1. Blogs 101 Reading, Writing & Finding

2. What makes a blog…a blog? “When I meet big honchos, important people involved in the web, I ask them if they have a web page, and they point me to their magazine. I don’t really care about the magazine’s top five hotsites for the week, I want to know what the guy thinks is cool. How did he get to be on top? Who is there with him? Tell me about yourselves. Otherwise, I’m gonna get bored and look for someone who is telling me something heartfelt, not something market driven.” – Justin Hall (1996)

3. What makes a blog… a blog? Tone – Conversational – Informational Frequency – Updated regularly – at least 3 x week Topics – Anything as long as you adhere to the above and are always…. TRANSPARENT

4. Finding Blogs Blog search engines – Google Blogsearch, Technorati, Icerocket Google Blogsearch TechnoratiIcerocket Search by keyword

5. Measuring Influence What does it mean to be influential? – Authority, Trust, Reach, Engagement Tools – Alexa Alexa – BlogLevel BlogLevel

6. Following Blogs RSS (Really Simple Syndication) RSS Readers – Google Reader (web based) Google Reader – Feedreader (application)

7. Blog Metrics Why are blog metrics important? – Measure influence – Signal to other readers & people of influence Unique Monthly Visitors – Compete, Quantcast CompeteQuantcast Link clicks

8. Attracting Readers Tagging Update content regularly Links – how many other web platforms link to your blog = best way to increase visibility Be YOURSELF Include rich content

9. Rich Content: Photos, Podcasts & Videos Photos – http://www.motomachicakeblog.com/photoblog/ http://www.motomachicakeblog.com/photoblog/ Podcasts: – Regularly updated audio clips that provide unique commentary around a topic (an audio blogpost). Updated daily, weekly or monthly Can be downloaded via iTunes. 6 th Annual Podcast Awards – Best Produced Podcast http://www.radiolab.org/http://www.radiolab.org/ Vlogs: – Video blog posts that provide unique commentary. Hosted on blogs, video sharing sites (YouTube) Allow for a more compelling storytelling. Voted best tech vlog at Vloggies - http://video.gearlive.com/ http://video.gearlive.com/ …and just for laughs… http://animalsbeingdicks.com/http://animalsbeingdicks.com/