AllBusiness.com - Strategic Business Blogging

Blog Copywriting an Essential Skill

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 04:58:20 GMT

In the offline marketing world, copywriters are a hallowed lot, at least the good ones. Not so much online. I recall a few years back reading about the different types of Internet-related jobs in terms of salaries paid, and copywriting was way down the list. In the offline world copywriters worth their salt can make a fortune! What does this have to do with blogging? Simply that honing your blog copywriting skills can make your blog more popular and, if you're in the business of making money ...

Pay Per Post Requires Disclosure

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 10:10:43 GMT

Maybe their conscience got the best of them, or maybe the FTC's ruling did it, but controversial PayPerPost.com is now requiring disclosure. In case you've not been following this issue, PayPerPost.com is a site that gets bloggers to write posts about companies and products for a fee. The problem -- and there is more than one -- is that PPP didn't require full-disclosure. Hence, a blogger could write a post proclaiming the benefits of a certain product or company without informing the reader ...

Bloglines Looking for New Direction and New Director

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 06:10:14 GMT

I use Bloglines as my RSS reader of choice. When I logged into my account the other day, I saw an ad touting the headline "Come work for Bloglines." Seems they are looking for a business director, someone to give strategic direction to the app. As you may know, Bloglines was acquired by Ask.com last year from then CEO Mark Fletcher. Mark's dream for the site was to turn it into the "homepage of the 21st century," whatever that means. However, Mark left the company last June to take care of ...

Blogs Push Surge in Social Media Marketing

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 06:55:08 GMT

Toby Bloomberg used to be a blogging consultant. Now, she's a social media marketing consultant. So is B L Ochman, as are others I know. I mention that to say these ladies know which way the wind is blowing. They understand something Toby said I predicted some years ago, that blogging would become part of a larger landscape called social media. (To be truthful, I have no idea what I said, but she says I said it.) She (er...I) was right, it has. My good friend and business partner (he's ...

Big Changes at the Blog Herald

Sat, 09 Dec 2006 06:26:04 GMT

This falls under the "what doesn't get reported the same day it happens is old news" category, but I wanted to bring you up to speed on some changes happening with the Blog Herald. Blog Herald is one of my all-time favorite blogs. If you want to know what's happening on the business end of the blogosphere, that's certainly one good place to go. Recently, the site got sold to UK outfit, Bloggy Network Ltd. (Here's a word from the new owners about the sale.) The company that purchased Blog ...

More on Blogkits

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 12:53:33 GMT

Yesterday, I introduced you to Blogkits, an advertising service which promotes itself as a viable alternative to Google Adsense. Blogkits creator, Jim Kukral, sent me the following information in an email, and I decided to pass it along to you verbatim: BlogKits is the first, and only affiliate marketing network built for bloggers. It's an alternative monetization method for millions (99% of all blogs) of low-traffic bloggers who aren't expert marketers. Why is BlogKits different than a ...

Blog Prognostications for 2007

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 06:10:11 GMT

Some of the Fellows over at the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) have made predictions about blogging in the year ahead. (BTW, I use the term "Fellows" as a proper noun, because it's some of SNCR's Research Fellows of which I speak.) One of those, Debbie Weil, had this to say..."We´re unhooking from our computers and will be getting much more online info via our cell phones, PDAs, etc. Beware the marketer who doesn´t remember this and doesn´t format blog posts, ...

Entrepreneur Jim Kukral Launches BlogKits

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 12:33:32 GMT

Tired of making a paltry sum each month using Google Adsense? If so, you may want to try a new service, Blogkits, the "world's first true performance marketing network built just for bloggers." My good friend and serial entrepreneur, Jim Kukral, just launched the service and promises you'll fare better using Blogkits than Adsense. Getting started is easy too. Just follow these steps: -Signup your blog & get approved -Grab tracking code & place it in your blog template -Earn whenever a sale is ...

Disclosure in the Blogosphere...More on the Pay Per Post Debate

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 06:47:01 GMT

I promise I won't keep harping on this, but I have to get it out of my system, so bear with me. And forgive the fact that I'm just now jumping on this bandwagon. PayPerPost.com...yes, them again, has created a website called DisclosurePolicy.org, which is ostensibly designed to address the disclosure issue as it relates to bloggers being paid for posting and other forms of blog marketing that may lack complete transparency. In a October post, TechCrunch accused PPP of doing something not ...

Blogging is the Last Form of Honest Advertising...at Least It Used to Be

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 06:09:32 GMT

This whole pay per post phenomenon has gotten me really intrigued. It seems PPP companies are coming out of the woodwork. Let's see, there's PayPerPost.com, CreamAid.com, ReviewMe.com, and coming soon to the blogosphere near you, LoudLaunch.com. What each of these has in common is that they all pay bloggers to write about advertisers. PayPerPost.com was the first to the current scene, and they got roundly trashed in the blogosphere for not requiring full disclosure and for putting pressure on ...