Blogging

Waiming Mok

June 18, 2009

Blogging

Copyright © 2009 by Waiming Mok http://waimingmok.com

What is a Blog?

Web log:

• Online journal w/ multiple entries

• Could be true or false. Facts, propaganda, opinions

Also a Web site:

• Theme, background, graphics, fonts

• About section

• Additional pages

• Archives

• Comments

• Contact

• Home

• Links

• Search

http://waimingmok.wordpress.com/



Blog StatisticsThe numbers vary but agree that blogs are here to stay

comScore MediaMetrix(August 2008)

• Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US

• Facebook: 41.0 million | MySpace 75.1 million

• Total internet audience 188.9 million

eMarketer (May 2008)

• 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007 (50% of Internet users)

• 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12%)

Universal McCann (March 2008)

• 184 million WW have started a blog | 26.4 US

• 346 million WW read blogs | 60.3 US

• 77% of active Internet users read blogs

Source: http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/



http://technorati.com/blogging/state-of-the-blogosphere/








Global Snapshot of Bloggers

DemographicsU.S. Bloggers

(N=550)

European Bloggers

(N=350)

Asian Bloggers

(N=173)

Male 57% 73% 73%

Age

18-34 years old 42% 48% 73%

35+ 58% 52% 27%

Single 26% 31% 57%

Employed full-time 56% 53% 45%

Household income >$75,000 51% 34% 9%

College graduate 74% 67% 69%

Average blogging tenure

(months)35 33 30

Median Annual Investment $80 $15 $30

Median Annual Revenue $200 $200 $120

% Blogs with advertising 52% 50% 60%

Average Monthly Unique Visitors 18,000 24,000 26,000












Segment Snapshot of Bloggers

DemographicsPersonal

(N=1015)

Corporate

(N=156)

Professional

(N=590)

With

Advertising

(N=695)

No

Advertising

(N=595)

Male 64% 70% 72% 66% 66%

Age

18-34 years old 52% 45% 48% 53% 45%

35+ 48% 55% 52% 47% 55%

Single 36% 24% 31% 34% 34%

Employed full-time 52% 51% 55% 49% 56%

Household income>$75k 37% 49% 42% 40% 37%

College graduate 70% 74% 74% 69% 72%

Average blogging tenure (months) 35 35 38 35 33

Median Annual Investment $100 $200 $150 $100 0

Median Annual Revenue $120 $250 $300 $200 0

% Blogs with Advertising 53% 64% 59% 100% 0%

Average Monthly Unique Visitors 12,000 39,000 44,000 46,000 4,000












Global Bloggers by GenderDemographics

Female

(N=438)

Male

(N=852)

Personal Blog 83% 76%

Professional Blog 38% 50%

Age

18-24 years old 9% 15%

25+ 91% 85%

Single 29% 36%

Employed full-time 44% 56%

Median Annual Investment $30 $60

Median Annual Revenue $100 $200

% Blogs with advertising 53% 54%

Sell Through a Blog ad Network* 16% 7%

Have Affiliate ads* 41% 32%

Have Contextual ads* 61% 73%

* Among those with advertising on their blogs












http://postsecret.blogspot.com

http://projectmanagementblog.com/

http://blog.pythonisito.com/http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/

http://www.animalsneedhelp.com/



http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

http://projectmanagementblog.com/

http://blog.pythonisito.com/

http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog/

http://www.animalsneedhelp.com/


Top 100 Blogs

@ Technorati




Benefits from Blogging




Starting a Blog

Avoid too much planning

Signup with a FREE blogging service

Write regular, frequent blog entries to maintain freshness

Focus on interest areas and expertise

Develop original content, write analysis, write report

• Decide on an objective

• Be agile (fast cycle): do, learn, do, …

It’s about moving the ball forward everyday, every blog entry.




Planning a Blog

Goals

Blogging approach

taken

Topic or purpose of

blog

Actual content

Target audience

Ability to attract an audience with fresh content

Promotion of the blog

and yourself

Strategies for revenue generation (optional)

Source: Blogging for Fame and Fortune, by Jason R. Rich




Pick a Blogging Service(there are many more than listed here)

Blogger Wordpress Twitter

Number of blogs As many as you want As many as you want 1

Blog post size No limit No limit Limited to 140 characters

Storage Size 1GB for pictures on Picasa 3GB* ?

Add Pictures Yes Yes Yes

Add Videos Yes Yes ?

Allow Advertising Yes No (unless you host

Wordpress)

No

Max authors 100 30 2,001

Software to host on your

server

No Yes No

Widgets Yes Yes No




Setup Blog

Create catchy title

Write succinct

blog description

Register domain name

Determine blogging voice and attitude

Keep blog new and

fresh

Incorporate keywords in

content

Identify unique

keyword list





Setting Up Wordpress




Editing, Managing in Wordpress




Setting Up Blogger




Editing, Managing in Blogger




Creating Content

Focus = your interest areas

Analysis or report

Subject could be a trade-show, conference, books,

articles, things you know, you’ve seen, read about,

other blogs, …

Original writing

Read regularly other blogs, websites, newspaper,

trade journals

Discover what’s missing in existing materials

Brainstorm by exchange links with other bloggers

on same topic

Find new ways to say old things (different point of

view

Interview experts

Content

Text

Well-written

Easy to understand

Concise

No spelling or grammatical errors

English or other languages (Albanian to

Vietnamese)

Links

Multi-media

Add pictures, audio, video (link to Youtube)

Keep content current, refresh regularly

Conversation, via comments

Collaboration with multiple writers

Be aware of copyright laws (don’t

plagiarize) vs fair use




Content Collection Tools




Blog Categories on Technorati




Example Content




Linking Content

Picasa



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flickr_gamma_Logo.svg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Picasa.svg

http://blip.tv/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:YouTube_logo.svg

http://www.ustream.tv/

http://maps.google.com/maps

http://www.slide.com/

http://www.scribd.com/

http://groups.google.com/

http://www.wikipedia.org/


Tags (Keywords)

• Search, Indexing

• Classification

• Reporting

Tag Cloud (automatically generated)




Linking to Others Linking to You

RSS

hyperlinks



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Digg_new.svg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Delicious.svg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Technorati_(logo).gif

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Feed-icon.svg


Feeding




Feeds (RSS, XML, Atom)

http://www.google.com/support/feedburner/bin/answer.py?answer=79408



http://www.google.com/support/feedburner/bin/answer.py?answer=79408


Promoting your Blog

Use SEO tools offered blogging service

Register blog with search engines, blog searches

Be descriptive in all headings, sub-headings (incorporate keywords)

Incorporate keyboards into blog entries

Create a list of relevant keywords, labels for each blog entry

Use keywords in photo captions

Link to other topic-related websites and blogs

Hire an SEO specialist

Be patient, but persistent





Top Ten Mistakes





What Do I Do?




How Do I Start?




Frame of Mind




Copyright © 2009 by Waiming Mok



Self Improvement

Blogging