Tale #49 - The Tale of Geek Tip II

Hi, all!

Anyways, here's the long awaited "Power Blogfolio Tips." I'm going to divide this up in to two parts to make things easier. So here's part 1!



So what's a "Blogfolio?"

What a blogfolio is it's a combination between a blog and a portfolio. It's what I call a close cousin to an art-blog where you post your art. The difference? A blogfolio is used to PROMOTE your art to people in the industry instead of posting art just for feedback or because you felt like it.

Okay.... now why use one?

Well! Firstly, blogs have a lot of power to them. You can either get hired or fired based on what you post on one. Another thing that blogfolios have going for it is that you can always update it. Unlike portfolios of the past, you can always update a blogfolio without resubmitting it which makes it very dynamic. But there's also one more thing that comes with it too that no other type of portfolio has - interactivity! You can interact with the blogfolio and its' owner and get feedback quickly.

Alright! Now I totally get it. But why the heck are you posting this?

The fine art of Blogfolio'ing is the newest and soon-to-be trendy'est thing popping out of the blog-o-sphere right now. But because of how new this trend is, there really isn't a definate set of rules, tips or ettiquet for them right now. So what I'm going to try to do is post a set of tips and try to define some form of blogfolio ettiquet based on observation, pre-exsisting blog rules, and good judgement. So let's get started, shall we?

Gear You Need

Here's what you need to start your blogfolio:

- A host (Livejournal, Blogger... ect)
- A Computer with Internet (You can't blogfolio without it)
- Some art you've scanned in or digitized somehow to post
- A resume or a resume-like blurb about your skills
- Dedication (A blogfolio isn't much unless you're willing to dedicate some time to this.)

General Ettiquet

Firstly, let's start off with the general rules/ettiquet for general blogging. Those will serve as a foundation for blogfolio. So here's a look at them:

Rule #1: Take responsibility for what you say - Well... you have to! Why? Because the Internet has a memory. If you put it in writing, it WILL remember. It doesn't matter if you delete it. You can still bring it back up in all its' glory/gory. So watch what you say.

Rule #2: Make room for comments - Part of the art of blogging is the chance for feedback. So leave room for it.

Rule #3: Let people know about what your tolrance level of abuse is - "Abuse" can mean different things to different people and cultures. Remember, it's not just YOUR country that's online. It's the entire world! So one thing that might be considered abusive or threatening to you may not be for someone else in another culture. For example - We, here in Canada, think of the thumbs up sign as a good thing. But in Austrailia, it pretty much means "up your's." So please keep that in mind and post all that stuff ahead of time. As for me, what I consider abuse is trolling, spam, harassment (Of all verbal types), and hate comments. However, I do have a sense of humor, so I use my own best judgement here.

Rule #4: Ignore trolls - They're just looking for a fight. The worst kinds of trolls look to start a fight, claim it as abuse, report it to an administrator to get you banned. I've seen them take it this far and I've seen their handywork = not pretty. So just ignore them. And if they post a comment you don't like, you can just simply delete it.

Rule #5: If someone is misbehaving on your blog and it's not trolling, tell them! - Often times, if you tell them what they're doing is wrong, they'll stop. But when you tell them, be sure to be calm, assertive yet firm. There's no need to get nasty. Just handle this civily.

Rule #6: Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say to anyone's face - I think this one pretty much explains itself. A blog or anything online aren't exactly privet things, so don't do that.


Blogfolio Ettiquet

While there isn't a general set of rules available for blogfolios, here's a few that I've noticed that generally work and pretty much are a good idea. However, please keep in mind the general blogging rules because they may help you out in a jam.

Rule #1: Avoid poltics and "heavy" subjects - The point of your blog isn't to disguss what stupid thing certain world leaders are doing next. Why? Because different people think different things and well... this can lead to arguments that can go quickly out of hand in to an all out flame war. Clearly NOT professional. So avoid this like the plague. I remember first starting TOAMG and I asked for a little bit of feed back and the one popular answer was to make it about politics. Their theory - negative attention is still attention. I told them upfront that my goal was NOT to piss anyone off and politics/heavy subjects are a great way of doing that. So, guys, negative attention is definately NOT good attention and well.... won't do you any favours. So NO POLITICS/HEAVY SUBJECTS!

Rule #2: Give, Give, GIVE - People like freebies and like free handouts, so why not create a few. Like create some comic book templates, tutorials or something people can use. If you can give them something they can use, they'll not only come back, but odds are, they'll tell other people about your freebies. I recall an episode of The Simpsons once where Homer created the Mr. X website. Before that, all he had was a page of animated gifs. It was then Lisa said that a webpage had to give something back. In reality, your blogfolio should be able to do the same. While it's primary purpose is to post your stuff and get yourself out there to potential employers, you should also find ways of giving back to your visitors.

Rule #3: Keep a resume or some sort of resume-esque blurb about yourself - We need to know what you can do. Most blog hosting services allow you to put some form of bio/blurb about yourself under your profile. So why not put it to use? Put all your skills and experiance you can in to this section of profile. BUT if your resume and experiances are too long to put in there you can either: A.) Put the most important stuff in there and supply the rest on request. B.) Host your actual resume on another website and link it up to your blogfolio.

Rule #4: Put your contact info where everyone can see it wherever they go - It's no good if no one can contact you, right? Just put your email or any other relavant contact info on your mainpage where it can be seen. On TOAMG, I keep my contact stuff on the side of my page so no matter where you go, you can always see it and find it.

Rule #5: Be professional but also be flexible - Let's face it, people like professional. But you have to be flexible too. You can't be overly serious all the time. So at least allow for a sense of creativity and fun in to your blogfolio. Here, at TOAMG, I like to keep a bit of a playful atmposhere so you'll occasionally see a cartoon pop up. But I also try to maintain a bit of professionalism while I'm doing this. Also when you post your work, be prepared to give an artistic explanation of the hows and whys of it. It lets people see in to your head.

Rule #6: NEVER talk about ANYONE in a negative light - That's a huge NO! This is one of those things that can ruin things for you. So no matter how angry or upset you are with someone, DON'T post it in your blogfolio! This can be a career killer! So avoid it at all costs.

Rule #7: It's okay to talk a little bit about daily life, but be sure to post some portfolio stuff - Yeah... we ALL have lives and interesting things that happen to us. But this isn't the focus of your blogfolio! The focus should be your portfolio stuff. So you can talk about life stuff (in a light context more often than not PLEASE!) but make sure you post a lot of your portfolio stuff too. Here, at TOAMG, I often make sure I have SOME art or SOMETHING attention-worthy going up as portfolio pieces. Throughout this summer (2007), I made sure a lot of art went up. So I believe that this is a good practise.

Rule #8: Post your BEST work only - DON'T post anything subpart or anything that isn't an accurate demonstration of your skills. This will most likely get potential employers to ignore you.

Rule #9: Keep graphic sizes small (thumbnails) and make your page 56k friendly - About 49% of the world's Internet using population in the year 2005 were still on 56k. Odds are, people are still using it now in 2007. So please keep them in mind and make your page a quick loader as well as easy to use. If you can, use thumbnails. Also bear in mind that some people will use their mobiles to access your page. So design-wise, keep them in mind too.

Rule #10: Allow for constructive critisism - It's a handy tool. If someone sees a way for you to improve, I seriously suggest listening to them. Constructive critism isn't bad critism. It's a good thing.

Rule #11: Post often - People like it when things update often and will come back. So it's a good idea to post a lot. Oh! And if you've got anything techincal glitches or anything relating to quirky issues surrouning your blogfolio (EI: Not being able to make an update in a week or something) - POST ABOUT IT! You have to let people briefly know what's up. It's a really good courtasy thing to have.

Rule #12: Be nice to others in the industry both online and offline - Do NOT become all fangirly/fanboyly over them and especially DON'T do it in their own blogs. Deep down at the end of the day, they're people and artists too... just like you. Treat them with respect like you would another human being, but don't go crazy about it. That fangirling/fanboying thing can get old fast and well... it can really bother a person. So I don't recomend doing that.

Rule #13: Have fun - Yeah... it sounds like a corny rule, but it's one of those things people forget to do and even more so with all these rules that I've posted. But listen, a blogfolio can be a fun, exciting and rewarding experiance. You should enjoy the adventure and enjoy keeping one running. A blogfolio or even a blog in general isn't worth while if you're not enjoying it or it starts becoming a chore. So please, have fun with your blogfolio.

Anyways, that ends Part 1 for "Blogfolio Powertips." As I said, I would have had something for Friday but because I wanted to do a post on "Blogfolios," the artwork is going to be delayed a week. But I hope these Blogfolio tips are helping you out in setting one of these up. (And besides, there doesn't seem to be any blogfolio tips on the web at all last time I Googled them. Even Wiki has nothing! So this would be the first set of Blogfolio tips I've ever seen posted.)

Well! See you all later!