After a week off to visit Salem, MA and set up his new 24″ iMac (you seen his pictures?) Wayne is back with more news on his ventures:
As with any hobby, especially something new and exciting, it’s quite easy to dump a lot of money into it and jump in, full steam ahead. Unfortunately, the newness does wear off, and if you aren’t one hundred percent committed, it can become a chore. That is why if you want to create a podcast or create a new blog or website, it really has to be something you want to do. If not, you podfade, or…blogfade(?).
One of the helpful hints that I have found to prevent fading into never–never land is to always have new content. It really is a must. With the website I am doing, it’s fairly easy to have new content, as it usually comes to me. Either it’s news that others send to me asking me to post, such as a new theatre group coming to town, or a win for the home team, or it’s news that I have gathered from my different source sites. I make no qualms about admitting to getting material from other sources. It’s one of the tenets to the site. To bring all the news and schedules from the different sites and schools about town into a one stop source.
It’s quite different, though, to have a blog site where you are actually the one creating the content. I have got to give kudos to those that do and are able to keep it up week after week. One of the reasons I admire MyAppleStuff is that it branches out into different genres to keep things interesting. It may have a review of a product one day, and some interesting information or tutorial or an unknown website the next. If you can do a blog like it, by all means, do it! Just know that if you create a site and expect to receive divine inspiration day after day, you will be sorely disappointed. It may come easy the first few months, but there will come a time when you start asking yourself if there isn’t something else you’d rather be doing.
So before starting a blog or podcast, think hard about six months down the road. You will start to receive a following, even if it’s just your friends and family. People expect new content, and will become bored or their attentions will become diverted when it starts showing up later and later. Feedback is key. It’s amazing how the spirits can be lifted and new ideas can come when just one person stops and takes the time to write a quick note and say thanks for what your doing. Even a “you don’t know what your talking about” can let you know know that someone out there is reading or listening. So take a moment, and just write an e-mail to all the podcasts and blogs that you read and listen to. It doesn’t take much time, and will let the person on the receiving end know your there. Even if it’s a popular one and you think everybody is writing, you’d be surprised that they are not, because they think you are. It’s a small price to pay for free entertainment.
As an aside, I had a great time last week visiting Salem, Massachusetts. Learned all about the witch trials and the paranoia that can accompany when the unknown meets with the ignorant. Not unlike what we have today! 😉