Written on July 8th, 2005 at 01:07 am by Darren Rowse
Wisdom of Crowds and Blogging
While we’re on the topic of books (see a couple of posts back) - can I also recommend “The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations” (phew - quite the mouth full) a book by James Surowiecki. It’s a book I read while away and found particularly relevant to blogging (despite not mentioning it).
To paraphrase it terribly it is a book about how groups of people (crowds) have the ability to come up with some pretty amazing and resourceful solutions if in the right environment. It reminded me a lot of my Blogging in Formation - Lessons from a Goose series.
Disclaimer: Of course coming out of the ColdPlay concert at Crystal Palace in London a week or so back with 30,000 rather drunk 18 year olds all trying to get onto the platform of one train station I did have moments of doubt about the book!
Written on July 7th, 2005 at 08:07 pm by Darren Rowse
London Explosion
I’m covering some of the news on the London Explosion here as we have family who use the tube in the areas affected and are waiting for word. Phones are down and we’re a touch worried so I thought I’d do something productive.
Update - as I’ve updated on my other blog we’ve had good news from London from family. Despite being close to the explosions they are fine.
I’ve continued to update the page.
Written on July 7th, 2005 at 07:07 pm by Darren Rowse
Stepping towards $1,000,000
Jon over at Smart Money Daily has a plan - it’s a plan to make $1,000,000 gross income in a year from his online projects.
Ok - you might think Jon’s thinking a little too big - and maybe he is - but the think I like about his plan is that it starts with:
‘$50 a day gross revenue average over a one month period’
I’ve seen a lot of plans to make money online and they generally start with the grand goal of the $1,000,000 figure and fail to actually name any intermediate goals. Big goals are great - but some manageable starting points are often the keys to getting to them.
Jon’s plan is based upon the quality book by the name of E-Myth Revisited (affiliate link) which I’d highly recommend a read of (and which you can get a CD of also). Many of you will be familiar with the E-Myth so I won’t regurgitate it all here - other than to say that I’ve found it helpful in thinking about how to transition my blogging from a job to a business.
By no means am I there yet - the challenge still lies ahead of achieving the theory laid out in E-Myth - but at least I’m moving towards that goal and learning a lot in the process.
Written on July 7th, 2005 at 03:07 pm by Darren Rowse
Quality vs Quantity of Posting?
I was chatting to a soon-to-be-blogger this morning about ProBlogging and he asked me how long he’d have to blog before he could earn a reasonable amount from it.
It’s a common question that is usually on the lips of new bloggers exploring the world of ProBlogging.
Of course there is no real answer to the question as there are just so many factors including:
- traffic levels (which rely upon many other factors)
- value of ads for the topic you’ve chosen
- revenue streams chosen
Another factor I talked with him about was his level of posting. Obviously the larger a blog is the increased chance of earning income it has. Whilst it’s not impossible for a small website or blog to be a good earner - in most cases the number of posts on a blog is a major contributing factor.
This flies a little in the face of the constant catch cry I hear from many bloggers about ‘quality content being the key to successful blogging’ - I agree with this - but want to argue that it’s not just the quality that counts - enternetuserss also need to consider quantity. For me it’s not an ‘either or’ question - it’s about both.
As I often say - the more pages in your blog the more potential entry points you have to it via search engine referrals. Of course it’s not just a matter of creating thousands of useless pages (although some try this) - each page should be a useful page with high quality content - but in general the more pages you’ve got the better.
Out of interest this afternoon I decided it was time to add up how many pages of content I’ve generated since I started blogging in November of 2002….
The grand total of posts (including this one) is 11908….make that 12236 (I forgot a blog) across my numerous blogs.
I’ve been blogging for 1053 days so that’s an average of 11.2 11.6 posts per day. When I started out (for the first year) my posting rate was much lower than this - the past 12 months have been something of a posting frenzy.
I will say at this point - that apart from a few reposted articles and duplicate postings (plus of course my guest bloggers work last month) these have all been hand written posts. I don’t use any automated posting system (I’m pretty anti them).
Ok - so this proves a couple of things:
1. I’m completely obsessed and addicted to blogging (I’m just waiting for the ‘get a life’ comments).
2. If you want to earn a full time living blogging you probably need a fair bit of content. Quantity is NOT everything (I’m a big believer in quality content) but I think it’s worth saying that blogging is partly a numbers game also.
If you’re feeling a bit depressed now and are wondering how to up your posting rate - you might find a mini series I wrote on the topic of how to increase the quantity of content on your blog last year. Check it out at:
• Generate a High Quantity of Content
• Set Targets
• News Sites and Aggregators
• Start a New Blog
• Break Down Your Posts
• Ecto
• Recruit Writers
Feel free to add your own tips of how you generate larger quantities of quality content on your blog.
Written on July 7th, 2005 at 09:07 am by Darren Rowse
Blogging For Dollars - Personal Finance Blogs
Business Week features a collection of blogs this week that are blogging on the topic of personal finance at Blogging For Dollars.
Congratulations to a number of those sites (around half of them) that are featured who are regular readers and contributers here at enternetusers.net.
The full list of those blogs featured is:
- The AAO Weblog
- The Asset Allocator
- The Big Picture
- Footnoted.org
- Free Money Finance
- The Kirk Report
- Jeff Matthews Is Not Making This Up
- Random Roger’s Big Picture
- Andrew Tobias: Money and Other Subjects
- The Wealthy Blogger
There are some quality blogs (some of which are doing some very good levels of traffic) in the list but what surprises me a little in surfing through them all is the absence of Adsense ads on most of them.
Whilst I know it’s not every blogger’s objective to make an income from their blog - most of them have some sort of advertising on them and all of them do seem to be interested in money (by virtue of their topic). I had expected to see a few more contextual text ads on their sites as I know from personal experience that financial terms can pay quite well.
Anyway - if you’re after some advice on what to do with the money you’re earning on your blog - these might be a good starting place.
Thanks to FMF for the tip on this list.
Written on July 7th, 2005 at 04:07 am by Darren Rowse
Becoming a Multi-Dimensional Blogger
Robert’s latest Corporate Blog Tip (#10) is simple but well worth taking note of:
‘If the only way people know you is through your blog you’ll be seen as a pretty one-dimensional person.
Blogging does have lots of advantages: lots of people can get to know you with a minimal amount of effort. But, when push comes to shove it’s not a way to build a really deep relationship.
There’s a reason why conferences are still very well attended: meeting someone face-to-face still is better than meeting them through a grid of pixels on the screen…’
He goes on to suggest a few ways to add another dimension to your blogging including podcasting, video blogs, hosting dinners, attending industry events etc.
I totally agree with what he’s saying.
I have a suspicion that the more places that your readers bump into you that the more chance you’ll have of making a good impression upon them and showing them that you’re multidimensional and no ordinary blogger.
An example of this is the numerous comments I’ve gotten from readers since starting to allow some of my posts to be republished at Web Pro News. Whilst I don’t get a lot of direct traffic from it, having my posts appear on another reasonably well respected and trafficked site puts my name, face (via a photo) and content in front of more people. Not only is it new people - but sometimes its the same people that see me here - which just reinforces my message.
I know a number of enternetusers.net readers who became regular readers of my blog when they realized I was also a regular on Web Pro News. The same story is true after the last article that I featured in on my blogging in a newspaper. People who had previously seen my blog and had never returned came back for a second look (and stayed as regulars) after seeing the article.
So I echo Robert’s thoughts - let yourself enter new and even unexpected spheres.
Like he says this might include conferences or meeting people face to face, but it also might be as simple as a new blog, guest blogging for someone, writing a book or email newsletter, accepting an interview opportunity or letting some of your posts appear on another site from time to time. The more places you show up (in real life and online) the more chances you have to reinforce who you are to potential readers.
Written on July 6th, 2005 at 08:07 pm by Darren Rowse
Yahoo! Buzz Rank Top 20 Blogs Search Engine Referrals
Yahoo! did an interesting dig around their Buzz Index and looked at the top 20 blogs at Technorati and how they rank with each other in terms of which blogs receive the most visitors via search.
The findings showed that the lead blog on Technorati (Boing Boing) was actually 14th most search for in the list while Fark (which was 5th at Technorati) got the most search visitors. So Boing Boing relies upon more loyal readers than Fark…. or so we can assume these figures i guess.
This would actually be an interesting study to see rolled out over a larger number of blogs also.
Get all the details of who ranked where here.
found via Steve Rubel
Written on July 6th, 2005 at 05:07 pm by Darren Rowse
Blogging Pro Changes Hands
John Hesch has posted his last post at Blogging Pro - one of my daily reads.
Whilst I’m confident it’s in good hands the new owner Jacob Gower it is a little sad to see John go as he’s become a part of my daily rhythm. All the best John - I’ll be following on with your developments at your personal blog.
Written on July 6th, 2005 at 02:07 pm by Darren Rowse
Syndicating Your Blog in Offline Media
A journalist yesterday asked me if anyone had ever asked to syndicate any of my blogs in any other form of media (newspapers or magazines). I answered that I’ve had a few requests from online media outlets to syndicate some of what I write (which I have allowed in some cases and disallowed in others). Apart from that I’ve only ever had one off requests for an article or essay that I’ve published on my blog to be republished in books, newsletters etc. In terms of a regular syndication I’ve never been approached.
It is something that I’ve daydreamed about though.
It’s often struck me that the content that we write as bloggers could have more than the one use that we also tend to use it for (putting it on our blogs). In fact for many of us it’s ideal for other mediums such as newspapers and magazines.
It makes sense on some levels to use the same content in more than one place, especially if their is reward (either financially or not) in both places.
I seem to have some recollection on some blogger somewhere having this approach - but their name and situation alludes me. Have you heard of anyone who has their blogging republished in a hard copy somewhere on a regular basis?
I know of journalists who blog and bloggers who write special features for magazines - but syndication is another kettle of fish (who puts fish in kettles anyway!?).
Perhaps it would be worth exploring this further - making contact with some publications that could benefit from the writing I do on various topics. I’ve often thought that much of what I write here at enternetusers would be well suited to a ‘blog tips’ column in a tech section of a newspaper or computer magazine. Any editors out there interested?
Written on July 6th, 2005 at 12:07 pm by Darren Rowse
Blog Feedback Settings in Movable Type 3.2
I’ve recently been considering moving my last remaining Movable Type blogs over to WordPress 1.5 - however I think I might hold off a little and see what MT 3.2 turns out like.
They are in ‘talk it up’ mode at the moment at Six Apart but I have to say that some of the new features look helpful. Today Anil talks a little about their Blog Feedback Settings which after the past few weeks of comment spam hell that I’ve had on both my MT and WP blogs look helpful. The ability to flip a switch and turn off comments and trackbacks all together is something that would be nice to have as a back up - especially when you know you’ll be away from your blogs for a few days (or weeks).
I’m still not convinced about MT 3.2 but am watching with interest. The main thing it has as an advantage over WP in my books is that you can control multiple blogs through one interface. With WP if you want to install a plug in on all your blogs it’s a pretty manual task - especially if you have 15 or so to get through.
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