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Micro-blogging – Are Facebook and Twitter replacing personal blogs?

July 10, 2009 By 4 Comments

With Facebook and the 140 character or under explosion Twitter, are we starting to see a decrease in smaller, personal blogs as these two monsters continue to grow in epic proportions? Are Twitter and Facebook going to take over the micro-blogging world as they continue to compliment each other rather than compete for your eyes on the screen?

With millions of Tweets and updates hitting the web at one time, we now know exactly what everyone is doing and when. In my opinion, we are going to continue to see Twitter and Facebook set sign up records with a continual decline in the “just sharing with the family” blogs, and I believe this is a good thing. Now, let me explain why…

First…what is micro-blogging?

According to Wikipedia:

Micro blogging is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, digital audio or the web.

The content of a micro-blog differs from a traditional blog in that it is typically smaller in actual size and aggregate file size. A single entry could consist of a single sentence or fragment or an image or a brief, ten second video. But, still, its purpose is similar to that of a traditional blog. Users micro-blog about particular topics that can range from the simple, such as “what one is doing at a given moment,” to the thematic, such as “sports cars,” to business topics, such as particular products. Many micro-blogs provide short commentary on a person-to-person level, share news about a company’s products and services, or provide logs of the events of one’s life.

Simply put…every time you update your Facebook status, send out a Tweet on Twitter, update your MySpace account or even text message a friend, you are engaging in micro-blogging as you tell the world your thoughts, feelings and daily activities. Over the past couple of years, micro-blogging has expanded rapidly with the aid of new technologies and it is now widespread among all age groups…many of which…don’t even realize they are participating in the act.

Why is micro-blogging going to take over personal blogging?

Stating that micro-blogging is going to take over the small blogging world might be a stretch, but it is absolutely going to cut down on the amount of blogs started per year and it is going to contribute to the amount of blogs that eventually go un-updated. The average Joe blogger is not going to make a significant income from their blog as only about the top 5% even make a 5 figure income. Where does this leave the pleasure blogger that just wants to update friends and family? He basically has two options to choose from…

  1. Start a blog and update it regularly.
  2. Spend that energy toward Facebook and Twitter.

9 times out of 10, even Joe blogger is going to either start or convert to Twitter and Facebook for one simple reason…

Ease of Use

With micro-blogging platforms, you can update in seconds with pictures, video, text or anything else as you strive to update friends, family and followers with your thoughts and dreams. Setting up a quality blog that people will read takes a lot of time and energy that is basically wasted for someone that just wants to share a couple of pictures and what they are doing that day.

As we look at all of the Blogger accounts that are started with all the intention in the world of updating on a regular basis, we often see these blogs fall off the map as people realize that they can reach a larger audience with a more efficient platform to achieve the same goal. Micro-blogging can also be accomplished on the fly through the aid of a cellular device or mp3 player that makes providing instant information easier than fastening your seat belt.

Who is still going to start blogging?

However, there are going to be the select few that still start and update their blogs regularly.

  • Business Builders – Those bloggers with the dream of making it big by blogging. Business builders have a defined goal and the willingness to put in that extra work that creates a successful blog years down the road. These individuals will look to micro-blogging to compliment their blogs, but never replace them.
  • Writers – There are people in this world that just love to write. It is an outlet for their thoughts and they find pleasure in putting words on a page. Blogging has opened a whole new avenue for them as they continue to hone their skills as a writer and share their type with the world. For the writer, micro-blogging will never satisfy the itch to put down some serious content. Like the business builder, they might use micro-blogging to compliment their writing…but it will never replace it.
  • I need more than 140 characters! – Much like the writer, these bloggers need to efficiently distribute much more content than micro-blogging is designed to publish. As these bloggers set up their blogs, they will still only share with family and friends, but they will do so in the form of stories, pictures and video that will not fit on micro-blogging platforms. Due to the mass amount of content, they are willing to put in the sweat and tears of updating, managing and content production that a blog requires.

The great news for everyone else!

All of this is great news for web users that would have started a blog a couple of years ago. We are on the growing trend of a revolution on the web. It has never been so easy to share your life with everyone around you because of the evolving platform of micro-blogging. Who would have ever thought that grandma was going to sit down at a computer and engage in social media?! These are crazy times and individuals from all over the globe are getting involved in the movement. Instant information is on the rise as we can update from mobile devices and computers shouting to the rooftops that we just ate the best steak we ever have. Better yet…I just showed it to you by taking a picture on my phone and uploading it within seconds. Aren’t you jealous??

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Media, The Web Tagged With: , , , ,

Long Term Blogging Security: Bringing People Together

July 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

As you look deep into your blog searching for ways to keep it growing for the long haul, remember one simple fact…by continuing to bring people together through your blog, you are increasing your chances of long term blogging security. The social media aspect of blogging is what makes it so successful in the web world.

With the aid of micro blogging (Twitter) and social media sites (ex. Facebook), blogging has stepped up to a whole new level by bringing readers together from all over the world. Never before have their been this many great friends that have never met face to face. This modern version of pin pals is what is going to keep your blog stable, so it should be your #1 goal to bring more people together through your content and interaction. The more readers you bring together…the more blogging success you will see over time.

How can I bring my readers together?

The challenge as the blogger is creating an atmosphere that breeds interaction among readers. You can not just throw up a site and expect people to interact. You have to tweak your content and off site activities to foster these relationships. So how do you do it?

Content and Blog Articles

When you draft your blog articles, structure content that will encourage your readers to leave comments. By asking questions, writing about controversial subjects and having a defined opinion, you will spark conversation in the comments section of you blog and this conversation is essential to fostering reader relationships. Over time, you will start to see a trend of readers conversing back and forth through your comments and this interaction will persuade other readers to join in on the action.

Another way to jump start social interaction through your blog articles is to actually invite your readers to connect through social media outlets. Darren Rowse (Problogger.net) published an article in July of ’08 that was simply titled “Welcome to the ProBlogger Social Media Love-In“. In this article, Darren invited his readers to share the links to all of their social media obsessions (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). The article was a gigantic success as his readers from all over started following, friending and interacting from all over the world. It also brought out readers who never comment to join into the action. By giving a simple nudge forward, Darren was able to create a strong community through his blog on other social media outlets.

Twitter

The fastest growing social media outlet on the net is now becoming the #1 source of relationship forming for bloggers, companies and casual iPhone users. By participating in events like #followfriday and interacting with followers by replying to Tweets, you can create a community atmosphere around your Twitter account. Over time, you need to provide quality content just like you would with any other social media site, but the direct, immediate nature of Twitter makes it much easier to create a community environment around your brand. From time to time, suggest people on Twitter to your other Twitter followers and you will start to notice that other Tweeters do the same for you. Before you know it, you have a strong Twitter following that directly benefits your blogging.

Facebook

What started as a college student specific social media site has now grown to epic proportions. The decision to open Facebook to the masses was one of the smartest moves by the crew that founded the idea. Facebook is now the preferred outlet for friends, family and colleges to share everything that has to do with their daily lives. Many would argue that Facebook is an obsession that brings the idea of a community to a whole new level.

How can Facebook help your blogging? By friending your readers on Facebook and creating a Facebook fan page, you are extending your brand into the largest social portal on the net. The entire idea behind Facebook is creating community development and you can not afford to ignore this if you are going to build a community around your blog.

Forums

Forums, without a massive amount of secure traffic, are incredibly difficult to start, but they are still…to this day…the strongest way to build a community directly around your blog. With a forum, your readers are directly interacting with other members of the community…through conversation…on your url. Unlike comments on a blog article, forum members self generate content and interaction through topic creation. Your community goes on autopilot as your forum becomes a go to spot on the web for your niche.

The downside…you are going to need moderators and investment start-up time to get a forum moving correctly. If you are willing to put in the work necessary to get a fuctioning forum on the run, you will create a community around your blogging that can not be matched by any outside source. The largest sites on the internet are hugely successful forums…do you have what it takes to reach that super-stardom?

Do you see the trend?

You, as the blogger, have to actively bring your readers together and create the social environment that will eventually lead to a large community. People are drawn to larger communities that attract other people that have the same interests. The more you create this kind of atmosphere around your blog, the more readers will want to stick around and interact with other readers. This equals larger subscriber counts, more pageviews and more revenue, but…even better…it equals a worthwhile, helpful community that you have built from the ground up.

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Saturated Niche: Can you still be successful?

July 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

As much as we would all like to fall into a niche that is uninhabited, with an extremely large audience and hugely profitable…that no longer exists. With thousands of new blogs starting up every day, each niche is becoming more and more crowded as everyone competes for readers and that elusive top spot where they can be the expert. When you are at the top of your game, the sky is the limit as you continue to breed success and enjoy the fruits of all of that hard work you have put in over time. With all of these thousands of pages on the internet, can you still be successful in an overly crowded niche?

How to have a successful blog in a crowded niche

Yes…it is possible, but there are certain things you are going to have to do differently if you want to be successful in a crowded niche. If you plan on blogging just like everyone else on your block, you are going to get frustrated as the readers just never seem to stay in your little corner of the web. So…lets run through it.

Sub Divide the Niche

I am sure you have heard some version of this before if you have done any research into blogging. If you are starting a blog in a overly populated niche, it is often times better to subdivide that niche into a smaller section that you can call your own. The competition for this specialty is going to be lower, and you can also expand in the future as you continue to grow your brand and your traffic.

Are you looking into stepping into the electronics/computer niche but don’t know where to start? Start to look at your strengths as they sit right now and capitalize on those as you start your blog. Do you know one section of the market better than the others? Start a blog that reviews and discusses just laptops, accessories or tutorials on how to use your laptop so efficiently that you will never need a desktop ever again. As you can see by this example, you are able to provide quality content to a select group that will grow a following. If you tried to start out with an extremely broad topic like computers, you are going to be competing with very well established blogs, so start in a smaller subdivision of the niche and grow with time.

Be Unique and Different

Are all of the blogs in your particular niche cookie cutter examples that could use to be stirred up a little bit? By being unique and finding your own voice in your blogging, you can find success where others have not by simply being different. There are blogs out there that have built their entire brand around their unique personality and the way they deliver their content. If you really want to start a blog in a saturated niche and be successful, you need to bring as much of yourself and your uniqueness into your blogging as you continue to try to grow a readership.

You never know, readers in that particular niche could be bleeding for someone new and exciting to step up and take the reigns.

Do It Better Than The Competition

Everyday, we see companies in the retail market step up and do something so much better than their competition that they blow everyone away. They studied their competition, realized their weaknesses and provided their strengths to the market. The massive success they see with their product is because they answered the needs of a market that was not getting serviced.

As you look at your potential blogging niche, what are the other guys not doing? Certain industries get stuck in the same routine and rarely look at how they could do things better because they are happy with their current situation. Often times, they are too large and bloated to make sweeping changes, so the way it was done yesterday is the way it is done today. If you come in with a better plan, better content and the ability to adapt and change to your environment, you will have a let up on your competition with the ability to do it one step better.

Just because there are a lot of blogs in your niche…does not not mean they are good. Step up and provide your audience with quality that they have not experienced. That will set you apart from the guys that are just going through the motions.

Yes: You can see success blogging in a saturated niche.

As you can see…you can be highly successful with your blog in a saturated niche. It just takes a little bit more analyzing to figure out what is going to work for you and your blog as you start the ultimate quest to becoming the expert in your field. You are going to get a lot of resistance from others who think it can’t be done, but I am here to tell you it can be successful if done correctly.

Quantity is not quality…and quality wins out in the end…

Image by Matthew Field

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Blogging: If you build it, they will come…

July 7, 2009 By 1 Comment

When it comes to building a blog and increasing traffic, the “Field of Dreams” if you build it, they will come pipe dream is no longer a reality. As much as we wish we could just throw up our mind blowing, life changing content on a screen and the readers will come in large masses to soak it up like lemonade on a hot day…that just is not reality. There was a time when you were able to see a glimpse of this when blogs were new and quality bloggers were scarce, but now we have hundreds of thousands of blogs with thousands of quality writers all competing for the same readers day in and day out. So as you start your new blog with dreams of making the big time, what can you do to increase your chances of success?

Time to be Unique

If you are expecting to copy another bloggers successful formula with the hope that it will work for you as well…you are sorely mistaken. The #1 reason that blogger was successful and you will not be is because he or she was unique in their niche. They found a way, probably through a lot of testing, to find their own voice that attracted readers. By copying this success, you are just becoming another run of the mill copycat that will eventually fall off the end of the web.

Blogging is a form of self expression, and you need to bring yourself into your blog as much as you can. Find your own voice and unique way of presenting your content. The more transparent you are…the better results you will see as readers are attracted to you and your thoughts. In your blogging, you are going to be your greatest asset, so you need to start treading yourself in that manner.

High Quality, Link Bait Content

You are never going to reach a large audience without high quality, link bait content. High quality content is a no brain’er when it comes to blogging. If you don’t plan on taking serious time shaping your brand and providing reliable content, you might as well not waste your time deleting the “hello world” article. Your sole focus in the beginning of your blogging career should be on content and consistently delivering that content to that very special 10 readers you have a day (I know…2 are your parents, 6 are your friends who don’t really care and the remaining 2 are what you are building your blog on…they are probably your most important 2 readers ever). Once you have a proven track record, you are going to start to see other blogs and media sources link to your content.

Quality back-links, in my opinion, are still going to be your most important source of search engine traffic. As far as I can tell, back-links still have the greatest affect on search engine rankings, so the more quality back-links you have to your blog…the more new readers you will attract through search engine results.

You can’t do it alone…

Kevin Costner even had some help from his family when building the baseball field, and you are going to need the help of other bloggers in your quest to make it to the big time. Start interacting with other bloggers in your niche through Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets. As you begin to see some positive results of your work and build enough of a good reputation in your niche, you are going to want to start submitting guest posts to other top blogs to increase your spread on the web. If you already have a positive relationship with these bloggers, it will be easier to step forward and ask for a little help by providing quality content for their blog.

It is also a great idea to start conversing with the technical minded individuals in web design. You are going to need to call upon their services in the future and give and take relationships are much more beneficial in the long run. Start looking for ways to help out others in the industry because that good web karma is going to pay back to you 10 fold.

Welcome to the Big Leagues

If you repeat that formula…over and over again…you should start to see a pretty significant following. A lot of beginning bloggers look at the incomes brought in by the world’s top 1% and think…

Wow…that looks easy…I could do it too! In one month I am going to quit my job and make a killing blogging!

Ha! I wish it was that easy and the #1 main reason that these top bloggers make it look so easy is because they are very good at blogging. Time and practice makes perfect, so remember that in your quest to become a top blogger. Nothing comes overnight and building anything that is truly successful takes time and hard work…

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Ramped Reviews eBook Released – Free Review Product and Pro Review Blogging

July 2, 2009 By 6 Comments

It is finally here! The ultimate eBook guide to review blogging. Ramped Reviews takes you step by step through every process in review blogging.

The Story Behind Ramped Reviews

As my cycling blog continued to grow, there was one question that continually flowed across my email inbox.

How do you get all of this product in to review?

For those of you that don’t already know, the reason my readers were asking this question was because Mountain Biking by 198 had seen over $70,000 in review product before it’s first year anniversary. I started searching the web looking for a resource that spelled out exactly what I was doing with MTB by 198 so that others could replicate my success with getting in free product to review for their blog. After a lot of searching and frustration, I realized…there was not a resource on the internet that taught bloggers, website owners and small publications how to get in free product to review for their readers.

After seeing this gaping hole in the internet marketing world, I decided to take on the task of creating an eBook that taught bloggers how to become pro review bloggers that receive thousands in free review product. On that day…the concept for Ramped Reviews was born. Since that day, we have pouring every bit of the review process into this eBook that is now available.

What do you get in Ramped Reviews?

You get every single step in the pro review blogger process.

  • Why bloggers get free product to review.
  • What your site needs to have before you start the pro reviewing process.
  • How to contact companies in your niche about free review product. (including a high converting sample letter)
  • The review process and how to write a successful product review including SEO review tactics that have landed my reviews on the front page of Google.
  • What to do after the review process is complete.
  • How to turn your product reviews into cash.
  • How to rapidly grow your blog through your free review product and product reviews.
  • Bonus Material

As you can see, Ramped Reviews is a complete resource for bloggers looking to get free review product for their blogs. This eBook took months to complete as we were exhaustive in finding every bit of information you guys need to be successful. We did not want to create an up-sale product that only gave you half of what you really needed. Ramped Reviews is a complete guide to pro review blogging and receiving free product to review on your blog.

So how do I get my own copy of Ramped Reviews?

Simple! Follow this link and click purchase.

Buy Ramped Reviews Now

For $20.00 (not a 19.99 marketing trick to make you feel like you won something…a flat 20 bones!), you get everything you ever needed to know about review blogging and getting in free product to review on your blog. As you can already add up in your head, this eBook will more than pay for itself with that first trip from UPS or FedEx.

My experience in the corporate sales and marketing world has allowed me to see massive success in a very short amount of time. Ramp up your learning curve and maximize your success rate by purchasing Ramped Reviews. It will be the smartest step you have taken into the pro review blogger process.

Special Thanks

A special thanks goes out to Justin Shattuck and the crew over at Just The Web for their help with the design and editing of Ramped Reviews. They are the best for a reason!

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Your Blog Content: Meat and Potatoes or Parsley?

June 29, 2009 By 2 Comments

When it comes to blogging, your content is everything. You can not expect to grow a readership and make any money online by writing and publishing substandard, light content. Blog readers are able to see through, with painful accuracy, poor blog content and this can ruin your reputation in the blogosphere leading to an unsuccessful blog that eventually falls off the end of the Earth.

Over the years, I have seen many “services” that promise unique content that will automate your blogging, but I have rarely ever seen a blog become successful using these auto generated methods as they are rarely as unique as they claim. When it boils down to it, there is no replacement for self written, quality content that engages your readers. When it comes to publishing articles on your blog, you need to take a look at your content/writing and really analyze what you are offering your readers in your quest to become an expert in your niche.

Is your writing meat and potatoes or parsley?

Funny question…but it does have a point. When you publish content on your blog, are you providing information that is heavy and full of useful “nutrients” or is it decorative crap that has absolutely no value to the reader? When you provide information/articles that are useful and provide value to your readers, your content will attract a bigger following and allow you to grow you blog from a weekend hobby to a viable business. Often times, you might find it hard to get into your meat writing grove, so here are some examples of blog posts that will provide meat and potatoes content.

  • “How to” Articles – The more you can teach your readers how to accomplish some task…the better. How to posts are an incredible way to provide direct worth to the readers of your blog. Your readers will end up looking to you as a resource in your niche and this will further promote your brand in your industry. How to articles…when done correctly…take a little bit longer to draft than most other forms of blog writing, but the long term benefits and link bait are worth their weight in potatoes.
  • Lists Articles - Are there 10 things you can’t live without in your niche? Are there 7 hot spots that everyone related to your industry should visit? Publishing these sort of list articles are another way to provide serious nutrition to your blog. Recently, I saw a blog in the cycling industry do a top 50 cycling blogs list that brought him traffic and links that surpassed his expectations. Other bloggers and readers love to pass list posts around. Again…they take a little bit longer to draft up…but they pay off in the long run.
  • Review Posts – High quality reviews on products related to your subject matter are another great way to provide some serious worth to your blog. Review posts provide a insight into products that your readers are interested in purchasing (affiliate revenue) and they are SEO gold as you strive to find new ways to pop on that first page of Google.

As you can probably tell by the list above, meat and potatoes articles take longer to publish than a fly by night, this is how my day is going journal entry. If done correctly, providing high quality, nutrition filled articles will grow your blog faster than you can imagine. The extra work that goes into providing this wealth of information for your readers is what separates the successful blogs from the un-updated failures that plague the web.

As you write your next blog article, read through your draft and ask yourself, “is this meat and potatoes or parsley?”. If you are writing worthless decoration, make the changes necessary and provide some meat and potatoes content that will blow your readers away. It does not matter if you have 4 readers or 40,000, quality content should be your goal with every click of the publish button.

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Why do you blog?

June 26, 2009 By 3 Comments

An open ended question that can have a multitude of answers. Why do you blog? While the question seems simple on the outside, for many bloggers…they might not actually know the answer.

Many bloggers start blogging because they thought it was interesting at the time and all of their friends were doing it. They may have heard that you can make some extra cash on the side or they could keep family members up to date with the daily events in their household. With two drastically different goals in the two examples preceding…there is one thing to consider.

Any blog…without direction…will not get past the first year of existence.

I am being extremely generous with saying even a year. You do not have to start a blog with the goal of being an internet millionaire. One of the best aspects of blogging is that you can make it anything you want it to be!

  • Do you need a place to get the thoughts out of your head? You now have an online diary.
  • Are family members bugging you for pictures and updates about their new family member that you brought into this world Johnny? You can blog to decrease the amount of “please send us pictures” emails and phone calls.
  • Have a unique idea that can grow into a business by blogging and creating a large following? Blogging can be your gateway into working for yourself and enjoying the fruits of an internet based business.
  • Just want to try blogging out for a minute to see if it is for you? Fantastic! Give it a try!

All of these are great reasons to sit at a keyboard and pump out content like their is no tomorrow, but before you open that first post screen…you need to have some sense of purpose. This purpose will keep you writing with the ultimate goal in mind and keep your blog from the dreaded un-updated, neglected, barren desert of forgotten blogs.

So…as you start your new blog or are looking at adapting and changing your existing blog….finish this sentence…

I blog because…

Why does Robb Sutton blog?

If I am going to ask you to look deep inside your soul to figure out why you throw words on a screen, it is only fair that I do the same. I blog for a lot of reasons due to multiple sites, so I will spell that out for you now.

Mountain Biking by 198

I started Mountain Biking by 198 because I no longer wanted to be just another rider on the trail. I wanted to become a part of the industry and help other riders figure out what to buy and how to ride. From day one, this was my goal and before the first year of blogging was completed, I was fully entrenched. Mountain Biking by 198 is perfoming product reviews for the largest players in the industry and the riding tips articles are helping other riders accomplish riding techniques. Overall…couldn’t be any happier with the results so far. The overall purpose of MTB198 is staying the same, but it is going to go through some expansion over the next year. It is really exciting times for everyone involved.

Ramped Blogging | robbsutton.com

After a certain point with Mountain Biking by 198, I had seen over $70,000 worth of review product come through the front door of my house (I think the Fedex and UPS guy think I am crazy!). This started to grow some attention in the blogging realm, and I was getting questions on a daily basis on how to get product for review. My experience in the corporate sales arena gave me a unique set of skills for a blogger that enabled me to see this rapid growth with review blogging. I started robbsutton.com as a way to help other bloggers as they deal with outside firms. robbsutton.com is also designed around the idea of improving your life and getting out of the reptitive mess that we create for ourselves as I struggle to do the same with my life.

robbsutton.com is going to release a series of eBooks that help bloggers get through the struggles of beginning blogging and we are going to start with Ramped Reviews. Ramped Reviews is the ultimate guide to review blogging and dealing with companies on review product. The best part…it is almost done! Be on the lookout!

WhatAnnoys.me

I love this project. Instead of yelling at the driver on the highway that can’t even hear what I am saying…I get my frustrations out on whatannoys.me. Sometimes you just need a place to vent!

So there you have it! That is why Robb Sutton blogs. I have other projects on the whiteboard to introduce at a future time, but that is the meat and potatoes of my projects as they sit right now.

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FriendFeed Explodes RSS Feed Counts in FeedBurner

June 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I…like many bloggers…woke up this morning to find an unusually high subscriber increase in my Feedburner feed counts. Just like any abnormality, I further investigated the root cause to the issue and found out that FeedBurner was now counting the amount of subscribers to my FriendFeed as subscribers to my blogs.

While some of you might enjoy the bump in numbers at this time, this is a dangerous road to walk down for FeedBurner as it completely changes the game when it comes to publishing feed subscriber counts…and not in a good way.

The FriendFeed/Feedburner Issue – And A Big One!

FeedBurner has now drastically dilluted the FeedBurner feed count. Let me paint it out like this. Say you have built up a substantial FriendFeed following (which can be as easy as following everyone on Twitter), and you launch a brand new blog with 2 articles on it. You then aggregate that new blog to your FriendFeed and BAM! You instantly have thousands of RSS feed readers on your chiclet with only two articles! How good are you?!

As you can see…the FeedBurner feed count has become an unreliable number in determining the following of a blog.

Now…if I can figure that out in 5 seconds flat, how long will it be until someone completely exploits the system for their own benefit? Granted, after a certain amount of time, one would hope that you can tell the difference between a fake FriendFeed subscriber number and that of a legitimate blog following, but now there is a whole new variable in the game that has to be dealt with.

Dear FeedBurner,

Thank you for the bump in my subscriber count, but…if you don’t mind…I would like to return it in favor of a more accurate count.

Thank you,

Robb Sutton

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Blogging: What you can learn from the Hampton Inn

June 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Being a regional sales manager for a number of years required that I travel…a lot! When you are on the road, the last thing you want is to stay in some creepy, roach infested hotel in your quest to make a little extra coin to bring home. When hotels were plagued with the inability to provide consistent sleeping arrangements across the country, Hilton Hotels launched the Hampton Inn chain.

For those of you that don’t travel a lot, a Hampton Inn is the same whether you are in east bumblefuck Kentucky or New York City. No matter where you are traveling, you are almost guaranteed to find a Hampton Inn that you can count on to provide you will sleeping arrangements that will fit your needs away from home. For me…Hampton Inn’s are my home away from home…

What do you get at a Hampton Inn?

  • Reasonable price
  • Super clean rooms
  • The same shampoo, soap, towels, bed, snack and layout at every hotel.
  • Friendly staff that is in the same uniform
  • Free breakfast that is good enough to get the day going
  • The same coffee at every location
  • A decent points program that you can redeem for free nights
  • Thousands of locations so that you are never left stranded in a roach motel

[Read more...]

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Getting Blog Readers To Go Deeper – Aweber Follow-Up Emails

June 12, 2009 By 1 Comment

Over the course of your blogging career, you are going to write some fantastic articles that are going to end up getting lost in the shuffle. As these articles dive deeper into your blog, they do not get the front page traffic gold that you would like. Bloggers often struggle with getting readers to dig deeper into their blog to find these articles and restore them to their former glory. Many times, readers either do not have the time, or do not know how to get to these articles. The blogger now has to find unique ways to feature older articles that provides solutions to their readers issues. [Read more...]

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