Yea, I think this qualifies as big news. AOL is purchasing Weblogs, Inc. for a cool $20 million (or is it $30 million?) Yea, it’s big news. So big in fact it falls in the OMG! category. Rafat Ali says this is perhaps the first pure content-related company being bought out in the blog/Web 2.0 space…or at least of this scale. The story is spreading like wildfire across the blogosphere already says Ali. It’s true. Check out Technorati.

I used to blog for WIN. If Calacanis splits his bounty with his bloggers, I’m sure I’m going to wish I still did. (Maybe he’ll grandfather me in. Nah, probably not.)

Glam.com, a blog network devoted to fashion was supposed to have launched today, according to an ClickZ. The company combines "magazine-style independent editorial content with click-to-buy e-commerce functionality, courting fashion-oriented advertisers." The network, produced by Glam Media, has signed up seven blog sites so far, and is looking for more.

I visited the site, which requires registration (yuck!), and didn’t any evidence of the network. I didn’t register though, and maybe that’s a must do. Anyway, since I’m such a fashion buff, I’m sure it’s something I’ll keep an eye out for.

Blog Moguls…now that’s a term you don’t hear everyday. Blogging already has moguls? It’s an article on ClickZ about, no, not Jason Calacanis and Nick Denton (Until I read the article they were the only two blog moguls I knew of.) These are John Batelle and "Pud" Kaplan and they’re blazing new trails in blogvertising with their respective Federated Media Publishing and Adbrite.

Now, thanks to Audi, blog advertising has become respectable. Anyway, it’s worth a read. (Audi used BlogAds, btw, so how come Henry Copeland hasn’t been crowned with "mogul" status yet?!)

Lately, I’ve been focusing on the effect blogs have on business in terms of ROI (affecting the bottom-line), particularly those used for marketing purposes. To date, I’ve found no studies that quantify such data, just some occasional mentions like that of the Audi blog success, but that was more blogvertising. I’m interested in companies that actually use blogs as marcom tools. Anybody know if such a study exists?

Quite a number of blogging books are being written today. (Talk about stating the obivous.) Debbie Weil is writing one on corporate blogging. Jeremy Wright’s new book, Blog Marketing, will soon hit the shelves. Scoble and Israel’s Naked Conversations is scheduled for release in January. Rick Bruner ought to write one as should Steve Rubel. Heck, even I’ve been approached by a publisher to write one, not that I have anything to say that hasn’t already been said.

However, if you buy only one blogging book this year, pick up a copy of Blog!, by David Kline and Dan Burstein. If ever there was a book that presented a "meta" view of blogging past, present, and future this is it.

I’ve just started reading it, and the book’s introduction is worth the price. Take, for example, this paragraph…

The results of this unusual moment in time may be nothing short of a new paradigm for modern human communication, conversation, argument, and collaborative knowlege creation. Blogging represents one important wave that is contributing to restoring the lost voice of the ordinary citizen in our culture.

Damn, that’s good!

The book is over 400 pages, so it’s going to take me a while to finish it at the snail’s pace by which I usually read. It’s not the quantity, but the quality, and I intend to savor every page.

While you’re at it, check out David Kline’s blog Blog Revolt.

Rick and I were contacted by Rob, author of a new pinging site, Feedshot.com. This one does not yet include as many sites as Pingomatic or Pingoat, but according to Rob does function as the intial submission rather than just a ping. Here’s his blurb…

I’ve just launched a service called FeedShot that submits an RSS or Atom feed to 17 blog search engines. It covers all the major engines (DayPop, Feedster, IceRocket, and Technorati), and the list is expanding every week. The service is free, and what makes it unique is that it’s set up to do the initial submission for a feed, rather than as a pinging service. The best part is a report indicating which submissions were successful, which failed, and which were duplicates.

I just received an invitation to set up a WordPress.com (com, not org) blog. I did, and I like it. The interface is clean and more compact than the admin interface I’m used to. They have several decent looking skins, though I don’t like the fact you can’t access the source code. At least, I didn’t find a way to do it. But, then again, I didn’t spend much time on it either.

This is a hosted version of their platform, similar to how SixApart does it with Typepad. Of course, it’s free, just like the server-side version. It is currently by invitation only however. Just submit your email addy and they will extend an invitation to you at some point I feel sure.

I’d be interested to feedback from those of you who’ve tried it out, especially if you have a more in-depth review. I’m just not an in-depth review kind of guy. Heh.

Just heard from one of the PR people working on the upcoming Web 2.0 conference that there will be an official blog, due to go live next week, and that bloggers will be represented among the number of press covering the event. Are any of you planning to attend? Do you plan to blog it?

A new conference is being held in Austin, TX, on November 2nd, called The Blogging Enterprise. A blurb from the site says…

"The Blogging Enterprise is a one-day conference that will explore blogging, podcasting and video podcasting and their potential benefits and value in building brands, educating prospects, making sales and cultivating customer loyalty. Attendees will depart with new ideas and a better sense for how to implement this new technology successfully."

They are looking for speakers for the event and had asked me to consider it. But, I declined saying I new at least a half dozen people per topic much better qualified than me, most of whom are contributors to this site. If you’re interested in speaking, contact Steve Farrar. They’re looking for sponsors too, btw.

I live in the state most affected by Katrina, Mississippi. Needless to say, the devastation this storm has caused not only my state by Alabama and Louisiana as well has captured the attention of the entire nation. It’s caught the attention of bloggers as well.

Truth Laid Bear is sponsoring Blog for Relief Day tomorrow, Thursday, September 1. I really want to encourage each of you to participate. Truly, this is our nation’s tsunami and everyone ought to do something to help ease the plight of the victims and their families. As my own family further down state has been directly affected by the ravages of Katrina, I extend my personal thanks to those of you who do.

From the Threadwatch blog…

Threadwatch has recently persuaded some of it’s more knowledgeable members to run specific blogs, or columns.
I’m pleased to say that we now have a handful of experts on a good
range of subjects who will shortly begin posting to their blogs.

As you may know, Threadwatch is a multi-blogger blog discussing topics related to SEO.

If you’ve been following the story, you know that BuzzMachine’s Jeff Jarvis has been pissed at Dell for their lack of customer service. According to MediaPost, Dell says it  has implemented new procedures for dealing with
the blogosphere. The company’s PR department has been monitoring
blogs, looking for commentaries and complaints. Starting about a month ago the department began forwarding complaints to the customer service department so that reps
can contact dissatisfied consumers directly.

I wondered when ClickZ was going to enter the blogosphere, now they have. I know Search Engine Watch was blogging, but now they’ve added the ClickZ News Blog. Here’s an article explaining why it took them so long and what the blog will be used for.

The Free Money Finance site (Is there really such a thing as “free” money?) has an essay on how to build traffic to your blog via blog carnivals. It’s based on the blogger’s extensive research into the subject over the past few months.

With the trend of using blogs for business/marketing purposes now in full swing, the numbers game is going to get more and more important. While tools like BlogPulse shows us what’s going on at the meta level, analytics apps are needed that are configured specifically for blog purposes.

A new player is Blogbeat. Rubel says it "offers a simple way to get your hands on data such as your most popular
posts, links/refers, RSS clicks and more." For the moment (and I do mean for the moment) it’s free, but the offer is limited to a specific number of users and that number is dwindling fast. (There’s a counter on the site showing how many spots are left.) It’s also free of ads too!

The Blog Herald’s Duncan Riley has written a fine expose on overviewing the history of blogging and proclaiming the sure demise of the "geek" blogger. He outlines three generations of bloggers: geeks, extroverts, and consumers.

Of course blogging started with the geeks. It had to. It’s a technology application after all. Then, in 2002 according to Duncan, a second generation of bloggers was born, which he refers to as "extroverts." Now, in 2005, blogging has indeed moved mainstrean and, thanks to platforms like Blogger and MSN Spaces, it’s in the hands of consumers.

This is some of Duncan’s best, most insightful writing and prognostication, well worth a read.

Are you a blogger who uses Google Adsense to monetize your blog? You’ll be interested to know Google has started a blog to help you. The blog, called Inside Adsense, kicked off last Tuesday and offers optimization tips and such. I think it’s an effort to defend Google’s position against Yahoo’s new Publisher Network by providing more help to Adsense publishers.

Have you seen the Feedster Top 500 blogs list? Some of the contributors to this site are on it. Steve Rubel’s Micropersuasion is #56, LaShawn Barber’s is #121, Jeremy Wright’s Ensight is #348, and Dave Taylor’s site is #459. Congrats to all these for being…popular! Hey, they all have something to say that’s worth reading. If I missed any other of our contributors who made the list, please forgive and leave a comment mentioning your ranking.

BTW, read the MarketingVox article about media buyers using the list as a planning tool.

I was really hoping to make it to the Blog Business Summit in San Fran but, alas and forsooth, it was not to be. Nevertheless, it kicks off today with a Pre-Conference Business Blogging 101workshop. In fact, our very own Dave Taylor will be the presenter.

Several of the contributors to this site will be attending the conference and should be blogging about it here as well as their own sites. Me, I’ll just watch from the sidelines.

Technorati’s David Sifry has an excellent piece on spam and fake blogs that gives as thorough an explanation of the subject that I’ve seen. If those things get your goat like they do mine it’s a post you’ll want to read.