David Cortriss of Revenue magazine recently interviewed me about the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, a project that intends to make it easier to calculate sales tax in various venues, including online. While it’s not news that people are trying to simplify pieces of our incredibly byzantine tax codes, it’s worth noting that the Streamlined Sales Tax agreement is already winding its way through quite a few state legislatures.

David’s question to me about the Streamlined Sales Tax has led me to reconsider one of the sacred cows of the Internet, taxation of Internet purchases.

In a nutshell, I believe that it’s high time for us to reconsider the Internet Sales Tax with the triple whammy of the war in Iraq and the widespread devastation left in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. But there are even more important reasons why it’s time for us to enact taxation of Internet purchases…

Let me start by quoting myself, from the interview:

Q: Are Internet taxes a good thing or a bad thing? What will the overall impact be? Who benefits and who loses?

A: I’d like to see Internet taxes, actually. At this point in the evolution of the Web and online shopping, it’s hard to truly justify that online companies need special advantages to continue growing. A flat tax, perhaps at the 5% rate, that applied across all in-state and interstate commerce would be the most logical, truly simplifying the tax burden while generating tens of millions of dollars in city, county, state and national revenue.

Who will benefit? All of us. Not only will…

You may already be familiar with the concept of character blogging, where the blog is actually a fictitious charcter, such as a cartoon character from a cereal box, or a doll perhaps.

I think an interesting twist to this concept would be to have an historical character blogging from the past, as if it were the present day. I think American Girl, with their dolls from various historical periods would make for excellent character bloggers.

As a step in that direction, American Girl has recently launched a Felicity Blog. Felicity is a doll set in the time of the American Revolution. I think it would be a great idea for Felicity and the other dolls to be speaking to girls from the past.

American Girl is done a little bit differently though than a character blog. One of their editors poses questions Felicity faces, and also deals with themes/issues that are relevant to girls today, and asks girls to say what they think Felicity should do.

This Felicity blog doesn’t really give the impression of a character blog, but it is certainly very successful in soliciting comments from readers, with over 250 comments for their first blog post. That is really impressive!

Maybe there are some lessons here to be learned for business bloggers in how to engage with their community of consumers as successfully as American Girl seems to do.

An old industry acquaintance Jason Throckmorton, who reminds me he once did PR for Flycast (there’s a blast from the past!), writes me to ask help promoting a client’s survey about corporate blogging. I get a fair number of requests to link to surveys on this topic, not all of which I bother with, but this one looks interesting, particularly given that the producers of BlogOn are behind it. Jason writes:

I’m writing to give you a heads up about a survey focused on corporate blogging that Guidewire Group (producers of BlogOn) is doing with one of our clients called iUpload. We’re asking folks like yourself with strong ties to the blogging/marketing/PR communities to help spread the word.

We¹re going to be announcing highlights of the survey at next month’s BlogOn conference. The goal is to shed light on market demand for corporate blogging solutions, emerging best practices and the role of blogs in key enterprise functions, as well as to identify barriers inhibiting adoption in the marketplace. Obviously, lots of overlap with what you’re covering.

In addition to directly receiving the highlights of the survey, participants can also register for a chance to win an iPod nano or a complimentary pass to the event.

Over at the Burning Door, FeedBurner has announced PingShot, a new service that notifies aggregators and search engines when your feed has been updated. On the post there is an FAQ about the new service.

A quick check of my FeedBurner account shows the new option (click image for larger version):

The default services listed are Technorati and My Yahoo. You can check PubSub, Ping-o-matic and NewsGator and then add up to three other services which include: Feedster, Icerocket and Weblogs.com.

If you have a FeedBurner account you will need to activate this service via your control panel. Outside services such as web directories and search tools may submit their name to receive notifications of updates.

Not soon after I posted It’s the End of the Blogosphere As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), I read this article at Wired called Can Bloggers Strike it Rich?

Jason Calacanis, founder of Weblogs, claims his writers make $200 – $3,000 each month. "Think a scuba diver or video-game player making $500 to $1,500 a month writing about scuba diving or video games."

Hmmm…maybe he should read Dr. Del’s article on video game networks.

In any case, read both sides of the story and make up your own mind.

Dr. Del Dhanoa posted an interesting article called The Implosion of the Blogosphere.

In it, he’s not predicting the end of blogging, or really even the blogosphere, but rather the way some bloggers make a living.

He uses the history of the video game networks, i.e., Gamespy, as a way of extrapolating what may happen to blogging networks such as WeblogsInc.com, Gawker Media and the like.

In short, he’s concerned that like video game networks, blogging
networks will accelerate the boom/bust cycle, paying bloggers more and
more money to jump ship, driving up ad rates, until the bottom drops
out. Basically, he’s warning against speculation.

It’s an interesting idea, and the article is well written. I’m currently reading "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister,"
which is told from the perspective of Cinderella’s sister, and takes
place during the tulip bust that destroyed many fortunes in Holland and
beyond. I think it’s safe to say that whatever the market is,
speculation is a risky business that ends in a zero sum game, or worse.

For me, personally, and for most of the business bloggers out there,
we’re blogging for our business, not for a network. Whether blogging
networks succeed or fail in the long run, the blogosphere and blogging
should continue as long as businesses are interested in connecting with
their prospects and clients.

I just bumped into a splendid example of how at least one smart company in the senior healthcare space is monitoring the world of blogs and closing the loop with customer commentary.

My friend and colleague Jeff Miller runs the Senior Safety Blog which focuses on issues of dealing with health and safety for, you guessed it, senior “citizens.” While this could be just a litany of products for sale or a depressing series of updates on people who are slowly becoming more infirm and dying, in fact it’s interesting and worth reading for both seniors and those who are involved in senior care.

In a recent posting with the rather wordy title A walking cane helped Edie with her walking problem, wheelchairs helped…how about a Hugo?, one of the contributors on Jeff’s Weblog, Ellen Sacks, wrote:

“I don’t know about you, but I watch those shopping channels. I guess I don’t really watch, I flip the remote to a shopping channel during commercials. So, I’m flipping and I see the perfect walking companion for Edie. The Hugo. The Hugo is a small cart with four wheels, a padded seat with a basket underneath to carry your essentials. It also has hand brakes that lock so it’s steady when you sit down…”

This was posted back on August 24th, and about three weeks later here’s the comment that appeared on the weblog…

I know we have been singing the praises of the new ping service called Pingoat but I recently discovered they have added another very useful service.

Fill out a simple form and Pingoat will create (and even FTP to your site)an XML Google sitemap. See for yourself.

If attendance at the "Blogs, Podcasts and RSS" breakout session at last week’s Shop.org annual summit in Las Vegas is any indication of retailers’ receptiveness to blogging, the room was full and the retailers were a captive audience. Yes it helped that one of the panelists, my client CEO blogger Steve Spangler, made his wallet catch on fire, made snow erupt from a beaker, and showed how to cause an fizzy eruption of carbon dioxide with Mentos and Diet Coke. (Did I mention he’s a trained magician, professional speaker, and Emmy-award winning television personality? …in addition to being an inventor, cataloger, entrepreneur, CEO,…)  Anyways, electrifying performances aside, the retailers on my panel — eHobbies, Ice.com, and SteveSpanglerScience.com — all gave compelling evidence for the value of blogging to retailers, and for Steve, even taking it further and bringing podcasting and vodcasting into the mix.

You’ll want to check out the panel’s Powerpoint deck for charts of blog-related revenue growth and other goodies. Steve shared that 13% of online revenue is attributable to his blog. Not bad!

I’ve also blogged a recap of the session here.

Quick: if you’re part of a mailing list and there’s a splendid discussion, a really informative back and forth dialog that transpires, can you copy and paste both sides of the discussion on your weblog without requesting permission?

This very topic arose on the LinkedIn Bloggers mailing list — a list that has some minimal member requirements and closed list archive — and generated what I thought was a surprisingly wide range of answers.

I spent some time on list trying to clarify my own thoughts on this matter, detailing where I believe it’s acceptable to quote others without permission and when I believe it’s imperative that you seek and receive permission before quoting even a single sentence. I’d like to include my thoughts here on my weblog too, for more general reference purposes and to hopefully spawn some dialog on this topic too.

The discussion started out with the following question…

“I presume everyone agrees that you have a right to post a conversation to a blog entry [where you were one of the participants]. How do you handle the other person’s part of the conversation? Do you ask permission? Do you attribute? Do you notify them?”

Here’s my response…

Microsoft has taken a number of hits over the last dozen or so years. From viruses and security issues to being declared an illegal monopoly and more recent executive outbursts, the company has given vocal critics more than enough to talk about.

It may surprise you to find out, though, that one of Microsoft’s most vocal critics is an actual Microsoft employee. And he has a blog. Mini-Microsoft is written anonymously be a current Microsoft employee.

This month, he gets called "Microsoft’s ‘Deep Throat’" by BusinessWeek, in a decidedly un-chilly expose.

Mini’s often critical, always honest and generally passionate posts go from saying Steve Ballmer should resign and the company needs a complete restructuring to a recent post where Mini crows that "it is a heel-clicking time to re-energize and re-focus on who we are and the great potential we have."

Why does he write a blog which is so openly critical of Microsoft? Well, to quote the BusinessWeek interview: "Sometimes you have to destroy the village in order to save it."

More and more companies are contemplating whether they should start a business blog, it seems appropriate to shed more light on marketing considerations for blogs. While business blog marketing effectiveness can be improved in many ways, here are three fundamental considerations: content, frequency and distribution.

Content – Know your audience. Your blog posts must be
interesting and useful to your readers. Develop your unique voice and
don’t be afraid to post things others will not agree to.

Frequency of posts are important as there
is a direct correlation to blog popularity and frequency of posts. Post
3-5 times per week at a minimum. Consumers of information are beginning
to realize  only a fraction of sites are updated in search engines
every day, but that blog and RSS search engines like Google Blog Search, Technorati, Bloglines and Feedster are update hourly.

Distribution of your blog is important. A common issue from
people new to blogs and RSS feeds is where to find them. Marketing a
blog brings additional advantages over a traditional web site. A blog
and associated RSS/Atom feed can be promoted within the blogoshpere as
well as through traditional directories, search engines and web site
linking. The opportunity for blog exposure is much greater than a
regular web site alone. Make it easy for news feed subscribers to find
your blog through both web site search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) and
RSS search engines (Google Blog Search, Bloglines, Feedster,
Technorati).

Here’s a list of search engines and directories lists and a list of Blog/Blog and RSS directories for submissions. Also, be sure to ping regularly with services like Pingomatic, Pings or Pingoat.

A list of additional blog optimization and marketing tips can be found at this recent post from Online Marketing Blog.

I’ve been trying to figure out all the mysterious jargon of the blogosphere, and one that’s got me stumped is blogroll. Dave, what’s a blogroll?

I’m with you, it’s amazing how many different bits of jargon have now invaded the world of the Web with the increased popularity of weblogs. Fortunately, blogrolls are pretty easily defined:

A blogroll is a list of other weblogs that a given blogger either subscribes to or recommends.

Pop over to my colleague Debbie Weil’s terrific Blogwrite for CEOs, for example, and down the right column Debbie has a list of “CEO Blogs”, her first blogroll, and then below it (and below her advert) is “Corporate Blogs”, a second blogroll. Then there’s “Other Blog Resources” and “Other Smart Blogs”, for a total of four blogrolls on the same Weblog.

Other bloggers approach blogrolls differently. Pop over to Paul Chaney’s Radiant Marketing Group site and you’ll find his blogroll is called “Recommended Sites”, and it’s, again, on the far right side of the page. Halley Suitt’s Halley’s Comment weblog has two blogrolls, this time on the left side, called “New Blogs” and “Blogs”. VC and blogger Brad Feld’s Feld Thoughts has “Blogs I Read” on the lower left of the page.

There are some tools that are popular for managing blogrolls, notably Blogrolling, but many weblog authors just manage their own as a simple list of hypertext references.

When asked why have a blogroll, most bloggers I know, whether business bloggers or casual, hobbyist bloggers, answer that…

Here’s the back-story about the Chrysler Group Media Blog, The Firehouse.biz, direct from "mysource" at Chrysler who has asked to remain anonymous.

Chrysler’s business strategy was to create a blog to support their on-line "press only" site. As mysource pointed out, "press only" sites are common practice within the automotive industry. I must admit, I had no clue about that one and it seemed odd to me.

However, I did a few Google searches and found some "press only" sites from a few of the big guns in the auto biz. The language says loud and clear KEEP OUT. And we wonder why so many
dealerships stink at customer service. Must be a culture thing.

Toyota: You have entered a section of The Pressroom that requires a user name
and password. Some sections of this site are reserved for use by
members of the print, broadcast or electronic media.

Ford:
(Supporting information is required to obtain media access)

Honda:

If you are not a journalist, your application will not be approved.
Please do not fill out this form unless you are a journalist. All
applications will be verified prior to approval.

When I asked "mysource" why Chrysler didn’t jump in on the
blogosphere conversation and explain their position he assured me that
someone who had access to their blog was sure to do that. I didn’t get
this one either. Why would you want to depend
on the kindness of reporters when you have the opportunity to speak for
yourself?

"Mysource" was right. BlogWorks and Adrants
and picked up the post written by Jason Vines, vp of communications at
Chrysler and added their own spin. Be it good..bad..or indifferent.
That the point is Chrysler missed a chance to participate in the
discussion – to tell their story in their way.

Now I don’t have a real problem, as some might, with closed blogs.
What frustrated me was completing an application, in good faith, to
gain access to the blog and then being told I wasn’t part of the
in-crowd.

From my point, the entrance page doesn’t tell you that the blog is for the media
only. I assumed that the name the  "Chrysler Group Media Blog" referred
to a multi author blog written by the media group. [Cool, thought I.
Some PR folks who are getting it.]

"Mysource" agreed that might
be a valid point and would take it up the food chain. Seems to me all
this could have been avoided if Chrysler had simply put access to the
blog within their "press only" site. But then again…they wouldn’t
have the buzzzz.

Lessons Learned: If you have a closed blog keep don’t make the entrance page public.

Chrysler welcome to the blogosphere!

I just noticed this panel at NY AdTech, Nov. 7th:

Creating and Distributing A Corporate Blog

Many
companies are creating blogs to connect with their customers. Should
you have one? And if you do, are you doing it “right?� Should you
provide an RSS feed for your blog and how does that work? While you may
own and run your blog, you need to think of this as your contribution
to a much larger ‘discussion’, i.e. it’s about the blogosphere not the
blog. It’s about participation vs. publishing with links. Corporate
blogs can effectively promote organizational messages, information and
ideals. They are great for feedback and for keeping fresh information
in front of your most influential customers. Find out the magic do’s
and don’t and how to get started.

MODERATOR:
Michael McGuire, Research Director, Gartner Group

SPEAKERS:
Michael Terpin, Chairman & CEO, Terpin Communications Group
Pauline Ores, Web Marketing Strategist, IBM.com
Stowe Boyd, President, Corante
Michael Wiley, Director, New Media, GM Communications

Don’t think you need to publish full-text RSS feeds? Think again.

Looking at the Search Engine Watch review of Google Blog Search:

Google’s blog search indexes all of the content it finds in feeds, but does not attempt to access and index the full content available on a publisher’s web server.

One more reason why you should consider publishing full-text feeds.

Chrysler has launched a blog for the working press. Can’t help but wonder what are behind those firewalls that can’t be let out to Chryslers’ customers. If any bonafide ‘working press’ people register would love your take on the new blog.

Thanks for your interest in TheFirehouse.biz, the Chrysler Group’s
media-only blog.  We will issue media registration rights to members of
the working press only.  A member of the working press is one who is
paid as an employee,freelancer who regularly contributes, or
representative of a known and established media organization
(newspaper, magazine, television, radio, etc.) If you would like to
resubmit your registration, we would be happy to reconsider it.

[itv] is combing new ‘old media’ – eMail – with new ‘new media’ – podcasts. Podcasts are integrated into  an email. Of course, you can also download the ‘old-fashioned’ way via the [itv] website/blog.

Great way to add more value to your email newsletters and
differentiate from the clutter…at least for now. If you want a forward of the newsletter (you can subscribe for free) drop a comment and I’ll email it to you.

Dave, I’m very excited! Finally, Google’s unveiled its blog search system, called, ingeniously enough Google Blog Search, and I want to learn all about how to use it. You ready to take on that challenge?

I’m also excited about this. Finally, we can sidestep slow and primitive RSS and Weblog search engines like Technorati and Feedster and instead tap into the amazing speed that is the underlying Google technology.

However, it’s still Google, so it’s still leaning on the complex side. Let’s have a look…

First off, basic searches are easy enough. Want to see where I’m mentioned in the blogosphere? Search for “Dave Taylor”: you can obviously make the appropriate tweaks to search on your name instead, if you’re so inclined. Want to see what parenting weblogs are out there? That’s particularly easy now, just search for Parenting. Curious about what the blogosphere is buzzing about Voice Over IP telephones? That’s another easy search: voip.

But this is Google, so now, finally, you can use more sophisticated search patterns too. Instead of just searching for “voip”, let’s try a more sophisticated OR search

No surprise here – only wondering what took them so long.

The interface is typically Google and the results are a bit odd but hey, it’s Google.

Google Blog Search