I’ve been called “weird”, “nerd”, and “odd” my entire life. Just like most kids, it bothered me, but eventually I accepted who I was and I enjoyed it. This blog is about what I enjoy. I’ve grown a passion for several things, all of them a bit nerdy. I grew up with a big imagination, and that’s stuck with me through my adult years. I am:
A RPG gamer, a LARPer, a table top gamer, a podcast listener, a movie and TV critic, a writer, a CEO, a small business owner, a podcaster, a talker, an introvert, an extrovert, a father, a husband, a producer, a manager, a Cthulhu enthusiast
But most of all, I’m:
A Nerd
I’m a lot and you’ll see all of it in one form or another here. Most of the time, I’ll just ramble on and on about the things that caught me that week. Sometimes, I’ll give advice on gaming, podcasting, building an audience, running a company, or even parenting. All of it will come from a core of who I am and what I do daily.
This week, the topic on my mind is how to get more hits on my website. I have a review site (shouldn’t be hard to find, but I’m not plugging it here) that I’m constantly trying to grow. More eyes on the page means more money from ads. More money from ads means more ads I can put on other pages. More ads on other pages mean more eyes on the page. Apply, rinse, repeat.
So I’ve been listening to a lot of Gary Vaynerchuck. First, he’s vulgar. There’s a lot of four letter words he uses, so be prepared. If you can get past that, he’s got a lot of great ideas. I watched a video today from him about content. It’s content, content, content. That’s what he believes drives readers. He’s rich and from doing what I’m trying to do, so he’s worth checking out Gary’s views are amazing. He’s always moving, always working, always pushing for more. Gary does more in one day than I feel like I do in a week, but he has an end goal of buying the New York Jets and he’s moving toward it.
So what am I doing to raise our numbers? What content can I put out? What can we do to get more eyes on the page?
We’ve done some advertising. We’ve also set up at conventions and told every person walking by about how great our product (reviews and podcasts) is. We joined a network to get people around us that create great content. We’ve brought on two new podcasts that don’t involve our core members. But none of that is actual content creation.
I’ve found our biggest hurdle to getting content on the site is us. There are several issues that come up along the way, from writers having busy lives, to having too much on my plate to finalize posting each week. So before I can focus on more content, I have to focus on consistent content. I have to have a review up every weekday. I have to have each podcast out every week on its release day. I have to plug the podcasts to other sites where they’re being shown off. I have to make sure we hit social media hard and often to make sure everyone knows. And I need to put out a freaking newsletter. It sits untouched for far to long.
I have a long-term goal. I want to one day be able to quit every job I have and employ myself, my wife, my friends. I want to succeed at owning my own business and having podcasting support me as well. To do that, I have to have short-term goals, quarterly, annually or otherwise. That’s my focus now. Consistent content is our motto right now, and it’s a motto I have to get behind, or it’s not going to work for anyone, including me.
I was watching Mad Men the other day. I’m not caught up, but I’m as caught up as Netflix will allow me to be, so I started at the beginning again. I noticed a couple of things this time around that I didn’t notice last time. Everyone involved at Sterling Cooper has a position and is part of the flow of work. From the secretaries to the head of accounts, everyone has a place to be, a thing to do.
The flow of work is what we’re missing. There is no scheduling department, no editing department, no posting department. We don’t have a plan, a flow, or anything of the sort. So that’s going to change shortly. We’re going to set things up differently and get things flowing through different people. Hopefully many hands make a light task, or whatever the phrase is.
There’s a lot to do for the website to get numbers up. There’s a lot to do for the website to just make it nicer to look at. One day we’ll update it and we’ll be cutting edge and sleek. Today is not that day, but it’s coming.
This isn’t always what the blog will be about, but these are my thoughts. Next time…
Dungeons and Dragons, RPGs and more.