As I Please

Commentary The 5G wireless network currently being rolled out around the world and across New Zealand is getting a bad rap from people who claim the wireless radiation this system emits is not good for our health. Ask a phone company about your 5G concerns and they’ll likely point you to someone else’s report that will conclude that, on the balance of probabilities, 5G will likely cause you, your pets or plants, no harm. Well that’s a lot different to the CEO of some telecom firm standing up and saying “5G is perfectly safe”. As far as I know, telecom CEOs are not saying that publicly. One reason might be that, and I have tried to confirm this, is that I am led to believe that insurance companies are apparently refusing to insure telecom firms against 5G related health claims (should there be any). But imagine if millions of people started a class action claiming 5G had caused them ill health – and you had no insurance to bat that one away using an army of lawyers. Imagine the embarrassment of a court trial (where anything could be said with the protection of the courts). I have read a lot about 5G and to be honest, I’m 50 – 50. But what concerns me is that no one is saying outright, hand on heart, that 5G is a technology that has been consumer tested, verified as safe by an independent body (not funded by telecom firms), and will cause no harm. No one without a vested interest is saying this. There are clearly some industry supporters posting comments on social media saying that 5G is safe; but they are distanced – by fact or design – from the telecom firms. After all, there is a lot at play. In fact, mobile phone technology has never been tested in the same way pharmaceuticals or food are – or even your child’s toy. Everything we buy is tested to check it causes no harm. So that causes me to put a feint question mark over 5G. It may be feint, but it is an issue of concern for me non-the-less. Trees removed Telecom firms have invested a lot of cash in 5G. Driverless cars will need unencumbered line-of-sight 5G wireless signals to work, and that in turn has led to claims of trees being cut down for fear they may interfere with 5G signals. Telecom firms will tell you that if trees are determined to be a problem then they will consult with the public (before chopping them down). Have you noticed any trees being removed from your street for no good reason? The issue is that while 5G can handle lots of data very fast; the 5G signal is not strong and cannot penetrate foliage or trees. That’s another reason why 5G transmitters – small cells – will be placed on lampposts 250metres apart. Critics say there will be no escape from 5G wireless signals. Crowd control Then there are claims that the millimetre wave technology that 5G is capable of has been used for crowd control by the military in some countries. That’s not to say that this level of technology is being deployed at the moment. Although I am sure there are some people in Hong Kong right now who wish they had it. Some people in Hong Kong have taken to cutting down lampposts with small cells on them. The Bio Initiative report is worth a read, despite one telecom PR person telling me its authors are ‘crystal wavers’. And comments such as that don’t help; because rather than address the actual content of this report,

There are plenty of podcasters who do well just sharing their expertise and knowledge via their podcast without having to interview someone else. But if featuring guests on your podcast is something you want to do then that can be very interesting for your audience. It’s quite common that people will make contact with you and ask to feature in your podcast, and that’s all fine – so long as what they want to talk about aligns with what you are doing. If not; then it is often better to let them know that there isn’t enough common ground…and let them down gently. It is often better to do your own research and identify people who will add real value to your podcast and be of genuine interest to your listeners. You can start with other people’s podcasts to see who they are featuring in their shows, look for authors who may have released a new book that aligns with your show, write to trade bodies, search YouTube. Perhaps there are some interesting speakers at a conference near where you live, or they might be visiting your place or work or a local school. See if you can rock up with a mic and portable recorder and get a podcast recorded. But once you find them then you need to write including full details about your podcast and explain why you think they are a good fit for your show. Be prepared to let them know how many downloads you get if they ask. Once they agree to take part then book them in by setting a time to record the interview and then start researching so you can ask interesting questions.  Asking good questions is where the value is for your listeners; and it shows respect to your guest. It shows you have put real effort into the conversation and that you know what you are talking about. In fact; having done the research you will feel a lot more confident talking with them. If they have written a book then read the book before the interview. Some guests may ask to see your questions before the interview so they can prepare ‘better answers’. I’m not in favour of this because when people get questions ahead of time they prepare stock answers and it leads to a lack of spontaneity. Avoid this at all costs.  I have declined to interview people if they insist on that condition; most have then agreed to proceed anyway and it’s all turned out fine. Should you pay guests? Absolutely not. No way. If a guest asks for payment then politely decline and move on. In 30 years of interviewing people for all manner of stories I have been asked to pay anyone and nor would I. Once the podcast is published then send a link to your guest and ask if they would share it across their social media network. See EP10 for press release marketing.

I learned a long, long, time ago that having a great product doesn’t automatically translate into great sales or popularity. You may offer great content that’s delivered to broadcast standard, but if no one knows about it then you are wasting your time. Sure, you’ll be on all the podcast distribution sites – along with everyone else – but still…how do people know to look for you? Marketing is the key. But it has to be more than a mention on social media. You are absolutely wasting your time telling other podcasters about it (unless your’s is a podcast about podcasting). Okay, let’s look at shownotes. They are hopefully written up and posted on your website for search engines to index should someone be looking for what you talk about – great. Now, let’s grab those shownotes and do something more. Let’s write them up as a news story with a brilliantly interesting intro; engaging quotes from your guest and make it into a really interesting press release. Get it down to about 300 words so it really is a snappy read. Remember, we are selling the sizzle, not the sausage (mmm sausages). With your press release checked and ready to go send it to publications and websites that report on the things your guest talks about; ideally with a photo of you or your special guest. Include a link to your site and the podcast of course. Perhaps also include the podcast player embed code. And don’t forget trade bodies linked to the subject of your podcast. Also send it to press release distribution sites. Some do charge for distribution, but there are some free ones too. Send it anywhere that might publish it (we all know the media is always crying out for content). The truth is you need to put as much work into marketing as you do producing content; especially in the first year of podcasting while you get established. But solid and consistent promotion via press releases will pay of – particularly if you become known to editors looking for your type of content.

When a company makes a box of soap to sell their job doesn't end once the boxes are packed up and placed in the warehouse. That's when the real work of advertising and marketing starts. Once a firm has a product made they need to sell it; and that involves lots of marketing and advertising to people who they think need that product. It's no different to when people are giving away free samples; or free podcasts. They still need to be placed into the hands of consumers who want them or who could benefit from them. In this edition of the Podcasting Made Easy podcast I explain how you can promote your podcast for free and hopefully do a little better than releasing your podcast and crossing your fingers.

While it’s all very nice sitting at home making podcasts, there’s nothing more exciting than actually getting out to events such as trade shows to interview people. They can be people such as experts in their field who are visiting your town, people you might not normally get to meet. Or maybe you want to do a vox pop asking random people in the street their opinion about something. Whatever the reason, how do you free yourself up from your studio to go do this? I can tell you that it is easier than when I first started in radio when I would have to lug a reel to reel tape machine to interviews. Remember the Uher anyone? The Uher 4000 Reporters 'portable' reel to reel tape machine. Today you can use your phone or a digital recorder; but there are some tips and tricks you’ll need to know to get great results. Listen to my podcast for advice on recording interviews on location. Tascam digital recorder.

No copying or broadcasting without prior written permission from Steve. I grew up listening to Earth, Wind & Fire’s dance music and played plenty of it as a club DJ in the 1980s. Lots of the group’s music is still doing the rounds thanks to remixed versions bringing them up to date with added drums, percussion and synth embellishments – there really are some excellent remixes around; many released last year and a few so far this year. Ralph Johnson was 19 when he auditioned for Maurice White to be the band’s drummer. Ralph is 68 now, and like EWF, is still going strong. Earth, Wind & Fire is currently on tour in the US, but on the side Ralph has moved into smooth jazz with the release Co-Swagit with singer Andrea Lisa. As host of a jazz radio show I was privileged to speak with Ralph about his career and passion for jazz. Ralph Johnson of Earth, Wind & Fire.

In this week’s WordPress podcast I look at plugins including All Loan Calculator, FaceBook Messenger Chat, and WP White Label among others. ALL Loan Calculatorhttps://wordpress.org/plugins/all-loan-calculator/ Place a loan calculator anywhere on your site using a shortcode. ideal for mortgage and other loan sites to let your visitors workout the repayments for the loan they want. Max Upload Size https://wordpress.org/plugins/max-upload-size/ Increase or decrease the maximum size of files that can be uploaded to your WordPress site. Facebook Messenger Chat https://wordpress.org/plugins/fb-messenger-chat-for-website/ Integrate FB Messenger Chat on your website without touching a single line of code. WP White Labelhttps://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-white-label/ The WP White Label plugin is for developers who want to give their clients a more personalised and less confusing content management system. White Label allows administrators to change WordPress branding. Delete All Posts https://wordpress.org/plugins/delele-all/ The Delete All plugins allows you to delete your posts at the click of a button. To be installed with caution. If anyone on your teams likes running with scissors then do not install this one. They will click it. You’ve been warned. Need help with your WordPress site? Give me a call.

Don Richards heads up Positive Money in Wellington. The Positive Money campaign began in the UK post GFC and campaigns to take money creation away from banks and place it with the Reserve Bank. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand creates New Zealand’s coins and notes interest free (the same system is used the world over). High Street Banks use a system called Fractional Reserve Banking to lend out the money in its vaults many times over.  Every dollar in the vault can be lent out many many times over. In essence; banks lend out money it doesn’t have – some critics call it counterfeiting. When a bank makes a loan it literally types the loan amount into your account. You spend it (say on buying a home); and once the loan is paid back the bank keeps the interest it charged you for the non-existent money and deletes the original loan amount from its books. The idea that people only borrow money from savers via a bank is no longer the case. The problem with banks charging interest on money that doesn’t really exist is that all loans can never be paid off without taking 98% of ‘money’ (digital money) out of the system. If the Reserve Bank of New Zealand could create interest free money (which it can) then that money can be used for public services (roads, schools, poverty reduction etc) without the government borrowing  money from the banks and using taxpayers’ cash to pay interest to the banks. The only people who would lose would be the banks; they’d still survive because people would still need them, but they would not make quite as much profit. Listen to the full interview with Don Richards (remember it was recorded in 2014). See http://positivemoney.

If you haven’t already, you need to update your WordPress CMS to the latest version. The all-singing, all dancing version 5 had security issues that have now been fixed. As for this week’s plugins… Unlimited Gutenberg Pack Gutenberg Pack – Unlimited Gutenberg Block Gutenberg Pack is a addon for gutenberg editor. It extends gutenberg editor to next level. We are developing many other beautiful and handy gutenberg blocks. You will see in next update. Gutenberg Pack – Blocks and Descriptions • Testimonial : This block help you to show some amazing feedback from your clients. • Buttons : This block help you to show any button with link. • Tabbed-content: This block help you to organize your content with Tab. • Call To Action: This block help you to show call to action section on your website. Assign multiple contributors to posts WP Multi Author Add a map to your site Responsive iframe GoogleMap Christmas Countdown widget The Christmas Countdown Widget displays a  Santa Claus counting down to Christmas in your sidebar. Christmas Countdown Widget Want to countdown to the New Year… Use any countdown clock that takes your fancy.

Pop Up Block This is a pop up block for the new Gutenberg editor. Includes pop up animation options, color customization, size customization and more. Best Testimonial Best Testimonial is a simple and powerful testimonial system for wordpress website. You will be publishing your testimonials with just a few steps. There are two styles of testimonail to show, which are so attractive and clean design.Features • Responsive and mobile ready. • Strong Options Panel. • Easy Shortcode • Easy Installation. • Custom fields • Slider & carousel • Categories • Translation ready • Featured Images (thumbnails) • Easy to use and customize TrainingPress TrainingPress is a online course management system plugin for WordPress. This plugin can be used to easily create courses. Each course curriculum can be made with modules, chapters and exercises which can be managed by anyone.Features of the plugin include: * Create unlimited courses* Manage Courses.* Create and manage Modules.* Create and manage Chapters.* Chapter Assignment* Create and manage Exercises.* Compose exercise with different types of components like paragraph, video, image, question (with different types).* Admin can track Course Progress of any user.* Admin can create ‘Sample course’ from settings submenu tab inside Training Menu* Assign author to course / Display author of course on frontend* Search course functionality on frontend* Share course on Facebook, Twitter, Google+* Comments & Rating option* SEO friendly URLs* TrainingPress premium addons will available soon Disable Gutenberg (WordPress) Editor This plugin disabled gutenberg editor on your website with any WordPress theme. No additional settings required.

Major changes coming to WordPress this week as it is updated to version 5. The key change, and it really is big, is the full adoption of the Gutenberg text editor. The new text editor is a major shift in how you will add content to posts and pages; and more importantly, how you design them using the new text editor with block functionality – you will be able to move items around the text area in blocks. The new editing system is replacing the old WYSIWYG editor, which has barely changed since WordPress was first first launched in May 2003 – I joined the WordPress party in 2008. Of course the WordPress CMS has come along in leaps and bounds during 2018, and this new text editor will cause some people problems; particularly those who are using plugins to add functionality to their WordPress text editor; as some of these plugins may now be obsolete and there is a risk of a clash of coding between the new CMS with Gutenberg and some plugins and themes. It could get messy for some of you. So if you use these sort of plugins you will need to review their use, disable some and see what Gutenberg can do when flying solo The launch of Gutenberg means that you’ll need to become acquainted with a whole new editing experience. If you insist you can install a plugin to retain the old style text editor; but honestly, this is a fight you will lose – so adapt to the new WordPress and move you and your team forward. Resistance is futile. Bottom line…WordPress 5 offers a flexible content management system for designing pages. Gutenberg will also give editors a much more visual understanding of the page appearance and how the content will appear on the front end. You won’t need to constantly save and preview changes to see how a post will actually look. The Gutenberg text editor / page builder is a major step forward; and while I am not saying it will break your website, if you are using an old theme or any page design or text editing plugins then you will absolutely need to check your theme works with the updated WordPress CMS, and your plugins, and then update where you can, disable and abandon where you can’t, and check to see if you are using any unnecessary plugins. Bottom line, now is a good time to perform a thorough housekeeping exercise with your WordPress site – clear out the clutter and bring it up to date. And in case you didn’t know…Johannes Gutenberg, born 1400, died 1468, was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, inventor, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe with the printing press. His early books costs the equivalent of three years’ wages. Which is almost like saying you have to be a millionaire to get access to the internet.

  In this week’s WordPress Tips and Tricks I look at… Simple Paywall – The Best Metered Paywall for WordPress Simple Paywall (beta) is a complete subscription management solution that features a powerful metered paywall. It doesn’t stop there. It’s packed full of features that will help you monetize your content and drive growth. Almost every aspect of how you protect and monetize your content can be customized to your needs. Please review our features to see all of the amazing things you can accomplish using Simple Paywall. AddFunc Backgrounds AddFunc Backgrounds adds a Backgrounds content type your WordPress website. The Backgrounds editor makes it easy to create multi-layered backgrounds for your website, which you can then select for use on any Page or Post. WP Amazon Shop for Dropshipping & Affiliation WP Amazon Shop comes with a NEW Outstanding Feature, Amazon Dropshipping & Affiliation Program Both.Search and build products from Amazon store to make easy money by affiliation. No hassle, no coding, no amazon aws keys! Login Monitor Displays current logged in users in administration screens in real time.

In this week’s hodge podge of plugins I feature… Popup Message for Contact Form 7 CF7 Lightbox Popup Success create a popup for any Contact Form 7 form.?- Simple Download Monitor Simple Download Monitor manages your digital downloads; providing password protected files if you like and counts the number of downloads too. Poll Maker Want to find out what your visitors think – then this plugin will likely do the job for you. Poll Maker allows visitors to vote, choose or rate. Running a poll is a quick and simple way to gauge sentiment.

Learn all my Podcasting Secrets here. Hi and welcome to this edition of WordPress Tips and Tricks. This time I look at plugins include… Mailchimp for Contact Form 7 Plugin which sends form submissions from Contact Form 7, CRM Perks Forms and many other popular contact form plugins to Mailchimp. The plugin shows all mailchimp custom fields list and you can easily map any field. You’ll also see a complete log of all entry fields sent to Mailchimp. Connect any contact form to Mailchimp account by simply entering Mailchimp API key. Premium version available, but the free version will suit most users. Contact Form 7 Redirects to any page, any post or any custom URL. Simply install, activate, go to your form settings, choose the “Redirect Settings” tab and set the page you want to be redirected to. Mortgage Calculators WP   is a very easy-to-use plugin built to provide mortgage and other finance professionals with a mortgage calculator that not only delivers accurate home loan estimates, but also the ability for the users to instantly receive a free copy of those estimates via email – while also providing the website owner with an email lead every time a user requests a copy of their estimated values. Just be sure not to spam your visitors. Page Loading Animation  will load  an animation before loading your website/page. You can customize the animation and background color. But if loading time is an issue, then you may need to fix this before adding to the load with an animated graphic. Remove RSS Feed  will remove the RSS feed from your website. Not sure you’d want to do that; but here’s an option if that’s your thing. Please like and share my WordPress podcast – many thanks, Steve

Learn all my Podcasting Secrets here. Three super plugins for this episode of WordPress Tips & Tricks… First out the gate is WP Page Builder. WP Page Builder is a feature-rich drag and drop plugin to create websites easily. Whether you’re an experienced developer or just a beginner, you can build stunning websites independently with this tool. Create beautiful web pages effortlessly using the intuitive live page composer without coding in minutes. No design experience needed. WP Page Builder is a free and completely front-end based tool with plenty of design options. Free and premium versions. Post Duplicator Plus does what it says, and nothing more. Just a one-click way to duplicate an existing post or page. Finally, The SiteOrigin widget bundle gives you a collection of widgets that you can use and customize. All the widgets are built on our powerful framework, giving you advanced forms, unlimited colours and 1500+ icons. Widgets are great. No matter where you’re using them. In a Page Builder page or on your widgetized areas. It’s even compatible with other popular page building plugins. Once you enable a widget, you’ll be able to use it anywhere standard widgets are used.