Saturday, September 23, 2017

Tips to Seraphin on the Art of Bloggery

There are multiple facets to Seraphin and one of them involves leather.  Hold up on speculation since that means shaping and fashioning it rather than whatever else leather may have conjured in your twisted mind.

He favors a particular leather shop for his raw materials and that brings Ithaka and business relationships front and center.  It's been the Ithaka policy to stay clear of any financial considerations but that shouldn't be considered an impediment or constraint on how Seraphin may decide to do things.  I do, caution, however there is a sacrifice of one of my favorite lines that I have no reason to lie since I don't make a dime on this.

Note:  that situation didn't come about as a result of any inherent righteousness but rather some bonehead moves early in the game and actually before Ithaka existed.  Google never really explained what the problem was but they banned me.  I reviewed alternative possibilities but that would likely have wound up with ads for a whole lot of slutty crap which people may even buy but I'm not willing to front for it.  The result turned out cool since I like the non-commercial aspect and so it has gone.


Back to the leather shop, there's the immediate move in which it's possible to make a deal of the form, what say I add a blurb for your shop with links and all that kind of goodness for some nominal fee per month.  That's a straight-up deal for a business known and trusted which you know you can recommend.

The less immediate option is to post all the same goodness about the shop with links and contact information as an article but without fee to the shop.  In this way, the promotion given is real but it preserves the amateur status for Ithaka.  It doesn't hurt at all to ensure the business is aware of the plug, ideally ahead of the posting.  In this way it encourages some mutual back-scratching which is, if you like, a barter form of the obvious advertising but may be more advantageous overall.

Note specifically:  there's no editorial directive on whether to go high, medium, or low but the considerations are worthy prior to a decision.


In the case with Ithaka, I've posted multiple plugs for Lamb's Music here in Fort Worth since he did some beautiful, perfectly-executed work on the Galaxy Guitar and the plug was out of appreciation.  I don't know if Mr Lamb or any in the family were aware of the plugs but that's fine since it falls generally on the middle idea of mutual back-scratching.  My own back was already scratched with some highly-professional work so this was a scratch for his back.  I come away with a feeling of goodness from doing it since I know anyone taking the tip had to have been pleased by it.


In another situation, there may be something Seraphin wants to sell on a continuing basis or something of that nature.  In this consideration and we talked of it earlier, the prime consideration mustn't drift from why do my readers come to Ithaka.  I suspect that type of advertising would do fine so long as it's presented in concert with the diversity I find readers expect.

We did speak of this earlier and this article is to consolidate the package.  I see the commentary as valid since it's advice rather than a directive.  It's unknown what variety of diversity Seraphin will bring but I do think it's a necessary thing in whatever form it may come.

For my own diversity, there may be an article about Bernie Sanders and those are always presented verbatim except for adding line spacers to restore the formatting from the content of the email.  That's a form of advertising but there's also a story which tickles me about dinosaur-eating frogs and that kind of diversity in whatever form is something I do believe is important.


On a somewhat related note, I don't pick the Featured Article but rather readers do it.  As the day goes along, I'll see which article is currently the biggest boomer and, ok, there's the Feature.  It may surprise you but the Feature may not always be own first choice.

No comments: