The Power Of Blogging

Everyone knows that blogging will give you super powers. I am not talking about "Wonder Twin powers activate" type powers. I am talking about the power to say what's on your mind and have a potential audience that reaches exponentially further than other no-cost publishing mediums.

Sure if you want to write a book or do something like start a magazine, you could potentially impact just as many people but it's going to cost you. What most of us don't know is that some bloggers actually have significant power. It all depends on who you are connected with or what you are connected to. What if you had the ability to effect the stock price of a major, publicly held company? Well, one industrious 18 year old did.

On his blog, this youngster fabbed up a story about Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, having a heart attack. Now normally you wouldn't think much about it. But as it turns out, the post was picked up by a CNN staffer and reported it as fact. Immediately, Apple's stock went down as much as 5.4%. The SEC began an investigation into the incident and to date, they have not been able to find any trading records that show benefit from artificially causing the stock to drop. You can bet the kid almost soiled himself when the cops came to his door and wanted to "ask him a few questions."

Another blog story about a non-existent $800 Apple laptop was picked up by the New York times. This hot little news tid-bit peaked investor interests thinking that Apple was going to be delving into the low-price laptop market. Some analysts even made up charts predicting Apple's increased market share. The result was a big spike in Apple's share price. Once Apple unveiled their new laptop lineup with prices starting at $1299, the hoax was realized and the information sent Apple's share price plummeting.

CNN Money reports that Apple, "...which had gained a record-breaking 13% on Monday and opened higher Tuesday morning, was down more than 5% by the time Jobs finished his presentation"

2 times in the last couple of months, a blogger has caused a major alteration in a publicly traded company's share price. Are these stories of how powerful bloggers have become or stories about the prevalence of sloppy journalism? And why is the market so volatile that unfounded claims by an 18 year old blogger can create so much havoc? What are your thoughts?

Oh, and did you hear that GM is introducing a new SUV that is powered by some new energy source? I think something was said about dilithium crystals? That should bolster their share price a bit.

 

The Thunder Show

I know I may be a little late on the draw and many of you have been on board for quite some time but lately I have been watching this guy named Gary VAY-NER-CHUK. He is the director of operation at the Wine Library in New Jersey. The company's video blog is called Wine Library TV and this, my friends, is one well done Vlog. Not only does this guy have amazing energy but he also knows what he is talking about. With catch phrases like "sniffy sniff", "give it a whirl", "Mott, link it up" and "the oak monster", Gary Vaynerchuk has done an amazing job at self promotion and branding.

He's a bit unorthadox compared to your typical snooty wine reviewer but you know what? It is wildly entertaining and a huge breath of fresh air. The V-man, with the help of of the viewers, claims to be changing the wine world whether they want it changed or not.

Called the Thunder Show, Gary reviews all manner of wine, cheese and other libations during the video segments. Even though it may seem a bit crazy at first, the advice and reviews are usually very insightful and down to earth.

Gary even has his own blog about marketing, branding and monitization that "we're linking it up below. "



Wine Library TV neither needs my endorsement nor any more links. I simply thought that this was one well done video blog and worth sharing regardless of the subject material. If you are thinking about starting a business around a video blog, you would do well to take cues from The Thunder Show.

Have a good weekend everyone, I am heading North for the weekend.

 

AdSpace Contest - Round 2

Here we are again. Last month we had over 1200 entries in the contest. The winner, NotJustAMama.com ended up with her ad on over 45 blogs.

This is the second go-round of the The AdSpace Contest and I'm proud to announce that I am once again one of 10 co-hosts.

The idea is simple and easy: Get as many entries as you can (it's very easy to enter) before October 15th. The more entries you get, the better chance you have of winning! Shortly after the 15th we will announce the winner.

The prize?

A 125x125 pixel ad spot (above the fold) on at LEAST TEN DIFFERENT BLOGS that will run for one month. That's at least a $100 value!

Who else is co-hosting?

Geek Mom Mashup

Mr. Javo

Jamaipanese

Best of Stupid

AxioBlog

The Big Bald Blog

Jason Boom

Unconventional Marketing Blog

It Might Be Love

GorillaSushi

How do you enter to win? Simple:

1 Entry - Subscribe to any one of the blogs above via email. Make sure you tell me what your email is in the comment or sent it to me via the contact page so I can verify you did indeed subscribe. If you subscribed last month, you're already entered again!

5 Entries - Twitter about the contest with a link to this post (NEW!)

10 Entries - Show the Love! Write a post about the contest (must include links to all 10 hosts OR use our suggested text)

25 Entries - Offer up an ad spot on your own blog for one month as part of the prize package (links will be listed above)

Simply put, you could subscribe to all 10 blogs, write a post and offer up your own ad spot for a grand total of 50 entries! Be sure to tell me in the comments below when and how you've entered to ensure that your entries get counted.

Contest ends October 15th. Good Luck!



Don't miss a thing, subscribe to The Big Bald Blog. And now you can even follow me on Twitter

 

The AdSpace Winner Is Announced!

Attention Big Bald Bloggers, we have a winner! The 1272 AdSpace contest entries were carefully tabulated and a winner was chosen at random via Random.org. And the winner is NotJustAMama.com.



"Tell 'em what she's won Johnny!" In addition to the 10 sponsors of the contest:
Geek Mom Mashup, Vrtualme, Jamaipanese, Best of Stupid, AxioBlog, The Big Bald Blog, Jason Boom, Unconventional Marketing Blog, Offended Blogger and GorillaSushi - there were 35 other blogs that offered up ad spaces to the winner. In total, NotJustAMama.com won ads on 45 different blogs!

This contest was so successful that we have all banded together again to offer you another chance at fame and fortune. Well, maybe not fame and fortune but you will get a free ad on a bunch of blogs.

Keep checking back for the post announcing the next round. Thanks again to everyone who participated and congratulations to NotJustAMama.com!

 

It's Here! The AdSpace Contest

You've waited for it too long. The anticipation. The secrecy. And now the AWE! Ladies and gentlemen, Today is the Day.

This is first day of The AdSpace Contest and I'm proud to announce that I am one of 10 co-hosts.

The idea is simple and easy: Get as many entries as you can (it's to easy to enter) over the next 30 days. The more entries you get, the better chance you have of winning! At the end of the 30 days, we'll announce the winner.

The prize?

A 125x125 pixel ad spot (above the fold) on at least TEN DIFFERENT BLOGS that will run for one month. That's at least a $100 value!

Who else is co-hosting?

Geek Mom Mashup

Vrtualme

Jamaipanese

Best of Stupid

AxioBlog

The Big Bald Blog

Jason Boom

Unconventional Marketing Blog

Offended Blogger

GorillaSushi

How do you enter to win? Simple:

1 Entry - Subscribe to any one of the blogs above via email. Make sure you tell me what your email is in the comment or sent it to me via the contact page so I can verify you did indeed subscribe.

10 Entries - Show the Love! Write a post about the contest (must include links to all 10 hosts OR use our suggested text)

25 Entries - Offer up an ad spot on your own blog for one month as part of the prize package (links will be listed above)

Simply put, you could subscribe to all 10 blogs, write a post and offer up your own ad spot for a grand total of 45 entries! Be sure to tell me in the comments below when and how you've entered to ensure that your entries get counted.

Good Luck!

 

I Forgot To Mention That I Twitter

I have never mentioned it before but if you would like, you can follow me on Twitter. I don't have anything profound or important to say. It's just fun I guess. It's kind of like having a mini blog.

Anyway, here's the address. Big Pops on Twitter.

 

The Flood

Our building has water up to the door. It may take a couple days before I get another post up.

I have pictures! Stay tuned.

 

Backseat Bloggers

I get a lot of suggestions on what to blog about and topics that I should cover. Most of these are coming from people who know me or I have met in the blogosphere.

Here's a real opportunity for all you backseat bloggers. I want YOU to write a post for The Big Bald Blog! Just contact me and I will give you an address where you can send your post. I will take a look at it and make sure it gets put up.

I am serious here. If you give me a legitimate post about anything I will put it up. Unless of course the post talks about how much you hate pizza. Blaspheming pizza will get you nowhere and may get you banned for life.

I have had several guest bloggers in the past and the posts were well received! As summer approaches, the frequency of the posts may drop to 3 times a week as I will be engaged in various outdoor activities. Primarily heading to the north woods.

So what's bugging you about society? What are some of your pet peeves? What do you hate about the internet? What is your favorite TV commercial? What do you like about cheese? Why do bugs always get into a seemingly sealed light fixture on the ceiling? Have you ever been hit in the head with a Bocce Ball? These are the things that people want to know about. Write a brief literary masterpiece and send it to Big Pappa!

 

Bloggers VS. Traditional Journalists

I was watching Costas this weekend and featured on the show was a sports blogger and a "traditional" journalist. Both guests reported on sports but had different outlets for their information. The question was asked if blogging is going to replace traditional journalism?

The blogger, claimed that his style of reporting was better based on the ability of his readers to provide feedback. He also claimed that he isn't swayed by the locker rooms, press box, the glamor and other intimate settings and therefore can be more unbiased in his reporting of the news as it relates to the teams and players.

The traditional journalist, a certain Buzz Bissinger, was obviously incensed by the bloggers presence on the show. His body language, attitude, and tone made it glaringly evident that he has no love for bloggers, or at least this one in particular. He went on to say that for over 40 years he has been perfecting his craft and how bloggers have bastardized the business. He continued to lambaste bloggers and their horrible writing skills and lack of involvement in the business. The sports writer claimed that sports bloggers don't have to do any real work, they can just sit in their office chair and provide inaccurate reports. The funny thing about his tirade was that I don't think he knew the difference between a blog post and a blog comment.

There was a third guest on the show, a professional athlete. I think that it was Braylon Edwards but I am not sure, I am not a very "sporty" person. When asked if he ever read the blogs, he said yes. In fact that was his primary source of information. He went on to say that most, if not all, pro athletes read the blogs to find out what the fans and the reporters are saying. And if they say they don't, they are lying.

The blogger claimed that his blog had grown to sufficient size that he can and has been granted press credentials. Since the average age of newspaper readers is now 55 and rising, I think the roll of blogs as viable news sources is gaining momentum at an amazing rate. I also think if traditional journalists aren't willing to embrace the new mass media, maybe it's time to hang up your pad and pen.

Sports arena aside, I do think that blogs are seen as the number 1 source of information when it comes to tech information and most consumer electronics. I know I turn exclusively to the Internet when I am looking for information about SEO, web design, and industry trend news.

Where do you turn when you look for news? What information type of news do you seek on the internet?

 

Comments - For The Record.

The other day I was talking to a guy about his website when he began inquiring about The Big Bald Blog. Not to mention any names here but Bob was asking if I allowed people to comment on my posts. I said absolutely! Not only do I allow it, it is encouraged.

You see, Bob is a lurker and non-rss subscriber. These are not bad things but for all of you other lurkers out there, you might as well subscribe to the blog via RSS or by email and start commenting. Seriously, I WANT to hear what you have to say. After all, this is a conversation, not an editorial.

I do have the comment moderation turned on but I DO publish everything, with obvious exceptions of course, Viagra and Cialis spam just to name a few. Even if you say you don't like me because I am fat and bald, that will get published. Of course, after that you will have a bunch of angry Big Bald Bloggers after you.

Let me know what YOU have to say! If you want to see a post about something in particular let me know about that as well. The bottom line is without you, the readers, this blog has no purpose and no reason for being. Only you can prevent forest fires and only YOU can contribute to The Big Bald Blog! Thanks again for stopping by.

 

Keywords That Led To You

Just for fun, every month when I look at my stats I take a look at the complete list of key words/phrases that I have been found with and sometimes the strangest keywords show up in the report. These are not keywords that appear on my blog with any frequency or have a whole lot of relevance to anything.

Here is my top 10 list of strange keywords that I have been found for.

"140 pound condom"
" is Elton John bald" (I figured this one out)
"can you show me pictures of bald girls"
"4794279" (among many other 7 digit numbers)
"big pooty"
"mini clapping bald eagle"
"mark eating cactus"
"is chuck norris bald"
"delay carpet cleaning and worry about downtime"
"lobster boy server blog"

But the one that I am most shocked about is, "big bald men." I mean seriously, what does that have to do with me?

Here's what I want to know. What are some keywords that have brought people to your site, and I am talking unintentional. I am not talking about you setting out to capture the "poop deck pappy" or "the dingle droppers" traffic by optimizing for those words.

Let me know what you have found. I will collect them all and may even give the winner a text link to your site, not that its worth a whole lot but it's something right?

 

My Posts on Someone Else's Site

For those of you more experienced in the blogosphere than myself, I need a question answered. I ran across a site called "www.making-me-money.com." Basically it has a pant-load of Google AdSense on there with MY rss feed and one other blog's feed acting as the posts. There is however a link to The Big Bald Blog in the blogroll.

From what I have read, I am assuming that this is "feed scraping" site. I do have my FeedBurner feed set to "partial" content so it's not looking the best.

My question: Is this something I should be concerned about? I don't think so, but then again, I am only the 5th smartest person on the planet.

Your thoughts?

 

What Is Happening Here?

I just read about a journalist that is getting a court mandated fine for not revealing a source used to expose some information about the Federal investigation into the anthrax attacks back in 2001.

Yesterday, March 10th, The Wall Street Journal reported, "A former USA Today reporter tomorrow will have to start paying hundreds, then thousands of dollars in fines, out of her own pocket, for refusing to reveal sources...Starting at midnight tomorrow, Toni Locy will have to pay $500 a day for a week, followed by $1,000 a day in the second week and $5,000 a day after that until she reveals the names of nearly a dozen sources she used in her stories, according to a contempt order filed by Federal Court Judge Reggie B. Walton." She did get some sources to release her from her confidentiality agreement but evidently there are still a few not willing to do that.

Based on that financial penalty, the court appears to be out to ruin this reporter and drive her to bankruptcy. I guess I can see why they are wanting to know since, the story evidently brought forth some pretty sensitive data and named some names. However, if this type of journalistic persecution is allowed to become common place, what's next? I think the need for journalists to keep their sources anonymous is critical to a free press. After all, isn't this to keep the government in line as intended by the founding of this country.

But here's the other side of the coin. If a reporter doesn't want to reveal their sources, what's to prove that they aren't just make up the information. Should they strive to verify the information from an anonymous source with one that is not? What if their protected and anonymously obtained information hurts someone's reputation that was actually innocent? What are the civil options available to the injured party?

This case may be a stretch as an example, BUT - just like anything else, if you chip a little away at a time, in this case it's the freedom of the press, it doesn't get noticed. When you take away large chunks of liberty, then there is an outcry. So is this a case of diminished liberty?

I have written several posts about censorship in China. This isn't as extreme but, this doesn't seem so removed and could be seen as a stepping stone.

Blogging is being seen as the new journalism, do we have to watch out what we write about?

I do have to admire the reporter for not caving under pressure. At least she has some integrity and is willing honor her agreements to the sources at great personal and financial loss.

Let me hear what YOU have to say.

 

Another Sometimes on Saturday Post

I know that isn't a headline that is click worthy but hey, it's Saturday. I have to tell everyone, I am extremely fortunate. My readers are the best and the comments they leave are both interesting and valuable. I don't think that some/most of the "A-List" bloggers can say that.

I do read most of the "A-List" blogs like Chow, Cow, Shoe, Rowse, and a few others, but I have to tell ya, I am starting to loose interest. Primarily because of the comments that are typically left. Understand that I like the posts, but seriously, have you taken a look at some of the comments. The "Nice post" and "Good job" type posts are really starting to get to me.

I was on Chow yesterday and was reading a post and there were 46 comments, 40 of which were complete rubbish and of no value. I actually left what I thought was a "contributing" comment and there were 3 people that responded to my comment in a manner that could also be seen as a contribution. Frankly I am getting more out of reading the "B-list" (if there is such a thing). Don't get me wrong I am not trying to put people in classes or rate the blogs I read. I am simply using other people's words that describe traffic I guess. OR maybe if you are a member of the "A" crowd it must mean that you are making a lot of money from your blog. By that definition I am definitely a "D-Lister."

Oh well. What's a fella to do. I guess the whole point of this post is that I am grateful that I don't have a bunch of link hungry trolls, leaving spammy comments.

And so, after reading this, there are a few of you that I would fully expect to respond in the manner described above. So go ahead and get it out of your system.

This may very well be the last post of 2007 so here's a reminder. Make sure you get entered in the contest. The deadline is the 4th at 4:00 PM CST. Have a Happy New Year Everyone!

 

Entrecard Revisited

This is kind of cool. I made it to the second row in the "Most Popular" category on Entrecard.
That's me at the very end of row 2. I don't know what this means but being in the top 12 seems pretty great. It looks like I only have about 9 more more points to make up in order to pass up our good buddy John Cow (who I think is really John Chow).



For those of you who are a little confused about my Entrecard design for The Big Bald Blog, let me explain. I also have another site that I mess around with called Big Pappa World Wide. It too is an experiment in fun. Just in case you were wondering, there you have it.

As a matter of follow up on Entrecard. It is still working great by delivering traffic, comments and quality people. Another completely random side note, my card is the only circle style card on Entrecard. How is that important you ask. It's not.

Also, I haven't been very good about this but here goes my pitch. Make sure you subscribe to The Big Bald Blog either with the RSS or sign up and have posts delivered to you by email.

Thanks again for stopping by.

UPDATE:

A few hours after writing this I went back in and this is what I saw. Now, I am 100% positive this fluke will change rather rapidly but at least I will always have this post to remember the day.

 

Weekend Posting.

As I was sitting here on this cold Sunday afternoon reading some blogs, I see that a lot of people post on the weekends. Normally I will post Monday through Friday and occasionally on Saturday. A fella does need some time off ,you know. So how many of you post at least 6 days per week? What about 7?

Just curious as to whether or not I should ramp up for weekend posting.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 

Because Everyone Is Talking About It Anyway

Just about every blog that I read lately is talking about Entrecard. OK FINE.

Yes I signed up, yes I am getting a bunch of traffic from it, yes I have met some really cool people because of it and yes it is worth your time and energy.

Since everyone else is doing it and my draft menu is getting a little low, I too am going to write a glowing review about Entrecard!

Here is what you do. You sign up and upload the image you want for your business card. Once that is done, you have to put the Entrecard widget on your site. From there, any site you visit with the Entrecard widget, you will be able to drop your card. This results in your card showing up in the widget owner's control panel.

There are 2 ways get traffic from Entrecard. Once when other EC users click on your card in their dashboard and two, when people click on the 125 x 125 ad on a site that you are advertising on.

There is a cost for advertising on someone else's site. However you pay with your Entrecard Credits. These credits are earned when someone advertises on your site OR when you drop a card on someone else's widget.

Not that it's any real big deal, well actually it kind of is for me since I am a big fan, but guess who is wants to advertise on The Big Bald Blog? John Chow! Here is a screen shot of his card in my pending file, and yes I approved it.



Bottom line? This is the single most effective (and fun) thing I have participated in that brings traffic in. Some have even started blog contests that are offering Entrecard Credits to the winners.

I have nabbed the RSS feeds from blogs like Sly Bald Guys, Gorilla Sushi, Caveman Conclusion, Marketing Deviant, CK Marketing, Cigar Jack and many others because of it. If you have a blog, head on over and check it out. It's definitely worth doing!

On a side note, I am still seeing BlogRush widgets all over the place, is anyone getting any traffic from that? I know I'm not.

 

One More For The Road.

I have been seeing all of these RSSHugger logos everywhere so I decided to find out what it was all about.

Anyway, I went over and evidently it is some kind of RSS agregator. Here is what they have to say about it: "rssHugger is a unique website that aims to bring bloggers and readers together. rssHugger aims to provide blog owners with a unique easy-to-use way to promote their blogs by sending them traffic, building backlinks for search engine optimization, as well as attracting new rss subscribers if the content is interesting to the reader. rssHugger aims to help visitors be able to easily find blogs that write about subjects they are interested in. These subjects include: internet marketing, making money online, charity, sports, gambling, and many more. If the visitors find a blog that they had not previously heard about, they can easily add it to their RSS readers or bookmark it."

Click on the logo and let me know what you think about it.

 

Blogger May Have Finally Done It

The final nail in the coffin may have been driven. It looks like I am being forced to switch over to WordPress.

Blogger just got rid of the URL field for people when they are making comments. Since this blog is all about the readers, I want to make sure that comments are rewarded by giving them a link to their site. Without that, what's the point. Bloggers big solution was OpenID. I don't want commenters on the blog to have to sign up for anything. This is why it looks I have to switch over to WordPress.

The thing that stinks about it is the fact that I will loose all of my unique URL's, comments and all of the existing links that I have our there will be junk. Soooo what's a guy to do. Wait a minute, maybe I just keep all of the existing post up since I am hosting the site my self on a sub-domain and just start from scratch with the new URL. The stats will suffer for a while but it may work. I may even be able to modify the template to reflect the new address at the bottom of each post. But then I would have to change the URL in all of my social media sites. Yikes.

Can some of you WordPress pros chime in and "help a brother out?" I will need to find a way to transition over to wordpress with the least amount of collateral damage. Comments? (Sans URL of course.)

Thanks

 

Making Money Blogging

Believe it or not some people actually make money online by running a blog. Unfortunately, I am not one of them. However there are all kinds of people that do make money and lots of it. If you're a regular Joe reader of The Big Bald Blog you may not know who John Chow is, but if you are a fellow blogger, the chances are real good that you know the name. John Chow is a member of what some people call the "A List" bloggers. And quite a few of these A List bloggers make big money with their blogs through selling ads, affiliate income, paid reviews among a host of other income generating devices.

Some bloggers even post how much money they are making to substantiate their authority in the blogging niche of "making money online." John Chow, owner of JohnChow.com is one of those people. In a recent post Mr. Chow recounts his revenue received in November as well as the traffic that his blog is receiving.

John started his blog, simply as a personal blog and thought that it might be fun if he tried to make money from it. As it grew and grew, we come to where he is now, another record breaking month in revenue. Here are the numbers courtesy of John Chow's post Blog Income Report - November 2007.

Total income from November was: $27,240.83. This was broken down by category with the bulk of the dollars coming from private ad sale amounting to over $12k. Folks, this is some serious money for operating a blog. Granted this is a full time job by itself to maintain such a highly visited site, but it pays well. John also has other businesses that he owns.

I have seen big money makers like Chow and Shoemoney in the past talk about how much they are making but I always wonder what kind of traffic you need to have to sustain that type of income. Well, he addressed that too.

John reported that he was getting 323,572 page views with over 185 K visitors. He then goes on to break it down and shows that he is making over $80 per 1000 page views. ShoeMoney said that he was getting about 75 thousand uniques per day when he was sent his famous check from Google.



So there you have have it, it's all about traffic. Buy you have to network to get the traffic to come. Once you have the traffic, it's all down hill from there. But wait is it. As this post was sitting in the draft bin, Mr. Chow posted another article about this very thing. He says that "getting traffic is only half the battle and it’s not even the most important half." According to the post, John's income growth is not proportionate to traffic growth. It seems that it is all how you monetize your blog. He does say that "If your blog is new then building traffic is your number one goal."

Initially, the goal of The Big Bald Blog was simply to experiment with SEO and find out what blogging was all about. Thanks to all of YOU we have had the added bonus of traffic that continues to climb. With out YOU, the reader, TBBB would be nothing.

I keep looking for that one thing, the one thing that can really make a difference and possibly generate some income. Something as revolutionary as I discovered on Saturday. This last weekend as I was deer hunting I used what proved to be the finest innovation in hunting since the firearm.

Now I may get in trouble here from the anti-hunting crowd but for those of you who are deer hunters, you have to go and pick up something called the "Butt Out" field dressing tool. It is simply amazing and I wish I had invented it. I got it at Wal-Mart for about $10. You will have to Google it and watch the video as I don't want to post it here. Once you discover what it is, you too will agree that it is truly an innovation.

I know this was a long and rambling post, but again, I want to thank the readers of The Big Bald Blog for stopping by and making this a great adventure!

 

Seth Godin - Smart AND Gracious!

Imagine me saying this in Don LaFontaine's voice (the movie trailer guy).

"In a world of trying to make as much money as possible online. One man stands alone. Opposing the status quo and bringing reality back to the street."

Well, not really back to the street but definitely back to the blogosphere. I was reading Seth Godin's blog the other day and he had a post that really made me appreciate this guy. The post was simply entitled "Thanks". Not a huge incentive to click on it from my RSS reader but I did nonetheless.

In the post he recounts a challenge from someone to monetize his blog. This is what he had to say. "Not only can't I imagine charging for my blog, I'm practically in debt to the people who read it. I ought to pay them, not the other way around. Every time you read something I write here, you're giving me a gift... attention. It's getting more precious all the time, you have more choices every day, and it's harder and harder to find the time. I know. I'm grateful. I'm doing my best to make your attention worth it."

Wow, well said Seth! And to all the readers of The Big Bald Blog, thanks for the continued support and comments.

 

Something For The Bald Guy In Your Life

The Big Bald Blog isn't just a clever name. I am big and I am bald. Well balding anyway. I have the typical male pattern baldness and that is why I choose to shave my head. No Rogaine, plugs or toupees for me. Just a nice shave everyday.

As I was making my rounds the other day in my Entre Card dashboard, I ran across a site called The Sly Bald Guys Blog. The site is all about being bald and shaving your head. But here is the good part, they do reviews and make product recommendations on products for head shavers. This site is no joke, they have done the research and have info on all kinds of products including one called the HeadBlade. This thing looks like the Ferrari of the razor industry. I ordered one just to see what the little wheels were all about. The Sly Bald Buys even have an e-store where they sell all kinds of shavers.

The most recent post is called "Stocking Stuffers for your Bald Man" and has a couple of great gift ideas. If you know someone who cleans the dome or you are a head shaver yourself, hop on over to The Sly Bald Guys Blog and check it out, it's definitely worth the stop.

 

John Cow Got Hacked?

After I noticed no RSS feed today I went to investigate. One of my favorite blogs to check out on a daily basis got HACKED. Or did it really? Below is what you currently see at JohnCow.com.

It does redirect to http://johncow.com/hacked/



If you go to the PayPal the address is cownapper@johncow.com. Ok fine, I did bite initially. It was hard to believe especially right after you did the article about backing up your blog. Then I came back to reality.

Well played Cow!

 

Blogging And Disclosure

I got an email the other day from a company asking me to blog about a product they offered. In return they said they would link back to The Big Bald Blog. Of course I told them that I would do it; IF they would buy an ad on TBBB, send me samples of the product so I could write a proper product review. This made me thing of some things that I read a while ago regarding disclosure.

There is a split debate on whether or not you should disclose if you are blogging for cash. Some argue that it's no ones business but your own and you should keep your mouth shut. Other purists argue that if you don't disclose, it eventually chips away at your integrity as a blogger. If someone finds out that you are writing positively about a product because you got paid to do it, is that of any real value to your readers? I would say no.

Here is my bit of disclosure. Obviously we design websites for people as part of our marketing services. From time to time I WILL post about a customers website when we go live with it. This is just something I like to do and it gives them a little traffic to jump start the launch. They are not paying me to post on TBBB, I just enjoy it.

So what happened with the company that solicited me? I never heard back from them. Oh well I guess I won't have to be dealing with that disclosure issue.

What do you think a blogger should do? Should they disclose what articles they are getting paid to write?

 

Google AdSense is Gone

Since I use Firefox, sometimes I don't see what others are seeing in IE. Yesterday it was brought to my attention that an IE user was seeing a "page can not be found" in some of the AdSense locations. So I dusted off my IE and went in and looked. Yep, sure enough, there it was.

I know that Google will only allow 3 ads per page to display. I have 10 posts showing on the home page and since I had the AdSense code in the header above each post, only the first 3 ads would show. Up until now there has been no effect on the other 7 posts that show up on my home page. Evidently something has changed. The second three posts were showing up with the "page can not be found" error in the header.

So I decided to venture out and take a look at some of my other favorite blogs. I went on over to JohnCow's site and it was doing the same thing in IE. Obviously I am not getting a fraction of the traffic that the Cow is but nonetheless, it looks bad. And that, boys and girls, is why I decided to take the AdSense off. If they get it fixed I will put it back up. It's not like I was making any money from having them anyway. With over 36,000 page views in the last three and a half months, I had only made $5.63. I can't even think of anything clever to say that I would buy with that.

 

Fun Little Test

I ran across this on Dawud Miracle's site the other day. For you bloggers out there, here a fun little test to measure your bloginess. OK, fine, I made that word up. According to my score, I am 74% addicted to blogging. I don't know what that means but high numbers are usually good right?

74%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

 

Questions About Blogging?

I have had a lot of questions about The Big Bald Blog in the last couple of days. Most of them revolved around the frequency of posts. I tell everyone the same thing, "If you are going to start a blog then you need to be committed to it." Before I started TBBB, I made a personal commitment that I would post 5 times per week. This wasn't necessary but I think that it has contributed the the dramatic increase in unique visitors since the inception.

If you're a beginner or a salty blogging veteran, Pro-Blogger is running a contest that you might be interested in. Running contests, by the way, is also another great way to increase traffic. TBBB is going to be running a contest next month so keep checking back to see when the prize will be announced.

 

What Our Society Has Sunk To

I don't even know what to say.

The Mockery of The Last Supper.

And there's Miller Lite at the head of the line. Kudos to you Miller Brewing Company.

Sad, simply sad.

 

I Don't Have Any Thing More To Say - Not Really

As I am sitting here with a glazed over look and staring blankly at my computer screen, I can't remember what I was going to write about. I had a great idea last night but, for the life of me, I can't remember it. Then I got to thinking about a post over at ProBloggersMatrix called "How do you come up with all those inspiring ideas for your blog?" I went and re-read that post again and you know what?!? It didn't help. So there you have it. Today is the first time I don't have something witty, semi-insightful or remotely useful to throw your direction.

What I do know, that for the first time since it's inception, The Big Bald Blog has hit over 1200 unique visitors for the month so far and our RSS subscribers continue to grow.

Over the past 4 or 5 months, I have continued to play with the format, the monetization, and other miscellaneous little things in an attempt to make a better blog. In the last month or so, I have also come to the conclusion that, for me, the Blogger platform has run it's course. It was a great start for someone like me who didn't have a clue about starting a blog. However, the big "WP" has so much more to offer. So, once I decide on a theme, I will be making the transition over to WordPress. Other inevitable changes are coming down the pipe, including a domain change. I have always known the importance of branding your blog and when I read a post about the same subject over at John Chow's site, it just sank a little deeper. I have www.TheBigBaldBlog.com registered and will working on the new theme over the next several months. I am not going to make any promises on a launch date or anything, but after having seen John Cow's new theme, I've become inspired.

Well, that's about it. If you have any interesting topics for discussion or would like to write an article for The Big Bald Blog, drop me a line at, the big bald blog at impactmt dot com. Now I feel like Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs with his plug for content at the end of every show.

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

I Like My Cow Well Done

Yesterday I wrote about the contest that JohnCow.com is having. Needless to say it's a nice prize package for the winner.

Then I really got to looking at the new site design. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very well done blog design. From the illustrated header to the clean navigation, it has all been done extremely well. I don't know if I have seen a better blog design yet. As far as general design goes, hands down, the hottest thing on the web is 2 Advanced Studios 4th generation site. It doesn't get any better than that. Frankly I wish I could design like that, luckily I have an art department to fall back on.

At John Cow, not only are the posts witty and well written, but the subtle and sometimes blatant digs at "The Big Beef" make me chuckle. I think that, deep down, the "other John" likes what is happening here. After all, he does link to and talk about "The Cow" quite a bit.

The thing I like most are the little details. The "herd" of cow spotted sports cars (dig), the custom RSS button, the grass in the newsletter sign up box, the tag line, the search box, how the sponsor box is laid on the 2nd column, the footer and the secondary navigation.

I have been reading this blog from, just about, day one. Having only been up since July 1st of 2007 they are getting some serious traffic. That's quite an accomplishment for being online just shy of 4 months. OK fine I am jealous of that. I mean seriously, 67,000 unique visitors with over 470,000 page views. Holy Cow man!

But hey, you gotta give credit where credit is due. Kudos to the Cow and congratulation on a job well done.

 

So You Want To Start A Blog?

As daunting as it sounds, anyone can start a blog. If I can do it, so can you. Someone looking to start a blog can almost drown in the sea of options out there. Keep in mind, there are many people in the blogosphere that are WAY more knowledgeable than I am on the topic. However, with the understanding that I am an amateur, there are a couple of thing that I have picked up in the short time that I have been doing this. As you consider starting a blog, there are some questions that you need to ask yourself.

• What do you want to accomplish with your blog?
• Who are you targeting with your blog?
  
• Do you want to make money with your blog or "monetize" it?
• If so, what are the best sources of income for your blog?
  
• What blogging software do you want to use?
• How are you going to promote your blog?
• How do I promote my RSS feed?
  
• What are the best places to let people know about your blog?
• Do I host my own blog or use a free service?
  

The list of questions literally goes on and on. Here are a few things that I have learned.

Listen to the pros. Read blogs by "A list" Bloggers. People like John Chow and his making money online blog is a great source of knowledge. Darren Rowse from ProBlogger and Mark from ProBloggers Matrix provide useful information on what it takes to effective get your blog off the ground. Another great site is Jeremy Schoemaker over at Shoemoney. Take a look at it if you are interested in making money and promoting your blog. This guy has made some serious money with his blog. One great example of a start-up blog is Ben Cook's Blogging Experiment. He is chronicling his 365 day blogging journey with the goal of making it his full time job within a year. Ben's blog is definitely worth checking out.

Update your blog. If you are going to dive into the blogosphere, you have to blog. Updating your site regularly is key. Make sure you have the time and are willing to commit for the long haul. Blogging isn't worth doing if no one is reading what you have to say. Regular updating equals readers. Write something everyday. Before you know it you will have a large list of posts that, if your lucky, may get referenced on other sites. Also, make it easy for your readers to subscribe to your blog. Remember, search engines AND subscribers love fresh content.

Get Involved. Involvement can take on many different forms. Contribute to other blogs and encourage comments on your site. Like Mark over at ProBloggers Matrix says, "Not only is it important to comment on other blogs within and outside of your niche, but it’s important to respond to comments on your own blog. Participate in the conversation! ENGAGE the other commenters if possible!" You also need to play an active role in promoting your site on the various social sites like Reddit, Digg and StumbleUpon. These type of sites can send large amounts of traffic to your site if you have a post that others see as interesting.

Honestly, there is so much information available out there, much more than can be covered in this short post. Unique Post URL's, anchor text, post disclosure, link baiting, paid links and the "no-follow" rule among other topics are all things you will need to take a look at if you are going to be serious about blogging.

These were just a few topics off the top of my head. Do your research and, like myself, realize that you have a lot to learn. Darren Rowse over a ProBlogger recently ran a series called 31 Days to Building a Better Blog. This is a must read for anyone looking to start a blog.

On a side note, thanks to Mark over at ProBloggers Matrix for the link love.

 

It's Nice To Live In America - Chinese Censorship

An article on Cnet Asia reports that an entire data center was shut down by the Chinese Government. This action due to a few blogs that reportedly contained anti-political content.

Numerous business with sites hosted on the data center's server were being effected. RFA reports: "Participatory Web sites, forums, and blogging platforms came under strict new rules last week. But in an unprecedented move, the authorities have begun switching off entire Internet data centers (IDCs), which are home to thousands of servers.

This means that if one site doesn't meet government approval, because it contains pornography or politically sensitive material, all are taken offline. Of the 10,000 affected web sites, many of them are government and business web sites. "

It seems that the Chinese Government would rather close down thousands of web sites that are conforming to the strict political policies than allow a single blog post containing what the government has deemed as illegal information.

Regardless of your political stance, Conservative or liberal, religious or atheist, you would have to agree it's better living in the U.S. I may not agree with you on many different levels, but I still respect your right to express your opinion. And due to the fact that I have this platform for expressing my opinion, here comes one now.

Today is 9/11. This date means different things to so many. To me it is the anniversary of a senseless attack initiated by a group of radical, mixed up idiots who value death and destruction over acceptance and compassion. The same people who came to this country, exploited it's freedoms and attempted to crush our resolve. Take a moment today and remember those that were lost in the worst attack on America since Pearl Harbor.

Freedom of speech, oh how often we take it for granted.

 

Thanks To All Our Readers

As The Big Bald Blog continues to almost double every month, traffic in August was at an all time high. Even though I mistakenly had the comment posting option set to "registered users only", our RSS subscribers have continued to climb. Admittedly this was an amateur blogging mistake and I have corrected the settings, so feel free to comment away. Thanks for bringing this oversight to my attention.

Ranked in order of traffic, here is a recap of the top 10 visited posts from August.

1. 3 Billion Songs on iTunes
2. Digital DNA on your Photos
3. 20 Million Visitors
4. MySpace Cleans Up Sex Offenders
5. Social Media and How You Market
6. The Impact of the Internet on Newspapers
7. The 3000 Mile Oil Change Myth Revisited
8. What Has George Bush Done Wrong
9. Bad Logos and the Mistakes that Made Them
10. Viral Marketing Part 1

Thanks again for visiting The Big Big Bald Blog!

 

8 out of 10 Americans Now Know What A Blog Is.

A new survey released by Synovate Research shows that blogging has hit the mainstream. Conducted online with 1000 US adults, the survey reveals some interesting facts about a topic that very few knew about and was once thought to be a simple online diary. The findings are quoted below.

"Awareness and usage of blogs, along with people penning their own, strongly correlates to age, with younger people being much more active. Nearly 90% of those aged 25 to 34 know what a blog is, compared to just 65% of those aged 65 and over.

Also, more women than men are bloggers, with 20% of American women who have visited blogs having their own versus 14 % of men.

Loyalty to specific blogs is also fairly strong with 46% of blog readers saying that they visit the same blogs regularly versus 54% who instead usually surf for new and different ones.

As blogs have gained in popularity, so has the frequency with which they’re read. Though the majority of blog readers (39%) view them less than once a month, another 28% visit them monthly, 15% visit them daily and 5% read them several times a day.

Of course, while blog usage continues to grow, so does their attractiveness as a potential marketing tool. In fact, 43% of blog visitors indicated that they had noticed advertisements on blog websites, rising to 61% among those aged 18 to 24. Almost one-third of consumers have clicked on an ad while reading a blog."

Interesting statistics to say the least. Some critics of blogs, the traditional journalists, claim that blogs are fraught with problems. They say that paid or sponsored articles written under contract goes against basic journalism and are void of any merit whatsoever. That being said, this is the very reason that disclosure is critical if you are going to be taken seriously as a blogger. Another negative seen by many is the strong opinion that posts convey.

Whether you like blogs or not, they are a medium that you can not discount as a marketing outlet. If a blog, getting 200,000 visits per month, does a review on one of your products, you are going to get some exposure - good or bad. As the younger generation continues to grow up, blogs are going to increase in importance and frequency. Remember, don't underestimate the power of social media, especially the blog and it's circle of influence.

 

Viral Marketing Part 2

Yesterday I wrote about the basics of viral marketing. There is some new information regarding the older generation of online users and shoppers. There is a certain segment of online consumers that has been identified as brand advocates. Findings are showing that over two thirds of brand advocates do their product research online. This niche group of online users are identified by their purchase behavior and their elevated rate of online use. A brand advocate's online use is characterized by their tendency to leave product reviews, and their inclination to leave more negative reviews than most online shoppers. Typically, a brand advocate is someone who will only make a purchase after extensive research has been done. Brand advocates are also more likely to be a subscriber of Consumer Reports.

According to Jupiter Research, this high level of online use suggests that the influential brand advocates should be at the forefront of brand promotion. To the contrary, instead of promoting brands through the use of social media, they are using their online time to do research.

"This group is more likely to read a blog for information rather than create their own; advocacy toward a product or service is most likely to be generated by word-of-mouth. Marketers will have an easier time of attracting more brand advocates if they target this group with the right tactics," said David Schatsky, President of JupiterResearch.
Behavioral and content targeting are likely to attract brand advocates, since more than half of this segment is likely to pay attention to online ads that fit their interests or current activity."

Emily Riley at Jupiter Says, "Brand advocates should not be considered catalysts for a viral campaign or a brand awareness campaign..."

So how do you attract this market segment that neither contributes to, nor is influenced by social media and viral marketing? Jessica Tsai from CRM Magazine says:

• "Given that 53 percent of brand advocates respond to online advertisement that fit their interests and 29 percent on ads that fit their current activity, behavioral and content targeting are highly valuable.


• Purchase search keywords that match brand messaging and link to rich product information.


• Continue to use traditional forms of database marketing such as sweepstakes (response rate of more than 50 percent by brand advocates) and email newsletters (more than 33 percent)."

Even though this market segment can't be considered catalysts for viral marketing, you should never discount the power of an educated brand loyalist. Caution - Opinion Ahead. Whether researchers are willing to admit it or not, brand advocates DO spread information about goods and services that they view as valuable. They may not convey their opinion online, but they spread their knowledge nonetheless. People commonly ask others in their circle of influence when they are considering a purchase. Family and friend's opinions DO contribute to buying decisions.

Again, how do you market to such a niche segment? Because value and quality are big for brand advocates, you should focus your marketing efforts in the arenas of professional product reviews, awards, certifications and dedicated product micro sites that can be viewed as authoritative.

Hmmm, this sounds like some of the commonly accepted strategies that you implement to increase your conversion rate doesn't it?

 

Win A Complete Blogging Package

For those of you thinking about starting a blog to veterans that want to take their blog to the next level, have I got a contest for you. If you ever wanted to know how to make money blogging, this contest is right up your alley.

The owner of the Blogging Experiment has an aggressive goal. He wants to go from $0 in income to a full time job blogging. I don't know how many times this has happened in the past, but it will be interesting to track the results.

If you win, you can learn everything you need to know about blogging, from creation to promotion. Check out the Blogging Experiment , it's definitely worth a look.

To keep up-to-date on industry news and other "sometimes useful" information, be sure to subscribe to The Big Bald Blog.

 

Bloggrrl Has a New Contest

If you're interested in winning a $50.00 gift certificate to Victoria's Secret check out Bloggrrl's Blog. I've been reading her blog for several months now and usually there is some pretty interesting posts covering a ton of off the wall topics. The first contest she ran was the Cow Patty Bingo promo. Seriously how funny is that? Anyway, one of my favorite posts is an updated version of the 3 Little Pigs story. Oddly enough, this is where I first came across a reference to the big bad blog and have been a daily reader ever since.

 

A Blogging Union?

I have finally heard it all. Hovering around the blogosphere, there is a growing movement to form a bloggers' union. Yes, you read it correctly, A BLOGGERS' union.

I guess I don't get it. What do bloggers need with a union? To what end would collective bargaining serve and who would they bargain with? Google? :)

Jason Lee Miller says that blogging "...has grown from geeky obscurity into a direct challenge to the journalism industry, even with bloggers' reputation for being unruly, unvetted, grammatically and syntactically insufficient, and above all, a disorganized mess. "

So yes, people are making a living at blogging. Some are making VERY good money at which some people respond, "you do what for a living?" But this is an individual crusade for most and a means to an end for the rest. Either way, I still don't understand why the concept of a bloggers' union was even brought up. Some say it is a way for blogger eligibility for group health. Others claim that the blogosphere isn't defined enough to even consider some kind of union.

Now for the controversial part. Stop reading now if you are union supporter. All this being said I am not a big fan of unions - of any kind. I think that unions had their place in history, but today it is a different story. Just so you know, I am not an outsider looking in. I worked for a union shop for 4 years and religiously paid my dues. What did that get me. NOTHING.

Here's my rant. It is my belief that unions take away the employer's ability to reward hard working empoyees at the same time contributing to a lower standard of performance. A friend of mine almost lost his business because of the union's negotiation to raise wages and provide a more comprehensive level of health insurance. He simply couldn't afford it. He was being held hostage by his employees and there was nothing he could do about it short of shutting down and opening under a new name.

Yahoo reports: "In a move that might make some people scratch their heads, a loosely formed coalition of left-leaning bloggers are trying to band together to form a labor union they hope will help them receive health insurance, conduct collective bargaining or even set professional standards. The effort is an extension of the blogosphere's growing power and presence, especially within the political realm, and for many, evokes memories of the early labor organization of freelance writers in the early 1980s. Organizers hope a bloggers' labor group will not only showcase the growing professionalism of the Web-based writers, but also the importance of their roles in candidates' campaigns."

Controversial point #2: Regarding the above quote, I kind of figured as much. Most of the union advocates I know are staunch democrats and left thinking individuals concerned about how they can get more without having to perform to a higher level. My opinion - Unions drive up operating costs and lower productivity. OK, there it was, the cat's outta the bag. I did it now right? So let me have it in the comments section, your posts will be welcomed regardless of stance.

 

John Chow and the Great Google Debacle

I have been reading John Chow's blog for several weeks now as a matter of interest in the posts. I love his blog and read it every day. After a while, I realize that John is a pretty big noise in the world of blogging. Admittedly, when I first started reading the blog, I had no idea who he was. After a couple of weeks of reading deeper into his blog and looking elsewhere online, I realized that he is kind of a rogue in the blog community and some of his actions may have gotten him in trouble with someone you don't want to be in trouble with; Google.

John is making thousands and thousands of dollars per month by monetizing his blog with the support of "advertisers" and other revenue generating avenues like Google Ads and selling links. Matt Cutts, Google's Search Engineer, had warned people about subscribing to paid link advertising in his 2005 blog post. Apparently this is where pro blogger got into a bit of trouble when he began to push the threshold of what Google saw as acceptable conduct.

For a period of time, John Chow's blog was ranked #1 for the search terms "make money online." Right now if you Google John Chow, his actual site shows up at #54 in the results where it used to be at #1. Even though he has broken into the top 50 on Technorati, he is still being punished by the biggest boy on the block. John explains how his fallout with Google all went down in this June 2007 post. The best quote is from the last line of the post, "Let’s see, I’ve been banned from Digg, banned from Technorati and now bitch slapped by Google. I’m doing pretty good!"

Understand that this #54 ranking is an improvement over where he ranked a couple of months ago but he still has quite a ways to go before he will gain back what he lost this year. Granted, if you search John Chow, you can get to his site from the vast amount of posts on other blogs, but it is always nice to be #1.

Now this is pretty old news to most of you and I am coming on the tail end of it all. I just thought that is was a pretty interesting story about the power of Google and how they can shut you off if they are so inclined. As I was putting this post together, I started wondering what happens when a search engine gains too much power. Is there a potential for information to be controlled? Can a corrupt individual eliminate someone from the rankings with enough money? I don't know, I just thought that I would throw that out there.


So what's the moral of the story? Build your site on organic search results with quality links from relevant sites. Don't get banned by Google by buying links, simply buy AdWords. Don't sell links, display AdSense on your site. Don't try and take short cuts, write quality content, provide substance to your site's visitors, and understand that it takes time to build a successful site that's valuable to your visitors.

 

Nielsen Nixes Page View Measurement

Everyone has heard of the Nielson Ratings regarding TV viewership. However, not a lot of people know that they are also measuring website traffic. In a recent press release it was decided by the ratings company that they were no longer going to be using page views as a measure of a sites popularity. They will still be providing the numbers but won't be formally ranking them. Instead, they are placing the emphasis on the total minutes viewed.

IMHO, I would tend to agree. This gives a more accurate picture of what people are actually looking at and a better determination of viewing quality. However, some industry experts are claiming that time spent on AOL's instant messenger and other similar aps are now going to be counted and can skew the results. With that being said, the new form of measurement is going to have the opposite effect on sites like blogs where users spend much more time actually reading the content.

This decision was made and influenced by new technology like AJAX which allows users to spend more time interacting with a page and not having to re-load the page content from the server.

I just have one question. Since online advertising is gauged by impressions, won't the impressions go down under this this new rating system? Will this de-value the ads or will ad providers have to adjust their measuring to accommodate this new metric?