Ryan Bickett » General

Starting the New Year with a Clean Slate

Ryan — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 00:56:58 +0000

I started blogging several years ago. As is the case with many bloggers, my initial blog was basically just a personal journal. I’d write about whatever happened to be of interest to me at the time. One day I’d write a post about web design or graphic design. Then a few days later, I’d write a post about my favorite band. I was just having fun documenting and sharing my thoughts in this way.

After a while, however, my life seemed to be getting busier and busier. I had switched my day job. Additionally, I had decided to go back to school for my master’s degree which had been a personal goal of mine. With the new and added responsibilities and priorities in my life, my blogging efforts took a backseat and were soon non-existent.

Fortunately (I think) my interest in blogging never really went away and has actually continued to grow over the last couple of years. I managed to complete my master’s degree at the end of 2010 and finally find myself with a bit more time to focus on a few of my personal interests.

Here we are at the beginning of 2012. It’s the start of a new year. I see this as a great time to start fresh with a sort of clean slate if you will. I have some lofty goals and ideas and am hopeful that during 2012 I will be able to bring a few of these to fruition.

This website will continue to be my personal journal. Additionally, it will serve as my playground where I will build, test, bend, and break things on a fairly regular basis as I continue to build upon my web design and web development skills.

So, cheers to a new year and starting fresh with a clean slate!

The Importance of Setting Goals

Ryan — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:54:09 +0000

Towards the end of December of 2009, I was getting ready to write down and commit to a few new years resolutions for 2010 and beyond. December 31st came and went and yet I had not written down or committed myself to any of the resolutions I had been contemplating. One such resolution was to begin blogging on a much more frequent basis. Well, simply look at my last blog post (July 2009) and you will see that I haven’t begun to live up to that resolution yet this year (maybe this post will be my late start). So here I sit at my desk. It’s February 21, 2010 and I am still contemplating my goals for the next year as well as what I’d like to accomplish both personally and professionally in the next five years. I’ve been doing a lot of reading on this subject lately and decided my first post of 2010 would be on the importance of setting personal and professional goals. Below is a list of articles and resources that discuss the subject of setting both personal and professional goals. I’ve found these articles to be extremely helpful and hope that you do too!

Articles and Resources About Setting Goals

Setting Goals is Only Part of the Battle

One thing that has become extremely clear to me is that setting goals and objectives is only half the battle. Actually, it’s a lot less than half the battle. The real battle is in doing the actual work to achieve your goals. I’ll write a post (or several) on that subject later!

Would Love to Hear Your Thoughts

How do you go about setting goals? How frequently do you set goals…weekly, monthly, yearly, etc.? Have you read any good articles or blog posts on the subject of setting goals lately…any that were bookmark worthy? If so, I’d love for you to share them in the comments below!

How to Create a Blogging Plan and Actually Reach Your Goals This Year

Bella (Pet Dog) Diving Off a Dock for Her Favorite Toy

Ryan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:32:59 +0000

The 4th of July holiday has now passed. It was a busy, but very good one. We spent time at the family cabin as well as in my hometown of Prior Lake, MN where we went to enjoy the fireworks display.

We had a great time at the cabin. One of the highlights had to be playing with my sister-in-law’s and brother-in-law’s pet dog, Bella.Â Bella has always been a playful dog. Over the past few years, she’s grown a huge affinity for swimming and playing fetch in the water. This weekend was no different. Bella was basically playing fetch all day long with whomever would throw her toy out into the lake. After playing fetch with her for a while and realizing her toy would sink when thrown out into the lake, we also noticed that Bella was getting even braver. She started diving under the water for her toy! It was hilarious to watch. So, I had to grab a quick video of Bella’s diving skills and wanted to share it.

Enjoy!

The Key Elements or Components of a Successful Online Community

Ryan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:30:21 +0000

As I’ve mentioned before, I am currently working on a personal website project. While I am not ready to share any real specific information about the project, I do want to discuss the basic premise of the project which is to create an online community for a specific niche that I am passionate about. I’ve been doing some research on online communities and thought that it would be a great topic for a blog post. In addition to sharing my thoughts on this topic, I’d really love to hear your feedback and thoughts related to online communities. Anyway, as you can see by the title of this post I’d like to discuss the elements or components that play a key role in creating successful online community websites.

Components of Successful Online Communities

A Shared Vision
Active Leader/Management
Multiple Channels of Communication
Website Usability and Accessibility
User/Member Profiles

A Shared Vision

As with any website, an online community needs to have a vision or mission. This vision needs to be shared amongst the sites target audience. What is the purpose of the online community? What are the problems the website is trying to solve for its audience? What are the ultimate goals and objectives of the website? How does or can the online community fulfill the needs of its audience? In order for the website to be successful, the target audience will need to believe in the mission and vision of the community and see the website as a valuable resource.

Active Leader/Management

A strong vision will only get you so far. Another key component is that the online community needs to have an active leader and/or management. An online community is really a tribe of people that share a similar interest. Every tribe that I am aware of has a leader. The tribe leader holds the community together and helps it to progress forward in order to achieve a shared goal or vision. If an online community is missing an active leader or management, the community will fall apart.

Multiple Channels of Communication

Communication is one of the most important aspects of an online community. Afterall, without communication, you don’t really have a functional community. Not all members of a community will have the same preferences when it comes to specific methods of communication. From social media to RSS feeds and email, there are many channels of communication online. In order to appeal to and engage the audience, it is important to include a variety of communication channels such as opt-in email lists, forums, RSS feeds, and social media. This will help to ensure that the audience has a convenient way to stay connected.

Website Usability and Accessibility

While the design of the online community website may not be the most important element, I do believe that design plays a key role in the success of an online community. Having a solid, professional design will improve the brand image and perception that the audience has of the specific community. Additionally, good design means creating a site that focuses on usability and accessibility. Focusing on these key design issues will help to ensure that the website is inviting and that the audience has a good experience when visiting the online community.

User/Member Profiles

When it comes to creating a community, member profiles are important. To build a solid community not only do the members of that community need to trust the leader, they also have to trust each other. User profiles can play a key role in building trust within a community. It’s been my experience that while participating in online communities, I usually learn just as much from the comments of members as I do by reading the main content or posts. I also often find myself reading the comments or postings from members whose names I know and those who’ve added value to the community over time.

What Are Your Thoughts?

These are just five of the elements that I believe play a key role in whether or not an online community will be successful. I know that I have missed several. So, I would love to hear your thoughts.

From your experience or perspective, what are the key elements to creating a successful online community?

Learn to Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business

Ryan — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:19:00 +0000

To say that I am a writer would definitely be an overstatement. Writing is a craft that I have never been very good at. Words just do not seem to flow out of me as they do others. I’ve worked with several extremely talented writers over the course of my career and have always been in awe of how easy writing came to them.

As I’ve become more and more interested in blogging over the course of the last several months, I have a renewed interest in learning more about what it takes to become a successful copywriter. While writing is not my main passion or career interest, it does play a key role in what I do professionally.

Learning to Become a Better Copywriter

There are several wonderful online copywriting resources I have turned to over the last few months. Copyblogger and DailyWritingTips.com are two great resources that I have started to frequent.

Another resource I have been frequenting is FreelanceFolder.com. I have been interested in this blog for several reasons. FreelanceFolder.com is geared towards web designers, graphic designers, copywriters, and really all other types of freelancers. Whether you freelance on the side while working fulltime or are currently a fulltime freelancer, Freelance Folder is bound to be a great resource for you.

Recently, Freelance Folder announced that they’d be doing a series of getting started guides related to different freelance niches. The series will focus on getting started as a freelance graphic designer, a freelance web designer, a freelance programmer/developer, as well as several other types of freelancing.

The first book, which was just released, is How to Start a Freelance Writing Business. The 48 page book costs $12 and comes as a downloadable PDF file. How to Start a Freelance Writing Business was writen by Laura Spencer who is a professional freelance writer with over 19 years of experience in the industry. Over 7 of those years she’s spent as a freelancer.

What the Book Covers

The skills and characteristics it takes to become a successful freelance writer
How to create a brand and launch a legally established writing business
How to market your business and get your first clients
How to set your rates and negotiate with clients
How to properly manage your projects and handle the administrative tasks that go along with running your own business
An much more…

If you are interested in pursuing a freelance writing career, I encourage you to learn more about this book. If writing is not your thing, as I mentioned earlier Freelance Folder will be releasing other getting started guides. So, be sure to check out their website.

What Are Your Thoughts?

Have any of you purchased the How to Start a Freelance Writing Business eBook? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the book. Additionally, if you are a freelancer, I would love to hear how you got started. Do you have any tips for those of us wishing to become freelancers or start our own businesses?

Related Products

The Ultimate Freelancer

Participation: Is It the Key to Interactive Marketing and Social Media Strategy

Ryan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:28:43 +0000

Over the past several months, I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon. Well, it’s maybe not so much a phenomenon as it is an occurrence I’ve been noticing. With the extremely rapid growth of social media over the last few years, I’ve noticed many people claiming to be “experts” in this field. I also see many managers claiming to or acting as if they “get” interactive marketing and social media. When in reality, I don’t believe they do “get it” at all.

So, this has brought up a question in my head that I am interested in getting feedback from others on. In order to be successful at managing interactive and social media tactics, does one have to be a regular participant in these activities? In other words, how important is it that managers/leaders live and breath the strategies that they are responsible for developing?

I think it’s an interesting question. I am the type of person that when something interests me enough for me to pursue it, I typically immerse myself in the subject. Whether it’s a hobby or career interest, when I am really intrigued by something I put time and effort into learning as much as I can about the subject. However, with the amount of new technologies and information out there, it’s very often difficult to really keep up with all of the areas that interest me.

So my question to you is this, can a person be good (or great) in a domain without being a regular participant in that specific domain? What are your thoughts?

Bloggers: Learn to Build a Better Blog in 31 Days

Ryan — Sat, 30 May 2009 02:36:05 +0000

Blogging has grown to become a hobby for many web enthusiasts throughout the world. For many, blogging has actually become a way to earn a full-time income. While the vast majority of bloggers do not set out to earn money through blogging, it has become increasingly realistic for dedicated bloggers to make some decent money through their blogging efforts. Choose a topic that you are passionate about and share your thoughts, ideas, and knowledge with the world! You are bound to find a tribe of people with similar passions who are interested in what you have to say. While I am by no means a professional blogger, I am very interested in the idea of being able to earn money while pursuing one’s passion.

I started blogging several years ago. At the time I was pursuing several freelance website design projects and was interested in learning all I could about online marketing. I decided to return to school as it’s been a goal of mine to earn a master’s degree. While I wanted to keep up with my side projects, I just couldn’t as I was really focused on my school work. So, my blogging efforts took a hiatus.

Well, I am still in school and working full-time. So, I have been pretty busy. However, my desire to blog and pursue my true passions has only grown. I attribute this to the things I’ve learned not only about business, but also about myself while working on my master’s degree. I’ve had some really great and inspirational professors. Additionally, I’ve been reading a lot online and have found several resources that have inspired me to pursue blogging (at least as a hobby). One such resource is Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger blog. ProBlogger is a great resource for anyone interested in pursuing blogging as a hobby or with the goal of creating a full-time income online.

Back in April of this year, Darren started a program called 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. The idea behind the program was to get a group of bloggers together and have them set aside time to participate in activities that would help them learn more about blogging. The goal was to ultimately help the group improve their individual blogs while also bringing the group together in support of each other. After all, a major part of successful blogging is building community.

So, I did my best to participate in as many of the activities as I could, however, finals were coming up for school. So, I needed to focus more of my attention on my school work. I got a little off course and wasn’t able to follow the 31 days religiously. However, I did make it a point to bookmark each day. As time permits, I’ve been going back and reading each of the 31 posts.

Luckily, Darren has decided to release the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog program in a workbook format. I was pretty excited to learn of this and decided I’d purchase the book. While I could just read the posts online, ProBlogger has been a valuable resource and I’ve learned quite a bit from Darren’s blog. So, I decided to purchase the book in order to support his efforts.

If you didn’t participate in the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog program but are interested in learning more about how to improve your own blog, I encourage you to check out ProBlogger and if you are really interested in pursuing blogging more seriously, purchase the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

If you do purchase the book or just set aside time to go through the 31 Days activities, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. I’d also love to learn about your own blogging projects. So, don’t be shy and leave me a comment below.