If you haven’t read 60 Days in Las Vegas – Part 1 I encourage you to go read that first. There will be a link at the bottom of this post and HERE
Interestingly enough only a few days ago literally right after I decided about turning these next 60 days into separate/special blog content, I receive an email from a guy named Simon Hradil-Kasseckert.
Simon had some great questions that are connected to my plans during my time in Las Vegs. So thank you Simon.
Question #1 How did you learn about building a website, blog, and social media presence?
I didn’t really learn anything about building a website. I paid someone to do it for me. And every time I need to learn how to figure something out I get him to do a video tutorial to show me how.
I find going into my website dashboard very intimidating and I don’t mess with anything I don’t know about in case I blow my website up.
My suggestion if you have no friends or options is to check out UpWork or Freelancer.com and my other suggest is to stick to the major platforms like WordPress or Squarespace. That way you can always find help if you run into trouble. I screwed up my first website by ending up on some custom weird platform with no option to leave the company I was using. I ended up flushing an expensive website down the toilet years ago.
In regards to social media. I am part of close to 40+ Facebook bike groups. I discover that you get noticed when you post a 50,000 km bike route map and you are starting in a Canadian Winter. I try to post as often I can to these groups. I post an average of once a month. I actually use an excel spreadsheet to list the groups and what content I am posting to keep organized.
Posting a map like this on a bike Facebook groups tends to get you noticed
Beyond that I make every attempt to respond or acknowledge every comment or message sent to me. It’s important to me that my audience knows I am engaged. Your audience always appreciates that.
Question #2 What were some other milestones in building your brand (choosing a name, building a website, etc.), and what sequence did you do them in?
Truthfully when it comes to an online brand I feel that I am a million miles away from any milestone. I don’t have 100’s of thousands of followers. I don’t even have 10’s of thousands of followers.
I have bike ride milestones, such as my start date of November 12. And then the first day of spring. Getting to the Terry Fox memorial in Thunder Bay, cleaning off Terry Fox’s gravestone in Port Coquitlam and reaching the Terry Fox memorial in Victoria BC.
Bike Ride Milestones
Probably my greatest source of bike ride pride was how often I was recognized in Atlantic Canada. I was barely be able to go anywhere in Nova Scotia without being recognized “as that guy.” Everyone came up to me even in the most remote places and asked me “are you that guy?”
I was recognized in Montreal, twice in the Ottawa area. I was recognized in Jasper, Alberta and also recognized in Vancouver BC.
Recognized in Ottawa, Jasper and Vancouver by name
Question #3 What was your motivation to start documenting your adventure(s) in the formats you do?
Ok, that answer is way to long for this post and requires a blog post all by itself. So consider that as a teaser for the next blog post. The answer to this question is ultimately the purpose to everything I am doing right now in Las Vegas. That post can be found HERE
Question #4 How/why did you choose your name “Safari Arie”?
It’s actually hard for me not to laugh at this question but I will happily answer it. My full name is Arie Hoogerbrugge. That’s H-o-o-g-e-r-b-r-u-g-g-e – Hoogerbrugge. Can you imagine directing people on the street to follow my ride by giving them my name? Instead, I can just say Google Safari Arie for everything about my ride will come up.
And Safari Arie rhymes and has branding potential.
Thanks Simon
