Hello Friends! Once again I apologize in advance for what seems to be a long hiatus from writing on the blog. The truth be told, I have been in this blog almost everyday repairing and fixing it. As much as I hate to say it, the really expensive fancy theme I had been using just wasn’t working for me anymore. Sure it was really cool and could do a lot of really cool stuff, but it got in the way of what a blog is intended, and that is just writing. I also admit I have been revisiting some of the articles/blogs written many years ago. Evidently angels had been visiting me for many years, but chose not to identify themselves. That’s okay, I know now.
For some of my longtime readers, you may notice that some of the blog entries are gone. Yes, I had to restore this site from an older backup. So those thoughts are gone and lost forever. So I have defaulted back to my all time favorite theme, which allows me total freedom, background customization, font freedom, and of course some really cool parallax technology every now and then. I actually love this theme and I have used it on almost all of my websites. The cool thing is even though they are different sites, they all look like different themes. One thing in common is most of them are long scrolling sites. I have deleted and recreated so many WordPress sites now I can do it in my sleep. After awhile things become so automatic I perform tasks so effortlessly that take others hours to complete. I literally can create a new, full functioning website, WITH high security pre-installed, in less than an hour. There actually is a lot to know about website security that I have unfortunately had to discover due to multiple attacks on many of my websites. After I became semi-famous I naturally became a target. It is amazing the number of attacks my site receives daily. I had to hide my login page so only I know the secret backdoor.
When I rebooted this site, I changed the landing/home page to a very short one page. Rather than assigning the pictures that previously were attached to posts I created a very cool graphic slider. It actually is the same slider I use on all my sites, but it just scrolls through pictures. I actually wanted my page to be slightly entertaining when someone landed on it. After the reader goes through some of the blogs, the pictures will begin to decipher themselves.
In addition to fixing/recreating this site, I also creating another site that is strictly lyrics of songs I like to sing. On the menu of this site you can just go to “Songs” and a new window will open. A long time ago I registered the domain “accordingtoaaron.com” not really knowing what I wanted to do with it. Since it was technically a brand-new never used domain it was safe from any hacker attacks and was on the clean website list. This website actually was safe, but rather than risk any hidden backdoors or scripts I deleted everything off my VPS and started clean. Change is a good thing.
So the new site gave me a lot of freedom to just have fun. A lot of people know I am a singer and some people wonder what songs I sing. If you are ever in my company you might actually hear me bust out a song or two. So if you check out the site you’ll start to know some of the songs I have in my musical radio head … playing when I want. When the music sucks, I just sing something I like better. I have the most amazing range for a singer. I can technically sing bass – baritone, and all the way up to tenor 1 & 2, and some alto 2 chords. If you ever take a walk with me, many times in the silence I will start singing. I actually like to sing a lot of country songs. I realized that after I had quite a few songs on the site there wasn’t any navigation for me, or anyone else to go back to a song again. So I created a menu … a very long menu.
I didn’t think anyone would actually visit the site, but shortly after it went online it received hits from around the world. The only place it is listed is on this site. I looked at some of my other sites and thought if I wanted to add it, but ultimately decided against it. I don’t do any active promoting of my personal blog or the new site anywhere. My other sites have all kinds of marketing efforts staged promoting the site and Facebook pages. Many people wonder how I continue to get likes for my two main pages on Facebook without doing active or passive postings. Simple, I have over a dozen sites that are actively promoting both of the pages.
Ultimately my goal is to get new readers to angel.academy, where they will be drawn into a very seductive parallax site. That particular site is unlike any other site I have done as I actually used portions of the book to create the site. A lot of questions that readers had while I was creating the book are actually incorporated into the site. It is a very colorful site with a lot of cool artwork. One piece I actually used from an artist I found on DeviantArt. It is the piece listing the book launch dates and links to buy the book. On that site and my author site I made it very simple for readers to purchase my book.
One of the things that made me so successful was that I used so many platforms. Goodreads still continues to introduce new readers to the book simply due to the number of readers who have added the book to one of their “To Read” shelf. If you check out the other sites that I have in my portfolio you will also see some sponsoring that Angel Academy did to get new readers/fans. Those sites have a different audience that still appeal to angels and the cute cartoon Disney-like characters that point readers back to the site. I would say that most of my social media platforms point people back to AaronMstephens.com, which then points readers to the book. I would say that I do get a lot of hits from the Facebook page for the book. One thing I recommend for authors to do is have a “pinned post” with a short catchy intro and list all the electronic versions and paperback outlets. Trust me when I say this works. There really are a lot of people who watch what I do and imitate it best they can. I used to pay attention to how many people liked me or my book page on Facebook. After awhile it wasn’t so important. It wasn’t the reason I had either page. Both pages were created for angels to use; to attract new readers. I haven’t been too active on social media. The only vehicle I use on a semi-regular basis is Instagram. Probably because it is super simple. Take a picture, give it a catchy hashtag and click the button to post on Facebook.
Since I am a chef, I like to take pictures of food. I also like to use my own Instagram page to remind me of fun things to eat, prepare, go out for dinner, … you get the idea.I really don’t follow very many people as I don’t spend anytime reading other people’s pictures very often. One thing is for certain, and that is people still like to read. This blog is now “fixed” and is much easier to read. I doubt I will have time to add pictures to past entries. New blogs moving forward should have a cool picture as a background. If readers had previously subscribed to this site, unfortunately, they will no longer get updates. I don’t fully trust Jetpack, which was the plugin previously used to notify readers. That also means that new blogs will no longer automatically publish to other social media platforms. Sorry, but after the last few hacker attacks I can’t take the risk.
You might notice that this site and A2A use some of the same graphics. I wanted both sites to have a similar look and feel. You will notice that in both logos I used the same font for my name, giving it and me a cool branding. Of course I created both in PhotoShop. My brother initially taught me how to use PhotoShop, and then I bought the “Down & Dirty” books that taught me all I needed to know to look like an advanced graphic designer. All I had to do was watch my brother work and I absorbed the information to do it again. Unlike other people, when I want, my eyes record what they are seeing for future recall.
aaronsafterthoughts 