CoComment is now in open beta. I’m so excited, because I’ve wanted to try it! It’s perfect timing to track the conversations around the new Qumana!

From their blog :

As we’ve communicated before, the past couple of weeks were intended to be a very “soft” launch to test the service stability and scalability, and to get some initial feedback from the closed user group.

(side note, they need to fix up their permalink structure)

What is CoComment?

1. Comment on a blog

2. Click on a bookmarklet (or let Greasemonkey do the work) to…

3. Track the conversation: track replies to your comments as well as all your comments, share these comments on your blog, get an RSS feed of the replies to track the "conversation"

Easy. Useful. Long needed!

Tags: cocomment

As a part of the beta Qumana launch today (for Mac & PC) at Moosecamp/Northern Voice, Qumana is kicking off a huge contest for bloggers to win a Ski or Surf Vacation:

I really encourage you to give it a shot. It’s so easy to enter - just blog using Qumana (an easy blog editor) then write a post on your tool set. So easy. If I wasn’t organizing the contest, I’d go for it myself. Before you as, we’re not limiting entries to just specific countries - no matter where you are, give it a shot.

The prize for the contest is a vacation for 2 to Whister or to Mexico. Cheers.

Tags: qumana, moosecamp, contest, contests, win, vacation

This is a great visual representation of the world of Web 2.0, done up by Stabilo Boss. Well, most of it, anyway ;)

It’s an impressive array of the changes taking place to communication, to business and to our means of social dialogue. Web 2.0, to me, is a movement. Social change. And the movement is growing, as evident in this visual map.

It’s impressive to me the wide arrange of services I know - and don’t know.

How many of these are new to you? How many do you use or take part in right now?

Tags: web 2.0, web2.0

This post is titled "things I want to like about Technorati" because it is about my love-hate relationship with Technorati. All the cool features I just really want to be a part of but which don’t work for me.

Technorati, I want to like you for…

• picking up my tags, even when you don’t for weeks on end
• updating my ping, when you seem to forget who I am
• claiming my blog in your oh-so-simple new process involving nothing more than my username and password, even when you stall and cannot be made to work manually
• recognizing the URLs of blogs I try to claim
• answering my support emails in under a month’s time
• updating my picture in my profile after the 6th try

For some reason, I hit odd problems with Technorati. Like my inability to change my profile picture or to claim certain blogs. No reason I can see to run into errors, but there it stands.

What do you ‘want’ to like Technorati for?

Here’s one thing I do actually like Technorati for… their new charts. And they work!

Posts that contain Arieanna per day for the last 30 days.

Get your own chart!

Tags: technorati

So, I decided to sort of conform to the new RSS button - the new "icon standard" for representing RSS.

I actually really agree with the shape and use of the icon. I think visually it captures far more than text and its size is far more appropriate. I was never a big fan of buttons that said "RSS" since it is a passing term and visually not so attractive or easy to use.

Well, like I said, I only sort of conform to the standard now. I have the button on Blogaholics, but I’m not so fond of the Orange on my particular design. I prefer blue, so blue it is.

What do you think? Blue is just so much less geeky. Feel free to use it if you want.

I will put it up on Blogging Help soon. Sometimes editing this blog annoys me because I SO want to change the design. Even pretty much know what I want it to look like. But, with many jobs on the go, a wedding and Ianiv working insane hours, we just don’t have the time to do it ourselves. I’m tempted to hire out for it, but it seems like such a waste. Anyway, little side rant ;)

Tags: rss, rss button, rss standard, orange, blue, chicklet, icon

Powered by Qumana

Technorati knows who I am, and this is my new tag cloud:

Scary. That’s really what I blog about? Well, it is fairly accurate in a scary sort of way.

Great service, and may introduce me to some more feed choices. Will have to dig around. It also shows me where I am perhaps tagging too much - or too little - and how I should change my keyword choices for things like AdGenta.

I’ve just taken the time to add more info to my profile - my bio and my pic - go to my profile to check it out. Also check out Ianiv’s profile.

All new to Technorati:

- charts

- better extracts

- related tag suggestions to narrow via tabs

- profile goodies (as above)

- new widgets

What I want from Technorati

Ok now Technorati - you know who I am and what I write about. Now, how are you going to flip that back around to me in more customized services - such as this one?

Via Niall

Tags: Technorati, tags, tag+cloud

I have a challenge. It’s directed primarily to Technorati, but it’s an open challenge. I want a personalized Watch List - personalized feeds that filter out information I don’t want.

I write on 16 blogs, but subscribe to simply dozens of things to get my news and my tracking information. Most of my tracking has its home with Technorati, although I back that up with other feeds. Now, here’s the thing. It’s simply getting overwhelming to read my tracking information - to scan for phrases to gather news or watch for mentions of my name. More blogs equals more feeds. I write around 40 things a day, and tag most of them, so you see the problem.

So, here’s what I want…

I want Technorati to build my Watch List information with an option to parse out those items that I have tagged, or that are written by me. They have all that information. The blogs are in my account - they know who I am and what I write for.

If I could really be demanding here, I would have advanced filtering options such as an ability to block sites or domains from entering my feed, like blocking “livejournal” for my celebrity blogs, so I don’t get all the obsessive teen chit chat.

The resulting feed would be clear of anything I’ve written. If they can build me this feed, I would never get things with “author” arieanna or from blogs in My Account. I would only get the information I want.

Make sense? Technorati - possible?

Tags: technorati

Yesterday Feedburner came out with FeedFlare. And, you bet I wanted to jump all over that. Such a great idea for building more interactivity into your posts.

FeedFlare is initially launching today with seven simple options, including:

* most popular tags for this item via del.icio.us

* tag this item at del.icio.us

* Technorati cosmos: number of links to this post

* Creative Commons license for this specific item. This works even if you are splicing, say, a Flickr photo feed into a blog feed and the two parent feeds have different licenses associated with them.

* number of comments on this post (currently only for feeds created by Wordpress)

* email this item

* email the author of this item (particularly helpful if the item ends up spliced into another feed or repurposed on a site).

Plus, the API for FeedFlare will soon be open, meaning many more things will soon be possible such as integrated tags and more. It’s very exciting news.

Well, I immediately activated in on Blogaholics. Then walked away. Not too long later I was alerted that it was not reading right everywhere.

Here’s the deal: we use Atom for our feeds and there is a slight difference to the feed with FeedFlare on than with it off. Now, both are valid ways to display the XML information, but one way, the way used when FeedFlare is on, does not get displayed properly in all readers or search engines. It’s technical, and I’m not a technical person, but that’s the best I can explain it.

Yes, even over at Alexa, where you’d think it would be ok. So, I am torn. To use it means gaining interactivity, but potentially losing search traffic or more, depending on where else it may not be supported yet.

So, for right now it’s off again until I can make up my mind on this matter. Which do you think is more important? Supporting current traffic or potential new traffic?

Out of curiosity, I decided to implement FeedBlitz onto a few of my blogs.

FeedBlitz is a service provided by FeedBurner. Basically, it gives you a way to gather email subscribers to your feed. You just enter your info and out pops some code you dump into your sidebar, or wherever. It comes with a field, and a button to subscribe. Easy, hey?

Well, my first impression was that it was easy. Next it was that it was maybe not clear. Too easily confused with the search box? No data to support that, but it’s a thought.

Now, after about a week, my overall impression is kinda weak. Why? Because I’m picking up subscribers from spam. I don’t know if it’s the bots, or people using fake emails, but I am getting a lot of trash. And there is no easy way to drop them except to do it manually. No “spam” filter to drop invalid emails automatically.

Plus, since it’s not “inside” the FeedBurner management, I have to go to another site, which does not remember my login, to manage the email feed.

So, we’ll see. I want to leave it and see where it goes. In concept, it would allow me to tap readers who don’t necessarily read many blogs or have an RSS reader. It’s a very advantageous thing to have. But I do think it needs improvement.

Aside from using images from affiliate programs, I use a ton more images every day. I’m finding the flow a little annoying to get the picture uploaded and resized.

Anyone know a good image plugin for WordPress? I am looking at this one: FAlbum. Works w/ Flickr.

I would prefer a plugin that does a direct upload rather than Flickr. Something I can add as an extension to Firefox on my toolbar would be ideal.

Suggestions?

I’ve just come to the realization that affiliate programs are not just about making money, they are actually about improving my workflow.

Let me explain. I have a few product-based sites and have been recently using affiliate programs - Amazon and LinkShare - to look for products, review them, and insert information.

Rather than me going to Amazon, I’ll use a blog plugin to search the affiliate links directly. The pictures are enough to get me interested in a product or not. I can search quickly. Then, with minimal clicks, my blog post is ready with image and link, and in one step I have the product information to modify and review.

What does this save me? Well, it saves me time searching blogs for information. Saves me going directly to Amazon in another tab of my browser. Gives me that “new” information that is so valuable to traffic generation. And saves me worrying about looking for pictures - they’re given right to me!

What are the intangible benefits of affiliate programs:

- copy & paste product links
- copy & paste images
- no legal disputes on pictures
- quick search features for new products or promotions
- save me from uploading images to my server or to Flickr
- images are a very blog-friendly size

So, if your blog is about anything product related, I suggest seeking out the affiliate programs easiest to use to help you with your own workflow.

And, as an image tip, you can often find images for blogs on any topic through these affiliate programs - they may not be what the affiliate program was intended for, but they serve a good purpose.

Technorati Tags: traffic, pictures, licensing, money, affiliate, amazon

So, this is partially why I’ve had my head under water for the last few weeks. I’ve been working to make this release possible…

We’re calling it Qumana 2.0 - and it’s big news. At least we think so. Qumana was previously a pretty cool blogging editor - it’s easy, it’s clean, cross-posting is seamless, tags are integrated, and it’s got that DropPad going on. Well, now it’s got a new toy. And we’ve called it AdGenta.

AdGenta is Qumana’s new ad network. We’ve paired with a great ad company, and are working to insert the best ads, at the best rates, easily. AdGenta lets you define a keyword, preview an ad, customize what it looks like, then insert it. You can choose when & where. And our stats let you see which ads are performing best. It’s that simple.

We have big plans to insert more ad providers later, but for now we’re really pleased. It’s simple to use. You’ve seen me testing them out here.

So, we went big on this release. Brand new website. Two of them, actually. A new Qumana site, plus an AdGenta site. New Qumana build. Lots of new features, and some fixes too. Here’s all the new stuff:

• post-centric keyword-based ad insertion
• ability to insert HTML
• better functionality with WordPress and Blogger platforms
• improved old post editing
• a new-and-improved website
• a new DropPad design
• better drag & drop from Firefox
• post to email (ads & images too!) with our integrated SMTP server

Our plans for the future are big. More ads. Greater simplicity. Better integration. Mac support. Language support. Just wait and see. But, in the meantime, go see what I’ve been up to!

Technorati Tags: qumana, blogging, advertising, adgenta

Feedburner has come out with a new service - PingShot. Tris has always been big on following the Feedburner services, so it’s no surprise he got there pretty quick. He had it on the Qumana blog right away, as well as his own. And, subscribers went up. Hard to tell how much of that was more accurate/thorough pinging, and how much was the content we’ve been delivering, but it was good new nonetheless.

What is PingShot?

Well, basically, it takes the ping burden off your blog server. Pings are those little bits of data that get sent out to tell the word (search engines & RSS readers) new content has arrived. Now, instead of leaving this entirely to your server, and you having to configure whom you choose to ping yourself, Feedburner steps in.

PingShot is feed-based, and can therefore has some advantages. Built to guard against spam. Open Registry - all engines can access the data. Works great for podcast directories. Passive system - set it up and forget it. Free.

To set it up:

Go to your FeedBurner feed. On the “Publicize” tab go to the left to PingShot. Check the boxes and add in all of the 5 optional ping services. Right now there are only 5 to choose from, later there will for sure be more. I’d say check back in a month and decide which of the 5 alternate ping services you want to use and stick with it.

Technorati Tags: feedburner, pingshot

Not a big word person? Struggling to tag your content, add keywords, or define your categories?

Well, why not give the Keyword Phrase Building Tool a shot. I’ve tested it, and it’s good. All you do is enter some primary keywords, secondary keywords, and tertiary keywords. The closer to your main topic, the more primary the keyword. The tool then makes a whole ton of keyphrase combinations.

I’ve used it for a couple of my blogs very recently and I do have to say it’s been a great help in adding more specific and powerful tags to my repertoire.

In the future it will enable you to connect those phrases directly with AdWords campaigns, if you are an advertiser, via the Google API. For now, it’s still a powerful tool for advertisers and bloggers alike.

I have already added it to my to do list for the campaigns I have running in Google!

Via Search Engine Roundtable

A couple great new blogging tools: King Ping and Talk Digger

New Ping Service - King Ping. King Ping was developed in response to a time when Ping-O-Matic wasn’t working and Frédérick Giasson really wanted to ping the search engines to submit his stuff.

As far as I can tell, it’s a great service. I received fewer submit errors using King Ping than I have with others, so that made life simple. As far as I can tell, there is no manual way to ping without going to the site, but perhaps we’ll see that in a future release.

Anyway, give it a shot.

Frédérick also created the new Talk Digger program, which is a great way to see who is talking about you and what you write. It looks at the major search engines to see the number of inbound links (and where from), trends, and other interesting stats. Better yet - you can get results via RSS. The interface could use some sprucing up, but the results are pretty good.

Technorati Tags: king ping, pinging, ping-o-matic, ping services, blogging tools, metrics, rss search, search, talk digger, trending, technorati