Blog

Now that the new upNext.ca is up and running, it’s great to finally have something completely built on WordPress. WordPress is a free blogging and content management system that allows you to not only post to a blog, but do many of the things that would in the past take a fancy software package to maintain.

After getting more inspiration at Wordcamp 2008, here are my top 5 favourite things about using WordPress…

1. Updates are a snap

Anytime I want to add something to the site, I login to my WordPress account, tap a few keys, and bang, everything is updated. No fussing around with code, it’s as simple as writing an email. It handles all the image and media uploads for you and archives the old content as the new stuff is posted.

2. You can publish now, or publish later

WordPress can put out the new content immediately, or you can post new content at a specific time in the future. You could write a bunch of articles all at once, and publish them one at a time at any interval you choose. While it looks like you’re constantly hard at work writing articles, you can get everything done beforehand and be sipping margaritas at the beach while your site continues to update… which brings us to…

3. Publish anywhere

WordPress isn’t a program that runs on your computer, it’s software that runs on your web server. You can login from anywhere in the world with a computer and an internet connection, and in minutes update your website. With today’s smartphones, you don’t even need a computer to be putting new content on your website. You can be sipping that margarita on the beach and posting great content at the same time. Although one should be careful about combining margaritas and the internet, the results can be downright ugly.

4. Easy to post audio and video

Want to have your server host your video content? How about embed a player from Youtube or any other video provider? No problem, click the add media button, add the URL or video file, and presto, you have video. Use the built-in audio player to add an audio file that your user can either download, or listen to right on your website.

5. It’s free, and really popular

The best thing about using free, open-source software is the incredible amount of cool plug-ins that people have made. Generally if you have a problem that needs solving, somebody has already run into it and created a solution that can immediately be dropped into your website. For example, when I come out with a new blog post I want to post notice of it on Twitter and update my Facebook status. Enter a little piece of code called Twitpress, and everything updates automatically.

Have yet to experience the fun that is WordPress? Leave me a comment, and I’ll be happy to give you a tour.

Last night I had the opportunity to venture out to the Langley Casino for Wordcamp Fraser Valley 2008. An event set up by Gary Jones and the folks at Bluefur Web Hosting.

Wordcamp was all about learning and interacting with other users of the WordPress blogging platform, which happens to be the software behind upnext.ca, strocel.com, and jackchristie.com. So it was a great opportunity to get tips on using the system, as well as network with other bloggers.

So I get in line for registration, and who’s right in front of me but my brother James coming out from Abbotsford. So it was nice to catch up with him, and makes me think we should talk more often so if we’re showing up at the same event we could meet for dinner or something.

Anyways, looked like about 80-100 people in the room for an evening speakers, chatting, and those great Coast Hotel clickable pens. The presenters were…

• Raul from hummingbird604.com about why we should switch to WordPress and suggested some good plugins
• Gary from bluefur.com on business blogging and the importance of engagement
• Kulpreet from kulpreetsingh.com on WordPress security and why nobody should have a WordPress author named “admin”
• Rebecca from miss604.com about creating custom sidebars and pages. She had a great point about having post titles match the content for better SEO.
• John from johnchow.com on getting more traffic to your blog. I now know what to do with the all in one SEO plugin.

Thanks to everyone who organized the event and came to speak, it was well run and I’m looking forward to the next one.

Our good friend Jack Christie is the go-to guy for information about travel and outdoor recreation in BC. In addition to his regular column in the Georgia Straight, Jack writes some of the best travel guides around.

His current books are…

• Best Weekend Getaways from Vancouver
• The Whistler Book
• 52 Best Daytrips from Vancouver

We had the pleasure of putting together his brand new website at jackchristie.com to coinside with the launch of Best Weekend Getaways from Vancouver. The site is a great resource for stories about travel and adventure in BC.

You’ve all been wondering, “Gee…Jon hasn’t posted to his blog in over a month. I really miss his witty insight, as it makes my life complete. What’s going on?”

Well wonder no longer! We’ve been hard at work on the all-new upNext.ca, and I’m happy to announce that we’re launching today. Even though we have things to add, and the content might be a little rough around the edges at first, we’re flipping the switch anyways. We’re all adventurous like that.

Some highlights of the new site…

• A great new newsletter that you can sign up for on the front page. We’ll be talking about marketing your organization and all sorts of other life-affirming stories. I would call it “Chicken Soup for the Soul” with a marketing bent, but if I called it that I would get sued by those Chicken Soup guys. So… I won’t. Sign up today and get ready for our first issue in August.
• Information about what we do is more organized from the standpoint of you, our loyal reader. Who cares about what we are all about, what’s more important is how we’re going to help you market and grow your organization.
• Testimonials, we got some really great testimonials from some of our favourite clients, thank you so much to all of you who took the time to do that for us. We’re blushing, honestly.

Have a look around, tell me what you think, and definitely tell me if something doesn’t work. It’s much appreciated.

I believe that Seth Godin is probably the greatest thinker in marketing today. He manages to capture the zeitgeist of the times, where our attention is more precious than ever, and the most important thing a marketer can get is our permission to have a conversation.

Thanks to the wonder of video on the web, we have access to some great conference talks that would cost thousands of dollars to go see in person (if we could get in at all). The TED Conferences bring together some of the world’s greatest ideasmiths to present, and they are nice enough to post much of this material online where we can all enjoy it.

Here’s Seth’s talk from 2003 about the kinds of marketing ideas that get our attention, and why as he puts it, being safe is risky.