I must say it’s good to be back in the swing of things. My social media hiatus was refreshing and re-energizing. This is the second time I’ve taken an extended social media “fast.” If you’ve never done it, you really should give it a go.
The first thing you’ll notice is that I’ve made some changes around here. BladeRonner.com is no more. It is time to evolve and I’m so excited about where the blog is headed. So just give me a few minutes of your time and let me share with you what you can expect from the changes and why I made them. Hopefully it will give you some insight for your own branding strategy.
A New Name. As much as I hated to give it up, the first major change I made was the name. Blade Ronner was a self-imposed nickname I’ve had for years. It was a cool play on words from the title of a cool movie. My chief concern though was that as the traffic on this blog has exponentially increased since I first launched it as BladeRonner two years ago, it was only a matter of time before the powers that be who own the rights to the movie Blade Runner might come calling. I didn’t want to happen to my blog what happened to my friends Jon Connor and Christine Valdivieso and their site CanonFilmmakers. So I decided to beat the lawyers to the punch. I toyed around with a few names, but in the end, it seemed the most sense to tie it back to my company’s brand, Dare Dreamer Media.
A New Look. The old blog used one of the many WordPress.com themes. When I first activated it, I never came across any other sites in this industry using that theme. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve since discovered about three or four. My old theme had a very distinct look and design. When deciding to tie the new blog into my company’s brand, I opted for a clean design that was flexible enough to tweak to match my brand. Furthermore, I chose a streamlined design that is not so distinctive. My current design is more function than form. In much the same way newspapers all have a similar functional look, yet have distinct enough differences from others, my new design is the same way. You may come across many WordPress blogs on the internet with a similar functional design as this, but since the design doesn’t over power the function, it might not even necessarily register that “Oh, this is the same design Ron uses.” That wasn’t the case with my old design. If you came across another blog with that theme, it would stand out.
Expanded Mission. My old blog was “the art and business of filmmaking and photography.” That will still be a significant aspect of my posts. But I want Dare Dreamer Magazine to be an educational and inspirational resource for all creative professionals. Many of the topics I addressed transcended industries anyway. A writer, musician, painter, designer or any other professional creative can relate to about 80% of the topics I write on this blog, e.g. social media, inspiration, small business management, creativity, etc.
What Can You Expect?
You can expect what you’ve always received from my blog. Insightful articles that stir up conversation, provoke thought, and provide valuable insight and education. But there will be more. I’ve invited some specific friends and colleagues I know to guest blog for me. I want to use the traffic I’ve built on this website to help others increase their exposure. So be on the look out for some valuable knowledge and inspiration from other creative professionals. Furthermore, I’ve opened the blog to take submissions. If you think you have it in you to write content that my readers will appreciate, fill out the submission form on the magazine’s about page.
So take a look around the new place and let me know what you think. Here’s to a fun and exciting future. It’s back to business boys and girls. Let’s git crackin’!
Join the Dare Dreamer Media Platinum List
About every other month I send this select group of people information about the latest news at Dare Dreamer Media, new services, and other opportunities to help their business succeed. If you’re a client, you’re already on this list. If you’d like to be added, click here.
Welcome back boss! Even though you cheated (for a worthy cause of course), I still missed reading your blogs on your expertise and business knowledge in the field. Looking forward to reading new content, er unless it’s about FCPX. Then we’re breaking up… again.
Ha. I cheated quite a few times if I’m honest. I tweeted a lot more than I should have. But thanks for the kind words. I’ll pray for you with regards to your love of FCPX. 😉
Good to have you back. Your contribution to my knowledge base is invaluable as I strive to grow my business and do great and relevant things.
Wow. Thanks Andrew. I wish you the best of luck as your grow your business. Like me, I think you’ll find that when you do relevant work, it makes all the difference in the world how you feel about your job.
Oh I see so you DIDN’T take a social media break. You just took a break to revamp your site and come back to talk more about yourself. (i.e. your posts about FCPX so that you could get top ranking (which you admit)). This might be hard to hear…but your stuff used to be pretty good. Now it seems pretty contrived and put together to boost your ego. Sad because you were doing great work. I hope you get back to that level, so you can inspire us all once again. Be the guy who puts out great work and then teaches…not the guy who couldn’t make it and then became the teacher. I speak for many who want to see you get back to that level and I really hope you do…because you seem like a good guy.
Hi John,
Thank so much for your candor and honesty. I really do appreciate it. And I sincerely thank you for being a fan of the blog (at least at one point). You have valid concerns. Let me address them if I may.
Social Media break – I have been planning a change to my blog for months, even before I took the break. It only seemed to make sense to coincide the new look after my hiatus. The actual physical changes weren’t done until just this week.
All about me – oh dear, I hope I don’t come across as a self-indulged egomaniac. 🙂 But if I do, I apologize. I purposefully highlight other filmmakers on this blog (in essence, competitors) just so that it is NOT all about me. That is also a reason I’m inviting guest bloggers.
Getting back to where I used to be – I couldn’t agree with you more. As a filmmaker that is exactly what I’m trying to do. I’ve blogged about it a few times, about my desire to get back to my roots. I’m doing more personal work so that I can improve my craft. I more than anything want to be a guy who puts out great work. I know I have a long way to go.
SEO – you mentioned my FCPX post being highly ranked and how that’s my goal. You’re right. I DO want this blog to be highly ranked in Google. Why wouldn’t I? But, for what it’s worth, just seeding a blog post with a bunch of key words (e.g. FCPX) is not enough to get a blog post highly ranked in Google. There has to be lots of links back to a site or post for Google to give it a high rank. I think the commentary I provided in the FCPX article was deemed valuable enough to others they saw fit to link back to it, thus boosting that post’s rankings. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
You mentioned that I seem like a good guy. I appreciate that sentiment. I like to think I am too. 🙂 It is my sincere desire for this blog to be a valuable resource to all who read it. I hope you will continue to be one of them, and comment. When you hate something. Tell me. When you love something, tell me that too. 🙂
Once again, sincere thanks and appreciation for your honest input.
THANK YOU for responding to that…you didn’t have too. I do hope you get back to film-making, because I (and I a sure many more) think you were/are GREAT! Which is a little why the constant tweeting (yes I guess I could just stop following but I don’t want too) and less film-making is a little frustrating to see. Best of Luck with the new site!
Hey John,
Thanks for the feedback. Trust me, blogging is by no means all I do. I wouldn’t be able to make a living if it was. 🙂 I don’t know how closely you follow my work specifically, but I’m still pretty active. You can see all my latest work on my vimeo channel:
am, 2 pm and 8 pm EST. My hope is that they are spread out enough that they don’t seem too spammy. My intention is to catch different groups of people who go on twitter different parts of the day. It’s actually a common social media strategy. Any tweets I do in between those times are usually to share things I’ve found I think my followers would appreciate, to RT other peoples tweets, to issue a fun or funny quip now and then, or replies to other people (which a person would only see in their stream if they follow the people I’m replying).
Anyway, thanks again for your feedback.
Blessings, Welcome back. Ron. Working on a revamping too of my website thanks to you. Using Tumult’s Hype that will be linked to a wordpress.com.
Welcome back, Ron.
You’re experimentation with branding has been an interesting follow for me. It’s painful to change that. But I’ll be doing it soon, too, so I’m encouraged by your example. I’ve found that my focus and interests in my business has evolved so it’s time to do a little branding remodeling.
So when are we going to do meet up here in Atlanta? 🙂
Hey Carl,
Yes, changing brands can be a pain. With my blog though, I’m actually bringing it in line with my main company’s brand. But, I’ve changed brands a number of times in the past. I wrote an article about it in last month’s EventDV. So a search on their site to find it: http://eventdv.net
As far as a meet up in ATL, shoot me an email and let’s see if we can get our schedules to align. 🙂
Welcome back, Ron. Glad to see you back in the saddle. Best of luck with the new direction!
Welcome back Ron, that picture that was taken of you and Dan Draper doesn’t look quite right…something isn’t right. I think you Photoshopped yourself in Ron, but I do like your sport coat 🙂
Thanks my friend. I don’t think DON Draper would you appreciate you getting his name wrong. Actually, considering his real name is Dick, maybe he wouldn’t mind. 🙂
Ron –
Love the changes. I was pretty surprised. I just came to find a couple of your articles to link back to, and had to make sure I was at the right place.
Looking forward to what all you have moving forward.
Thanks Andy. Any old links you had will still work. But when you link back to them, ideally use the new top level domain. Maybe I can get you to guest blog for me too. 🙂