Blogging and Marketing Resources for the Average Blogger and Business
Posts tagged The NEW Blogged Word
Entrecard Acquired by Ziprunner
Jul 22nd
Entrecard is now Exitcard
One of my earliest posts on the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit was my new found networking system of learning about new blogs, called Entrecard. By now, most of you have discovered Entrecard has been acquired by Ziprunner. At the bottom of this post, I have displayed the email notice that came from Graham Langdon, Entrecard’s previous CEO.
Entrecard has seen its challenges recently as it has tried to evolve, grow, mature and still please all its members. I don’t intend to expound on the merits of individual strategies or whether Ziprunner will be better or worse. Instead, it is a great opportunity to discuss change and the need for bloggers to adjust to change – or sometimes make it happen.
As I’ve explored other networking and advertising options to further monetize the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit, the New Blogged Word, and my newest project, Energication, I’ve come to realize there is no one best solution. I’ve since added Adgitize as a new advertising system, CMF Ads and Project Wonderful on various blogs. (More posts coming on my experiences with them soon.) It’s still too early to declare a hands down winner, but it has been an interesting start. Each one has its merits, and its drawbacks.
The important message: try new things. The old adage of “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t hold true today. Today, constant iteration of new advertising strategies, monetization models, A/B testing, and so forth are the name of the game. Keep pushing the limits. Other bloggers (aka your competition for eyeballs) are. Constant change is simply the ante to play.
Time will tell if this Entrecard change is positive or negative. For now, Entrecard continues to be a very good tool and I intend to keep experimenting, learning and adjusting with it and other environments. It is the ability to change that is what bloggers need to master, and I intend to continue that effort.
The Entrecard announcement email appears below.
Dave
7.16.09
Dear Entrecarders,
It is with great excitement that I announce Entrecard.com, Inc. has been acquired by Los Angeles based ZipRunner Inc.
ZipRunner has the resources, vision, and dedication to Entrecard that will allow it to grow in pursuit of the vision I laid out nearly two years ago.
Moving forward, my relationship to Entrecard will be that of an adviser, and I will help the good folks at ZipRunner take the whole project to the next level. Expect a follow up communication from them very soon.
ZipRunner Inc. was chosen out of a number of potential suitors because of the resources they can dedicate to the project, their exciting vision for the company’s future, and their understanding of social media and the blogosphere.
I urge you all to look forward to a bigger, better Entrecard, and I couldn’t be more proud to bring it to this point before passing the torch. I’ve heard first hand all the great things that are in store for the company and it’s members, and needless to say it has me quite excited.
If you would like to keep in touch with me in the future, you can find me at my new blog Ontrapranore.com where I look forward to sharing my stories of entrepreneurship and starting/running internet companies.
Whether you love or hate the decisions I’ve made for Entrecard in the past, I always did the best I could to move the company forward given the resources I had, and I always had the best interest of the members in mind. Now, with new management and ownership stepping in, I urge anyone who has left the service to give it another chance, and I urge those who have been loyal members for days, weeks, months, or years to look forward to a brighter future, a reliable and stable service, and great new features and strategic direction.
Signing Off,
Graham Langdon
Founder of Entrecard
Ontrapranore
Multiple Blog Monetization
Jul 10th
Grow Your Blogs
As I’ve explored many different blogs in a number of varied categories, I have found instances where the same apparent author has created multiple blog properties. They are all monetized and in some cases, look very much the same. The topics within those families vary to different degrees, but one thing seems to be common: they are all owned by the same person.
Why is that significant? I’ll take a run at it from a couple of different angles.
First, frequency.
As I’ve indicated before in Frequent vs. Relevant, frequency plays a significant role in enticing readers to return. Post too often and people may not want to keep up with all the posts in their blog reader. Post too infrequently and they get bored. Multiple blogs allow frequent posts (for those prolific bloggers) to be shared across each blog, keeping an “every few days” cycle for each one.
Next, relevancy.
In the same post, I suggest that knowing your audience and staying on target is also important. Multiple blogs allows those of us with some A.D.D. tendencies to explore a wide variety of topics, but channel those topics to the appropriate venue.
Finally, monetization.
With an understanding that the “basic blocking and tackling” of frequency and relevancy must be performed on each blog property, casting a wide net allows a wider monetization coverage. We still need to post at the right frequency with relevant content. However, multiple sites means multiple Adgitize ad sets, more Google AdSense boxes and a greater chance that a blog will “take off.” More saplings planted means a better chance of a large, healthy tree – or maybe a whole forest.
OK, I’m about out of cliches.
But I’ve begun to take my own advice. In addition to the “business” blog of the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit, I have previously mentioned my “casual” blog the New Blogged Word. Last week, I just launched Energication to satisfy my passion for education and renewable energy. Energy Education. Energication. Get it? Sorry. Had to play the game. No monetization on that last one yet, but watch for it!
As humans, we have no end of opinions and perspectives. What better way to channel that energy than through multiple blogging channels. The only requirement is quality. A large number of bad blogs can’t compare to even one great one. But multiple good blogs gives us the best chance for monetization success.
Dave
The Move to Monetization: No Google Adsense
May 26th
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No Adsense
As you recall from my previous posts, Cover Your Adsense and Reinstating Adsense, I talked about the misguided decision by Google to terminate my Adsense account some time ago. This was on my first blog, which has evolved into The New Blogged Word.
Based on a pattern of ad clicks that I don’t even begin to understand, they believed fraudulent activity. My only thought is that due to very low traffic on that initial foray into pay per click advertising, someone decided to torpedo my account through repeated clicks that ultimately brought down my account. It didn’t take very many bad clicks on a site with low initial volume to trigger the bad boy algorithm and summon the Termination Police. I have submitted appeals on multiple occasions only to receive denials and most recently, no response.
With appreciation to Neville Medhora at Neville’s Financial Blog, I have used his image depicting his very early decision (May 2005) to eliminate Adsense.
A number of things have been brought to my attention, over the last few months. Mainly, I’ve come to the realization that Google Adsense isn’t the only game in town. Let’s recap, shall we?
Point 1. Google Adsense seems to only make sense when there is substantial traffic coming to your site. The purpose of the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit is to assist “average bloggers” with growing their sites. If they already had substantial traffic, supporting the notion that the small percentage of visitors will click an ad – and that is enough to put bread on the table – then they have no business wasting their time with the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit. I should be learning from them.
Point 2. In growing a nascent blog presence to one that as I’ve said before, turns an avocation into a vocation, I don’t want to necessarily direct my traffic to another site. One click and the visitor is gone. Yes, I know, you’re saying, “isn’t that what happens when someone clicks on an Entrecard ad or an Adgetize badge?” Yep, but with a twist. Those are specific communities; ones where visitors continue to come back frequently because that is the point from where they usually start – their community.
Point 3. There are many, MANY, MANY, MANY ad networks out there. Sure, Google’s Adsense it the big gorilla in the room, but I’ll do just fine with the other apes, chimps and orangutans who I’ve already found to be quite pleasant.
Point 4: I’m tired of defending myself for a transgression that I did not execute. I’m done.
So, what’s your favorite ad network? What’s the best for a blog with low to moderate traffic?
Dave
Choosing a Domain Name – Part 2
May 21st
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The Rest of Your Domain Selection
In Part 1 of Choosing a Domain Name, I focused on the high level “dot com” as the most common flavor when selecting a domain name. This time, the focus will be on the identity itself – the main part of your Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
Here’s a quote from “How to Podcast Tutorial” that talks about one aspect of domain name selection:
“This is the web address for my podcast tutorial site which launched my brand as a podcasting expert and landed me a book deal. I intentionally incorporated two of the top keyword search phrases for my topic (i.e. “how to podcast” and “podcast tutorial”).
I should point out that the hyphens are there because of some evidence showing that it emphasizes the keywords to the search engine bots. However, as of late it seems that this is not always necessary. I’m tending away from the practice of using hyphenated URLs.”
Just like my last post, clear as mud. In my opinion, why not? If there’s a chance the bots will show some love with the keywords separated by hyphens, why not? If a smooth URL (without hyphens) is needed for marketing purposes, simply redirect it to the dashed version. Best of both worlds.
[Blogger's note: You eagle-eyed readers no doubt have noticed I'm not walking my talk. The Ultimate Blogging Toolkit doesn't use hyphens. Fair point. This revelation was not visible to me as a complete rookie when I started. I'll have to save it for my next project, which is firmly up my sleeve. Live and learn.]
ProBlogger has a lengthy post about choosing your domain name, but there’s one paragraph that rings true to why I decided to create and host my own domain: credibility. They say,
“Having your own domain name is desirable for many bloggers for numerous reasons. For a start if you’re wanting to build credibility and a sense of professionalism around your blog a domain that reflects this can help. Similarly a carefully selected domain name has the ability to enhance the branding of a product, service, business or even person. Domain purchases give the added bonus of email addresses with the same domain (adding to both professionalism and branding) and can enhance your Search Engine Ranking.”
Although I have not yet begun to use my domain’s email addresses due to ease of startup, I knew from the beginning this was to be a serious and professional effort. (My “fun” postings are conducted on my other blog, TheNewBloggedWord.Blogspot.com.)
There are many free, shared domain blogs on the Bloggers of the world that are quite serious in their intentions. Nothing disparaging intended. My only point is that we only have one chance for a first impression. My argument is that the first impression can be the URL – make it professional and effective.
Dave
Go With What Got You There
Apr 26th
Posted by Dave in Uncategorized
No comments
Somewhat of an off-topic post this time, but one that provides some balancing perspectives about yours truly. The Ultimate Blogging Toolkit is my way of sharing what I’m learning, as an average blogger, with other average bloggers. Usually, the topics are somewhat serious and an honest attempt is made at exploring them. Often, there’s a bit of humor that is enjoyed along the way.
Call it an alter ego, but more precisely, The New Blogged Word is a place on Google’s Blogger where this all began. Technically, there was a slightly different starting point, but I recently exported and imported that information into The NEW Blogged Word to align Google accounts.
Why am I sharing this? It’s important to remember that all our experiences adds to the body of blogging work that we develop. Blogger was a fine starting point for me and in fact, is a very lucrative and successful environment for many people. The seemless integration with Adsense (which has been enhanced recently) makes that a very nice one-two punch. My move to the WordPress platform was not a slight toward Blogger, but simply my way of experiencing a greater body of work – and learn more along the way.
Another reason for mentioning it is that it allows a reminder about staying true to your blog. Interjecting occasional humor in The Ultimate Blogging Toolkit is an extension of how I operate in business: serious about what I do, but have fun doing it. It would not be respectful to my readers if I strayed too far from that posture.
However, The New Blogged Word is just the opposite. That was the beginning. It has pictures of our Bathroom Remodel. It has my thoughts on my Countdown to Retirement. It even has my local area’s Memorable Merchants who have gone above and beyond in their operations. Just I would no sooner show a picture of my bathroom remodel on The Ultimate Blogging Toolkit, I will do everything I can to not get too serious on The New Blogged Word. To butcher an old saying, “There’s a topic for each blog, and each blog should stay on topic.”
Although I’ve added a tag for The New Blogged Word, this may be one of very few times where I pitch it’s merits. However, you never know when something there relates here and here there.
Dave