Category: The Plan

A New (Virtual) Address and A New Phase

Friday April 29th 2022 11pm

As we approach the end of another April, I thought it time that I update this blog, especially as it now has a new home at .me.uk – which I felt was more appropriate – rather than .co.uk.

And with this new address I begin a new phase of my life, having finally closed the door on the interference from our truly awful English benefit system, which was far more harm to my mental health than the pitiful amount of financial help it offered was worth.

It’s sadly easy for me to feel like I’m stepping out into the next phase of my life right back at the point where I was two years ago when I began this blog – ie jobless and facing the prospect of an empty purse in a few months – but that’s where I find myself. Except I realise I’m not back where I started at all. When I stop and assess my achievements over these last two strange years I realise they are many, and they all have armed me for the next big steps.

Over the last couple of months I’ve been gradually migrating all my websites and domains over to a new hosting company – Krystal – from LCN who I’d been with since I built my very first website, ooh, can it really be a couple of decades ago. Krystal give every impression of being as LCN (in those days called Telivo) were all those years ago, and I’m grateful to Shoo Rayner (another escapee from LCN!) for pointing me in their direction.

Whilst I could have simply migrated the existing sites across, there were a few tweaks I wanted to make to this one, and due to a malfunctioning plug-in, a complete rebuild of Doodle Inn is going to be necessary. I also wanted to bin my original idea for The Big Shed Digital Studio from five years ago, that I never actually published, and so it was the ideal time to start a brand new site for that.

The Big Shed Digital Studio is now live, and this blog is up and running, so I feel a certain satisfaction, even though there is still a lot of work to do before Doodle Inn is ready.

Getting back to blogging here after almost a year has led me to look back at what I’ve achieved since starting out on this journey, and it’s made me realise that, contrary to my fears, I have moved forward. In the last year I’ve learned how to use various creative apps, particularly in the realms of video editing, and have given myself the skills to produce far more professional videos for The Big Shed Digital Studio than I could have done two years ago.

I’ve also learned some basic digital manipulation of scanned artwork, and created several greetings cards in what I’ve termed “digilogue art”, mixing analogue pen and ink and watercolour with digital techniques.

At Christmas I even managed a very basic animation from a hand drawn and painted picture; my first ecard.

My drawings have been few and far between, but those that I have done I’m quietly proud of. There’s of course always room for great improvement, and I do hope this next phase of my life finds me able to focus more on creating a whole stash of stippled scenes, and ink and wash illustrations, particularly for the story of my garden that I’m looking forward to writing.

I was 61 Not Out. Then 62 Still Standing (Just), and 63 With A Plan. In a few weeks I’ll be 64 – what?

Suggestions on a postcard please.

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YouTube, Small Spaces and a Cream Egg – Part 1

Tuesday 21 January 2020 20:25

I’ve been looking at possible income streams today, focussing on YouTube. 

I spent many years teaching adults the basics of internet use, and from day one always stressed the importance of remembering that Google is an advertising company, and we, the users of its search engine, and nowadays other products, are not customers, we – or rather our habits and data – are the product they are selling. The same is true of YouTube viewers. You are allowed to watch free of charge, but don’t let that fool you. As with almost everything connected with Google, YouTube makes its money – both for their parent company Alphabet, and in the case of YouTube also for the creators of its videos – from advertising. The difference for me now is, I have to begrudgingly accept there are some benefits to be had if you work at it.

So what have I  gleaned from today’s research? I’ll try to keep it simple and have to stress this is simply my broad understanding of the situation from everything I’ve read today.

For a YouTube creator the first step in creating an income from their videos involves something called AdSense, whereby in simple terms the video’s creator sets in motion a process known as ‘monetising’ their channel, and accepts adverts that are selectively placed by Google’s algorithms to suit the viewers’ interests. Money is paid by the advertiser based on various things including how much of the advert is viewed, and whether the viewer subsequently ‘clicks through’ to the advertiser’s own website. Of the money paid by the advertiser, currently YouTube take 45% and the creator gets 55%. Although the precise amount can vary according to a variety of things, it’s generally reckoned that if an ad gets 1,000 views its creator can make as much as $10, although it could be nearer $7. In this way the video creators effectively become the employees – they create the product for YouTube to ‘sell’ to advertisers, and for doing so they earn a small return.

Another way in which YouTube can be used to make money is by directly promoting products or services within a video. In this case the video’s creator negotiates with the product or service company directly, and YouTube themselves don’t get a look in. Understandably it’s something YouTube don’t actively encourage, as they’re then providing the platform free of charge for others to make money from, but it’s not, yet, forbidden either. Of course it’s also used by companies themselves to publicise their own products and in that case it’s unusual for AdSense adverts to also be run as there would be a risk of a competitor being showcased, so again YouTube lose out. So far YouTube seem to regard product placement videos as a necessary evil to draw in more viewers to YouTube as a whole. Once there, those viewers can then be steered toward videos that do make money for YouTube themselves.

Once a video, and ideally a whole channel, is getting a large number (we’re talking hundreds of thousands, ideally millions) of views, it’s in YouTube’s interest to promote it within the site (remember they get 45% of the ad revenue). However, certainly at the start it’s up to the creators to promote their content like crazy, and that requires a lot work and ingenuity, and a goodly smattering of luck.

So, is this something I want to consider? Maybe.

I wouldn’t attempt to do anything revolving around drawing or indeed writing. My drawing skills are minimal in that respect, and although I am actually qualified to teach, I wouldn’t feel ‘qualified’ to teach something that I don’t have sufficient skill in doing myself. I could use it to create computer skills videos, returning to my previous role as an IT trainer; it’s an option, but it certainly doesn’t excite me (and I can’t see it exciting anybody else either for that matter!).

No, the thing that might be a possibility harks back to an idea I had, and a website I built way way back – I don’t honestly know without looking through ancient backup files, but it’s certainly over 15 years ago, maybe nearer 20. It was all about small living spaces. More of a ‘thing’ now than it was back then, and certainly far far easier to ‘monetise’ now. So I’m wondering… I’ve held on to several domain names for a good many years, not quite sure why I’m paying the renewal fees each year for something that I’m not using, but feeling at the back of my mind that I still want to, one day. Maybe that day is drawing near.

So, my reluctant dive into the world of YouTube monetising may yet happen as a matter of necessity, but for the moment let’s leave it as, ” Watch this (small) space”.

Oh, and where does the chocolate cream egg come in? Ah, you’ll have to read part 2 for that!