW, feel free to use my SiteGround affiliate link if you decide to move there. It's where I host mine and all my clients' websites. Look at what you're paying monthly or yearly and see where you can save money. Clean up your Branding. It's pretty standard for designers to neglect their branding. After all, you spend all day working on other people's projects. You don't always have the energy or desire to work on yours. But if you neglect your branding, you may lose out on potential clients. Take time to review things like your website. Besides the ordinary things like updating themes and plugins, you may want to check for broken links and ensure you've done everything you can for SEO. It's also an excellent time to review your content. Does the wording need refreshing? Read Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller. It's a great book to help you compose your brand story. Is your about page giving the proper impression? For more on creating a great about page, listen to episode 52 of the podcast. What about your social media profiles or profiles on Upwork, Fiverr or any other platform? Does your profile photo need updating? What about your description? Sometimes a minor tweak can make all the difference. You'll feel better after you clean. So there you have it—Spring Cleaning for Your Computer, Office, Business, and Branding. Of course, there are many more things you can clean. And everyone's environment is different. But you get the idea. Spring is in the air, and the desire for freshness comes with it. And that can start with a little bit of cleaning on your part. Ensuring your workspace is a clean and enjoyable place to work and go a long way in helping you succeed. So get cleaning.

Page Redirects. I know. Sound boring, right? I mean, how much can one talk about page redirects? After all, as the name implies, they redirect one web page to another—end of the story. Not so fast. Yes, Page redirects do redirect one web page to another. But there's a lot more power to them that you may not have thought of. When used correctly, page redirects can help attract clients. They can show authority. They can strengthen a website. They can even steal visitors from the competition. Yes, there's much more to the lowly page redirect than what it lets on. And maybe you can use one of these ideas for yourself. 1) Redirect alternate domain extensions. A page redirect is used to redirect one web page to another. Those two pages don't have to be on the same domain. Page redirects can be used to redirect one domain to another. The best use of this is with domain extensions. For example. I live in Canada, and many businesses use the .ca extension for their domain. It's highly encouraged, especially for companies that deal exclusively in Canada. But we all know that .com is the most popular domain extension. When in doubt, most people try the .com first. That's why I always recommend my clients purchase multiple domains, including the .ca and .com. Then, using a redirect, they can send people who type in the .com domain to the website with the .ca extension. Or vice-versa, depending on which extension they want to use. This also prevents someone else from registering and competing with the other domain extensions. 2) Redirect alternate spellings or misspellings. Alternate spellings or misspellings are also excellent for page or site redirects. For example, a food truck business called 2 Brothers In A Food Truck wants a website. Due to the possibility of mistyping their name, they may want to register multiple domains, 2brothersinafoodtruck.com twobrothersinafoodtruck.com toobrothersinafoodtruck.com They can then pick the one they want to use and redirect the others. Here's another example. Let's say your name is Shawn Johnston. And you start a business called Shawn Johnston Consulting. While talking to people, you tell people to visit your website at shawnjohnstonconsulting.com. But how do you spell that? Is Shawn spelled S-H-A-W-N, or is it S-E-A-N? What about Johnston, is that Johnson without a T or Johnston with a T? You can spell it out every time you say it. But there's no guarantee that someone else will spell it out when referring to you. A better option is to register the multiple spellings and redirect them to the correctly spelled domain. shawnjohnsonconsulting.com > shawnjohnstonconsulting.com seanjohnsonconsulting.com > shawnjohnstonconsulting.com seanjohnstonconsulting.com > shawnjohnstonconsulting.com 3) Redirect an old site to a new site. Redirects are extremely useful when building a new website either under the same or a different domain. Every website will accumulate what we in the industry call “Google Juice” over time. Google Juice is a way to measure the SEO power of a webpage. When building a new website or changing a website's domain, you don't want to lose that accumulated Google Juice and start from scratch. If you're changing a page's URL, you want to create a 301 redirect that tells the search engines that the old page is no more, and they should now assign its Google Juice to this new page. For example, Franklin & Barton Law office may have the URL franklinandbartonlaw.com. Beth Barton gets married and changes her name to Beth Jackson. She wants to change the company's name to Franklin & Jackson Law office and the URL to franklinandjacksonlaw.com. Changing the domain on a website is fairly easy. But if they don't want to lose their current search engine rankings, they need to redirect every page URL from the old site to the new one. franklinandbartonlaw.com redirects to franklinandjacksonlaw.com franklinandbartonlaw.com/about redirects to franklinandjacksonlaw.com/about franklinandbartonlaw.com/service redirects to franklinandjacksonlaw.com/service franklinandbartonlaw.com/contact redirects to franklinandjacksonlaw.com/contact And so on for every page on the original website. This ensures the new domain retains the power of the old domain. 4) Redirect to shorten a URL. We all know that the shorter something is, the easier it is to remember. Let alone tell someone else about it. The show notes for this podcast episode can be found at the difficult-to-remember URL https://resourcefuldesigner.com/8-Uses-For-Page-Redirects-rd312. That's why I use a redirect and tell you the show notes can be found at https://resourcefuldesigner.com/episode312. Which one do you think is easier? Easier for me to say and easier for you to remember. And it's not only for super long URLs. The URL for the Design Resources page on Resourceful Designer is https://resourcefuldesigner.com/design_resources. But I also have a redirect so that I can say https://resourcefuldesigner.com/resources. It's only one word shorter, but it's still easier to say and remember. BTW, that page is where I list various design-related tools and resources you can use for your business. Check it out. 5) Use redirects when sending someone off-site. Instead of giving someone a different external URL, redirect them from your website. It gets them where they want to go while strengthening your brand. For example. Are you interested in joining the Resourceful Designer Facebook Group? I could tell you to visit facebook.com/groups/resourcefuldesigner, but that's wordy, and it's sending you away from my website. Instead, I have a redirect set up. If you want to join the group, visit https://resourcefuldesigner.com/group. The destination is the same. But in the second one, you subconsciously associate the destination with my domain, which is never bad. 6) Use redirects for affiliate links. An affiliate link is a unique URL that, when used, informs the destination where you came from for them to pay a commission. For example, I'm an affiliate of Logo Package Express. An amazing Adobe Illustrator plugin that makes it highly efficient to package up logos to hand off to clients. If you haven't tried version 3, what are you waiting for? It's much better than version 2, which was already a great product. The link you need to use for me to receive a commission on the sale is long and complicated. It's full of numbers and symbols, making it too easy to get wrong. That's why I created a redirect of https://resourcefuldesigner.com/lpe20. Not only does that take you to the Logo Package Express purchase page, but that link also gives you 20% off the purchase price. You should do this for all your affiliate links. Want another one? Try using https://resourcefuldesigner.com/amazon. It redirects you to Amazon's website, and if you make a qualifying purchase, I earn a commission on the sale. 7) Redirect the competition. At the beginning of this episode, I mentioned how you could use redirects to steal clients from the competition. Back in tip #1, I talked about redirecting different domain extensions. In tip #2, I spoke about redirecting different spellings. And in tip #3, I talked about redirecting old sites to new ones. You can combine these three methods to steal clients from the competition. I've helped several clients do this with great success. For example. Let's say you are creating a website for a new local Mexican restaurant. There are two other Mexican restaurants in town your client is directly competing with. Check if these competing Mexican restaurants registered all the possible domain extensions. Or check if there are domains with alternative spellings available. You could help your client register and redirect them to their website if you find any. This way, should someone looking for a competitor's website type the URL wrong, there's a chance they end up on your client's website instead and decide to give them a try. I've done this for several clients over the years and have tracked hundreds of visitors landing on my client's website using these “wrong links.” As for old websites. If a competitor closes for whatever reason, you could ask to purchase their domain name or wait for it to expire and register it yourself. Then redirect it to your or your client's website and take advantage of the competitor's Google Juice by adding it to your own. 8) Create authority using redirects. Redirects are a great help when it comes to networking. Imagine these two scenarios. Scenario 1: You're at a networking event, and a new entrepreneur asks if you know of a business lawyer. You mention Beth Jackson from Franklin and Jackson Law Office. You even give them the domain franklinandjacksonlaw.com for them to contact her. Scenario 2: You're at a networking event, and a new entrepreneur asks if you know of a business lawyer. You mention Beth Jackson from Franklin and Jackson Law Office. Then you hand them your business card and point out your web address. You tell them to visit yourdomain.com/lawyer, which will redirect them to Beth's website. Which of these two scenarios sounds more genuine? Which one comes off as the better referral? I hope you're thinking of the second one. In the first scenario, the new entrepreneur has no idea about your relationship with this lawyer. For all they know, you've never dealt with them. You've only heard about them but don't know if they're good. You should be sharing their name so as not to sound naive. In the second scenario, having a link on your website redirecting to this lawyer's website shows the entrepreneur you're confident in Beth's skills. They're much more likely to trust your opinion of her. You can do this with lawyers, accountants, or any professional or service you may recommend. You establish yourself as an authority by sharing a redirect link from your website. Other benefits of using redirects. There are several benefits to using redirects beyond what I've shared with you today. Redirects are easy to track. If I shared Logo Package Express's URL, I could not know how many people use it. By sharing https://resourcefuldesigner.com/lpe20, I can see that over 500 people have used my link. I do the same for internal website links. Any time I share a past podcast episode with you and tell you to visit https://resourcefuldesigner.com/episode#, that's a trackable link, I get to see how many people use it. Another good thing about redirects is that you can change them should the need arise. If, for some reason, you want to start referring a different lawyer, change the redirect destination of the URL you share. So where yourdomain.com/lawyer used to point to Beth Jackson, it now points to whatever new lawyer you want. This is what I do with Resourceful Designer. Suppose you ask for my recommendation on web hosting. I'll tell you to visit https://resourcefuldesigner.com/hosting, which redirects you to SiteGround's website, the web host I currently recommend. Before I started using SiteGround, that URL pointed to HostGator. But I started having issues with HostGator and decided to switch to SiteGround, and I couldn't be happier. And now https://resourcefuldesigner.com/hosting redirects to SiteGround because I trust and stand behind their service. How to set up a redirect. There are several ways to create redirects. My preferred method is the PrettyLinks WordPress plugin. And to show you once again the power of the redirect. Since you use Pretty Links to create a pretty link, I set up links using both the singular and plural versions. So both https://resourcefuldesigner.com/prettylinks with an S at the end and https://resourcefuldesigner.com/prettylink without the S redirect you to the same page. Pretty Links does have a free version. But I use the premium version for the extra feature. There are other redirect plugins, but I have no experience with them. You can also create redirects by adding them to the .htaccess file of your website. However, I don't recommend doing this unless you're sure of what you're doing. It's easy to break a website when messing with the .htaccess file. If you know how to code, there are ways to create redirects using PHP or JavaScritp, but those methods are beyond my abilities. For domain redirects, most domain registrars offer free redirects. I use this to redirect different domain extensions to the one I want to use, in most cases, the .com extension. Different types of redirects. There are various types of page redirects, but you should concern yourself with only two for what I'm talking about today. 301 and 302 redirects. 301 redirects are permanent. This indicates that the URL has been moved permanently from its original URL to a different URL. You use these when redirecting a page from an old website to a new one because the old page will never be used again. 302 redirects are temporary. This indicates that the URL has temporarily moved to a different page, and the original URL may be used again later. Temporary redirects are suitable for affiliate links that may change, such as my hosting link that switched from HostGator to SiteGround. It's temporary since someday I may change it to something else. Conclusion These are just some uses for page redirects. I'm sure there are many more reasons I did not cover today. I wanted to discuss this topic to get you thinking about what you could do with redirects. I hope you'll continue to ponder this when the podcast is over. And please, let me know in the comments for this episode if you have different uses for page redirects. I would love to hear them.