It’s been an interesting evening. A couple of hours ago I got a call from a guy who hired one of my direct competitors (in the haunted house industry) to do his site. There’s been a problem along the way; I was called, near as I can tell, because the assumption was I’d know what to do.

That’s flattering. Obviously it begs the question of why he didn’t just hire me in the first place, but hey, now he knows.

Then a little while ago a web design company that focuses on a different industry hired me to redesign their logo and website, which is a first for me. I’ve never designed another designer’s brand/website. That’s also flattering.

So I’m flattered. And maybe a little perplexed. But mostly flattered.

God grant me the serenity to accept the domains I cannot register,
Courage to register domains through ICANN,
and wisdom to know the difference between .COM, .NET and .ORG.

ShockTilYouDrop.com has a great article/interview in which Mick Garris, Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, William Malone and Stuart Gordon are interviewed by Richard Elfman about how art has affected their lives and work. The interview was occasioned by the American Cinematheque’s tribute to dark artist Zdzislaw Beksinski whose art inspired Malone’s new film Parasomnia.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=9889

Several people have asked me about HFW2009 in recent weeks; when will it be, where will it be, WILL it be, at all?

I don’t know. I’ve been told that HFW2009 will take place the second weekend in August, but as most of you have noticed, http://www.horrorfindweekend.com still lists 2008 info.

I don’t know the location, whether or not they’ll keep the art show, or anything else. Your guess is as good as mine.

Further, I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes at HorrorFind.com. I’ve pretty much been shut out – I can’t get anybody to return phone calls or emails anymore, and I’m hearing the same thing from others.

Hopefully information is forthcoming, but until it does, please direct your questions directly to HorrorFind; I don’t have any answers.

You'll spend $5,000 - $10,000 on a radio or newspaper ad, but you're not using FREE web promotion?

A few years ago, having a website was enough. You advertised your site's URL and swapped links with other sites, and in time you could be reasonably sure your customer base would find you.

In 2009 your website is still a great start, but if you're serious about drawing people to your website (and, by extension, your event), you have to go further. You need to get your event/brand in front of people more aggressively. One of the best ways to do this is through Social Networking & Media sites.

Millions of people are logging into MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other similar sites daily (even hourly), looking for the things that interest them, things to do, and (most importantly) things to share with their friends. One of the driving forces behind these sites is the fact that people are able to share and discuss the things they find fun or interesting; with some strategic setup, you can make it very easy for people to find, save and share information about your business, event or attraction.

While most of these sites are free to use, expect to invest heavily in terms of time. You must provide relevant and timely information and content to them, build Contact/Friends Lists, and stay on top of messages, requests and approvals. If you are unwilling or unable to do this, there is no point in reading further.

Sinister Visions can help you set up a solid presence on key Social Network & Media sites, help you cross-wire them to each other and your website, and help kick-start your presence on the web *beyond* your website. Specifically:

1. http://www.myspace.com : SVi can help you create and format a MySpace page to match the look and feel of your website
2. http://www.facebook.com : SVi can help you set up a Facebook account and Facebook Group or Fan Page for your attraction
3. http://www.twitter.com : SVi can help you set up a Twitter account that feeds information and updates to your website, Facebook & MySpace
4. http://www.blogger.com : SVi can help you set up a Blogger.com account that feeds posts to your website, Facebook & MySpace
5. http://www.youtube.com : IF YOU HAVE VIDEOS TO POST, SVi can help you create and configure a YouTube page, which will allow you to post your videos to your website, Facebook & MySpace page
6. http://www.flickr.com : IF YOU HAVE PHOTOS TO POST, SVi can help you create and configure a Flickr photostream to feed photo content to your website, Facebook & MySpace page

These sites represent the most popular and widely-used Social Network/Media sites available, and provide a set of online publishing tools that can significantly expand your presence on the internet. All 6 of the above options have the added benefit of being able to lead people back to your website, directly and indirectly.

All of the services listed above are free to use; Flickr.com has a maximum image cap that can be removed for $25/year.

Contact Chad Savage at Sinister Visions inc. to discuss how you can put the power of Social Network & Media sites to work for you! Additional services available include setting your site up with Google Analytics, Google Friend Connect and making your site mobile phone friendly!

DISCLAIMERS: Sinister Visions inc. WILL NOT run these accounts for you. SVi will help you in account creation, configuration & customization; once they're set up, it is up to you to (a) populate them with information/video/images, and (b) expand your contact list on each service. You MUST be willing to invest the time required to build your network and content on these sites; otherwise, there's simply no point.

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MySpace.com is a social networking website with an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos for teenagers and adults internationally.

Facebook is a free-access social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc.[1] Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service. It enables its users to send and read other users' updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Users can send and receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS (receive only), or through a number of 3rd party applications.

Blogger.com is a web log (blog) publishing system owned by Google.com.

YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips.

Flickr is an image and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community platform. In addition to being a popular Web site for users to share personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers as a photo repository.

All this carrying on about Twitter.com – I don’t understand what the big deal is. It’s an abbreviated way to share thoughts and ideas with people whose thoughts and ideas you like. So why all the fuss? Why do you care how I blog?

Twitter is just like any other blog/community – it’s a tool that can be rendered obnoxious by the people using it. That’s why I maintain the position that those who hate Twitter aren’t using it right.

I run multiple accounts at Twitter, each serving a different purpose, and all of which feed information to related sites. Most of them are news oriented and make a quick and simple way to post updates that aren’t worth a full “story”, but bear mentioning.

The exception is my personal account, which I use as the short version of my blog – random thoughts, musings, annoyances and ideas.

By and large, there are two kinds of people I follow on Twitter: Ones who post news about stuff I’m interested in, and ones who are just really funny. I don’t follow actual friends – I have LiveJournal, Facebook, MySpace, etc. for that. Frankly, most of my friends post stuff I don’t particularly care about, which is one of the reasons I stopped reading LiveJournal – I just don’t have time to spend reading about what Bob had for breakfast or how many miles Jane rode her bike this morning.

When I check my Twitter feed, I can count on (a) finding out about at least one thing that genuinely interests me and (b) laughing. A lot. This is entirely due to the fact that I’m selective about who I follow, many of whom are professional writers.

Given that Twitter restricts a post to 140 characters or less, it can be quite a challenge to express a complex thought in such abbreviated form, so when it’s done right, it’s like Haiku – elegant, concise, often hilarious and occasionally thought provoking. I’ll close this post with some fave’d examples:

hotdogsladies I’m speechless whenever salespeople ask me why I won’t buy something. It’s like being asked to defend why I’m not a fern or a ceiling fan.

indiana_state My computer beat me at chess last night but it was no match for me at kick boxing. Hear that Skynet?!

grendelsden XP Service Pack 3 is A-OK thus far, as I expected. Though the tentacles and smell of sulfur is a bit much.

Johnny_C Know someone who has been denied a personality for the fact that the world rewards them for their looks? Hammer to face changes everything.

JhonenV Short Horror Theater: Girl orders boba tea, realizes she’s not chewing tapioca but EYEBALLS. Girl sues owner who turns out to be a dracula.

AinsleyofAttack If you’re an adult with blue hair and a ferret on a leash I know that your parents didn’t tape your macaroni art to the fridge often enough.

hotdogsladies Lot of people say “Not a problem” when they mean “You’re welcome.” Which is why I switched from “Thank you” to “Is this a fucking problem?”

The server crash last month killed DarkArtStore.com; However, the Chad Savage original art/prints that were for sale on that site are now available at http://www.chadsavage.com.

Help me out, folks - if you come across dead or non-functioning links, PLEASE contact Chad at savage@sinistervisions.com and let him know.