Brian Cormack Carr is a busy man, he runs three websites! I asked him about all his sites.
What are your site’s about?
My website www.vitalvocation.com was originally a membership site through which I delivered a modular coaching program. That was quite high maintenance for me (any time it went wrong, I had to work fast to get it back up and running for the members) so I began to think about looking for a different approach to fit in with my wider work commitments. Some participants commented that the material would work well as a book and since I love writing, I decided to repurpose the modules into book format.
At that point, I decided to change the website to more of a blog setup, which is when I approached Joel.
Although I had experience of blogging on a free WordPress site, I wanted to use the premium Thesis theme for this, and decided to start taking SEO a bit more seriously! It was great having someone who knew what they were doing to guide me through the process of considering which plugins to use (and how to use them).
I have two other blogs: my main author site www.cormackcarr.com; as well as a site for another forthcoming book – www.realfoodrevivalplan.com – and Joel helped me to get those into shape and looking and functioning well.
What are you providing to readers?
I provide different things through each site. Vital Vocation and Real Food Revival Plan are designed to promote specific writing projects, and my author site operates as a kind of online business card for me, and also as a platform for me to publicize and sell my coaching services and – increasingly – my freelance writing. Vital Vocation enabled me to blog the process of changing my membership site into a book, and will go on being a tool for me to promote the book.
The book itself is called How To Find Your Vital Vocation: A Practical Guide To Discovering Your Career Purpose And Getting A Job You Love is just out on Kindle, which I’m very excited about! (US Kindle link | UK Kindle link) Yes, the title’s a long one –but you know how important it is to include keywords!
What type of readers (and customers) are you targeting?
One of the reasons I set up three sites was that I was previously trying to pack everything into my main author site. That was fine when it was doing what I originally set it up to do in 2009 – which was to promote my newly-launched coaching practice – but as my writing interests expanded, it began to get really messy. One day I’d write about career change; the next day about the health benefits of wild-caught salmon! Not surprisingly, that didn’t really work for my readers, so I split my different interests up.
Vital Vocation is for people who are ready to choose or change their career, or who are in a difficult work situation and need to find a way out.
Real Food Revival Plan is for people who are interested in developing an “ancestral” approach to eating – in other words, eating the whole, real foods our bodies evolved to eat, rather than processed junk foods with lots of additives. Increasingly, my author site is attracting not just potential coaching clients, but also people who are interested in the process of writing and self-publishing a book, as I have done.
Why did you set up your websites?
My first site was originally set up to promote my coaching practice, but I quickly discovered that I was less a “coach who writes” and more a “writer who coaches”. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, because I’ve loved writing all my life for as long as I’ve been able to string sentences together, but it took me a while to realize that I could actually focus my online presence on that.
That’s the direction I’m definitely heading in now, and I’ll be using my websites to showcase my writing and promote the books I publish. I’m very excited to have have my first book out, and I already have several more planned. I think nowadays its essential for authors to have an online author platform – particularly indie authors who are going to responsible for their own publishing and marketing efforts – and it’s important that that online platform looks professional and consistent. That’s where I’ve found Blog Tech Guy input particularly helpful. I now know who to come to if I get stuck!
Background Profile
Brian Cormack Carr is a certified career coach and charity chief executive. He trained as a personnel manager with Marks & Spencer plc before carving out a successful portfolio career based on a wide range of his interests and passions. He is the author of the new book How To Find Your Vital Vocation: A Practical Guide To Discovering Your Career Purpose And Getting A Job You Love which is available on Kindle. Don’t have a Kindle? You can download free Kindle-reading software from Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771
Other information
How To Find Your Vital Vocation – US Kindle link
How To Find Your Vital Vocation – UK Kindle link
Thanks for your time Brian! If you would like to be featured in a Client Spotlight, just contact me here.
Hi Joel, I have just had my 2nd website built. My initial one is for my Counselling business and now a new one for my Hypnotherapy Service.Of course the problem is keeping them up to date as well as doing my ‘proper’ job! Where do you find the time?
I agree, one blog is hard enough to keep up with, never mind two or three! I’m not sure I do find the time very often, it’s difficult isn’t it?
Congratulations on your sites Wendy. For me the key is keeping each site focused on a distinct niche. The folks who like my site about real food aren’t always those who’re interested in finding a new career (and vice versa). I guess it’s the same for you with hypnotherapy and counselling clients? I’m not as regular a blogger as I’d like – I do tend to be a bit sporadic. I’m aiming for one new post per site per week – which for me means three posts a week in total. I don’t always manage it, but it’s a useful target…
Dear Joel –
Good interview. Whew! THREE SITES. That would definitley do me in.
It’s time now for a video interview. You are ready. Good questons.
It certainly keeps me on my toes! 🙂 I think I’ll probably consolidate in the future, once the books that each site is designed to promote have been fully launched. But for now, they keep my niches nice and clear.
P.S. – I agree re: the video interview – I’m sure Joel would be a great video host!
Thanks Joel for sharing the conversation. What Brian make one realize it that when you start something it can end up going in a different direction. He realized that writing was his passion. What we can all learn is that when we start something just keep taking steps, little at a time, until those steps turn down the right path.
You go Brian and thank you for sharing and best of luck with the book. I to have to get a Kindle. It is on my list.
Very true Debbie, that’s a great way of putting it.
Thanks Debbie. You’ve summarized the philosophy behind my book perfectly – I couldn’t agree more!
I do not own a Kindle. My blog site i merely based on Christianity and helping others to come to know Jesus.However thank you Brian for your information.
Thought Brian’s replies interesting, but not too revealing, however it was probably intended as a promotion of Kindle and his new book. Over-all I liked it.
EVERT FURREY
Thanks Evert! Of course Brian has information he wants to get out there, but I’m sure if you have any other questions, let us know, and he’d be happy to answer them.
Hi Evert – I’m certainly hoping to get the news about my book out there; I’d like as many people to find their ideal work as possible. Very happy to answer any questions you have and to be a bit more revealing (within reason, of course). Thanks for commenting!