One of the great things about this blog is that Rick gets pitched by lots of people and we tend to get some good scoops. Dave Frankland zapped this nice tidbit over to Rick today about Richard Edelman’s keynote at Syndicate 2006. Here’s the really interesting thing … the link to the PRWeek story yielded this:

Edelman keynote at Syndicate touches upon industry changes
NEW YORK: Edelman CEO Richard Edelman, facing an audience at the 2006 Syndicate Conference in New York City that has traditionally been hostile to PR professionals, launched into a discussion of how blogs and other new media are changing the business.
From the PRWeek website … that’s all folks.

Oh man. Man oh man. Edelman, I think, gets the blogosphere, but PRWeek doesn’t. Check out his own blog post on his keynote. He also links to David Weinberger’s live blogging of the keynote (I love live conference blogging … it’s fun, it’s exciting, and it helps get the great messages and quotable quotes out there as soon as the speaker has said them), which I have yet to pour over … but I am looking forward to reading asap.

In Richard Edelman’s post and the snippets I read in the PRWeek article (because Dave forwarded it to Rick), it’s clear the PR folks have to change tactics to adapt to the new communications and media realities. I’m not saying that bloggers are all powerful, what I’m saying is that bloggers can get a message out fast. That message can be good or bad. Things like PRWeek (and other publications) blocking off content behind the walled garden of subscribers only, yeah that doesn’t fly. It especially doesn’t fly when the article blocked is about a luminary of PR talking about how PR professionals have to adapt to the new blogosphere reality. Sheesh. I hope they open this article up to the world, because Edelman really says great stuff.

Let’s take how he described, and apologized for, Robert Scoble’s recent experience with PR people:

Microsoft employee and blogger Robert Scoble, who was scheduled to interview Edelman for the keynote, has experienced a family emergency, which he wrote about on his blog. Despite broadcasting his tragedy, he noted in a follow-up post that he was still receiving PR pitches since he wrote about his family’s situation.

Scoble could not attend, but, sent a question asking why PR people, who presumably value his opinion enough to have read his blog, were still sending him product pitches while he was facing tragedy.

“On behalf the PR field, I apologize to Robert for the misbehavior and tell you that there is a better way,” Edelman said.

[snip]

“A lot of PR people regard blogs as another form of the mainstream media to be pitched,” Edelman said. “Our methodology has traditionally been to throw out 1,000 flowers and one might bloom. That’s not the way to interact with the blogosphere.”

That’s good, that’s smart. Robert, though, really hits the nail on the head:

But, in today’s world of search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Technorati, Feedster, and others, it just isn’t good to be clued out. —Scoble

Edelman also “gets” how blogger love to get sneak peaks at stuff … oh do we love it.

“Our great triumphs are persuading clients to show beta versions of products to bloggers months in advance of actual product launch,” Edelman said. “By the time we started talking to the MSM [mainstream media], we had some momentum.”

That’s totally it. I’ve been apart of a few beta tests recently (Ether for example) where after the beta period (and bloggers are among the testers), we were asked for our feedback and if we wished to be included in press materials. Smart, very smart. Hey, we’re interested in your opinion and would you like to be included in stuff to get you some attention. Hmm, umm, yes!

Richard Edelman knows that the PR world is changing. PR folks can’t just spin and massage the message any more. They have to deal with citizen journalists, bloggers, and just plain everyone. It’s going to take a while before blogger stop getting e-mail pitches out of the blue, but here’s to hoping.

Tags: Richard Edelman, Syndicate Conference, Robert Scoble, PR

Two of the best sessions at this week’s Mesh Conference in Toronto were the ones related to Web 2.0 and VC money. Don’t know which inspired me more, Paul Kedrosky’s or Rick Segal’s. Mark Evans of the National Post condensed his thoughts in his article published today (which he lobbied to get pulled out from behind the “walled garden” of subscription only). Here are some excerpts from his article:

There is, however, some evidence the environment is changing. For one, Web 2.0 entrepreneurs don’t need large amounts of money because they can use free open-source software, and low-cost hardware and network bandwidth to develop and distribute a new Web-based service.

This means entrepreneurs can take an idea and create a business without worrying about whether they can get financed. This is a healthier approach because the start-ups that are successful in attracting customers and generating revenue have better leverage when they decide to pursue venture capital to jump-start growth.

At the same time, some VCs have started to realize they need to behave differently if they want to play in the Web 2.0 world. They need to be more aggressive, they need to take more risk and they need to accept the reality that financial success could come from a variety of small investments rather than a few large opportunities.

[snip]

It appears VCs could have an easier time discovering new Web 2.0 start-ups if the enthusiasm and energy of the entrepreneurs who gathered at the mesh conference is any indication. Some of the companies to watch are DabbleDB, iUpload.com, Freshbooks.com, B5Media, Bubbleshare.com, EndlessEurope.com and Octopz.com.

This is an new and exciting time for Canadian Tech. More sharp people are getting their ideas out and some forward-thinking VCs are getting in on the game.

Tags: Canadian tech, VC funding, Paul Kedrosky, Rick Segal

The “hot news” on the Blogosphere this morning is the interview between Alan Meckler and Jason Calacanis in the Wall Street Journal.  The discussion is geared more towards the individual blogger with the experience Jason has as the CEO of a major blog network.

The discussion (according to tech.memeorandum) is pretty diverse.  A lot of people are focusing in on the “if you hit this traffic level you make good money …” aspect of the article, however I think this is only part of the story.  Jason touches on it with this short comment:

The fact is that the “long tail” of sites is largely unmonetized. Over the next five to 10 years, Google AdSense, Weblogs Inc., Yahoo Publisher Network, AOL’s white-labeled version of AdSense, and Microsoft’s “AdSense killer” will enable the monetization of a lot of those smaller sites.

For businesses blogging, there might not be much, if any, interest in putting ads on their blogs.  However, if you are a small business or a solo pro … earning a little extra cash is a nice bonus.

Looking at the larger picture, though, most of the major ad networks recognize that there are a lot of untapped (un-added?) blogs out there.  Leveraging that potential real estate is going to be the challenge of 2006.

Tags: blog advertising, long tail

 

So Andy whimped out and asked me to post for him about the official release of his book “BlogWild!“. Geez Andy, it’s a great book! Why wouldn’t you want to write about it? Now I’ve already done a review of both Andy’s and Des’ books, but this is Andy’s day. The book is real, it’s done, it’s even hard cover!

And I really did enjoy it (I still have to try the recipes). Here’s my thing about business books. First they need to be readable. Good prose is key. Humour is important. Next, they need to cut to the chase. Brevity scores major points in my book. Took me less than an hour to go cover to cover (yeah, okay I skimmed the Typepad sections … but I know when I’m fixing Toby’s site I’ll be referring to it). So if you car pool to work or take transit, you might be able to be done and have action steps before you even get to work!

That brings me to my next (and next to last) point … action items. End the chapters with nice easy action items. Something short and tangible that could even be done while you’re on hold or something. Intense action items just don’t work. KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid.

Finally, the anti-hype factor. Yes, blogs are hot. Yes, people are clamoring about them. But there are real business reasons for using the a blog to get your message out. How about saving money! There’s a good one (and it’s in Andy’s book). Andy leverages the hype about blogs to get your attention, but then puts all the advice into anti-hype tone. This is so important. People might get sick of talking about “blogs” per se, but they aren’t going to get sick of being able to write about their business, communicate with customers, and get a good search engine ranking for like $15/mo.

So … Andy’s book is for real. Congrats Andy!. And boy with all the authors on this site I’m getting to feel like the odd man out! Oh well. Who wants to read a book written by a geek anyway.

Tags: BlogWild, Andy Wibbels

I’ve been pretty absent from the Blogosphere lately and if you’ve been wondering why (or maybe you haven’t 😉 ) this is why. For the past month + I’ve been orchestrating the launch of a deal with Lycos to use and promote Qumana’s offline blog editor and our RSS reader QReader (formerly Lektora).

Lycos press release, Qumana release, my blog post

This has been a huge and exciting project for us and, to the best of my knowledge, is the first time a blog platform has chosen to promote a single blog tool for their users. Believe me this is just the first of these kinds of deals we’re working on.

Beyond what this means for Qumana, I think this is the first step towards a great thing for blogs and blogging. Make it easy for “regular people” to publish rich posts, publish to nearly any blog platform, tag their posts, and insert a key-word driven via Q Ads (formerly Adgenta) and I think we are enabling people to write more content, better and leverage it across lots of places.

So, thank you to the whole Qumana and Lycos team. The fun is just starting now!

Tags: Qumana, Lycos

The question this weekend wasn’t if the Americans would win in hockey (the women just earned the bronze), but how BlogBurst (just in beta from Pluck) would compensate bloggers who sign up for their program to re-publish blog posts in MSM newspapers. A comment left on Techcrunch indicates that there will be a revenue share once BlogBurst leaves beta, so that is good news (sorta).

The larger question is, then, what will this mean for the MSM? Can newspapers re-build or reinvigorate their online readership with blog content? Blogs are certainly getting a lot of attention, and blogs, IMHO, are building and enhancing the ideas sparked in the MSM, seems to me that it would be a nice compliment to have blog posts related to a topic supplement online content.

It will remain to be seen, though, what the revenue model will be and how it pans out for bloggers.

More on my blog here

Tags: BlogBurst, Pluck, Techcrunch, MSM

As Slate morns the end of the business blog, the same day Business Blog Consulting is ranked as one of the top 25 most influential business blogs, the rest of us are just shaking our heads and repeating … it’s the technology stupid. Blogs aren’t and won’t ever be a magic bullet to save bad marketing, blogs and blogging are communications vehicles. Easy ones. Powerful ones. And ones that are here to stay, at least in some form.

So … fellow BBCers … let’s all chime in on this one. Steve, I gotcha here. Here are my two cents. And let the conversation, begin.

Tags: business blogging, Slate, blogging

I was talking with my girlfriend last night about this and Dana’s post about the most influential business bloggers (and a quick IM chat) really drove this point home … a lot of us have started great careers (sometimes even new ones) through blogging.

Think about Steve Rubel … he started a CooperKatz, started blogging and is now one of the most respected PR and business bloggers out there … not to mention now a senior VP at Edelman.

How about Dana … from his blogging and consulting … Pheedo

Rick Bruner … DoubleClick.

Me? From a consultant trying blogging for a kick to CBO at Qumana and partner in One By One Media

The lesson here is that blogging isn’t a magic bullet, but it does let you highlight your skills and talents to the world. Just by writing about what your are passionate about. Not bad. Not easy either, btw. It does take a lot of work, a lot of reading, and dedication. The rewards? Well the rewards are worth it. I enjoy writing but I enjoy even more the feeling that I’ve embarked on a whole new career path, just by doing something I love to do. And a new career that I am excited about and looking forward to for years to come.

So … fellow BBCers … what’s your story?

Tags: business bloggoing, blogging careers

Have you been reading Darren’s Blogging for Beginners series? No? Well you should. All of us should. It’s a great check-in for old hands and newbies. Today’s installment is on writing good content and another must-read on the blogosphere (maybe I should bone up on this since content is my topic for the Blogonomics Business Blogging Cruise … and BTW there is less than a month left to get discounted pricing). Darren’s series is something that you should certainly start with when you’re considering a business blog … or encouraging clients to blog.

Speaking of which …. if you are starting blog … this is another important article to read: 23 Questions for Prospective Bloggers – Is a Blog Right for You?. Let’s face it, while all of us here contributing to BBC are sold on blogging and lots of us are making careers of it, it isn’t for everyone. Starting with Darren’s post … ask yourself these questions … and you’ll be in a good position to know if a blog is right for you.

Tags: Business Blogging, Darren Rowse, How to blog, Blogonomics

Thanks to Rick for posting to the BBC mailing list how to get some invite keys to coComment.  Of course, by replying I also volunteered to review it (doh!).

So … I’ve signed up (very easy, only a little bit of info required).  I put the bookmarklet on my toolbar.  I added my person comment RSS feed to my aggregator. And then I left my first comment.  It happened that Scoble had a post on another comment tracking service I just couldn’t resist!

First impressions … easy sign up.  Easy to use.  The comment I registered was immediately reflected in my account.

I’ll also throw my two cents in on this whole topic.  While blogs are all about the conversation, I know personally I haven’t left as many comments on blog posts for the very simple reason that it’s been way, way too hard to keep track of them.  Not all platforms offer comment feeds, and who really wants to have to keep adding and culling those feeds.  E-mails … well good sometimes, bad other times.

I’m pretty hopeful about this new service and am certainly going to kick up my commenting a notch to give it a good, solid try

Tags: coComment, blog comments

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Separate articles, same theme. First Darren writes about the truism that most Internet users don’t realize that they are reading a blog and might be turned off but continual references to to “on this blog … ” kind of things.

In my work as a blog consultant I run into this often. Blogs aren’t really well understood by the majority of Internet users. How is it different from a website (it isn’t really)? Isn’t just an online journal (yes, and no)? None of my friends, colleagues, target audience read blogs (they probably do, they just don’t know it).

Darren concludes with this …

I think their observation is correct. While I’m not suggesting bloggers need to dumb down their blogging I think the mind-shift of moving from writing for other bloggers to writing for ‘normal people’ (I can see bloggers everywhere scrolling down to the comments section after that phrase) is one worth making for most bloggers.

This means getting out of our own little Pro Blogging Ghetto and learning to communicate with others in ways that are accessible and smart – otherwise we limit the potential for our succes

Darren’s overall suggestions are bang on, IMHO. Bloggers, especially professional bloggers and bloggers who are going for information, news, etc need to be aware that people are looking for good stuff to read, learn, and use and don’t give a rodent’s tushie that it’s a blog.

Now, published about the same time are 21 great writing/blogging tips from Make You Go Hmm:

1. Provide more, not less, original content in the blog entries.
2. Find things you are insatiably curious about and write with full-on passion.
3. Rather than make 10 so-so posts every day, make 3-5 really good ones.
4. Can’t find the solution to a problem in the search engines easily? How-to/fixes/solutions make great topics.
5. Give away something once in awhile.
6. Start blogging about subjects that aren’t already being blogged to death, or write about them with a fresh perspective.
7. Pay a professional if you suck at graphics and design.
8. Don’t use too much Flash.
9. Don’t slap a bunch of flashy banners and buttons (no matter how small) all over the place.
10. Use a smaller, less gaudy logo.
11. Make sure at least some content (not logo, not header, not advertising, etc) shows on every webpage without browser scroll
12. Provide consistent navigation.
13. Do include a byline and author bio so it’s clear to readers who wrote the content
14. Always disclose conflicts of interest
15. Clearly mark or define advertising placement
16. Don’t cripple the RSS feed.
17. Liberally blend with descriptive text: pictures, screenshots, audio (podcast), video and any other items that will help keep the readers interested, informed, enlightened and/or entertained.
18. Keep an open dialogue with commenters and two-way trackbackers.
19. Don’t let flamers destroy the community.
20. Are you having fun?
21. The last tip is probably my most favorite: don’t be afraid to write something and not publish it.

I think (almost) all of these are super tips … maybe every pro blogger should print them out and stick near their computer (hard for me, because I usually work from the couch and friends visiting might comment on my “unique” taste in wall art). The professional design tip is a tough one, that can be expensive. I suggest finding a skookum template to use for your blog. I’ve been setting up a lot of WP 2 blogs lately, and I direct new clients and friends to Alex King’s site to pick a template. There are so many awesome ones there that people have trouble picking an absolute favourite (so I recommend picking 3-4, installing them on the blog and then choosing).

Of course, none of us are perfect. Heck, my blog is rather bland. Which is why, in true blogging style, the 21 tips closes like this:

Can you follow all these tips? Probably not. This blog doesn’t even follow all them, although I do try to keep this stuff in mind when I feel the quality is starting to slip (and it is an every day job working on blog quality, not something one can just go into autopilot on). But follow enough of these and it will greatly increase the likelihood that you’ll become one of the most read blogs out there someday. Let’s face it, the web can never have enough quality content. You can add or take away with each post you make. Want to be a shallow, one dimensional blogger? There’s tons of those. Want to really work at your writing and make it better? This post is for you.

Tags: blogging tips, professional blogging, blog design, blog writing

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This idea has been some time in the making and is finally here. When I first met Jim Turner he mentioned the idea of “Hey wouldn’t it be a great idea to have a business blogging Caribbean cruise?” I thought … Yeah! Awesome, let’s do it! Well months later we’ve taken the wraps off the cruise website and blog …Blogonomics (website) and the Blogonomics Blog.

So, what’s the deal? Basically it’s a five-day cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Cozumel and back (of course back!) that we’re considering a blogging boot camp on the high seas (with fruity drinks!). The goal is that attendees can come learn about blogging from leading experts (with topics like design, metrics, SEO, using RSS, and writing) and leave ready to blog better or get their business blog off the ground. We’ll have on-board WiFi and hands-on workshops in the evenings like adding pictures to your blog.

All the pricing and info is on our website. We have early-bird pricing available for the first 100 bookings, so with the amount of interest we’ve been getting on the back-channel … you might think about getting in early.

We are, of course, looking for sponsors for this first-of-its-kind event. Scott has pulled together a super sponsor-info pack and other information on the website as well.

This has been a true team effort. None of this could have been done without this awesome team. Scott Goldblatt has been leading the charge for Jim and I. Shylah, true to form, always comes in just when we’re getting behind. And then there’s Jeremy Wright … the cool, cool template is his doing. Not to mention that many of the contributors here (Jim, me, Jeremy) are confirmed speakers and there are more to come!

So … let’s get cruising!

Tags: Blogonomics, blogger cruise

Welcome, internet, to The Consumerist, the latest title from Gawker Media. The Consumerist loves to shop, and is reconciled to utilities, but hates paying for shoddy products, inhumane customer support, and half-assed service.

Each week The Consumerist will guide you through the delinquencies of retail and service organizations. The Consumerist will highlight the persistent, shameless boners of modern consumerism — and the latest hot deals, discounts, and freebies around.

Neville talks about an interesting, really cool IMHO, thing the U.K. supermarket chain Tesco is doing.  Not only are they sending out traditional e-mail marketing e-mails to customers (on the quantity or quality concept) they have created a “deal of the day” RSS feed.  Now, this rocks.  Frankly, I’d love to get my store flier in RSS.  Maybe, the just before the end of the day … how about a quick recipe for an easydinner and oh … here are the ingredients … oh and severalof them are on a special web-recipe sale. How about that.

From Neville:

So my prediction is – more RSS feeds by consumer-focused businesses such as supermarkets. It’s getting easier for people to use RSS (often without realizing it) and will get easier still as more businesses offer information via RSS, as simpler ways of describing it emerge (like ‘ live bookmarks ,’ for instance), and as it becomes ever more easier to get the information offered via RSS. (Related development: expect more advertising in RSS.)

It’s the heir to the direct marketing throne.