Google is floating a trial balloon of a service that pairs advertisements with blog feeds. The Mountain View, California-based search company is testing a new variation of its AdSense program for publishers that allows sites to display text or image ads related to their content and get paid by the click.
This week, Google spawned a version of AdSense that allows publishers to send a text or banner advertisement alongside syndicated content using Really Simple Syndication (RSS) or Atom, Google's adopted format.
RSS is an open standard for content syndication that's transforming the way people access news headlines and other information such as blogs online. Though it's one of the most promising emerging technologies, publishers have yet to find means of profiting from it. Advertising is widely thought to be the answer.
Companies including Kanoodle, Moreover Technologies and Yahoo are testing similar ad services for feeds.
Robert McLaws, publisher of a Microsoft-focused blog called Longhornblogs.com, is one of the first to experiment with the Google ads this week. He said the graphical ads, in his own customised bright blue, are being fed into roughly 61 feeds of his blog.
Though he couldn't provide many details, by Google's request, he said the ads are in hypertext mark-up language using images and links. He and Google's team are still testing how best and how often to present the ads, but McLaws said the company is likely to introduce a public beta in the next two weeks.
"It will be a change for the better, but I hope people don't go crazy," McLaws said. "Simple, relevant text link ads in RSS are one thing. Flashing banner ads like 'Shoot Mario to win an iPod' are another thing."
Google spokesman Barry Schnitt confirmed the test, but would not provide further details.
Wednesday
Monday
Are You Missing The Blogging Revolution?
"If you don't know what blogging is by now and you're reading this in a newspaper, please fold it up and boot up your computer. You're missing a revolution."
Rocky Mountain News: Technology:
Rocky Mountain News: Technology:
Friday
How To Destroy Your Blog
This article is well done and uncovers many key points on how you can build traffic for your blog!
"There are several ways that you can destroy your own blog. It might be a slow and gradual demise; or perhaps sudden and decisive."
How To Destroy Your Blog:
"There are several ways that you can destroy your own blog. It might be a slow and gradual demise; or perhaps sudden and decisive."
How To Destroy Your Blog:
ABC News: March 8, 2005: Bloggers
WASHINGTON, March 8, 2005 — To their credit, the bloggers have given us in the traditional news business a swift kick in the pants.
Knowing that a vibrant electronic community can galvanize at the drop of a dangling modifier forces all of us to be more careful, accurate and thorough. It's also true that the collective effort — and expertise — of the blogging community is invaluable for bringing new information to light on almost any subject.
That said, the blinding speed of the blogging world — and a tendency of some bloggers to shoot first and ask questions later — should raise a yellow flag.
Good journalism is tedious; it requires legwork, research and editing. Even that does not preclude big mistakes — as the bloggers themselves have so clearly exposed.
But, over time, such tedious work is the price of credibility.
And the new media kids on the block will have to earn that.
One blogger at a time.
From the recent Nightline Episode on Blogging:
ABC News: March 8, 2005: Bloggers
Another story about this episode:
http://www.digitaldivide.net/blog/acarvin/view?PostID=2326
Knowing that a vibrant electronic community can galvanize at the drop of a dangling modifier forces all of us to be more careful, accurate and thorough. It's also true that the collective effort — and expertise — of the blogging community is invaluable for bringing new information to light on almost any subject.
That said, the blinding speed of the blogging world — and a tendency of some bloggers to shoot first and ask questions later — should raise a yellow flag.
Good journalism is tedious; it requires legwork, research and editing. Even that does not preclude big mistakes — as the bloggers themselves have so clearly exposed.
But, over time, such tedious work is the price of credibility.
And the new media kids on the block will have to earn that.
One blogger at a time.
From the recent Nightline Episode on Blogging:
ABC News: March 8, 2005: Bloggers
Another story about this episode:
http://www.digitaldivide.net/blog/acarvin/view?PostID=2326
Tuesday
Pick A Niche and Own It
In this article, Jennifer Rice talks about owning a niche. I found it interesting because that's the whole idea behind AnswerBlogs, to find your niche and own it. I've had a difficult time getting people to understand the difference between a niche and an industry or category, but it seems we are making progress.
"What is your 'how?' Are you faster, better, cooler, more innovative? More connected with your customers? Or, asked another way, how do you inspire emotion in your customers? Do they feel liberated? Hip? Special? In control? Connected?
Own a 'how' in your industry, and you'll have a path for future growth as the market and competitive set changes."
Pick A Niche and Own It
"What is your 'how?' Are you faster, better, cooler, more innovative? More connected with your customers? Or, asked another way, how do you inspire emotion in your customers? Do they feel liberated? Hip? Special? In control? Connected?
Own a 'how' in your industry, and you'll have a path for future growth as the market and competitive set changes."
Pick A Niche and Own It
Sunday
How Often To Post To A Blog?
I found this article interesting. It talks about 3 times per week being a minimum number of new posts. Many of us have busy lives and are multi-taskers, but I agree with this. I'm going to set aside 15-20 minutes 3 times per week for each of my blogs making it a regular routine. If I'm too busy, I'll abandon my least favorite topics!
"Being reliable to post at least three posts per week is more important.
What a blogger is attempting to do, by posting fairly often, is develop a regular readership base. Those usual visitors might not be large in number, or ever intended to be all that many. What is more important is to have your blog updated fairly often, so there is something new for the visitors to read.
There are few things that cause your regular visitors to drift away more than not updating your blog.
Nothing new to read means nothing in terms of visitor traffic.
Keep in mind that a week in blog time is almost an eternity.
Most blogs are set to scroll all of the posts off in one week's time. That's not very long, before archives are the home of all of your best posts. "
Blog Posting Frequency How Often:
"Being reliable to post at least three posts per week is more important.
What a blogger is attempting to do, by posting fairly often, is develop a regular readership base. Those usual visitors might not be large in number, or ever intended to be all that many. What is more important is to have your blog updated fairly often, so there is something new for the visitors to read.
There are few things that cause your regular visitors to drift away more than not updating your blog.
Nothing new to read means nothing in terms of visitor traffic.
Keep in mind that a week in blog time is almost an eternity.
Most blogs are set to scroll all of the posts off in one week's time. That's not very long, before archives are the home of all of your best posts. "
Blog Posting Frequency How Often:
Blockbusters in blogging
Here is an interesting story about how the founders of SixApart (Typepad and Movable Type) got into the business of blogging after the burst of the internet bubble earlier this decade.
"As Mena blogged, Ben became frustrated in his search for a decent computer programming job. While unemployed, Ben began to work on the computer code that became Movable Type.
When 100 people downloaded Movable Type during the first hour of its release in September 2001, the Trotts decided to run their own business from their bedroom, drawing the inspiration for the company name from their nearly identical age -- Ben and Mena were born six days apart in 1977.
The Trotts benefited from being at the right place at the right time.
Venture capitalist Joi Ito stumbled upon TypePad and began exploring an investment in Six Apart, but had trouble convincing the Trotts that they should think big.
'They weren't getting out much back then, so they didn't realize how popular this thing was becoming,' Ito said.
Ito arranged a meeting with a veteran executive, Barak Berkowitz, who listened to the Trotts' initial, modest business plan and told them that it sounded fine if they wanted to run the equivalent of a small corner store. The condescension infuriated Mena at first, but ultimately made her realize the company needed outside help to realize her dreams.
'We realized pretty quickly that we wanted to influence the future of blogging,' Mena said. 'We would have felt terrible if blogging became something big and we ended up only being a footnote.'"
Blockbusters in blogging: South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
"As Mena blogged, Ben became frustrated in his search for a decent computer programming job. While unemployed, Ben began to work on the computer code that became Movable Type.
When 100 people downloaded Movable Type during the first hour of its release in September 2001, the Trotts decided to run their own business from their bedroom, drawing the inspiration for the company name from their nearly identical age -- Ben and Mena were born six days apart in 1977.
The Trotts benefited from being at the right place at the right time.
Venture capitalist Joi Ito stumbled upon TypePad and began exploring an investment in Six Apart, but had trouble convincing the Trotts that they should think big.
'They weren't getting out much back then, so they didn't realize how popular this thing was becoming,' Ito said.
Ito arranged a meeting with a veteran executive, Barak Berkowitz, who listened to the Trotts' initial, modest business plan and told them that it sounded fine if they wanted to run the equivalent of a small corner store. The condescension infuriated Mena at first, but ultimately made her realize the company needed outside help to realize her dreams.
'We realized pretty quickly that we wanted to influence the future of blogging,' Mena said. 'We would have felt terrible if blogging became something big and we ended up only being a footnote.'"
Blockbusters in blogging: South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
Tuesday
Ask Jeeves Acquires Bloglines
Blogging properties are becoming attractive assets for search engine and other internet portals. This is due to the tremendous growth and interest in blogging, which is a trend that will persist in the coming years!
"Oakland, CA -- February 8, 2005 -- Ask Jeeves®, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASKJ), a leading provider of information retrieval technologies, brands and Internet advertising services, today announced it has acquired Trustic, Inc., the company that owns and operates Bloglines (www.bloglines.com). Bloglines is the world’s most popular free online service for searching, subscribing, publishing and sharing RSS feeds, blogs and rich web content. Bloglines will continue to operate as an independent brand in the Ask Jeeves portfolio and retain its name and unique URL: www.bloglines.com.
“Bloglines is not only a market leader in feed aggregation and blog search, but it is truly one of the most useful and addictive services on the entire Web. We are excited about providing Bloglines with the resources to grow its service and help it reach a broader audience,” said Jim Lanzone, Ask Jeeves’ senior vice president of search properties. “Bloglines is a natural fit for our multi-brand portfolio, as we extend our information retrieval services to encompass the rapidly growing amount of dynamic content and information available in the blogosphere.”
Founded in 2003, Bloglines is a pioneer in bringing RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds and rich content to mainstream Internet users. Recognized as the leader in its category in terms of traffic, feature richness and ease of use, Bloglines indexes more than 280 million live web content elements—news feed and blog articles, images, audio and video—and is available in English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. Bloglines has been touted for excellence around the world with many awards and accolades, including Time Magazine’s 50 Coolest Websites for 2004.
“Bloglines became so popular because it was one of the first Web services to make blog and RSS feed reading free and easy to understand for average Internet users. We want to continue this quest to bring our exciting capabilities into the mainstream,” said Mark Fletcher, CEO of Bloglines. “By joining forces with Ask Jeeves, we will be able to accelerate our growth with access to the millions of unique visitors to Ask Jeeves’ properties. And we are eager to take advantage of Ask Jeeves’ support, extensive resources, operational scale and innovative technologies to expand and improve the services we deliver to users.” Fletcher will join Ask Jeeves as vice president and general manager of Bloglines.
The acquisition brings together complementary technology assets, including Bloglines’ leading RSS aggregation capabilities and Ask Jeeves’ world-class Teoma algorithmic search technology. Ask Jeeves plans to leverage these technologies across its search and portal brands, and as of today, Bloglines Web search capability will be powered by Ask Jeeves search technology.
“The Ask Jeeves search advantage is based on world-class technical innovation and a user-centric approach,” continued Lanzone. “It is exciting to have the opportunity to connect Bloglines’ live information flow and blog search capabilities with our unique indexing technology to provide consumers with one of the most comprehensive and personal web experiences across all sources—from the desktop to the Internet and, now, into the blogosphere.”
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Bloglines | Ask Jeeves Acquires Bloglines:
"Oakland, CA -- February 8, 2005 -- Ask Jeeves®, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASKJ), a leading provider of information retrieval technologies, brands and Internet advertising services, today announced it has acquired Trustic, Inc., the company that owns and operates Bloglines (www.bloglines.com). Bloglines is the world’s most popular free online service for searching, subscribing, publishing and sharing RSS feeds, blogs and rich web content. Bloglines will continue to operate as an independent brand in the Ask Jeeves portfolio and retain its name and unique URL: www.bloglines.com.
“Bloglines is not only a market leader in feed aggregation and blog search, but it is truly one of the most useful and addictive services on the entire Web. We are excited about providing Bloglines with the resources to grow its service and help it reach a broader audience,” said Jim Lanzone, Ask Jeeves’ senior vice president of search properties. “Bloglines is a natural fit for our multi-brand portfolio, as we extend our information retrieval services to encompass the rapidly growing amount of dynamic content and information available in the blogosphere.”
Founded in 2003, Bloglines is a pioneer in bringing RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds and rich content to mainstream Internet users. Recognized as the leader in its category in terms of traffic, feature richness and ease of use, Bloglines indexes more than 280 million live web content elements—news feed and blog articles, images, audio and video—and is available in English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. Bloglines has been touted for excellence around the world with many awards and accolades, including Time Magazine’s 50 Coolest Websites for 2004.
“Bloglines became so popular because it was one of the first Web services to make blog and RSS feed reading free and easy to understand for average Internet users. We want to continue this quest to bring our exciting capabilities into the mainstream,” said Mark Fletcher, CEO of Bloglines. “By joining forces with Ask Jeeves, we will be able to accelerate our growth with access to the millions of unique visitors to Ask Jeeves’ properties. And we are eager to take advantage of Ask Jeeves’ support, extensive resources, operational scale and innovative technologies to expand and improve the services we deliver to users.” Fletcher will join Ask Jeeves as vice president and general manager of Bloglines.
The acquisition brings together complementary technology assets, including Bloglines’ leading RSS aggregation capabilities and Ask Jeeves’ world-class Teoma algorithmic search technology. Ask Jeeves plans to leverage these technologies across its search and portal brands, and as of today, Bloglines Web search capability will be powered by Ask Jeeves search technology.
“The Ask Jeeves search advantage is based on world-class technical innovation and a user-centric approach,” continued Lanzone. “It is exciting to have the opportunity to connect Bloglines’ live information flow and blog search capabilities with our unique indexing technology to provide consumers with one of the most comprehensive and personal web experiences across all sources—from the desktop to the Internet and, now, into the blogosphere.”
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Bloglines | Ask Jeeves Acquires Bloglines:
Wednesday
Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites
I'm going to doing several lessons for SuccessBlog.com that deal with submitting to Blog Directories and RSS feeds, but for those of you who can't wait or like to read Robin Good has put together a fantastic resource page on the topic.
I wish I would've found it back when I did all my initial research on the topic. It's an overwelming amount of material to digest, but it's very well organized and laid out.
RSSTop55 - Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites - Robin Good' Sharewood Tidings
I wish I would've found it back when I did all my initial research on the topic. It's an overwelming amount of material to digest, but it's very well organized and laid out.
RSSTop55 - Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites - Robin Good' Sharewood Tidings
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