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Officially Part of the Bubble

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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

Touche

Tara Hunt follows up on that billion dollar ‘blogging delivered’ claim, and finds it, well, a bit wanting.  So much for blogging delivered…

 

Architel WordPress Corporate Site!

architel.jpgThe 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? 

Online v. Offline Blog Promotion

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.  

 

 

DIY Media Tools Are Just The Beginning

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. 

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