the tangled web
So it was time to update the website(s).
This is not one of my favorite photographic activities, but I don’t underestimate it’s importance. And now I have an idea of why it takes forever to do, and why I constantly put it off. I have too many damn websites, more social networking than I can keep up with and if you add in the phone, texting and email, it’s very much an out of control situation.
Behold. This is a diagram I drew of some of the things that I’ve got going on here.
As you can see it’s kind of confusing. And I understand why. I’ve had Facebook forever. One day I decided that I should separate my business from my personal and made a business fan page on FB. But that kinda sucked because FB didn’t give you notifications when people would interact with it. That page has amassed quite an impressive following, but I have no idea what to do with it. I’ve had twitter since 2008 (though I just really started using it this year). Tumblr is new, but I started using it as an alternate fine art portfolio. Then I realized how cool it is, so it’s now like a collection of lots of random creative things both made by me and other people.
Before the new year, I felt it necessary to separate my actual photo portfolios to make it easier for clients to see what I shoot, and get to what they’re looking for faster. That was actually a project I was proud of, because I did all myself – and I’m horrible with web stuff. So I’m not changing that. (but a mobile version of the portrait site would be awesome, LOL)
And then I’ve still got this blog, my vimeo page, and a linkdin page that I’ve long forgotten the password to.
So how do I manage all this? I have no clue. While I’d like to segment the things that I create because I know that not everyone is into everything, the struggle is still keeping up with all of it, while still making it interesting enough to visit again.
So today I set out to slay this monster of mine, and here’s how:
-JulianRace.com is the main site. it comes up in all the search engines, so I redesigned it, and linked the portfolios and the social stuff here. simple and clean.
-I’m thinking of doing away with the Facebook fan page… But I’m hesitating because there are a ton of people on there, that I have no other way to connect with, and I’m not sure I want to send out all those friend requests…
-This blog may see a change in content, to focus more on industry things for the time being. Though I considered doing away with this too, but likely will keep it around just because I’ve had it for a few years now. Plus I have so much to say about photography that I don’t because I know it’ll ruffle some feathers. No more tongue-biting.
-I’m almost done with my re-branding too. This basically just means picking logo designs and making sure its consistent across the board. (the new Race Card is on the way too!)
I’ve starting coming to terms with the fact that Ive let this get out of control, and taming it will take time. Today was a good strong step in that direction. Go me. Now we’ll see if any of this yields results…
so if you’re reading this, please go look at my stuff. 
