In case you’ve missed it, Jim Turner and I have been doing a little radio show over at Blog Talk Radio. We took a week off so I could go camping and caving, but we’re back this week!

Jim and I have been doing a lot of thinking about blogging vs writing. What makes blogging something more than content? We’ve been coaching our bloggers at Bloggers For Hire on this and educating our clients as well. I don’t think we’ve even begun to scratch the surface on the whole topic. So tomorrow we’re going to tackle that one on the next show which will be tomorrow (Wednesday the 20th) at noon PDT. Remember you can call in at (646) 478-5023 or Skype us or … Gtalk…MSN …

We’d love to have callers chime in with their opinions and if I can get a chat room set up in time … we’ll have that too! Check our Twitter feeds for updates tomorrow (Jim’s tweets— Tris’ tweets)

Catch you tomorrow!

You can listen to our past episodes in the archives section

Update: I got the web chat working! Launch the Userplane Webchat.  Jim and I will be hanging out there before, during, and maybe a little after, they show.

Technorati Tags: MediaSphere Radio, Jim Turner, Tris Hussey, pro blogging, professional blogging One By One Media, Bloggers For Hire

Tucows is sending me to BBS (that’s Blog Business Summit, BTW .. where I am also speaking) to report live on the sessions.  Watch the Tucows blog for posts and updates.  I’ll be doing podcast interviews with folks during the whole Wednesday – Friday sessions.  I might also sneak in some posts on Saturday from our special speaker/VIP event.  Since there is a geek dinner tomorrow night with a lot of the speakers and other blogerati in attendance, I’ll make sure the old Cannon digicam has fresh batteries and my recorder is handy.  No, it isn’t really a part of the conference proper, but I might get some hints and tastes of the sessions to come.  Like Dave Taylor and character blogs (maybe?).

Oh, yeah I’m going to cross-post this in a few places so if you think you’ve read it on another blog, you probably have.

Tags: BBS, BBS06, conference blogging, Blog Business Summit, Tucows, Tucows blog

 

Well Dave already spilled the beans (here and here), yep I’m speaking at BBS at the end of the month.  The question is, then, just what the heck am I speaking about.  RSS Metrics.  Oh boy, yeah.  I wrote a bit about it on my blog already, but essentially what I’m going to help people work out is how to measure their audience on their blog.  This, btw, is no mean feat.  The reason Feedburner has been so successful is that they do give those metrics.  But, my talk isn’t going to just be “Use Feedburner.  Thank you.  Any questions?”.  That’s more than a little lame.  Don’t ask me how I’m going to simplify the discussion, because I’m still noodling that around in my head (ouch).

The reason, besides I was stupid enough to agree, that I’m talking about RSS metrics (and maybe blog metrics in general), is that as businesses get into blogs, bosses want to know what impact the blog is having.  Who is reading it, how often, when, what …  And while it might seem easy to dismiss these things, it really isn’t.  It is important.

If you are interested in biz blogging, BBS (as Dave said) is a great time to learn and network.  Pick the brains of folks already doing it.  Hang out with fun folks and just bask in the general blogginess.  I know that after BBS you will have a ton of new ideas and ways to start blogging or improve your blogging.   Now let me sweeten the pot a bit.  If you want to go I have a discount code for you worth $100 off any package.  When you register use code LCAS06 and the discount is yours.  There are deals to be had for hotel rooms (I use Hotwire myself) and I’ll be there Tuesday night and for the workshops and conferences.  Stop by and say hi.  I’m sure Dave and I will be hanging out somewhere chatting (look for the tall guy with the beard and the shorter geeky guy with glasses).

Tags: BBS, BBS06, Blog Business Summit

 

For those of you looking for rules (I hate that word–how about “guidelines?”), case studies and advice on how to market with blogs, you may want to clear your calendar for this Thursday, July 27th at 12pm EST.

Co-blogger Jeremy Wright is hosting Truths of Blog Marketing: Reaching Customers, Building Your Brand, a Web seminar for MarketingProfs.

The seminar goes for $99, or is free for Marketing Profs’ Premium Plus members. Another argument for becoming a member is Kelly Goto’s Tuesday, July 25th seminar: Demystifying Website Usability: Rapid Research for Marketers.

Onalytica has published the results of their analysis on the most influential authorities on “blog marketing”. The top 20 influential sites/blogs include:

• New York Times
• Josh Hallett – hyku
• Seth Godin
• Steve Rubel – Micropersuasion
• Businessweek
• ClickZ
• Wired
• Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman – Next Level Biz Tips
• WebProNews
• Danny Sullivan – Search Engine Watch
• Fast Company
• Lee Odden – Top Rank Results
• Marketing Sherpa
• Darren Rowse – Problogger
• AllBusiness.com
• Hugh Mac Leod – Gaping Void
• Jeff Jarvis – Buzz Machine
• Ben McConnel and Jackie Huba – Church of the Customer
• Mitch Joel – Twist Image
• Steve Hall – Adrants

Business Blog Consulting alumni Steve Rubel was listed and I’m happy to report current contributor Josh Hallett of hyku and my own company TopRank were listed as well.

The analysis focuses on influence and popularity showing that the most popular authorities are not necessarily the most influential. Popularity was measured by the number of referrers and influence was measure by the authority of the referrers.

Limiting the measure of popularity to link referrers seems a bit simplistic. Traffic would appear to be a logical factor as well.

In the previous analysis on the most influential authorities on “business blogs” (full report pdf), Business Blog Consulting was listed as the fourth most influential sandwiched between BusinessWeek and CNN.

TypePad must really like the blogger line-up at Business Blog Consulting. We hit the jackpot this week. Rich Brook’s Flyte is the featured blog today.

Congrats! Rich. By the way, if you miss the write-up on the home page (6/8), catch it on the archives.

A quick (unsolicited) kudo to our own Toby Bloomberg; her Diva Marketing Blog is TypePad’s Featured Blog of the Day today (6/5/08.)

Great job, Toby!

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

I just realized this site recently passed its second anniversary (born sometime in March 2004). Hooray for us!

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

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

It’s easy to get started blogging…today’s blogging software is inexpensive, easy-to-learn, and does most of the heavy lifting for you.

However, it’s a lot more difficult to build a successful blog: one that attracts prospects and clients, establishes you as an expert or an industry leader, and helps you attain search engine "findability."

There’s some great advice out there for big companies and CEO’s who want to blog; just check out Debbie Weil’s BlogWrite for CEOs. However, when you’re a small business owner like me, not all the advice is directly transferable.

I wish the "today" me could go back and talk to the "then" me and give him (me?) some good advice on business blogging. It would have saved me a lot of time and frustration over the past year.

If you’re interested in learning from my mistakes, check out The 11 Biggest Mistakes Small Business Bloggers Make. (Email registration required.)

Plus, if you’ve got some of your own mistakes that you’d like to share, please take advantage of our comments and trackbacks below. After all, failure (or a mistake) is a much better teacher than success.

One of the great things about participating in a three-day conference like Blog Business Summit is meeting in the flesh people you’ve been interacting with online. (I ran a session featuring dueling corporate blogs: GM’s Fastlane blog vs. Intuit’s QuickBooks Online blog.)

Dave Tayor, who ran the BBS’s popular Blogging 101 pre-conference session, has penned a thoughtful article on this topic: The Critical Business Value of Attending Conferences. BTW, it’s been hugely fun for me to meet Dave in person for the first time after several years of email correspondence.

In addition, I’ve had the chance to meet a handful of whip-smart A-list women bloggers. In no order, a tip of the hat to Mary Hodder, Sally Falkow, Laurie Mayers, Rebecca Blood, Molly Holzschlag and Evelyn Rodriguez – all of whom presented at BBS. It’s been a thrill…

Man, I am a bad blogger. I spent much of the evening last night spamming marketing bloggers about a new report I’ve just finished writing. What was striking is how much more frequently they all blog than I do.

Ah well. Here’s what I’ve been busy with lately, anyway: The Decade in Online Advertising (PDF | landing page), a wide-ranging retrospective of the development of the web marketing industry. Needless to say there is a section on blogs. It’s free to download.

For a sample chart (my favorite), click here.

Oops. I just realized the first post (nothing special) to this blog was March 19, 2004.

I realized that I should probably note that fellow site poster Todd S. and I are both speaking on a blog panel at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association‘s debut conference next week (Tues. & Wed.) in Chicago, in case any of you faithful readers were planning on attending. Should be fun. We just had a productive call about it. Deborah Schultz, marketing director for Six Apart, will also be on the panel. We’re actually planning to blog a bunch of resources here just before our panel on Wednesday morning, so stay tuned.

Here’s a clue that WOMMA "gets it": the site has a Press Pass Policy page that reads, in part:

This event is being held in a small venue with limited seating. We have
reserved 20 seats for press and bloggers. Priority will be given to
reporters with media credentials and full-time bloggers who are coming
as journalists primarily to learn and cover the event.

I suspect they’ve long ago since given out those few passes, but don’t you like that the policy applies equally to bloggers? Except, "full-time bloggers" pretty much narrows the field. I mean, Jeff Jarvis and Steve Rubel and Glenn Reynolds and Markos Moulitsas Zúniga and most of the rest of us aside from Jason Kottke have full-time jobs. I presume it’s more a polite way of saying, "Sorry, you don’t get enough traffic" to all the wannabees. Fair enough.