Wired has an interesting interactive infographic that looks at all the forces that act upon your blog post in one way or another. There’s you, the blogger; search engines; ad servers; social bookmarks; and several other players, including even the spam blogs who steal your stuff.
Take the recent global market tumble, a housing market crisis, and the declining value of the US dollar and add a dash or two of interest rate cuts and a side order of the President’s proposed stimulus package and you’ve got the recipe for a baked economy disaster. It’s said that you don’t know if you’re in a recession until you are looking back in retrospect. But it’s only fitting that the “R” word would rear its ugly head as presidential election campaigns kick into high gear for Super Tuesday primaries. Are we really in a recession? Will the Economic Stimulus Package help or hurt? Will retired boomers get a check? Should I use my $600 rebate to pay down debt or buy a Wii? Is the recession the real reason for Brittney’s latest breakdown? Depending on who you are, these are all valid questions.
Take a look at some articles about the subject from fellow BlogBurst bloggers:
Forex Trading TV Video Blog: How Deep Will The Rate Cut Be?
Jobsanger: Stimulus Package Sounds Good - Won’t Work
The Populist Party: America, the Next Great Banana Republic
The WorkLife Monitor: It’s Job Security, Stupid!
Retail Contrarian: Recession or Recession Not? A Retailer’s Viewpoint
Land of Black Gold: The recession is in.
Buck Naked Politics: The Economic “Stimulus” Package
Where’s the Outrage: Poor in America - it ain’t getting better
Salt Lake Real Estate: Housing Crisis - There’s Light at the End of the Tunnel
Blown Mortgage: Predicting Rates, The Newest Vegas Tablegame
I am not the only one that has noticed the in-depth coverage by BlogBurst bloggers. Check out how these publishers are placing BlogBurst content to keep their readers informed about the state of the US economy:
(Click any screenshot to view the larger image)
A new survey of US journalists found that nearly 70% check a blog list on a regular basis and the majority of journalists surveyed said blogs were having a significant impact on news reporting in all areas tested except news quality.
Perhaps I’m biased, but that sounds a little disingenuous given that three-fourths of those surveyed cited blogs as helpful in giving them story ideas, story angles and insight into the tone of an issue.
Check the Center for Media Research for the full story and more stats.
Occasionally, there comes a time when you simply can’t write your blog. Sooner or later, the blog comes to an end, or goes a long hiatus. There are certainly any number of reasons you can’t get a post off (temporarily or permanently) and that’s certainly understandable.
It could be a family emergency, a machine failure, a long, well-deserved vacation, a lack of interest in the current topic, a dearth of information about your current topic, you switched domains, you simply can’t find the time - or you just plain don’t wanna do it anymore!
Any of the above reasons are fine, and don’t require a bit of justification. I’m sure there are plenty more I couldn’t come up with - point being, the reason doesn’t matter.
There’s a small problem though. You probably have a readership - and almost certainly have an RSS feed.
My suggestion is that if you know that your writing will become slow (or stop) then please - take the time to write a post (however short) that simply says something to that effect. It could be as simple as “Hi folks - sorry about the lack of posts - I don’t expect to be posting much in the near future” or as complex as you care to make it. You might explain the circumstances, or redirect people to your new shiny blog on a different topic (or subdomain) but in any case - say something. You don’t have to make any promises to write more, and you don’t need to make it up to anyone. Just say something.
Say anything.
This is far more helpful than you might think. It will certainly be of benefit to me, your readers will appreciate knowing what’s going on, and honestly you’ll probably feel a little bit better knowing that you took a sliver of time to keep everyone in the know - even if it’s one last time. Also, should you take blogging back up in the future, you may find that your act of courtesy ticks the wheel of internet karma to your advantage a bit, as you’ll be remembered more favorably by previous readers.
Thanks!
Kelly Spors of The Wall Street Journal is pegging 2008 as the year you just might start making money off your blog:
As more people see potential in earning money off the Internet, there is a quickly expanding array of advertising services and tools for bloggers that go well beyond the standard pay-per-click text ads or display ads.
Many of the most widely used programs are adding features to allow users to customize the appearance and placement of ads on their sites. Some also are introducing newer money-making mediums such as audio and video ads.
Of course, there’s no telling whether these new ad types will work. (One she mentions — an audio ad that automatically plays every time someone visits your blog — sounds a leeeetle bit annoying…). And it’s easy to dream about making a living off your blog only to realize that your traffic will only produce a few bucks.
Nevertheless, the more truly contextual and useful advertising gets, and the easier it becomes to integrate into multimedia, the more bloggers themselves will be able to get paid for all the blood, sweat, and tears.
It is day 2 of the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Technology and gadget blogs are reporting on everything from the latest high-tech toys to the highlights from popular keynote speakers.
BlogBurst editors put together some of the best posts and recommended the continuously updated content to publishers. Have a look at USA Today’s placement of technology and gadget blogs by members of the BlogBurst network:
In addition to the posts placed on USA Today’s Technology Live section, have a look at some of the 2008 CES posts authored by your fellow BlogBurst network members:
Panasonic’s 150-inch plasma perspective (SlipperyBrick)
ASUS Unveils World’s First Terabyte Notebook at CES 2008 (MobileWhack)
CES a Disappointment to Gamers (British Gaming Blog)
Yahoo! unveils Modular Go 3.0 Beta at the 2008 International CES in a bid to counter Google (TechBuzz)
CES 2008 Innovation Honoree for Home Appliances: Looj (Gadget Spy)
The primary lesson of CES for Radio (hear2.0)
Business Intelligence at CES (BrainBasedBusiness)
Surviving CES Tips: 2008 Edition (LIVEdigitally)
The great thing about blogging is the freedom that comes with it. Depending on what you blog about, you develop a specific audience that is keenly interested in what you have to say. One of the best reasons to join BlogBurst is to expand your readership and drive more traffic back to your site. Once your blog is featured on a publisher’s site, readers can click on your blog link or byline to click back to your site.
But just what hooks the reader (aside from your brilliant post)?
The title of your post, of course
A well-written title can mean the difference between readers losing your headline in the busy content on publisher pages and enticing the reader to click through, exposing them to your post and your blog. A great title is the starting point that just might turn a new reader into an avid fan of your blog. Keep it succinct, give it some punch and help draw the reader in to all your blog has to offer.
Check out a few of these title comparisions:
The Bad vs. The Good
Bad: “Happy New Year!!!”
Good: “Welcome to the New Year: Kathryn’s Fashion Predictions”
Bad: “Weekly Book Review”
Good: “Book Review: How The Dead Dream by Lydia Millet”
Bad: “How to Dress Fashionably”
Good: “10 Ways to Blend Hipster Chic With Classic AND Trend Pieces!“
Bad: “The [Blog Name’s] Top 10 List”
Good: “Bye Bye Microprints! (And 9 More Trends We’re Happy to Leave in 2007)”
Bad: “Breaking News”
Good: “Iowa Caucus: Prognostications, Results and Breaking News“
Bad: “News Roundup”
Good: “Yer’ Drug War Roundup”
Bad: “Blog Carnival”
Good: “Carnival of Financial Goals #2 - A Walk With Sam”
Bad: “Links for the Day”
Good: “Daily Links: Moses to Sandy Koufax”
Bad: “Month/Year in Review”
Good: “Year in Review: Best Homebuilding Products of 2007″
The Ugly
“Untitled Entry” - No explanation necessary. Always title your posts.
“–==Mu$IK C0Ncert ReVieW$==–” - There was once a time when Internet users placed punctuation marks before their screen names in order to move their name to the top of instant messaging and directory lists. The trend later evolved into using multiple punctuation marks and crazy capitalization as a form of artistic expression. For me, I can think of no better expression than a well formulated post that presents a unique point of view and is creative in nature. Aside from looking bad, wacky formatting can also trigger dirty word filters that prevent publishers from using your content.
Unnecessary profanity - When using profanity in your post, ask yourself if it is really necessary. Can you emphasize your point without it? Profanity, regardless of whether it is spelled out correctly, abbreviated, or has characters replaced with punctuation, triggers a filter that prevents your posts from being picked-up by publishers.
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