Tag Archives: Process Posts

Incorporating feedback from the final peer review

Process Post #11

It’s hard to believe, but we’re soon entering week ten of classes for the Fall 2020 semester, and as much as it feels like we fast-forwarded right here, I also can’t help but reflect on all the progress made on my website until now.

This week marks the third and final peer review for this class, in which my peer offered some really great advice. Coming off the lecture on monetization with a guest appearance from Trevor Battye, my peer began with a few suggestions about how I could monetize in the future if it’s something I wanted to do. Although they reaffirmed my sour feelings about ad-cluttered websites, they did suggest that through some filtering, I could include sports-related advertising content or feature sports-oriented companies down the line. This is definitely something I would consider if I gained a big enough following, and I appreciate my peer’s confidence in something like this being able to actually work.

The next suggestion in regards to monetization was to consider asking readers for donations to keep the site running, which admittedly feels like a nerve-racking thing to do. However, it is becoming more common to see, and personally, I would never abandon a website for asking for money. At the worst, people would likely decline and continue reading.

In journalism, and sports journalism in particular, it has become somewhat normal to ask readers to pay for a subscription for unlimited and exclusive content, much like The Athletic has done since its inception a few years ago. Its staff has grown enormously in the past few years, at least until the pandemic hit, signaling that people were willing to pay for quality sports journalism.

In terms of monetization, my peer definitely provided some good food for thought for the future!

The next pieces of advice from my peer were centered around the basic design and functionality of my site. For starters, they suggested I reorder my menu order to have ‘Contact’ come last, after ‘PUB 101 Coursework,’ which makes a lot of sense now that I think of it! Thankfully this was an easy fix, with the updated menu pictured below.

The next suggestion my peer made was in reference to my ‘Contact’ page itself, where they recommended I install a contact form where people can contact me rather than having my website just floating out there for everyone to see. The link they provided was super useful and easy to follow that I had the plugin installed and published within minutes.

Finally, the last piece of advice they gave was to make my website secure using the Really Simple SSL plugin. Props to my peer for being eagle-eyed and to notice that my website wasn’t secure before. Once again, thanks to their linking, it was super quick and easy for me to activate and install this plugin.

Over the course of ten weeks, it becomes easy to look at your own website and be satisfied with its layout and features, so it helps to have a fresh set of eyes at this stage in the semester. Big thank you to my peer who provided some very valuable feedback this week!

Peer Review #3 Reflection & Updates

Today, I’ll be making some changes to my site based on the most recent peer review conducted for this site, which can be found here. I’m really pleased that my peer liked the look of my homepage, especially because that’s where I have put in a lot of work over the last few weeks. It also made me happy that my peer commented on the user-friendly features of my site and the good quality of my writing.

I appreciate that my peer brought up the idea of affiliate ads- that’s an area of monetization that I could see myself working with if I do ever decide to monetize this site. I also liked the idea of creating social media handles for Masked Retail so that my audience can grow without me compromising my personal privacy. I am currently drowning in schoolwork, however, so this may be a change that I implement once this semester is over.

Next, my peer suggested that I install a plugin that allows for my posts to be shared with a user’s social network. This hadn’t occurred to me, so I installed the Social Snap plugin after reading through this article that my peer had linked with suggestions for plugins. I am happy with this plugin: It was simple to use, and I didn’t need to upgrade the plugin to accomplish my goal of allowing people to share my posts. Below is an example of what you’ll see at the bottom of each of my blog posts:

Another suggestion that my peer offered was that I write a message to go with my contact form to give suggestions as to why they may want to contact me. I really liked the idea of personalizing this section of my site, so I added a brief message above the contact form.

Finally, my peer noticed that my grid layout did not transfer well on a mobile device. I hadn’t realized this. I did several hours of research to try to find something that would fix this, but so far, I haven’t had any luck. I think that the only solution available to me right now may be to change my theme. However, that is something I really don’t want to do. I have gotten used to this theme and have customized it so much with the use of plugins. I do want to fix this problem though, so I am open to suggestions from anyone reading!

Special thanks to my peer for an awesome review! I am happy with what I got out of it and hope you like the changes to my site.

(Featured Image by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash)

PEER REVIEW: Musings of a Middle Child

Hello, everyone! It’s time for another Peer Review. This one is specifically about audience and marketability, which is fun.

Let’s get into it. Today, we’re looking at Musings of a Middle Child, run by my classmate, Kayla!

First of all, I know this isn’t what we’re touching on, but I just adore this blog’s theme. It has an ANIMATED header! That’s so cool! It’s honestly kinda mesmerizing!

Musings of a Middle Child

There’s also a little subscription tab, and a Goodreads widget, and overall it looks very professional. The whole thing even kind of fits this nice, forest colour theme? Overall, it’s a treat.

(Dammit, I really should’ve done a book blog this semester.)

But this is about audience and marketability, so let’s look at that.

First of all, it’s really great as a general book blog. Like, really great. It’s all about personal opinions, and seems to have a tendency towards listicles, which are very easy to read: favourites of 2020, exciting future releases, least favourites (FINALLY someone else who hates Sarah J. Maas and specifically the first three Grishaverse books AND The Red Queen! All objectively bad!!!)…

Again, listicles are great, in my experience. Easy to read, easy to write, and perfect for bite-sized entertainment.

Another thing that I think really helps this site’s audience engagement is that there’s not only a contact page, but a reason to USE it: Kayla here is open to review requests!

Actually, there’re a lot of little widgets that’re great for that kind of engagement. Again, the Goodreads and subscription tabs? Great! I’m honestly taking notes in my head about how much Kayla’s done right. Like, this isn’t just a review site, but it’s a person running a review site who’s open to basically any kind of interaction.

I guess if I had to say anything of the constructive nature, it’d be that it would be neat if there were more actual reviews on the site. I imagine that’s what Kayla’s GoodReads is for, but right now all that comes up on the site’s Reviews tab is this piece about Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater, of Raven Cycle fame.

It’s really well-done, and it’d be cool if this book review blog had more full, detailed book reviews! Don’t get me wrong, listicles are great and I don’t think anyone would mind having that be a majority of the blog, but I feel like there should be at least a few more proper reviews. Just for the sake of consistency, y’know?

Overall, though, I had a great time checking out this blog! I’m probably going to add Kayla on GoodReads now! Because, again, I love how that’s a little widget, and it looks like we have fairly similar taste!

Until next time.

Week 9 – The Business of Publishing

Entrepreneurship & Monetization. Hm.

I have a background in businesses and entrepreneurship, so our talk from Trevor was a lot of things I have already heard through marketing classes, but it was interesting to hear in terms of publishing our unique websites.

It seems funny to put a price tag on art and creative work, but for artists and creatives, this is what they deal with everyday.

I have some friends that are musicians, and I’ve heard many times from them about how it can be frustrating to self-promote and sell tickets to shows when really all you care about is the art of creating. I think for this to be sustainable and not a ‘sell-out’ situation, monetization has to be carefully thought out with lots of emphasis put into maintaining your core values.

This is the struggle shown by the “The Toast is Toast” reading (Carpenter, 2016). This blog had incredible content and a strong following; however they weren’t able to get enough financial support, and the administrative tasks of website upkeep became two much for the blogging duo. This is the danger of wanting art to remain separate from business.

In considering my own website, I have linked to a lot of related bloggers and products that my readers may be interested in. If I was to monetize, I would like to carefully curate the businesses being addressed on my site, and preferably I would like to have relationships with the companies I am linking to. This way I could monitor what is being promoted through my voice.

For this semester, I will refrain from installing ads on my website and instead reach out to some bloggers that may be interested in collaborating with me!

Process Post: Peer Review Response #2

This peer review response had a lot to do with the layout and design of our sites. I really liked Angelika’s feedback, it gave me a nice little road to take in order to make my website look better!

She first talked about using a dropdown menu in order to better organize the layout of my website and take a minimalist look which I agree with and am still trying to sort out.

Second, she talked about the incorporation of media into my site and I actually had none. After sorting through the plugins I was able to find one that puts a social media menus bar on the right hand side. And then add some extra posts that are taken from social media like Instagram videos of different keeper workout drills.

Overall I am really glad that she liked my website and was able to navigate through it easily while giving me some really good constructive feedback that will help better my website.

Peer Review #2

Today I will be reviewing Angelika’s website titled “Traditional Russian Cuisine” which let’s me know exactly what it’s about and I was very excited to explore her website because I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about Russian food so I was really curious and wanted to know more! Her website is linked here: http://cookingrussiandishes.com/

Her site is very beautiful, the images she uses are very colorful and flow nicely and she has a lot of white space. It was very easy to navigate through her website and I do love food so I was very interested, not only that but the images she used really draw you in. Her site is very usable and fun to explore especially with all of the colors which really gets your attention and keeps you curious. And honestly who doesn’t love food?

There is some integration of social media on her site, like a little side menu with links to platforms like Facebook and I think one link to Instagram.

One thing that I would recommend would be the placement of her “About” boxes which are located on the right of her Home Page, and the rest of her posts are located on the left. I was thinking that since the writing for her posts are centered, it might be a good idea to move the “About” boxes to the bottom of her page and see if she can center the pages so that it correlates to her writing setup.

Angelika is doing a really good job with her website and I can’t wait to see what else she provides for us. You can tell it is something she is really passionate about and is a very unique that piques your interest!

Process Post: Audience

I know that my main audience wanted to be directed at those who are around my age, either in high school, college, or maybe just graduated from college. It didn’t really matter to me whether or not they were athletes; if people in the audience were athletes, I hope they would still find my website interesting because my position is pretty unique. When people think of soccer they tend to think of the goal scorers or the defenders and not really the goalkeepers.

Because of this position I tend to think differently about certain situations so I wanted to outline my thinking process the most with my blogs. In addition, goalkeeping is pretty intense and requires a lot of strength and can be perceived as a more masculine position and while I am very strong and athletic I also have a very gentle personality. So I went with more of a girly theme because it stood out to me and I liked it. I had also hoped that it would draw more girls to my site as well and keep them curious, considering the title of my website speaks for itself about what it’s all about.

Process Post: Response to Peer Review

Today I am posting my response to Vanessa’s review of my website. I am thrilled that she enjoyed my idea and appreciated her constructive feedback, especially about the theme of my site. I was able to switch themes that I think better suited my website. I am sad to say that I fell behind on my posts so she didn’t have a lot to work with and the site was a bit of a mess.

Once I got my theme sorted out I was able to map out my site more effectively and organize it a lot more. I know I still have a lot of work to do and things to figure out, but I think at this point it is a matter of playing around with the different settings.

Process Post 6: Reflecting on my Blog

This process post I’ve decided to focus on my progress and thoughts on the state of my blog. Over the past 6 weeks, I’ve been working a full time job as a video producer, creating content for this blog, completing assignments for this class and a visual analytics class as well. I haven’t had much […]

Installation and Vision Process

Blogs are A LOT of work, let’s just put that out there. If I didn’t have someone to guide me on the entire installation, editing, backend process I don’t think I could have gotten my blog up so fast. I found that making an account and registering the URL and domain was even a little hard for me. I couldn’t decide what name to use for my blog’s URL and the fact that I couldn’t change it after was something pressurizing. However, once I decided on the name I could tell that not being able to change it is better because you learn to own your URL name rather than keep changing and rethinking it continuously over time. After that, figuring out how to set up categories, make posts, edit the actual blog itself, was so mentally draining for me. I just couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong and how to access everything. I had a lot of help from Jaiden, my TA otherwise I was going to keep drowning in worry.

When I learned how to do editing I thought about how I was having such a hard time because of the mental block I had created for myself with overthinking. I have also learned that blogging is not easy at all. It takes a lot of you; your time, your energy, your personality, and your heart and soul literally. I’m still in the process of learning and making my vision of how I want my blog to look come alive. It’s very difficult to recreate the vision in your mind’s space out onto a canvas; whether it be on paper or digitally and you can’t understand that until you try it yourself. My blog is nowhere near what I want it to look like or “imagined” it. It’s a work in progress and creativity is not my strongest pursuit which I know a lot of people say but are saying it as a casual statement. I realize that my blog may not look like what I want it to right now, but I’ll keep working on it to get as close as I can.

Interaction with a Stranger

A few weeks ago, I was at chapters to pick up a book I ordered. I was waiting in line and this girl started asking me if she should get a hardcover copy or a paperback copy of the book in her hand since she couldn’t decide. I told her that I had done some research and found out that hard cover is meant to last longer but paperback is best for travel purposes or just carrying around. I myself, was getting a hardcover copy of my book so I figured she’d prefer the same. After talking about the book type she should get, the conversation continued. She seemed young, around the same age as me, so I decided to ask her if she goes to high school or university. She then went on to tell me she just graduated from high school and is now attending university online. Don’t worry we are getting to the good part….

So, our conversation kept going and I found out that we both graduated from the same high school! We were both surprised since we had never talked or seen each other and I know that may be hard to believe but I was always more of an introvert in school so I had limited friends and acquaintances. Plus there’s so many kids and your energy runs out by the time you graduate. We talked about our experience briefly with Covid-19 and how university is going and it was nice to get to know someone else besides the other people I already knew from school. We even exchanged socials and I have talked to her a few times since! It’s true when they say this is a small world-like really small for real.

Reflecting on that experience, I find that talking to someone face to face, is so much more engaging and connecting. I’m not saying that getting to know someone online through facetime, zoom, etc. is any less meaningful, but there’s a sense of disconnect when everyone feels like they have to act a certain way or say certain things in order to make a connection with one another. Another thing is, the fact that we are online so much now especially because of school, it gets tiring to talk to someone for “interaction” online repetitively. I’d rather meet people and talk in person. However, I still prefer a balance since I’m not super social but not super introverted either. I guess I’d call myself an ambivert because it really depends on whose company I’m in and the energy they bring with them while interacting.

PROCESS POST WEEK 4; DIFFICULTIES

This Is Actually Very Difficult

I have a real new found appreciation for small businesses and people who start sites on their own, because I do not think I would be able to do this without the help that PUB 101 provides.

As the semester gets into full swing I find myself second guessing everything. Whether I got my mood board right, the colours perfect, or my tone correct? However, my main issue is the technical side of everything. Watching the YouTube videos and listening to questions that come up in tutorial have allowed me to customize my site more, but I am sure that I am miles away from knowing even just the basics of what everything there is to know about running a website.

In keeping with the theme of this blog I want to talk about some of the things that frustrate me from building this site.

The process of my blog has been really fun, but it has been a steep learning curve. Writing posts is something I find really enjoyable and if I had more time I would definitely write more! However, the technicalities of font, spacing, hyperlinks, and pretty much anything that alters the websites frightens me. I find myself having to really pull myself away from what I think will just be the easiest. I want to push myself to make this website fit my content and to do that I need to get myself to learn, not only the tasks associated with the class, but also those on the periphery. The things that are not on the syllabus but can definitely allow for me to get the most out of this class.

Another annoyance is that I want to do so many things but that is just not possible. I want to make my sight about pictures, but I want it to have a lot of writing, but at the same time I think linking out to different resources and keeping this an academic space is also important. Although the vision board helped me realize what I want to do with my online space, it did not help me with the amount of aspirations I have for this space.

I am also a little bit stumped for the mini assignment for this week because I want to pick someone who will fit the theme of my blog but I also don’t want to be so commonplace. Although a villain would be amazing, imagine a superhero getting mad when they are usually holier-than-thou beings! There is just so much to do with this blog that it’s over whelming, not in workload but in possibility.

This is however not a complaint. I think that writing this process post has actually helped me to compile a list of things I want to do moving forward. I know this is all about the process and with time I will get better at navigating and controlling. On a positive note, I actually do feel better about my site than I did in the first week. I also think I have finally figured out how I want to organize everything which helps a lot.

PROCESS POST WEEK 2; SETUP

Setting up this blog has proven to be more difficult than I had expected. As the theme of this blog goes, I became frustrated many times throughout the week trying to configure the layout. Even now as I write this post, my blog is not meeting the standards I had unconsciously set for myself when I started. However, my anger only goes as far as aesthetics. Before writing any of the content, posting any of the links, or even researching similar blogs I made a vision board. I put what I wanted my posts to convey on this vision board and by collecting and sorting the images I was able to get a stronger sense of what I want my posts to feel life. It allowed me to flesh out more of why I wanted to do this topic.

I have seen a lot of anger on the internet and I wanted to know why. In what ways is people’s anger on the internet a reflection of everything they don’t say in person? An article I read by Dag Wollebaek examined how anger on social media can create an echo chamber effect. Allowing those who seek validation of their opinions in real life and do not receive it, to be rewarded in the online space. This is an immensely interesting topic for it shows how the internet is not a replacement for real-life but a supplementary space for people to get what they lack in reality.

This idea of using the online space as an aid is also something that I found in an article by Schwengel called “Technology as a Crutch For Teens.” Although this is not an academic article it makes some fair points. People are using the internet as a means of avoiding emotional instances in their real lives. This type of segway from real-life to online is something that I think this blog can embody.

I found that by using the internet in the ways that people who mistreat and misconstrue the meaning of it, allow me to amalgamate an increasingly interesting collection of emotion that will only ever be expressed on the internet and never in person. It also gives me the opportunity to see whether using the internet in this way actually affects my real life and in-person interactions.

Works Cited

Wollebæk, Dag, et al. “Anger, Fear, and Echo Chambers: The Emotional Basis for Online Behavior.” 2019.

Schwengel, Riley. “Technology acts as a crutch for teens” The Bucknellian (2012). https://bucknellian.net/24128/opinion/is-verbal-communication-a-dead-art/

Looking Forward: Process Post #11

Today was our last PUB201 class, and to be honest I’m a bit sad. Publishing classes are always a fun and a highlight of my semesters — I mean today in our online lecture we started playing pictionary, what other class would that happen in?!

But alas, as it is the last class that does beg the question: where do we go from here?

for me, I’m looking forward to continuing this blog. Especially in a time like this I think not only those who pop in and read my posts need this — but so do I. It’s been so much fun to post different reviews, lists, and everything in between this past semester and I’m looking forward to continue to do so!

However, in the upcoming weeks I do have exams. And if I can’t focus on studying when I’m freakishly busy with work — how on earth am I going to be able focus when I literally have all the time in the world!? So, that being said, I will most likely be able to get back up and running some time after the 20th of April (my last exam).

I look forward to posting all the reviews (mainly books because literally every single new movie has been pushed back to the end of the year or 2021 🙁 ) While also using all the knowledge I have gained from this course. Including SEO, Google Analytics, and everything in between. I also look forward to taking more Publishing courses in the future, and most likely sticking a shiny Publishing minor alongside my English Major.

P.S — Thank you Suzanne and William!

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Motivation: Process Post #10

The other day I was talking to my friend over FaceTime. I said to her, “my TA wants us to post a response to the overall discussion question and then a another response to someone else in the class — I don’t have time for that!” To which she replied, “actually Emma, you literally have all the time.”

This was a moment when I really noticed the way that this change in pace has affected my motivation to complete school work. I literally have no excuses. I’m not going into work right now, so my usual excuse of having to teach kids dance from 3-6 Thursday through Sunday isn’t going to work when i’m not up to date with the many tasks I know i’m behind on. And I literally have all the resources I need in order to be the successful — ie: working computer, internet, food in a kitchen — and I’m very lucky for that. However, I did realize the other day (while trying to write I long paper in approximately 48 hours) that I have the most uncomfortable desk chair and will likely need to upgrade before my summer courses begin or my back WILL begin to resemble a cave man’s.

But anyways, I’m hoping that in the summer I will be able to motivate myself to keep up to date with my classes. I think (and i HOPE) it will be easier due mainly to the fact that those classes are always going to be online. What was most difficult these past few weeks was not just doing classes online, but the abrupt switch to online. I felt like I got whiplash going from a 3 hour lecture on film history to a short recorded lecture that my professor sent out.

So that being said, I’m hopeful for the coming months. And I hope that this all starts to settle down soon. Because if there’s one thing that’s not helping — it’s everyone freaking out.

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Imagine: Process Post #9

I’m not too sure if everyone has seen this, but last week actress Gal Gadot posted this video to her Instagram account. And it caused quite an uproar. I could see the sentiment behind it, but all in all I think it’s pretty cringey. Most people just asking: “what’s the point?” There was no charity attached to it, which could’ve to possibly encouraged people to donate to those in need — but it was instead a bunch of celebrities awkwardly singing Imagine by John Lennon horribly off key. Although, what it did do was make me interested in looking to see what different celebrities have been doing online. Not only trying to brighten people’s days, but helping charities as well. And two of the main things that stood out to me were: living room concerts and late night talk show hosts.

Living Room Concerts

“living room concerts” are simply celebrities (usually singers) posting videos on Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, or through live stream services where they perform different songs. While I’m not sure who did the first one ever, John Legend was one of the first big celebrities to do it. Doing an Instagram Live along with his wife Chrissy Teigan and their children. What’s interesting about this is that when John posted the video to his Instagram, he used the hashtag #togetherathome, tagged fellow musicians to do the same, as well as included links to the WHO (World Heath Organization) and this website. And what the website shows is a way in which they are getting different musicians to come together and encourage people to stay home — all through music.

Similarly I’ve been seeing videos on various different Broadway themed sites. As some of you might know, all of Broadway has shut down due to the virus. Thus resulting in thousands of Broadway performers (and those who work behind the scenes) without work. Sn Broadway.com’s youtube channel, they’ve been done a live show hosted by Rosie O’Donnell with numerous broadway guests — all to raise money for The Actor’s Fund! Similarly, Broadway World has been posting videos on their website and Instagram page of various Broadway performers doing living room concerts. And another one of my favourite things has been Andrew Lloyd Webber, who has been asking his Twitter followers to send songs they want him to play on the piano — all while sat in front of his beautiful and giant Cats oil painting! (another awesome charity is Broadway Cares, known for the Aid’s fun they regularly raise money for when shows are happening!!)

Late Night Talk Show Hosts

Now I’ll admit, one of my guilty pleasures is watching late night talk shows. I don’t watch them all the time, but I really enjoy some bits of Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon’s shows. And in this quarantine I’ve actually been tuning into Jimmy Fallon’s Youtube channel quite regularly, because he’s been doing The Tonight Show: Home Edition for the past few weeks. I believe Jimmy Kimmel was actually the first talk show host to do this, but I genuinely enjoy the way that Fallon has been running his show from home. He has his wife film (as well as not laugh at a single one of his jokes), and his two young daughters often steal the show — with an inability to listen to him, and the youngest always ending up climbing all over him. What I also really enjoy about Jimmy Fallon’s show is that they’ve been highlighting various charities throughout the episodes (on the first episode alone they have already raised over $53,000 dollars for Feeding America). So I think he’s done a really good job of not only continuing to entertain people, but bring awareness of what’s going on. [Seth Meyers, Conan, James Corden, & Stephen Colbert have also been doing at home episodes of their talk shows]

I think there’s quite a difference between the video Gal Gadot posted, and the one’s I’ve included here. I get what she was most likely going for, but it definitely didn’t have the same affect as these celebrities, who are coming together to bring awareness to not only the virus, but bringing help to those who have been affect most — all while continuing to do what they do best and entertain the general public.

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The Power of FaceTime: Process Post #8

I’m an introvert. And so, I’m someone who usually prefers time to myself. So, if i’m being honest, self-isolating hasn’t been the most difficult thing for me to do. However, as the weeks go by, I have begun to get restless. As much as introverted people enjoy their time alone — that does not mean that we are all recluse. Some of the things I have enjoyed doing during my self-isolation is reading and watching movies, but I’ve also been FaceTiming my friends and family. I think I’ve used the FaceTime app on my phone more in the past couple week than I have in the however many years I’ve had an Apple device! (like 8 years?)

I live at home with my parents, but I have three older brothers who live with their significant others. Two of them live in Vancouver, while the eldest and his wife live in Toronto with my baby niece. And so, in order to talk to one another regularly, we’ve been having makeshift family dinners in order to connect with one another during quarantine (at about 3pm because of the Toronto/Vancouver time difference and because my niece eats at 6’clock). In some ways I would actually say that the virus is bringing us closer, as ironic as it might sound. I see the two brothers who live in Vancouver quite often — but I’m definitely not able to talk to the oldest as often. Although, through the power of the internet, we’re all able to check in on one another and make sure everyone is doing well — and it’s of course awesome to see my baby niece walking and “talking” (she has about two words in her vocabulary “light” and “hi”).

Alongside my family, I’ve been trying to stay in touch with my friends as well. One of my best friends and I would always meet up at SFU on Wednesdays, during a break we both had between classes. And so, even though we’re not in school, we’ve been facetiming at the same time! It’s not only nice to see my friend, but it still feels like I’m maintaining a part of my old routine.

So while I’m doing a lot of reading and watching a lot of movies, I’ll be honest and say that those are things I would always do during my free time. So, during this time, I’m also trying to keep in touch with those around me — and I’d suggest you all do the same!

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Week 13: Process Post

A part of me still can’t believe that we finally made it to the end of the semester alive (jokes of course). I thought that last semester felt like a lifetime when it slugged on by, but getting kicked out of school due to a lung-drowning virus made me realize how much I missed attending in-person classes, as online lectures really put a damper on self-isolation.

When Spring semester first started, Suzanne heavily encouraged the class to sign ourselves up to present our blogs to the class in the final week of classes. At first, I thought, “no way, I would never do that.” But as the weeks flew by, and I started posting regularly on YouTube and adding more bits and bobs to my website I realized that it was something that I did want to show the class. In the beginning, I was extremely nervous to see what everyone would think, but I realized that I share my life everywhere I go to a global audience, never once batting an eyelash if they saw what I was up to. So why did sharing it to the class seem so daunting?

It’s easy to share your life online- every photo you’ve ever taken was taken in the past, every video you’ve ever filmed was filmed in the past, it seems as if nothing is ever really happening in the moment anymore. It’s easy to feel your best when you’re posting a stock photo of yourself dressed to the nines while you’re at home in your bed with a facemask on shoveling ice cream into your mouth. In a way, I felt that if I presented my website to others I’d be exposing myself as someone who doesn’t capture things in the moment, but at the end of the day that’s what I wanted, I wanted people to get a real glimpse of these fake lives we make up. I’m not saying my life is a complete figment, but I definitely don’t look like how I do on Instagram everyday. I’ve struggled a lot with branding as well as expanding my brand since I’m the literal face of it, worried that if I change one little thing that people won’t resonate with it the same way. 

I realized on a bus ride home from PUB 201 that I was going to present my brand to the class because I was proud of what I was doing and that I wanted to be the one to show others that although I created this extravagant life for myself that I was still me at the end of the day. 

When we post, we let the content speak for itself rather than using our own words. People can never really get to know who you really are when you don’t explain who you are and from what I’ve learnt over the last 13 weeks is that people want to see who people really are behind the cameras and filters. I’ve always wanted to inspire others, so ideally the only thing standing in the way of me and my presentation was myself.

Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of the virus we are unable to present our sites in-person, however after doing many peer-reviews and attending tutorials I’ve found that every person in our class has something that they should be proud of. If we all signed off of social media and banded together to share what we’ve been working on all term then I think all of us would’ve felt confident enough to present because there is an unbelievable amount of talent in that room that just wasn’t ready to speak up about it. 

Week 12: Process Post

Since technology has continued to ramp up over the years, bloggers have expanded their sites and adopted other platforms to deliver content to their audience. Bloggers have had to adapt their content based on the way their viewers consume content as other platforms have overgrown in popularity in comparison to blogs. 

In my case, I’m primarily passionate about creating photos and videos for my audience and spend most of my time developing that part of my brand. However, my blog came in handy as it was a place where my audience could get to know a little bit more about me. My blog gives my audience complete access to my portfolio which contains photos that may have never been released on my Instagram, as well as every hyperlink to the videos I’ve created and posted on YouTube along with the creative reasoning behind them. My blog is primarily a way for me to tell a real life story from a written point of view.

On Instagram, I would normally let my photos speak for themselves as the platform focuses primarily on static visuals. On YouTube, I’m allowed to fully explain my creative concepts to my viewers, which for me is the rawest form of content I’ve ever created as I’m able to capture my voice and my thoughts in the very second they’re taking place. I’ve found that my blog has basically allowed me to tie my two other main platforms together into one. 

In the next few months I hope to start working on a podcast as I’ve always been interested in sound engineering and have taken many classes in that field. However, for myself, I’d primarily use a podcast to tell the same story that I would write on my blog but use a platform that allows my viewers to listen rather than read. Personally, I would much rather watch a video that implements both audio and visuals rather than just using audio but I’m still interested in giving it a shot.

Although the example I’m using isn’t a blog, I thought it was relatively interesting how popular magazine Bon Appétit implements brand extensions to their site. 

I had originally heard of Bon Appétit through their YouTube channel which gives viewers a step by step walkthrough, teaching them to cook extravagant dishes. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I found out that Bon Appétit actually originated as American food and entertainment magazine. After checking out their website, I found that Bon Appétit runs a podcast or “Foodcast” as they call it, interviewing chefs, writers and anyone else who has something to say about food. Bon Appétit has also created the brand extension Healthish, which focuses on providing healthy alternatives to people and Basically, which provides a written step-by-step guide to cooking. When Editor in Chief, Adam Rapoport (2019) was asked what Bon Appétit was, he said that it’s, “whatever you want it to be. Even a magazine.” 

References

Rapoport, A. (2019, March 26). Bon Appétit Used to Just Be a Magazine. Not Anymore. Retrieved from https://www.bonappetit.com/story/not-just-magazine

Week 11: Process Post

A couple of days ago I was asked to start a blog for a local brand. At the time I was completely overjoyed because I thought the company was interested in the type of content I was producing for my own blog. However, after getting a little bit more information on the gig I was told that they were only interested in developing a blog to increase their SEO (which at the time I had no idea what that was) and not interested in actually building a community. Unfortunately, the company wasn’t interested in what I was writing but rather telling me to, “write whatever you’d like, if you just write random letters, I don’t care just use the keyword we provide you with.” This conversation had me completely rethinking what I was getting myself into. It didn’t feel right that I was being brought onto a team not based on what I could bring to the table but for mindless work that any human could do.

After attending this week’s online lecture I know a little bit more about SEO and why it was so important to the company’s manager. SEO or Search Engine Optimization allows for one’s content to ascend the placement of the search engine based on keywords or “flags.” As 95% of web traffic happens on the first search page generated by Google, it only makes sense that it’s where you’d want yourself and your brand to be.

I was interested to see where I ranked on Google’s search engine so I conducted my own experiment by typing my first and last name into the search bar. Honestly, I was quite surprised with the results as my profiles were on the first page of Google. My Instagram link was nestled in at the 6th spot under several social profiles of a hockey player with the same name. As I continued to scroll I found that my LinkedIn page (which I didn’t even know I had) was sitting at the 8th and final spot of the first page. 


Upon looking at the second page of searches, my name was associated with the first five posts all highlighting the keyword, “Tyler Krueger,” and the top two suggestions were links to my blog. 

I continued looking at Google’s photos associated with “Tyler Krueger” and found that I was the 5th image on the page with many of my other photos popping up as I continued to scroll down. 

Google associated the search with places such as “vancouver,” “vancouver bc” and “tofino.” To my surprise, my face and links came up as the first seven photos listed.

Lastly, I found that my YouTube channel was the top two suggestions when searching under Google’s video associations.

From what I’ve learnt is that I have a relatively good SEO to even rank on the first page of Google. However, to continue to improve my SEO I plan on building my YouTube, Facebook and TikTok following as those platforms are also associated with my brand. As a higher SEO brings people back to your content, you want to make sure you have reliable, interesting pieces for people to browse, rather than using a keyword to bring people back to a blog post with a bunch of the same letters typed in a row. I realized that it was a much better use of my time and skills to build my own SEO rather than someone else’s.