Books, Blogs, and Beyond

How Big is the Blogosphere?

By George Kittredge

The answer to this question in one word - BIG - and its getting bigger. But to give you an idea as to the size of the blogosphere, here are some statistics that may interest you.

Both Blog World Expo and Technorati report that there are over 70 million blogs in existence today. But even as I write this, the number is rapidly increasing. Blog World also reports that an unbelievable 120,000 blogs are being created every day - so we are adding over 3 million new blogs every month.

As for business blogs, the same report noted that 89% of companies surveyed said they think blogs will be more important in the next five years - so it appears that, at least on the professional level, blogs still have quite a bit of room to grow. It would be interesting to find out what the other 11% plan to do - obviously not much on the world wide web.

Technorati also had some interesting stats to share in their 2008 State of the Blogosphere report. Here are some of their findings.

Blyopia Redux: Bob's at it again!

By Tom Collins

I started this as a comment on Bob Bly's Blogging Redux post over at the Business Management Daily Marketing blog. But their comment tool refused to accept my comment, spitting up an error message that I had too many URLs (no hint how many they think are too many) and suggesting that I remove some and try again.

No, thank you.

Some readers may remember my series of "Blyopia" posts (Is Byopia Contagious?, Are You Susceptible?, and An Ounce of Prevention) from back when Bob published his Blog Schmog book.

So here's the comment I attempted to leave in response to Bob's latest uninformed assertion that blogging isn't producing ROI (which Bob myopically defines as $400K per year in revenue):

Hey Bob,

And here I thought your Blyopia was in remission.

You apparently missed the news that Bill Marriott's blog generated $4 million in bookings (video from MSNBC here).

What Does a Successful Business Blog Look Like?

By George Kittredge

Recently I was asked this question by a marketing executive at a networking function. It seems that she was interested in starting a business blog for her company, but like so many other things, the less you know about what something looks like, the harder it is to build it. So she ask me to describe what I thought was a successful business blog.

With a little thought, I came up with my "short list" of successful business blog attributes. Feel free to add to my list, but here are the five things I suggested she look for in the business blogs that she reads.

Following a Leader into Web 2.0

By Tom Collins

Are you a leader in any of your organizations - business, professional, social?

Yesterday, Federal Computer Week blog reported the GSA has reached an agreements with Flickr, YouTube, Vimeo and blip.tv that "make it possible for federal agencies to use new-media tools while meeting their legal requirements."

Hello? Maybe the GSA missed it, but as of this writing 1,124,225 people had viewed the first of President Obama's weekly YouTube addresses on The White House YouTube Channel, which began just a couple of days after the inauguration in January:

Okay, so some folks at GSA probably knew about it.

But what's up with them entering into agreements now that supposedly authorize agencies to "immediately begin using new-media tools that let people post, share, and comment on videos and photos on the Web." The assumption seems to be that the terms of service agreements that nobody reads somehow violated some government rules somewhere.

Truth 34: Blogs are Built for SEO

By Tom Collins

Just received our copy of The Truth About Search Engine Optimization, by Rebecca Lieb. The book offers 51 "truths" about how to optimize your site, increase your ranking, and help customers find your business online. 

As I often do, I started out by skimming through the table of contents and found that the Truths are grouped into ten Parts and that Part VI is called "Get a Social Life."

That caught my eye and then I saw that Part VI begins with:

Truth 34: Blogs are Built for SEO.

Are you paying attention? Lieb provides enough detailed advice in this one "Truth" to make her book a profitable purchase. Here are just a few of the reasons she says "Blog structure and architecture offer a baked-in SEO platform":

Blogging for Business - Four Strikes and Your Out!

By George Kittredge    

Last week, I came across an interesting post written by David Johnson. The title of the his post was, "Things to Avoid While Blogging for Business." While on many occasions we talk and write about the attributes of good business blogs, David has identified four "don'ts" that should be on a post-it on every business blogger's computer. Here is David's short list as to what to avoid.

Can "No Drama Obama" teach businesses to get a personality?

By Tom Collins

[Update: from MarketingProfs and Toby Bloomberg (Diva Marketing), at the end of this post]

My newest Twitter-friend, Diane Hessan, @CommunispaceCEO, tweet-linked to a post today by Julie Wittes Schlack on the Online Media Daily Commentary blog entitled, When Obama Listens, People Talk. Julie's setup for her point is to describe the wonderful "Mom" technique of trapping your kids in the back seat for a long trip and listening when they actually start talking. (Way better than waterboarding, since the conversation is more or less voluntary.) Julie explains it much better:

They'd share what was going on in their lives and heads. I'd reciprocate, ask the occasional question, and listen hard to their words and what lay behind them. In the quiet calm of these trips, we'd sometimes learn something we hadn't known before, and always, unfailingly strengthen the bonds between us.

Listen HARD.

Reciprocate.

Learn something we hadn't known before. (Hold on to that one.)

Blogging ROi: "Measuring" the Value of One

By Tom Collins

That's not a typo in the title: I mean to call it Big R, Little i.

Big Return on a (relatively) little investment.

I'll be posting more on social media ROi over time, but today I want to discuss the power of one: one page view, one email, one phone call, one [fill in the blank] that can result from engagement in social media and can produce off-the-charts return.

Will Obama Lead Us ... to Full Adoption of Social Media by Business?

By Tom Collins

The day after the inauguration I Tweeted this:

What do Obama's campaign, yesterday's celebration, and the new http://www.whitehouse.gov website tell us about social media ROI?

This morning I read Max Kalehoff's post Twist of Fate: Obama Demonstrates How Businesses Should Operate and thought, if he's not reading my Tweets he's reading my mind! The "twist" he's referring to is the irony of all those hard-nosed business people who like to complain that the government should operate more like they do.

You should go read why the reverse is true in this instance — though I hope just my Twitter question above would give away many reasons. But after quoting the President's Director of New Media, Macon Phillips, on his core priorities of Communication, Transparency, and Participation, here's Max's killer quote:

"[Obama has] at least launched on the right foot, embracing the openness and potential of the Internet. He's demonstrating, so far, the right way to set up an organization, treat his customers, and use the Internet to enhance relationships."

Take a look at that image from the White House Blog. The button says: "READ THIS BLOG" — sounds like a direct order from the Commander in Chief to me!

And while you're reading, give some thought to how Obama's approach to building online relationships with his "customers" might apply to your business.

Books, Blogs, and Beyond ... Publishing 3.0 ...

What's that all about?

Well, that's what we're going to explore in this blog, pulling together threads from our earlier separate blogs. From 140 characters on Twitter to 300 page hardcover books ... a blog as your social media base camp ... a book as your business brochure ... what does "publishing" mean in our continually evolving digital world?