Blog To Great

The Blog is Dead, Long Live the Blog

Another post on the continuing saga on the "death of the blog" from Media Post.  This one looks at the full implication of recent research-

It looks, thankfully, that reports that the blog is dead are greatly exaggerated. 

You probably saw the headlines over the last few days that blogging has declined, a phenomenon attributed to the fact that blogging is not as popular an activity as it once was, especially among young people, those aged 12 to 17. The research that led to some of the premature obituaries comes from the estimable Pew Internet and American Life Project; the research also pointed out that, others of us, like those positively elderly who are 34 and up, are actually becoming more likely to blog. Among 34- to 45-year-olds, the report said blogging is up, on a per person basis, by 6%; among those 46 to 55 it increased by 5% , and among 65- to 73-year-olds, it increased by 2%.

Those stats seem to speak more to the continued power of blogging than the reverse. The main thrust of the "blogging is dead" research...

Continue @ MediaPost.com

Blogs Still Important, and Readership Will Increase

Great post today at one of our favorite eNewsletters, the eMarketer.com.  It acknowledeges that while social networks and microblogs have in the recent past gotten considerable attention away from blogs and blogging. Yes, for a number of net users (and consumers), with the added communication tools easily available, Facebook and Twitter have replaced blogging as their main source of web infor and communication.

Interestingly, blogs continue to be important and  eMarketer estimates that in 2010 more than half of internet users will read blogs at least monthly. By 2014, readership will rise to more than 150 million Americans, or 60% of the internet population in the USA. One of the main reasons for the increase in blog  readership is that blogs have become a very accepted part of the online media landscape.

Continue @ eMarketer.com

Blog Opportunity- MakingMoneyOnLine.com For Sale !!

Blog News- Wow!, one of the best and catchiest domains (and blog); MakingMoneyOnLine.com is for sale! Doug Dillard and partner Mark Smith recently made the decision to unload MakingMoneyOnline.com and the entire package of .net .org that they own.  It's rare that such a powerful domain/blog becomes available, so check into if you want an established blog that's ready to go.   Doug recently said about the decision: “Instead of just letting this beautiful website and domain name just sit here and get stale, we have decided to sell it and let someone else build it to its potential”. Read Famous Bloggers interview with Doug at NewMediaBloggers.com.

If You're Considering Buying MakingMoneyOnLine, this is what you'll get-

1. A premium, established (12 year old) domain name and the dotnet and dotorg extensions
2. Great content
3. Wide range of readers
4. Newsletter subscribers (# tbd)
5. Well designed and professional theme
6. A profitable blog already earning money!

More @ MakingMoneyOnLine.com and FamousBloggers.com  

Bloggers - Help With the Haitian Relief

As you know, the citizens of Haiti are currently dealing with devastation and suffering that few of us can imagine. The major earthquake this past Tuesday has reduced large parts of the the country's capitol, Port Au Prince, to rubble and has devastated an already poor infrastructure making the task of delivering aid extremely difficult.  The port has been ruined and the airport is overwhelmed, but aid is starting to arrive with the USA and other nations giving support and relief.

Official estimates from are that nearly 3 million people have been affected by this disaster and that  between 15,000 to 50,000 people possible are dead, with many more at risk of dying. Now's the time for you to donate and ask your blog's readers to donate to organizations providing aid to Haiti.  Use your blog or website to motivate others to give. It will take you only a few minutes to add a donation widget to your blog to remind people.

TWITTER's New "Twitter Lists" Tips and Ideas

BLOG TIPS - As they continue to improve their product and offerigns,  Twitter recently released a beta version of their new,  Twitter Lists.  As they say, “a great way to organize the people you follow and discover new and interesting accounts.”  Great we're not sure yet, but we agree with the list concept.  It's still in Beta, so you might not find it yet on your Twitter account, so let BtG tell you... 

Facebook has lists that let you organize your friends,  Twitter Lists is primed to let you do more than that.  It's already a neat tool for business and marketers, Twitter Lists gaves us some new targeting opportunities, and might also evolve with new online social marketing potential as it expands.

Like Facebook, you can categorize people on your Twitter Lists and add them to one or more of your private lists, as determined by you,  on lists that you name (and can edit later).  Though with Twitter Lists you can create public lists if you decide to.  I suggest you start off with private lists, get comfortable then go public later.   You can also find out what lists you are on (and in this way find other cool, like minded Twitterers !!!  Unlike Facebook,  you can add anyone to your lists (provided that person hasn’t protected his / her updates), making for a great way to find and follow people.

Social Networking Usage Climbs, Is Your Blog Ready?

     Blog Tips -  Blogging continues to get a boost as Americans nearly tripled the amount of time they spend using social networking sites and blogs like Facebook and Twitter says a new Neilsen study.  Another study shows that these users tend to be more affluent, and urban based.

In August 2009, 17% of all Internet usage was spent at a social networking sites.  That's a big increase from the 6% in August of 2008, says the first report.    “This growth suggests a wholesale change in the way the Internet is used,” Jon Gibs, vice president, media and agency insights at Nielsen’s online division, said. “While video and text content remain central to the Web experience – the desire of online consumers to connect, communicate and share is increasingly driving the medium’s growth.”

In a seperate Neilsen Claritas study, it revealed that users of social networking sites sku more urban, and more affluent. According to the report, Facebook users are wealthier than MySpace users (no surprise, since teens/young adults use MySpace more than older adults).  An interesting point is that, overall, the blogging and tweeting community isn’t necessarily more affluent, just more urban and are more likely to be in major cities like NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.

Good info for use with your marketing efforts and social networking work to promote your blog.  As people and consumers continue to use the internet more and more for social interaction, your blog needs to be part of the trend in order to reach the right reader/customer.  Are you active on Facebook, do you Tweet regularly?   Check out the full reports!

Blog Action Day 2009 Announced !

    BLOG NEWS - The next Blog Action Day topic has been voted on, and the topic/issue is ----Climate Change!   And, the new Blog Action Day website is now up & running, check it out and register at BlogActionDay.org .

 In order to be part of this year's event, all you need to do is commit to writing one original blog
post, on October 15, on the issue of climate change.  More than a dozen top blogs, including Mashable, The Official Google Blog, TMZ,  Autoblog, Music News Net and Daily Blog Tips, have already registered.  

As in the past, the event won't be successful with the big blogs alone.  All bloggers,
everywhere, of all types, sizes and niches are needed since this topic impacts everyone on this planet.

At the BlogActionDay site you'll be able to learn more about the issue of climate change and take a look at sample topics you may consider writing about' for example  -- the connections between climate and clean energy, how are food choices impact the climate,  green products, health, government action/ination, and transportation. 


Working together, we can make BAD 2009 the biggest social change event ever on the web.  Register now @ BlogActionDay.org.  Make sure you and your blog are taking part !

Did You Notice? Pay Pal Quietly Added New Fees

    Blog Tips - Many bloggers use a blog to help promote their small business, so you should know that back in June 2009, Paypal,  the online payment platform used by many small business owners, started charging a 2.9% fee on on purchases marked “goods” or services” to personal accounts.  Of course, they can charge what they want to, and what the market can bear, it just that were very quiet about the move.  Quite surprising !

Were you aware of the fees?  Does it impact how you will use Pay Pal for your small business?

Save the Newspapers, Ban Linking !!!

     Blog News- In one of the more highly charged and (crazy ideas) to save newspapers,the otherwise intelligent, Richard Posner, US Appeals Court judge, has been promoting the idea of banning links (and more!) under the guise of saving the newspaper industry!  But in America, we were under the impression that news is news, and though you can copyright a news story, but not the news.  To prevent bloggers from paraphrasing or commenting on news developments is outrageous.  At BtG we deplore the copying of other people's work and know the importance of giving credit, but the idea of prevent links should be a concern to all bloggers. And as crazy as his idea sounds, it should be watched and you should be prepared to content your elected officials. And btw, why does the newspaper industry require being saved. 

See more at ValleyWag and a great report on the state of the newspaper biz at BusinessInsider

DIGG Removes "SHOUT" Feature, Makes Changes

     BLOG TIPS - You may have noticed that the 'shouts' feature / option on DIGG, used to share news stories with other DIGG users has disappeared.  No, it's not a problem with your account, it was done by the social bookmarking site.  Explained in recent a blog post, Jen Burton of Digg said that the site decided to remove the feature, and their 'blog this' option, in preparation for more popular methods of sharing social media content. "As always, we want to encourage sharing and communication within our community and will continue to look into features that address these needs," Ms Burton stated.

We're not sure what the overall Digg plans are, but they have already added options to allow Digg-ers to share stories via email, Twitter and Facebook.  You'll find Icons for these three on both the homepage and each individual story page.  We look forward to future Digg updates.

Do you DIGG, and how do you use it to help your blog?  Do the recent changes matter to you?  Comment below...