Blogs

How to Compete With Big-Time Tech Blogs

By Mark Evans in Blogs 4 Comments Tags: , ,

In a word: don’t.

Going head to head with major tech blogs such as Mashable, TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb and GigaOm is a fools’ game. They have too many people at their beck and call, they pump out way to much content, and they’re far more connected.

In other words, trying to compete against them as a go-to resource is madness.

So how can us regular bloggers be topical, timely and relevant to people looking for insight and information? Here’s a few tips:

1. Don’t jump on the bandwagon. When news breaks (e.g. the launch of Google+), you know there’s going to be a tsunami of blog and traditional media coverage as everyone decides to provide some kind of opinion. Rather than joining the fray, stay away.

2. Take a deep breath, wait a few hours or perhaps a few days, and then write a post that benefits from having time to think. This lets you provide new or different perspective that has a better chance of standing out from the crowd.

A good example is a post I did on HootSuite’s surpassing two million users. Rather than writing about this benchmark, I took a different approach with a post suggesting HootSuite was Canada’s biggest online success story. Even though the post appeared a day after the news broke, it attracted a lot of attention.

3. Write against the grain. When everyone is blogging about Google+, it might more sense to focus on another topic that is getting less attention.

4. Be true to the things that interest you as opposed to chasing the news. If you’re focused on a particular topic, stay focused rather than shifting gears. This lets you do what you do best and, as important, meet the needs of your readers.

5. Be happy, don’t worry. Don’t worry if you’re not blogging about the new, shiny thing capturing all the attention. There’s so much happening that it’s okay to say “pass” until a story that really interests you comes along.

What Are You Thinking, Steve Rubel?

By Mark Evans in Blogs, Social Media 1 Comment Tags: , ,

So Steve Rubel, one of the thought leaders within social media, has decided blogs are no longer a viable platform for anyone looking to have a strong online presence.

As a result, he’s making the leap to Tumblr, driven by the belief Google is paying more attention to social signals. For whatever reason, Rubel thinks blogs are passe while Tumblr is a more attractive and logical digital option. In the process, he’s deleting hundreds of posts from two blogs.

To be honest, I think it’s dumb. It’s like chasing the hot, new girl (or guy) at school because they have six fingers rather than five. It doesn’t make the new girl/boy better, just different.

Keep in mind Rubel proclaimed two years ago that he was jumping away from blogging to embrace Posterous because life-streaming was the new way to go. Either Rubel has a commitment problem or he’s searching for digital nirvana.

Don’t get me wrong, change is good. But chasing the digital dream by jumping from service to service strikes me as a Don Quixote-like exercise.

I see a few things wrong with Rubel’s thesis. First, trying to play to Google’s search focus is like trying to hit a moving target. As much as Google is the dominant player, it changes the rules and tweaks its algorithm on a regular basis. In embracing Tumblr, Rubel is playing a game of digital whack-a-mole.

Second, Rubel doesn’t control Tumblr, Tumblr does. If Tumblr decides to update or change its service, Rubel has no control. In contrast, Rubel controls his blogs. It’s a personal digital asset as opposed to an online service. Rather than own a digital home, Rubel has decided to rent an apartment.

Again, it’s a decision he thinks makes sense but strikes me as way too idealistic.

I wish Rubel luck but I’d bet you a dollar he’ll be jumping on something new in a year or two.

GigaOm’s Mathew Ingram has more thoughts on Rubel’s “scorched earth” approach.

The Canadian Blog Directory Goes Live!

By Mark Evans in Blog Services, Blogs No Comments Tags: , ,

CBD Logo copyEarlier this week at the mesh conference, my partner, Seth Singer, and I finally unveiled The Canadian Blog Directory. It’s a project we’ve been working on for the past few months to help people discover and explore the Canadian blogosphere.

In many respects, it’s a labour of love driven by the fact there really wasn’t a comprehensive and high-quality place to find Canadian blogs. As a result, you had to peck and search around as opposed to having a one-stop destination that met all your needs.

The CBD was launched with about 800 blogs, and since it went live a couple of days ago, we’ve had more than 150 blogs submitted. You can submit your own blog or recommend a blog you like. Either way, it’s free.

Consider the CBD a first step in what we’re looking to do. Our goal was to plant a stake in the ground and establish a foundation upon which we could build. There are lots of things on our to-do list, including new features and a refreshed design.

We’re looking to the community to help us make the CBD better and bigger. Submit or recommend a blog, or send us some thoughts at feedback@thecanadianblogdirectory.com.

Why Do Blogs Die?

By Mark Evans in Blogs 3 Comments Tags: , ,

You know what makes me sad? Aside from the Toronto Maple Leafs missing the playoffs again, bandwidth caps and tear-inducing movies featuring animals, it’s dead blogs.

They’re not hard to miss. They feature posts that are months old with no sign of activity. What’s puzzling is there’s no farewell, goodbyes or “I’m coming back soon” messages. Instead, these blogs come to an abrupt stop one day, and then gather digital dust for months or years to come.

So, what happens? Do people suddenly lose interest in their blogs? Do they find themselves with no time to carry on? Or do they find other topics and other blogs that are more engaging? Maybe it’s just a matter that most blogs have a good-until date. Sometimes, they last a year or several years; sometimes it’s a matter of weeks or months.

One of the major reasons blogs are so easy to abandon is how easy they are to create. If you use WordPress.com or Blogger.com, blogs can be created in minutes. Even self-hosted blogs that use an auto-install system can be set up pretty quickly. If someone is inspired, they can start a blog right away.

At the same time, blogs can be dismissed just as quickly. In many ways, blogs are like candy; here today, forgotten tomorrow. Blogs are disposable, they’re “impulse purchases” and flings as opposed to long-term commitments.

Maybe there should be bigger barriers to entry to avoid the building up of digital dust. Perhaps people should take a “blog test” to weed out the un-serious. Maybe blogs should have a three-month trial period that would cause them to evaporate if there were long periods of inactivity. That way, the blogosphere wouldn’t have so much litter.

I’m not suggesting anyone who starts a blog has a duty to stick it out for the long-term but there should be an acknowledgement that blogs should be more than one-night/week/month stands.

At the very least, people who walk away from their blogs should bid farewell to them and its readers even if they intend to come back one day.

Can Facebook Save the Comment?

By Mark Evans in Blogs, Social Media 2 Comments Tags: , , ,

You remember the blog comment? Back in the day, it was the thing to do on social media. What a novelty to opine, correct, rant or inform about a published article in real-time to a global audience.

Then along came Twitter and Facebook, and the comment got shoved into the corner like an old toy with chipped paint and a missing wheel. There have been valiant efforts to resuscitate the comment by start-ups such as Disqus and IntenseDebate but the comment remains a social media second-class citizen (arguably along with the podcast).

But is there new hope for the comment? Does the launch of Facebook Comments mean the comment could regain some of its lost lustre? While it has only been a week since some blogs were able to start using it, Facebook Comments shows interesting and intriguing potential.

Putting aside any issues you may have with Facebook gaining access to even more of your data (no small task given the magnitude of Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitions), Facebook Comments has a real shot of revitalizing the blog comment because it offers a new way to provide it with a universal platform. Rather than being stuck inside a blog post, a Facebook-powered comment benefits from the social clout of that having more than 600 million users offers.

For bloggers, it means the dividend of attracting a comment – no small task in the scheme of things – can be distributed to a much wider audience, who can then discover the comment and, hopefully, click through to the blog. Given comments are one of the things that sustains most bloggers, the ability to use a comment system on steroids is a serious temptation – even if means selling your soul to the devil.

For people who leave comments, Facebook Comments provides a much broader platform to have their opinions seen and read. You have to understand the blog commenter is a strange beast. Not only do they read blog posts but many actually leave insightful commentary. It’s an investment of time and energy, which is why their efforts are so appreciated by bloggers who slog away with little financial reward.

Of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch, and Facebook Comments come with a pretty high price tag. For bloggers, it means surrendering your comment system and its data to Facebook. For commenters, it means there’s no such thing as an anonymous comment. As well, a comment can appear on Facebook as well as other blogs using Facebook Comments so there’s no such thing as just leaving a comment for a particular forum.

Facebook Comments may not be perfect and it may not be the best solution to the plight of the blog comment, but it does illustrate a new approach to bring the blog comment back from the social backwaters.

One final note: You’ll see that I’m not using Facebook Comments despite some of the benefits it offers. Why not? The biggest obstacle is I have little interest in giving more information to Facebook. Second, I want to control and manage my comments, which is I’ve tried and backed away from Disqus and IntenseDebate.

For more thoughts about Facebook Comments, check out TechCrunch, which has has discovered the critics and trolls have strangely disappeared.

Smashing Magazine also has a lengthy and insightful post with the provocative title “Where Have All the Comments Gone?”. Robert Cringely weighs in on how Facebook Comments is another blow to the loss of anonymity on the Web.

Why I Still Love Blogging

By Mark Evans in Blogs, Social Media 15 Comments Tags: , , , ,

When I started blogging in 2004, it was cool, exciting and popular. Everyone was talking about blogs, commenting on blogs and starting blogs. The love-fest was not a surprise given how blogs gave people a new, user-friendly platform to reach a global audience about any interest or topic.

Fast-forward seven years (wow!) and blogs are a solid part of the landscape but far from sexy or cool. If social media is a dance, blogs are the nice but bespectacled girl/boy standing in the corner while the cool kids (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) are wildly partying in the middle of the dance floor.

A story in the New York Times talks about how interest among young people in blogs is declining because it is easier to find an audience on Facebook and Twitter. Other reasons for not blogging include being too busy to write post, the lack of readers and the fact blogs don’t help them keep in touch with friends and family.

These are legitimate issues. Blogs can be challenging to write because they need lots of ideas, enthusiasm and, ideally, the ability to write well and quickly. And it can be difficult to attract an audience given the competition. Blogs may not also be the best social tools, compared with Twitter and Facebook.

Nevertheless, I’m still convinced blogs are an important and viable part of the social media landscape even though they may not be sexy. Perhaps the most compelling reason why blogs are still alive and well is they provide people and companies with an excellent platform to discuss ideas, provide commentary and perspective, and establish though leadership. These are things that are difficult to achieve using Facebook or Twitter.

The biggest reason I blog here and a couple of other places (Twitterrati and Sysomos), is I enjoy writing them. I like being able to explore and share my ideas. Whether it’s an audience of 10 or 1,000, it really doesn’t matter. Blogging also made it a snap to walk away from career as a newspaper reporter because I still had a way to deliver my ideas.

Sure, I would like more readers because I think my blog offers solid value and perspective. But blog readership is a tricky beast because quality doesn’t always rule the day. If readership is the main criteria for writing a blog, you will likely be disappointed. Instead, you need to focus on quality rather than quantity.

The other key reason for blogging is it is a great way to support my digital marketing consulting business. When potential clients are deciding whether to spend money on you, they need to be comfortable that it’s the right decision. Despite the economic rebound, companies are still being careful with their spending. My blog, hopefully, shows them my insight, ideas, approach and commitment in a way that Twitter and Facebook could never do.

For me, a blog is a terrific marketing vehicle because it’s user-friendly for people not into Facebook and Twitter. For the most part, my target audience aren’t people into Twitter and Facebook. They’re people running businesses but they’re comfortable reading a blog because it’s a Web site on steroids. For them, blogs are a good way to quickly get a snapshot of who I am and what I do.

I often tell people that blogs are dinner while Facebook and Twitter are desert. Everyone loves dessert because it’s sweet and sexy. This is particularly relevant when it comes to children, who will rush through dinner or not eat it at all because they’re so excited about dessert. In a way, their behaviour about dessert explains their interest in blogs.

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