On Friday, Google announced that it would now be reporting on subscriber figures.

Since then, bloggers around the ’sphere have been reporting their findings.

• Small Business Trends is reporting tripled subscriber numbers with Google being the #1 reader
• Stowe went up 34% in subscribers, with Google also being #1
• Darren took a large spike in figures with Google also #1
• Personally, Google products account for at least 10% of my readers on each blog. Nothing major (yet).

So, have you checked your referral stats, gone into Feedburner, and been surprised at how many Google subscribers you have? How does Google play in your stats?

It seems, for large sites, Google is most likely to dominate, especially in a business or technology niche. Overall, it may not mean much in terms of how many readers you have - they didn’t really jump, but were just reported on - but it will give you more powerful insight into what your readers are interested in (if you use a tool such as Feedburner.

Tags: google reader, feedfetcher, google feedfetcher, feed subscribers, feed stats, rss readers, feedburner

YouTube has announced today that it will be enabling a revenue share system:

"Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube, said Saturday that the wildly successful site will start sharing revenue with its millions of users.

Hurley, who along with the site’s co-founders sold YouTube to Google for $1.65 billion in November, said one of the major innovations the site is working on is a way to allow users to be paid for content.

‘We are getting an audience large enough where we have an opportunity to support creativity, to foster creativity through sharing revenue with our users,’ Hurley said at the World Economic Forum. ‘So in the coming months, we are going to be opening that up.’ " [Source]

Does this have something to do with the YouTube deals? (Google, Warner Music, Verizon, NBC, etc) How content will be syndicated? To identify material that is copyright? Or to simply bump up the marketing hype and make YouTube even more viral than it already is.

So, my question, being in the Entertainment industry - what constitutes original content? What is the line for ‘parody’ or fair use? I know already networks take different stances on it. I’ve even been thanked by the WB for my videos, while had one from another network stripped. So, how will this change the system?

Via digg ; Tags: youtube, revshare, rev share, revenue share, revenue sharing, video, video blogging, video blog, youtube money, youtube deals, making money online

Tony Hung, while guest blogging on ProBlogger, wrote a great and thorough piece titled ‘How to Market your blog in 2007′

There are dozens of tips on Getting your House in Order, Getting the Word Out, Connecting, and using Social Media

Go check it out! Great work Tony!

Tags: blog, blogging, blogs, blog marketing, social networking

Toby over at Diva Marketing has a great post on Blogger Relations / Blogger Relations Programs.

She goes over bloggers vs journalists, bloggers as influencers, and the different expectations of bloggers when being approached by journalists or companies.

Bloggers are not set against partnerships or sponsorships or anything of the sort, for the most part. We just have different expectations in the way in which we are pitched.

Toby then outlines the essential elements to a Blogger Relations Program, as follows:

• Build on the values of social media
• Establish credibility and trust by creating relationships
• On-going informal conversations - comments, email, phone, face-to-face
• Position (you/company) as resource that can provide value added information
• Develop long-range programs that engage and develop the relationships
• Provide "special blogger only something" - TBD by strategy and needs
• Bring bloggers together to discuss related issues
• Include bloggers in customer feedback circles
• Respect bloggers’ time
• Courtesy and appreciation - thank the blogger for her participation and help

Hop on over to Diva Marketing to participate in the discussion.

Tags: blogger relations, blogger relations program, blogging, pr, blogs, marketing to bloggers

Clearly identifying your RSS feed with Feed Icons is important. The standard for a web feed icon is this:

The color is irrelevant, although orange is mostly used. I like the blue version, personally. Regardless, using this feed icon helps create a web standard that anyone can recognize.

To further make subscribing easy, you can use this generator for RSS buttons such as this one:

Tags: feed icons, rss icons, rss feed icons, blog, blogging, blogs, rss, marketing

Contests and polls are great ways to add that crucial "stickiness" to your blog - to get your readers to return, stay, and interact.

Polls are simple. Find a creative or controversial question, with good answers, and put it up. Democracy is a good Wordpress plugin for that, with the downside that it is not ‘within’ posts, only on the sidebar.

Contests can be tricky. Too complicated and people will defer to being lazy. I have found that the prize is only part of the factor in the success of contests. The entry has to be easy, requiring something interesting of the user, or somthing simple such as sending in an email address. You need to be aware of your target: age, time constraints, knowledge, resources.

I think audience is a larger factor in the number of entries than the prize itself. For example:

When I worked in advertising, we ran a campaign for retailers to win large screen televisions. But to enter they had to encourage their customers to enter with their specific code (predefined by tickets given) and thus needed to put up the sales materials. Too much work. There were entries, but fewer than we’d like. I’ve seen a similar result in the blogosphere.

I recently ran a contest on my Hilary Duff blog. The prize was intangible: ‘fan of the month’, but the entry was appropriate to the audience. They had to dress up a doll using a special website - very little skill required for the younger audience, but also fun. It had a very large number of entries.

So I have found that the match between contest and audience is absolutely crucial. If your contest is fun and easy, you should have a good time.

Combining polls with contests: If you can combine polling with contests, you have a bonus. I decided to take the best entries on my Hilary contest and post them to be ‘voted on’ using a poll - each entry was anonymous and Democracy prevents voting more than once per IP. In under a week, I had a couple of hundred votes. Overall, it was really fun for me and for my readers. They were very excited by it, and for me it created a new way to interact with them: announcing the contest, announcing the voting, announcing the winner, placing the winner as fan of the month. Lots of content.

If you have an audience that is very sticky on your blog already, they will take to the above approach. I think the more your audience enjoys being on your blog, the more they will enjoy contests. Start with lots of polls to gain the stickiness, then increase over time.

Tags: contests, polling, blogging, blogs, stickiness

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Or do you just feel odd getting up on the podium?

I personally used to hate speaking up, in any form. I was super shy. And still am in some situations, but I have learned to love public speaking. I think of it as a great privilege - to share knowledge, to learn from others, and to connect with an audience.

Whether you love it or hate it, here are some great Lifehacker tips for public speaking:

• Know what is expected of you and if you’re flying solo or not
• Do the organizers want you to be more interactive? Or to do a speech only?
• Who are you presenting to? What is their level of knowledge about your topic? Are they C-levels who just "want to know", or the actual "do-ers"?
• What is the overarching message of your talk? Write an outline around this, but make sure to summarize it too.
• Put the most polish and practice into your introduction. Establish rapport early on and things will go easier.
• Tell people about who you are
• Finish early - be concise at all times
• Adapt - you often find that interests vary, or questions sway your outline. Know your stuff and be prepared to leave out stuff that may not suit your audience, and to expand in other areas.
• Be confident. Have fun.
• Engage
• Run your outline by someone to see if you convey
• Don’t memorize, and don’t read. Have an outline, not an essay.
• Give people your contact info

My tips:

• If you choose to use a PowerPoint, do not read from it. People can read - what you say should add to that summary or enhance it in some way. A PowerPoint is like a structure for your presentation, but should never be used as your entire presentation. Otherwise, why do they need you? Use bullets & pictures instead.
• Make eye contact
• embrace pauses
• Never, ever, say "um"
• Smile
• Watch for confused faces - they are a sign to take note, pause, and ask for questions
• Slow down. Most people talk too fast.
• If you need to write something, write it clearly
• If you are a woman, wear comfortable shoes
• Present yourself well - clean up, press your clothes, and look put together
• If you are doing a demo, test all your links and materials
• Have a dry run with any technology you will be using

Hope that helps!

Tags: public speaking

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

I guess the 6th time is a charm! My Technorati profile now contains the image I have selected:

I am quite satisfied.

Now, I would like to pass on something I considered when updating my profile. I chose to use our Blogaholics logo for the profile instead of a personal picture.

Why choose a logo over a picture in your Technorati profile?

• A logo is timeless. It does not depend on hairstyles or fashions or even being photogenic.
• A logo scales well. The details are easily recognizable.
• A logo is professional.
• A logo can contain text, like a URL or company name.
• A logo is memorable.
• A logo is not obscured by backgrounds. It’s clean.

Those are my reasons for using my Blogaholics logo - an image, with changing name, that appears across most of our blogs. And a unique name that we are known for. Have you thought about what’s in your Technorati profile?

Of course, the image chosen need not be a "logo" necessarily, but perhaps your blog name or a part of your graphic standards.

Tags: technorati, logo, profile, business, reputation

Hacking Google - getting your ad out there for free. Possible? Chris Anderson believes so, and he’s done it.

But I chose a bunch of very obscure terms to advertise against. And my ad sucks (see above) and nobody ever clicks on it. The result is that I get hundreds (sometimes thousands) of impressions a day for free. Every now and then Google notices that my ad isn’t performing, so I have to raise the price I’ll pay for each click (I’m now at $0.40). But since I get no clicks it doesn’t matter.

I have to admit to a slight rush of pride that I’ve managed to outsmart Google in some tiny way and get free impressions. Granted, the value of those impressions is at most a couple bucks a day. And because my ad, as mentioned, sucks, the actual benefit to me is probably close to zero. Furthermore, if anyone were to actually click on the ads, I’d quickly lose whatever gains I’ve made (if you do happen to see my ad out in the wild, please don’t click on it). But still! I’ve hacked Google! Woot!

Ok, so you get “impressions” on your ad. Probably some awareness building. But your ad is so bad that nobody really cares to click on it. So Google let’s you keep “trying”, and you keep getting free advertising. Bid price makes no difference, since you’re not paying for it anyway. Interesting. Good one Chris.

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.

If you find yourself in a traffic spike - work it. Keep those readers intrigued, and keep them coming back for more.

First, you need to be aware that it’s happened. If you sit at your computer all day, then your notifications will keep you in the loop. But it doesn’t hurt to do a mid-day stats check.

If you see a big spike in your traffic, you want to make your blog sticky. Make it interesting enough to attract subscribers - and clicks.

So, as Darren suggested after I had the My Yahoo spike on Cooking Gadgets, I put up a welcome post for all my new readers. We put up a similar post here on Blogging Help after we were featured in a local paper. This welcome post did a few things:

- caught their attention

- gave me an opportunity to introduce the purpose of the blog

- let me link back to my best articles

- gave me a chance to introduce myself

Now, that was a large traffic spike. Something like 10,000. I wouldn’t expect anyone to do this every time a few hundred new visitors came in. However, you can do some things.

1. The most basic - WRITE MORE! Such an easy thing to do! Increase your output for a couple of days, then make sure not to slack for a week or two.

2. Get involved in your comments

3. Know your strengths - link back to your best pieces in a subtle way by perhaps taking a new angle on one so the link is a natural extension

4. Promote your other blogs, where appropriate (if you, like me, write on more than one)

5. Visit the blogs of people who have commented on your blog and get involved

6. Update any about pages that could better promote you

7. Ask for comments in new posts. Get people interacting.

Overall, be a generous linker, be a great comment attractor and have fun. :)

Jakob Nielsen has listed the top 10 design mistakes for blogs:

1. No Author Biographies - it’s all about trust & credentials

2. No Author Photo - good for press, credibility, recall factor

3. Nondescript Posting Titles - you likely have less than a second in scan time to grab attention

4. Links Don’t Say Where They Go - tell people where they are going, what to expect, and don’t use nicknames.

5. Classic Hits are Buried - make best articles direct navigation links, and link in other articles (good one!)

6. The Calendar is the Only Navigation - categories are key!

7. Irregular Publishing Frequency

8. Mixing Topics

“The more focused your content, the more focused your readers. That, again, makes you more influential within your niche. Specialized sites rule the Web, so aim tightly.”

9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss

10. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service

Having a weblog address ending in blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc. will soon be the equivalent of having an @aol.com email address or a Geocities website: the mark of a naïve beginner who shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

Letting somebody else own your name means that they own your destiny on the Internet. They can degrade the service quality as much as they want. They can increase the price as much as they want. They can add atop your content as many pop-ups, blinking banners, or other user-repelling advertising techniques as they want. They can promote your competitor’s offers on your pages. Yes, you can walk, but at the cost of your loyal readers, links you’ve attracted from other sites, and your search engine ranking.

A very well rounded tip base. I think #5 is far too often overlooked - and makes me want to add more navigation tips to my own blogs. #8 hits home - simply start more blogs! and

#10 - ah, a pet peeve of mine. Just imaging what you would put on your business card and how much better it would look if you could match your email to your domain - oh, but if you don’t own that domain, you’re outta luck. There’s just too many restrictions associated with that route - and, for a simple $15 a year for a URL, free services like WordPress, and easy hosting solutions, why would you even consider a site whose domain you don’t own?

BTW - for those of you pro writers out there who follow this domain route, let it be know that people like myself often think twice before subscribing after wondering why you don’t own your URL, why you would bother with some annoying platform, and how seriously you take your future blogging efforts. :)

Via Boing Boing

I’ve been making observations for a couple of months about blog growth and the correlation with certain factors. For example, it’s quite obvious that more traffic means more feed subscribers - and this is a main measurement for me on blog growth.

Other factors in blog feed growth include being linked to by someone influential in the field, by certain large blogs, or even by more directories. Getting included in more search engines will definitely peak traffic, as will an increased PageRank with Google.

So, what accounts for those anomalies we see every now and again. This is what I want to know.

For a few days now, three of my blogs have been adding subscribers in the dozens… and I don’t know why. Traffic is on its same steady incline - no unusual peaks. No single article seams to be outweighing any others. No large links have spiked traffic. No new PageRank has come out. And yet I am picking up lots of new readers - which is great. I would just like to know why.

Any ideas? What else do you think could account for large growth figures in RSS subscribers?

If you still use the OLD PR (and I’m not talking PageRank people), then these are the places you should go:

http://www.prweb.com/ (my fave)

http://www.prleap.com/

http://i-newswire.com/

http://www.webwire.com/

http://www.pressbox.co.uk/

http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/

http://www.clickpress.com/

http://www.przoom.com

http://www.pr.com/

http://www.marketwire.com/

I’d also add www.webwire.com

So, the old PR has its uses. I’ve used some of these. And they do tend to get some blog coverage, if nothing else. So, whether you consider that old PR or new PR - have your go.

Thanks to Lee Odden of Online Marketing Blog for the list.

Technorati Tags: pr