Written on January 26th, 2005 at 09:01 am by Darren Rowse
Google testing ‘new’ user activated ads on Adsense
The Adsense community are in a bit of a tizz at the moment over testing of a ‘new’ ad feature whereby readers get to choose their own advertisements. In actual fact this is not a ‘new’ testing that Adsense are doing at all - I observed it back in October on one test site that I watch - if only they’d been reading enternetusers! :-)
See some more of the current discussion and observations at:
- Webmaster World - Site visitors able to tweak Publishers Adsense blocks
- Inside Google - Google Testing True User-Specified Ads
- SEO Round Table: Google Beta Tests New AdSense Ads
- Jermy Zawodny - Google’s Per-User Adsense Tweaking
- pc4media - Search Adsense Ads from your Website
Written on January 26th, 2005 at 01:01 am by Darren Rowse
CSS Vault is Sold for Five Figure Amount
Big Money Tips today announced that he’s sold one of his flagship blogs - the CSS Vault.
‘When I created the CSS Vault I didn’t even plan on making any money from it let alone sell it. Things just happened to work out the right way in the end. Dumb luck. Later this week I will go more into detail the reasons for selling as opposed to keeping it from a business perspective.’
As usual with these types of sales the amount has not been revealed except to say that it was a five figure money - between $10,000 and $99,999.
This is the second such public sale for a blogger in the past few months with Jeremy selling his back in September. I’m sure its something we’ll see more of but I am still left wondering how does one make the decision as to how much to sell their blog for?
Written on January 26th, 2005 at 01:01 am by Darren Rowse
Estimating what the Big bloggers earn from Blogads
Right Wing News has done some estimates on what they think some of the bigger blogs are making from Blogads on a weekly basis. The estimates are rough and they admit they are probably over estimates as Blogads do take 20% in commissions and it doesn’t take into consideration advertisers buying long ads (which are usually discounted) and it wouldn’t take into consideration the free ads that some bloggers use. On the flip side of course, these numbers are conservative in their overall earnings as many of them use other advertising also such as Adsense, affiliates, private ads etc.
Having made all those disclaimers this is an interesting analysis. Here are the top 10 on this list of estimates of Blogads weekly earnings (check here for their complete list):
Daily Kos:$6800
Talking Points Memo: $2900
Instapundit: $2125
Eschaton: $2000
Andrew Sullivan: $2400
Hugh Hewitt: $1500
Political Animal: $1430
The Smirking Chimp: $1350
Wonkette: $1150
Political Wire: $1100
Written on January 25th, 2005 at 02:01 pm by Darren Rowse
Shady or Superior Adsense Integration?
Big Money Tips points to an interesting use of Adsense on a site. It is a fine line as to what these guys are doing with their third ad on the page which is very blended into the site and almost invisable at a first glance (there are three ads on the page - all quite different in their presentation). As Big Money Tips writes - is this superior or shady use of Adsense?
Written on January 25th, 2005 at 01:01 pm by Darren Rowse
Searches on “Blogs” and “Blogging” up by 10% on Yahoo
Yahoo Buzz Reports that blogging has continued to climb the most search for words rankings:
Blogging continues its march on the mainstream. It’s considered essential to consume a steady diet of weblogs to keep up with what’s hot on the Web. Searches on “blogs” and “blogging” are still surging and both are up over 10% over the past week. We’ve seen political blogs, MP3 blogs, and food blogs all spike at various times over the last half-year. ‘
Read more at Yahoo! Buzz Index - Buzz Log - Blog-o-riffic!
Written on January 25th, 2005 at 12:01 pm by Darren Rowse
A List of Business Blogs
Over at the Blogathon last week the guys at Inside Blogging generously commissioned me to come up with a list of as many ‘Business Blogs‘ as I could find. I thought I’d post the list here also as its relevant to this blog. See below the list for my struggle to define ‘business blog’ which will partially explain the odd collection I’ve assembled here so far which includes numerous businesses that blog but also a few blogs about business (if you get my distinction. I’ve tried to keep the more pure ones (ie businesses that blog) in the top end of the list.
- Northfield Construction Company - Northfield Construction Company’s blog for news and updates.
- Wool Winders - a great blog of a Knitting Salon.
- Signs never sleep - Lincoln Sign Company’s blog.
- The tinbasher blog - a company blog to help customers learn more about Planters Direct and its parent company Butler Sheetmetal.
- Rococo - the blog of Rococo Software.
- Nooked - the blog of Nooked, a service helping companies with their RSS feeds.
- Conference Calls Unlimited blog.
- Stonyfield farm blog - another great example of a business using a blog - Stonyfield farm.
- GM Blog - the much publicized ‘Fastlane’ blog from GM.
- Cape Science Weblog - the blog of Cape Science, a Web Services Developer Community.
- BizNet Travel’s Blog.
- Ofoto Blog - the blog of Ofoto - a service of Kodak.
- Air Conditioning Contrators of America - the blog of an association of Air Con Contractors.
- Boeing’s new blog - the blog of Randy Beler - Vice President for marketing at Boeing.
- Ford Mustang Blog - a group blog with contributions from various Ford employees.
- Jewel Boxing - a blog documenting the process of starting an online business (Jewel Boxing) from scratch.
- American Marketing Association - another association blog.
- Capulet Communications - A weblog about professional communication from Capulet Communications.
- Security Awareness a blog for Winn Schwartau’s Security Awareness Company.
- RealBlog - Blog of Tom Hanna - Real Estate Agent.
- Ohio University Library - the Business Blog of a library.
- File on Business Blog - Blog of File on Business Solutions.
- Bplans Blog - a blog on business plans by a business planning software company: Palo Alto Software.
- 800-CEO-READ - blog of book supplier - 800-CEO-READ.
- Trademark Blog - a blog from the law offices of Schwimmer and Associates.
- Big Blog Company - a company blog of a blogging company.
- About Product Weblogs
- Skybox by Maytag
- Prospect Research Blog
- Perception Analyzer
- trade show industry
- Shared Space
- Cool Business Ideas
- Trader Mike
- The Barter Blog
- Real lawyers have blogs
Additions to the list:
- Cudgeland - A blog about Weddings and party-planning from the folks at Cudge (suggested by Mark).
- Paper-Source - with 5 staff blogs (suggested by Mark).
- Benjamin Christie - Australian Chef Consultant
- Vic Cherikoff’s Blog - of Vic Cherikoff Food Services and Dining Downunder
- Atomic Books
- Blog Kits Corporate Blog
- Innovation Tools
- English Cut - an English Tailor’s Blog
Other Lists of Business/Corporate Blogs
- Corporate Blogging - European Corporate Blogs - this is actually another list of ‘corporate blogs’ from Europe which I figured I will list instead of listing each of the many blogs on it. Suggested by the globally minded Hans.
As i mentioned above - I struggled a little with the creation of this list (which I invite you to add to in comments below) because of the term ‘business blog’. How should we define it?
There are many ways one could answer this question. Broadly speaking it could be defined as any or all of the following:
1. a blog that has content on business topics (ie marketing, PR, advertising, real estate, law, finance etc)
2. a blog that has a direct income stream and that is a business in and of itself (ie through advertising or affiliate programs)
3. a blog that promotes a person and thereby opens up opportunities for them to earn an income in some indirect way (eg as a consultant, speaker etc)
4. a blog that is attached to a business either as a promotional/informational too or as a tool to enhance that business in some other way. It may not be an income earner in and of itself but it is a dynamic part of a business (eg an internal blog between staff or a customer service blog to keep clients up to date on progress of projects etc).
So which one is it - or is it all of the above - or something else….
I tend to define it more as the last point - businesses that blog (but am not too hard and fast on this). However having defined it this way I had a difficult time finding too many businesses engaged in blogging (apart from blog consultants, blog tool providers etc).
I could have linked to hundreds and hundreds of blogs from the first three categories (and have included a few) but finding blogs that were more attached to existing businesses were harder to find. I suspect this is partly because some of these blogs are internal and therefore private blogs, but I also wonder if despite all the talk and articles that are going around the blogosphere at the moment about business blogging whether there is actually a lack of working models already in place.
It is early days for business blogging but and I do see its potential but perhaps at the moment there is more ‘talk’ about business blogging than there is actual action. I’m sure this will change and I’m looking forward to seeing this list of business blogs grow. Feel free to submit your suggestions below in comments.
Written on January 25th, 2005 at 08:01 am by Darren Rowse
Business Blog Summit Live Commentaries
I’m sure there are many people blogging live from the Business Blog Summit. Seeing as though those of us who are not there don’t seem to be able to participate in any other way (no feeds and the IRC channel is just full of people not there asking the two that are what is going on no) I thought I’d start to compile a list of bloggers that are doing some live commentaries (or at least making a bit of noise from within the heart of the conference) of the sessions. Feel free to add yours if you’re doing some:
- Jeff Barr’s Blog - some pretty comprehensive summaries of each session so far
- Common Craft (who has also set up a wiki for the conference)
- The Blog Post
- Chris Pirillo
- Daren Barefoot
- Will Pate
- Ratcliffe Blog
- Buzz Marketing With Blogs
- Qumana
- Blogosphere News
I’m sure there is more - will keep adding them as they are found
I have to say that so far in reading the commentaries that the depth of topic covered is not quite what I expected so far. Perhaps its hard to convey it in writing but its a little more on the ‘entry level’ side of things in the first few sessions - I guess this is understandable as an introduction to a conference. I’m yet to stop in my tracks as I read and go ‘wow’….rewind….got to read that again! Maybe its that I just got up and need another coffee but perhaps this conference is aiming more at those beginning their business blogging journeys? Interested in the opinions of those who are there.
I am very much looking forward to hearing about the session on ‘The Entrepreneurial Blog: Monetizing Your Interests’ by Brian Alvey and Glenn Fleishman later today though - should be some good information in that.
Written on January 24th, 2005 at 03:01 pm by Darren Rowse
Waiting for Blog Business Summit News
Is anyone else feeling they are missing something by not being able to get to the Blog Business Summit?
One of the things I love so much about blogging is that it is such a global medium and so accessible to such a large proportion of the world*. This particularly appealed to me as an Australian who loves to communicate and network with other fellow enthusiasts in my fields of interest from around the world - but who finds himself with a limited capacity to travel regularly. In most cases blogging has crossed the borders brilliantly but on occasions it unfortunately does not.
Conferences such as the Blog Business Summit are one time when I feel the isolation the most. There has been talk of a couple of Aussie blogging conferences in the next few months but I’d really love to get to Seattle this year to put faces, voices, handshakes to the names and ramblings of a few of my favorite blogs. There is nothing like those face to face encounters to take your online friendship and working relationships to the next level.
I was hoping that there might have been some sort of audio or even video feeds from the event but at this point it doesn’t seem like there is any. I’ll have to live vicariously through blogs themselves or the IRC channel that Robert Scoble has put up.
Anyway - enough of my whining - I’ll be keeping up to date with the latest through some of these blogs no doubt:
Paul Chaney
Todd at A Penny For
Business Logs
Scoble
Steve
Common Craft
The Blog Post
Tom Peters
*I know that it doesn’t really cross all economic divides as its still a pretty middle and upper class thing with it being essential that you live in a location that has access to the internet and a computer - however there are now bloggers in most (if not all) countries in the world.
Written on January 24th, 2005 at 02:01 pm by Darren Rowse
Trend Watching Websites and RSS Feeds
One skill that I think is vitally important for Professional Bloggers is the ability to keep up to date with the latest trends. So much of blogging is being able observe and even anticipate what people are interested in or looking for and providing appropriate content to meet there needs in a timely manner. Trend watching is therefore something we should either be Actively doing ourselves or at the very least outsourcing to someone else to do for us.
In many regards almost every blog being tracked on my RSS feed list is a vital part of my trend watching but I also read quite a number of other specific trend sites to help me keep my finger on the pulse. Some of the more recent sites that I watch daily that specifically are looking at the latest trends in a number of industries are as follows (I’ve included RSS feeds of those that have them but unfortunately most dont seem to have caught onto that trend yet!:
- Small Business Trends - which as the name suggests keeps an eye on the latest trends and influences of the global small business market (RSS).
- PSFK - a collaborative trend spotting site run by a number of bloggers from around the globe (RSS).
- Trend Central - Tracking trends across topics of Lifestyle, Style, Entertainment and Technology (no RSS).
- Herman Group - Trend Alert - looking at trends across a number of fields in this weekly column (no RSS).
- Trend Watching - A blog-like site with trends from around the globe across a number of fields (no RSS).
- Google Zeitgeist - Tracking what people search for on Google (RSS)
- Yahoo Buzz Index - Tracking what people are searching for on Yahoo (RSS)
- Trends in Japan - Tracking the latest fads in Japan across different areas (no RSS)
- Trend Report - Mainly Consumer trends (no RSS)
- Trend Mag - Tracking a variety of trends (no RSS)
I’m interested to know what trends you watch for your blogging and what online (and offline) sources you use?
Written on January 23rd, 2005 at 11:01 am by Darren Rowse
Expectations of a Professional Blogger
I recently asked readers for questions for my upcoming interviews with Professional bloggers. Bobby Masteria asked:
‘Ask long time enternetuserss what have been their fears, hopes and expectations.’
It is certainly a question I will ask in the interviews I do - but I thought I’d also answer it here for myself. I’ll start in this post with some of my ‘expectations’.
The last two years of blogging has been a whirlwind for me. I’ve learnt so much and seen so many changes in the blogosphere. I sometimes find myself staring in a daze at my powerbook’s screen wondering what the next year or two will bring. As I’ve said before - my mind boggles at where we are headed as a community of bloggers and I hardly know where or how to begin in describing my expectations. Let me give a few:
1. Blogging Tools and Services continue to grow. You would not believe how long it used to take me to write and format a blog post. Back when I started (just over two years ago) I used Blogger which for its time was a good system - but as a Mac user it was very time consuming as formatting had to all be done in long hand (ie I had to put in all of the tags for bold, italics, links etc). These days I use a wonderful tool by the name of Ecto (yes I do tend to rave about it) which has cut my blogging time down to a fraction of what it was. I discovered Ecto just before the Olympic games which was very fortunate for the upkeep of our Athens Blog. At the peak of the games I was able to add 15 - 20 posts an hour using Ecto (mainly just quotes from and links to news articles from around the web). It also enabled me to write and save posts for later uploading from anywhere (as long as I had my laptop handy). Not only that I now write my posts in ‘What you see is what you get’ mode which makes formatting and uploading pictures a breeze.
Ecto is just one of many such systems out there which are making blogging more automated and a joy to do. Take a look at Technorati’s new Tags for another exciting development.
I suspect that the next 12 months will present us with tools that we can not even imagine that will take our professional (and hobby) blogging to an even higher level.
2. Professional Blogging will Boom. This is not really a prediction but rather is an observation of what is happening already. Even since starting enternetusers I’ve noticed an upswing in the usage of the term ‘enternetusers’, ‘professional blogging’ etc. More and more articles are being written on the topic (both for and against it), groups of pro bloggers are beginning to form and self organize, bloggers are starting blog consultancies, larger companies are starting blogs and it seems that even small hobby bloggers are exploring ways of finding revenue streams for their blogs. The spectrum of bloggers exploring the commercial aspects of blogging was always going to happen but it seems that the momentum is really starting to build.
3. The Rise of the Parasite Blogger - With the developments in blogging and RSS technology many of us who are attempting to make a living from blogging are noticing a disturbing trend in sites that attempt to hijack feeds and blogs content for their own commercial gain. I’m not talking here about taking a quote and giving an appropriate link to an article you may have written - rather I’m talking about sites who simply reproduce whole articles, and even whole blogs on their own domains with no permission and often with little or no acknowledgment of the source of the content. I expect that these parasite sites will increase in number and devious means and that there will be a need soon for some sort of a central body to represent the rights of individual bloggers who want to protect themselves from the exploitation of their work (which has the potential to be quite harmful).
This post was originally posted on Blogathon.
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