Category Archives: Opinion
Traditional Advertising is Truly Dead | Copyblogger
Here are three steps to creating a “campaign” that will last:
- Build a minimum viable audience with useful, educational, and entertaining content.
- Listen carefully to their frustrations, fears, problems, and desires.
- Create or adapt products and services that better serve them.
– Robert Bruce
via Traditional Advertising is Truly Dead | Copyblogger.
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Using WordPress.com to create a Mobile Presence
WordPress.com Mobile Themes
It is becoming more and more important to optimize your website for mobile.
The Smartphone is transforming communication and publishing.
490 million smartphones sold in 2011. – Jeff Bullas
When a visitor browses to your WordPress.com blog website using a mobile device, WordPress.com will show special themes designed to work on small screens focusing on fast load times.
Some WordPress.com themes are mobile-ready, also called “responsive width”, that adapt themselves to the device of the user.
However all WordPress.com themes are already mobile-friendly by default. The Minileven theme (a modification of Twenty Eleven) is displayed on modern mobile devices.
Users using older mobile devices will see a version of the WordPress Mobile Edition theme.
WordPress.com also provides a special theme called Onswipe for the iPad.
So by using WordPress.com your website is already mobile-ready without you having to do anything.
Just another great reason why you should be using WordPress.com for building your Web Presence.
Sources:
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
3 Steps To Success With Digital Marketing – Jeff Bullas
See also:
Why you should be using WordPress.com for creating a Web Presence – Brian Currin
Like this:
Life Is A Long Song
[Thanks to Jethro Tull for the post title]
Just a few of my favourite really long songs.
Thick As A Brick – Jethro Tull
Supper’s Ready – Genesis
Karn Evil 9 – Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Close To The Edge – Yes
Tubular Bells – Mike Oldfield
Phallus Dei – Amon Düül II
Autobahn – Kraftwerk
Ma – Rare Earth
Get Ready – Rare Earth
Just A Poke (album) – Sweet Smoke: Baby Night & Silly Sally
Includes an excerpt from The Soft Parade by The Doors and a wonderfully phased drum solo.
Shine On You Crazy Diamond, parts 1-9 - Pink Floyd
On the ‘Wish You Were Here’ album, this song is split into two sections, separated by the other 3 songs on the album. Here it can be heard as one long piece.
Anonymus Two – Focus
Tarkus – Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Echoes – Pink Floyd
Salisbury – Uriah Heep
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida – Iron Butterfly
Ordinary length songs are often stretched incredibly during live performances, here’s one of them:
Dazed And Confused (live 1973) – Led Zeppelin
And here’s another:
Space Truckin’ – live 1974 – Deep Purple
And just for laughs:
Metal Machine Music – Lou Reed
This double album, consisting of 4 sides of equal length, is like one of those really bad movies that you keep watching hoping it will get better.
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.
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Why you should be using WordPress.com for creating a Web Presence
and the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org
The Yoga Factor
The quick version:
People need to Find You and Talk To You.
Finding you is called Marketing and talking to you is called Sales.
I have now just saved you 3 years of study at University.
Yes, it is that simple.
A WordPress.com website is the perfect tool for marketing and sales without breaking the bank, especially if you are passionate about your business and would like to get involved with your own online promotion.
I love WordPress.com because you can have a website where ordinary people can update their content without paying for web hosting, graphic design and web development.
Not that those things are wrong, of course, but you can always build up towards having them as your business and brand grows.
Some examples in action:
- The Yoga Factor
- The Lyzyrd Kyngs
- Blk Sonshine
- Crimson Chrysalis
- RockFest Radio
- Billy Forrest
- 1001 South African Songs
- Rhythm Records (The Label)
Some of my pending projects that will be using WordPress.com:
- Triple M Entertainment
- Stars Of Africa Football Academy
- Masauko Chipembere (from Blk Sonshine)
- The Production Person
The long version:
WordPress.com is a hosting platform that utilizes the same WordPress software that anyone can download from WordPress.org.
With WordPress.com, the hosting and managing of the software is taken care of for you.
With the freestanding WordPress.org software, you need to install it on your own server or a 3rd party hosting provider.
WordPress.com Benefits
- It’s free and much easier to set up
- Everything is taken care of: setup, upgrades, spam, backups, security, etc.
- Your website / blog is on hundreds of servers, so it’s highly unlikely it will go down due to traffic
- Your content is backed up automatically
- You get extra traffic from the WordPress.com community
- Your dashboard is secure (SSL) making it even safer to log in on shared networks
WordPress.com Cons
- Provides 170+ themes (and adding more every day), but you cannot upload a custom theme
- You can’t modify the PHP code behind your blog
- You can’t upload plugins
If you are a web developer, or you are happy to pay a web developer for their time, here are the benefits of WordPress.org:
WordPress.org (self-hosted) Benefits
- Ability to upload themes
- Ability to upload plugins
- Great community
- Complete control to change code if you’re technically minded
However, for me, the Cons far out-weigh the Benefits:
WordPress.org (self-hosted) Cons
- You need a good web host, which can get expensive.
- Requires more technical knowledge to set up and run
- You’re responsible for stopping spam
- You have to handle backups
- You must upgrade the software when a new version comes out
- If you get a huge spike in traffic your site will probably go down unless you have a robust hosting setup
Why I love WordPress.com
For no charge, WordPress.com provides web hosting, unlimited database storage with redundancy and backups, automatic software upgrades, community support forums, multi-lingual administration and themes, real-time traffic stats, comment tracking, blog and post rankings and other features not available anywhere else. These features will always be free for blogs started on WordPress.com.
WordPress.com offers paid upgrades as a way to provide premium features without forcing people to host their website / blogs elsewhere. These upgrades are optional.
- Currently over 170 themes to choose from, some are Premium, but most are Free.
- Integrated Statistics on where your visitors are coming from, and a whole lot more.
- Excellent support available from fellow users (on Forums) and WordPress staff.
- Robust server back ups.
- Multiple users, great for clubs, communities, bands and so on.
- Mobile-friendly
Resources for this article:
WordPress.com, WordPress, and WordPress.org
Like this:
These are not the fans you looking for
Over the last while I have noticed the following type of marketing approach:
“If you are bored, please listen to our radio show”
“If you have nothing else to do, please come to our concert / gig / show”
“If you have some spare time, could you please …?”
Are these really the people you want as your fans?
People that are bored and have nothing else to do.
Time to set your sights a little bit higher.
If you don’t believe that what you do is important, then why should anybody else.
Create an experience that is unmissable, and people will find the time, whether it is spare or not, and not only because they have absolutely nothing better to do.
Billy Forrest: A Selection Of My Favourite Songs
From Billy Forrest
Billy Forrest - A special selection of my favourite songs
It was a difficult one this. To remember my favourites over a span of 55 years was no mean feat, who do you leave out? I’ve chosen the songs that moved me the most, with just that “something” that makes a song reach into your soul. I’ve got two lists, International and “Local”. On the S.A. side it was more a case of appreciating the song, the performance and the production. Enjoy! – Billy Forrest
Artist/Song (International)
Cliff Richard & The Shadows (Live) – Miss you nights
Dobie Gray – Loving arms
Moody Blues – Nights in white satin
Dolly Parton – I will always love you
Kenny Rogers – Ruby don’t take your love to town
The Righteous Brothers – Unchained melody
The Walker Brothers – Make it easy on yourself
The Beatles – Yesterday
The Rolling Stones – Satisfaction
Matt Monroe – Born free
Dion Warwick – Valley of the dolls
Mike & The Mechanics – The living years
Elvis Presley – Are you lonesome tonight
Tom Jones – What’s new pussycat
Richard Harris – McArthur park
Abba – Fernando
K.D.Lang – Hallelujah
Elton John – Sacrifice
Mamas & Papas – California dreaming
Josh Grobin – You raise me up
Artist/Song (Local)
June Dyer – Whirlpool of love
Dickie Loader & The Blue Jeans – Exclusively yours
The Flames – For your precious love
The Dream Merchants – Time and the river
The Staccatos – Cry to me
Clout – Substitute
Bright Blue – Weeping
McCully Workshop – The Buccaneer
Copperfield – So you win again
Ballyhoo – Man on the moon
Rabbitt – Charlie
Joanna Field – Don’t fly too high
Maria – Clap your hands and stamp your feet
Gene Rockwell – Heart
Ken.J.Larkin – Turn around
Johnny Clegg – Scatterlings of Africa
Margaret Singana – Mama Tembu’s wedding
Steve Hofmeyr – Pampoen
Laurika Rauch – Kinders van die wind
Sias Reinecke – Sproetjies
Interview with filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul
Extract from an interview with filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul, whose “Searching For Sugarman’ opens this week at the Sundance Film Festival.
What have you learned over the course of making the film?
I learned that it’s possible to live your life on your own terms. Even if it means huge sacrifice, it’s your life and you will regret it if you don’t try. Rodriguez didn’t want to conform to any format or rules. He said what he wanted to say, and then he waited for people to embrace his music and his ethos, and not the other way around. I think that’s something we can all learn a lot from. Maybe more success or more money could come by compromising your dreams, but don’t go there! Rodriguez used to repeat the adage “you shouldn’t take candy from strangers.” That could apply to filmmaking. Filmmakers might go to a film institute for financing and think that all problems will be solved, but it comes with sacrifices. Maybe you’ll get the money, but maybe it’ll be a year too late and you’ve lost your inspiration and passion. If you want to be true to yourself you need to set your own rules – use your own money, and if you don’t have much then make a cheap film. This is much easier with cheap digital technology. If it turns out to be a good film, you can sell it and from the surplus you can make the next film. Times have changed – filmmaking just isn’t that expensive anymore. My cinematographer Camilla Skagerstrom won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes last year for a short film she made using $3000 of her own money. She didn’t compromise. If you want to make a film, it needs to be your film, made on your terms and with the energy you only can get from the possible misconception that all is possible and all your dreams can come true. Don’t wait for the money until you’ve lost the spark – just do it anyway.
In the same way, Rodriguez eventually found his audience his own way. Why: because he stayed true to his ideals. So much so that it seemed like he was almost purposely hiding his talent and avoiding success. But in the end, it turned out to be the other way around. His creativity was uncompromised and therefore flawless. I think this is really something any artist needs to consider carefully. Their true treasure is their own integrity, dignity, inspiration and passion. Protect this at all costs.
Full interview at http://martinmyers.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/searching-for-sugar-man-movie-about-rodriguez/
David Bowie’s 2002 Predictions About Music are Pretty Close | TheNextWeb
Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity. So it’s like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You’d better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that’s really the only unique situation that’s going to be left. It’s terribly exciting. But on the other hand it doesn’t matter if you think it’s exciting or not; it’s what’s going to happen. – David Bowie
via David Bowie’s 2002 Predictions About Music are Pretty Close.
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50 Original South African Songs
A non-definitive list of 50 great South African songs, that are not cover versions of overseas hits.
Arranged in chronological order of release date.
| 1. Vuka Vuka | The Manhattan Brothers |
| 2. Meadowlands | Archie Coker & The Meteors |
| 3. Ag Pleez Deddy (aka The Ballad Of The Southern Suburbs) (live 1962) | Jeremy Taylor |
| 4. Pata Pata | Miriam Makeba |
| 5. Silence Is Golden | The Square Set |
| 6. Master Jack | 4 Jacks & A Jill |
| 7. I Need Someone | Alan Garrity |
| 8. Orang Otang | Hawk |
| 9. Charlie | Rabbitt |
| 10. Playgrounds In Paradise | Finch & Henson |
| 11. Johannesburg | The Julian Laxton Band |
| 12. Buccaneer | McCully Workshop |
| 13. Villagers Theme (from TV series) | Mick Jade |
| 14. You’re Living Inside My Head | John Ireland |
| 15. ZX Dan | Radio Rats |
| 16. Boy Van Die Suburbs | Anton Goosen |
| 17. Better The Devil You Know | Stingray |
| 18. Man On The Moon | Ballyhoo |
| 19. Paradise Road | Joy |
| 20. Roxy Lady | Neill Solomon |
| 21. Schoolboy | Asylum Kids |
| 22. You’re So Good To Me | Hotline feat PJ Powers |
| 23. Bowtie Boogaloo | Morocko |
| 24. Give Me The Good News | Crocodile Harris |
| 25. Shadows | éVoid |
| 26. See Yourself (Clowns) | Ella Mental |
| 27. Jabulani | PJ Powers & Hotline |
| 28. Baby You Been Good | Robin Auld |
| 29. Burn Out | Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse |
| 30. Johnny Calls The Chemist | Falling Mirror |
| 31. We Are Growing | Margaret Singana & Julian Laxton |
| 32. This Boy | Sweatband |
| 33. Weeping | Bright Blue |
| 34. Scatterlings Of Africa | Johnny Clegg & Savuka |
| 35. Be Bop Pop | The Spectres |
| 36. Hometalk | Mango Groove |
| 37. Shosholoza | Ladysmith Black Mambazo with The Team |
| 38. Afrikan Dream | Vicky Sampson |
| 39. Sarajevo | Jack Hammer |
| 40. Shallow Waters | Just Jinger |
| 41. Who Killed Kurt Cobain | Koos Kombuis |
| 42. Goeienag Generaal | Piet Botha |
| 43. Die Mystic Boer | Valiant Swart |
| 44. Un-Ez | Springbok Nude Girls |
| 45. Nkalakatha | Mandoza |
| 46. I’ll Remember You | Brian Finch |
| 47. Gasoline | Saron Gas |
| 48. Africa’s Not For Sissies | Syd Kitchen |
| 49. Another Universe | Arno Carstens |
| 50. Doo Be Doo | Freshly Ground |
Eleven Of The Best Classic Rock Songs Released in 2011
2011 has been a great year for an old Classic Rock fan like myself.
My sons: “what did you call “Classic Rock” when you were growing up, Dad?”
Me: “Rock!
Some of my all-time favourite bands either released new albums or re-issued classic albums with obscure and rare bonus tracks during 2011.
Here are eleven tracks that stand-out:
- Wond’ring Aloud, Again – Jethro Tull
Segued and extended version,
from the 40th Anniversary re-issue of “Aqualung“ - The Painter (BBC, version two) – Deep Purple
from “BBC Sessions“ - Gotta Be Crazy (live 1974) – Pink Floyd
early version of Dogs,
from the 2011 re-issue of “Wish You Were Here“ - Into The Storm – Yes
from “Fly From Here” - The Travel Sequence – Pink Floyd
early version of On The Run,
from 2011 re-issue of “Dark Side Of The Moon“ - The Hard Way – Pink Floyd
from The Household Objects Project,
from 2011 re-issue of “Dark Side Of The Moon“ - I Can See You – Uriah Heep
from “Into The Wild” - Ricochet (BBC) – Deep Purple
early version of Speed King with different lyrics, including a guitar solo later used in The Mule,
from “BBC Sessions” - My God – Jethro Tull
early version with slightly different lyrics,
from the 40th Anniversary re-issue of “Aqualung“ - Smoke On The Water (live 2011) – Deep Purple and Orchestra
from “Live At Montreux 2011“ - Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
alternate version with Stéphane Grappelli on violin,
from the 2011 re-issue of “Wish You Were Here“
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OK you’ve got a website, so now what?
Image supplied by www.freedigitalphotos.net
Having a website to promote your brand and business is very important, but if nobody sees it then it is not much use.
It is like having a billboard next to a gravel road in the middle of nowhere.
As much as we might like to think otherwise, the world is not looking for you specifically. If they were, they could just type your web address i.e. briancurrin.com directly into the address bar of their favourite browser and up would pop your website.
What people are looking for is solutions to their problems, and if your website offers the right solution, then it needs to appear on the first page of search results.
Assuming that your website is already search optimized (though many aren’t) here are a few ideas on how to drive traffic to your website.
Facebook Brand Pages
Creating a Facebook Brand Page is essential now. These pages work very well for big corporates, but are also proving highly effective for small businesses. A Facebook Page is another portal to your website and when you post comments and status updates on your wall you can include links to your website.
http://facebook.briancurrin.com
Paper.li
This portal allows you to create your own online newspaper aggregating information from the Twitter, Blog, RSS and Facebook sources that you choose. Paper.li automatically produces daily news, which means every day there is at least one new quality link to your website.
http://paper.li/briancurrin
Google Adwords
Over 90% of searches done on the internet use the Google search engine. Adverts appear above and on the right-hand side of search results which try and match what it is you are searching for.
Google Adwords provides a very effective pay-per-click method of driving traffic to a website, and they also supply extensive analytic information to help with the adjusting and tweaking of this online advertising medium.
Are you using any of these tools and platforms to help grow your business?
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Online Advertising on Google and Facebook
Google Ads are shown as “sponsored links” on Google Search Results Pages.
These Ads appear based on what people are searching for and Google does not require you to log-in, so these Ads tend to be based on what you are looking for.
On the other hand Facebook Ads are targeted at people more specifically.
Why do I get so many Facebook ads for Over 50′s dating sites?
Because Facebook knows I am over 50 and single.
I find this a bit intrusive though.
It is great from a marketing perspective, but surely people don’t like being targeted that directly.
I know I don’t, so I tend to ignore all Facebook ads.
Classic Rock on Rhythm
Many international acts are hard to find on Rhythm Music Store due to various licencing restrictions, however there are a number of classic rock songs that can be found.
Here is a list of some of my favourites in no particular order; please note that quite often they are live versions or updated re-recordings.
- Pinball Wizard – The Who
- The Ghost Of Tom Joad – Bruce Springsteen
- Like A Rolling Stone – Jimi Hendrix
- Ball and Chain – Janis Joplin
- Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
- Turn It On Again – Genesis
- Lady In Black - Uriah Heep
- Locomotive Breath – Jethro Tull
- Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple
- Roundabout – Yes
- Nights In White Satin – Moody Blues
- Sugar Man – Rodriguez
- For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield
- White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane
- Soul Sacrifice – Santana
- Rocking All Over The World – Status Quo
- Wearing and Tearing - Robert Plant and Jimmy Page (from Led Zeppelin)
- Hey Jude – Paul McCartney (from The Beatles)
- Sunshine Of Your Love – Eric Clapton (from Cream)
- All The Young Dudes – Mott The Hoople
- Wild Thing – The Troggs
- Tomorrow Never Knows (Beatles cover) – Tangerine Dream
- 25 of 6 to 4 – Chicago
- Love Is The Drug – Roxy Music
- Get Ready – Rare Earth
- This Flight Tonight – Nazareth
- The Ballad Of Hollis Brown – Bob Dylan
- Natural Born Bugie – Humble Pie
- Whatever Happened To Saturday Night – Meat Loaf
- Don’t Bring Me Down – The Pretty Things
- So You Wanna Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star – The Byrds
And as a bonus, take a listen to Ministry’s Cover Up album which includes covers of songs by classic rockers The Doors, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Golden Earring and err, Louis Armstrong.
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Classic South African Rock Songs available to download
Many of my favourite South African Rock songs from the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s have been becoming available for download on Rhythm Music Store over the last while.
Here are a few of them, in no particular order:
- Buccaneer – McCully Workshop
- ZX Dan – Radio Rats
- International News – National Wake
- Mysteries and Jealousy – The Helicopters
- This Boy – Sweatband
- Playgrounds In Paradise – Finch and Henson
- Celebrate – Julian Laxton Band
- Give Me The Good News – Crocodile Harris
- Jo Bangles – Baxtop
- Johnny Calls The Chemist – Falling Mirror
- Shadows – éVoid
- Six String Razor – Mauritz Lotz
- Goeienag Generaal – Piet Botha
- Sarajevo – Jack Hammer
- Who Killed Kurt Cobain – Koos Kombuis
- Blommetjie Gedenk Aan My – Anton Goosen
- Competition Rules – No Friends Of Harry
- Don’t Dance – Kalahari Surfers
- Bokkie Bokkie – David Kramer
- Kiss The Machine – Battery9
- Die Mystic Boer – Valiant Swart
- Sex – Pressure Cookies
- Waiting (For A Miracle) – Dog Detachment
- The Boys – Lancaster Band
- Baby You Been Good To Me – Robin Auld
- Thugs – The Dynamics
- The Road Is Much Longer – Roger Lucey
- Shot Down - The Cherry Faced Lurchers
- Ancient Dust Of Africa – Edi Niederlander
- Button Your Lip – Illegal Gathering
- Sea Level – Urban Creep
- The Party Song – The Electric Petals
- Road – Sugardrive
