Search engine optimization is a very interesting subject to me as I spent significant time working in the field of Google Advertising. Through this experience I became very familiar with the optimization of advertisements and Google Campaigns specifically, but I never got the opportunity to learn about SEO. SEO is the process of adjusting your site to be as ‘clickable’ as possible in Google’s algorithm. Improving your standing in Google’s algorithm will result in your page being far higher up on Google’s search results. Big parts of SEO are accessibility, page loading speed, mobile friendliness, and content accuracy when compared to what is displayed on the Google Search page.

With respect to SEO, my page is not great. Much of this is due to the name of the blog I chose and the market that I entered. Video game reviews are in no short supply on the internet, with enormous organizations like IGN and Polygon taking up a huge part of the market. Additionally, the name of my site – Weekend Games – will never come up in search results, even if the exact title is searched for. There will only be upcoming sports games, which still dominate conventional media. If I were to maintain my blog in the future, I would definitely be considering a change in branding.

This week I took a closer look at some of my colleagues’ websites, and was very impressed by what I saw. Some people have taken incredibly creative designs with their websites that have me thinking about future updates to my own. I was particularly impressed by Josh and His Stocks. It may be that I am a sucker for darker themed websites, but I loved the look and feel that Josh went with.

I also looked at some of the social media that have been set up for my colleagues’ websites. Many people have used their personal social media handles as their blogs are very personal, but seeing some unique social media setups are super interesting. One thing that I found fascinating was actually on a blog that I recently reviewed, She is Recovering. Alessia linked her Spotify to the website, which is a super cool idea in my opinion. I am considering doing the same, as including a music option can help set the vibe for a site. I am planning to set up a playlist specifically for the theme of my website.

This week I have been thinking of ways to update my website’s accessibility. Accessibility is something that I have actually dealt with online, and is something that I am often responsible for checking in my field of work. As someone with moderate colour blindness, I have a lot of trouble reading text on sites or documents when bad colours are chosen for text and background. Combinations like red/green, blue/purple, yellow/green and orange/green result in near invisible text for me, so I am often asked to double check design choices on public-facing documents and websites.

To ensure that there were no such issues on my own site, I went through and confirmed that all of the text on my website was easily visible with either light on dark text or dark on light. The shade of the text is far more important than the colour in my experience. The main piece that I needed to update was the title section. There are elements of my main background that are on the lighter side, making it a little difficult to read the headline. To resolve this issue, I played with the opacity of the background image to help the title text pop more. I am very happy with the result, and there should be no issues reading any content on my website going forward.

As the PUB 101 course wraps up, the mandatory process posts are coming to an end.

When writing these, I always think about what the future of my blog will look like.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d like to carry on expanding my online presence through this blog, even after the course ends.

PUB 101 has shown me that publishing can be fun. Before starting this class, I had a warped perception of what being a publisher entailed. After experiencing this class, I learned that publishing is fun, and I’d like to carry on making posts in the future.

If all goes according to plan, I’ll be taking PUB 201 in the Fall, which means this blog will be revived and improved then.

If I were to have community guidelines for my website, I would have some reasonable rules in place.

Here’s a short list of what I’d imagine my community guidelines to include:

• Freedom of speech is encouraged, however, no hate speech or harassment would be tolerated.

• Differing opinions are welcome, as long as they’re presented respectfully.
• Use the “Golden Rule” – Treat others the way you’d want to be treated.
• Respect others, and their viewpoitnts.

Aside from those basic rules, I don’t think there’s much I’d implement. As long as people use common courtesy when on my website, I don’t think any issues would arise.

The concept of transmedia integration means expanding one’s online presence across multiple platforms. 

In the future, I could expand into other media platforms. Creating social media channels such as a YouTube account, Instagram account, or other types of social media accounts would allow for the expansion of my online presence. 

I believe that expanding my blog to other platforms would be a success. Having multiple ways for people to view my content would be beneficial, as it would allow for the expansion of my audience.

As this course is coming to an end I wonder what I should do with my website, I have put so much time and effort into it and it feels wrong to just ditch it.

Throughout this semester the task of creating my own digital space has taught me so much, I have learned about cyber infrastructures, digital gardens, and how to build an audience. Going into this course I thought I would be using my knowledge of fashion for this website, however looking back I now know that I have learned alongside my audience, by having to think of ideas for articles I have forced myself to educate myself further in order to be a reputable source.

While I won’t be continuing my website at the end of this course I have realized that it has served its purpose and beyond, not only has it taught me about publication, but it has also taught me about my interests, I believe I am both a better publisher and a better fashion enthusiast because of it.

I seemed to hit a mental block when creating Mini Assignment #3. I just couldn’t think of a way to “remix something” in a car-related way. 

When I hear the word “remix,” I think about music. I get stuck into this mental loop of the idea that a remix can only apply to music.

After careful thought, I came up with an idea. Why not put a comical spin on the assignment, and create a cross-contamination photo edit which encompassed car brand rivalry?

I took an image of my father’s Audi TT-RS and edited an “AMG” badge onto it. Albeit, poorly, but that was sort of the point. I don’t want people to take it seriously.

Completing this mini-assignment was refreshing, as it showed me that there’s ways to overcome creativity mental blocks.

This week I worked on customizing my website. 

I’ve focused on my drop-down menus, and I’m very happy with how they turned out! I find that with this new design, my website is easier to navigate.

I also changed some colours, added some pictures, and made it easier to find my social media platforms.

As the semester has progressed, I’m very happy with how my website is turning out.

For this process post I decided to post a link to my website on my personal social media, I then interacted with those who clicked on the link.

I interacted with them to understand who my audience is and how I can better engage with them through my content. By doing this I feel like I can build strong connection with my audience, helping improve repeat visitors on my site.

The first thing I did was turn on my insights and announce I would be doing this (see my article about insights) to my audience so they would be aware. After this I waited 2 days for my audience to engage with my site through the link on my social media, after those two days I checked who engaged and spoke to them about what they thought about the website and what articles they enjoyed the most. The main theme of the feedback was that they enjoyed articles about things outside of specific brands or pieces, they mostly enjoyed educational themed articles rather than analytical articles.

Using this feedback I have focused mainly on articles that educate those on fashion rather than just describing things. By doing this I acknowledge my audience, helping improve repeat visitors.

I circled back with my audience letting them know that I have used their feedback and after this I have seen a 17% growth in repeat visitors.

This Process Post will focus on how speaking to a stranger has helped further my career in fashion.

Flashback!

In my first process post, I talked about how I spoke with someone who worked in costume design in film. I was extremely interested in their career so I took their contact information in order to ask them questions about a potential article I was writing. While I did not get to write this article I feel like what came from it was far more fruitful.

What Came From It?

After emailing them they offered for me to shadow them in costume design, they said that when a possible opening was available they would contact me and I would shadow them on set to learn about how costume design works.

Around 3 days later I was offered a spot on a small film 2 months from now, I would be focusing on continuity and helping actors get into their costumes. I was ecstatic, I immediately jumped at the opportunity and prepared myself.

What Was It Like?

After getting all the necessary tools (sewing kit, gloves, etc.) I got ready for a weekend of nonstop work. On a set most days are around 12 hours, the bulk of the work was when the actors came in the morning, I was focused on getting them into their costumes and ensuring that their costumes were accurate to what was expected. Other than just making sure that they were wearing the clothes correctly I was also doing the one thing that any fashion enthusiast hates doing, damaging the clothes. The movie was a style that required the clothes to look worn and dirty. I used tools like a seam ripper or fake dust to make the clothes look they have been through hell and back.

After the clothes were ready and the actors got dressed I was tasked with continuity, continuity on a set is the practice of making sure that the clothes look the same chronologically.

What I Learned

The main thing I learned from this experience is how far fashion’s reach goes, it allows for people who have nothing in common to connect. This helped me understand how to better engage with my audience through my blog as well , by understanding how I connect with my audience I can exploit it and focus on it.

Transmedia is the process of being present in multiple forms of media.

What Would I Do?

If I were to implement transmedia practices in my online presence I would first create multiple social media pages devoted to my blog. The most important of these are Instagram and TikTok, these platforms have the highest amount of people who are interested in fashion. I would also create pages/accounts on Facebook and Twitter in order to maximize my online presence but these are not as important for implementing transmedia practices.

Why Would I Do This?

By doing this I can widen my influence, finding those who are interested in fashion that I have not yet interacted with, and as a result, I can increase my engagement with my blog. Consistent uploading on all of these platforms creates a sense of cohesiveness, allowing ChainStitch to seem more than just a blog or one person, instead of being an idea or a “vibe”.

If I am to continue with ChainStitch in the future I will definitely do this, I feel that blogs while useful for long articles are hard to follow up with, social media is far easier to use and interaction is far more frequent, this can create a funnel effect, leading to the blog.

Before you take marks off my blog, I want to preface this with one thing. I have used the analytics when necessary for the course, for example knowing how often readers return to my page or using google analytics to see how I rank on the search engines.

The most important thing that a creator needs to have with their audience is trust. If one does not trust someone, it makes it much harder to continue interacting with them. I feel that when I have, it breaks boundaries. While it was evident that the internet does “steal” a fair amount of information, I think that by not contributing to it, I can help the audience see that I, the author, am the same as them, I consume information the same way, and I wish to have privacy the same as them.

When I made this decision, I posted it on my Instagram story that I would not be using anyone’s information when they visited my site. I was immediately overwhelmed with positive responses. Those who responded liked the fact that their privacy was respected online.

While I may not be able to see if they return, I know that when the audience trusts the creator, they are more likely to continue consuming the media.

For my last process post, I will be reflecting on our current Covid situation and how the semester has gone. Since this is my last semester, I have spent most of it figuring out what I am going to do post graduation in a pandemic world. The last few semesters have been hard and to be honest, I am sick and tired of zoom and the lack of human contact. Group projects are extremely difficult as it is hard to get a hold of individuals when not everyone is visiting the same classroom every week. Classes themselves are also difficult as many professors have switched to asynchronous teaching methods and implemented online modules. As an SFU student who wasn’t expecting to take all his courses online, I am thoroughly exhausted with trying to stay on top of things and keep on track.  This quarantine has taken a toll on many individuals. Some more than others as there has been a huge divide on opinions and thoughts. It almost seems as if the pandemic has caused all the crazies to come out of the woodwork. This was a good course to take in a pandemic because of our weekly current events chats. It really helps people see what is going on in the world and with a pandemic happening, it is never a dull moment. I am glad that school is almost over, and that we will be in a post pandemic world soon. Hopefully, we can all do our parts to minimize the damage and come out stronger than ever.