#google my business website update

[seoabudhabiae]

How to Optimize Google My Business for Enhanced Sales

Dive into our post to master Google listing services and boost your sales. You can follow these Google My Business tips to attract more customers. By understanding these steps, you will improve your online presence and increase your sales.

Claim and verify your listing

Fill out all details

Add quality photos

Choose the right categories

Collect and respond to reviews

Use Google Posts

Enable messaging

Keep your information consistent

[lostgirlfoundhome]

Understanding the Art of Net Marketing: An Overview to Success Online

In today's digital age, web marketing has actually come to be a vital tool for companies seeking to reach a larger audience and drive development. From social media sites advertising and marketing to seo, there are numerous approaches and strategies that can help companies boost their on-line existence and bring in even more consumers. Comprehending the basics of online marketing is essential for any kind of company aiming to do well in the affordable on-line landscape.Internet marketing encompasses a wide variety of techniques and systems, each with its own one-of-a-kind benefits and obstacles. By understanding the art of internet advertising, organizations can successfully target their excellent target market, drive web traffic to their web sites, and eventually enhance sales and profits. With the right approaches in position, businesses can take advantage of the power of the web to expand their reach and achieve their goals.

Read more here google my business websites

[starstalkerg]

Understanding the Art of Online Marketing: A Guide to Success Online

In today's digital age, internet marketing has ended up being a vital tool for organizations wanting to get to a broader target market and drive development. From social networks marketing to seo, there are countless approaches and strategies that can assist services increase their on-line visibility and attract even more consumers. Understanding the principles of web marketing is important for any type of organization looking to do well in the competitive on-line landscape.Internet marketing includes a wide variety of tactics and systems, each with its own distinct benefits and difficulties. By grasping the art of web marketing, businesses can efficiently target their ideal audience, drive web traffic to their websites, and ultimately raise sales and income. With the appropriate methods in location, businesses can utilize the power of the web to increase their reach and accomplish their goals.

Read more here google my business website update

[afromentioned]

Mastering the Art of Web Marketing: A Guide to Success Online

In today's digital age, web marketing has come to be an essential tool for companies looking to get to a bigger target market and drive growth. From social networks marketing to browse engine optimization, there are countless techniques and methods that can assist organizations boost their on-line existence and draw in even more clients. Recognizing the principles of internet advertising is crucial for any type of organization aiming to succeed in the competitive on the internet landscape.Internet marketing encompasses a wide variety of strategies and systems, each with its very own special benefits and challenges. By mastering the art of web advertising and marketing, services can successfully target their perfect target market, drive traffic to their web sites, and ultimately increase sales and earnings. With the right approaches in place, organizations can leverage the power of the web to increase their reach and accomplish their objectives.

Read more here google my business websites

[marktaunisruiningmylife]

Mastering the Art of Web Marketing: A Guide to Success Online

In today's electronic age, internet advertising and marketing has actually come to be a vital tool for businesses wanting to reach a wider audience and drive growth. From social media sites advertising and marketing to search engine optimization, there are countless strategies and strategies that can assist companies raise their online visibility and attract even more customers. Understanding the basics of net advertising and marketing is important for any kind of organization seeking to succeed in the competitive online landscape.Internet advertising and marketing incorporates a wide variety of methods and platforms, each with its very own one-of-a-kind advantages and obstacles. By grasping the art of online marketing, businesses can efficiently target their ideal audience, drive traffic to their internet sites, and eventually enhance sales and revenue. With the best techniques in position, businesses can take advantage of the power of the net to increase their reach and attain their goals.

Read more here google my business websites

[becandtay]

Mastering the Art of Web Marketing: An Overview to Success Online

In today's digital age, internet advertising and marketing has actually ended up being an essential tool for companies wanting to get to a broader audience and drive growth. From social networks advertising and marketing to search engine optimization, there are plenty of strategies and strategies that can assist companies enhance their online visibility and draw in more consumers. Comprehending the fundamentals of online marketing is vital for any business wanting to prosper in the competitive on the internet landscape.Internet marketing incorporates a wide variety of methods and platforms, each with its own unique advantages and difficulties. By understanding the art of internet advertising, businesses can properly target their suitable target market, drive website traffic to their internet sites, and eventually boost sales and earnings. With the ideal techniques in position, companies can leverage the power of the internet to expand their reach and attain their goals.

Read more here google my business website closing

[tokyomiracle]

Page 5 just released! New pages every Thursday. ^_^

[READ TOKYO MIRACLE HERE! ✨]

[ihavedonenothingright]

An Update to the Shendex

Hello all!

A little while ago, I made a post asking people to send me a list of main characters or love interests in danmei with the surname "Shen" in order to create a comprehensive list. That received a bit more traction than I thought it would, but not much in the way of new Shens. I am happy to announce, however, that I have googled the hell out of this and found an additional 20+ Official, Honorary, and Supporting Character Shens to add to the prospective Shendex. Here is the list (at present).

The Current Shendex

Seven Seas Danmei

Shen Shiliu/Gu Yun (Stars of Chaos)

Shen Qiao (Thousand Autumns)

Shen Qingqiu/Shen Yuan (The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System)

Shen Wei (Guardian)

Shen Zechuan (Ballad of Sword and Wine)

Novel Updates

Shen Ci (Vase Cannon Fodder Is Pampered by the Group Again)

Shen Gurong (Transmigrated Into The High-Risk Profession Life As A Master)

Shen Jin (After Being Moved to Tears by the Sworn Enemy’s Pheromones)

Shen Jin (Agreement Mark)

Shen Jue (A Hundred Ways To Kill A Heartthrob)

Shen Junci (Insights of the Medical Examiner)

Shen JunXi (Transmigrated into the Pastoral Scenery)

Shen Ke (Dandy Escapes From Marriage)

Shen Kong (The Professional Three Views Rectifier [Book Transmigration])

Shen Li (After the Accident, My Boyfriend Got Straight)

Shen Lin (Welcome to the Game Room of Supremacy Luck)

Shen Mofeng (No Money)

Shen Qi (Applaud for Happiness)

Shen Qianling (Everywhere in Jianghu is Wonderful/The Jianghu is Full of Local Tyrants)

Shen Qingcheng (Please Stop Pretending To Be a Cute Newcomer!)

Shen Ruo (Turned out I am a Scheming Little Cannon Fodder)

Shen Tanqi (The Male Lead Ran Away With My Ball)

Shen Tingzhou (I’m a Family Doctor in a Domineering Boss Novel)

Shen Ye (Accidentally Marked The Archenemy)

Shen Yu (Silent Concubine)

Shen Yunxing (Pregnant With The Pup Of A Wealthy Old Man)

Shen Zhixian (It's Not Easy Being a Master)

Honorary Shens

Fu Shen (Golden Terrace)

Lu Tian Shen (Dramatic Fake Young Master Holds the Group’s Favorite Script)

Luoshen (Let Me Go, I’m Not Pregnant)

Tang Shen (The Kingdom That Never Sleeps)

Xu Shen (Transmigrating to 1983)

Supporting Character Shens

Shen Jiu (The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System)

Shen Xingtang (Genius Mechanic)

Shen Yi (Stars of Chaos)

Shen Yuanting (Transmigrated as a Cannon Fodder Who Married into a Wealthy Family)

Now Onto Business...

Now that I have enough Shens to justify the existence of the Shendex, the question becomes how to format it. I'm not the best with this sort of thing, so anyone who wants to help is completely welcome (just DM me). As for how it should look... let's put it to a vote.

My aim is for every entry to include the characters used for each entry's name, a picture if possible, and a quick description of their story as well as a link to it. This could take a while, so I think I'll update it in bits and pieces. As always, you are welcome to send in a Shen if you please---just make sure to stick to danmei because otherwise this thing is going to get looooooong.

See you all next update!

[every1sno1fangirl]

Happy Hifuumo Friday everyone!

I take back everything poetic and wistful I had to say about my journey last week. I'm really annoyed and frustrated by my experience.

Is it too much to ask for businesses to update their information online?

The amount of places I tried to go to that were closed /permanently/ but still marked as 'Open' online was crazy.

I forgot to bring my pedometer with me so I can't give you an exact number, but I probably walked four or so miles. And I was in the heart of downtown!

Though that wasn't even the worst of it. The worst part was getting home!

I'm sure I've posted enough pictures by now that someone could deduce the city I live in if they wanted, but I won't outright doxxing myself. I'll only say that I live in a pretty large city.

It's also an administrative centre.

So why is it so bafflingly incompetent?

There's empty abandoned lots in the heart of downtown, the historic district is overrun with cars and businesses their open and close their doors near-constantly.

But there is one thing that I am deeming completely unforgivable and that is that they don't post updates ANYWHERE about service disruption with the buses when there is a big event downtown. I was waiting at the bus stop for an hour and thirty minutes!

They didn't post it on their Twitter, nor their website, nor their bus tracking app.

Google Maps certainly doesn't tell you either. I had no idea which stop I should have actually walked to; I decided to call it quits and called a Lyft.

I hope the people I directed to a different stop got the bus they needed.

But seriously, what's the deal there?

What is even the point in having a giant stadium downtown if it fucks the bus schedule to get to and from those big events and you don't even tell anyone?!

It isn't even the first time either!

The public transport in my city is absolutely wasted.

It might be (even more of) a capitalist dystopia, but at least the Hifuu girls have working public transit. (Though even that is because they're not American...)

Anyway, there's one last place I'm going to. If they don't have what I want, I'll order it online.

I still had a good time though. Strangers still think my Fumos were cute. Someone even came close to knowing what Touhou was when they asked me what they were from.

(They said "Oh, that's a rhythm game right?" which is completely forgivable tbh.)

I hope everyone reading this also had a good day in the end, even if maybe certain parts of it weren't so much.

I love you all, have a good day/night!

[pettyrevenge-base]

Post someone else’s personal information online? Get fired from your law firm!

I’m a college student.

I was heading between classes early this week and got a call from my state’s unemployment office asking me to finish my claim. I didn’t file a claim. It turns out the claim was for someone else, so I took the name down and ended the call.

I live in one of the larger cities in my state, and we have a community Facebook group where we share questions about events, hours for businesses, and general memes and jokes about nonsense that happens in our city.

I decided to post an inquiry asking if anyone knew someone by that name who had applied for unemployment. I wanted them to get their claim finished so they could get paid as soon as possible, and with only their name, which was a really common name, Facebook search and the yellow pages did nothing for me.

Enter Karen.

Karen comments relatively quickly on my post, bragging that at her job she has access to tons of people’s personal information and she pasted some guy’s information in the comments. She ended her comment by bragging about being able to use their system outside of work and on personal time for personal reasons, and that she hadn’t been caught.

She posted this on a public Facebook group.

Right away people replied to her and said she shouldn’t be bragging about essentially misusing their system for personal use, and that information security breaches could be a huge problem if she does it on her home network.

As someone with an IT background, I sprang into action.

Cue petty revenge.

I screenshotted everything she said and my original post for safe keeping. I then looked up her name on LinkedIn. Turns out, she works for the most powerful law firm in my city as an office manager.

The American Bar Association has VERY strict rules regarding safeguarding client information. The entire firm could use its license to practice law if anyone in their office misuses their access to client information or shares client information publicly.

I gathered all my information and screenshots and even a screenshot from the Bar Association website and sent it through the contact form on their website. I also sent the same information to the head counsel and the president of the law firm.

Not ten minutes later I get a Facebook message from Karen with A SCREENSHOT OF MY CONTACT FORM, saying “nice try”. She then blocked me on Facebook.

But then.

The next day I get a message from a legal assistant at the law firm. She is very concerned and wants to find out what happened. I explain everything and that she was bragging about this publicly.

She thanked me for my time and said that an internal investigation would happen immediately and that they handle any information security complaints like this very seriously.

I never got an update from the law firm and it’s been about five days, but when I went to Google Karen’s LinkedIn page again…it was gone. I think it’s safe to say that Karen will no longer be using her access to client information for personal use anymore.

To the random guy who needed to finish his unemployment claim, I hope you got paid!

Source: reddit.com/r/pettyrevenge

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT SEO & MARKETING NEWS FOR ECOMMERCE, March 2024

Welcome to my roundup of SEO and marketing news and useful resources for ecommerce businesses, March edition. There is a lot going on with Google, and some really strong marketing pieces this time around, so let's get right to it.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Google launched both a core algorithm update and spam updates on March 5, with the spam update ending on the 20th. Core updates now include the Helpful Content algorithm. In early observations, Etsy and Reddit both picked up visibility in the UK. 

The Helpful Content algorithm updates late last year destroyed a lot of sites’ Google traffic. Avoid the things they had in common.  You can read the full study here. 

Ecommerce sites were some of the biggest losers in Google visibility in 2023, with Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Etsy, Target and Best Buy in the top 10 of sites whose Google appearances slipped. 

New to Google SEO? They’ve revamped their SEO starter guide for people like you. And if you are more advanced and want to learn how to optimize your website product pages, this is a good overview. 

This lengthy article on backlinks for ecommerce websites covers pretty much all the angles, including the really difficult ones. 

Reminder that if you want to rank on Google for a search term, you need to look at what is already ranking, and make decisions based on that content. [video and transcript] This works for most search engines, not just Google. 

Yes, Google crawls “high quality” content more often. I used to refer to this as Google thinking the page is “interesting”, so I guess I will need to change my wording...

While Google sends the most traffic to websites, people spend a lot more of their online time elsewhere. Market where people are, not just where your stats say they came from. 

Sadly, Google has stopped providing caches of website pages in its search results. While you can still see the caches of some pages by using the Google search Cache:[page link] as in cache:https://cindylouwho-2.tumblr.com that will eventually stop working as well. Bing still provides caches, but unfortunately both it and the Wayback Machine do not crawl often enough to give really recent results most of the time. 

Missed Google news in February? Here’s your update. And just in case you are really behind, here is January. 

Not Google

Unsure if your website has enough good backlinks? Bing Webmaster Tools will now tell you if you don’t. 

Yandex - the top search engine in Russia - was sold by its Dutch ownership group to a consortium in Russia. 

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

General

A US study of social media use found that the most popular site was YouTube, with 83% of adults using it. Two-thirds of American adults use Facebook, while TikTok is up to ⅓ of the US population. 

Because they do change periodically, here are the latest image and video sizes recommended for the top social media platforms. [infographic]

Bluesky is now open to everyone - it was previously invite-only. 

Facebook (includes relevant general news from Meta)

Meta has introduced several changes to its Ad options, applying to Facebook and Instagram. 

Meta had a great 4th quarter in 2023, with revenue, users, and earnings per share up. “Fast-growing upstarts Temu and Shein, which originated in China, have been pouring money into ads on Facebook and Instagram. Li said on Thursday that revenue from China-based advertisers accounted for 10% of sales for the year and 5 percentage points of growth.”

Instagram

An updated post on Instagram's algorithm and how it works. 

Instagram is still beta testing longer Reels for some users. 

If your account is a brand account, you can now run ads on Instagram with coupon codes right in them. (Some Facebook users can already do this.)

LinkedIn

Among other recent changes on LinkedIn, the algorithm is now looking to boost important content longer than just the first day or two after publication. 

Pinterest

Pinterest has its own stats package, called Pinterest Analytics, but only for “Business” accounts. They show how many people clicked on the outgoing links, how many people saw your pin on their screen, and much more. Here’s everything you need to know. 

Reddit

Reddit successfully launched on the stock market this past week, but questions remain about how this will change the site. 

Google is paying Reddit to scrape its content through the API instead of from the web. 

Snapchat

Snap was a little later than most tech companies doing layoffs recently, waiting until February 5 to let 10% off staff go. 

Threads

Threads is so new that the algorithm is bound to change a lot in the next year, but for right now, here is how it works. 

TikTok

There is an overwhelming amount of info out there on the US attempt to either ban TikTok or force its sale, and much of it is incomplete, so I will let you Google to your heart’s content if you want to learn more. If you are relying on TikTok to drive sales, this would be a good time to make sure you diversify your promotional strategy. 

You can now track trending terms on TikTok through the Creator Search Insights section. “Creator Search Insights will highlight frequently searched topics, which creators can organize by category (for example, tourism, sports, science) or tailor to their content type with the “For You” option. Additionally, creators can filter for “content gap” topics, which are highly searched but have relatively few videos on TikTok covering them.“

TikTok may be testing a photo app, which would obviously compete with Instagram. 

Twitter

What? Twitter may have lied about its Super Bowl ad performance? I’m so not shocked. 

Tumblr

Tumblr will be selling data access to AI companies. 

YouTube

This is a pretty decent article on YouTube SEO. 

(CONTENT) MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies) 

Small and micro-businesses need an email list. An email list is:  

portable (unlike most social media followers or marketplace buyers) 

is available to almost everyone, as we all need at least one email address if we are online

less susceptible to the whims of algorithms (unlike SEO, marketplaces, social etc.)  

I keep seeing people argue that no one opens emails, but the chart in the article above is proof that is still wrong. (My blog email list averages close to a 70% open rate, depending on the topic and the time I send it. My jewellery email list - which I hardly ever send to - still has an over 30% open rate. My click rates are well above the industry averages, usually 30 to 40% of all recipients for the blog list. These are much better numbers than social, and astronomically better than my clickthrough rate on Google and other search engines.)

Gmail and Yahoo both changed how they handle bulk emails such as newsletters in February. Here’s what you need to know on the basics, including authenticating yourself so your email gets through. 

Find out how to get people to read all the way to the end of your content. 

Get ready for April marketing with 5 topical ideas. National Handmade Day is April 6. 

We should all think twice before deciding to use AI to create content. “Circa 2024, generative AI does not produce new ideas or even develop its own conclusions. Rather, it regurgitates information that it has indexed.” Not convinced? Here’s another article. “AI-generated content represents the literal “average of everything online.”

ONLINE ADVERTISING (EXCEPT INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL MEDIA AND ECOMMERCE SITES) 

Google Ads can now be tracked in Google Analytics 4. 

Both Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising were up in the 4th quarter of 2023. 

STATS, DATA, TRACKING 

Google Analytics 4 tracks organic traffic differently than the previous version. Here’s how to figure it out. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER TRENDS, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

I’ve probably posted this specific article before, but it is worth another read: how to communicate with customers.  For example, “Mirroring your customer’s tone lets them know you’re on their side. If a customer is formal, for example, hold back on the LOLs. If they’re more casual, relax your tone.”

According to a US study, Generation Z is skewing the traditional marketing funnel. “Per Archrival’s data, 77 per cent of Gen Zs and 79 per cent of millennials in the US are actively seeking style inspiration at least monthly, with almost half of those looking for style inspiration on social media. When asked where they learn about new brands, products and experiences, video reigns supreme: YouTube is the most popular platform with Gen Zs, followed by TikTok, then Instagram.”

Trend alert: bag charms are back. 

IMAGES, VIDEO, GRAPHIC DESIGN, & FREE ONLINE TOOLS

Almost all of these 12 video tools are free, and some can be used on your phone. 

MISCELLANEOUS

This is an older piece, but it checks out: IKEA Hacks for Craft Show Displays. A few of these could be done with non-IKEA items. 

Want to stay up-to-date on a nearly daily basis? Follow me on Bluesky or on LinkedIn, or become a member of my Patreon.

[amirhamza74]

How can I get the news of my property sale easily to people through digital media?

To effectively spread the news of your property sale through digital media, you can follow these strategies:

Real Estate Websites and Platforms:

List your property on popular real estate websites such as Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin, and Trulia. These platforms have a large audience and specific tools to highlight property details.

Social Media:

Facebook: Post on your personal profile, local community groups, and real estate groups. Use Facebook Marketplace to list the property for sale. Instagram: Share high-quality photos and videos using stories, posts, and reels. Use relevant hashtags like #HouseForSale, #RealEstate, and #YourCityName. Twitter: Share concise updates with links to your property listing. Use appropriate hashtags and tag relevant local real estate accounts. LinkedIn: Post on your profile and in relevant professional groups. Online Advertising:

Google Ads: Create targeted ads that appear to people searching for properties in your area. Facebook and Instagram Ads: Use the advertising tools to target potential buyers based on demographics, interests, and location.

Email Marketing:

Create an email campaign to send to your contacts, especially those who might be interested or know someone who is. Consider using email marketing services like Mailchimp or Constant Contact to reach a broader audience.

Virtual Tours:

Create a virtual tour using tools like Matterport or a simple video walkthrough. Share the tour on real estate websites, social media, and YouTube.

Real Estate Blogs and Forums:

Write a blog post about your property and share it on real estate blogs or forums like BiggerPockets. Engage in discussions and share your listing in a non-spammy manner.

Local Online Communities:

Post in local online communities, forums, and websites such as Nextdoor and Craigslist. Engage with local influencers or bloggers who might share your property listing with their followers.

Content Marketing:

Create content around your property, such as articles or videos about the neighborhood, local amenities, and the unique features of your property. Share this content across your social media channels and real estate platforms.

Collaborate with Real Estate Agents:

Even if you prefer to sell by owner, collaborating with real estate agents can give your property more visibility. They can share your listing with their network and on their digital platforms.

SEO Optimization:

Ensure that any property listing or blog post is optimized for search engines. Use keywords that potential buyers might search for, such as “house for sale in [Your City]”.

By leveraging these digital media strategies, you can reach a wide audience and increase the chances of selling your property quickly.

Do you want to grow your business? You can contact me. amirhamza4023@gmail.com

growyourbusiness #RealEstate #HouseForSale #socialmideagrow

amirhamza74

[gatheredfates]

Hello everyone—this is another smaller update post for Sea's Community Compendium! These are likely to continue until next week (provided I have resources), then it'll swap back to a weekly update when I go back to work. I want to try and keep up with any and all resources that I can in the early days so I'm not swamped when I get busy. ⛵

I'm trying to get a headcount going with Dawntrail's release! I probably did it a bit too early, to be fair, but I'm insane like that. If you're looking for people to follow, I highly recommend replying to that thread because I'll reblog any that come my way.

With that said, however, as of today (07/10), the following resources have been added to Sea's Community Compendium for XIV Creatives.

LARGE-SCALE COMMUNITY DISCORDS / SPACES

The Aitiascope Directory — A repository of roleplayers for the North American FFXIV community.

Please note: this resource does look to be newly created and needs contributions from people like you in order to succeed!

FFXIV Crafting Optimiser — This website is a crafting tool that tries to find a solution for your synthesis, using your own given crafting attributes and stats.

SEAFLOOR

We're a Tumblr Community now! For people unfamiliar with the concept of Communities, I encourage you to check out the tumblr post by staff made about them here. However, copy/pasting what I have written in the Compendium, the Community functions as so:

SEAFLOOR (A FFXIV Community) is a Tumblr community whose duel-purpose focuses on my projects — the Compendium, question drives and screenshot events — whilst also reblogging member created works, resources (including events, commissions and looking for content/roleplay/free company posts), affirmations and other xiv-related content. If you are interested in supporting my projects without the social aspect of a Discord, I highly encourage you to join the Community. Everything hosted on the Discord will be cross-posted there; you will not miss out on anything. As Communities are still in beta, members need to be manually invited. If you would like to join, please like the tumblr post here. Once Communities are out of beta, I will remove this section to better reflect its true public status.

I'm hoping the Community will function as a member-curated dash, resource hub and visual diary for my projects and member created works. There are no hard feelings if you want to leave the Discord and only join the Community. Please do what makes you comfortable!

Want to submit? You can either fill out the google form here or send me an ask with the relevant information!

Is my space suitable for the Compendium? Most of the time, yes! Below the read more is some more information/stipulations. Again, all the below information is accessible on the document! 🦈

Below are the following things I do not accept on the Compendium:

Personal/Single-Character LFC ads.

Content intended for or can be used for bullying, harassment and OOC gossip. E.g. ‘Secrets’ blogs, receipts, callout posts, etc. This does not include in-character tabloid blogs used to generate RP.

Communities that do not have an RP/writing element (large-scale exempt).

Anything I find personally distasteful or goes against the spirit of this project.

Common-sense rule applies.

FAQ.

I want to put my community on the compendium but we have an application process. Is this okay?

Yes! Just note somewhere in your application that's a requirement. The only thing that is mandatory for the Compendium is that you must be open to new members or have a public-facing/accessible facet. There's no point advertising a community if no one can join it in some way!

I want to put my community on the compendium but I only have x number of members —

Also totally okay! People don't start with large communities. Activity is a must but, whether your server has two or two thousand members, if you're looking for new people to join, I'd love to help you find people.

I want to put my community on the compendium but I worry its too niche?

Okay, and? If your Eorzean Fishing Alliance has four members but you roleplay every second weekend, I still want to know about it.

What resources/communities can I add if I'm not the owner of them?

Mutual consent is extremely important to me, so anything that isn't a large-scale community OR a publicly accessible resource must be endorsed by the owner/admin/moderators in order to be added to the compendium. I operate under the assumption that a resource posted to a public space (tumblr, googledocs, youtube, etc) is open to all. A large-scale community is one with a significant member count or openly advertises itself as being accessible to everyone for whatever purpose it serves. If in doubt, please get in touch with me. I'm happy to contact your community owners for you!

How active does a community need to be?

If you find a community has not been active in about two/three months, send me a message and I'll take a look at it. Communities have ebbs and flows, especially event spaces that may take hiatuses depending on member interest/life events. I'm not strict in my implementation provided a space isn't dead. If a link or anything is broken, absolutely contact me about that.

I have [insert a question not stated here]?

No drama! Send me an ask or use the #Compendium channel in my Discord!

[mariacallous]

Whether you're a student, a journalist, or a business professional, knowing how to do high-quality research and writing using trustworthy data and sources, without giving in to the temptation of AI or ChatGPT, is a skill worth developing.

As I detail in my book Writing That Gets Noticed, locating credible databases and sources and accurately vetting information can be the difference between turning a story around quickly or getting stuck with outdated information.

For example, several years ago the editor of Parents.com asked for a hot-take reaction to country singer Carrie Underwood saying that, because she was 35, she had missed her chance at having another baby. Since I had written about getting pregnant in my forties, I knew that as long as I updated my facts and figures, and included supportive and relevant peer-reviewed research, I could pull off this story. And I did.

The story ran later that day, and it led to other assignments. Here are some tips I’ve learned that you should consider mastering before you turn to automated tools like generative AI to handle your writing work for you.

Find Statistics From Primary Sources

Identify experts, peer-reviewed research study authors, and sources who can speak with authority—and ideally, offer easily understood sound bites or statistics on the topic of your work. Great sources include professors at major universities and media spokespeople at associations and organizations.

For example, writer and author William Dameron pinned his recent essay in HuffPost Personal around a statistic from the American Heart Association on how LGBTQ people experience higher rates of heart disease based on discrimination. Although he first found the link in a secondary source (an article in The New York Times), he made sure that he checked the primary source: the original study that the American Heart Association gleaned the statistic from. He verified the information, as should any writer, because anytime a statistic is cited in a secondary source, errors can be introduced.

Dive Into Databases

Jen Malia, author of The Infinity Rainbow Club series of children’s books (whom I recently interviewed on my podcast), recently wrote a piece about dinosaur-bone hunting for Business Insider, which she covers in her book Violet and the Jurassic Land Exhibit.

After a visit to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Malia, whose books are set in Philadelphia, found multiple resources online and on the museum site that gave her the history of the Bone Wars, information on the exhibits she saw, and the scientific names of the dinosaurs she was inspired by. She also used the Library of Congress’ website, which offers digital collections and links to the Library of Congress Newspaper Collection.

Malia is a fan of searching for additional resources and citable documents with Google Scholar. “If I find that a secondary source mentions a newspaper article, I’m going to go to the original newspaper article, instead of just stopping there and quoting,” she says.

Your local public library is a great source of free information, journals, and databases (even ones that generally require a subscription and include embargoed research). For example, your search should include everything from health databases (Sage Journals, Scopus, PubMed) to databases for academic sources and journalism (American Periodical Series Online, Statista, Academic Search Premier) and databases for news, trends, market research, and polls (the Harris Poll, Pew Research Center, Newsbank, ProPublica).

Even if you find a study or paper that you can’t access in one of those databases, consider reaching out to the study’s lead author or researcher. In many cases, they’re happy to discuss their work and may even share the study with you directly and offer to talk about their research.

Get a Good Filtering System

For journalist Paulette Perhach’s article on ADHD in The New York Times, she used Epic Research to see “dual team studies.” That's when two independent teams address the same topic or question, and ideally come to the same conclusions. She recommends locating research and experts via key associations for your topic. She also likes searching via Google Scholar but advises filtering it for studies and research in recent years to avoid using old data. She suggests keeping your links and research organized. “Always be ready to be peer-reviewed yourself,” Perhach says.

When you are looking for information for a story or project, you might be inclined to start with a regular Google search. But keep in mind that the internet is full of false information, and websites that look trustworthy can sometimes turn out to be businesses or companies with a vested interest in you taking their word as objective fact without additional scrutiny. Regardless of your writing project, unreliable or biased sources are a great way to torpedo your work—and any hope of future work.

For Accuracy, Go to the Government

Author Bobbi Rebell researched her book Launching Financial Grownups using the IRS’ website. “I might say that you can contribute a certain amount to a 401K, but it might be outdated because those numbers are always changing, and it’s important to be accurate,” she says. “AI and ChatGPT can be great for idea generation,” says Rebell, “but you have to be careful. If you are using an article someone was quoted in, you don’t know if they were misquoted or quoted out of context.”

If you use AI and ChatGPT for sourcing, you not only risk introducing errors, you risk introducing plagiarism—there is a reason OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is being sued for downloading information from all those books.

Historically, the Loudest Isn’t the Best

Audrey Clare Farley, who writes historical nonfiction, has used a plethora of sites for historical research, including Women Also Know History, which allows searches by expertise or area of study, and JSTOR, a digital library database that offers a number of free downloads a month. She also uses Chronicling America, a project from the Library of Congress which gathers old newspapers to show how a historical event was reported, and Newspapers.com (which you can access via free trial but requires a subscription after seven days).

When it comes to finding experts, Farley cautions against choosing the loudest voices on social media platforms. “They might not necessarily be the most authoritative. I vet them by checking if they have a history of publication on the topic, and/or educational credentials.”

When vetting an expert, look for these red flags:

You can’t find their work published or cited anywhere.

They were published in an obscure journal.

Their research is funded by a company, not a university, or they are the spokesperson for the company they are doing research for. (This makes them a public relations vehicle and not an appropriate source for journalism.)

And finally, the best endings for virtually any writing, whether it’s an essay, a research paper, an academic report, or a piece of investigative journalism, circle back to the beginning of the piece, and show your reader the transformation or the journey the piece has presented in perspective.

As always, your goal should be strong writing supported by research that makes an impact without cutting corners. Only then can you explore tools that might make the job a little easier, for instance by generating subheads or discovering a concept you might be missing—because then you'll have the experience and skills to see whether it's harming or helping your work.

[goldenpinof]

hi! was wondering if you can share info about dnp's new talent rep (and how the old one was if its okay to talk about) ^^ i've recently reconnected with the fandom through social media platforms, for the last few years i only followed them through their youtube uploads and the ocassional major news here and there. so im completely out of the loop with stuff like this. thank you so much!

hi! i'm not the best person to answer any of this, i'm so sorry.

about new management, it's InterTalent and i know only what's on their website and on google in general. as i'm typing this, only Phil has a page but Dan and dnpgames's business emails indicate that both dnp are represented by InterTalent now. which is super exciting!

about Above the Fray (they have a new website now). i'm not sure what you wanna know? if it's about why they left their previous management, then it's probably related to how Dan's tour was organised (allegedly, in my opinion!), among other things. you can see how stale Phil's career became, idk how much it depended on his manager but it's quite obvious ATF wasn't big enough for dnp and their potential. we unfortunately saw how Dan's team, including one of his managers, was unable to communicate with promoters. not to mention added shows that weren't properly planned and the cancellation of some of them. Iceland deserves a special mention: it got cancelled a month before the show. and we kinda found out about it before Dan (or his promo materials weren't updated in time and he didn't check it). he posted about available tickets with Iceland listed and in a couple of hours the show's page went down and people started getting emails about its cancellation. 2 days later Dan posted the news and apologised in Icelandic!! and also threw shade at people he worked with. it was a huge moment. i forgot how bad it was, so tragic (wad.iceland tag if anyone wants to cry over it with me again).

they left in the end of June/beginning of July 2023, i suppose. a couple of months without managers, Dan started following people who work at United Talent, and today it's October and we are with InterTalent :))

if you wanna know more about ATF i'll have to redirect you to Mandy (@alittledizzy). i'm also linking her posts about the company (the ones that show up in the search anyway. i'm sure there are more asks about it but i don't know how to find them, sorry). if you have specific questions you can ask her because my knowledge is limited :)

[whilomm]

U.S. election voting tips for anyone who hasn't done this before (or just doesnt know this stuff)

Figured a post like this might be useful, and if you agree I would appreciate a reblog. I'll block anyone doing vote-shaming shit though, cause once again yelling at people isnt the best tool for encouraging voter participation. I tried to make it readable but long post of course, sorry about that. brevity may be the soul of wit but I am a fucking fool and I have so many words to say.

caveats:

I'm gonna do my best to note when local laws might be diff, but just in gen election laws vary a LOT state by state, even county by county. when in doubt, check your local laws, cause this shits confusing as hell sometimes

obviously this is about ya kno. U.S. elections and U.S. laws.

Doing my best, but in case I get deets wrong, please correct me in the comments, and readers please check the comments for corrections. I'll update the OG post if theres anything MAJOR so you can reblog the corrected version if needed.

First things first: get your shit in order.

Does your state/county/area have a good elections website? check it out, sometimes its easier to look info up there than on the general nationwide sites, and itll give county specific information. just google like, "[county] elections", "[city] elections". Sometimes its its own website, sometimes its under the county clerk or something, and the quality of the site will probs depend on ya kno. the size of your county, how much they invest in it, etc. I'm sure some of them Suck Ass. Here's my county's for ref, its p good.

Are you registered to vote? Check. Even if you've registered before, its good to double check occasionally in case your info is out of date, or in case theres been a purge of voting rolls.

When is the registration deadline in your area? Look it up and get it done BEFORE then!

Have you moved recently? Reregister. Your address affects what's on your ballot, and if it was a big move (like across cities/counties), you might not be ABLE to vote where you are now, at least not without driving all the way back to wherever you're registered.

College student? You can either be registered to vote back home or at college. If you're studying in california but home is in texas for example, you can either register to vote in california, or keep your texas voting address, but not both! Registering to vote locally is the easier option since you can just vote like normal, while staying registered at home means you either have to go back home to vote, or vote absentee. Not too bad if homes an hour away and its just an excuse to visit anyway, lil bit more complicated if it's several states away. Your call, but if you choose to stay registered at home, either make travel plans or get your absentee ballot stuff done EARLY. like, look it up NOW what the deadlines are, which vary state by state. go do it. And remember, absentee ballots take time to mail.

Check what your voting options are. If you wanna vote by mail for example, check if you meet the requirements. Some states make it easy as hell (or make it the main/only voting method), others make it. a pain. a real goddamn pain. Figure out what your situation is.

Check if you need to vote at a specific polling place, or if you can vote anywhere in the area. I can vote anywhere in the city so i just choose whatever is closest/least busy/beside a good boba spot, but some areas have assigned polling places where you have to go to that specific one. If you go to the wrong polling place, you can't vote. Don't waste time in line at the wrong place.

Check if early voting is an option. If it is, and provided its an option for you (good locations/dates), trust me. do it. The lines are so much shorter, and its a lot easier to go on my day off cause I got a week and a half to choose when to go. But it ain't a thing everywhere, and some places make it difficult (weird hours, weird locations, etc) so your mileage may vary of course.

Ready to vote? Cool. Now, research BEFORE you get into the booth, and maybe bring written notes with you.

"Oh, well, I just plan on voting straight ticker ya kno. anyone with a D next to their name..."

Yeah, that works for partisan races, but it aint gonna work for nonpartisan races and ballot measures.

First, nonpartisan races

These are races where the candidates do NOT have their political party noted, because well. its nonpartisan! no parties! This often applies to school board elections, sheriffs, judges, and other stuff. that means you dont get a helpful little letter to tell you who to vote for nothing but a name, and if you'll have to research to find out what their views are. This can be. Annoying on occasion. Sometimes these races have a lotta coverage, candidates with websites, endorsements, and sometimes theyre just fucking. Yeah no you just get names p much good luck 👍.

Whether or not you can look this info up in the booth depends on your area. In Texas for example, you can't get your phone out in the booth at ALL. I mean, technically the law makes it sound like you can't even have a phone within 100 feet of a polling station, but. well. I've never seen them do searches. Still, if you get stuck in the booth staring at the names, tough luck kid. Maybe if you ask theyll let you leave and come back? idk! I've never asked! But you know whats easier than that? looking up info beforehand, and writing down all those names

When looking up candidate info, make sure you keep an eye out for dogwhistles. Sometimes you only get a couple of sentences of info about a candidate for a school board election, but if those sentences mention "family values", "protecting the children", "critical race theory", "parent's rights", etc. well. you know they probably got some rightwing politics going on. Probably don't vote for them unless you want even MORE book bans. I feel like judges and sheriffs are usually easier to get more detailed info on, but again, look for dogwhistles, and if available, look at their records.

Propositions and Ballot Measures

Sometimes, elections include you getting to vote on stuff DIRECTLY, rather than you know. The people you elected deciding everything. Sometimes these are relatively boring (but oftentimes still important) stuff like taxes and whatnot, sometimes theyre Major Ass Measures (like states literally putting abortion rights to a vote), and sometimes they LOOK boring on the surface but wooo boy, look a lil deeper and this shit is spicey.

The problem though? Well, a lotta these things are written to be confusing as hell. Sometimes this is just because its aforementioned boring (but important) tax stuff and you just have no idea what any of this means, other times its because the measures are deliberately written in a confusing manner to obfuscate what you're REALLY voting on. At least where I am, on the ballot itself you only get to see a the name of the measure and a quick paragraph explaining it, so there can be a LOT of shit hidden in the actual official text of the act.

theres lots of ways they do this, but a few major things:

Giving the measure a confusing name. "shelter animal welfare act". Well, that sounds nice! you like animals, and the welfare thereof! But you look a lil closer, and find out that the main thing the act will ACTUALLY do is shut down/defund shelters because they arent "meeting standards", which the act deliberately sets waaay too high, cause the goal of the act is actually to just. save a few bucks by diverting money away from shelters.

The actual wording of the prop being confusing. You read the little blurb beneath it, and it talks about beautifying parks to increase visitors. Cool! but uh, turns out that means selling it off to private investors who plan on developing those boring natural areas into a cool new concert venue, charge admission, and oh turns out its gonna ruin the habitat for an endangered salamander species. (Like, not that outdoor concert areas cant be cool, but not in the salamander habitat man. fuck off.)

deliberately making it confusing what voting "for" or "against" mean. Like. Okay, am i voting yes to NOT allow them to sell off the salamander habitat?? am i voting NO to not block the sale?? or is it the other way around?? what the fuck man. cant even read this shit my god.

having multiple similar sounding propositions which are actually Very Different. Happened here in austin recently, we had two "police reform acts", both with very similar ballot language, but one was sponsored by the police union and designed to fuck up the ACTUAL police reform act.

And many more!! i never trust the ballot language on the proposition. sometimes a quick look shows its just what it seems like, and other times boy howdy do i got some shit to sort thru.

How hard it is to find out info on candidates and props varies. Good places to start:

Local newspapers, which often have candidate/prop info and endorsements. Personally, I usually look at the papers I know are more left-leaning for their endorsements to get me started (taking note of course of their reasonings for why they endorse certain candidates, cause of course sometimes i Disagree). Still good for getting some of the easier ones outta the way (like "this school board candidate is pro book bans, this ones anti", good enough for me, one less race to research!). You can also look at the shitty rightwing newspapers, see who they endorse, and vote the opposite way lmao

Sites like vote 411, ballotready, or ballotpedia, which let you enter in your address to find a sample ballot and ALSO give info on races. Some of them have a feature where you can go through, read info race-by-race and select your choices as you go, then give you a printable selection list. for example, they might have a short questionaire for each school board candidate where you can read their answers, or short blurbs for the "yes" and "no" endorsements for props. on that note,

LOOK AT ENDORSEMENTS! this one is huge sometimes. Maybe the "no" option on an act is endorsed by local wildlife orgs, conservation groups, leftwing orgs, etc, while the "yes" option is endorsed by chevron, Oil R Us, The Center For The Destruction Of Rare Endangered Salamanders, Autism Speaks for some goddamn reason... Well, it's not always that easy, but hell, sometimes it is. Keep in mind that you can't always tell a group's politics by their name though, cause the "deliberately misleading titles" thing also applies political groups formed for the specific purpose of endorsing shit to make it look better/worse, so if its not comically obvious like this, or theres names you dont recognize, give it another looksie. Also works for candidates!

Note that sometimes the "yes" and "no" options will have their own websites just like candidates do to make finding who endorses them easier, since they might just have lists of who endorses that option right there. Not all the time though (and sometimes theyre hard to find), but its a great tool when you do find em!

if you really wanna get deep into research, well, you can always snoop the candidates socials if they got em. thats usually too much for me unless i REALLY need to check em out, though.

Luckily, I usually find that I don't need to research every single little race or prop, and its just a few every once in a while i REALLY gotta dig into. dont worry, not every single election is a fucking research project, just go thru it and CHECK whether you gotta dig deeper on anything or nah

like, if i have a long ass ballot with 50 things to vote on, I might have 25 nonpartisian races and ballot measures I gotta look up first. Most of the NP races I super quickly choose bc the newspaper im looking at endorsements for straight up tells me some of them are conservatives, and most of the ballot measures are p straightforward, cool. Theres like 3 NP races im Not Sure About to dig into tho, and like 2 ballot measures im still confused on. So, out of 50 things to vote on, i might only have like, 5 i need to dig into to varying degrees. or, sometimes I get into it, and nah all of these are straightforward, im good.

Once you're done researching, write it down, get it on paper.

Unless its a mega short ballot that you can easily remember (or you just have crazy good memory), write it down, print out a sample ballot to fill out, or use a site like vote 411/ballotpedia to print your choices. you dont wanna get in the booth and forget half the shit. As far as I can tell, paper notes and stuff are always allowed.

Actually Voting Stuff

Lots of states have pretty strict electioneering laws, and you can be kicked out or asked to change for stuff as simple as "wearing campaign apparel". Usually defined by distance from the polling place, which varies by state. Unless you're SURE your state doesnt outlaw it, I would skip those campaign shirts and pins, or just anything that could debately be called "political". Could stuff like queer pride shirts be called "political"? I honestly have no fuckin idea, seems like a kinda not set issue, and maybe it wouldnt hold up if someone DID say something, but personally I wouldnt chance it. Dress Boring. leave your pins at home or in the car.

Check what ID you need to bring, and bring it. you dont wanna get to the front of an hour long line and find out you forgot your ID.

Be careful about selfies and phone use! As Stated, some states like texas seem to outlaw phone use entirely around the polls (though last I checked I was a bit confused by some states whos laws were about "photography devices such as cell phones", are they only banned if being USED for photography or entirely? still confused tbh), some outlaw just photography in gen, some only outlaw pics of your ballot itself, and some states dont give a shit if you take a ballot selfie. If you don't wanna do the research, just go with the safest option: no phone in polling place, and take the selfie with your sticker after you leave. if you fuck up, your vote may be invalidated, meaning you basically didnt vote. If you KNOW you live in a state where its chill tho, do what you want 👍

Double check your votes when you're able to. If its a paper ballot give it a good glance afterward, if its electronic it should have a results screen before the final confirmation

yaaaay good job. you voted. dont forget the sticker. you should get yourself a lil treat too. I usually get boba. mmmmm balls in my mouth yum.

anyway. hope this is vaguely helpful, reblog if you feel like it. if this ends up getting any notes, check em for extra advice, corrections, etc.