Get Your Own Google Alerts

For those who do not have these, Google alerts are a neat way of staying in touch with specific content posted on the Internet. You register for a Google alert using specific keywords and then any time those keywords are posted online, you are sent a link in an email. Check out two Google alerts I received over the weekend for Hinterland Who’s Who (in this case, they were blog postings):

• Remembering Hinterland: By Bundy(Bundy)
  If you’re Canadian and over the age of 30, chances are at some point growing up you’ve seen the Hinterland Who’s Who commercials on TV from the Canadian Wildlife Service and Environment Canada. These informative vignettes first appeared …
  Bundy’s Blog – http://bundysblog.blogspot.com/
• I saw you on TV!: By Mongoose(Mongoose)
  I knew right away that it was a red-breasted nuthatch, because it looked and moved exactly like the red-breasted nuthatch in the Hinterland Who’s Who vignette. Well, I suppose that’s a big “duh,” but then, people in real life are …
  Trucks and the City – http://trucksandthecity.blogspot.com/

To get your own Google alerts:

1. go to www.google.com/alerts,
2. enter your search term in the box provided (don’t forget to add quotation marks around a specifc phrase, such as “Hinterland Who’s Who”),
3. set the type of search you’d like Google to make,
4. the frequency of alerts and
5. your email.
6. Start again if you’d like more than one alert!

And you’re all set! Enjoy this easy way of staying in touch with the buzz online.

Going With The Flow

You’ve been asked to create a Process Flowchart for a marketing initiative for work and your first thought is: “A what?!”

A process flowchart is simply an organizational chart mapping the many steps required to fulfill a specific task, such as creating and distributing an e-newsletter or posting new content on your website.

Here is a detailed document describing how to create your own process flowchart as well as a few examples of simple charts that have already been created.

• How to create and distribute an e-newsletter.
• How to create and upload new content to your website.

Looking for web coordinators

Are you an organized, down-to-earth person with web experience? Live in the Ottawa area? We’re looking for a solid contract web coordinator for the new year. Leave your name, web or portfolio link below and we’ll contact you.

Book trailer, revised

I had to make the previous trailer private since I am unsure about copyright laws on the audio component. I’ve created a non-audio component (which I do not find satisfactory and hope to add audio once I figure this mess out!) and you can see it.

Dragonfly’s first trailer

Okay, here it is:

[removed]

I don’t think it’s bad for a first attempt but I really want to know where to go to get royalty-free music. I remember Mitch Joel telling us of a site where artists post their music for webbies to use but I can’t remember the name of the site (something to do with dog?)

What do you think?

Word of the day: Convergence

So what does it mean? Dictionary.com cites it as “the degree or point at which lines or objects, etc., converge.” (Don’t you love it when references reuse the word in the definition?) Let’s swap the word ‘converge’ in that definition with the word ‘merge.’ So, let’s loosely define convergence as the blending of existing forms.

For our paradigm, convergence refers to the union of two or more forms or platforms of media to create a more wholistic package. Invariably, 99 percent of the time that includes online platforms. One of the best concepts to come out of journalism powwows these days has been the notion of being “platform agnostic.” That means the story is delivered to the public in whatever format is best for that story, be it print, TV, podcast, radio, web or a combination thereof.

Why is making good on this theory so terrifying to the Canadian media? Other countries’ institutions are navigating their way through this merger (take a look at the U.K.’s The Guardian), but the Canadian media is having a rough time.

Since it’s already been said (and I know I’m going against the common journalistic trend of just re-saying it), let’s take a look at what the Online Journalism Review has to say on the topic: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/business/1078349998.php

The art of networking on a budget

When you’re a freelancer or a small business owner, you have to do a lot of networking. Networking is one of those nebulous words like love or orgasm – you never know what it means until it happens. Essentially, networking is letting any and all working acquaintances know what you do and what you can do for them. More importantly, networking means letting the people in your field know you are still alive.

How does it work? The key to networking is to keep it informal and friendly. Sure you can send loads of emails and phone calls to perspective businesses and clients, but the percentage of call-backs you’ll get from this practice is low. So, you set up “get-togethers,” or informal meetings. Usually this is done over lunch, dinner, drinks or coffee. Since I’ve started freelancing I’ve averaged two “get-togethers” a week. How can a struggling writer survive with this much philandering, you ask? Here is a handy guide to keeping the friendly networking cheap:

1. If given the option, always take a coffee meeting over a lunch or dinner – even drinks. That’s straight math.

2. If a client insists on a meal, consider your options. Suggest a less-formal restaurant that offers appetizers or salads that can get away as being meals. Or better yet,

3. Try to get wealthy clients that will pay for your meal.

4. Get the Cesar salad. It always comes on a huge plate and appears to be more than what it is: a bunch of lettuce with egg-dressing smeared over it. Fortunately, the price usually mirrors the contents, not the other way around.

5. Always make sure you keep the bill so you can write off the expense. Networking is an essential part of any business – don’t feel guilty for claiming it!

6. At the beginning, try to keep your “networking meetings” to three or less a week (budget $45/week). Once you grow a bit in your client base or business, you can increase this number.

7. Make sure you do network – it is the foundation of your business. Without it your chances are pretty slim.

8. Make a schedule of people you’ve met with and when, then mark down when you should follow up with them down the road. That way you don’t go out too many times with one client,needlessly spending funds, but also you don’t drop off the face of the earth, either.

9. Try to keep the location within a comfortable radius of your home or work. It’s amazing how fast the transportation costs add up.

10. Get it done in one meeting. Save yourself and your client the time and expense of having to meet again in a short time period because you weren’t prepared or didn’t cover everything you wanted to.

In the end the old adage is true: You have to spend a little to make a lot. Just make sure you stick to the “little” part.

Me, myself and I

I know, I know. A topic most people love to write about but few want to actually read (unless you’re Paris Hilton or Jessica Simpson, apparently). But I figure I’ll just start writing in this thing and see what happens. And they always say, write what you know. Which, in reality, may not necessarily mean that I should write about myself, since I confuse the hell out of me.

I’m editor and publisher for a (very) small book publisher in Canada. So small, in fact, that it’s just me and some wonderful people whom I contract out to occasionally. But, in the one year of existance (wow – it has been one year! I should probably celebrate that) I have published two books, one I have written under the pen name Michelle Hamilton, and one written by an extremely talented playwright out of Winchester, Ont. I’m working on a few other projects, one of those should be published by the end of the year. We’ll see.

I’m also an online editor for a prominent Canadian magazine – or at least I am right now. They are going through massive budget cuts and I may not have a job in a few days. Guess we’ll see on that front, too!

So, I imagine this blog will be filled with a cacaphony of information re: writing, editing, publishing, web and online design, coding, marketing and (if all goes well) teaching. I love what I do but I’ve never had so many medical conditions related to stress before.

Hello world?

Well, this is my first blog. Ever. I feel the need to write a headline that’s a bit more catchy, since I’m an editor and writer, but I’ll admit I’m having virginal shyness so can only promise to add a bit more oomph in the future.

I’m not really sure what you’re suppose to write in a blog, but felt the need to actually have one since I may be teaching about them in the future. Hmm. As a journalist, blogs are supposed to be a tool. I guess I’ll learn through experience. Better figure out how all these tools work, first!