Craig Rentmeester's Blog

A Call for Transparency in Blog Commenting

"Great article", says Making Money Online.

"Loved your interesting story about whales", says Whale Expert AK.

No one starts a blog without expecting some level of two-way dialogue to naturally happen. In fact, that's why most people start blogs -- to share their ideas.

Then, through powerful search algorithms, social recommendations and a necessary dash of self promotion to get the former started, there ideas begin to be heard.

Then, once their ideas begin to be heard, some commenters  see opportunity to steal traffic, redirect eyeballs and turn a profit.

The last part of the equation is fine with me, as long as there is value in the comments, and transparent motives.

What amateur traffic stealers and link builders don't understand is that, like most things of value, there are mechanisms built in protect the innocent and defeat the selfish. In the case of blog commenting, that mechanism is the nofollow link placed inside of virtually link that is attached to a blog commenter's name.

You've been notified.

Unless you're expecting quality referral traffic from the link you attach to your name, or bullshit keyword phrase for that matter, it's not worth the effort to try to get around the system.

Why not?

Because it's automated on every popular bloggin platform.

Another reason. OK. Any blogger that allows comments and is worried about their reputation is notified when their blog receives a comment, and is able to unpublish it.

Social media is rewarding when it's used correctly, even if you're not a heavy content creator.

Observations from around the Blogosphere

I've been reading a lot of different blogs lately, and here are a few things I wanted to share.

1. Here are some good posts on why big marketing budgets are not necessary for marketing.
- Andy Sernovitz on a nice, simple word of mouth marketing campaign by Old Navy.
- Andrew Griffiths on how entrepreneurs can build successful businesses without an elaborate marketing plan.

Take away = When in doubt, don't break the bank.

2. Suppress the urge to nitpick on the web. Bloggers are writers, not editors. And, most of don't blog for a living.

I say that because over the past weeks  I have seen comments on message boards, ranging from Scoble to 37 Signals,  that are aimed at belittling the blogger's grammar or spelling -- and that's it. No conversation. No interaction. No debate.

Now, I am not going to preach the old rule that "if you can't say anything nice, then say nothing at all". However, this is social media. We can do better than trying to show off our prowess of the english language by nitpicking apart a contributor to the conversation.

This second point is not meant to discourage participation or be a rant, but rather to inspire readers to post, share and debate in a more constructive.

A tip of the hat.
Thanks to Chris Brogan for featuring my seo e-book on his list of 20 free eBooks about social media.  Aaron Wall is also on this list. If you haven't read any of his posts, you can check him out here.

By the way, I read Chris' eBook, Trust Economies. A great, quick read for marketers, bloggers and entrepreneurs.

Befriending a Blogger -- For PR Pros

Apparently Chris Anderson, had no effect, because for the past few months I have been getting news releases from PR professionals.

At first, I would open and quickly scan them to see if they had any useful ideas to write about. (Hey, it gets tough to keep coming up with great stuff). However, I never actually wrote about any of them because nine times out of ten the business wasn't original, and the spin factor was riding high. The other times there would be no relevance to the topics I write about.

It seems to me that the same people sending out e-mail news releases blindly to bloggers don't blog themselves, which puts them at a disadvantage.

How to be more successful when trying to get mentioned by a blogger
Below are some ways to become friends with a blogger, and will help you get your sh*t mentioned.

Don't Just (First) Name Drop. Mention more than the person's first name, such as a related post, or overriding theme you've noticed about the blogger.

Brag Them Up. Bloggers generally have egos. Butter them up by mentioning their book, e-book, videos, web site design, award(s), or work you've seen outside their blog. 

Comment First. Send Second. Bloggers have opinions. That's why they have a blog. Agree or disagree with them. Expand on their posts. Join the conversation first, before sending one-sided communication.

Provide exclusive information or media. Invite them on a private tour of the factory where you divulge secrets about the company.

Create something exclusive for the blogger. If they have a sense of humor, put their face on something goofy. Feature them in a video. Most bloggers won't get uptight.

Leveraging your (blogging) assets

Here is a good article about leveraging social media to generate sales from Search Engine Watch.

The article brings up a point that I had not thought about prior to reading this.
Everytime someone comments on a blog post they're showing interest in particular product, topic, service, etc.

You can harvest that data either by aggregating the contacts e-mail addresses and sending them updated content related to their past interests as indicated by their comments or by updating them on more recent comments by other users (like PRBlogger does) and commenting on the thread yourself with new developments.

Benefits of using a Blog as your E-newsletter

A rather new concept is using a blog like an e-newsletter.

I love the approach from a marketing and an SEO standpoint.

• Rather than sending PDFs or E-blasts via e-mail to subscribers, a blog offers dynamic content that maintains the same look over time.
• A blog instead of an e-newsletter makes subscriber management much easier.
• Its easy to transmit and easy for customers to subscribe in a way that works with their existing habits (live bookmarks, posts via e-mail, feed readers, etc.)
• From an SEO standpoint, the blog approach provides an opportunity for more content on your site and more inbound links.
• You can archive posts, allowing for customers to revisit old items.
  
• It provides an opportunity to distribute press releases when they're timely vs. lumping them together in a monthly newsletter.

The one drawback I can think of is not getting each subscriber's contact information. However, users are in control, whether you like it or not. If you provide continuous value, they'll want to do business with you.

I am going to be pushing for this approach at my company.

Do you have any other drawbacks or benefits of using a blog as an e-newsletter?

Also, I'll be on vacation this week. This will be my last post for a while.

Dogs Blog?

Unannounced to me,  some people blog on behalf of their pets.
Here's a link to an interesting, yet strange article from CNN.

From the article...

Psychologist Larina Kase of Philadelphia says there are countless reasons people blog on behalf of their pets. "Pets are part of the family, yet we can't communicate with them about many things, so pet owners may blog about their pets as a way to better understand how their pets think and feel," she says.

And blogging in such a way, Kase says, can help a person connect with other humans, too.

"People bond over shared interests, especially those that they are passionate about. Walking a dog is a great way to meet other dog walkers and people who stop to pet your dog." Blogging, she says, is "21st-century dog walking."

Conclusion: Niche audiences still exist. And, yes, the long tail is real.

 

Good video with B2B blogging advice

Here is a video with some good advice on B2B blogging from Andy Sernovitz, author of "Word of Mouth Marketing".

Here's a quote from the video that I really like. It's from Matt Dickman.

"A way for B2B companies to get involved is really to listen first...There's no need to create a blog the first day...Start listening...Where are your customers looking, where they're find information about you and go from there"

Blog Rush - Trial Run and Overview

I just added BlogRush to my blog. I plan to do areview of how much traffic it actually generates in a few months.

See the right-hand column of this blog to view the widget in action.

If you want to see a video overview, watch the video below.

 

Here is my initial overview of what it is and how it works.

What is BlogRush?
Is is a widget that is placed on a blog that displays five headlines from other BlogRush user's blogs.

How BlogRush Works?
Every time someone visit your blog, you receive a credit. The credits are used by BlogRush to syndicate your blog headlines on other blogs with a similar focus, that are also using the BlogRush widget.

Each person that you refer that signs up for BlogRush counts as a credit as well. Then, each visitor that view their BlogRush widget counts as a credit to the initial referrer as well.

It's basically a pyramid scheme that rewards people using the widget who enroll more people to use the widget.

Why Use BlogRush?
It is supposed to drive targeted traffic to your site. It does this because you select a category for your blog that helps  Blog  Rush determine where to display your headlines. 

How to Add BlogRush?
Cut and Paste script, generated by Blog Rush, into your blog.

Easy of Implementation - 9 out of 10. It was functioning within 24 hours.

I'll do a follow up post in January about whether or not it is effective.

Disclosure

To piggyback on the point I left open ended in my last post, I thought I would write about disclosure.

A misconception is that the Internet provides anonymity. This is only true under certain circumstances and usually applies only when you don't want to leave a trace, which is not how companies should view contributing to forums and blogs.

A track record is important. It helps your online reputation.

I think that disclosure actually improves credibility. It lets the audience know where you're coming from and know that you understand their questions and concerns, which is a connection that not many companies make.

Example
An example where nondisclosure hurt credibility is Whole Foods CEO John Mackey posting negative comments anonymously, about Whole Foods competitors, on message boards.
Which ultimately led to this policy change by the company

The policy bans senior Whole Foods executives and directors from posting messages about the company, its competitors or vendors on Internet forums that it doesn't sponsor.

Monitoring blogs

Do you have someone in your company that looks at industry-influencing blogs and tracks mentions of your company in the blogosphere? I am guessing you don't.  Most companies still don't understand how influential blogs can be.

RSS feeds and Technorati have made this extremely easy to do. It's as easy as checking, or monitoring,  a stock price.

Not only will it help your company understand how the (Internet savvy) public feels about your company's moves, it will also help the company become a valued member of the community, provided it takes an open, honest stance to contributing.

6 Months of Blogging

My blog is 6 months old. As such, here's an update on it has gone so far.

$5.15  - earnings from Amazon and Google AdSense.
$29.70 - paid to Typepad for hosting this blog.
2,452  - total visitors.
#1 search ranking on Yahoo! - (Search Query - Craig Rentmeester)
#4 search ranking on Yahoo! - (Search Query - Rentmeester)
#1 search ranking on Google - (Search Query - Craig Rentmeester)

*These numbers were accurate as of October 30, 2007.

I'm also writing for Personal Branding Magazine, an opportunity I wouldn't have received without this blog.

All in all, this blog has been moderately successful.

If you want to make this blog profitable, please send me a check for $24.56.

However, according to this site, my blog is worth over $2,000.  I beg to differ.

My blog is worth $2,258.16.
How much is your blog worth?

Blog Flux makes blog exposure easier

If you have a blog, I suggest using or least visiting Blog Flux.

A few things that I find Blog Flux useful for are:

- Pinging blog directories once you publish a new post.  (It pings services like MyYahoo!,  Technorati, Google Blog Search, Feedster, etc. )

- Listing a blog in the free directory

- Google Page Rank checker

Blog Flux also has themese for Wordpress, Blogger, Yahoo! 360 and other blogging services.

Blogging for Business; Service Providers

I understand that some people are intimidated by computers and the Internet.  However, I don't understand why service providers (Electricians, Plumbers, Landscapers, Painters, etc.) do not have Web sites or at least blogs that functions as Web sites.

With easy-to-use, WYSIWYG editors that take care of coding and free blog-hosting services like Blogger or WordPress, it doesn't make sense to me.

On Typepad, it would be especially easy. A business could easily create categories that apply to their business and create posts or pages with images, service information, pricing and contact information.

This Blog is Paperless

Today is Blog Action Day, or so it has been branded.

Just another day? Maybe.

An attempt by the blogging community to show power and influence. Probably.

However, this "holiday" hasn't gone unnoticed by bloggers and blog readers.
Blog action day has two of the top search terms on Technorati.

To do my part, here some links for the Do-it-yourselfers.

How to Properly Plant a Tree

How to Make a Compost Pile

How to Buy a Hybrid Vehicle

How to Start using Biodiesel Fuel

How to Reuse Plastic Grocery bags

Blogs and Education

It's always fun to forecast the future and what the world will look like. Since I will be taking my last undergrad final in about an hour and just started contributing to the blogosphere, I am thinking about how blogs, and the Internet in general, will shape education in the future.

I believe professors, adjunct professors and teachers will be using blog posts not only as discussion topics, but also as resources and for supplemental information. Teachers around the world should already be pulling in information from blogs. First, they're free, accessible and can be written by extremely credible individuals that are actually worth reading. Second, it lowers the cost for students, which improves the teacher's reputation amongst students. Third, they're written by active professionals rather than scholars. This allows students to see the real world implications of topics, causing them to invest more time to the material.

I am not so blind to think that textbooks will be gone in the near future, as basic concepts and knowledge must be learned. Without the basic framework, material covered in blogs will be relatively useless. However, textbooks have a lag time to compete with, whereas blogs and internet sites do not. This allows professors to tie in more timely concepts and trends, presenting a greater benefit.