2005 February : @ProBlogger

Written on 2/20/2005 at 11:29 pm by Darren Rowse

Blog Advertising Articles Blog Advertising: Right for You?

I’m sorry for my absence this past few days, I’ve been speaking at a conference and also trying to keep up with posting on a couple of trade shows in the US that are related to a couple of my blogs. Things should return to normal here in the next day or two.

In the mean time – here are a few articles that I just noticed on Blog advertising.

- fulminator has a two part article on ‘The Blog as an Advertising Medium – Part 1 and Part 2

- Clickz has a feature titled – Blog Advertising: Right for You?

Written on 2/20/2005 at 11:20 pm by Darren Rowse

Meet the Trotts

Filed Under: Pro Blogging News

There is a good article over at Yahoo news on Mena and Ben Trott from Six Apart:

‘Like so many other 20-somethings hoping to mine the Internet gold rush of the late 1990s, Mena Trott was thrown for a humbling loop by the dot-com bust, yet still craved stardom. Her unassuming husband, Ben, just wanted another computer programming gig in Silicon Valley’s depressed job market. The couple’s odd chemistry cooked up Six Apart Ltd., a startup that has helped popularize the “blogging” craze, with millions of people worldwide maintaining online personal journals that dissect everything from politics to poultry….

The revenue stream, which the Trotts declined to disclose, has enabled the privately held Six Apart to expand from just six employees in early 2004 to more than 70 with the LiveJournal acquisition, making the Trotts darlings of the blogosphere.’

Written on 2/19/2005 at 1:41 pm by Darren Rowse

My new Blog HQ

Filed Under: Pro Blogging News

I’ve been thinking recently about actually finding an office to blog out of and when I saw this wonderful photo at Brand Autopsy it was like a dream come true and I knew immediately that this is what I should be looking for in my new Blog HQ!

Photo originally from Everything And/But Nothing: The Blogger’s Grotto

Written on 2/19/2005 at 1:35 pm by Darren Rowse

Will Blog for ‘Boys Toys’

Filed Under: ProBlogger Site News

Duncan at the Blog Herald is willing to Advertise you for 12 months in exchange for a Mac Mini.

Hmmmm – nice idea.

I’m willing to prominently advertise* you in exchange for any (or all!) of the following:

- G5 iMac
- Canon 20D DSLR
- Panasonic Video Camera

*By ‘advertise’ I mean I am willing to negotiate a nice package worth more than the retail value of whichever item you choose. This advertising could appear on this blog and/or any of the others in my stable of blogs and could include a combination of banner, button, text and sponsored posts. Of course if you’d just like to buy me any of them because you think I’m a nice guy I’m willing to accept them also!

Written on 2/19/2005 at 1:03 pm by Darren Rowse

Dreaming of a ‘Blog Market’

Filed Under: Pro Blogging News

Paul is looking for bloggers that are looking for work. He’s hoping to build a stable of writers that he can match with potential clients, publishers and companies looking for bloggers. Nice idea really.

I was actually dreaming (day dreaming) last night and wondering if a time is coming where there is some kind of ‘Blog Market’ – where those looking for bloggers to write for them and bloggers looking for work come together in a virtual sense to bid and pitch for work. I envisage a wall street stock market floor where there are people with content to be written and blogs to be maintained who are vying for the attention of the best bloggers in their industry (and visa versa). Similar in a way to this one for programmers or this one for web designers or this one for freelancers.

I suspect that at this point there is probably an oversupply of bloggers for the amount of work that people are willing to hire for, but I’m hoping for a day where the demand and supply for bloggers in this kind of work evens out a little.

Written on 2/18/2005 at 7:33 pm by Darren Rowse

Blogging Creates ‘Experts’

Filed Under: Pro Blogging News

I was speaking at a conference earlier today and was introduced by the host as:

‘Darren is one of the most famous bloggers on the internet and an expert in his field…’

As I listened to this introduction (and wondered how I’d be able to live up to it) two things struck me:

How little the guy doing the introductions knew about the blogosphere and my little bit of it.
How writing a blog on a topic has the potential to give you real credibility and legitimacy in a field.

Two years ago I was just an ordinary guy who liked to research and think about his personal hobbies. Today I’m still an ordinary guy who likes to research and think on the same topics, however I do it out loud and in a public way – and suddenly people call me things like ‘expert’ and ‘famous’. What’s more they ask me to come and talk to and teach them about the things I write about.

[Read more...]

Written on 2/18/2005 at 6:49 pm by Darren Rowse

Entrepreneurial Blog Consultant for Hire

Filed Under: ProBlogger Site News

Update: Due to a very high level of demand and other projects – I’m currently not taking on new consulting clients. Please feel free to ask after reading what I offer below – but please don’t be offended if I’m unable to take on your work at this point. I’m working to clear some time for more of this type of work – but it could be some time before I can do so.

Since starting ProBlogger back in September I’ve had an increasing number of requests from Bloggers and potential bloggers to help them think through how they might generate an income through their blogging. To this point I have been happy to offer some basic free advice or to point these people to appropriate articles and/or resources that might help them.

On a handful of occasions I’ve given bloggers more specific and advanced advice and have assisted them in putting into action a money making strategy for their sites. In one of these cases the blogger in question increased their earnings from $5 to $55 per day within 48 hours!

I get a lot of satisfaction from helping bloggers move towards their goals of earning an income from blogging and have decided to make more time available in my schedule over the coming months to work with a small number of bloggers as a consultant.

The areas of experience that I can offer potential clients advice and consultation in include:
- Adsense Publishing Program
- Amazon Affiliate Program
- Other Advertising and Affiliate Streams
- Search Engine Optimisation
- Sourcing Content on Niche Topics

I’m also open to approaches to write on different blogs as an editor or contributor.

If you would like to engage my services in any of these or other related areas please do not hesitate to contact me with your requirements or ideas. If they meet with my areas of experience I would be happy to speak further with you and prepare a proposal that would be mutually beneficial for us both.

Written on 2/18/2005 at 6:26 am by Darren Rowse

Search Engine Friendly URLs

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization

I just stumbled upon this useful article on Search Engine Friendly URLs which is filled with wonderful tips on choosing the right URLs for your website. It isn’t written specifically for blogs but the information is useful to keep in mind when setting up the way in which your blog comes up with URLs. It has a good section explain the pros and cons of ‘Dirty URLs’ or those URLs that tend to be filled with numbers and punctuation marks rather than words.

This article will be more helpful of course for blog users using systems like WordPress and MoveableTyle that allow you to customize the way in which your URLs work. Here’s a taster:

‘The first path to better URLs is to design them properly from the start. Try to make the site directories and file names short but meaningful. Obviously, /products is better than /p, but resist the urge to get too descriptive. Having www.xyz.com/productcatalog doesn’t add much meaning (if a user looks for a product catalog, they might well expect to find it at or near the top-level products page), but it does needlessly restrict what the page can reasonably contain in the future. It’s also harder to remember or guess at. Shoot for the shortest identifiers consistent with a general description of the page’s (or directory’s) contents or function.’

Written on 2/18/2005 at 4:02 am by Darren Rowse

NY Times Buys into Blogging

Filed Under: ProBlogger Site News

The New York Times now own the largest blog network in the world. They have just agreed to pay $410 million for About.com from Primedia Inc. in an all cash deal. Primedia bought About.com in October of 2000 for $690 million in stock but had trouble in capitalizing upon the purchase.

‘The company says the deal will give it the 12th-largest Internet presence and a platform for future growth on the Web. The Times Co., whose digital properties include NYTimes.com and Boston.com, has a current base of 13 million users, while About.com has 22 million monthly users.’