Blogging

September 23, 2008

A Report on Blogging

The 2008 State of the Blogosphere is being released in parts and makes for some darn fine reading. The five parts are being published one a day through the end of the week. Today is Tuesday so that means we've seen two: Who are the Bloggers and The What and The Why of Blogging.

Here's what I've learned so far:

• Blogging is addictive: Half of bloggers are on their second blog, and 59 percent have been blogging for more than two years.
• Two-thirds of bloggers are male. Almost half have attended graduate school and 44 percent are parents. (I love that I don't fit into any of those categories.)
• There are almost one million new blog posts created every day. We have officially gone mainstream!
• The preferred blogging style is sincere, conversational, expert and humorous. (check, check, check and check! Or at least I hope that last one is a check...)
• The mean annual revenue is $6,000 with $75K+ in revenue for those with 100,000 or more unique visitors per month.

Wait, let me re-read that last one...

Okay, what nice drugs are these people on? And how can I get some?

I'm sorry, but the only people making $75,000 a year for their blogging efforts are the royal blogging family and those who earn at least $74,999 from their "real job". Sure, there are probably a few blogs out there pulling that much revenue in, but also they're bringing in way more uniques than 100,000. Add some more zeros to that number. Or maybe I'm wrong and I need to get blogging for myself and start tricking people into reading and clicking on things. I know, that's what I'll do in New York.

One of the most interesting stats was that despite going mainstream, blogging is slowing down. Last year, there were 1.5 million new blog posts published every day, whereas this year there's only about 900,000. Is that all surprising? No, it's not. Have you met FriendFeed and Twitter? They're stealing your blog posts. They let you get out your quick thoughts and observations with zero overhead.

For me, this was no more evident than around 11:30am yesterday when I let the world know of my plans to revisit my roots on the East Coast. A year ago, that news would have been blogged. It would have hit TechMeme. The conversation would have been spread via the tech blogosphere. But that's not how it went down yesterday. The news of my leaving spread rapidly and instantaneously, through Twitter. That's where people are going to share quick information, that's where they're going to get the latest news, and that's where they're going to find the conversation -- Twitter and FriendFeed.

Twitter and FriendFeed are the new blogs. Old blogs are the new mainstream media. It's an awesome world we live in.

I'm probably just being a dork, but I find it exciting. I love that people are creating platforms like Twitter that allow people to communicate so easily and so quickly. Before you had to go through the arduous task of calling someone or writing these things called "letters" to share your story. Then you had to construct a blog post of a couple hundred words. Now you can just go to Twitter and express your anguish that Chuck from Gossip Girl is a royal jerk and that you'd like to back over him with your Aveo. Slowly. And then run over him. Technology is amazing.

Blogging may be "slowing", but the conversation is growing faster than ever. And that's what we should be watching. Can't wait to see what we learn tomorrow!

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/23/08 at 12:32 PM | Comments (3)
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September 15, 2008

8 Questions for BlogWorld Founder Rick Calvert

The second-ever BlogWorldExpo is getting ready to take place in Las Vegas this weekend and it's going to be amazing!

If you were lucky enough to make the debut show last year, you know how much fun and how successful the entire event was. In fact, BlogWorldExpo 2008 is the conference I've been most looking forward all year - which is why I'm really, really bummed I suddenly can't go (darn last minute life events)! To help soften my loss, I conned BlogWorldExpo founder Rick Calvert into chatting with me a bit so I could get a look at what this year's show has in store. I think I may print this interview out later and sleep with it under my pillow. Then I can have BlogWorld dreams. And it'll be almost as good as being there!

1. Hi, Rick! Thanks for being a good sport and letting me ask you a few questions. Rumor has it this year's BlogWorldExpo will be considerably larger than last year's - congrats on all the success. What did you learn last year that you hope will help make this year's show an even bigger hit?

That getting 2,000 bloggers together is kind of like herding cats? =p Seriously, we learned that this is a whole lot of fun and that the blogosphere needs an event like this. We told ourselves we would have fewer speakers this year but it didn't work out that way. We had 130 speakers last year; this year there are over 200!

2. Wow! Okay, I'm going to step backwards here, but how did BlogWorldExpo come about? What was the inspiration behind the show?

The very short version is I wanted to go to an event that helped me be a better blogger, increase my audience, and monetize my content. I wanted to go to "the blogging tradeshow" and when I realized there wasn't any such thing, we started it.

3. Tell me a bit about the Executive & Entrepreneur Conference you guys hold. Who is that geared towards?

The E&E conference as we call it (I still hate the name btw but we haven't come up with anything better yet) is geared towards corporate executives and business owners who want to understand the blogosphere and social media. Either to create their own content, or just how to engage bloggers, advertise on blogs, or pitch ideas to bloggers without pissing them off. They need to understand we are not old media and we are interested in genuine value added content for our blogs and our communities. We are not interested in spewing PR speak on behalf of businesses, the way old media sometimes does. That should rile a few folks up =p.

4. I had the chance to look at the schedule and it's amazing how many different niches you're able to cover in one show. Is it a struggle to balance so many different kinds of content into on show?

Yes! But I love it. We want more niches. The blogosphere is made up of millions of different vertical communities, most of which are completely unaware of each other. By getting all these diverse bloggers together at the same time, we help each other grow, and grown the medium that we are all so passionate about.

5. If you had to guess, do you think most attendees are coming to learn tips for improving their blog content or are they looking for ways to monetize and make money?

Both. The monetization track is by far the most popular track in the show but most bloggers don't start blogging to make money. They start blogging because they are passionate about something, sports, politics, technology, quilting, whatever. As the mature as a blogger, build an audience and start to realize the power of new media, they go through this evolutionary process. Finally one day you say to yourself "hey I have a pretty big group of people reading my blog, this is crazy but I might actually make money from my hobby!?". That's what happened to me, and I have heard at least 1,000 other people tell various versions of that story. The most critical thing is that the passion comes first. If you exchange your passion for dollars, you have sold out and chances are you are going to fail.

6. What are you most looking forward to about the show? Any of the sessions or the events that really stick out for you?

Honestly I am like a little kid at Disneyland during BlogWorld. I get to meet all of my blogging heroes and so many of my blogging friends. My biggest regret is not being able to sit in more of the sessions as I am busy running the show. It's kind of ironic that that was the whole purpose of starting the event and I don't get to see much of the content. But, yes, I can't wait to meet Steve Rubel, Mike Shinoda, Tim Ferris, I can't wait to meet Tish Grier in person and see lots of folks that have become friends over the last year like Wendy Piersall, Jeremy Wright, Laura Fitton, Geekmommy, and about 1000 others.

7. I'm so jealous! I've been to a lot different trade shows for different industries but the blogging shows are always so much warmer than your average conference. What do you think it is about blogging that bridges industries so widely and connects people?

We love this thing whatever you want to call it, and we are all social people. We love talking, writing, arguing about all things blogging, and we have built these relationships via the Web and this for many of us our one chance during the year to meet each other in person and hang out.

8. Last year the Pajama Party at the Hard Rock Hotel was amazing and gave me a great excuse to break out some over-the-knee toe socks! Have any afterhours events planned to top it?

Lots of events this year, I don't know if we will top that. We have the E&E reception Friday night at the convention center, then the TechSet Party at Bare inside the Mirage Hotel. Saturday night is the opening party, then we have a reception on the tradeshow floor Sunday afternoon.

Sounds like it's going to be an amazing time, Rick, thanks for being a good sport and helping me get my BlogWorld fix on. Your excitement for the event is certainly contagious.

There's still time to register for the event (barely!), so if you don't want to miss out on the fun, head over to the BlogWorldExpo site and register. You won't be disappointed.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/15/08 at 4:16 PM | Comments (2)
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September 10, 2008

Do You Miss The Old Days of Blogging?

Louis Gray had a post yesterday about blogs' never-ending battle of page views vs conversation and, to be honest, it made me a tad emo. He talks about his perfect world where the best bloggers with the best content get the most attention, and how that's not even close to how it exists today. Instead, Bloggers have been forced to fight for page views instead of focusing on what blogging used to be based on - sparking conversation and debate. It's like the old way of blogging died as soon as folks realized they could monetize it. Bah money.

I've often wondered if you can really do both equally well - balance the sky-rocketing page views while also sparking genuine conversation in a single post. Obviously, you can. It's humanly possible. But I think it's definitely the exception.

The Bruce Clay, Inc. blog gets a moderate amount of traffic. We go hot on Sphinn, stuff makes it big on Reddit, we're Stumbled, content is bookmarked, etc. We're there. We get those page views. However, nine times out of ten those aren't the posts I'm proud of. It happens without fail and often makes me laugh - the post that I write in five minutes without much thought is always the one to get attention. I spend five minutes of my time breaking up with Ask.com and the post is Sphunn, Stumbled and bookmarked. I write a quick rant about Google's new indexing of Flash (that I'm now genuinely embarrassed of) and it goes popular on Reddit and sends about 10 gazillion new visitors into the site so they can leave really, really intelligent comments. Meanwhile, the posts that I'm personally proud of, the posts where I think I've brought up something worth discussing and where a conversation has brewed go nowhere in social media, giving them considerably less page views and allowing them to fade off into obscurity.

And that's totally fine with me. In fact, it's become a game. I can almost predict the popularity of a post by the time I spent writing it. If I spent 10 minutes it has a chance to go hot on Sphinn. If I spend 40, it doesn't. But that's okay, because I'd rather write something I'm proud of and have it go nowhere, then chase page views. We're not social media whores around here. We never have been.

But I wonder how other blogs work and what'd they rather have. If they'd rather have the conversation or the page views. Now, I'm not talking about folks who make a living from their blog;, obviously they're chasing page views and ad clicks. I'm talking about the bloggers out there like me. The bloggers who write for a company or for themselves where they're not directly making money off their blog and where their living isn't based on how many people click through. What are they interested in?

Taking a look at some of what gets covered in the blogosphere (and not just in SEO), I see a lot of blogs chasing page views. Linking to certain stories so they'll show up in TechMeme. Being jerks online or pretending to be offended by what someone else said so they can make a stink and get attention. It's sad, but if you're going for page views, it works!

Personally, I'd rather spark a good conversation. In his post, Louis Gray wrote that page views are only more important than conversation if you let them. I'd take some good community debate over a flood of Reddit or Digg visitors any day.

People started blogging because they wanted to spur a conversation, to share ideas and insight, and to learn new things. If that's changed and if page views are today more important than conversation...I'm sorry but that sucks. That's not a blog I want to write or a blog I want to read.

I don't know how many page views Louis' post got. I know it didn't get a lot of TechMeme attention (at least not that I saw), but I do know that it has sparked a good conversation, and to me that's more important. What's most important on your blog: Page views or generating a good story? Do you quietly miss the days before Google AdWords, when you could just blog without having to be a slave to the almighty page view? When you didn't have to think up a crafty new Reddit-friendly blog title and when you could instead focus on engaging your reader? Let it out; it's okay. This is a safe place for discussion. :)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 09/10/08 at 3:14 PM | Comments (2)
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August 18, 2008

Igniting Viral Campaigns

This is going to be a great panel. How do I know? Look at the line up: Andrew Goodman is moderating this session with speakers Jennifer Laycock (Search Engine Guide), Fionn Downhill (Elixir Interactive), Justilien Gaspard (Justilien.com) and Chris Winfield (10e20, LLC).

Let's play ball.

Andrew starts us off with a little explanation of what viral is. There's a spectrum, on one hand there's people sharing your stuff on the other there's Facebook apps.

Chris Winfield starts off by asking who likes speakers who ask you to raise your hands. Hee.

What is viral marketing? It's the spread of information quickly. Word of mouth marketing online supercharged. The Internet allows things to really really move quickly. What's social media? In short, it's a giant conversation online.

Blogs are a main component of conversation online. Technorati isn't the best anymore but you can still look there to see who is in your niche. Blogs are a good place to get your message out because it allows conversation and commenting and linking.

Social Networking-- Most people think that social networking is social media. Facebook and mySpace obviously but also niche sites like myartspace.com.

Online video--It's more than just uploading something and telling your friends and family about it. You upload it, there's comments on it, you can spread your message that way.

Forums and Groups -- Discussion takes place among the members about various topics. There are really strong and passionate communities. Check out rankings.big-boards.com to see who are the really passionate communities in your niche. Forums are really powerful.

Social news and bookmarking sites -- Delicious, Stumbleupon, Digg. It's about allowing people to see what you're interested in and sharing with the Internet. There's also a lot of niche social sites with lower barriers to entry than Digg.

How do social news sites help? It's not just the traffic from Digg itself. It's from all the other people that READ Digg. Bloggers search through social news sites to find things and then they spread the message as well. People bookmark it on social bookmarking sites. People pass it through IM and email. It filters down and brings in people who don't know anything about you.

What is "good" content in terms of social media?

• Lists! -- 10 Commandments
• How To's -- Martha Stewart perfected it. How to tip like a gentleman (Chris says he gets stuff like that sent to him by his parents. Hee!)
• Surveys -- The 25 best colleges
• Something really comprehensive: Anything that is going to be a really great resource long term.
• Strong opinions and controversy: Dangerous because it might not go viral in the way that you want to.
• Best ofs: You're doing the work for them.
• Calculators: Life expectancy calculators, etc
• Video: Have the WOW factor (Will it Blend?)
• Widgets: Make it easy, make it cool.
• Quizzes and Badges: Give them something that they're going to want to put on their site and that other people are going to be interested in too.

Have clear goals and objectives

Promote GREAT content.

Contribute to the communities. Give back to the people who are giving you attention

Good hosting. Don't let Digg crash your site.

That's it for Chris. Lots of good info there.

Justilien Gaspard is up next. Can you say best name in search marketing?

He's going to be talking about viral marketing through three topics.

• People of influence
• Engaging customers
• Promoting buzz

Objectives:

• Branding
• Product launch
• Customer acquisition
• Link marketing

People of influence:

• Who influences the space?
• Who gets the attention?
• Where do people get their news?

You could launch and then contact these people of influence and just hope they actually read your email. OR you could be more proactive. Develop relationships with these people, build teams, collaborate with them. If you've shown them value before you're more likely to get a good response when you need something later.

Sources of promotion:

• Cartoonists -- promotion for them and promotion for you
• Bloggers -- use your regular blogger or find someone to talk about your product. Make it worth their while. Don't just focus on the A-list bloggers. Go niche and find the influencers there. Buy advertising space on a blog and use that to start a conversation.
• Contests -- Run a contest internally or as for guest judges from the industry.
• Interviews -- Experts, bloggers, journalists, CEOs, VPs. Find out from the who will promote them as well to increase reach.
• Research: White papers, surveys, reports.

Find brand advocates and develop a relationship with them. You can offer them incentives like discounts. It can be difficult to recruit influencers but use your contacts and see if you can get connections through them.

Hire the experts as consultants and get them to do promotions through their people.

Customer promotional strategies: Focus on outgoing communications, customer service resps, brick and mortar locations should do cross promotions. Offer promotions to customers who blog about you.

Spread the buzz: Flyers, newsletters, ads.

Fionn Downhill is up next. She has a column on Search Engine Watch.

Why do viral? 78 percent of respondents "trust recommendations from consumers" which is 15 percent HIGHER than the next most reputable source, newpapers.

How powerful is it? Starbucks stock dips coincided with an increase of blog activity. People are talking about things and this is where the conversation is having. 7 out of 10 americans use the Internet for news. TV news is losing 1 million viewers per year and newspaper circulation is down about 10 percent since 2001.

Journalists are looking online for new sources too.

Budgets: Web 2.0 doesn't cost a fortune. It takes time and a strategic approach. Plan for success. You can't just throw money at it. Look at Walmart.

Elements of success:

• Free things are good. Whitepapers, products or services
• Provides for effortless transfer to others
• Scales easily from small to very large -- don't let your server crash. Use YouTube if your video is going to crash your site.
• Exploits common motivation and behaviors
• Utilizes existing communication networks
• Takes advantage of others' resources.

"You cannot control viral marketing but you can enable it."

TIP: Put an RSS feed on your site.

If you're going to start a blog, have a strategy for it. Don't just be a me too blog.

How do you enable your content?
Forward to a friend, Bookmarks, RSS (there were more but I missed it)
Chicklets

YouTube:

• Set up your own branded channel
• Create simple videos. Fun and quirky.
• Tell your clients, your friends.
• Optimize your channel
• Link from your Web site
• Flip Video camera -- makes videos quick and easy. Amateur videos do best.

You really can do this. [shows her 10 year old daughter's YouTube channel]

TubeMogul will distribute your video for you. It's free and will provide reports about where it is and what traffic it's getting.

You have to measure your success. RSS/Newsletter subscribers, Social bookmakring, comments to the blog, LINKS to your site, what blogs and forums are talking about you, monitoring referring links, Google alerts. Measure measure measure.

Jennifer Laycock of the very best blog with a puppy avatar ever, Search Engine Guide, is up next.

She's going to teach us how to do this ourselves. The biggest challenge isn't just "what it is and what are the tools" it's "what the heck are we doing?" and "what's it going to DO for me". It's not just Coke and Mentos, it's Will it blend. One will sell the product, the other won't.

• Know Thy Customer: Deliver the goods
• Thou Shalt be Remarkable: This isn't the same old thing. You need to have an amazing marketing message. Zappos is a great example. Look up I heart Zappos to see how their focus on AMAZING customer service paid off.
• Thou Shalt Try, Try Again: Most viral efforts don't take off. You'll have to do it more than once. Not every attempt is a home run but you'll learn something every time.

Brainstorming the idea: [Jennifer is going to go through a huge number of brainstorming ideas. For the whole rubric, you can email her to get the pdf. I'll cover what I can.]

What do customers love about you? What do customers not like about you? What is your biggest challenge? What sparks online conversation?

Can you do something outrageous? Can you do something hilarious (or scary)? Do you have a holiday connection? [Look at traffic spikes and drops to see what makes people talk] Can you make the "mostest" something?

What do you wish people said about you? Can you create or embrace controversy (dangerous!)? Do you have or can you connect to an underdog or news story?

What types of sites send the best visitors to your site? What motivates your customer base? Knowing the customer is key.

To create your campaign: look at your capabilities. Know if you can do videos, Flash games, widgets. Do you have a writer, researcher, humorist? Do you have an email list? Can you partner with a non-profit? Can you get your product into the hands of influencers?

Know your campaign costs: Do you know your break even point on giveaways or discounts? Can you give away something or free and if so how many?

Launching the campaign: Can you reseach and build a pitch list? Do you have a blog of your own? Take inventory of what your channels are and where you need to be. What's going to be appropriate.

The key point is establishing relationships.

What do when pitching: Read at least five posts on their site. Comment on one or two existing posts (dig to older ones if you can). Write at least a couple sentences that are unique to the person you're pitching. Have at least sone toher person read the meail before you send it. Contact the blogger to share feedback a few weeks before you pitch. Keep track of who you've pitched.

MUST Dos:

• Make sure you pitch BY NAME (No "dear webmaster")
• Make sure you have the RIGHT ADDRESS (No "webmaster@")
• Send individual emails (no mass mailings)
• Be completely TRANSPARENT (let them know who you work for)
• SPELL CHECK your message
• Familiarize yourself with their readers
• Ask yourself if your message is RELEVANT to their readers
• Check to see if they have a policy about accepting pitches
• If you pitch multiple writers on the same site, let them know.

Again, to get the whole checklists, email Jennifer at Search Engine Guide.

Q&A

What are the best ways to keep the viral campaign localized?

Jennifer: Is that a problem? I guess you don't want to get calls from all over the country but I wouldn't worry about it.
Chris: That would be a good problem to have.
Fionn: I wouldn't worry about it either. Get into the local engines first though but I still wouldn't worry about it.
Justilien: Open a lead generation company and sell it to the people in local areas that they're calling from.

What's the difference between viral marketing and buzz marketing? Will it Blend is buzz but Add This is viral to me.

Chris: Buzz and viral can mean the same thing a lot of times. Blendtec could do a little widget to link back but they want to sell blenders. You have to know what your objective is. What will people use and link back to you and buy your stuff. That's the first question "how do you make money?"
Jennifer: Viral doesn't have to be Subservient Chicken. It just needs to spread by word of mouth to the people you want to reach to be viral.
Fionn: For me, getting a call from the Washington Post was the huge success. For Office Max it was the brand promotion from the Elves.
Justilien: Go into forums, blogs, etc and find out what the problem is in your industry and see if you can solve it.
Andrew: Some things like hotmail and instant messengers are inherently viral but the strict definition doesn't help much. But what you want is the cash.

Do you have any ideas of a viral marketing for a dating site for college students internationally?

Chris: Social news sites exist in practically every language. That's a great way to get your message out there. Get someone to translate the content and put it out.
Fionn: Don't college students do just fine dating without any help? [HEE!] Facebook is good in Europe, MySpace not so much.

What do you do if your controversy campaign goes bad?

Chris: Be prepared. Understand that you're going to get heat and be ready. Lay out what you're doing and why you're doing something. Be upfront and honest. You can turn it around by giving your reasoning sometimes.
Jennifer: If you're a larger company you probably have a PR company. If you're a small company, find the most levelheaded person you know who isn't involved with your company and go over your response with them. You need to be calm and not get emotional about it. Be honest and be truthful and if you screwed up, ADMIT IT. That's the fastest way to turn it around.
Fionn: If you want to see what not responding in time with honesty with do, look at Dell. Bloggers are passionate.
Andrew: Have an internal filter. For example: involving animals could get you in trouble. [Seriously, some people think everything is animal cruelty. Have you seen the commenters at CuteOverload?]

Posted by Susan Esparza on 08/18/08 at 12:35 PM | Comments (3)
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August 4, 2008

Teaching SEO that "Everyone Knows"

Editor's Note: Our guest blogging week continues! Next up is Carolyn Shelby reminding us of the need for getting back to basics. Everyone say hello! --Susan

I'm sitting down to write this guest post while TheLisa is on a much deserved vacation, and, of course, I'm waiting until the very last minute.

I blame my procrastination on writer's block. I hate-hate-hate the whole echo chamber thing, and I hate being a me-too-er. Blah, blah, blah, self-pity, blah, blah, whine, blah. You get the picture.

As I was wading through my thoughts and flailing about for a topic, I decided I needed some clarity. So I began with a clean sheet of paper and a fundamental question:

"In context of search, who am I?"

• I co-host SEO 101... so I discuss the fundamentals of SEO.
• I talk to newbies and the non-savvy and help them move along the
• learning curve.
• I explain the basics of SEO to non-search people.

I recently gave a talk on the basics of SEO, SEM and Social to group of about four dozen old school marketers. Of the nearly 50 people in attendance, less than a handful claimed to know what SEO was, and upon further inquiry it turned out what they thought and what it is were not the same thing. Their industries varied widely, and they were at varying levels in the corporate food chain, but the one thing they all had in common was their desire to understand SEO and SEM.

No one cared that I was going over things "everyone knows already", because they *didn't* already know.

These people cared that they were moving out of the realm of magic and into the realm of science. They cared that they were going to be able to go back to work in the morning and not feel lost when talking to the IT department about the Marketing department's needs for the company website.

I ended up speaking for 53 minutes and even then, there was a rush afterward to ask more questions and get more information. These people wanted to learn the basics. They were hungry for the fundamentals that "everyone already knows."

So it turns out that my inability to come up with suitable blog topics is a result worrying too much about making sure search people liked my writing and subsequently losing focus on my real audience. For me, my real audience is the neophyte. My audience is people who need to learn the basics, not the seasoned professionals.

Writing is like being a minister... do you win more souls when you preach to the converted or when you bring the Word to the unwashed masses?

So having had this little epiphany, does this mean I should never again preach to the choir? No, when I have something to share that is not echo-chambery or me-too-y and substantively contributes to the academic discourse; then it is perfectly (to continue with the religious analogy) good, right and salutary to write for the benefit of colleagues and peers.

So what's the moral of the story?

Understand and define your audience, and then focus on doing what's best for THEM.

Knowing and understanding your readers makes it easier to come up with useful topics (and helps prevent writer's block). In my case, circulating in non-search circles and situations helps me further understand my core audience, which in turn helps me refine my writing so I'm providing them with a better experience and better serving their needs.

Carolyn Shelby has been professionally developing Web sites and helping businesses integrate offline and online marketing since 1995. She is the co-host of SEO 101 on WebmasterRadio.fm and is the Director of Natural Search for Chicago-based BeFoundLocal.com

Posted by Guest Author on 08/ 4/08 at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)
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July 28, 2008

Can You Be A Corporate Blogger Without Losing Yourself?

One of the topics I discussed with my new BlogHer friends last weekend was the struggles that come with trying to maintain your own voice when you agree to blog for a corporation. Unless you're an all out corporate drone, there will inevitably come a time when you and your organization have a difference of opinion on some issues. Should corporate bloggers be allowed to express views that don't align with corporate thought or, as a corporate blogger, are you to follow company rhetoric at all costs?

I think there's definitely a sweet spot in there where bloggers need to learn how to support the company they're working for while still staying true to themselves. I'd like to think we do a pretty good job of it over here. I think people understand that I'm serious about search engine optimization ethics because I'm serious about it and not because Bruce Clay has its own Code of Ethics. I also think they know that if Bruce said something on a panel that I didn't agree with that I would ever so carefully debate the issue here on the blog . ;) There's a line that I think corporate bloggers have to walk.

Really, it's an issue of authenticity. Are you going to speak up for issues you believe in and gain your readers' trust or are you going to regurgitate corporate doctrine? I know that people don't come here for straight search engine optimization advice. If you wanted SEO advice, you'd be reading our search engine optimization methodology, which has more information than you could possible handle in one sitting. You're on the blog for real, genuine thought, so that's what we strive to give.

I've been blogging for Bruce Clay, Inc. for almost two and a half years (zomg!) and over that time a couple of truths have become clear. I've learned that the only way I can be successful blogging for a company is if (a) I believe in the company I work for and (b) the company believes in me. Luckily, both of these factors are met with my current gig. I get to write about important SEO issues that both I and the company I'm working for believe in.

But not everyone I spoke to at BlogHer was in that situation.

I think a lot of the reasoning behind why corporations are afraid to let bloggers speak out on topics they may not agree with is because they're afraid of portraying a fragmented voice. And while I get that, I think it's a completely outdated way to look at things. I think we're beyond the days of the "organizational stance" or "organization perspective". Sure, as a company, you may strive for a certain way of doing things, but you're blind if you can't admit that there's room for dissent. [Robert Scoble's entire Microsoft tenure was based on precisely the idea that you can be a dissenting individual and a corporate voice at the same time.--Susan] Organizations are made up of people and people are different. We see things in a different way, we respond to things differently, and we want different things. And there's nothing wrong with that. I think it's beneficial for companies to show that they're open to a diversity of views and opinions. I don't for a second think it makes the company weaker.

Obviously there's a line to be drawn. If you're Bruce Clay, Inc., you don't want a blogger advocating black hat search engine optimization because that violates the core of what you do. But I don't see the harm in talking about different tactics. Maybe I want to write a post about using Twitter for your social media campaign, something Bruce may not be totally sold on just yet. I know that I have the freedom to do that. And if my post is strong, I know Bruce is open-minded enough that I may sway him, or at least open up the door for him to come and chat with me about it.

There's no reason why you should have to leave your own personal voice and agenda at the door when you sign on to be a blogger for a large corporation. I don't think you can leave those things behind otherwise, what are you giving people?

It's tricky, this whole corporate blogging thing because at the end of the day it comes a balancing act of figuring out how to please your audience, your boss and yourself all at the same.

For me, it's really important that I'm able to represent Bruce Clay, Inc. while still holding on to who I am. I'm not going to argue something or not argue it because it may contradict some of what we believe. I think there's room for discussion in the search engine optimization industry. And while Bruce may respect that, I know that in some companies there are legal departments breathing down bloggers' necks monitoring what they write, pushing industry jargon down their throats to help sell a product. If that's the type of company you're working for, quit. Just get out. You're not going to be given the freedom to blog authentically. And without that, what's the point?

[It's a good lesson for corporations as well. If you aren't hiring people who believe the same things you believe, who want the same things you want--or who are, at least, looking in the same direction--what sort of hiring are you doing? Success comes from having people you trust to do the things that are going to make you successful. Hiring a blogger and not letting her be a real person is the fastest way to create an inauthentic experience for customers.--Susan] Amen.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 07/28/08 at 4:32 PM | Comments (8)
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July 23, 2008

Women Love the Michelin Man

As you know, I was at BlogHer last week. And another conference means another tote bag filled with goodies that you have to lug around. The BlogHer bag was like the typical SES schwag bag, only cooler and prettier and more useful. There were pens and shirts and books and DVDs and bottles of water and a magic 8-ball and a T-Mobile HotSpot card [which Lisa gifted to me! -Virginia] and stickers and lots of other neat stuff. One of the most random things I came across in that tote was the Michelin man tire gauge. Yes, a tire gauge. Given to a bunch of women. I was confused too. I even Twittered it:

It just seemed odd and out of place. I didn't get it. Until Saturday morning.

Early Saturday, before the Hybrid Media: How We Will All Work Together to Build a Converged-Media Future keynote, the audience was Michelin-ized by a female Michelin rep. She stood up and gave the audience a quick talk about some of the stuff Michelin was doing and how BlogHer and her team actually have a lot in common.

Here were some of the highlights:

• Michelin is providing more than 200 tons of carbon offsetting to make up for the environmental impact of everyone flying across the country to attend BlogHer.
• Michelin cares about your children's safety. They're dedicated to it.
• Michelin has just announced the new Latitude Tour tire designed to increase fuel-efficiency and save you money.
• Michelin wanted to be at BlogHer because they care about women. By using the tire gauge left in your tote bag, you can check your tires and increase fuel efficiency.

There was cheering when she was done. And when the cheering stopped, a video showing the Michelin Man's adorable trek to San Francisco was played. There were shots of him riding trolleys and posing with the founders of BlogHer. And then the Michelin Man himself made an appearance and ran through the crowd hugging ladies and posing for pictures.

There was more cheering. And Michelin Man groping.

The night before I may not have understood what Michelin was doing at BlogHer and questioned why they put some sort of funky tire pressure thingy into my bag. But sitting in that ballroom before the keynote, I totally got it. Well done, Michelin.

Michelin knows the spending power of women. They know the lengths people will go to keep their kids safe and to save money as gas prices go through the roof. Michelin crashed BlogHer and appealed to these needs. They had just made the marketing win of a lifetime by being smart enough to attend an event other big brands would have feared to go near, especially if you're a company selling tires.

I have to give Michelin credit for going after and winning over an audience that may not have been the obvious target. But they studied the women of BlogHer, found out what they were interested in (the environment, keeping their kids safe, etc.), used the tactics they knew would appeal to them, and launched a really powerful campaign. And the reaction in the blogosphere has been overwhelmingly positive. The entire thing was twittered, there are videos on YouTube of women squealing over their chance to meet the Michelin Man and bloggers are happy.

Over at Back in Skinny Jeans (an awesome blog, BTW), Stephanie Quilao writes:

Putting on my old marketing hat, the companies that need to get themselves in front of the BlogHer audience are the typically male messaged products which more and more women are buying themselves now like cars, tires, home improvement, insurance, and personal finance...Michelin was a big sponsor, and I'm telling you more women will be looking at their tires because hey, they are paying attention to our needs. I recently had to buy tires myself, and I didn't have a clue. But after talking to the Michelin folks, I'm definitely going to look at them next time I need tires.

That's powerful.

In all honestly, when it comes to my car, I don't know anything about it. I don't know how it runs. I don't know what I should be doing to make it more efficient. I just know that once a month I have to put gas in it (I live less than 2 miles from work. Go ahead, hate me) and that sometimes it needs an oil change.

It's important that you know your target audience and what you need to be doing to address their needs and keep them happy. But you also want to be thinking of ways to bring in outsiders. I am not the target audience for Michelin tires. But Michelin figured out a way to market to me in a way that was genuine and authentic. And it worked. For me, new tires now means Michelins.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 07/23/08 at 12:19 PM | Comments (2)
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July 22, 2008

SEO Headlines

Facebook Redesigns, Takes Focus Off Apps

Everyone's talking about the new Facebook redesign and it's not all good. It seems like Facebook has strayed away from what they originally promised and has instead taken on a new FriendFeed feel where all updates are combined into a single content stream. ReadWriteWeb seems to like it, personally, I don't. Maybe it's because I don't use FriendFeed so it all looks quite foreign and odd to me. It's also weird that they seem to be taking attention off the applications, hiding them behind an Applications tab. It will help make profiles less cluttered, but it seems like they're cutting off the lifeblood of their site.

Facebook's new design is slowly being rolled out to its 80 million users over the next few days. If you don't have the new design and you want it, you can use www.new.facebook.com to check it out. If you see it and don't like it, you may see a Back to Old Facebook link up top that will let you revert, at least for now.

Dealing With Blogger Bullies

In what could be seen as oddly timely, the Blog Herald had a post today about preparing yourself for blog bullies. If you find yourself among the group afraid to head to Sphinn in fear of what you may find lately, you may want to give it a read.

Blog Herald takes the stance that being mean is simply human nature and it's something you need to prepare for. People are going to write nasty things about you because they want traffic and they're not smart enough to get it on their own. Knowing this means you need to create a solid comment policy to block it out, realizing it's a ploy, putting yourself in the right mindset to deal with it and finally, knowing when to take the situation offline.

Blog bullies have always been around but we're definitely seeing more pointed, vicious attacks spur up lately in the SEO community. I don't know what's causing it, but it's sad and it needs to stop. Donna Fontenot spoke out, so has a reluctant Barry from Search Engine Roundtable. I'm not going to add to the discussion, but as Blog Herald points out, let's remember that we're all human and treat each other with respect. Also remember that being mean is human nature, so prepare for it.

Fun Finds

Instead of asking if grammar matters, Performancing takes a different approach and asks if the quality of your content directly correlates to a bloggers success. I think the answer here is absolutely yes, especially if you define "content quality" as readability, the ability to convey a message and to evoke a certain emotion. If you're unable to express yourself and your message,

Li Evans jumps into the comments over at Sphinn to let us know that there WERE male speakers at BlogHer. Take that, Michael Gray. ;)

Hjortur Smarason picks out 6 Common Mistakes Companies Make In Social Media.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 07/22/08 at 4:15 PM | Comments (0)
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July 21, 2008

Newsflash: BlogHer Supports Women

Michael Gray gave Google the day off and decided to pick on women instead, or more specifically, BlogHer. Michael claims that the BlogHer conference is guilty of sexual discrimination. He's offended that there weren't any male speakers included on the BlogHer agenda and says males who did attend were treated as second class citizens. Cry me a river, Michael. How do you know how men were treated? You didn't attend.

He's right that there weren't any male speakers at BlogHer this weekend. Because, as Michael mocks, BlogHer is a conference designed to create opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community, and economic empowerment. For those confused, that means the show is heavily geared and marketed towards women, with lots of women speakers.

Michael asks: "Have you ever been to conference where a panel was made up of all men? How about an entire conference where all of the speakers where only men? Awkward aren't they?"

You know what, Michael, I have been to a conference where a panel was made up of all men. I've been to a lot of them because I work in the technology industry where its male dominated, expected, allowed and the norm. How many people even notice when the male/speaker ratio is 8:1 at a typical gadget show? And if a female were to blog about it, she'd get blasted for being anti-men and playing the victim. Where's the balance there?

I agree with Michael's argument that conference organizers should strive for balance, but the truth is, they don't. I don't think BlogHer was stronger for having only women speakers. The reason I attended was NOT because I wanted to be surrounded by chicks. I would have liked to hear from strong blogging men that I don't see on a daily basis. But at the same time, I'm okay with BlogHer being all women. It's their show and it's theirs to run.

And if you're so concerned with balance, why don't you give up one of your many speaking spots to help promote a woman, Michael? Or tell me why there is not one woman scheduled to speak at The New New Internet conference happening in April? At SMX Advanced, everyone looks forward to the Give It Up session. Where were the women there? (To his credit, Danny called the lack of female presence "bullshit" and said it would be corrected next year.)

I realize Michael's just trying to get people fired up and I would have ignored his BlogHer rant, but then he trotted even further over the line:

However if you are a man and you want to attend BlogHer, you're treated like second class citizen, only to be seen and not heard...Do you think Blogher should only have women speakers, what if I told you I was organizing a conference and only men were speaking? The only way women can get in was to pay the full admission price, and go sit quietly in the audience. Have a few choice names you'd like to call me after reading that, then why is it OK for blog her to do the exact same thing, and you're OK with that, or somehow find that empoering?

Wow, Michael. Is it empowering to throw out blatant lies and pretend they're facts? Because that's what you just did.

Let's get this straight: Men were NOT treated like second class citizens at the event. Though seriously outnumbered, there were men present in every session. There were male speaking their minds at the keynotes, at the parties, on the floor, and everywhere else. I know because I saw them and spoke to them. They were not discriminated against.

For all Michael's fighting that men should have been speaking, did he nominate any to speak? Did any man want to speak and was rejected because of his gender? He points to the 2005 BlogHer survey as his "proof" that men weren't invited to speak, but that's from three years ago and was in reference to the first-ever BlogHer, which I'm sure was a lot more woman-focused. Unless Michael knows of a man that was turned away recently, his rant is just that, a baseless rant that attempts to damage BlogHer.

I'll be honest with you. As I joked all weekend with Lorna Harris and Matt Cutts (a MAN!), I felt out of place at BlogHer. Walking into the Westin St. Francis and being greeted by a swarm of females was intimidating. Working in a male dominated field, I'm not used to being around women anymore. When I'm at the typical SES or SMX, I don't even notice how badly I'm outnumbered. My gender has never been an issue for me, probably because I don't make it one. I don't classify myself as a "woman in tech" or a "woman in blogging". I never have. But at the same time, when an opportunity arose for me to spend two days surrounded by people who do what I do but who also have breasts, I jumped at it.

Why is BlogHer needed? Because every time the gender card is played in regards to why women never speak at conferences, the organizers swear up and down that "they tried". That "they contacted women" and "they didn't respond". Maybe BlogHer will help make some of these female faces more visible. Maybe one day we won't need a wiki to find female conference speakers. Until all that happens, you can't blame women for seeking out opportunities to connect with one another.

It's sad that men can't join in the fight to empower women, but instead cry about their own failure to request an invite to the party. It's sad that instead of celebrating the success of BlogHer 2008, we're being forced to defend its right to exist. Shame on me for allowing that to happen.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 07/21/08 at 2:14 PM | Comments (11)
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Guestblogging Week at Bruce Clay Aug 4-8!

You may want to sit down for this.

I'm getting ready to do something I haven't done in...forever. Something that until this day I have only ever seen in movies or read about on other people's blogs. Something Bruce and Susan have been trying to get me to do for at least a year.

I'm going on vacation.

For a week. With no Internetz. Please don't fall over and die.

But don't worry; I'm not going to let the blog die or do anything crazy like leave it with Susan. I wouldn't do that to you. Instead, I have called upon some of my favorite ladies in the industry to pitch in and keep this place alive in my absence for a Women's Blogging week of sorts. Some of the names you may know and others you may not, but I assure you they're all quality search minds and I'm very grateful to each and every one of them for pitching in.

So, without further ado, here's the line up for the week I'll be out of town:

Monday, Aug 4: Kim Krause-Berg, Carolyn Shelby
Tuesday, Aug 5: Cindy Krum, Jordan McCollum
Wednesday, Aug 6: Kate Gamble, Megan Slick
Thursday, Aug 7: Dana Larson, Kate Morris
Friday, Aug 8: Tamar Weinberg, Rhea Drysdale

Stellar, right? I know; I almost wish I wasn't going on vacation so I could sit and read all their posts!

Hmm, I'm doing this vacation thing wrong already, aren't I? Drat.

Get set, my friends. The first week of August here on the Bruce Clay blog is going to be rocking with great stuff from some really great ladies. It should be fun all around!

[Not too much fun, though. You have to pretend to miss me. Otherwise I'm staying in Mexico.]

Posted by Lisa Barone on 07/21/08 at 12:08 PM | Comments (5)
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July 14, 2008

Don't Be Popular. Be Useful.

A post over at Copyblogger grabbed my attention this weekend. It was entitled How to Stop Being Invisible and the big answer seems to be to tell people what they want to hear, to agree with popular opinion, and to be the class clown. I know I've put on a few pounds recently, but do I look like this? I didn't think so.

The article explains how your job as a blogger is to capture the attention of your audience. It's not to teach or educate, but to be in their face and make them look at you. Figure out what they want to hear and then give it to them in a funny way. Sure. While you're at it, why don't you try patting their heads and handing out cookies. I'm sorry, but that is NOT a blog I want to read, nor is it a blog I want to write.

I graduated high school eight years ago (holy Jesus). I wasn't the class clown and I wasn't in your face. Instead, I was a good student. I was quiet. I was a Varsity athlete and active in a lot of my school organizations. Basically, I was a happy and healthy contributing member of my school. And I think that's fairly reflective of the type of blogger I've become.

In the blogosphere, I'm not whizzing past people trying to break the story in my hunt for popularity. I'm quiet at first. I take in the information, let it sit in my head, and then I respond only when I have something interesting to say. When I have an opinion that I think is valuable or when I think I can add to the conversation with my words. I'm not antisocial. I'm active in the blogosphere and in social networks. I help promote the works of others, without shoving my own in your face. I'm not trying to make you look at me, and I don't think that makes me invisible.

Copyblogger says to be visible, don't worry about teaching people, just write what they want to hear. I'm not sure that's great advice. I think being like everyone else and telling people what they want to hear is exactly how you become invisible. And I think teaching and knowledge is the reason a lot of people read blogs. Sure, we all want to be entertained and to laugh, but if you don't have something to back all of that up, you're nothing more than a punch line. I have no interest in that.

If you want your blog to stop being invisible, start making it a Must Read. Don't aim for popularity. Being popular means nothing. Instead, focus on bringing your readers somewhere they can't get to on their own. Teach them to do something or to feel something they didn't know before. Make your content remarkable. Share something with them that they can't get anywhere else. And the thing they can't get from anywhere other than your blog is you. That's what you have to give them. That's what makes your blog visible to the masses and it's what sets you a part as a blogger. [And, it should be said, as a brand or business. Don't stop with just your blog.--Susan]

Take a stand. Even if it's unpopular. Take a look at the popular bloggers in the SEO space. They're people who aren't afraid to go on the record and say what needs to be said, even if they know it's going to bring them a firestorm. They're not the folks in your face all the time, they're the ones who think first and respond later. That's the kind of blogger that's visible in a crowded space.

The author talks about being valuable to reader and I think that goes without saying. Of course you have to be valuable. I wonder how much value there really is in being the class clown. Eight years out of high school I take a look at my peers who clowned their way around and it doesn't seem like they've gotten too far. They're still living in the same town, doing the same things and altogether invisible to the rest of the world. You should want more than that, both for your blog and yourself.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 07/14/08 at 9:28 AM | Comments (11)
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July 8, 2008

Blog Links Are Important, Just Not For Traffic

Louis Gray started up an interesting conversation that asks if blog links have lost their importance now that readers are finding their news through aggregators and relying more on news readers. I agree with all the things he mentions regarding how blogs and links have changed, I just don't think it adds up to what he thinks it does.

Here's what we know:

More and more readers are finding their news through aggregators and RSS feeds. They don't have a choice, they have to. Without it, readers would get lost at their computers for days, be forced to live without sunlight and grow 2 week old beards that would scare their children into orphanages just to keep up. Today's noise pool is being eyed by SeaWorld.

Louis actually ranked his referrals for the last six months and found that social media sites and aggregators trounced popular blogs like Scobleizer, TechCrunch and Micro Persuasion in the amount of traffic delivered. Surprising? No.

It's true; a link from Robert Scoble probably isn't going to bring the same traffic that it once did simply because that's not where the conversation is taking place. Today's conversations are happening and breaking on sites like Twitter and FriendFeed. That's where links are getting passed and clicked on and that where readers are commenting. Fans of Scoble can read his blog post on Facebook and then have a conversation about it there, without ever having to visit his blog. Have you read the conversation threads on FriendFeed? They go on forever.

These two factors combined have changed the concept of blogging and how users are taking in information. That can't even be debated. But does that negate the value of blog links? I don't think so.

Links are what blogs and the Web are based on. The only way a blog link has no value is if you're pointing to another A-lister or a TechMeme favorite. Does your link to Michael Arrington's recount of today's news have much value? Not much, no. Most people probably caught that article from somewhere else. They saw it on TechMeme, someone mentioned it on Twitter or it was on Hacker News about five hours ago. When you're reading that story from TechMeme on TechMeme, you're a day and a half late to the conversation.

However, in the cases where you're using your links to stand up for an unheard voice and to help your readers find content and opinions they wouldn't have otherwise, that's when blog links carry a tremendous amount of weight. You help them build their own site authority (both in Technorati and in the court of public opinion) and you help spread the conversation. Those links may not produce the same amount of traffic as TechMeme, but that doesn't make them any less valuable. That's how people find the faces that are going to make up their RSS feeds. That's how new blogs build a loyal following. That's where the constant traffic comes from and when you stop having to rely on the peaks and valleys. That's when you help break up the all-powerful echo chamber. Those links carry a huge amount of value; traffic is part of it, it's just not the only thing you should measure.

Louis makes the argument that A-listers have lost their power to drive a huge influx of traffic to your Web site or blog. I don't think that's true. I think they're driving less traffic to your blog from theirs. The overall traffic is likely growing, it's just fragmented. Scoble is sending you traffic through his blog, through FriendFeed, through Twitter, through video, though other social networks. Getting a "like" on FriendFeed can generate a huge amount of traffic, and even more, it can get you readers that are going to stick around. Ten readers who found you via Scoble on FriendFriend and trust you are worth far more than the 500 who found you through TechMeme and won't even stick around to finish the post.

Blog links may not be generating as much traffic as they use to, but that doesn't mean they've lost their value.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 07/ 8/08 at 5:56 PM | Comments (3)
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July 7, 2008

Bruce Clay Housekeeping

[dramatic exhale]

Hi, kids. It's the first day back after the delicious, most relaxing three day break ever which means one thing - OMGZ there's a lot of work to do! With so many nuggets and developments and news bits floating around my head, I thought sharing them with you would help me des-tress and get it all out there.

So, without further ado, here's all the Bruce Clay stuff going on that you need to know about.

We're Hiring!

If you're a content writer, programmer, SEO analyst, analytics fan or any mix of the four, and you want to work for a company that believes, practices and preaches ethical SEO, send us your resume. [Please! --Susan]

All fluff and pitch aside, things are happening and coming together at an amazing pace right now. Maybe it's the recession and companies need to hire an SEO vendor they can trust to get them visibility without encroaching on bad areas, but we have some great things happening right now. Interesting projects are coming in, wall-sized white boards are filling up (next we get to write on the walls!) and we're literally bursting at the seams. As much as new people often scare me, we're hiring. In all areas. Right now.

If you're in Southern California and interested in joining the team, I'd encourage you to check out the Bruce Clay, Inc. employment page and see if you're a fit.

Where In The World Is Lisa?

I'm asked a lot what conferences we're going to next, whether we'll be liveblogging and if Bruce will be presenting. To help put some of those questions to rest (and save my inbox some), here's a short list of where we'll be in the coming months.

• BlogHer (July 18-19): Later this month I get to head up to San Francisco and experience my first BlogHer. I'm quite excited. Not only will I get to connect with other women who blog and share war stories and hugs and bond, but it will be my first face-to-face with Heather Armstrong, the woman who is secretly living the life that I want. You have no idea what represents for me. I hope I'm brave enough to introduce myself to her. The safe bet is that I sit in the front row, stare and then look away when her eyes are about to meet mine.

  Also, no liveblogging. I'll be attending the show like a normal person and reporting on what I learned once I return.

• SES San Jose (August 18-21): Next month is the big SES show and Bruce Clay will definitely be there. I also hear a rumor you'll be getting all three Bruce Clay Writers, so how lucky are you? We'll be liveblogging, Bruce will be speaking, and there will be lots of other team members to talk to and field your questions. We'll also be doing some SES speaker interviews before the big show, so look for that.


• BlogWorldExpo (September 20-21): Two blogging conferences in three months? It's like Christmas! After having way too much fun last year, Bruce is sending me back to BlogWorld to relive it. Again, no liveblogging. I get to be a normal person for a few days. Or at least, try to convince people that I'm a normal person. It's probably good the show only lasts a few days.

  I'm also hoping to have a blog interview with BlogWorld CEO & Founder Rick Calvert, so I'm pretty excited about that as well.

The SEO Newsletter Is Going Monthly

Starting on July 15th, our biweekly SEO Newsletter is going back to its roots and once again becoming a monthly publication. It hurts us a bit to do it, but with all the traveling, conferences and internal projects, we need the lighter schedule to ensure we maintain the quality of the newsletter we put out. I mentioned we were hiring, right?

There are actually two more really big announcements to make, but I'll save them for their own post when the time is right. Yeah, that's right; I'm going to make you wait a little more. ;)

Posted by Lisa Barone on 07/ 7/08 at 3:10 PM | Comments (0)
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June 30, 2008

Bloglines Borked?

Sigh.

Oh, Bloglines, why must you fail me so? When I logged in to check my feeds, this is what you give me?

That's one, TWO panes listing my feeds. All those times I've asked for more features, that's not what I was talking about. I meant features like "faster updating" so that I'm not a year behind the blogosphere, not presenting me the same late information twice. That just makes me even more bitter and causes me to fear I over did it with the drinks at lunch. [The what? --Susan] You know, all that water. Look away.

I thought perhaps I had just tapped into a weird glitch, so I tried logging out and then logging back in. No luck. I'm presented with a similar situation when I try to view Bloglines in IE. And yes, I hate you for making me even open IE. I've done nothing to you to deserve that.

Even though Susan hasn't used Bloglines in forever because she finds it too slow and too unreliable, I asked her to open it up and log in to see if I was the only one experiencing a borked Bloglines. She found this:

Ah, no feeds. I had a similar problem back in September. [In other news, my Google Reader is working just fine.--Susan]

Confused, I went back to Bloglines. Logged out and in again and saw this:

ZOMG, my panes are multiplying like bunnies!

Bloglines, look away for a moment. I need to talk to your parents.

Ask? Yeah, hi. If you could do me a favor and make just one of your products competitive and not a total disappointment, I'd be over the moon happy. Thanks. In the meantime, I'm going to go break out Google Reader for the afternoon. You're giving me a headache.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 06/30/08 at 3:08 PM | Comments (4)
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June 17, 2008

SEO Headlines

Quoting The A.P.? That will cost you $12.50, please.

As a follow up to our story yesterday, I guess I should mention that the A.P. has decided in order for you to quote 5 words of their content, it's going to cost you $12.50. If you could go ahead and figure out how much you owe them, let them know where it's going to be published, and then send them a check I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

And before you go getting any snarky ideas, know that you're only allowed to quote the A.P. in a positive light. You see, not only does the A.P. reserve the right to take away your right of fair use, but they also reserve the right to terminate your licensing agreement if you use their content in a way that they find offensive or damaging to their reputation. Free press what?

I'm really confused as to what the A.P. thinks they're doing here. I'll never understand why the mainstream media continues to declare war on the blogosphere and search engines instead of embracing them and looking at us as a new distribution partner. Links from blogs generate new visitors and a better conversation. Stop ageing yourself and participate. All these stupid new "standards" you're fruitlessly trying to create simply make you look silly and like you're new to these Internetz. Get a clue, A.P.

Making Light had my favorite comment on the lunacy that is the A.P. turning to a Web form asking people to pay for something they have the right to do anyway:

"In this spirit, I will shortly be putting up my own Web form through which people can PayPal me money in exchange for my promise to not blow up the moon."

Hee. See, now that's an excerpt I would gladly pay $12.50 for. :)

YouTube, Are You Watching Hulu?

Last week Google CEO Eric Schmidt commented that they just haven't found a way to make money off YouTube yet. The potential is there and even with all the smart folks they have working behind the scenes, but they can't figure out how to make it work. Today Mark Cuban practically pulled his knee jumping up and down for Hulu, a start up video service that has been able to turn a profit.

Mark points out how Hulu has been able to piggyback off YouTube to gain traffic and revenue, while also doing a great job at monetizing the videos on their own site. And Mark's right, Hulu has been doing a stellar job to rave reviews, but you can't exactly compare it to YouTube. Hulu is about finding licensed professional content, while YouTube is trying to monetize user content. They're worlds apart.

Mark may have been one of the very vocal objectors to Google purchasing YouTube back when the deal was simply rumored, but he shouldn't take Google's initial difficulty trying to monetize as a clear sign that he was right. All it shows is that Google has a great challenge ahead of them. Let's be honest, no one has a clear game plan for monetizing video right now. Not even the awesome Hulu.

Careful with all the jumping up and down you're doing, Mark. You may hurt yourself.

Fun Finds

David Mihm released the totally and utterly impressive Local Search Ranking Factors. You're going to want to bookmark that and read it a couple of times. It is truly a goldmine of information.

My buddy Eric Lander offered up Confessions of a Boston Celtic Fan and says that the series will end tonight in Boston. Hell yeah, it will! Go Celtics! (Our entire SoCal office would kill me for saying that.) [I still don't understand why it's not pronounced with a hard C. --Susan]

Andy Merchant asks if you're branding your company or your personal brand on Twitter.

And in case you didn't know, today is Firefox Day. Go download it. If the site's stable by now, that is.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 06/17/08 at 3:31 PM | Comments (2)
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June 16, 2008

SEO Weekend Update

Hello. Do you have coffee? I'll give you a cat for a cup of coffee. Coffee? No? Just some SEO news then? Fine.

What's Your Blog Comment Policy?

Scott Allen had a really good post with Thoughts on Blog Comments, Moderation, and the Conversation where he talks about the part comments play in the overall conversation on blogs. There's been some debate about blog comments lately, both internally and abroad, and what right the blog author has to moderate or even delete them.

Personally, I think it's completely the blog author's job to set the rules and make sure that everyone in the community sticks to them. Around here I've had to do quite a bit more moderating and editing than in the past. Some subjects have hit closer to home or excited a far more passionate response and sometimes people let they emotions get the better of them. When someone leaves a lengthy comment that is nothing more than a personal attack on someone else, it's not going to be posted. If it can be edited and salvaged, it will be. But if all you've contributed is a 1,000 word essay on why you don't like X and why X would be better off locked in a closet with no food or water, well, you're not giving me much to work with. Take a nap and then come back.

Blog comments should enhance the quality of the conversation. They should offer alternative points, present debate, enter in some humor, etc. They should keep the integrity of the blog intact. If not, then the owner of that blog has the responsibility to moderate it and help bring the conversation back on topic. Or at least those are the rules we play by. What about you? Do you publish everything that users submit? How fearful are you to edit the thoughts of others?

Yes, XML Sitemaps Are Important To SEO

Barry Schwartz asks if Google Sitemaps are important to search engine optimization. We also talked about the issue back in February in our SEO Newsletter article entitled Building an XML Sitemap.

Barry points us to the Google Groups thread where Googler JohnMu explains that it's generally worth the time to set up a complete XML Sitemap, listing the kinds of data that Google is most interested in.

Back in February, Bruce Clay Senior SEO Analyst Maryann Robbins discussed many of the same features and explained that building an XML Sitemap was absolutely essential for search engine optimization purposes. They not only give Google a complete list of the pages you want indexed, but they also give you the opportunity to provide supplemental information about those pages. They help with canonical issues, tell the search engines how often the page changes, when the page was last modified, how important the page is to your Web site, etc.

So if you're asking whether or not XML Sitemaps are important for search engine optimization, the answer is "absolutely" and "yes".

Microsoft's Plans For Search

Now that Yahoo is no longer an option, General Manager of Microsoft's Search Business Group Brad Goldberg sat down with Robert Scoble to talk about what they're looking to do next. Topics discussed in the interview include Microsoft's plans for mobile, how they plan to compete with Google, the quality of the Live engine, and whether a Mahalo-type strategy could help them gain market share.

If you have half an hour or so, it's worth a listen.

Fun Finds

The Times of London reports that the average teenager's iPod has 800 illegal music tracks. Hee, ouch. Those damn kids are nothing more than a horde of pirates!

Everyone's favorite job search engine Indeed.com has just launched job analytics for employers. Now if only we could get them to launch a coffee delivery program for employees.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 06/16/08 at 4:24 PM | Comments (1)
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Impact Your Industry Through Blogging

Jeremiah Owyang had a great post on Friday about the opportunities and challenges of corporate, team and personal blogs. A lot gets said about blogging. People talk about how it's a great way to add content to your Web site, to establish yourself as a leader, to join the conversation, to put out fires, etc. You've all heard the arguments for why blogging is a worthwhile branding strategy for your company. But I don't think any of those reasons represent the real power of blogging.

If you tuned into SEM Synergy last week, you may have heard Bruce, Virginia and Susan talking about corporate blogging (or not, there seemed to be some sound difficulties with the recording). During their chat, which I couldn't participate in because Susan had locked me in a closet, Bruce touched on a benefit of blogging that I don't think gets nearly enough attention - The ability to form your industry and help set its course.

Even if you're just now getting the hang of marketing your company on these Internetz, you probably haven't missed much. Whatever your industry, chances are it's only in the very early stages of being formed and cutting out its presence online. By joining the blogosphere and developing a strong industry voice, it gives you the ability to help shape it. What other medium affords you that?

We'll take Bruce Clay as an example. Coming back from SMX Advanced I took an unpopular stance and argued that SMX Advanced had perhaps veered off course. Part of me wishes I hadn't written that post because of all the personal attacks and infighting that occurred, but I know that in the end it was worth it. It started a conversation that needed to be had. What is advanced search engine optimization? Does black hat SEO fit into that? Where is our responsibility? Is it a matter of risk vs reward? I think it was an important conversation to have. It's one that will help shape the way advanced conferences are run in the future, and in turn, what direction our industry will take.

That's what blogging is about. And that's what I love most about it.

If you're not really invested in your industry and are just out to make a quick buck, then don't even worry about it. But if you got involved in whatever space you're in because you care, then blogging gives you an enormous platform to steer the conversation and the actions of your industry. Yes, doing this will undoubtedly help you establish yourself as an authority in your field, but even bigger than that is how it helps shape the industry itself. It ensures that the important issues are discussed and debated in the open. It encourages progress.

If there's a topic that's affecting your kind, blog about it. Get others to blog about it. Use your blog to push the conversation along. Don't repeat what everyone else is saying or join the bandwagon. Stick up and fight for the industry issues you believe in and the ones you don't think get enough attention. You may get a few rocks thrown your way, but at the end of the day, you're doing something that matters. Sure, you're building your brand and creating content for your Web site, but you're also laying the groundwork for the future of your industry.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 06/16/08 at 3:59 PM | Comments (1)
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The AP Hates The Blogosphere. We Hate Them Back

Over the past few weeks I've come to find that my patience for stupidity is at its lowest in the morning. Combined with the fact that it's Monday, the most sleepy and irritating day of the week, you can imagine my reaction when I opened up my feeds and heard that the AP was going to set guidelines for how bloggers can link to and reference their articles. Oh sweet Jesus. Are you kidding me?

I decided to write them a note:

Dear A.P.,
Get over yourself.
Hugs and Kisses,
The World (minus all the Belgians, of course.)

The A.P.'s display of moral superiority comes after they sent the Drudge Retort (a Drudge Report parody site) a letter demanding that they remove several posts that contained short quotes from various A.P. articles. According to the New York Times, each quote contained between 39-79 words. Not exactly gregarious and definitely falling within fair use. [Even setting aside the protected status of parody --Susan] The blogosphere did not react kindly. Michael Arrington and TechDirt have both decided to ban the A.P., or at least seek out alternative publications to link to when possible. Other grassroots anti-A.P. movements are also in the works.

The A.P. tried to clean up the mess it had created with a comment over at TechDirt that did nothing but offend even more and raise some eyebrows. The comment left by Jim Kennedy makes reference to the "licensing agreements" that many bloggers have with the AP to display their stories in full.

Is that what this is about? The A.P. wants bloggers to have to pay to include a snippet of their text? Good luck getting people to agree to that. The record companies can barely get people to pay for music. You want them to pay for a paragraph? Hee!

Blogger Jeff Jarvis called out the A.P. for leaching off original reporting and not crediting original sources. He was so insulted by the A.P.'s stance that he's launched the FU AP campaign asking bloggers to stop linking to the A.P. until they apologize to the Drudge Retort's founder Rogers Cadenhead.

As frustrating and time warping as this whole scenario is, it's actually kind of humorous for a few reasons.

First, when are people going to realize that bloggers send you traffic? The more often a blogger takes a small quote from your article and links over to you, the more people who are going to follow that link and discover your content. Instead of looking at TechMeme and bloggers as competitors, look to them as partners helping you to push your content. They're not going away. You may as well find a way to work with them.

Second, bloggers don't need your guidelines. We don't care how you want us to link to you or reference you or talk about you. We have our own guidelines. We're not going to acknowledge yours. Perhaps we would have helped if you were smart enough to engage and ask for our input, but you didn't. You assumed you knew better. Now you fail.

When will mainstream media and large corporations realize that angering the blogosphere is not in their best interest? We may seem small and fragmented, but we're not. When you go after one of us, you suffer the wrath of the entire army.

This was a huge fail by the A.P. Forget just looking silly and like they've never heard of the Internet, the A.P. is doing a stellar job of coming off like a bully here, overstepping their bounds, rights and trying to get bloggers to adapt to a set of "rules" and "standards" that the A.P. has yet to create. Sorry, A.P., but we're not interested. We're so not interested that we'll not only boycott linking to you, we're working on removing all your precious TechMeme links.

Consider yourself unlinked from the blogosphere.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 06/16/08 at 12:40 PM | Comments (2)
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June 10, 2008

SEO Headlines

Serving Up YouTube As Punishment

How's this for a poetic justice, a Florida judge has decided that two boys charged with battery and criminal mischief for recording a "prank" and uploading to YouTube must create yet another YouTube video. This time around the video will be them apologizing for their actions. Nothing like some public humiliation to make people change their evil ways. Maybe I should make Susan create an apology video for all the bad things she's done to me? I'll ask Bruce. [You'd have to make one first for all the times you're mean to me. --Susan] I'm never mean. I'm like the darling of SEO.

The video that depicts the two boys performing "the fire in the hole", also known as throwing a cup of soda through a fast food drive-thru window and then speeding off, is still up on YouTube (I'm not linking to it. Find it yourself). The victim of the stupid prank found the video and then used MySpace to friend the boys and figure out their identities.

It's all quite genius and Web 2.0 savvy, really. And I won't even lie; I'm kind of a fan of this punishment. Not only will it show kids that stupid pranks have consequences but if the judge makes the kids tag the video with their name, think all the fun reputation management they're going to have to do in the future! Goodbye, ivy league college. Hello working at the same fast food place that helped derail your adult life.

Does It Matter Why You Blog?

Bob Massa asks what's the point of blogging and whether the reasons that make you do it actually matter? Bob says that they don't as long as you're sharing worthwhile information. I see his point but I'm a bit skeptical. Though I've already been mocked for my wide-eyed belief in the SEO Tooth Fairy, I'm going to bring out the puritan thoughts again and say, yes, it does matter.

I think intent always matters. I don't care if you're talking about blogging or search engine optimization or training for a marathon. The secret reasons you hold for doing something will always affect the outcome. If you're blogging to make a name for yourself and fame chase than that's going to affect what you write, how you write it, what angle you tackle, etc. And it's going to be 100 percent evident. You may still be creating "quality" information based on your audience, but you could be chasing the wrong audience.

I think there's a reason that the most popular blogs on search engine optimization are the ones that don't necessarily blog for fame or position but to share information. Intent matters. That's kind of how I look at the BC blog. We blog for knowledge transfer, not fame. Bruce has already created a name for himself and his company in this industry. No amount of my trivial blogging is going to compete with the success that he's already helped our clients find. So when we blog, we do it to share advice on search engine optimization, to comment on the industry that we're involved in, and to offer our two cents when we see something that should be fixed. It help makes the blog real and authentic and genuine. Those are the blogs I like to read. And it's your intent that's going to set your blog tone and style.

Fun Finds

Our friend Adam Audette issued the Six Principles of Ethical SEO.

Over on YOUmoz, Bhawk988 helps restore everyone's faith in humanity. If only for a day.

Google Blogoscope reveals that Google will now let you skip the intro for all those annoying sites that make you sit through a one minute Flash movie before they let you actually enter. [Google FTW. --Susan]

Posted by Lisa Barone on 06/10/08 at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)
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June 9, 2008

SEO Weekend Update

Well I hope your weekend was less stressful and less email-hell-laden than mine was. :) Also, a confused Susan (who was out Friday afternoon) read the Friday Recap and wondered what the heck "secret squirrel" meant. Apparently this is an East Coast thing? But just to assure everyone, no, there were no living and breathing secret squirrels present at our Bruce Clay Luau. Or at least none that I'm aware of. [I was imagining squirrels that we kept in our desk drawers or something.--Susan] Ooo, that'd be fun. Maybe we can get secret puppies? Wanna?

YouTube Lets Professional Content Producers Sell Ads

AdAge spills the beans that professional content producers with their own channel on YouTube will be able to sell their own ads. That includes the click-to-expand overlays that run across the bottoms of YouTube videos and display units on the page that hosts the video player. The ad revenue will be split between YouTube and the content creator, just as it always has.

If you're YouTube (or Google), this sounds like a pretty good way to attract professional content products to start setting up shop on your site. Bringing in the pros means YouTube gets more high quality content (something they're, um, lacking) and they get to have the content producer's ad teams do their work for them. Sounds sexy.

So to recap: More control for content producers, high quality content on YouTube, and no additional overhead for YouTube? Upgrade!

HipMojo has some additional thoughts on this that are worth checking out.

Using Questions To Create Great Content

Chris Garrett had a stellar post about how good questions make great content and we couldn't agree more. If you're finding that your Web site is a little short on the content side of things, research what questions people in your industry have and then answer them. Ask yourself what questions you have about your industry, take a look at what people are typing into your search box, what terms are users searching for before they land on your site, what's being asked on blogs and forums and on LinkedIn? The Internet is full of questions. If you can't find the ones pertinent to your industry and then provide answers, you'll have a landmine of content just waiting to be added to your Web site. [I always ask the BC analysts what question their clients have that they wish they had a resource to point to. Then I make them write about it. --Susan] Yeah, that's why they don't like you.

Chris also brings up the fact that if you go looking for answers and can't find them, then you may have just stumbled upon a great opportunity to bring in some regular Google traffic if you play your cards right. Have we ever mentioned that content is king? ;)

Fun Finds

Danny Sullivan shares his thoughts on the reactions to SMX Advanced in No, Advanced SEO Does Not Mean Spamming. Danny, we love you.

Dave McClure proves that Girl Scouts are evil. Hee.

Posted by Lisa Barone on 06/ 9/08 at 1:00 PM | Comments (0)
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