November 2006

There’s been a lot of talk the last few days about the fact that Yahoo! is launching a number of media properties without RSS. The theory is that they want more eyeballs on their actual site through a browser than people only clicking through from their RSS readers when they find something truly interesting or meaningful.

Obviously, advertising revenue is at stake here. But I think Yahoo! is making the wrong decision, long term. If you were an advertiser, would you rather pay a little bit of money every time someone who might or might not care about your product looked at your ad or a little bit more money every time someone who is almost certainly interested in what you’re selling looked at your ad?

Yahoo! is forgetting that context-sensitive advertising–placing ads only with articles that overlap topically with the advertiser’s market–will deliver a smaller but more dedicated audience for an advertiser’s message. Giving users the option to click through from their RSS readers when they really care about a story means that your advertisers will get their message out to the people who care.

Thoughts?

Technorati Tags: RSS, Yahoo

If you don’t know the ending to that line, then you’re beyond my help. For more Gumpishness, check out Jim Turner’s funny and insightful post with great blogosphere advice in Gump-talk.

Technorati Tags: Jim Turner, Forrest Gump

Not to sound like a hanger-on or a fangirl, but I really like the Scobles. They always seem to be laughing about something and having a general good time. That’s why I like watching their video podcast. When you’re reading a blog, it doesn’t really matter whether you like the blogger or not. But on a video segment, personality matters so much more.

Two of my favorite recent ScobleShow segments are Maryam’s interview with BBS speaker Liz Lawley and Robert getting a demo of enterprise social software Blogtronix from CEO Vasil Mladjov.

Technorati Tags: Liz Lawley, Maryam Scoble, Robert Scoble, Vasil Mladjov, Blogtronix, Social software, BBS06

I googled Jeremiah Owyang this morning, only to discover that his old blogspot blog still comes up first in the Google search results. It only took me one extra click to find his new, self-hosted blog, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

But then I remembered a weird problem in Google with fellow PodTech geek Robert Scoble’s blog. A quick search for Robert still brings up his ancient blog rather than his current one.

Now, I know this is nothing new. But it’s telling that more than a year after Scoble’s move from weblogs.om to wordpress.com, Google can’t bring up the most relevant result first. Inbound links are a great measure of influence and relevance, but it’s obvious that Google’s special sauce needs some further adjustments. Perhaps recency of inbound links could be weighted more heavily towards current relevance.

PS: Jeremiah, break a leg on your first day at PodTech. I know Silicon Valley isn’t Hollywood, but close enough ;-).

Technorati Tags: search engine optimization, robert scoble, jeremiah owyang, google, inbound links, relevance

Jeremiah Owyang has an interesting post about the possibility of an enterprise workflow software like Sharepoint melding with an enterprise-level blogging program.

I’ve recently been made aware of some of the remarkable features of one enterprise blogging program: Blogtronix. Granted, my experience with other enterprise-level systems is limited, but I was very impressed with what Blogtronix had to offer, particularly in terms of content analysis tools. If Microsoft wanted to integrate Sharepoint with the best of enterprise blogging, it would do well to consider what Blogtronix has to offer.

Just in case you’re totally confused by the title of this post, it’s an analogy, like the ones on the SAT. Remember those?

Technorati Tags: enterprise blogging, blogtronix, sharepoint, jeremiah owyang

I’ve never been a big fan of MySpace. The interface is counterintuitive, the flashing ads are an eyesore and the code is a mess. The news that the site is over the proverbial hill doesn’t come as any shock.

Social networks are very helpful for people that want to reach hip, tech-savvy young folks. But eventually, the walled-garden model will fall by the wayside entirely. In its place will be a set of easy-to-install widgets that attach to a server like add-ons attach to Firefox. These widgets will allow folks to blog, share and tag photos, respond to messages, generate feeds, network personally and professionally, or whatever else they want to do. Social networks as we know them will meld seamlessly with the other functions of the Web.

So where does that leave musicians, record labels, clubs and other organizations that want to use MySpace, Facebook and other social networks to promote themselves? Back at square one: hosting their own blog.

I couldn’t agree more with Flick of Puddlegum when he writes, “I’d rather focus my energies developing my own traffic than nursing off of a corporate monster.” Organizations should build out their own websites, host their own blogs and make social networks an offshoot. Building your own hub of information about yourself is always a better solution than scattering your information to the winds and hoping that your fan base will continue to frequent whichever site you’ve spent the most time and energy building a presence on.

Via Digg.

Technorati Tags: MySpace, Facebook, social networks, widgets, blogs

I’ve been told that I’m a workaholic. I’ll go in on a Sunday afternoon if it’s required. I’ll even meet up with Steve the day after Thanksgiving for some pre-CES planning. But I will absolutely, under no circumstances, check my RSS reader or post to any blogs (except for maybe, TeresaCentric) on Thanksgiving Day. There’s too much cooking to be done and football to be watched.

I will, however, be using this weekend to enjoy two bloggy books that I’ve had hanging around for a while now. One is John Battelle’s The Search about how search has revolutionized business and culture. I’ll also be thumbing through Maria Langer’s Wordpress 2, because I’ve been told that it’s a very comprehensive guide to anything I’d ever want to know about my favorite blogging platform.

So that’s it! Happy Turkey Day, kids. Don’t eat too much stuffing and pass out on the floor in a food coma like my Uncle Mike.

Technorati Tags: The Search, John Battelle, Maria Langer, Wordpress 2, Thanksgiving, Bloggy Books

The unthinkable has happened. Jeff Jarvis sent some love Dell’s way. “What’s so nice about it is that they take the time to read the blogs and get to know the customer’s needs there so they’re ahead of the game when they make contact,” he wrote.

If Dell can turn their reputation around like this using a blog, any company can do it.

Technorati Tags: Dell, Jeff Jarvis

Wordpress theme developer Derek Punsalan recently came up with the incredibly cool idea of developing a WordPress template that is automatically optimized for top search engine performance.

I’m going to download it and play with it a bit. I want to see whether the design is easy to control.

Technorati Tags: Wordpress, Themes

Automattic, the company that administers Wordpress.com, has launched a Wordpress enterprise-level blogging platform.

ReadWriteWeb sums it up pretty well:

It’s pretty plain that Automattic is taking on SixApart with both the Enterprise
Edition and the continued growth and expansion of wordpress.com. Right now SixApart has
the lead in marketing and probably resources, but Wordpress is a strong innovator and has
an open source platform to attract developers. This little battle is far from over and
it’ll be interesting to watch it unfold!

There are a lot of fantastic blogging platforms out there, each with their inherent strengths. I like Wordpress for its flexibility. It’s unbelievably easy to design a very attractive, original blog just by making CSS and PHP tweaks to existing templates, which are available in a number of repositories.

Personally, Wordpress is my favorite system to work with. But I recognize that there are inherent advantages and disadvantages with every blogging platform. I’m eager to get my hands on a copy of their enterprise software to see what can be done with it and what its limitations are.

Technorati Tags: Wordpress, Wordpress Enterprise, Matt Mullenweg, Automattic, Wordpress.com

For those of you trying to convince your boss that there’s a significant upside to engaging the blogosphere, here are some additional tools.

Kevin O’Keefe lists a few of Charline Li’s many resources for determining blogosphere ROI.

I particularly liked Business Review Online’s formulas for calculating the value of a blog based on either ad revenue or lead generation.

Technorati Tags: Business Blog, ROI, Charline Li, Kevin O’Keefe, Lexblog

This automated inventory checker looks for the Wii at various retailers nationwide and lets users know where and when they can pick up the coveted console. The coolest part is the RSS feed.

This is good for Nintendo because, well, it gets more people to buy the Wii sooner. It’s also potentially good for RSS because even people who have never heard of an RSS reader before–like parents whose lucky children are getting a Wii as an early Christmas present–will start using RSS for the sole purpose of beating out all the other moms and dads.

Technorati Tags: Nintendo, Wii, RSS, WiiFinder

I must have been asleep at the wheel on Friday (I blame my new asthma meds) to have missed this. Our keynoter leaves his job and I’m not paying attention. Jeez!

Calacanis’ resignation comes on the heels of Time Warner naming Randy Falco to replace Jonathan Miller as CEO of AOL.

Calacanis says he hasn’t planned his next move yet, but according to his beta Calacaniscast, he’s received tons of job offers already.

It will be interesting to see where he lands.

Technorati Tags: Jason Calacanis, AOL, Jonathan Miller, Randy Falco

While doing some research on bloggers and CES, I came across this Blu-Ray site. It looks like a blog, but it doesn’t act like a blog. I can’t find categories, permalinks, or an RSS feed. And don’t even ask me about the code. But that three column layout sure looks familiar…

Why didn’t these folks just download WordPress and build themselves a nice, pretty free blog? I don’t get it.

Technorati Tags: CES, Blu-Ray, wordpress

I was pleased to see yesterday that Gayle Moss–whose organization Press Display sponsored our recent conference–has started a blog for her company.

Moss recently posted about the bloggers that have been using PressDisplay–which makes millions of newspaper articles available to its users–and asked them for their input about how to make the product even better. That was a good move! It’s become respected wisdom that the best way to engage with bloggers about your product is not to pitch them, but rather to ask for input. This will hopefully lead to an even better product, in addition to the marketing benefits that blogger engagement provides.

The only problem I noted with this blog is that it’s hosted at Wordpress.com instead of on PressDisplay’s website. Hosting blogs on your own server means that you’re the only person in control of your information. After the recent flap over Wordpress’ hosting and many of the other external hosting solutions out there, it’s become apparent that hosting your business blog on your own server is the best choice.

Hosting a blog anywhere but on your company’s website also presents some SEO downsides. If your company is going to blog, shouldn’t your website get direct benefit from each inbound link you get? I would certainly hope so.

Technorati Tags: Press Display, Wordpress.com, hosting

Jeremiah Owyang (newly of PodTech) e-mailed me today and made me aware of this e-mail he had received.

Edelman, which was recently embroiled in a blogosphere scandal, set up a pro Wal-Mart organization Working Families for Wal-Mart. The organization’s website uses blogging architecture. It was recently revealed that all the content on that site is written by Edelman staffers.

Edelman covered a lot of their bases, but it looks like they forgot a crucial step: reserving the domain most closely associated with their organization. Now the anti Wal-Mart group Wal-Mart Watch has regitered the domain workingfamiliesforwalmart.com and has set up a spoof website there.

There’s a stereotype in the blogosphere that whenever people sit around getting great ideas, the first person to register the domain wins. The same is true here. Anytime you’re doing anything on the Web, it’s a good idea to register any and all domains that are even closely related to the project you’re working on.

Technorati Tags: edelman, wal_mart, working_families_for_wal_mart, jeremiah_owyang

Since we launched our first blogger gathering back in 2004, we’ve not only had to assess blogger influence metrics for our own events, but for several other companies as well. We recently began assisting the Consumer Electronics Association in their efforts to insure that the best aligned bloggers get in as “press” to their January 2007 CES expo in Las Vegas.

While there is no “blogger” checkbox in the 2007 CES application form, bloggers who apply as press and supply appropriate permalinks to “articles” are being routed to us for evaluation. While it’s still early in the process, we’ve processed several dozen blogger requests and are pleased to report that CEA is very happy with the results of our research.

We know from our conferences and consulting that PR firms worldwide are working hard to cultivate and prioritize bloggers for their clients, so let me share the approach we are taking.

In a nutshell, we are looking for individuals that a typical CES exhibitor would want to have come to their booth. The ultimate blog(ger) would have the following attributes:

a) Lots of eyeballs: A highly trafficked blog

b) Lots of influence: Inbound links, bookmarks, and subscribers aplenty

c) Lots of posts: 1 or more posts daily over a significant period

d) A “real” blog: RSS feeds, Permalinks, compliant code, etc.

e) Highly topical content: a blog or writer who mostly/exclusively writes about the kind of products being displayed at CES.

f) Other intangible assets: Passion and/or significant expertise etc.

Luckily we have automated most of the data gathering required to capture and analyze the two dozen plus metrics that give us the full picture of a blog(ger.)

Consider Engadget or Gizmodo. They have all 6 attributes. Most “A listers” have 3 or 4 (what they lack in topicality, they make up for it in other areas.) Notice how a passionate, knowledgeable newbie will be accepted — we’ve approved promising bloggers with a PageRank of zero and a non-existent Alexa ranking.

After hosting our own events and discussing “influence” metrics at length with Robert Scoble, Mary Hodder, Jeremy Pepper and many other gurus, we’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t afford to ignore those up-and coming “A”, “B”, or even “C” listers. Topicality and passion are critical and can transcend page views. Many PR firms don’t understand this yet.

More detail on this subject to come. If you are a blogger who is headed to CES, please let us know, as we plan to host a party for bloggers at the show. Just email steve AT blogbusinesssummit DOT com. We’ll be mailing all of our conference speakers and attendees as soon as we have booked the venue.

Technorati Tags: CES, consumer electronics show, Jeremy Pepper, PR, Jeremy Pepper, Robert Scoble, Mary Hodder, vegas

I’m not going to get into whether Wordpress.com is right or wrong to take drastic steps to curb commercial content on their hosted service. It’s their right to exercise any terms of service they want. And that’s a problem for business bloggers.

When Steve was researching the book, he looked into every single hosted service out there. Guess what? They all reserve the right to shut down your blog any time they want for any reason at all.

I think it should be business blogging tip #1: host your own blog!

I had the privilege of meeting Danah Boyd at this year’s BlogHer. I always enjoy reading the results of her efforts to apply her enormous brainpower to the world of social networking. Today, she posted about the marketers who have recently been using her comment section as an SEO tool. “Dear online marketers,” she wrote, “I am not humored that you wish to use my blog to up your pagerank. I’m not stupid. It’s obvious you’re posting pithy comments debasing competitors on lots of highly trafficked entries with your URL and the search terms you wish to associate with your company.”

Danah has every right to be irritated at this behavior. I spend about an hour each week deleting comments like this from our spam trap. It puts me in a bad mood every single time.

Don’t get me wrong, as a business blogger, I recognize that comments on other blogs are a big part of the marketing equation. But there is a thin line between using other people’s comments as a marketing tool and becoming an out-and-out spammer. If you want to avoid having bloggers associate your company with the scum of the Web, then you need to think a little more organically.

Genuine participation in the conversation means interacting in a thoughtful, relevant and timely way with other bloggers that share your interests. It’s the only way to engage in SEO without deeply pissing off the bloggers. You have to actually show some enthusiasm for the conversation and the SEO will follow organically.

There are two kinds of SEO practices in the blogosphere, those that require interaction with others and those that do not. Non-interactional tactics include making sure your code is clean and creatively integrating your target search terms into the headlines of your posts. Those are the kinds of things you can do with your goal of more search engine traffic in mind.

But when you’re interacting with other bloggers, you need to be a little less goal-oriented. Instead of keeping your eye on the SEO prize, focus on having an interesting conversation about a passion you share. The inbound links and search engine love will naturally follow at least some of the time. This isn’t a system you can game. It has nothing to do with “link exchanges” to fool search engines. It’s about developing personal relationships.

Amy Tenderich is a communications professional with diabetes. Her blog, Diabetes Mine aims to be “a gold mine of straight talk and encouragement for people living with diabetes.”

There are many different kinds of communities on the Web. There are those who are brought together by gender, or sexual orientation, by age or ethnicity or level of eduction. There are groups for people with an interest in knitting, politics, or Star Trek. And there are groups for people who are coping with difficult situations: reproductive challenges, HIV/AIDS, depression, obesity, and diabetes, to name a few.

And just as there are communities for every conceivable facet of the human condition, there are companies that want to reach those communities. It’s a facet of blogger outreach that I had never considered before until I read Amy’s very thoughtful post about blogger outreach to communities with these difficult conditions. She has some excellent advice for pharmaceuticals companies, hospitals, treatment centers, and any other businesses that want to reach out.

She’s started a very interesting conversation, which I’m eagerly following. I highly recommend that you check it out.