IF you are going to use the internet to earn a living, whether that be through words, music or the arts, it is important to use the evolving tools out there to your advantage.
For example, many people will be writing articles and doing interviews that they write up, send off and then just leave on their computer.
Using writing as an example, what good is that to you if a piece is gathering dust on your hard drive?
Get that piece, or a derivative, up on a blog that you regularly update with your own notes and comments from your field of expertise, that then shows others your knowledge and could lead to further commissions.
The same applies to photographs, place them up on Flickr or other networking services, with a simple link back to your blog and slowly over time people will follow your work.
But don't stop at photos, what if you are giving a talk on something and have prepared a few slides, no harm in placing them on Flickr as well, take a look at what Robin Hamman has done here.
Recorded an interview with someone lately? With freely available editing tools you can turn it into an MP3 that lets people listen to it on their computer or iPod, and you can supply a feed so a person's player is updated automatically.
Then bring together your pictures and audio to produce a simple video-style piece, using Wondows Media Player or similar, that you can place on YouTube and again highlight your main site.
Hi Craig,
This was the original thinking behind 'You've got your hands full' - I had a load of articles about a specialist subject sitting there and I know there is a potential readership as more people receive news that makes them interested in that specialist subject! In turn this has helped me strengthen and develop that specialism.
Posted by: Linda | March 01, 2007 at 13:16
Hi Linda, as you say using your archive of articles establishes a presence in a variety of ways, Craig.
Posted by: Craig | March 01, 2007 at 20:28