Archive for July, 2008

Blogger’s Influence on Print Media

According to study conducted by media research analysis firm Cision, the mention of blogs in national magazine and newspaper publication has increased more than 16-fold over the last five years. Of the top 20 publications reviewed, blogs and bloggers were mentioned more than 13,000 times during a one-year period ending June 2008.

Image courtesy of Cision

From Cision’s press release:

“This stunning growth in blogger influence magnifies the importance of employing common sense when contacting bloggers,” said Peter Granat, Cision Executive Vice President. “Knowing the blogger and his/her focus is the critical element in a successful blog relations campaign. While many blogs are highly visible in their own right, the growing influence with the mainstream media elevates their importance.”

A recent survey conducted by public relations firm Brodeur Partners found that 57% of 178 journalists contacted read blogs at least 2-3 per week. 18% read blogs on a daily basis.

The PRWeek/PR Newswire Media Survey revealed that nearly 40 percent of the participating journalists employ blogs to find topics for stories, 30 percent use them to find experts, and nearly 58 percent use them to measure sentiment.

Click here to read the full article.

Leaderboard Update

Dear BlogBurst blogger,

We wanted to update you on upcoming changes we are making to the BlogBurst Leaderboard compensation model. Based on your feedback, we will be changing the measurement used for placement on the Leaderboard headline impressions only, effective July 19, 2008 .

When we originally rolled out the Leaderboard in 2006, it was based solely on headline impressions. In 2007 we experimented with a Leaderboard algorithm that used both headline impressions and click-through rates. Based on the questions we received, many of you found this calculation confusing and preferred the previous method of measurement. So, we’re changing it back to better reflect what our members have told us is the preferable system.

We hope you’ll find monitoring your progress both on the Leaderboard and your reports easier to understand as a result of this change. Your performance from July 1 until July 19, 2008 will be measured using the old system and will be blended into your overall results for Q3 so that you don’t lose out on any placements during that time period.

Thanks for helping us make BlogBurst the best it can be for Publishers, Bloggers, and Internet users. As always, we’d appreciate any additional feedback or suggestions you might have to make BlogBurst a more fulfilling and valuable service.

For more detailed information on the Q3 Leaderboard formula change, please visit our FAQ at blogburst.com.

Be a BlogStar

We just came across this post So You Want to Be a Blogging Star on NYTimes.com, which serves as an excellent primer on how to write and keep a successful blog.

Here at BlogBurst central we look at blogs all day, of course, and these points are spot on:

  • Don’t do it to get rich (but blog passionately and rewards will follow)
  • Blog about your passions, and in your own voice
  • Fit blogging into your daily schedule
  • Join the community
  • Plug yourself

The best thing about the suggestions above are that they’re geared toward fitting your blog into your life and building it slowly over time. We see scores of blogs that are well written and fit a niche, but which don’t last more than a couple of months. The truth is, it’s hard to sustain an extracurricular activity like a blog, especially when blogs don’t make you money unless / until they get popular (which usually takes a long time).

If you have other recommendations for blogbuilding, leave them in the comments below!