April Extra Post

Ah, things are finally wrapping up, and it is quite the relief. I finally have pretty much everything lined up that I need. My answers, best answer, research, I-Search paper, and final presentation lesson plan. Pretty much all I need to do is finish all of these little tasks up, and of course, get ready for my final presentation. (which is in less than a month!?)

So, in efforts to prepare, I've been watching some TED talks. Why? Because what better way to get some presenting tips, than to watch some pro's in action? It's not only helpful to look to these speakers for guidance, but they're also quite interesting to watch. I could get lost in the hundreds of various topics people do talks on, but of course I've watched some that are relevant to my senior topic as well. Here is one I've watched recently:

This talk by Malcolm Gladwell is about how everybody has different preferences. I've been hearing a lot about this author as of late, and this talk combines food and aspects of my topic, so how could I resist?

Watching this speech gave me a new perspective on the whole idea of trying to market to people - in that a business needs to acknowledge the wide range of diverse needs and wants consumers have, in order to really make their customers happy and satisfied.

Blog #19: Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a) I, Isabella Grello, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.

(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component
The book Visual Marketing by David Langton was my number one resource, as it helped me to come up with different strategies for using visuals to appeal to readers. This is where I got the idea to do things such as adding a video, doing a series, taking lots of pictures, and personalizing my blog layout.  

BlogWild by Andy Wibbels and Blogging for Business by Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos were also very helpful in terms of guiding me in the basics of blogging. I used the information from these authors to complete my blog from a businessperson's perspective.

(c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours).   Post it next to your mentorship.
 Independent Component 2 Hours

(d) Explanation of what you completed. 
I created a blog to complement the business I made last independent component (Etsy shop) My third answer is to create a business blog in order to create a relationship with customers, so I wanted to try it out for myself. I used a pretty informal voice in my writing since I am a very small business, and am doing on a small scale what legitimate businesses do for their online marketing. 

The whole idea of creating this blog was to create a bigger picture of what my business is about. It's similar to setting up a store - making sure that it has the right feel, decorations, small details, to draw in your target audience. I also incorporated the aspect of visual marketing, which is very important in engaging with people. I made my blog very picture heavy in hopes of creating a website that was pleasing to the eye and attention grabbing. 

My posts were mostly related to crafts and making things, as that is my business. I tried to appeal to my target audience in carefully picking what sorts of things to talk about and show to them. 

Looking to other blogs helped me to get an idea of what it is that blog readers are really interested in.

My blog

INTERPRETIVE 
Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  
My blog has 16 posts, each of which took time to plan, execute, and post. My idea was to do 15 posts, and take 2 hours for each one, but obviously, most posts took nowhere near the time, and other tasks came along. So I filled in the extra space with designing my blog and adding extra features to make it perfect. Taking photos and uploading took a significant amount of time. For most of my posts, I commented on something I liked (like a book, an item, a theme) and then showed my own creation inspired by that subject. I did this because I wanted to incorporate what my business is about, which is crafting, instead of only blogging about what I saw out in the world. 

I also spent some of my 30 hours working with the web design aspect. I committed a few hours to learning the language of code to add to my blog. The absence of one character in code can ruin it all, so this part proved to be a little taxing, but I eventually got it down.

All in all, most of my work boiled down to writing, gathering photos, and tying everything together.

I used iPhoto to edit photos for the blog. Mostly changed levels on exposure, shadows, temperature, and cropped the images to my liking.

Camera I used for photographing.

I started a Codecademy course to get some coding basics down for personalizing my blog.

Some of my original notes for the blog.

More notes!

And as far as the rest of my evidence, my blog says it all. I did most of my planning on Blogger, and spent a lot of time brainstorming/writing up posts.

APPLIED

How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 
Completing this component helped me to understand the importance of picking the right platforms for marketing.

Blogging is really great for establishing that communication between producer and consumer. Since I am not a well developed, successful business, I didn't completely get to experience that relationship. However, I was writing my blog in terms of how I, as a business, should connect with a potential customer. I included posts about myself, because people are interested in who is making the things they buy. I made posts that were relatable, and about topics that my target audience would be interested in. Through all of this, I realized how crucial that personal aspect is. 

Sure, it's important to update a lot, promote your products, and make your business visible - but ultimately, I learned that finding a way to communicate as a business and a person is most valuable/effective.