I never intended tankt.com to house my (most) personal ramblings. But lately that’s been front and center in my life and I see no reason to separate the two. It’s clear not everything is settled, as evidenced by last night’s banner effort, but at least it is settling. I remain a work in progress, and happily so. Would you bother to tune in if not?
Over time, I hope, I’ll show you (my loyal audience of two) the things I love, the dreams I hold, and the talents I’ll use to pull them all together. That said, this blogging shit is hard.
My goal is really quite simple. I want to spin a story, weaving in and out of the corners of my mind, loosely tying together all of the disparate pieces of information I’ve gleaned from the day, with the double goal of a density of thoughts and an economy of words.
I want to then annotate, curate, and merchandise each post. I have some ideas on how the future of (online) retail unfolds and I’m fortunate to find myself in a position to make that happen at ztail. This blog has become my laboratory in so many ways.
I spent the previous few weeks trying in vain to build a store within my blog. When I recommend a song of an artist on an album, or a passage by an author in a book, I want to link you directly to the point of purchase.
I want that link to be contextual in the purest sense, in order to create the emotional connection between attaining the idea and buying the product. Oh c’mon, you can’t be surprised, you know how much I love infomercials…
The point isn’t consumption per se, but awareness. That and artists deserve to get paid for their work.
I realize not all of you will buy. I don’t expect to earn riches from these links, though there is cash at play, that’s not quite the point. I believe I can create an audience and build a reputation as an authority, then use that leverage to pursue new ideas and opportunities in the future… I’m hardly the first to think along these lines, Doc Searls:
The because effect is a kind of jujitsu. While other people look to make money with something, you’re finding ways of making money because of something.
Long story short, I embedded thumbnails of album and book cover art and wrapped ‘em in amazon links. So GHETTO, but it’s a start, and about as good as I can do given the existing tools, and the limits to my web nerdery.
It amazes me that everything in my life is lining up at this moment, but here it is. I love the way it feels so natural and completely unforced. While I promised myself I would go to bed at a decent hour, it’s already well after 2am, and I’m half tempted to stay up all night for old time’s sake. It’s been a while since I’ve had such a labor of love, and I just want to soak it all up.