The rumours of the death of the blogosphere are … perhaps greatly exaggerated

Nicholas Carr states that;

Technorati has identified 133 million blogs since it started indexing them in 2002. But at least 94 percent of them have gone dormant, the company reports in its most recent “state of the blogosphere” study. Only 7.4 million blogs had any postings in the last 120 days, and only 1.5 million had any postings in the last seven days.

Wow.  I’m amazed.  1.5 million blogs (not bloggers), globally.

A sizeable crowd are saying blogging is mainstream.  And dead.  And yet there are only 1.5 million regularly updated blogs. Strikes me that the problem is not ‘blogging being mainstream’, but finding the good stuff between the professional blogs and the drivel.

26/11/08 Update: This is a good perspective too.

Filed under: Blogging, Business, Ideas and Riffs, Measurement, Media, Web, blogs, ideas, technology , Blogging, mainstream, nicholas carr, state of the blogosphere, Technorati

The mobile web gatecrashes the marketing mix

(Update 22/07/08 – dotMobi, the company behind the .mobi Internet address designed specifically for mobile phones, and AKQA Mobile, the mobile division of the AKQA agency have launched the results of an extensive consumer study of mobile Internet usage and attitudes.)

With the news that 40 million US mobile subscribers (15.6 percent) actively use the mobile Internet, the mobile web is set to be a sure-fire line item entering many B2B marketers marketing plans in 2008/9.

According to a recent Nielsen Company’s report (with 16 countries tracked) the US is the leader in mobile Internet adoption (by penetration #’s), followed by the UK (12.9 percent) and Italy (11.9 percent).

Whilst I believe there is an element of ‘lies, damn lies and statistics‘ about this report (are US citizens browsing, or simply downloading email / how endemic is sophisticated use in the US compared to Europe or Japan?) the reality is I probably shouldn’t care.  The bigger picture is that the mobile web is going to gatecrash the savvy marketers marketing mix quickly.  Very quickly.  You ignore 1million iPhones sold in a weekend, 4G wireless plans and the EC slashing of roam rates at your peril.

Which brings me neatly onto MoFuse – which allows webmasters& bloggers to launch and manage blog content (providing it is available as an RSS feed) in mobile friendly format.  All that you need to do is provide the feed, and in a few simple clicks your blog is viewable on mobile devices at a url like yoursite.mofuse.mobi.  Potentially very nice.  I’ll certainly be checking it out.

So to recap.  Why mobilise your blog?  Well MoFuse believe you should for 5 reasons.  I can’t argue with these, (even if i instantly take a disliking to the fact that a mobile advertising platform seems to be built in, Yuk!….I should be paying my readers not subjecting them to crappy ads) but the real truism is that people want to read content on the go.  Plain and simple.

How are your plans for m. or .mobi coming along?  Can you share your thoughts or best practices?

Filed under: Business, Media, Mobile, Online, Planning, Research, Social Media, Strategy, User Generated Content, Web, blogs, marketing, technology , .mobi, 4G, AKQA, B2B, commerce, dotMobi, M-commerce, m., Mobile, Mobile Commerce, MoFuse, Nielsen

Please help

Sport Relief

(I should apologise for bringing you here by illicit categorisation and tagging, but I won’t. You might have wasted just 10 seconds. Hopefully you will make the choice to change someone’s world in less than a minute).

Filed under: 2.0, ACL, Adobe, Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Analyst, Analytics, Apple, Awards, BBC, Blog, Blogging, Blogroll, Books, Branding, Business, Buzz, CBS, CIM, CRM, Charity, Colour, Computer, Computing, Conversational marketing, Conversion, Cool, Corbis, Customer service, Data, Deloitte, Design, Direct Email, Direct Mail, EMI, Email, Entertainment, Entrepreneur, Events, Experiential, Facebook, Fairchild Semiconductor, Forrester, Fun, Gartner, Google, IBM, IODA, IT, IT Planning, Ideas and Riffs, Illusion, Imagery, Influence, Infrared, Job, Keywords, Knee, MIT, Mac, Measurement, Media, Microsoft, Mobile, Music, News, Online, Online Video, Open Social, PC, PR, Planning, Power 150, Printing, Public Relations, Punchstock, Quotes, RSS, Religion, Remarkable, Research, SEO, SEO / SEM, SPARQL, SQL, Salmon, Scene7, Search, Search Engine Optimisation, Second Chance Tuesday, Second Life, Semantic Web, Sinclair, Social Graphs, Social Media, Social Networking, Software, Sony BMG, Spam, Spectrum, Strategy, Surgery, Survival, TV, Tattoo, The Orchard, Tim Berners-Lee, Twitter, Usability, User Generated Content, Viral, Viral Coefficient, Virtual Worlds, WIFI, WIKI, WOM, Warner Music Group, Web, Web2.0, White Paper, Wired.com, Wordpress, Xerox, Xuuk, Yahoo!, YouTube, ZX, blogs, bob, copywriting, digital, dotcoms, garfield, iStock, ideas, illustration, last.fm, marketing, ogilvy, permission, photography, podcast, sport, startups, stock photography, technology, trust, venture capital, verge, web 2.0, webmasters, wi-fi, word of mouth , 2008, Advertising, Age 5-14, Animals, Anime, Announcements, Answered, Art, Articles, Barack, Basketball, Bible, Big, Big Questions, Blog, Blogging, blogs, Books, Business, Charity, Children, China, Christianity, Church, clinton, Club, Comedy, Commentary, Community, Crime, Culture, Current Events, Daily, Democrats, Design, Economics, Economy, Education, Election 2008, Elections, Eliot Spitzer, English, Entertainment, Environment, Events, Faith, Family, Fashion, Fiction, Film, Food, Friends, Fun, Funny, Games, God, Government, Health, Hillary, Hip-hop, History, Home, Humor, ideas, India, inspiration, internet, Iraq, Islam, Jesus, John McCain, Journal, Kids, Leadership, Life, Links, Love, marketing, Marriage, Me, Media, Misc, Miscellaneous, Money, Movies, Music, Musings, My Life, Nature, News, Obama, Opinion, Parenting, penguin, People, Personal, Philosophy, photography, photos, Physics, Pictures, Poems, Poetry, Political, Politics, Pop culture, Prayer, Projects, Psychology, Questions, Quotes, Race, Ramblings, Random, Rants, Recipes, Reflections, Relationships, Religion, Research, Review, Reviews, School, Science, Sewing, Sex, Shopping, Society, Software, Spiritual, Spirituality, Sports, Stories, Stuff, technology, television, The Page, Theology, Thoughts, Travel, trends, TV, Unanswered, United states, Update, USA, video, Videos, web 2.0, Welcome, Women, work, World, Writing, YouTube

‘Grown up’ social networking

There is a good piece in silicon.com today about LinkedIn, and how their CEO believes that it is very different to Facebook and the other social networking sites.

I agree, and somewhat bizarrely disagree completely.

I’m very much in tune with LinkedIn’s CEO and his thinking about LinkedIn’s role and ‘reason for being’. In fact I really struggle to understand why B2B professionals would not want to use the service – truth be told I am amazed it’s free.

But to assign other social networking sites into a ‘juvenile’ camp is naive. Maybe it is just semantics, and I am reading too much into it?

Take Twitter for instance. Over the last few days I have been following various people as they post comments (tweets) in real-time about events at SXSW (a music, film, and interactive conference and festival) particularly the uncomfortable keynote with Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook’s CEO) and Business Week’s Sarah Lacy.

Hilarious. Live. Connected. Interactive. And certainly not juvenile.

Ok. Possibly not as thought-provoking or grammatically sound as a blog or elements of LinkedIn (e.g. Answers) but as a forum to share a stream-of-conscious babblings. Ideal.

Now the blogosphere is catching up on the whole Zuckerberg thang- with more detailed descriptions and reviews. But ultimately I learnt a great lesson in my use of Twitter over the last 48hrs. Its sufficiently different. Spectacularly different. And if you follow the appropriate people – seriously grown up.

Just like LinkedIn. Only different.

By the way I am here if you want to connect My LinkedIn Profile, My Twitter

Filed under: 2.0, Blog, Blogging, Media, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, User Generated Content, Web2.0, blogs, ideas, marketing, technology, web 2.0 , Business, Business Week, LinkedIn, Media, Silicon.com, SXSW, Twitter, Zuckerberg

The 26 Week Internet Marketing Plan

If I said to you, you can learn about Internet Marketing in a weekend, and implement a thorough Strategic Internet Marketing plan in just 26 weeks, you might react in two negative ways; depending on your perspective. I know I did.

How can you provide me a strategic plan? That’s nonsence.
or
26 weeks? That’s too slow, too lethagic.

I’ve changed my mind. And I’d urge you to think again. I VERY rarely recommend items on this blog, but this deserves a mention…….

When the authors of the 26 Week Internet Marketing Plan asked me if they could send me a full preview of their package I was flattered, slightly nervous about what I would receive and hestitant to be seen like so many other bloggers who jump on a bandwagon to secure affiliate revenue, or traffic to their site (the latter is just not my style)

But I am so glad I accepted the gift, and challenge! What a wealth of content. It took nearly a full weekend to get through the content – and I am sure I missed bits.

Many UK marketing bloggers have been sent the pack as part of the stealth launch, and I’ll link to some of their content in this post. In a nutshell though, to be one of the best online marketers it is really key to know the basic rules of Internet Marketing – and this package has the basics outlined in as clear a manner as I have EVER seen.

The 26 week Internet marketing plan contains 4 DVD’s, 8 Multimedia CD’s and 4 ring-bound workbooks; plus a wall planner and 10 step quick start guide. It is written in a no-nonsense, pragmatic and conversational way – clearly a reflection of author David Bain’s clear understanding and experience in the Internet Marketing space. Great stuff.

Now don’t get me wrong. If you are a well read, experienced Internet Marketer, with a record of practising Internet Marketing for a number of years this quite possibly is not the guide for you. BUT (and I think this is a big ‘but’) if you are a marketing manager, business leader, entrepreneur or anybody who needs to make an impact online, is serious about it (you should be), and don’t know where the hell to start, the 26 week Internet Marketing Plan is an unbelievable package for you.

To give you an idea on its depth and breadth, this is what is provided out of the box.

Phase 1: Website Structure
Business Strategy
Keyword Research
Site Architecture
Conversion Rates
Viral Coefficient
Visitor Tracking

Phase 2: Automation and Launch
Blogging
RSS
Email Updates
Blog Communities
Blog & RSS Directories
Press Releases
Pay Per Click

Phase 3: Broaden Your Base
Major Directories
Industry Directories
Local Directories
Article Marketing
Competitor Backlinks
Forum Interaction
Blog Comments

Phase 4: Broaden Your Horizon
New Website
Social Networking
MyPage Marketing
Podcasting
Video Marketing
Visitor Analysis

Phew! See why it took 2 days to get through it!

This is what my marketing counterparts are discussing about the materials, and here is a brief introduction, plus here’s another.

As I mentioned the workbook writing is hype free, clear, easy to read; but most importantly littered with examples that makes the content easy to read and understand. So what? Well I have read many internet marketing books and too many are still poorly written.

But whilst the 4 workbooks form the core of the 26 week Internet Marketing Plan, they really are just the tip of the iceberg. And that leads me to the next great thing about the package. Its loaded with MP3’s of interviews, documented transcripts and .pdfs which really help to contextualise what you can learn in the core workbooks. Contributors include Jonathan Farrington and Yaro Starak by the way.

And finally what I really like is the overriding candid, honest, hype free approach that David has taken in producing this package.

IMHO there are numerous starter courses that prospective Internet Marketers could take – seminars, courses, training sessions etc. The trouble is they’re slick, polished but ultimately forgettable (most of the time).

For £399 I would be amazed if you could spend your hard earned money more wisely. And for the forgetful – the CD’s, MP3’s, .pdf’s and workbooks are a timely reminder of what to do, when and how. Highly recommended!

Filed under: Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Analytics, B2B, Blog, Blogging, Branding, Business, Buzz, Conversion, Data, Direct Email, Entrepreneur, IT, IT Planning, Influence, Keywords, Measurement, Media, Online, Online Video, Open Social, Planning, RSS, Research, SEO, SEO / SEM, Search, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media, Social Networking, Strategy, Usability, User Generated Content, Viral, Viral Coefficient, Virtual Worlds, Web, Web2.0, YouTube, blogs, copywriting, marketing, permission, podcast, technology, web 2.0, word of mouth , david Bain, Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing Plan, Jonathan Farrington, Marketing Automation and Launch, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Training, Purple Internet Marketing, Strategic Plan, The 26 Week Internet Marketing Plan, Website Structure, Yaro Starak

Lazysphere. An Idea spreading fast

I really didn’t know whether to write this. But ho-hum. Here goes….

On his blog Micro Persuasion, Steve Rubel explores technology and its impact on marketing communications. One of his posts The Lazysphere and the Decline of Deep Blogging has really struck a cord with bloggers, journalists and online observers. And me.

The essence of his original post is that the lazysphere is a group of bloggers who, “rather than create new ideas or pen thoughtful essays, simply glom on to the latest news with another “me too” blog post.”

Shortly after his post was made on the 8th January, there were just 10 Google search results.

Today, 13 days later there are 10700.

10700 bloggers, journalists onlookers “regurgitating the story over and over again” at various levels and with varying intellectual input.

Amazing stuff.

It just goes to show how a new phrase, and a new idea can grow exponentially. But, and it’s a big ‘but’, according to Rubel there has to be “value add”.

I’ll leave that up to you to think about. Frankly I am amazed that lazysphere.co.uk and .com remain available at the time of writing, and if I’ve passed the thought onto someone new that is enough for me!

Filed under: 2.0, Blog, Blogging, Buzz, Conversational marketing, Measurement, Social Media, User Generated Content, blogs, ideas, marketing , Blogging, Google, ideas, lazysphere, micro persuasion, steve rubel

50 ‘Influencial’ Bloggers

This was so funny that I laughed out loud. And then, damn it I nearly turned the laptop off.

Was it tongue in cheek perhaps? No. I didn’t realise the list was quite so serious.

You see on the blog (a blog about blogging btw) they have listed their ‘Fifty Most Influential Bloggers‘. The Fifty Most Influential Bloggers?

Exactly who are the 50 blog authors influencing, and how are the league table authors measuring, or weighing up one set of influencers against another?

I think being ‘popular’ is very different to being ‘influential’. And a blog about blogging should realise that.

That said it is a great list of English language blogs, worth taking a look at. Maybe one or two will influence you? Then again so might one or two in a random list of 50?

Filed under: Blog, Blogging, Influence, blogs, ideas , , blogs, Influence, measuring

Madcomments – a platform to comment on the marketing, advertising and design communities.

Social media has been causing a storm over the last few weeks with many surprising and often contradictory stories.

Social networking worked for Cadbury’s, as the imminent re-launch of the Wispa bar shows, but can it really help brands turn around their fortunes? Can it be true that ads on sites with user generated content have worse conversion rates than sites that don’t? And what do you think of the ads cropping up all over YouTube?

Social media is one topic Madcomments has an opinion on – so why not visit and join in the debate? Covering new brand launches, the latest advertising campaigns and stories that are causing controversy amongst you and your peers, Madcomments is free and easy to use.

The current Social Media debates include:

Has Google cracked it?

So Google have finally found a way to monetize YouTube – overlays. Maybe the new
dawn for advertisers is finally here and the ball is now back in the court of ad
agencies to develop compelling ads that work in this format?

Emperor’s new clothes or holy grail?

According to new research, ads on non-UGC sites have a better conversion rate than
ads on Facebook, Myspace et al. Confused?

Wispa it: a planned campaign?

Is Cadbury’s re-launch of it’s Wispa chocolate a shining example of how social
networking sites can be used to promote positive brand stories or, as Cadbury’s
claim, due to a spontaneous outburst of affection from Facebook members?

Go to www.madcomments.co.uk now and tell me what you think!

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, Blog, Blogging, Conversational marketing, Social Media, User Generated Content, Viral, WOM, Web2.0, YouTube, blogs, marketing, web 2.0, word of mouth

10 Tips for Becoming a Great Corporate Blogger

According to Scoutblogging, successful blogging is not just about being the best writer on the web or even the most prolific. Phew!

Being a successful blogger is about “creating a connection with an audience by providing relevant content, nurturing that relationship with comments and links and keeping the dialogue flowing.” Pretty good advise, and here are their ten tips to get you started.

There is also a great piece today by Brandchannel.com, about Brand (or Corporate) led blogs. As they define quite accurately, a brand blog is not a business blog.

Filed under: B2B, Blog, Blogging, Business, Conversational marketing, Social Media, Strategy, blogs, marketing

Mr. and Mrs. Average

See how you compare with the UK’s IT and Business Decision makers in these Silicon.com surveys.

Do you think a business blog can be a good way for companies to communicate with their customers?
View Results

What is the biggest expenses claim you’ve ever made?
View Results

When you are on holiday, how often do you check your work email?
View Results

How long have you been with your current mobile phone provider?
View Results

How do you interact most often with your boss?
View Results

How many emails on average do you get in your inbox per day?
View Results

How would you describe your normal stress level at work?
View Results

Who is in charge of IT risk management within your organisation?
View Results

Would you be happy to go through biometric security checks in airports?
View Results

Have you ever visited a virtual world?
View Results

How much time in the office do you spend using social networking sites each week?
View Results

By 2015, your working week will be…
View Results

How often do you work from home?
View Results

Are you worried about potential health risks associated with using wi-fi?
View Results

Filed under: Blog, Blogging, Business, Computer, Computing, Direct Email, Email, IT, Measurement, Mobile, Research, Social Media, Virtual Worlds, WIFI, blogs, marketing, wi-fi

Social Media for Business

It is about time the UK had a decent Social Media conference and now we do. The Social Media for Business conference programme is now online. See which experts will join Yahoo! to guide you through the pitfalls and opportunities of social media.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how you can leverage the key ideas from social networking to create buzz around your brand and successfully promote your products and services.

Click here to read the conference programme. This is the conference for you if your business is struggling with questions like these:

• How do I integrate social media into my business?
• How do I turn social media into a revenue generator for my business?
• How do I create purposeful social networks?
• How do I monitor our reputation on-line?

Have these questions answered and many more by spending just one day out of the office.

More details here

Filed under: 2.0, Branding, Business, Buzz, Conversational marketing, Events, Experiential, Online, Online Video, Social Media, Strategy, User Generated Content, Virtual Worlds, Web2.0, blogs, marketing, podcast, web 2.0, word of mouth

Working at big co. just got duller

How predictable. A big I.T. company is telling it’s employees how to behave online….

IBM has just released ‘employee guidelines‘ for virtual worlds. The seven-page .pdf outlines basic principles governing how employees should represent IBM in the virtual arena.

Rules like these make me feel sad. It seems that the bigger the company, the lower the risk they want to assume. The trouble is, the more stakeholders/shareholders a company has – the bigger the potential risk.

Ok, in this instance it’s IBM, but I might very be writing about Microsoft, Oracle, Xansa, Cap Gemini or any other ‘big’ I.T. company. Market gorillas play it safe. They are protective, defensive and either instinctively behave in this fashion, or ‘learn’ to behave like this.
But the result of strategies like this? You become monotone, dreary, dull and predictable.

Two things that IBM’ers won’t do under this type of governance….

• They will never break ‘news’. Big companies want their employees to play safe. Safe = Boring and dull.

• They will never be ‘nearly libellous’. Unless you flirt with danger, you never dare a response. To me that seems like easy street. And easy street takes you nowhere, fast.

Acting ‘big’ in this way slows you down. And it certainly waters down what you are doing. And that is a very bad thing.

Whoever you work for (Big or small, but particularly if you work for a big company) be brave, tell the truth, be remarkable, break news, be transparent, be pithy, challenge convention, enter debate, admit your wrong, and lobby for what you think is right. And tear up the rule book.

Filed under: 2.0, Blog, Blogging, Conversational marketing, IBM, Online, Second Life, Social Media, Strategy, Virtual Worlds, Web2.0, blogs, ideas, marketing, web 2.0

The Power 150 (and the hangers on)

Yikes. This blog has been listed on The Power 150. Kind of.

Actually we are listed in the ‘honourable mentions’ list.

This blog is rated as the 297th best English language blog about marketing in the World. WOW.

And drilling a bit further we are the 22nd best UK marketing blog.

Time to have a sit down.

The Power 150 is a global ranking of the top English-language marketing blogs. Originally launched in January 2007 as a USA-based ranking, the Power 150 expanded worldwide to include all English-language blogs after TechBrew provided the list’s automation in March 2007. To calculate each blog’s final ranking in the Power 150, a very simple, multimetric algorithm was used. Final ranking is based on the sum of four unique and mostly objective sources:

Google PageRank (0 to 10) – Google PageRank is a link analysis algorithm that interprets web links and assigns a numerical weighting (0 to 10) to each site. High-quality sites receive a higher PageRank. The Power 150 ranking uses the actual PageRank as part of its algorithm.

Bloglines Subscribers (1 to 20) – Bloglines displays the amount of subscribers each blog has to its feed(s). Subscriber ranges were determined (i.e., more than 20, more than 30, etc.) and each range was assigned a number (1 to 20) that was used as part of the Power 150 algorithm.

Technorati Ranking (1 to 30) – Technorati ranking relates the number of sites pointing to a particular blog. The more link sources referencing your blog, the higher the Technorati ranking. Similar to the Bloglines Subscribers value, Technorati ranking ranges were determines (i.e., top 9,000, top 10,000, top 20,000, etc.) and each range was assigned a number (1 to 30) that was used as part of the Power 150 algorithm.

Todd And Points (1 to 15) – As the only subjective measure in the Power 150 algorithm, 1 to 15 opinion points were assigned to each blog. Todd And values frequent, relevant, creative and high-quality content. The use of audio, video and graphics is also heavily weighted in the Todd And Points.

All four metrics were added to determine each blog’s total score. The total score carried the most weight in assigning the final Power 150 rank. If blogs shared the same final Power 150 rank, the suborder was determined by Todd And points. If Todd And points were the same, Technorati ranking points were compared – then Bloglines subscriber points and finally Google PageRank points. Rankings are automated and updated every 24 hours.

Now all we need to do is crack the top 150, and stay there.

Filed under: Analytics, Awards, Blog, Blogging, Fun, Ideas and Riffs, Measurement, Power 150, Social Media, blogs, ideas, marketing

A Potted History of B2B High-Tech Marketing

A while ago, brands were communicated simply by ‘campaigns’. Blast a message out a gazillion times and the message would hopefully ’stick’, and hey presto…..more sales. A consistent monologue was established. In this era, messages and media were key. Communication was the order of the day. But times change.

A short time ago, brands were communicated via integrated marketing ‘programmes’. Consumers were treated equally across different channels. Messages and creative were executed consistently – and a consistent ‘dialogue’ was established. Channels, dialogue and CRM were key. Building a relationship was the order of the day. But times change.

Today, long lasting ‘experiences’ are required for brands to differentiate and lead. And that means that the bar has been raised yet again. Today’s focus therefore? ‘Experience’ is the order of the day.

‘Experience’ is a process of interaction between consumers and a brand that creates new brand meaning.

Experience takes saying and listening and adds a third activity: ‘making things happen‘.

Is you B2B High-Tech Marketing making things happen?

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, B2B, Blog, Blogging, Branding, Buzz, CRM, Customer service, Direct Email, Direct Mail, Experiential, Ideas and Riffs, Measurement, Planning, Strategy, Viral, blogs, ideas, marketing, word of mouth

Web trend (tube) map

They have done it before: The 200 most successful websites on the web, ordered by category, proximity, success, popularity and perspective.

They have done it again – and better.

After popular demand – here is iA’s next Web Trend Map:

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Blog, Blogging, Branding, Buzz, Design, Ideas and Riffs, Measurement, Online, Social Media, Strategy, Viral, Web, Web2.0, blogs, ideas, illustration, marketing, web 2.0, webmasters