Welcome! You have found my (Carson Ward’s) personal site. I’ve worked as an marketing consultant at Distilled, marketing manager at Clearlink, and in several other marketing positions over the last few years. I own Perpetual Digital Media and am an owner at Ward Enterprises. I build and operate websites, and have no interest in traditional employment or consulting. I am also used to be a regular reader and irregular contributor to online marketing and philosophy sites. In my free time I’m talking with friends, reading novels, traveling the world, and spending time with family.
I thought you build websites. What is this garbage?
If you’re trying to learn more about me, you’ll quickly realize there’s not a lot to find. The two sites I linked to above are designed a little better, but still pretty vague. They don’t even mention the websites we run and make money on. This isn’t an oversight, nor is it laziness. I’m a little more deliberate than that.
First, people who know me know that I’ve been successful. One thing I’ve learned about marketers, especially SEOs, is that they like to copy what’s working. I’d rather people not try to copy my success. I don’t crave new competitors.
Second, I’m a private person. I have no desire to be famous, and I am never going to put my life on display. Every school project I ever had where I was told to write my most embarrassing moment or favorite vacation was pure fabrication, because I felt they had no right to know. I can’t full explain why, but I want to trust people before sharing much about myself.
Finally, I see less value in social media and blogging than most marketers do. When I was new to marketing I read all the big marketing sites, and was told repeatedly I had to “market myself.” I tried writing (as in some of the very old posts below), tweeting, and doing all the things I was supposed to. At some point I came across one of my favorite authors on Twitter. He tweeted maybe once a month, and had more followers than every marketing expert and social media guru. He hadn’t marketed himself. He’d simply done something of value. In about 2015 I realized that the people I was taking advice from meant well, but they were teaching me how to become them. And they were all influencers. I have no desire to be an influencer. I like that no one bothers me at conferences, and no one recognizes me on the street. I’m an introvert, and a terrible public speaker. If running a one-person media organization doesn’t burn you out, I’m in awe. I chose a different path that didn’t require so much out of me, and capitalizes on my strengths. I love building things, and today I excel at creating in-depth, data-heavy, useful websites.
I’ve taken down my personal blog, but I’m leaving up the links to old posts and other profiles. They lack any personal info, but I think it’s a fun little monument to my personal folly of listening to influencers rather than building something of value. I’m not saying taking advice from the biggest names in your field is a mistake, because some people love being influencers, but I do think it’s worth considering whether you want what they have.
Old posts:
The 4-Step Plan to Construct Your Own Keyword-to-URL Map – Moz
Beyond Responsive: Design and Development Trends for Adaptable Marketers – Moz
Is Your Content Credible Enough to Share? – Moz
How Google’s Algorithm Silences Minority Opinions – HighSpeedInternet.com
No, Netflix and Hulu are Not Killing Cable – CableTV.com
70% of Americans in Comcast Area After Time Warner Deal – CableTV.com
Time is Money? Not if You Want to Be Happy – CarsonWard.com
7 Reasons to Remove “Link Building” from Our Vocabulary – Moz
Other profiles:
Carson Ward on Twitter
Distilled blog posts(Looks like they deleted most of their blog content.)
Carson Ward – Moz blog posts
Questions answered on Quora