Bill – Page 7 – Bill Swartwout Photography

January 2, 2023March 31, 2023

A Marketing Challenge for the Year 2023

This is a follow-up marketing challenge to what was started in January 2022.

This is NOT a New Year’s Resolution – they don’t usually work. This is a re-commitment of something I did in January last year to jump-start my art photography business. It worked very well last year – and positive results/metrics were shared here on this website.

This year I am modifying the goals just a bit to make a longer-term commitment well within reach. I am continuing to wean myself from social media and put more emphasis on positive results from the major search engines. I want to (need to) increase the organic search results that bring people to see my photography and my galleries on the various POD (Print On Demand) art production companies that host my gallery stores – listed in the site menu.

Blue Flams heating the Tea Pot — Let me get the fire lit and get underway.

The goal is to create one new article per day for the entire first quarter of 2023.

The caveat is that I will give myself weekends off. (Hey, I am supposed to be retired.) I also will not adhere to a strict schedule. That means, overall, I will publish an average of 5 articles per week on one or more of my websites, 20/21 per month for January, February and March. (Yes, I will count this article among the list below…)

Obviously, this particular article will be a Work In Progress

OK, so March did not make the cut. We were on an extended vacation and I “finally” realized that doing a daily article was distracting. I will pick this activity up once we return home and things get back to normal (whatever that may be).

Results

Metrics and more… TBD

December 31, 2022January 5, 2023

City Lights or Neon Streaks

When the darkness of night falls, a stunning sight is often unveiled.

“When the darkness of night falls, a stunning sight is unveiled in cities around the world. The city lights bring to life a magical display of neon streaks against the dark backdrop of a night sky. From towering skyscrapers to smaller city blocks, these lights can create a dazzling spectacle that captivates the eye and awakens the soul. Neon lights have long been associated with bustling nightlife and urban living, becoming an iconic symbol of cities everywhere.”

city lights purple rain of neon streaks — City Lights and Neon Streaks

An unintentional abstract photograph…

Actually, this light display is not as described in the opening paragraph. While that is what can be seen in a large city with a camera on a tripod, this display was shot handheld at a Christmas lights display and created with intentional camera movement.

The result came out surprisingly effective but I was at a loss of ideas for a title. To alleviate that “situation” I turned to Facebook friends for suggestions of a title for this photograph.

Here are several of their title suggestions…

Linda – Confetti Lights
Susan – Winterfest Fairy Lights
Cindy – Sir Lights-a-Lot
Nick – Should Auld Acquaintance
Christina – December Fireworks
Brad – Meteor Gawking on Acid
Bob – Luminous Galaxy
Paula – Kaleidoscope of Lights
Sandi – Neon Nancy
Paula – Kaleidoscope
Judi – Celebration!
Mike – Dispersion
Chris – And then, it happened.
Mary – Lines of Color
Tom – Purple Rain
Bob – Colorful Camera Jitters (Close to being a good description)
Kathy – Parade of Colors
Ric – City Rain
Christina – Fireworks in December
Doug – Colorful Scribbles
Renata – Stars Fell from the Sky
Mary – Cosmic Flutter
Peggy – Neon Rain
Cindy – Crazy Little Thing Called Lights
Curtis – Acid Lashes, Trip the Lights Fantastic, Light Motion Dome, Color Amphitheater, Fireworks, Gun Powder Flower, Night Lights, Spectrum Wheel, Array of Lights, Array Awry, Awry Array, Speed oFlight and Chaos in Motion
Judy – The Abyss
Kathy – Abstract Fire Flies
Richard – Speed of Light

Whew, what a list of suggestions. Nearly all of them would fit – at least by my way of thinking. I like to keep it simple but I have not yet uploaded this to my gallery – but I will soon. Then I’ll have to make a choice – or – maybe mash up a simple idea or two. Many thanks go out to those who responded to my simple plea on social media. I appreciate your contributions and are hereby giving mention to all our your input.

To visit my full gallery, click here: BillSwartwoutPhotography.com

Or to visit just the abstract collection, click here: Abstract Collection.

OK – a decision has been reached. As a twist on the popular song “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen – I’m going with “Crazy Little Thing Called Lights.”

December 27, 2022December 27, 2022

Why Do I Spell Bill Swartwout Incorrectly?

I purposely typosquat my own “billswartwout.com” and “billswartwoutphotography.com” domain names to retain more website visitors.

First, let’s get this out of the way: I have a love/hate relationship with typosquatting. I love it because it’s a great way to get additional traffic to my website. I hate it because it’s often used by nefarious individuals to scam people. I do not do the “scam stuff” that gives domain squatting a bad name. OK, lets move on…

Our family has been here a very long time. The original Swartwout to come to the “new world” sailed with Henry Hudson and helped establish the trading post at New Amsterdam, today known as Manhattan. Brigadier General Jacobus Swartwout was the highest ranking officer in the Revolutionary Army in the state of New York.

jacobus swartwout homestead in swartwoutville, NY — The original homestead of Jacobus Swartwout in Swartwoutville, NY

My surname, Swartwout, is a difficult name – to pronounce and to spell. The second “w” is silent but no one knows. Couple that with the full website name(s) and it can easily be confusing.

I want to make sure that when people type in my domain name they are taken to my website. By “typosquatting” my own domain name I can do this. The name SWARTWOUT is often, very often, misspelled SWARTOUT – without the second “w” in place. There is, in fact, a variation of my surname that is correctly spelled that way. There are two more spellings, SWARTHOUT and SWARTWOOD, that are also variations of the “original” SWARTWOUT. But the most common error, by far, is to leave out the second “w” in the name.

swartwout coats of arms — The Swartwout Family Coat of Arms with spelling variations of the name.

Of course there is a town (actually a Hamlet, a VERY small town) of Swartwoutville in the state of New York.

Sign at Swartwoutville, ny — Welcome to the Hamlet of Swartwoutville, a Hudson Valley Greenway Community

Examples:

Link: BillSwartout.com –> BillSwartwout.com

Link: BillSwartoutPhotography.com –> BillSwartwoutPhotography.com