First, we were in on the whitehot Naked Conversations book launch party at Rancho Techcrunch on Friday. Today, four of our logos show up on Stabilo’s extended mashup of Web 2.0 logos. We’re not even serious about egorRSS, yet there it is. WeblogsWork, PodServe and SimpleTicket are also there. Now all we need is an interview on Geek Entertainment TV & the trifecta is complete.

Surely venture funding isn’t far behind. We’ll invite you to the crazydelicious launch party, of course.

Technorati Tags: bubble, logo2.0, podserve, simpleticket, techcrunch, techcrunch5, weblogs+work

Who knew?

AT&T billboard on I-35 (Stemmons Freeway across from the INFOMART) in Dallas, Texas. 

The Architel corporate web/blog site has been launched.  The open source WordPress architecture allows the company to launch the site and make continious changes to it over time.  So you can never say a site is ‘done.’  Kudos go to Dan Cederholm from SimpleBits for the xhtml/css design (as well as the new Architel logo).  Weblogs Work integrated the xhtml/css into WordPress (actually three WordPress installs). 

Architel is a boutique IT support company located in Dallas, Texas that supports small businesses (20-100) employees.  Their unique IT service delivery model (one flat-monthly-fee for all-you-can-eat support) aligns the interests of the small business owner and Architel.  The company was a pioneer in this space and is now a pioneer in the ‘blog as corporate website’ meme.  Here are screenshots or just visit the site yourself here @ architel.com.

The site was entered in the website design contest at SXSW conference and we are crossing our fingers that the judges will enjoy the tight integration between the blog CMS and Dan’s xhtml and css.  What do you think about our work? 

Additional thoughts on Alex’s post yesterday about billboard advertising for blogs.  Of course, putting up a billboard is going to drive some traffic to your blog.  Certainly boost awareness.  Just like the earlier post about TV advertising having an impact — it ‘works’, but not nearly as well as it used to, and not even close to the kind of cost and attention returns gained by more targeted online means.  It’s not a question of if DallasBlogs should run a board to announce their new alternative media project to the general audience it’s designed for.  (Scott’s already said that that is how he is getting the majority of his new visitors.)  Also, this is an outlier example because the very nature of blogging & DIY media projects is in the bootstrapping, grassroots outreach approach.  Media buys are simply contra to this type of project, not that there can’t be some integration, though that’s a whole other post. 

Rather, I’m trying to hone in the most effective means of introducing new blogging projects and organically attracting the right types of readers.  When the Slidell Hurricane Damage blog was in full operation during the month after the storm, it generated pretty good data about how people discover content and where readers come from.  While all sorts of media outlets covered the blog (I think there were three days of CNN blog segments that mentioned the URL and talked about what we were doing), I never saw traffic and activity increase as a result.  Much more powerful, actually, was when someone would post a link in a hurricane forum, reblog it on their own site, or choose to syndicate our information as part of a running round up of storm reports. I just think offline requires too much of an action step for them to remember your URL and visit when they are finally back at the machine.  You’re after the one-click pitch, I think. 

So, if I had to make a working list of the best blog promotion modes right now, I’d list:

• Posting often, generating a trail of organic search terms that will attract the right readers.
• Linking, linking, linking to relevant blogs and adding value to those conversations.
• Using a smart tagging strategy that observes how people are using Technorati and other services to search for content like yours.
• Using comments/trackbacks to properly mesh yourself into appropriate networks of conversation.
• Providing links to great posts, interviews, podcasts, etc. in your own everyday communication.  You think it’s valuable, right?  Evangelize it.

The system tends to feed itself.  Other bloggers link to you, raising your profile, generating more search results for you, pulling you into more conversation, suggesting new posts, which create more links, etc.  It’s a constant process, one which repays close attention, sharing, and savvy.  It’s a great way to help a small brand generate a more powerful reach than it ever could via a clumsy, inefficient outlet like an outdoor board.  

Hugh MacLeod continues his running argument that blogs and the other new communication tools will cause a sea change in how we think about advertising.  [via David Parmet]

[PS:] Blogs are just the tip of the Cluetrain iceberg. It wasn’t the tip that hit the Titanic. 

Stephen Baker at BusinessWeek’s Blogspotting asks of the Jarvis/Dell kerfluffle:

Is this a lesson for how companies should deal with bloggers? Or simply with big bloggers? Jarvis, after all, launched nothing less than a media campaign against Dell, one that spread to hundreds of other blogs. 386 by this count at IceRocket. But compare that to this blog post that complains of a problem with an HP printer. That seems more the domain of customer relations. But why dwell on these differences? We’re heading into a world where customer and media relations are merging.

To which Steve Rubel responds:

Steve, over time I think you’re going to see blog search and Web search tools integrated into CRM systems. This will give customer service the tools they need to manage individual issues that bubble on blogs. However, you are right. PR professionals will increasingly need to not only serve as an organization’s mouthpiece (one of them at least), but also its eyes and ears. The best PR pros have done this for years. Blogging just makes it easier to keep our finger on the public pulse. 

Exactly.  Rather than follow the ‘pr is dead’ meme, think:  pr is more important and expansive than ever before.  It’s not about blog relations as warmed over media relations, but rather a whole new, nuanced level of interaction.  PR can be an ideal place to start putting these new tools — such as blog monitoring and corporate blogging — to work.  But, it will take folks ready to stretch and mashup new skill sets, as Mike Manuel has pointed out.   

We first reblogged a MAKE: story about a guy named Jose who built an apartment full of furniture out of FedEx boxes.  You can follow the thread here.  I figured the story was basically over (it has lasted for more than a month), until my wife and I were watching MSNBC last night and saw Jose on a program called Countdown(that is my son in the background asking what I was doing).  The story about the "FedEx Furniture Guy" lasted more than two minutes and included a live interview.  Next, this morning Jose was on the Today show for more than three minutes.  I understand he will be on Good Morning America later this week and Inside Edition on Friday.  I assume the next step is the late night shows: Leno, Letterman and Kimmel?  Will it be over then?  Or maybe there will be a national book tour, a movie of the week, or maybe a SIM video game? 

Shankar Gupta updates us on the Dell/Jarvis story this morning, noting that Dell has changed its approach to blogs.

DELL COMPUTERS, INC., WHICH CAME under fire this summer from blogger Jeff Jarvis, says it has new procedures for dealing with the blogosphere. The company’s public relations department monitors blogs, looking for commentaries and complaints–and, starting about a month ago, began forwarding complaints with personally identifiable information to the customer service department so that representatives can contact dissatisfied consumers directly, said Dell spokeswoman Jennifer Davis. The move appears to have been triggered by a series of "Dell Hell" posts penned by Jarvis about his problems with a Dell computer. Jarvis first wrote about the topic in June, and continued posting updates through the summer. 

Okay, we’re bored with this particular example, so we’ll drop it after this.  But it’s a convincing data point, as the customer offers up his full thinking on the matter.  When Allan Jenkins needed a new computer, something wouldn’t let him consider a Dell.  Not because they didn’t try — Dell Denmark sent personalized snail mail, catalogs, all the usual things.  But something kept him from buying:

But I only realized this later. At no point did I say "Well, Jeff Jarvis is having trouble with Dell, so I’d better avoid them." But throughout the summer, the blogosphere that I read murmured with "Dell… problems… falling down on customer service… " Nothing you could put your finger on, except for Jarvis’ posts; it was just the word on the street, the hum of the market."

Jose, the FedEx Furniture guy, has been making the rounds on national media today.  First up was CBN, then HDNet (Mark Cuban’s HDTV network), then CBS, tomorrow ABC and if Jose has time - NBC later this week. (update: CNN Headline News just covered Jose)  The conversation is happening.  What does FedEx have to say now? 

"We want him to take down the site, even though we don’t have a legal right to make him."

Jose made this home movie of the CBS affliate’s interview this afternoon.  Looking at the server logs over 150,000 people from across the globe have visited Jose’s FedEx Furniture site (more than 14,000 have visited our stories on Jose).  According to the logs, visitors from FedEx, UPS and DHL have visited our stories so we know YOU are listening.  Perhaps it is time to start talking.  Get ‘in’ the story.  Take a risk. 

Update:   Mixed response among PR mavens:

Steve Rubel says FedEx missed a great opportunity for citizen marketing.

B.L. Ochman dubs the affair a bad PR move.  

Jeremy Pepper says we’re kinda nuts — FedEx is doing exactly the right thing.

Allan Jenkins says Jose is just the flavor of the month in an ongoing blogger v. BigCo dynamic.  And that we’re kinda nuts.

Folks.  Here’s our point: whatever FedEx’s position relative to the marketing value of Jose’s creative work, from a communications standpoint they have let the lawsuit do the talking.  A simple post, explaining in a straightforward, human voice, why the existence of FedExFurniture.com was a problem for them would have done wonders to help tamp it down.  At least balance out the story people had to tell.  As is, it’s little hacker with no furniture v. BigCo and the DMCA.  As you PR types know, no one ever roots for the Empire. 

‘God, I hate that word," says J. Zawodny.  We hear you.  At some point, we gave in and started using it.  We’d prefer not to.   Bonus points to the meme maker who can put that one away.