December 15, 2009
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Just thought I’d update everyone…
Hey there!
For those of you who’re subscribed to my Xanga, either via RSS or through email, I just thought I’d drop in and explain what’s up. As I noted once or twice in previous blog posts, and as is obvious for anyone who follows me on Twitter or knows me on Facebook, …I’m blogging at matthewsaville.com/blog from now on.
It’s ironic, really, because I actually switched (to wordpress) for business reasons, SEO to be precise. And the ironic part is, my Xanga is quite good at coming up in Google searches… In fact I’ve gotten quite a few wedding inquiries from couples who found me through this blog. And to ice the cake, apparently you can now adapt your Xanga URL to be whatever you want it to be, so I could have turned this into matthewsavilleblog.com or blog.matthewsaville.com easily. Oh well, I’ve already made the switch and put lots of effort into customizing the new wordpress blog, so I guess that’s the direction my business will go.
However I’ve enabled friends lock here for this blog, and I’m REALLY considering taking advantage of such privacy to post my personal thoughts and opinions. I send all my clients to matthewsaville.com/blog, so I have to keep it professional. Wow, I can’t even remember the last time I blogged about something other than images. That’s really interesting. Remember when I blogged on “Icrashonmyface”? I better go apply friends lock to that Xanga, too. I’ve been blogging since 2003, wow!
Anyway… I’ll post a couple recent images, but please do head over to the new blog if you’re interested in continuing to subscribe to my photo blog. Unfortunately I post mostly portraits and wedding photos these days, so that can get kinda boring after a while if you’re not into that kinda stuff, but as business gets more stable and I get more free time, I’ve been able to get out and shoot landscapes here and there.
(By the way, these are previously un-blogged images, so I’m treating my Xanga friends to a first look!
Heck, I dunno if people are still reading this blog, but if you are, enjoy…
Take care, and THANK YOU for reading! The internet, and Xanga at the very beginning of it all, has honestly accounted for 90+ percent of the friends and photographers I associate with today, in one way or another… Really…
Comments (10)
Stunning work Matt. Nor surprises there of course. I need to get my blogging up to speed but i have always found my xanga comes up in searches too.
Is the option to use your own domain for xanga an option within xanga or is it a matter of redirecting a domain name?
@chrisfawkes - Here Chris, I think this is what you want!
http://www.xanga.com/purl.aspx
I was shocked that they rolled out this feature so quietly, and man you gotta DIG to find this page haha, but then again maybe it’s in their best interest to NOT let people totally mask the Xanga appearance.
Yeah it costs a tiny bit of cash, but it looks like anything is possible now!
=Matt=
@chrisfawkes - I really wish I had known this in advance, otherwise I wouldn’t have left Xanga! But I felt like I REALLY had to get the .xanga.com thing out of my blog url if I was going to represent my brand on the highest possible level. I spent years fine-tuning this blog theme, haha… Oh well!
I think that was my bug with xanga for a while. They had their brand all over it even when you paid for the premium service. Then there were the pop ups which i had to get code to get rid of then after that the pop up asking people to subscribe without allowing us the option of taking it off.
All that aside i’m comfortable with xanga right now (may change if they bring back pop ups). I will def look into masking the url. I’m planning on creating a business newsletter advocating the virtues of blogging and pushing xanga as a great option, i’ll send the newsletter to all the vendors in my area. The idea for me there is that i don’t think any of my competition use xanga so if i can create a network of vendors connected through xanga that could be a good move.
I’m testing putting Album showcase on the blog. I didn’t know i could do that until i saw a code generator in the album showcase program. It’s a great program for doing portrait sales too. Do a family album and show them in album showcase and they always want one.
I see Bri-hey, that is so funny with Yoda’s little head from the back
@chrisfawkes - You know I think it’s ironic that with everybody leaving Xanga for WordPress, wordpress themed blogs have become the “same as all the others” looking blogs, and Xanga has the ability to look really unique now. I mean I’ve branded my new blog to match my website and SmugMug, but it STILL looks a whole lot like all the other blog themes… Oh well…
And aside from the TINY little header / footer bars, it sure looks like you can completely mask everything now! No ads, no banners, no pop-ups, no nothing.
=Matt=
Love seeing your images as usual…and Krista and Bri. You and my son really must be related..Star Wars…just another similarity.
We’re still reading your blog Matt! Thanks for the info. I was switching to Word Press this winter when I had some breathing time. But maybe I’ll stay with Xanga. Don’t worry about blogging about personal stuff on your pro blog. My clients love it when I do that. It helps them get to know you better. And ultimately that relationship is what it’s all about. I love my clients! As I know you do too. Keep me on this list too please. Your blogs are my favorites!
yoda and obi-wan…*giggles*
in reference to the yoda and obi wan photo…..happy star wars day. may the fourth be with you.