Blogging Along

Slowing down on registering domains and booking catches with catch services just lately. Everyone is feeling the pinch and need more time to develop domains I already have anyway. Spending £30 – £50 for a catch is all good and well but need to be followed up with a live indexed site.

Humber wind farms or the whole wind farm idea in the Holderness East coast area seems a fab prospect for the area business,  jobs and just the green side of it. Myself I think we should dam part of the Humber off and be 100% guaranteed energy but I’m sure that won’t happen in my life time and the depth just isn’t there.

Looking forward I need to split myself into 50 I think or make a plan of action and STICK to it. Lots happening gand theirs me trying to juggle it all. With Humber TV’s 1 year Birthday coming up (party??)  I’m hoping that I have a set standard with all programs that get published. A nice intro tune, credits, graphics and just over all a better feel to them. This all does take time and think shows will need to be cut down more I think to a maximum of 20 minutes ish.

As mentioned in my last post – Looking at producing a few promotional videos to a fair standard at a good price for comapnies to use and for me to use on Humber TV, You Tube, Vimeo, mini websites like Hull Beds, Hull tyres. I have a few in mind which will look good and should give people and companies an idea of how it will look and work.

Keeping on domains I’m surprised none of my Premium ones haven’t been hunted down by big chains. PriceCrunch.net BodyCreams.co.uk BodyConfidence.co.uk to name just 3 as a £x’xxx or even a £xx’xxx would be nice right now. Well worth renewing and developing for an investment me thinks.

I’ll finish off by asking any businesses who spend money on advertising on or offline to get in touch to see how I can help you gain more clients by using my many portals.

Looking back from March with Humber.Tv and the whole idea I do feel we have some good direction towards HOW the idea and company will make it’s living. Advertising is good but you need to offer twists and extra angles to secure advertising deals with local businesses.

I was once told as a young man by a local boss of a company…

It’s so easy to loose money but very hard to make it.

This is so true with the ideas and the paths I’m going down testing and trying out new ways to put shows and video onto the internet. Some things just don’t work and will never be worth the effort but you’d never know that unless you try them out to see.

Research is all very well but doing it and trying and testing ideas is good first hand live research!

I need to ge the few dozen postcode named sites up and LIVE ASAP so people can see the network I’m trying to create and get more people involved. First site live is HU15.co.uk covering Brough, South Cave, Gilberdyke, Newport etc and will grow to be on the same scale as Paul Smith’s HU17.NET along with all the others set to be put live.

Local news is key to keep people using your websites and updated regularly and people will find it through Google.

Build it and the will come

That’s sort of true but still need the  right kind of site for people to find it sticky enough they do come back for more.

I joined BCC or Business Community Co-operative Group which has NO annual fee, and only costs £10 per week to cover room hire and a hearty breakfast. Best networking group I’ve been to from just the feel and welcome you get from the people there and isn’t competitive with 5 web designers, 3 accountants, 10 life coachers. The categories are locked down so thats your area and is unchallenge “Video Production” been my area of business and category.

Just offering show reel videos to businesses in a certain area of business, Gyms and fitness for example and will be made up of 12 companies in that sector for an hour long show reel on local “Gyms and fitness” This will be ondemand from Humber TV and also showing as a schedule when nothing is showing live.

All in all I have lots of ideas and good interest for our road forward – Think Positive!

My Photo above by Pixelcreations.co.uk – Klaus Selke – Photographer

Not to go into detail or go on about “Good, bad & Ugly” it seems as though the world is against me and nothing was letting up. Each day I thought (and still are)  what can possibly land on my lap today that will put me in a foul mood?

Google Instant  is maybe having an effect on my rev from Adsense, as it seems to be up and can see more of my local websites like HullExport.co.uk which never got any click through or revenue doing well and now getting traffic.

I really don’t want to rely on Google for a monthly revenue and still crave an Automated Revenue Stream of some kind besides Adsense. Maybe a digital download of some kind or automated service that needs minimal effort.

My latest project I’m hoping to push is my Joke Shop but also the JokeShop.TV which will show jokes in a video been used and so giving the buyer a great idea of how they work, look and can decide on whether to buy or not after watching the video.

I am a bit of a gadget freak and love new technology, with me offering a VoIP service to clients as an add-on I was interested to see if a Mobile Internet Dongle could be sufficient  for my Home use. So to run 2 laptops, a tower and 2 landline numbers the answer is YES – In my area we get around 1mb up and 1mb down on Three on a bad day with no aerial.

I ordered another package from Three as my current 3GB for £7.50 offer wouldn’t be enough for the month and so 15GB (500Mb per Day) for £15 seemed a good deal. The video above explains and shows you in more detail but basically this time next month I won’t have a landline with my current provider KCOM and Karoo. This saves us around £40+ a month and now could only pay £4 for the phone number and line and £15 for the Mobile broadband connection with Three.

I do work from home but do most of my heavy traffic when out and about at other locations. Within a week or so I should be able to see if this was a sensible change and will update here. I have tested the system for a few weeks and all works fine and think the system will work even better when I get an external aerial for the dongle.

Still not got an IPAD due to the £600+ price tag

With me feeling a little sorry for myself, I’m due some (maybe not luck) but rewards for my efforts as this self employment lark can be a bit time consuming and takes over your full life.

I’m still looking for people in the Humber area wanting to break into the HyperLocal game. I’ll set a domain, website etc up for you and then you run it adding images, videos, content but passing some of the content Humber.TV’s way!

Talking of video, You Tube is a good way to drum interest up to Local sites or any site thinking about it. Take a video of a local parade for example, post the first 2 minutes to You Tube and the full version to your site. In the description in the first line on You Tube paste a link to the full video and if the want to see more or are just wanting more in general they will click through.

A quote from Leo when we met him the other night on a Wedge Welly knees up – “Make Money, Have Fun but don’t forget to make money having fun”

Bit of a bombshell hit me the other week which I won’t go into but god it felt like I had a voodoo doll somewhere and was getting it right in the neck! Hopefully I will sort that situation out before the end of September and can move on with a clean slate. Big black cross next to that individual.

I always say people who want jobs doing for next to nothing and/or haggle on prices are not worth the hassle. Well how true is it with a job I have now, it’s a peanuts job but they want the earth to revolve around them 24/7. Although the extra cash was welcomed I feel like a genie in a lamp who needs to perform miracles.

Setup and Getting into FaceBook, Twitter, You Tube, Vimeo and are seeing results by the way of people viewing the pages whether it be a video or a post but then clicking through to Humber.TV which is a result for unique visitors.

Twitter I use daily, i do seem to be getting on well and are trying not to follow every Tom, Dick and Heather that follows me.

You Tube is a great one as I’m posting RAW unedited video and prviews of video’s that are say 20 minutes long ASAP of me recording them. People are searching for that event and viewing the video but then clicking through to Humber.tv from You Tube which is a FAB way to increase the uniques per day.

Vimeo and FaceBook I only kicked off this week and so need to see results filter through over the coming weeks.

I’ve been building back links up for the site and am hoping that Google takes note and rewards it with a nice PR score and even better search results.

Recently we’ve done a bit of OB (outside Broadcasting) for Howden Show and Hull Pride to name just 2 and just them 2 alone drew in 100’s of extra visitors who wanted to find out more or wanted to see the video we shot. (T-shirts we wear have URL on back)

Just like buses this week I have had 2 calls regarding domains, but never struck a deal with either of them, which was a pity as they both need developing. I’ll maybe follow them up in a few weeks for a final nudge which would be nice to pay for an iPAD.

Latest bash at converting hard work into cash/results is my Hull domains AGAIN I know. I have bought a few 01482 numbers and placed them on a few sites one been Hull Recovery which gets a nice flow of traffic but not much revenue. It’s going quite well as I forward the numbers to businesses (helps to track calls) and hope once shown the statistics agree a small monthly fee, and then multiplied 35+ will a nice monthly income. (fingers crossed)

Final thought for today to self – Get out more, meet and talk to people but you must get an iPAD soon!
UPDATE: I have an IPAD WHOO HOO – If you need help setting one up and your in Hull call 01482 240087 and quote this site!

As for the numbers I bought for sites like Hull Recovery, Hull Taxis etc they died a dealth. When I called they didn’t think they would or was doing any good (call records proved other wise). It maybe that they would be ideal for a new start up who hasn’t got any traffic or exposure, but we’ll see.

I have spread myself quite thin, and all because of my active mind that seems to have new ideas every week. Rather than saying ok when I’ve finished this I’ll do that next, I start it so not to miss the moment. I could hire some one to follow it up for me but not got the cash spare to do this.

I have juggled quite well up to now and have cut back on a lot of things time and money wise. This will hopefully get the wheels in motion and my arse into gear with a climb that can only be up, instead of bobbing along on a flat line.

I nearly never was able to post this as a crazy 169 year old woman disregarded giveaway markings on a Beverley Westwood road and would have been a head on crash. Luckily I decided driving onto a grass verge and skidding was a better option than death.

Cash flow is KING and hope this month or before the end anyway, payments are more regular. No one is withholding money, it’s just jobs take longer than anticipated. Hence as mentioned before Humber.TV and the whole video service will generate a nice regular flow to balance short falls in the month. Latest one we created was for a teeth whitening company.

I have a lot of mini site ideas, FootGloves.co.uk Jokeshop.org.uk to name 2 and these are sites that if I follow up and make them a lot bigger, increase inventory and range, they will do a storm. Again time and money! A local Joke shop owner who has no web site agreed to work something out between us as he has the stock and I have the ranking and web site.

Want to set a few goals before the end of this year and hopefully look back at this and smile.

• Humber.TV – 1000 unique visitors a day
• Jokeshop.org.uk – Stock inventory 250 items plus with 25 orders a week
• My Hull domain portfolio – Making £25 per day from adsense or clients renting
• People in the Humber Area know Humber TV as a Brand to view local video after asking 100 people 50% of them say they have heard of it
• At least 25 clients renting Hull sites from meand  at least at £10 a month
• Have a team of 4 Volunteers with HD camcorders to record events etc local to them for Humber TV
• I am at a stage where I can start thinking about myself and maybe even go to the gym
• Make 10 new friends I chat to at least once a week!
• To use this blog at least 4 times a week almost like a diary

Lets see ;o)

Doing my bookkeeping myself for the past 2 years+ was a mistake I wouldn’t wish on anyone. First off I wasn’t one for keeping on top of it and wasn’t one for actually doing it once it became a need to. I HATE ACCOUNTS!

Been in business as a self employed person has made me want to stay in business due to the flexibility but also with all the job loses and unemployment I am a man controlling my own destiny. To be honest now I do find myself falling over myself offering help (for free) to new start ups where I can and hope they see it as a good opportunity to grab with both hands.

So nearly the end of June and didn’t want to rely on Web design too much I get 2 – 3 jobs in with no effort and very welcomed as cash flow as always IS king and I thank these 2 new start up companies for that.

It feels as though Humber.tv has been launched for an age but has only been up for 3-4 months and I know I’ve worked on the whole idea for over 18 months but it just feels sooo long since March. I’m very excited by the idea of us creating mini adverts to place in the breaks to interviews and video’s and again this has come off the fly from a request by a client (Karma Queens) for us to produce a short film for them.

This summer has been a good one with been self employed and working in Beverley as it’s not to much of a sin to go to Kings Head in Beverley with Duncan P for a cheeky pint or 2. Working or employed this wouldn’t be possible to be able to enjoy the sun in the afternoon  but does mean working later to keep on top of work is needed but again all to do with flexibility.

We now (at Humber.tv) have Jess C, Neal, Valerie P, Nick D, and Gina as interviewers and look forward to full weeks of interviews and work flowing towards the Humber.TV way. I do hope they all stay on and grow with the whole idea as I do like them all as people and it’s quite easy not to like a person for what ever reason.

My aim for the past 2+ years has been to just survive and ride the wave, because when I set out as a limited company the crunch in the business world had just kicked in and many said it wasn’t a great time to do it. Looking back it was a perfect time to setup.

Domaining been one of my passions but cash been in short supply I have been only renewing ones I feel they are worth doing and will continue with my GEO Service / product fest in the knowledge it will pay off.

Final thoughts before July kicks in……….

• So glad I started Humber.TV
• Need to set up Humber.fm as a Internet only radio station
• Get every Geo / service domain LIVE and earning
• Get at least 2 interviews a day and post more events
• Focus my ideas more and always aim higher and expect nothing!

So it’s been a week or so now since Coco (the puppy) arrived and has forced me to have many sleepless or broken sleep nights. Problem with the pup waking up,  it also wakes my 2 year old daughter up too :o( Not good as it works vice-versa. Life goes on and I need to catch as much shut eye when I can.

One of the interviews we recorded with Jackie Cowie, she said about weather having an affect on our happiness and well-being . Sun comes out people tend to be happier etc, well

WHAT THE FREAKING HELL IS GOING ON THIS YEAR?

The sun and temperature just needs to get it together and give us a summer we all deserve this year.

I’m finding a lot of clients are now GETTING “online marketing” and are warming to Twitter, other social media and Generic domain mini sites. This is great to see my clients I help and offer support to doing well. This made me think I maybe missing a opportunity for offering a service to all companies that need to up a gear on the online roller-coaster and maybe need to shout out a bit more.

I am finding more and more that besides other CMS’s Word Press out performs a standard html in many ways I mean

• Indexed into Search Engines faster (tried and proven)
• The ease of having 30 pages indexed with little effort to create them compared to the standard way of producing pages in HTML say using Dream Weaver
• TAGS you add to posts or pages to help identify what that post is mostly about
• You want some new feature WP will have a plugin to do it if not someone on the planet will be able to build it

The only downside is a Data base is needed to run every WP install.

So I’m off to ERBN.co.uk tonight for 7pm in the hope to spread some Humber.TV love and either get people interested in the whole idea or actual on the shows for interviews. Fingers crossed !

Attended a Hull and Humbers Chamber of Commerce speed networking and lunch today at Cave castle (FAB grounds complete with moat) and I realised I need to get out more.

I did use to go to a few networking events but was trying to promote web design and VoIP. Web design is saturated and VoIP people didn’t want to take or trial it.

So out this morning and people I spoke to warmed to the idea of my Humber.TV idea and concept which made me feel fuzzy inside! Also people came up to me and was saying “Are you Mr Humber TV?” again this was a little strange and almost felt like a celebrity  😉

The Chamber hold a speed networking and lunch every month and WILL be going to every one from now!

On another note with Humber TV Valerie Prentice (our only host) is departing to France for a month and needed a stand in. Jess from Divine Clark PR was very interested as an extra permanent host and bagged 4 interviews next week at £50 a shot for advertising. “Result” I thought and hope she keeps her intro rate up.

This made me realise I need to up a gear with the whole Humber TV game and am now on the look out for more willing people to help out on a short term volunteering basis (hope to pay on invoice for their time ASAP). Wanting people who see the potential of the concept, are willing to stick with it and help out how they can to make it work/grow.

3 days till D day, D been DOG! “WOOF WOOF”

Adsense has nicely increased daily which is nice and aren’t sure if it’s with me adding new content on a few or just people looking on-line more leading up to gardening and getting out weather.

Needed to raise some funds and sold a few domains in the past week which in one way wish I never as I let them go for peanuts but altogether made a nice tidy sum to help out. Tried to sell my scuba gear too but think it may be harder than I think due to testing etc.

Signing off and catching some Zzzzzzz

Again another late night and feel I should take time to post here as not to let it slip into a stale state.

So I buckled and have let my partner get a puppy dog which is a cross between a poodle and a shiatsu (quite cute actually). A small chocolate brown “shoodle” I think they call it and it had best behave and not yap too much! ;o) That all happens on 2nd May so the world could end before then and won’t have to suffer having a yap yap yapping dog!

Humber.TV hmmmm Well lets just say it’s a FAB concept, people warm to it, it does “Bridge the gap” as our slogan says and guests think we’re doing a grand job :o) But the thing is I’m lacking a few things to more forward – help, funding, sleep, day light and light at the end of the tunnel! This is due to the time taken up by myself setting live shows up, recording and streaming them live and then editing them ready for the site for on demand. Not to mention anything else involved in getting guests and running the site mechanics.

It has reached a point where I have been doing EVERY show LIVE and putting the webcam stream up straight away for on demand viewing after a quick edit (then when possible editing the HD camcorder shoot later). I now feel I need to go out and about to record items that arn’t LIVE but ARE up and viewable the same day. Again this is more of my time.

So 4 things I’m wanting interest for, from near and far around the Humber.

1. Big Main Sponsors or Advertisers for the site to enable me to buy extra kit and improve shows
2. People willing to shoot video and take down local stories from across the Humber region to include on the site.
3. Interviewers or Guest harvesters for up and coming shows. (booking Guests / Advertisers)
4. Anyone wanting to learn the very basics of how we stream, edit video and anything I know about what we’re doing here at Humber.TV to help in any way possible (tonns still to learn but hey we’ll get there, as I’m far from an expert LOL).

Do you meet or maybe smiled at any of the above requests? Then contact me through Humber.TV web site stating this blog. I then do hope we can work together to make the Web site work it’s ass off for the people/businesses of the Humber and make it a name people talk about.

Hopefully this will stop me going over the edge and ease my work addiction/need from 6:00am till very late every day and I may just be able to get a life and sleep back so I can enjoy the trip that Humber TV is taking us on.

Final Thought to self! I do have 100’s of Hull and other Geo service domains as mentioned before and really need to get my finger out and get them earning. Which if I did would earn I would say £60 a day between them all! Visit Hull Local to see the effort so far and one of the mini sites may fit your area of business.

Sorry if it’s all over this blog but been a long day/week ;o)