Geanna Culbertson's Blog, page 2

OneReadingNurse – Author Interview

OneReadingNurse Reviews – Geanna Culbertson Author InterviewBy: Athena C.

Hi everyone! As promised this week, I have a special interview to bring to you guys! Have you read the Crisanta Knight books?? If not, I guarantee you will want to after reading this amazing interview!

I want to take a quick second to thank Geanna Culbertson for taking the time to answer a few questions about her writing, content, content in general, and plans going forward!  I originally became a fan of her clean content and writing style after winning a giveaway that introduced me to the books, and even more so once we incidentally got to chatting about inappropriate content! (See Question 3)!

Alright I’m done talking, here she is!

——————————————————————————————————-

1) How did the Crisanta Knight books take shape for you? Did you know from the start it would be a fairytale re-imagining?

When I was a sophomore in school I took a course devoted to classic and contemporary fairytale analysis. It was a fabulous experience that I loved. Having all that exposure to the classic tales filled me with so much wonder and inspiration, and one day on my way to class the name for the school in my book series: Lady Agnue’s School for Princesses & Other Female Protagonists popped into my head. Later that week I drew out a map of the world, aka the realm of Book and I wrote the prologue and first chapter to go along with it. So that’s how it all started!

In terms of the “reimagining” aspect—I am a girl who is a big believer in the power of change and moving forward. People remake stories all the time; I want to know what happens next. Furthermore, I am someone who is extremely passionate about heroic female characters and living a life where you are always challenging yourself to be better, stronger, wiser, etc. Those qualities helped my main character of Crisanta Knight take shape.

As the plot formed, fairytales were the main backdrop, but my love of superheroes, princesses, action-packed comedy, and elaborate world-building fused with that and started to grow. The idea for the story simmered in my mind for a little while and then eventually I came to a point where I had to explore it. And so the adventure began . . .

 

2) I like the focus on character, identity, and friendship in the books so far! What are some of the topics and themes you think are important for girls and young women to see on-page?

At the beginning of my author journey, I set out to write a story that would inspire others the way my favorite tales have inspired me, featuring characters who balance heart, humor, and a genuine sense of honor. I always thought it was important that a great story not just be about an exciting external plot—magic, adventure, larger-than-life stakes—the true power of story has to be in the internal arc. Some themes I explore throughout my series that I think are very important for girls, young women, and all people are: self-acceptance, trust, taking fate into your own hands, making proactive choices, fighting for what matters to you, understanding, respect, perseverance, and more. However, the overarching theme of my series is CHANGE. To paraphrase a line in Book One, change is a beautiful thing because within it is the opportunity to do anything and become anyone. I hope that as my readers experience the series, they are inspired by all these themes to try and live as fiercely, wisely, kindly, and optimistically as possible.

 

3) We talked a bit about “clean reads” and your philosophy on content, could you talk about that a bit?

There is a word I came up with in college: “scandalosity.” It’s a term that encompasses inappropriate, intimate things that take a movie from PG-13 to R, if you catch my drift. I tried to put that word into one of my college English papers lol, but the TA said she’d dock me a letter grade. Anyway, my books are scandalosity free. It’s not my thing, neither is extreme violence or gore—basically anything that would cause adults to want to cover the eyes of their under 18 children.

I think that there is a lot of unnecessary violence and scandalosity in stories these days. You don’t need to rely on that to create something compelling or intrigue an audience. Strong storylines should always take the lead and if you are going to have romantic moments, action, death, etc. it needs to serve a greater purpose and push the story forward. If it’s just being used for shock and awe, it has no point there and it is lazy writing—storytellers trying to make an impact through cheap shots.

Action and drama can be handled with style and class, and should genuinely matter to plot/character development. I once heard director David Leitch say something akin to: “You should learn as much about a character from a good action scene as from dialogue.” I agree with that. Death (the killing of characters) can also be a valid event in a story if it truly is integral to plot/character development. But again, there is no need to make it overly graphic. Like, maybe a death needs to happen, but there are many ways that it can be portrayed. No need to scar someone traumatically.

Also, if utilized in a story that targets younger audiences, death should be eased into. Take Harry Potter for example. You don’t start in Book One with characters dramatically dying left and right. The story progressively explores the themes of loss and death—each book getting more intense so audiences of different ages are eased into some of the harder moments as they grow with the characters and the scope of the story.

Romantic encounters are also fine if they meet the same criteria of being integral to plot/character development (though it’s important to note that you can get the feel of intimacy across without random boobs or whatever flying in your face). I come back to the idea of handling things with style and class i.e. the choices of how intense moments are portrayed.

I’m often quite surprised by the types of content targeting the YA and middle grade markets. I feel like every other TV channel is showing something with murder or scandalosity. However, I firmly believe that audiences of all ages want more than that. People watch those darker things because that’s what’s on; that’s what the media is putting out there the most. But there is plenty of cleaner, goodhearted programming out there that is beloved, proving my point. There just needs to be more of it.

That is what I have brought, and intend to keep bringing to the world. My stories will have action, romance, drama, and deal with intense topics—morality, loss, anger, and so forth—but they will always be handled with care, finesse, and consideration of all the above factors. Any book I ever write can be equally and appropriately enjoyed by an eleven-year-old, a twenty-five-year-old, and a seventy-two-year-old.

 

4) I wish I had read all the books to know where this is going, but so far (The end of book 3) you have Crisa worrying about herself before she starts worrying too much about boys! Is there hidden advice in that? 

Growing up, most of my favorite stories have had male main characters. I think part of the reason for this is that while a male main character may have a love interest, that love interest/romantic relationship is never the point of his story; it is just another factor. Meanwhile, in most female-led fiction, the love interest/romantic relationship is of equal value and importance to that female protagonist’s individual journey. It shouldn’t be that way. She should come first. Most girls have more on their mind than boys. They just do. The complexities of growing up, taking ownership of your choices and goals, accepting yourself, and learning who you are and who you want to be is way more pivotal to a person than deciding which hot guy you want to end up with. So while there are romantic, shippable elements to my series, I do not belittle my female characters and their potential by limiting the scope of what they focus on to romantic entanglements.

 

5) What is your favorite fairytale? Do you have a favorite fairytale twist that you’ve written so far? (Mine is definitely everything you did with Aladdin, from the sarcastic cave to the flying furniture!)

In terms of my favorite fairytales—Cinderella has been close to my heart since I was very little. That’s why I made my main character Cinderella’s daughter. If we’re talking strictly about Disney interpretations of fairytales, The Princes & the Frog is one of my favorites. Then in terms of the classic, old-timey tales I have a lot of respect for Snow White because that story created the roots of the fairytale-loving culture we have today.

In terms of the twists I’ve written, that’s such a hard question!!

I have highlighted so many fairytales and classic tales in my series now—diving really deep into quite a few. For example, the majority of Book Five takes place in Camelot, so there are a lot of characters, myths, and settings I work with there. In that space, developing Merlin as a character has been really interesting, specifically regarding his relationship to Crisanta. However, as Book Eight is freshest to me, I would have to say that diving into Mulan and Alice in Wonderland lore in that novel has definitely been one of my most challenging and rewarding fairytale exploration experiences thus far. All of Book Eight really was an intense adventure to write—Toyland, Swan Lake, Rumpelstiltskin, there’s just so much!

 

6) Many books in the series have been nominated for and received Feathered Quill book awards (yay -congrats)!!! Can you talk about that a bit?

I feel very grateful for the many awards that different books in my series have won. In terms of Feathered Quill, I have won six awards so far. Winning such an array of awards in the last two years has been awesome—two awards for Best in Teen Fiction (13-18 years), two awards for Science Fiction/Fantasy, Best of Backlist, and The Write Companion Award for Best Overall TOP PICK (Adult, Children’s and Young Adult categories included).

Winning these awards, combined with the wide array of other awards that my series has won, is quite flattering. I think what makes me the happiest about this range though, is that it shows the huge scope of audiences that my series appeals to. I have always believed that one of the strongest elements of my series is how many different kinds of people it can connect with. If in one week I can get fan mail from a nine-year-old girl, a twenty-year-old college student, a forty-year-old woman, and a fifty-year-old father, then it means I have done my job right. Because, at the end of the day, this isn’t a story about a princess, or even fairytales. This is a story about a good-hearted, honorable person trying to figure out how to best live her life, live up to her potential, and do right by the world, the people she cares for, and herself. That’s a story anyone should be able to relate to theoretically.

 

7) As an author looking for feedback from reviewers and readers, what do you hope to see from those people?

I love positive reviews; I mean who doesn’t? But I particularly love it when people go into specific details about their favorite parts or moments in a book. Getting five stars is awesome, but knowing how specific jokes landed, or how twists affected my readers, what they connected with most, etc.—it is great feedback for me.

Also, I like to use a “Mario Cart” comparison when it comes to how reviews affect me (you know, the video game). So in that videogame, as you’re driving your racecar along, players can throw exploding mushrooms or other brickabrack at you. When that hits you, your car spins or you crash temporarily or slow down. That’s what negative reviews are; they don’t take you out of the game, but they can still hit you hard. Positive reviews are like the magical stars or rainbows or bonus coins that you pick up as you’re driving along. You could still keep going on fine without them, but they give you extra power and supercharge you. [image error]

 

8) Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed! Is there anything else you’d like to talk about or add?

The Crisanta Knight Series is my beginning. I have so many other wonderful series and standalone novels coming down the line. For example, in addition to working on the Crisanta Knight finale right now, I am working on the first novel in my new “guardian angels” series that releases next year. Also, my magical, heartwarming Christmas standalone novel releases November 3, 2021—official book announcement and book trailer launching in June.

——————————————————————————————————-

***Audiobook Two for The Crisanta Knight Series releases this summer as well.

For more information, you can visit: www.CrisantaKnight.com

To stay updated on my latest book news, sign up to be a part of my email list through the website.

And go ahead and follow me on social media too, if you like:

Instagram/Twitter/Pinterest: @gculbert14

Facebook: @CrisantaKnightSeries

#crisantaknight #crisantaknightseries #geannaculbertson

The post OneReadingNurse – Author Interview appeared first on Geanna Culbertson.

The Hawk Problem

Have you seen that show Cobra Kai on Netflix?

My family and I began watching it last year and for a while were really impressed that the writers created a fun, funny revamp of the beloved Karate Kid with the same actors. However, we have not, and probably will never watch Season 3 because Season 2 got so out of hand.

I have many problems with the turn this show took. However, what I want to talk about today is the “Hawk Problem.” There is a character on the show nicknamed Hawk. In the pilot episode we are introduced to him as a nerdier, weaker kid who has been bullied a lot in the past. Hawk decides to take control of his image and “flip the script” and become a bad-a** karate master so people don’t bully him anymore. In theory this was a decent plan . . . I am all for defending yourself and standing up for yourself and using physical fitness to help you build inner, as well as outer strength.

The problem arises because Hawk doesn’t use karate to defend himself or feel good about himself. He uses karate to attack other people and make others feel inferior.

[image error]

This a reflection of a deep problem in a faction of society. Most people go through struggles and adversity at some point in their lives. Plenty of people know what it feels like to be bullied, harassed, or pushed around. However, there are two types of people in terms of this:

Those who get pushed around or struggle, and as a result treat other people with increased compassion throughout their lives because they know how it feels to be hurt.Those who get pushed around or struggle, and as a result push around/take shots at other people later in life because they want to know what it feels like to be the predator, not the prey.

Hawk is definitely the latter, becoming a shockingly violent, cruel, and scarily sociopathic teenager by the end of Season 2. It’s super concerning.

Those kinds of people make me really upset. If you know what it’s like to be hurt, why would you want to hurt other people? What happened to “treat others how you would like to be treated”?

I remember first noting this issue when I was little with the show Hannah Montana. Hannah’s “Miley” undercover character had this mean-girl bully in school. One of those vicious b-words that picks on other girls for no reason. Anyway, there was this episode where the bully revealed that she treated others that way because when she was little she wore glasses and was picked on.

[image error]

So . . . how does that make you being a bad person today okay? Why is that an excuse to make other girls’ lives miserable? Answer: it’s not. Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Sadly, this is something that happens in real life, not just on TV.

I recently had a terribly harrowing experience with a reviewer online. This person has a history of struggle in her life and her daughter has had a rough time as well. That is too bad, and I hope they work through their issues. However, I don’t believe this is an excuse to hurt other people.

This person left a review that didn’t simply disparage my books (negative reviews can happen because people have different tastes). This person attacked my character—asserting that I was writing content that promoted really negative, dark behavior in people and implying I was making the world a worse place by existing in it.

We hashed it out amongst ourselves and I thought we were done. But then this person decided to take snippets of our private conversation out of context and defame me to her followers. She did her best to sully my image with everything she could for quite a few days, and she shared my private information, my publisher’s private information, and so on with her followers.

A cyber bullying campaign was launched and this person engineered the creation of fake Instagram accounts, Goodreads accounts, and even email accounts to attack me and put up fake negative reviews of different books in my series.

I. WAS. SHOCKED.

I had also never witnessed such a perfect example of a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” or a hypocrite. This was someone who was so angry at my feedback that they immediately, to paraphrase an anonymous source, “ranted in her car” about the issue. Not thinking things through, not sharing the full story, not explaining that she started the argument with her hurtful, public remarks–just hacking away at my character and taking elements of conversation out of context in front of a live IG audience. And yet . . . she posts things like this on her Instagram:

Additionally, this is a person who told me her whole thing was being against bullying because she and her daughter had experienced that in life. And yet, here she was—executing an elaborate cyber bullying campaign against someone she’d never met, but decided to hurt.

It’s so ridiculous it’s almost funny: the anti-bullying mom bullying a young girl on the internet just trying to make it as an author and spread some joy to people through her books.

It’s also very sad.

I looked up her profile again later that week. For a little while there I’d been very angry with her and had been stressed and overwhelmed by how she violated my privacy and attempted to besmirch my name. It also frustrated me that she kept putting stories up in her feed where she played the victim, never telling her followers what she had done first or giving them the full facts. Yet, despite all that . . . I actually came to feel really bad for her.

On the one hand, the fact that someone could have so little good going on in their lives that they make the time to do this to a stranger is a bit pathetic.

On the other hand, like Hawk, it is sad that someone who understands struggle would grow into a hateful person that only puts more bad into the world and hurts other people—continuing the vicious cycle.

I guess, in general, if you are a victim of a hateful person like this you have to make a choice: retaliate because the bully is a monster and needs to be stopped, or let it go because the bully is a sad person not worth your time.

Is there a right answer to this? I’m not entirely sure.

All I know is that this wasn’t the first monster I’ve faced. It probably won’t be the last. But you have to hold your head high and not let those monsters defeat you because, to quote Taylor Swift, “Haters gonna hate.” And in general, I try to look for the positives in a situation.

For a while I had a job, for example, where a few of my supervisors psychologically harassed me. In the aftermath now that I am free of that environment, I have friends express shock that I didn’t take legal action against them. And I explain that A) I’m more about forgiveness and being the bigger person than revenge and B) I see it as a learning opportunity. Because in truth I would not be able to write villains and difficulty with such realism if I hadn’t experienced them myself. That job, like this new monster I recently faced, allow me to see other, darker sides of human nature, which helps me create complex antagonists. That’s how I view it anyway.

Like I said, I try to always be positive. You can’t stop other people from being bad after all, but you can control how much good you put into the world!

Furthermore, like so many fans have reminded me as they have shared their love and support during this trying time, I don’t write for the haters. Several people recently told me the quote: “Other people’s opinions of me are none of my business.” It’s a very interesting quote that I hadn’t heard before this, but I understand its value now. If other people out there want to judge or dislike you for no reason, or because a third party told them to, without getting to know you themselves, it’s there loss. All any of us can do is try and be the best version of ourselves as we operate with an open mind and clear heart. And all I can do as an author is write inspiring, uplifting, awesome stories that I can be proud of and my fans can fall in love with.

The post The Hawk Problem appeared first on Geanna Culbertson.

November Movie Reviews

FRIDAY MOVIE REVIEW 11/6/20
“Monte Carlo” – 2011

Monte Carlo stars Selena Gomez, Leighton Meester, and Arrow’s KatieCassidy as three friends on an adventure in Europe. Though they start out on an awful, low-budget tour of Paris, Gomez’s character is mistaken for a wealthy socialite who is her doppelgänger. As a result, the three friends end up on a lavish trip to Monte Carlo where Gomez must keep up the rouse for an upcoming charity event. Cute boys and hijinks ensue.

This was a cute coming of age story with some romance and nice sisterhood type moments. It’s not the most epic movie in the world, but I like all three of these actresses and the film was sweet and I had a good time watching it

October Movie Reviews

FRIDAY MOVIE REVIEW 10/9/20
“Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase” – 2019

Warner Bros. Pictures

Actress Sophia Lillis takes on the title role of Nancy Drew—a spunky, justice-driven, curious and observant teen girl who recently moved to a small town with her widowed father. Teaming up with her two friends Bess and George, and popular “mean girl” Helen, Nancy aims to solve the mystery of Helen’s aunt’s haunted house.

Someday, I would be happy to have my daughter watch this movie. It was sweet, calm, and well-written. As a girl who loved Nancy Drew novels, I thought it was a great adaptation, much better than other cinematic attempts at beloved characters/classics. Too often, when characters/classics like this are revamped, studios try to make them dark and edgy. Those versions can be enjoyable for sure, but it is nice to have something more realistic and good-natured like this once in a while too.

I recommend this movie to ladies of all ages.

As a bonus, at the end of the movie the characters teased that their next adventure would be at the Lilac Inn. “The Mystery at Lilac Inn” was my first and favorite Nancy Drew novel, so I hope that sequel is in the works right now

September Movie Reviews

FRIDAY MOVIE REVIEW 9/4/20
“What Men Want” – 2019

I was a big fan of dynamic Taraji P. Henson in the TV show “Person of Interest,” I liked Aldis Hodge in the TV show “Leverage,” and I enjoy romantic comedies. Ergo, I thought I’d give this movie a go.

The story follows Henson (a successful sports agent in Atlanta). She is passed over for a promotion at her male-dominated firm at the beginning of the film, and shortly after she drinks a sort of potion during a psychic reading at a bachelorette party, hits her head, and gains the ability to hear men’s thoughts.

There were some great comedic moments (the men’s inner thoughts were frequently hilarious). Unfortunately, this movie didn’t excite me. Also, I knew it was rated R, but that rating can mean a lot of things in terms of language, sexuality, violence, etc. This movie was really rated R at times past what I am comfortable with.

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeoLiTirRp4

 

FRIDAY MOVIE REVIEW 9/18/20
“The Informant!” – 2009

Warner Bros. Pictures

This was a rewatch for me; I saw it when it first came out. The film is based on a shockingly true story, detailed in a 2000 nonfiction book called “The Informant,” by journalist Kurt Eichenwald.

MattDamon stars as Mark Whitacre, and the film details his involvement as a whistle blower in the lysine price-fixing conspiracy of the mid-1990s.

This movie is crazy because this guy Mark Whitacre is crazy — not in the psycho kind of way, but the WHOA kind of way. I can’t believe this is based on real events and a real guy.

Matt Damon flawlessly executes this role and the movie is hilarious and fascinating. I actually think it is one of Damon’s best movies, and certainly one of his best performances.

I recommend this film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SooBX1-kIQ

 

FRIDAY MOVIE REVIEW 9/25/20
“The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” – 2019

Warner Bros. Pictures

I’m not even sure how to describe this movie; a series of emojis seems more appropriate than a series of adjectives somehow.

The general plot of this film involves Emmet Brickowski (voiced by the handsome and charismatic Chris Pratt) attempting to rescue his friends from aliens in the “Systar System,” while trying to avoid the prophesied end-of-the-world cataclysm known as “Armamageddon”.

I have trouble sitting still during movies due to various injuries. However, I sat motionless for a good portion of this movie with my mouth agape because there is just so much silly brilliance coming at you and your brain needs to concentrate absolutely to absorb it all.

I feel like if you got a group of kids high on sugar, a group of adults drunk, and a handful of screenwriters pumped on caffeine, then stuck them all in a room together with three-dozen bins of legos, this is the movie that would be created. Not everyone’s brains could process that, but I’m good with it.

Side note – there was a new rendition of the “Everything is Awesome” song that became famous with the first LEGO film that I thought was strangely appropriate for the times. Basically, the gist of the lyrics described how everything is not awesome all of the time—that’s not realistic—but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work as a team to try and make things awesome all of the time. This filled me with warm fuzzies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cksYkEzUa7k

 

 

 

The post September Movie Reviews appeared first on Geanna Culbertson.

August Movie Reviews

 

FRIDAY MOVIE REVIEW 8/7/20
“Hobbs & Shaw” – 2019

Hobbsandshaw Hobbs & Shaw

I should preface this by saying that I have not seen any of the Fast & Furious movies. I remember seeing this trailer in the theaters though, and just thinking it looked like a funny, fun action movie. And, well, that’s what it is.

This spin-off of the F&F franchise follows rivals Luke Hobbs (Dwayne The Rock Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as they team up with Shaw’s sister (Vanessa Kirby) to stop a cybernetically-enhanced villain (Idris Elba), who works for a shady organization determined to unleash a deadly virus on the world. Hilarious time to watch this movie, I know

Grammar & Ways to Write Good

So here’s the thing about language: it’s always changing. Shakespeare made up his own words, so did Dr. Seuss, and so have countless other people, myself included. I think that is one of the reasons I love the written word so much; it is not stagnant. Like people, language evolves and grows with the fluctuating world, sometimes adding new flavor and perspective that makes our lives much richer.

That being said, while the way we talk can often take on the casualness of colloquialisms, slang, and our own terms for describing things, when it comes to writing (particularly in the professional setting) it is important to pay attention to notable grammar rules.

The right flex of grammar muscles improves content flow, enhances clarity, and boosts authority.

And in a world where we are always try to utilize our SEO content to help our webpages rank higher, all three are crucial factors.

So, let’s explore some quintessential grammar tips to keep in mind the next time you’re writing SEO content or composing any professional piece of writing.

AVOID REPETITION:

People can inadvertently repeat themselves in their writing, using additional words they don’t need to get across a point that’s already been made. I would try to avoid this because it can make a sentence clunkier and longer than it needs to be.

I also bought a sandwich as well.
In addition to SEO, we offer PPC too.

In the first example we don’t need the as well because we already are using also. And those two serve the same point in the sentence.

Similarly, in the second example we don’t need the too because we already are using in addition. Simple fix, right? Always be vigilant of this type of repetition. It really is easy to let small bits of repetition seep into your wording and that does you a disservice.

AFFECT VS. EFFECT

A very common grammar problem is deciding whether to use affect or effect. Here’s how I think of it. I like to associate the a in affect with action. It reminds me to use it as a verb like “Latoya will affect great change at the company.” Then you can remember to use effect like a noun. For example: “The effects of poison oak really suck.”

ITS VS. IT’S

Unlike with she’s, where the apostrophe notates that she is possessive, the same rule does not apply with its/it’s. When you put an apostrophe in its and make that word it’s, the contraction translates to it is. The possessive version of it is just its.

NO S NEEDED

Here’s a fun one. For words like towards, backwards, forwards, upwards, etc., the “s” at the end is not needed. The proper forms of these words would be: toward, backward, forward, upward, etc.

MAGIC OF THE SEMICOLON

Unlike commas, semicolons are used to separate complete thoughts (complete sentences).

I punched Fernando; he had it coming.
The journey was quite dangerous; we didn’t bring snacks.

In their simplest form, commas separate incomplete thoughts. Meaning if you took the two pieces of a sentence separated by a comma and put them on their own, at least one piece would not be a complete thought (complete sentence).

With their big teeth and powerful swimming, beavers are tricky.
According to Pierre, this is a good place to dig for treasure.

NUMBERS

Traditionally, numbers one through nine are spelled out and 10 and up are written numerically. However, consistency is key when it comes to writing and any good writer will tell you that consistency trumps exact grammar rules.

EX.

Invisalign aligners are worn 22 hours a day
Invisalign aligners are worn for two to three weeks at a time
You wear 20 – 30 Invisalign aligners for treatment

Even if it is grammatically incorrect, I would change the second bullet point in the above example to a number format (2 – 3 weeks) because the inconsistency of the list looks weird. Again, consistency and flow (as well as how writing looks and sounds) matter more than strict rules sometimes.

I stand by that.

GRAMMAR & THE EVERYDAY

I love language and I love to write. And I proudly speak casually with my own slang and flare of inventiveness all the time. However, there is a time and a place to disregard rules and convention. When it comes to grammar, if you are writing something for a professional setting, like an SEO webpage, you want to employ good habits and structure to maximize your flow, clarity, and authority.

I stand by that, too. [image error]

YouTube SEO & You

The Sneezing Baby Panda | Gangnam Style | The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

What do all these titles have in common?

In their own time each has reached astounding views on YouTube, watched by millions of people across the globe.

Since its modest debut in 2005 when several PayPal employees created a video-sharing website, YouTube has exploded in recognition as the most popular and influential video site in the world—consistently drawing viewers to watch over four billion hours worth of content each month.

However, while many associate YouTube as simply a place to view fun videos about pets, celebrities, bands, and a myriad of other trending topics, YouTube is actually so much more than that. With the right vision, execution, and optimization, savvy users can harness YouTube as an incredible means for digital marketing—getting content noticed by the right users who make up their businesses’ target audiences.

In order to utilize YouTube as the powerhouse marketing platform it has the potential to be, you need to understand what kind of video content can draw in your targets. For best YouTube marketing, there are four main areas of concentration you need to understand:

Quality Video
Keyword Optimization
User Engagement
Getting Views

Quality Video

You could film a thousand videos about men’s body wash and you could film a thousand videos featuring a hot guy. In fact, people already have. But what sets those videos apart from the famous The Man Your Man Could Smell Like Old Spice video is quality content. It is the quality of this video—not simply the main subject—that has led to the video receiving nearly 54 million views, 200,000 likes, and 615,000 subscribers and counting.

In this example Old Spice is a well-known brand and the company likely put a good mount of money behind its filming. However, don’t let that fool you. A video does not need to be professionally shot or boast a huge production budget to be awesome. It just needs to be interesting/enjoyable to watch and easy to follow. Those two factors alone are what lead to good user engagement, which we will talk about more later on.

The bottom line to remember here is that quality is key. A person could implement all other aspects of smart optimization to get his or her video to rank higher. But at the end of the day, if the video lacks quality then no amount of marketing savvy is going to save it.

Keyword Optimization

Like any other aspect of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) YouTube SEO is reliant on the strategic selection of keywords. Naturally, if you have a video about nachos then “nachos” will be a keyword. But for YouTube, that alone is not enough. It is important to turn regular keywords like “nachos” into video keywords that will get you to show up on the first page of Google’s search results.

Google allocates a certain amount of space on its first search engine result pages (SERPs) for video content. If you aim to show up at the top of Google’s SERPs—not just in the YouTube specific results or video specific results—then video keywords must be employed.

What is a Video Keyword?

A video keyword contains wordage that the search engine would associate with video content, for example “how to.” In this instance, by changing “nachos” to “how to make nachos,” you are sending a signal to the search engines that your content offers some form of video tutorial, increasing your likelihood of showing up at the top of the SERPs.

Conduct keyword research prior to posting a video to learn what video keywords are being searched in relation to your subject. You can search for keywords by Googling related topics that produce video results and by utilizing Google Keyword Planner, which is a great tool for keyword research. As a note, remember that video keywords don’t need immense search volume to be worth your while. Generally, as long as the keyword gets at least 300 searches per month you’re fine.

Where Do I Put My Keywords?

Video File

Once you have chosen your keywords, optimize them everywhere you can. To start with, use your keywords when naming your video file. For example, if you wanted to rank for “make up tips” then you would want to name your video: make_up_tips_video.mp4.

Video Title

Next, implement your keywords in your video’s actual title. Best SEO practices recommend that your video title be at least five words long. Like with other aspects of SEO—title tags and blog posts for instance—putting your keywords at the beginning of the title is preferable for ranking factors.

Text Description

After you name your video, you will need to work on creating a fully optimized description. This step is crucial for how your video will rank. Since search engine crawlers can’t listen to or watch your video, they rely on your text description to understand your video’s content and thus decide where to place it in the SERPs. As with others forms of optimized content, be careful not to let your description get spammy. Best practices for optimizing a text description include:

Including your keyword in the first 25 words of the description

***Side note—put a link to your website at the top of the description


Utilizing your keyword 3 – 4 times
Making the description between 250 – 300 words

Tags

The tags you select will help YouTube and Google better understand what your video is about. They help you rank better for your targeted keywords and increase your chances of showing up in the YouTube sidebar where the platform recommends others videos for users to watch. Basically, if a video that a user is watching has the same tag as yours then your video will be eligible for their sidebar.

User Engagement

Good user engagement is vital if you want your video to show up at the top of the SERPs. It is the result of quality video content and it is the most important ranking factor that Google and YouTube take into account when deciding where to place your video. There are six user engagement metrics that Google and YouTube utilize when deciding your ranking:

Video Retention – how much of your video do people watch (obviously the greater percentage of the video they watch, the better)
Shares – how many people share your video on their social media platforms
Thumbs Up/Down – people that give your video a thumbs up/down rating
Comments – this signals that people probably liked you video, but at the very least they likely watched the entire thing
Subscribers – a user subscribing to your channel after watching your video is a huge signal that your video has quality content and subject authority
Favorites – how many people favorite your video or add it to their “Watch Later” lists

Getting Views

Having solid user engagement is the most important ranking factor because it results in your video giving off trust signals that show your have quality video. But that alone isn’t enough for you to rank highly. The number of views you draw matters just as much, but in a different way.

Think of it this way. If you have a terrific video that has been viewed by five people, it won’t matter if those five people showed great results in all six metrics of user engagement; if the video has only been viewed six times, Google and YouTube aren’t going to place it very high. Here are some suggestions for how you can acquire more views for your video:

Embed you videos in your own blog posts as well as relevant guest blog posts
Have a link to your video in your email signature for people to view
Mention and post a link to your video in Q&A sites like Yahoo! Answers if the subject matter is relevant (but do so conservatively)

A Quality and Quantity Game

Like with all platforms, YouTube has many applications for a variety of user types. What businesses and entrepreneurs everywhere are starting to realize is that by getting your videos to rank higher in the SERPs, YouTube can be harnessed for incredible marketing potential. Of course, how you harness it will make the difference between your videos generating the kind of success you want and plunging into the void with the other billions of hours of video content out there.

To best optimize your videos for SEO so that they fall into the former of these two categories, the quality of your SEO work matters as much as the quantity. Quality video, keyword optimization, user engagement, and getting views are all important aspects of YouTube SEO that are linked to quality and quantity performance indicators.

So if you want to get the most out of a YouTube SEO campaign, sharpen up on all four today. Who knows, with the right optimization someday your video could leave even sneezing baby pandas in the dust.

The post YouTube SEO & You appeared first on Geanna Culbertson.

Important Aspects of Online Presence Management

When it comes to the world of online marketing, if you are an ordinary business owner, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed.

That’s why—with all the technical realms, targeted strategy, and search engine updates to take into account—most businesses defer to professional marketing companies to step in and take the reins on their online presence management endeavors.

However, the problem with that is the matter of blind trust.

If you don’t know or understand the vital components of an online presence management service, then how are you to know if the marketing company you’ve hired is getting the job done?

The answer: you don’t, because you don’t have the knowledge to question them. It’s the classic, “You know better than I do” situation, which sometimes can work out just fine. But wouldn’t you rather go into a service agreement knowing what you really want and what to look for?

The answer: of course you do!

If you are a business owner, or any other human being without professional online marketing training, here are a few things to know about optimal online presence management.

All About SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is the process of optimizing, or enhancing, your website so that it appears more authoritative to search engines like Google, and ranks higher in the search engine result pages (SERPs) as a result.

The start of any successful SEO campaign is determining the keywords you are trying to rank for.

Example #1: if you are the author of a fiction books series, some important keywords for you might be YA fiction, fantasy fiction, and fiction book series.

Example #2: if you are an orthodontist, some important keywords for your practice and website might be braces, Invisalign, and orthodontist.

Additional important keywords might include other services you offer, the city you are located in, and neighboring cities. The latter two should be used as modifiers that you pair with your main keywords, though. You won’t be able to rank for a city alone, but a city and a service together? You most certainly can! (Ex. Los Angeles orthodontist.)

What Do I Mean by Ranking?

If you are an orthodontist, when someone in your area types “orthodontist” into Google, ideally you would want your website to show up, or “rank”, as close to the top of the SERPs as possible. You want to rank on the SERPs whenever someone types in any of the keywords related to your business or website. For me (for example) ideally I would like my website to come up whenever people search “YA fiction series” or “fantasy fiction series.”

Rankings are based on many different aspects, but one of them is the optimization of your website for those keywords. You want to have well-written, strategically optimized content that utilizes those keywords organically in your onsite content, as well as in your pages’ meta descriptions and title tags.

What are Meta Descriptions and Title Tags?

Typically a website result in the SERPS will look like this (see above). The title tag is the blue or purple clickable text at the top of the search result, and the meta description is the gray descriptive text below the URL (featured in green).

What to Look for:

A great online presence management service will optimize your website’s content, title tags, and meta descriptions to strategically utilize keywords, while respecting the best SEO formatting guidelines in terms of:

Length
Calls to Action
Varying Headers
Bulletpoints
Clear, Quality Writing
Internal Linking Structure

What is Internal Linking?

Going back to the orthodontist example, if your website homepage mentions the types of braces you offer at your practice and you have another page on your website specifically devoted to better explaining those types of braces, then the phrase “types of braces” should be linked to redirect users to that page.

Below is an example of optimized internal linking from the page on my website highlighting my involvement with the Girls on the Run organization. Here I have linked the name of my series to lead back to my Homepage (which details the series overview) and I have linked Girls on the Run to the organization’s website.

Similar to optimizing for keywords, inserting internal links (or hyperlinks) into content needs to be done strategically. The end goal is to create clear paths that make it easier for people to find what they are looking for and/or what you want them to find on your website.

 Are There Other Elements of Online Presence Management to be Aware of?

If you’ve hired a marketing professional to handle your online presence management, there are several other areas, beyond keywords and content, to pay attention to.

User Interface

Don’t make it difficult for users to find what they are looking for—construct your website with simple navigation in mind that appeals to what someone would inherently search for. An online marketing professional might make suggestions about restructuring certain architectural or navigational aspects of your website in order to improve clarity and function for users. For example:

Making your site mobile-friendly
Having a clear menu bar with tabs to the most important pages/info
Displaying easy access to the right kinds of contact information
Providing a clear portal to all of your social media outlets

Listings & Directories

If you are a business, an important part of online presence management is managing how you show up in various kinds of local directories—everything from Google, to Yelp, to Whitepages and beyond. This also includes industry-specific directories that are relevant to your business.

Your online presence manager should be keeping track of your local listings by:

Suppressing duplicate listings
Deleting incorrect information
Optimizing existing listings
Checking for NAP inconsistencies

What is NAP?

NAP stands for: Name; Address; Phone Number. It is an abbreviation many online marketing professionals use when referring to your listings. Basically, wherever your website/business listing appears, you want the key information in relation to it (your NAP) to remain consistent and accurate. So the rein-holder in your online presence management efforts should be on the lookout for that.

Reviews

I mentioned that there are a myriad of elements that influence your ranking on the SERPs. One other component that contributes to your ranking is your reviews. If you are a business this pertains particularly to Google reviews that are left on Google My Business/Google Maps listings, and (according to a recent change) Facebook reviews as well.

By nature, Google shows preference to its own services. So having more reviews for your business on Google lends to your website’s authority and can thus impact your ranking. Your online presence management service should therefore allot some attention to increasing online reviews for your website/business.

How Do I Collect More Reviews?

A strategy for this can be implemented in a lot of ways, and really depends on the exact nature of your business.

However, one good way to start is by making sure that your website has a prominently displayed “write a review” button, which directly links to where people can leave reviews on Google.

And Beyond…

There are many other elements at play in regards to online presence management. A few additional areas to keep in mind, for instance, are:

The Importance of an Onsite Blog
Compelling Videos and Images
Regularly Updated, Well-Engaged Social Media

But you are not expected to know everything. That’s what online presence management services and online marketing professionals are for. This article is simply meant to give you an understanding of several elements to keep an eye on, so that you don’t enter into an online presence management agreement with blind trust.

It’s a lot like the Wizard of Oz. You don’t want to be the Emerald City citizen who believes the wizard’s floating head is pure magic and doesn’t question it in the slightest.

Instead, aim to be like Dorothy. Have an idea of what’s going on behind the curtain, even if you don’t know the exact mechanics that went into making the mystical floating head possible.

This will make for a successful relationship between you and your online marketing company, and set the foundation for your business to grow even further.

The post Important Aspects of Online Presence Management appeared first on Geanna Culbertson.

Pay it Forward

A few months ago I accompanied my mom to an appointment. While I waited for her, I decided to explore the surrounding area. It was morning and I was hungry, so I elected to find myself some treats. The choices came down to a Chinese food place and a doughnut shop.

I chose the latter.

Upon going inside my face was hit with a glorious waft of sugar and coffee. Having selected my pastries and ordered a cup of joe, I went to the register to pay. However, it was then that I realized I’d forgotten my wallet at home.

I apologized to the cashier, saying that I had to cancel my order, but then someone intervened. A woman with dark curly hair and a pleasant face ahead of me offered to pay for my food and my coffee.

Naturally, I was in shock. She didn’t know me. People didn’t usually work this way. But there she was, a kind woman named Ever Lee who insisted she’d buy me my breakfast.

It was a wonderful gesture of kindness to experience. Since all I had on me was my laptop (always the writer, I carry it with me just about everywhere), I offered to give her a shout out in the second book in my series—Crisanta Knight: The Severance Game—which is set to be released on December 6, 2016. And all she asked from me in return was that I pay it forward and continue to pass along the kindness.

To sum up, it was a delightful human moment, and we should always try to pay it forward.

The post Pay it Forward appeared first on Geanna Culbertson.