Control Your Content or Go Out of Business

I am convinced that some people have self-destructive personalities. And I don’t mean the individual who overeats or drinks too much, or the person who recklessly races down the freeway.

Rather, this self-destructive personality is the writer who relies exclusively on third parties to host their content, including articles, photos and other user-generated material that can simply go away in just a moment.

Last month, I wrote “Why Giving Up Blogging May Be Your Worst Decision,” to touch on the importance of maintaining your own site(s). Today, I am going to get specific on how your most valuable content can quickly disappear.

Am I being an alarmist? I’ll let you decide. However, the facts are clear that when you post material to a website or service that you do not control, then you risk having that information deleted, changed or used for purposes other than what you intended.

1. Terms of service. I read recently where a controversial website that was dedicated to exposing the lies of another organization was suddenly shut down. That website seemed to be telling the truth, but it was hosted on WordPress.com, a free blog hosting site managed by the makers of that powerful content management system. The blog’s opponents seized upon WordPress’ “terms of service,” which clearly spell out that “hate speech” is not allowed. The term “hate speech” is loosely defined, but if someone does not like what you have to say and complains to the right source, then your material can be removed. Fortunately for the owners, they had a database backup and were able to transfer their blog to a private hosting company. Others are not so lucky.

2. Rules are changed. Again. The popularity of Facebook is evident with more than 800 million global users registered as we begin 2012. Its strength and influence cannot be denied, but Facebook has lulled legions of users into pouring all of their resources into its vast pit of accumulated content, material that becomes the property of Facebook. Contributing to Facebook isn’t wrong, but it should never be your primary way of reaching your customers or the people you influence. Even if you delete your Facebook account, the process is not an easy one and your information may remain on Facebook’s servers.

3. Strong platforms fade. Facebook has supplanted MySpace in social media and Google has conquered Yahoo in web search. As difficult as it is to imagine either of these newer platforms being overtaken by an emerging entity, that possibility always exists. Back in the 1990s, message boards and forums ruled, and were destinations unto themselves. Users freely shared valuable information that took countless hours to write. Many of those sites are now gone and the content its contributors submitted has long disappeared. You may be satisfied with your content’s short term influence, but if you want what you write to last for the long haul, then only the sites you control can ensure its continued visibility.

4. Your shortened links no longer work. Besides the content you write, the links you share via social media should be of critical importance to you. Those links can attract new clients and be useful for years to come. However, if a link shortener’s service shuts down, then your links will go away with it. Use a stable link shortening platform, particularly one that allows you to track analytics. I recently started using Google’s goo.gl shortener and am impressed by what this service has to offer.

Extreme reliance on others to host your content can adversely impact your business, perhaps forcing you to close up shop. Even if the hit is only temporary, you’ll lose valuable time and will need to expend resources to retrieve what you have lost. I dobut that you can afford to take such a hit nor should you.

Easy Come, Easy Go

Freelance writing isn’t the carefree lifestyle some think that it is.  Some of my friends are under the impression that I can work when I want and for whom I want, but the truth is that I put in a lot of hours each week, 60 or more, to maintain what I do.

On occasion, I am able to take off during the week as I did last month to take my oldest son to the beach for the day, but I “paid for it” by working my tail off the weekends before and after our trip. The trip was worth it — a good father and son time — and an excellent way to conclude the school year.

With the first half of the year behind me, I’ve been taking stock of my work and trying to wrap my mind around what is coming down the pike over the next few months. No, I’m not laying out the remainder of the year, but the months of July, August and September are on my mind, including a conference I have later this month immediately followed by a family reunion out of state.

I have to figure out a way to get some extra writing and editing done before these two events come up — I’ll have little time to get on my laptop. Moreover, I don’t want to check e-mail or do any work while we’re on the road. Modern technology is great, but a constant tethering to the Internet isn’t conducive to relaxing.

Yesterday, I got the news that one of my clients was shutting down its online initiative effective immediately. The day before I submitted my last two articles for the month to this site, a weekly practice I had been keeping up since March when the project began.

Quite suddenly an announcement was made that the eight or so of us contributing to this site should stop our work with little more than that shared. This action was not expected, but it wasn’t too much of a surprise as the company had sold off a piece of itself earlier in the second quarter, thus some sort of further restructuring was likely. Easy come, easy go.

Following such news I always take stock of what remains. Thankfully, this client was a piece of a much larger puzzle, a good client to have, but by no means my main moneymaker. Still, the steady payments were nice and the exposure through this website with byline included was helpful.

At this point I usually put out feelers for new work, but given that we’re at the start of a long Independence Day weekend, the chances that I’ll be able to make contact with anyone are slim. That’s okay, because I’d prefer to wind down my work for the week instead of having to negotiate with a client and put together a contract that won’t arrive at his or her house until Tuesday anyway.

Instead, I’ll be heading over to the farmer’s market early Saturday morning, picking up some nice, sweet North Carolina corn and ruby red tomatoes in preparation for our cookout on Monday. Yes, I’ll be getting a box of fireworks too, setting those off after 9 p.m., thankful that here in America we can still choose how we work, where we live and understand why liberty must always be preserved.

Photo: MorgueFile