Written on May 20th, 2005 at 02:05 pm by Darren Rowse
Building Blogging Relationships
After writing Blogging in Formation - Lessons from a Goose I decided to continue the theme of building blogging relationships with a series of posts on that topic. Here is a central index of the posts I’ve done so far:
- Building Blogging Relationships - Attitude
- Availability and Accessibility
- Be a Good Guest
- Be a Good Host
- Positioning yourself at the Water Cooler
- Using Email
- Blog Projects and Memes
Written on May 20th, 2005 at 01:05 pm by Darren Rowse
Dashboard Widget - Adsense Statistics Checker
When I commented on the new OSX Tiger (for Mac) I commented that I’d love a dashboard widget that would check my Adsense stats. Well it seems someone else had the same idea and has just released one. It’s a great idea that I’m sure many Mac Adsense publishers will use - only problem is that it doesn’t seem to work yet. I’ve given it a go and get the same ‘undefined’ errors that someone else comments about. Anyway - I’m sure there will be a new version soon enough or someone else coming up with a better one.
Written on May 20th, 2005 at 12:05 pm by Darren Rowse
MyGoogle!?
It looks like Google are releasing something that sounds a lot like MyYahoo! that integrates a lot of their services onto a new personalized home page.
Initally planned for a June 30 launch, the new home page option, part of an internal project called “Fusion” aimed at better integrating Google’s various products, was pushed up for launch during Google’s “Factory Tour” for the press now taking place. As a result, universal RSS support is still a week opr two away. In the meantime, a few sources are getting a boost as the only news/info options beside Google News: Wired News, Slashdot, the New York Times, BBC News. Google exec Marissa Mayer, who introduced the product, said the company had been in touch with some news organizations about it and they are “quite pleased with it.” Users can see up to nine selections from each.
It’s pretty basic looking so far.
Written on May 20th, 2005 at 11:05 am by Darren Rowse
Blogging Workflow - Tabbed Browsing
Matthew posts a useful little tip for bloggers who are Firefox users - he’s been experimenting with the tabbed browsing feature to speed up his blogging workflow.
My Blogging WorkFlow - I use Safari as my browser of choice and similarly use tabs in conjunction with Bloglines to speed up my blogging process. In short my blogging workflow goes like this:
- Open Safari - open Bloglines in the first tab.
- As I work through my RSS feeds if I see something of interest that I might like to post I open it in a new tab
- I open up to 10 tabs at a time - usually on a similar theme. ie I have a folder for each blog I write and work through them one at a time.
- I then sort through each item - looking at them in each tab and decide if they are blog worthy or not. I close any that don’t make the grade.
- With the remaining ‘worthy’ posts I then post them using ecto. Sometimes this might entail grabbing a quote from the open tab (ecto does this with one click - it even automatically includes a link back to the source) and then adding a comment or my own opinion to the piece. Other times it is piece that is totally my own content with a link back to the post that inspired it.
- After each post I close down tabs.
This workflow is quick, clean (I only ever have one window open) and a simple process that is hard to mess up.
Other Uses for Tabbed Browsing - I also use tabbed browsing in a couple of other ways. I have a start up/stats folder that I open every month that automatically opens up all of my statistics pages in tabs. This includes a sitemeter counter for each of my blogs, my adsense stats, some overall domain stats pages and affiliate earnings pages. I open this collection of bookmarks in tabs first thing every morning and once or twice per day just to keep a finger on the pulse. It means I only take 4 or 5 minutes to check the performance of every blog and income stream.
I also have a similar collection of bookmarks for all my blogs front pages, another one for all my income streams stats pages and another for my top 10 or so sources of information that don’t use RSS.
What is your Blogging Workflow like?
Written on May 20th, 2005 at 06:05 am by Darren Rowse
Australian Blogging
Simon Canning wrote a feature in The Australian that touches a bit of blogging and advertising. It largely focuses upon MSN Spaces which it claims makes up a third of all Australian blogs (estimated at 360,000 in number).
I’m a bit skeptical of these figures and wonder how their source could ever get an accurate figure as so many blogs are run on.com,.net or other domains - and most are hosted outside Australia.
It’s good to see an article on blogging in an Aussie mainstream newspaper though - its just a pity that they focused so heavily upon what MSN are doing to make money off blogging and only got in touch with one of the ‘360,000 Aussie bloggers’ for a quick, end of article comment.
The article is better than nothing however - I need to stop being so cynical.
Written on May 20th, 2005 at 03:05 am by Darren Rowse
A Good Blog is…
Ken Smith from Weblogs in Higher Education has a good post where he attempts to describe a ‘good blog’ - he writes:
‘A good blog has a focus, a field or topic where the writer keeps up with what’s being said. The writer attends with interest to the work being done by others, and the writer’s thinking is provoked and advanced by the particulars of the work others are doing. The writer is generous with others, responding to their work and risking and sharing ideas with them in return. These values imply character on the part of the writer; anyone who writes seriously — has the character to keep at it — will develop a voice or style appropriate for the subject matter. This voice implies the writer’s character.’
I like what he’s included in this statement - it resonates with me on lots of levels. Particularly this statement about the ‘generosity with others’ and ‘risking and sharing ideas’ with others fits in nicely with my current series on relational blogging.
How would you define a good blog?
Written on May 20th, 2005 at 01:05 am by Darren Rowse
Innovative Blog Comment Systems
Wow - look at the innovations that are happening in comments systems at the moment - Peter from Almost Cool pointed me over to the beautifully designed snook.ca’s beautiful blog with its wonderful comments system. It has live preview of comments with yellow fade. Peter also points to the relational comments system over at 1976design.com which enables commenters to relationally link their comments to others in a visual way.
Looking at blogs like these with such wonderful design and innovative ideas just oozing out of them makes my mouth water some days - I can’t wait to see what they come up with next (and for them to roll out some of these systems for the rest of us!).
Written on May 19th, 2005 at 08:05 pm by Darren Rowse
Blogging in Formation - Lessons from a Goose
“Two Heads are better than one”…. or so the old saying goes.
I’ve been reflecting this week about the importance of relationships in blogging.
I met up with an old university friend this week for the first time since we studied marketing together - catching up stimulated me to begin thinking about the style of business we were taught. Whilst its a little fuzzy (we did spend a bit too much time in the pub) I do seem to remember sitting through lecturers that talked about competition and the ways to ‘beat your competitors’. The main thrust of a lot of what we were taught was to get ahead of the competition by developing the best products, getting the best people and accumulating the best information. The only interaction you’d have with competitors was when you were laying the boot into them (figuratively speaking). The motto was to win at all costs - me first - others second.
Blogging has reminded me of another way of doing business - an ancient way of actually connecting with others in your field and working together for the mutual good of both parties.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from blogging over the past year is that often its when I give something away that I gain the most. It is when I’ve linked to others, provided a way of highlighting the projects of fellow bloggers, when I’ve spent a couple of hours giving free advice to a new blogger or when I’ve shared my biggest secrets - these are the moments that often I end up in a time of real growth on my blogs.
A wise guy once said - ‘Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one; they get a better return for their labor.’
Warning: Tangent Ahead - Lessons from a Goose
Scientists have found that geese flying in formation can travel around 78% further in a session than geese flying solo. Working together on the task of flying is beneficial in a number of ways:
- Aerodynamic Formation - The V formation of geese is a way that maximizes the energy expended by those flying as part of it. The bird at the front of the flock breaks the air for those flying behind it and creates a slipstream for them to be dragged along in. The birds behind also help those in front as the upward motion of their wing also creates an upward draft that propels them forward. This push/pull relationship ensures all birds in the formation benefit from the work of others.
- Rotating Leadership - Even with the pushing effect of those behind it - the front bird uses the most energy and becomes tired more quickly than others. The geese know that and instinctively rotate leadership of the flock - allowing tired birds who have used a lot of energy for the sake of the flock to take a rest and be dragged a long for a while until it is there next turn up front.
- Dropping out of the Flock - as a result of sickness or injury a bird will occasionally begin to fall away from the flock - unable to keep up. Instead of allowing this bird to fly on alone - at least two others will always drop out of the flock with it. This ensures that the injured bird will be defended and cared for until it is ready to resume flying - and that it will fly on with the benefit of flying in formation.
- Power of the Honk - From the ground the V formation of the geese is a beautiful thing to watch - serenely gliding across the sky these birds look quite majestic and peaceful. However get up into the flock and you find its quite a noisy affair with the geese constantly honking at one another. There are numerous theories about this honking and it could be partly about letting each other know where they are so there is no midair collisions) but many believe that this honking is actually about creating an environment of success and mutual encouragement. It reminds me of when I used to play football at school and before the game would begin all the boys would gather in the locker room to whip themselves into a frenzy - shouting meaningless stuff about what they’d do to the opposition, slapping each other on the back (and bums) and basically creating an environment where we thought we could conquer the world.
As a result of some of these dynamics the geese can fly amazing distances without stopping for rest - so much further than if they tried to do it alone.
End of Tangent
Over the past couple of years I’ve noticed bloggers naturally gathering together in clusters (or flocks) around common themes and interests. In doing so they tap into some of the power of blogging in formation. They link to one another, stimulate and build upon each others thinking, encourage each other and even at times show real generosity to those who are struggling (in their blogging or real life). The result can be incredibly dynamic.
I’ve been a part of a variety of these clusters (around different topics) over the past couple of years and am amazed at how being a little intentional about getting alongside other bloggers to push or pull them forward can actually end up growing your blog incredibly.
The past few months have been wonderful as I’ve flown into a new flock of bloggers - blogging about professional blogging. This flock is a reasonably new one and is still finding its identity and rhythm of flight - but already I’m sensing the dynamics of the gees coming into play as bloggers grow in their trust for one another (you don’t just suddenly fly in formation - it takes practice - ask any fighter pilot). Over the past weeks I’ve seen bloggers almost fall out of formation, only to be propped up by others, I’ve seen bloggers honking loud encouragements to one another and really feel that our little flock is cutting into new ground.
Time will tell how far we’ll fly together but to be honest I’m feeling really excited about the community that is emerging.
I believe that as we work together and build relationships we can make a significant difference - not only on our own blogging and lives but upon the wider blogging community. Lets keep working at building relationships and working together, lets lend a hand to each other and each take on some responsibility for breaking new ground, lets watch out for those who are struggling and help them stay in touch and lets create an environment of success - honk a little - encourage another blogger - display a random act of blogging kindness and see how it helps us all to fly a little further.
Over the next few days I’m going to write a mini series of posts on how to build relationships with other bloggers (a couple of you have suggested this recently) - I really believe its one of the keys to a successful and profitable blog - stay tuned - and in the mean time - Blog like a Goose!
Read the full series on Building Blogging Relationships
Written on May 19th, 2005 at 11:05 am by Darren Rowse
Yahoo! Publisher’s Guide to RSS
Yahoo! have just released a helpful Publisher’s Guide to RSS which has comprehensive sections on Submitting RSS Feeds, promoting RSS feeds, Tracking Success and Monetizing RSS Feeds.
On the money side of things the page is just a place holder/teaser of what is to come. They write:
‘Yahoo! plans to introduce new products and services to support online publishers, including new publishing tools and advertising products.’
This is a good example of how Yahoo! are really embracing RSS where as other search engines seem to be lagging.
If you haven’t already Submitted your RSS feeds to yahoo I’d do it today - it’s definitely worth doing.
Written on May 19th, 2005 at 08:05 am by Darren Rowse
Adwords Blog Launched
In my last post (written last night) I suggested that Google Adsense start a blog. This morning I wake up and check in with Jen only to find that Adwords (the advertisers side of Adsense) has started a blog - Inside Adwords. Whilst on the advertising side of Adwords this is a feed I’ll be following closely as I’m certain it will enhance my use of Adsense as a publisher.
There are only three posts there so far but the concept is a good one - already they are sharing tips and giving advice on system outages.
This is exactly what I was thinking last night when I wrote about the need for an Adsense blog - bring it on Google!
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