Media

Mark Gilroy July 10, 2014

The Move From Blogger to WordPress – Why? Why Not?

Is Blogger best for you?

Is WordPress best for you?

I am mostly done with moving my blog from Blogger to WordPress. Look around my site and you will find there is still a lot to update. But I’m far enough along to feel reasonably comfortable in inviting you to stop by. (No housewarming gifts needed, but thank you.)

So why did I make the move from Blogger to WordPress? I must have seen a need to change. And why did I wait seven years? I must have found reasons to stay where I was.

If you are a blogger or considering setting up a blog, my experience might help you understand the best platform for to use and a little of what goes into making a change if you determine that is the best course for you.

EASE OF SET UP

There is nothing easier to set up and run for a blogger than Google’s Blogger platform. I write. I don’t program and design. Blogger was the perfect place for me to start. It was so easy I actually had time to learn the features and customize my website to a reasonably attractive and professional degree. (I did pay a few bucks to a designer to create my own custom header.) Building and changing the layout and adding or moving features was as simple as dragging elements around. Because the layout templet was visual, you knew immediately and exactly what you were going to see with each change.

Another thing that made Blogger easy was it was free.

WordPress requires an immediate decision. Self hosting (.org) or free hosting (.com). If you choose free hosting, you are restricted from adding plugins or widgets like AdSense that monetize your blog. If you do the self hosting you have to install WP into your hosting service before you start setting up and designing your blog.

With WP you next decide on whether to use a free template or a premium template. Either way, the dashboard view is not nearly as intuitive and visual for building your layout and adding features. I’ll quickly note, after the first four or five hours of arranging and rearranging elements, WordPress has gotten quite easy to work with.

I chose the self-hosting option to have the most control and flexibility over my blog, whether or not monetization is a big issue for me. I chose a premium template from a company that has been developing templates for years. I think that provides better insurance that my template will always be up-to-date with the newest version of WP. [Read more…]

Mark Gilroy January 23, 2014

My 5-Star Review for Cumberbatch and Sherlock

CBS has brought a contemporary Sherlock Holmes to America and added a whole new look (and gender) to Dr. Watson (played by Lucy Liu) in their hit show Elementary. I hear it is very good. I’m sure it is. But I have a problem with it even though I’ve never seen it.

It’s not the BBC’s rendition of Sherlock Holmes, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the world’s greatest detective, and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson. (Freeman starred as Bilbo Baggins in the second installment of The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug, and I kept waiting for him to help Gandalf solve a crime.)

Having read all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories and novels as a kid, I love that the producers are steeped in the history and nuances of the Victorian Holmes. They have done a masterful job in bringing him to life in modern London while honoring Doyle’s original stories. It is obvious they are raving fans. And thank you to another fan, my daughter Lindsey, who introduced me to the BBC iteration.

Cumberbatch’s Sherlock is clever, quirky, humorous, dark, and intelligent in sufficient measure that fans (like my wife and I) put up with a second full-year hiatus as we waited for Season Three to arrive without abandoning ship. This is not normal TV viewing. The first two seasons had only three episodes each. It helps that each episode is ninety minutes long but I could still do with more.

Consider this my personal recommendation to watch Sherlock and watch Sherlock now. But don’t start with Season Three. It’s hard to find anyway. You have to hope you can find it on PBS’s Masterpiece Theater in those short interludes when they aren’t doing reruns of Downton Abbey. Or you can buy it by the season or episode on Amazon Prime or Vudu or another streaming service. Seasons One and Two are available for no cost on Netflix.

The other reason not to start watching with Season Three is how Season Two ended. So if you haven’t seen that, stop reading now, and consider this a spoiler alert.

Sherlock is so well done that we can (and do) forgive each long wait for new episodes … and for the pain and suffering the producers inflicted on us when Sherlock fell to his apparent death at the end of Season Two. His unforgettable return created a masterful interplay between Holmes and Watson as they painfully … awkwardly … hilariously reconnect. At the end of Season Three’s opening episode, “The Empty Hearse,” you realize “we” were Watson, and we too wondered why Sherlock let us think he was dead without a word for two long, painful years.

But the return was so satisfying that we, like Watson, have to forgive Sherlock. He’s just too fun to be around to stay mad at him forever.

In my humble opinion, Cumberbatch is the best Sherlock ever – and Sherlock is the best show on TV today. Well, at least for three episodes every other year.

Mark Gilroy August 26, 2012

Self-Promotion: I Wanna Talk About Me

Look at me!

Self-promotion. How much is too little and how much is too much?

In his smash hit, “I Wanna Talk About Me,” Toby Keith makes a case both directions – some promote (or at least talk) too much and some too little. It’s a great reminder of what Dale Carnegie taught us in How to Win Friends and Influence People – everyone wants to get a word in edge-wise.

With Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, and so many other social media to connect us with people we know, the question of self-promotion gets relational. Now it’s not only a question of how much self-promotion is appropriate for the world at large – but with the people we know and call friends. Are we driving them crazy?

This is a personal question for me. As an author my publisher tells me I have to promote my books – if I don’t, no one else will either. As a publisher, I tell my authors the same thing.

But no one wants to lose friends by being obnoxious.

So when promoting your activities – particularly with friends – particularly in the social media age we live in:

How much self-promotion is too much? not enough? just right?

Be aware that no matter what you do you will always get one of three responses:

Anything you say to promote yourself will be too much with some.
Others sincerely want to know what you’re doing – everything you’re doing – especially Mom.
Still more aren’t going to notice anything you say anyway – they’re too busy self-promoting – so who cares since you’re just talking to yourself?

So really … how much self-promotion is just right? Because it’s true, if you don’t believe in yourself and what you’re doing, who else should and will?

There is obviously no single answer. You can already read my mind on the topic. My typical response: the answer is yes and no, more and less.

Better go with your own comfort level, knowing you can’t control your intended responses no matter how careful or reckless you are. A few simple words of counsel – as much a reminder to myself as a word to anyone else – include:

Keep a sense of perspective and humor – your project is not the center of the universe or a matter of life and death for others – even if what you are doing is life and death in your mind.
Err on the side of caution – do not overdo it lest you become a nuisance to your friends. The rule of thumb for Facebook and other high relationship networks is keep your posts relational – don’t promote your products more than one, possibly two times a week from your personal account. Sell indirectly by being interesting and staying engaged. Trust they’ll find you. On Twitter you can promote about as much as you want – but beware, you still need to be interesting and interactive or people will tune you out.
In general conversation, make sure you listen as much as you speak – do you know what others are up to? (Do you care?)
If your purpose to be on social media, at least in part, is to promote what you are doing, be sure to return the favor to others who are likewise promoting and acknowledge what they are up to with Likes, RTs, Shares, comments or whatever else helps. Create some quid pro quo relationships.
Keep your message “soft sell” – especially with friends – as most people don’t like to be pushed.

If none of what I wrote helped you on the topic, maybe you can pick up some more direction from the guy who just wanted to talk a little about himself!