The Blog Is Dead. Long Live The Blog!

You may — or may not — have noticed that over the past few weeks I have posted less and less. It's not that I have nothing to share (quite the opposite!), it's more due to the fact that I am disentangling my tools for publication and communication recently. Over the last years too many hungry, distracting and disruptive services/memberships had piled up — so a clean-up was long overdue.

One of my main concern was: how to go on with blogging. Fortunately I had some clients asking me the same question regarding their corporate blogs, so I spent some time to do a research.

And another one was: REACH. Starting a blog is like building a city in the middle of nowhere. Which means: after you've done your contentual work you have to run around with flyers ("social media"), hopefully bringing people over to read your brilliant stuff. You need to have a lot of stamina for this grassroots work. And don't forget all those white-/black-hat SEO one-trick ponies telling you what to do (my tip: just ignore 'em all and post awesome stuff instead).

I am glad I finished running this gauntlet, nevertheless I had the urge to move on. But before I explain my decision, why I will move my blog over to Tumblr, here is a quick overview, where I am coming from.

• ralfbecker.com (this site) runs on Squarespace 5. Squarespace's support is awesome and it's high failure safety is tremendous. Even as Sandy boogied NYC, Squarespace kept up their good work. If you are looking for a portfolio site, you should definitely give Squarespace a try. Personally I like Squarespace #5 better than version #6.

• chromjuwelen.com and motorkultur.com, our motherships, are both running on Joomla. Joomla is an extremely powerful open source content management system and has been downloaded over 35 million times(!). But as you can imagine, it's more a flattop than a lightwight powerboat.

• I played around with WordPress as well (of course), but it just isn't doing it for me. I am no coder, and all this plugin- and template-huddle turns me off. Especially the backend — where you spend the most time when you are working — never worked for me. Ok, deciding against WordPresse means you don't belong to the 18.9% of the top 10 million websites that are running this famous software, but I don't mind.

• Several years ago I was responsible for some blogs running on Moveable Type as well, but … err … well …. I think I just forgot about this platform. Which is truly not an indicative that Moveable Type convinced me.

• Of course, there are a ton of other services: Blogger, Jimdo, Jux, Wix (oh boy, what a name), just to name a few of them. And don't forget about Facebug (which became kind of a standard in the meantime like your email address). But I never considered Facebook as a blogging platform. Although I know there are some dudes out there who are just doing this.

Let me now turn to Tumblr. Originally I established our Chromjuwelen Tumblr for just one reason: collecting, clipping and curating inspiring stuff (long before Pinterest came up) and presenting it via Tumblr's stunning "/archive" function. Tumblr has always been good to me. Like a faithful soul, working in the background. My social media work horse for collecting, live blogging (via Instagram) and sharing. In the meantime I even became one of the Tumblr-editors for #cars, which means I can clip posts to Tumblr's own car channel.

To be honest: When I thought of changing my blogging platform, Tumblr wasn't the first thing which came to my mind. Sometimes you miss the forest for the trees. But finally, it sunk in. 

• If you are blogging about highly visual topics like CARS, it's all about PHOTOS. Nothing else. The truth is: most of the time your visitors aren't interested in long copies (are you still with me?). Although you might think so.

• "Sharing is caring": It is much easier to share content on Tumblr than it is on a usual blog. Sure — you can install share buttons on your whatever blog. But did you ever use them? I barely. But once you are registered on Tumblr it is just a click to pay respect to a post.

• I love the "/archive" feature on Tumblr, as I mentioned before.

• Tumblr is responsive. Out of the box.

• The templates are scaleable. You can start with a simple (micro-)blog and tune it later. Once improved, it has no need to shy away from any comparison to the above mentioned services.

• Back to that catch-word "reach" — you don't have to annoy your Facebook- or Twitter-buddies with coaxing messages. You are already part of a huge community of 134 million blogs. Just share awesome stuff, get connected, and the rest will follow. Your reach will grow organically. No SEO wizzard needed.

• No provider- and server-hosting-wrangeling, no coding. Same as Squarespace offers. Perfect.

Along these lines: Farewell Squarespace blog, hello Tumblr. A big THANK YOU to everyone that has followed me here on my blog. If you want to stay in touch — which would really honor me — bookmark this address: chromjuwelen.tumblr.com. Or pull the feed in your reader. Or get registered at Tumblr and follow me.

I am going to keep up this site and blog for all the posts already here (even though I may bring some over and reshare) as a sort of archive. As well, this site will remain my "Ralf Becker | Consulting" corporate site. And if this is your first time here, please take a look and then head over to my new digs!

Google+ Communities

"Google+ Communities" is the new kid on the block. And although a lot of people think Google+ is dead, we think it's worth a try. As of shortly Google's tools felt clunky and geeky, but in the meantime that has changed. The web-interface is smart, and the new mobile app is a killer. No more fiddling with different apps, just one intuitive and snappy client.

Beside from that the quality of communications quality on G+ is very high. Which is perfect for our intention, as we aren't interested in just another blinged and artistically-filtered food porn flash in the pan. Our intention is much more to create cultural (Think: Motorkultur!), long-tailed storytelling.

You wanna join the party? Follow this link!

Google+

A few days ago Google rolled out "Google+" and we are honored to be part of it. At the moment it is still a kind of closed beta. "Kind of" because sometimes it seems to be possible to invite other people, but most of the time it fails. 

Due to our concerns for Facebook we are thrilled what this will do to the whole "Social Media" circus. Will it be a game changer? Or a geeky non-starter? It seems Ford (FoMoCo, Ford Europe) tries to find an answer as well.

Be that as it may — our first steps on Google+ feel very good. The whole interface (web/mobile) is excellent designed and fun to use. If you are on Google+ — let's get in touch! 

Social media is not "cool." MAKING MONEY IS COOL.

If you are making your money in the publishing-/marketing- or agency business, you've got to have an idea regarding "Social Media". There's no getting round it, Social Media is the big hype these days. And as there are no instruction manuals how to use Social Media, it is just a big trial and error. So do we, by the way. I post regularly about our defeats and successes.

Today I came across an article from Peter Shankman (Business Insider), which is perfect for all of those, who are just thinking about hiring a so called "Social Media Expert". Read it. And think again.

My favorite quotes (except the borrowed statement which I used as headline):

[...] Being an expert in social media is like being an expert at taking the bread out of the refrigerator. [...]

[...] Social media is just another facet of marketing and customer service. Say it with me. Repeat it until you know it by heart. Bind it as a sign upon your hands and upon thy gates. Social media, by itself, will not help you. [...]

[...] "It’s not about building a website anymore! It’s so much cooler! It’s about Facebook, and fans, and followers, and engagement, and influence, and…" Will you please shut up before you make me vomit on your shoes? [...]

Sure, some statements in Peter Shankman's article may sound radical. But there's some truth in it.

Tumblr Cars: Ranking Position #1 and #9

How weird. I just apologized for my inabilty and stated I still have to learn how to use Tumblr. But something must have went right: Tumblr just ranked two of my blogs in their "#cars" top ten (link only works for logged in users). The Dodge Charger III Concept—source: Amcar Guide—went on first place, the 1970 Pininfarina Modulo, which I found at Flavien Dachet's always inspiring "Karznshit", ended up on position nine.

This is funny. I started using Tumblr as my personal scrapbook and moodboard, used it later as a workaround to collect inspiring sources for our Chromjuwelen Grid, but never checked whether my articles are liked by the Tumblr community. All the more I am surprised to find my articles in Tumblr's "Popular Top Ten".

But to make it clear: It was the Amcar Guide, who wrote the article about the Dodge Charger III Concept. And it was Flavien Dachet, who presented the Pininifarina Modulo. This means: The kudos belong to them!  

I failed at tumblr

I just received an e-mail from one of my best-loved blogs, Just A Car Guy, that I reblog articles without quoting the sources right. I am a loser.

One of the biggest and outrageous blogging mistakes is not naming the sources—blogs, flickr, profiles—where you dig your stuff. I hate it when people are doing this with my stuff. But this is exactly what I did, so it seems.

I use my tumblr to dig articles which inspire me. We import those articles to Chromjuwelen.com as well. I relied on my workaround that everything would be fine. But it is not.

With this post I would like to apologize for my failure.

I am a loser

First runner up is the first loser. No, I am just kidding. I am totally thrilled Cision picked me and my neurotic ralfbecker.com-blog as No. 2 in their "Top 10 Automobil Blogs Deutschland". It seems like we did a couple of things right throughout the last five years. And it seems like our work has enriched automotive media and marketing as well. Which is awesome!

For those who don't know Cision: 

"Your Story. Covered. You have a story to tell. That much never changes, but the way you get it out does. Every day brings new technologies, outlets and contacts. And every media response can change your public image, for better or worse. Whether you're a communications professional or a member of the media, Cision brings together all the elements you need to find the right leads and sources, target the right editors and publications, get coverage and achieve measurable results. Cision - where the media and PR connect."

If you want to know more about Cision's blog ranking methodology — here is a short overview.

Oh ... did I mention I am thrilled?

SEO, SMO and Motorkultur. Err ... what?

As I mentioned before, I've just fallen in love with Tumblr. I know—under SEO (Search Engine Optimization) aspects it isn't really clever to share your stuff on several platforms. But as we all just learned: SEO isn't everything, in lieu thereof SMO (Social Media Optimization) becomes more and more important. Especially if you deal with a special interest topic like car passion.

Imho SMO is CRUCIAL if you want to reach the right people. To speak from my own experience: I follow a lot of "trust agents". Which means: I read their blogs and follow their Twitter. In short: Really awesome and inspiring stuff isn't brought to me by search engines. And as my partner Chris philosophizes: "It can't be the interest of search engines that everyone out there is writing/producing search engine "correct". It must be more in everyone's interest that search engines digg really inspiring stuff—which is seldom SEO correctly produced. Or—btw—don't you ever have had that creeping feeling that you only find stuff via search engines which is produced by companies with big SEO budgets? Well, I do. Every day.

Any way. Buzzword bingo switched off. I just changed the template on my Tumblr, and with that new (free!) layout comes a tiny archive button. This function was new to me, but what I found behind that link really blew my mind. It's a thumbnail mosaic of my tumblered articles. Ok, the pages takes a moment to get loaded, but it's a nice little feature which I would love to have on my other—really content heavy—site(s) as well. It just gives you an intutive approach to content, which I actually miss on several sites. Especially when I am en tour with my iPad, where a "nornal" hypertext navigation hits the wall.

Maybe this doesn't impress you, but it exactly matches with some thoughts about an all-embracing Chromjuwelen.com weight-loss program. Also it solves another problem: Thumbnails are language independent, so you don't have to read my German School English any longer ...

Farewell, Facebook

I am not sure when it exactly happened first. But there has been a certain moment when Facebook started to annoy me. Too much information, too much things I don't wanna even know and too much digital bullsh*t—like Farmville, Mafia Wars and stupid quizzes. At that point I realized Facebook is a big, fat time wasting machine.

Facebook is—compared to travelling, for example—like package holiday. So if Center Parcs or the Aida turns you on, go ahead. I won't. Or, to draw another comparison: Facebook is like a huge shopping mall. But—put your hand on your heart—have you ever found the really inspiring shops in a mall? Nope. Also, Facebook isn't a tool or service like Gmail, Flickr or Twitter which helps me getting my things done.

I am blogging since five years. And if you—just in case—like what I do, read my blogs or hook up on my Twitter. Maybe you want to tell me I am a dumb*ss—simply use the comment function below my articles. It works exactly the same as you probably know it from Facebook. Ok, you want to shoot me a message? Easy. Send me an old-school email. You'll find the address on my contact page. And apart from that, there are tons of other ways where you can get in touch with me. This one is really wicked: what about joining up in real life?

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm out. I act as my own guinea pig and deactivate my personal Facebook account. I am interested in how it feels not being a member of the biggest community you can find nowadays. So if it feels ok (like deleting my XING account two years ago), maybe I'll never bring it back ...