Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

Posted on February 13, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Google sent me a Valentine’s Day Card

Just in time for Valentine’s Day Google mailed out some Google Adsense Valentine’s Day cards. Aww sweet.

One of the messages on the card says, “Because nothing says I love you like free traffic like free traffic to your website.” The card also have an offer for $100 free Google Adwords and the other message says, “We want to overload your servers.” Take a look.

Thanks Google, Happy Valentine’s Day to you and the AdWords team too.

Posted on January 4, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

What are your business content goals for 2010?

It’s the first day back to work in 2010 for most of the world and I’m sure you have already seen plenty of blog post already on new year resolutions and more, but this is not one of them. On January 1st I tweeted ”1 of my major goals for 2010 is to produce better content which included blog post, videos & podcast that leads to business & new relationships. Also not included in the tweet is to “engage” more with industry colleagues and potential clients through commenting and offline networking events.

My primary content channels are:
Blog: SocialWayne.com
Twitter: @WayneSutton
Facebook: http://facebook.com/waynesutton
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/waynesutton
iTunes Podcast: SocialWayne [itunes link]
Video Show: WayneSutton.TV

As the web is now social, standing out and separating yourself from the rest of the “pack” will be challenging in 2010 but very doable. It seems like everyone is reading the same blogs and retweeting the same people therefor creating a huge echo chamber. By setting content goals and creating content strategies you can measure your results and start using your content for lead generation sales and networking opportunities.

Have you set your business content goals for 2010 or worked on a content strategy for your company or clients?

Have a successful 2010.

Posted on January 2, 2010 - by Wayne Sutton

Looking for iPhone news? There are plenty of blogs for that. iPhonesinRTP.com is no more.

Back in June of 2007 I had this grand idea of launching an iPhone blog called iPhonesinRTP.com. The RTP part was for Research Triangle Park, NC. Meaning the blog was going to be about iPhone users and apps from the area, along with general iPhone and iPhone app news. Since the launched of the iPhone I have published over 255 post and have covered various local Apple events such the original iPhone launch in 2007, along with the iPhone 3Gs launch in 2009. Other blog entries included featuring iPhone wallpapers, tips and iPhone app video reviews.

For the readers of iPhonesinRTP.com I want to say thank you for your support but do to other projects, working at Twine Interactive and launching TriOut with @LawPower my time is very limited. Plus there’s tons of iPhone blogs and it seems like everyone is talking about the app store and covering niche apps on most gadget blogs. I’ll still cover iPhone news and apps here on SocialWayne.com from time to time and will redirect the iPhonesinRTP.com url to this post.

If you would like for me to review your iPhone app please email: pitches at socialwayne dot com .

2007 1st Generation iPhone launch at the Apple Store Crabtree Valley Mall, Raleigh, NC

2009 iPhone 3G S launch at the Apple Store Crabtree Valley Mall, Raleigh, NC

Binary Game for the iPhone screencast video review

Posted on November 15, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Blog Updates: Making your WordPress blog more Social

ShareBlog Updates: Making your WordPress blog more Social

Usually on weekends I’m going through my email and trying to reach inbox zero before Monday morning but last night I decided SocialWayne.com needed a few updates. My primarily goals of updating SocialWayne.com was to make it faster, remove WordPress plugins I didn’t need and add social engagement. While adding a few social engagement features I may not have reached my goal of speeding up the load time but I’m hoping WP Super Cache will handle the rest. Either way, here’s what I done to SocialWayne.com to make it more social.

1. Wibiya toolbar


Wibiya enables blogs to integrate the most exciting services, applications and widgets of their choice into their blog through customized web-based toolbars.

2. Added Follow Me Plugin
A floating tab on the right that says Follow me that links to my Twitter profile.

3. Added/Changed Facebook Share Count Plugin

I had another Facebook Share Count plugin installed but I switched to the one created by Jess Stay

4. Updated: Easy ReTweet WordPress Plugin

I still have Topsy and Tweetmeme plugins installed and actived but I’m not displaying them.

5. Added Facebook Connect Comments

Sadly my blog theme doesn’t support Disqus therefore I’m using BackType and Facebook to for social comments.

6. Added ShareThis Plugin

I was using the Sexy Bookmarks Plugin but I can add google analytics to ShareThis therefore I’m making the switch.

7. Added Find Me On plugin

You know what to do.

8. Added Google Friend Connect Gadgets

If you look to your right on the sidebar you’ll see two new gadgets from Google Friend Connect. One always you to leave a comment about the blog or you could post topics that you would like for me to cover and the other is a poll widget. Speaking of the poll, if you have a moment, login and vote. I’m using the feedback for an upcoming blog post.

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There are a few more things I’ve done to SocialWayne.com and I’ll blog more about the Facebook Share plugins in the next few days. Let me know what you think about the changes and have a great week.

Blog Updates: Making your WordPress blog more SocialShare

Posted on October 16, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

BlogWorld Notes: State of the Blogosphere keynote by Richard Jalichandra @jalichandra CEO of technorati @blogworld #bwe09

BlogWorld Notes: State of the Blogosphere keynote by Richard Jalichandra @jalichandra @blogworld #bwe09
Keynote link: http://blogworldexpo09.sched.org/event/25e08630a9d573177753f49af79d031e

Notes:
The state of the blogosphere is strong
The blogosphere is not dying or leveling off but thriving
Blogging is becoming mainstream
Mainstream is using blogging platforms and writing style
Blogs are media

Professional bloggers are keeping the blogosphere strong

Hobbyist – 72%
Professionals 28%
Professional Self-Employed
Professional Corporate
blog full-time for a company

Who are the professional bloggers?
2/3 male
60% 18-44
More affluent and educated than the general population hobbyist bloggers
2 out 3 blogging more than 2 years
Average of 4 blogs
17% say blogging is their primary source of income

Professional are even more prolific in 2009
Main stream media says bloggers are unprofessional,

Why are people blogging more:
Enjoy interacting with audience
interacting with other bloggers
valuable for promoting business
enjoy the attention

Professional bloggers and mainstream media
40% of bloggers have worked with traditional media
27% are still employed by traditional media
73 agree blogs are taken more serious
more agree newspapers won’t be around

Twitter
73% of bloggers use twitter
All bloggers #1 use of Twitter is to promote their blogs
Share links
understand what people are buzzing about
interact with readers

Style & Tone:
Hobbyist Personal, Professional Topical

Professional invest more time & resources
24-32% blog 10+ hours a week
10% blog 40+ hours
Pros invest 7x more money
The top 5,000 generate 100x more post
Professional are using tools:
a. commenting
b. search
c. trackbacks
To drive traffic
a. technorati
b. google
c. paid ads

The upside of bloggging
Success metrics
a. unquie and page views

Pros’ the benefits of credibility
a. 71% have greater visibility in their industry
b. 63% clients have purchased
c. company now a thought leader
d. asked to speak

Monetization and Revenue
Professional bloggers monetize their blogs via
a. 40% display ads
b. search ads
c. affiliate links
d. paid postings
e. self-employed bloggers are likely to sell their inventory through a blog ad network
f. 2 out of 3 part-time bloggers use self-serve ad platforms

Brands and the blogosphere
a. 70% of bloggers blog about brands

Professionals plan for the future :
Expansion and brand extension
a. blog more frequently
b. expand the topics that I blog about
c. Publish a book
d. speaking opportunities

Advice from the pros
a. Be Passionate

So…..How Many bloggers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

On Monday morning Technorati will start posting the State of the Blogosphere on Technorati.com

Posted on October 15, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

@blogactionday blog action day 2009: climate change

http://www.blogactionday.org

If you’re anywhere near the blogosphere today then I’m sure you know today is Blog Action Day and this year’s topic is climate change. I’m currently at Blog World Expo and I honestly I’m not a climate change “expert” so I wanted to highlight a few blogs that have already posted about climate change.

• Blog Action Day 2009: Bloggers vs. Climate Change
• A Green Blog Action Day
• Fast Fission Podcast #7: Climate Change Blog Action Day – Why am I so passionate about nuclear energy?
• The human face of global warming: Blog Action Day 2009
• blog action day ‘09

Personally I hope everyone finds a way to look at their daily lives and  find at least two or three ways you can adjust your habits for a greener lifestyle.

What are your thoughts on Climate Change?

Posted on October 3, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

IZEAFest announcement: Sponzai launches as sponsored post platform for bloggers and brands

Whether you agree with it or not, sponsored blog post or tweets which some call sponsored conversations are here and more are on the way. Today at IZEAFest conference organizer Ted Murphy who’s behind sponsored tweets announced Sponzia which works to match bloggers with sponsored content.

The Sponzai pitch
Sponsors write their own guest post including multimedia and links. Sponsors then select the blogs on which they want to distribute their pre-written post. Bloggers earn cash for posting the content.

Monetize Your Blog
Sponzai.com is an online marketplace that allows you to connect directly with sponsors to find sponsored guest posts for you blog. Sponsors compensate you with cash in exchange for you publishing a post they have written. You simply copy and paste a guest post to your blog and submit the URL back to us. Think of it like eBay for sponsored guest posts.

Web: http://Sponzai.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sponzai

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As Sponzia launches and sponsors content continues to evolve, we’ll see more platforms like Sponzai launch. I personally believe in 100% disclosure which something that Sponzia says it will only support. It will be interesting to see which bloggers and sponsors start to use Sponzia.

This is not a sponsored post, I’m attending IZEAFest as a moderator of a panel but I do wish Ted and IZEA much success with Sponzai. Also congrats to IZEA to continue to push the envelope to create products to help the blogging community and companies to monetize their products and services. Only time will tell how sponsored conversations will evolve and how it will shape the blogosphere as readers trust will be tested with blog authors.

What are your thoughts on sponsored blog post / conversations?

Opt-in: Sidebar: The best thing about blogs, they just keep going

Posted on September 22, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

3 plugins to backup your WordPress blog. Love your database!

WordPress, the blogging platform we all know and love is used by almost everyone from main stream media such as CNN, MTV to universities such as Arkansas at Little Rock to celebrities such as Perez Hilton. Wordpress is also used by leading tech blogs such as Mashable, TechCrunch and Gigaom . Installing a self-hosted version of WordPress.org is very simple and a lot of web hosting providers offer one click installs, but what about a backup? Most web hosting services offers daily backups of your files and I hope for your sake a daily back up of your sql / mysql WordPress database. But just in case they don’t here are three WordPress plugins to back up your WordPress database.

1. WP-DBManager
Pitch: Allows you to optimize database, repair database, backup database, restore database, delete backup database , drop/empty tables and run selected queries. Supports automatic scheduling of backing up and optimizing of database.

2. WordPress Automatic Online Backup
Pitch: You can prevent loss of data using an automated backup of your blog database. You create a free account on www.wordpressbackup.com (wpb), connect your blog with the wbp via a key.

3. WordPress Database Backup
Pitch: WordPress database backup creates backups of your core WordPress tables as well as other tables of your choice in the same database.

Bonus: Two of the plugins offer the ability to have your database emailed to you on a scheduled time. I recommend creating an alternative gmail or ymail email address and use one of the plugins to email you a backup of your database daily.

How are you backing up your self hosted WordPress blog?

Posted on September 12, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Tweet & you shall receive: Real-Time iPhone RSS push notifications. Superfeedr FTW! ->

Just the other day September 8, to be excat I was thinking that “I want real-time iPhone RSS reader app with push notifications to alert me when a blog updates on the second along with sms notifications” Well guess what, you know the saying “there’s an app for that” well now there is via an app called Notification [iTunes link $1.99] .

The Pitch
App Notifications is an iPhone app that acts as a client for the Apple Push Notification Service.
Use our ready-made Twitter, Gmail, and RSS notification services to instantly receive new tweets, search results, emails, RSS feeds, or create your own custom notifications with our simple REST API.

You may be thinking why do I need Notifications app. We’ll it depends on your industry, but here are a few examples how I would use it.

• I want push notifications when a blog updates in real-time
• I’m tracking an event, person, or tag and want to know when someone mentions them on Twitter
• I want push notifications for emails sent you to me by certain people
• If you’re a media company you could use push notifications for all of the above reasons.

So why is this special? Well, if you have read the RSS news lately, then you’re aware of the PubSubHubbub and RSSCloud technology that is turning RSS from a pull technology to a push technology. The Notifications app uses Superfeedr @superfeedr that uses a group of “helper” services to push RSS updates to the iPhone. Basically RSS is growing up in 2009. Why did it take so long RSS?

A big thanks to Julien @julien51 and the team. For more information on Notifications and how to configure it read the original blog announcement: Real-time RSS notifications on your iPhone

Now I’m making a list of RSS feeds that I want to be notified of instantly when they are updated. Any suggestions?

Posted on September 8, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

How to use NetworkedBlogs and Facebook to increase blog traffic and engagement

If you manage a Facebook fanpage and a blog there’s plenty of RSS Facebook apps to help mashup the two such as Social RSS and Simply RSS but one stands out to me and that is the NetworkedBlogs Facebook app ( @networkedblogs ).

NetworkedBlogs.com is an extension of the NetworkedBlogs Facebook Application to make our user-generated blog directory accessible outside Facebook and provide more exposure to our blogs.

As I write this I’m wondering what took me so long to add this app to my Facebook fanpage but from my understanding having the NetworkedBlogs update a Fanpage is a new feature and it use to just work with Facebook profiles. Either way here’s how it works.

1. You add your blog to NetworkedBlogs app in Facebook. Think of it as a blog network inside of a social network.
2. Install NetworkedBlogs app on your Facebook fanpage
3. Add the NetworkedBlogs tab to your fanpage. ( I recommend renaming the tab to “blog” or the name of your blog.
4. Use the publisher to share your blog post with your Facebook fans. You’ll see that option when you click on share.

For a more detailed how to, read information on the NetworkedBlogs Facebook page guide here: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/help_pages.php or How to Promote Your Blog with Networked Blogs Facebook Application

A few notes when configuring NetworkedBlogs that may stump some people is the initial verification process. One is that you are the blog author and the other is the publishing settings to make sure NetworkedBlogs has the permission to post to your Facebook fanpage or your FaceBook profile if you like. There are at least two way to verify you are the blog author. The first is by adding some html code to your blog to claim it or you could ask your Facebook friends to help you claim your blog. While the first option may be a little technical for some, I recommend it vs blasting out a message to your Facebook friends saying verify my blog ownership. But by asking your Facebook friends to verify you, you may pick up a few extra readers because it post a message on your friends Facebook wall saying they are now subscribed to your blog.

Now that you have your blog setup to post to either your profile or fanpage you’ll want to test the feed settings to make sure when you publish your blog that it will automatically update your wall. If the test works, you’re all set. Then the next time you write a blog post it will show up on your Facebook page.

Here’s where the engagement comes in. As I mentioned earlier NetworkedBlogs is like a blog network inside of a social network. As you start posting your blog post to your Facebook profile or page, other Facebook users can follow your blog which is the same thing as subscribe if they were using a RSS reader. Followers will receive updates and are able to leave comments when you publish a post, just as they would on any status update. Also when you visit your NetworkedBlogs profile you’re able to see your blogs popularity ratings and followers from Facebook.

NetworkedBlogs does have a few pro features for $4.99 a month that allows you to do the following:
1. Access to new features before everyone else. (oooh, ahhh)
2. A fan Broadcast Feature (blast time!)
3. Upload an image to customize your blog page ( hmm a shinny new blog image)

You can read more about the pro features here: http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/pro.php I may give them a try later but for now the free version works just fine.

The only complaints I have so far is that I’m not sure how often NetworkedBlogs app post updates to Facebook and is there a way to use Facebook connect and the NetworkedBlogs app to have comments on Facebook to show on my blog too. But beside that if you’re blogging and on Facebook I recommend using the NetworkedBlogs app.

Do you share your blog with your Facebook profile or Fanpage? If so how?

Posted on September 1, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Has blogging or bloggers gone too commercial?

Ok, this is not your typical blog post or is it? Basically I’m asking one question, has blogging and/or bloggers gone too commercial? Are the days of blogging for the sheer joy of it been replaced with blogging for SEO or ReTweets? Do we blog for affiliate clicks and comments to show off our “social media” blog credibility?

In the beginning bloggers were called something like “pajama bloggers” and the media didn’t take “us” serious but now main stream media and corporations are all trying to blog for profit. I had a conversation last week with an associate about the same topic. We both felt that a lot of bloggers have lost their voice while trying to monetize their blog content and gain traffic.

Either way, I’m rethinking why I blog and who I’m blogging for and of course this is different from corporate blogging. Also I’m not saying their is nothing wrong with trying to monetize your content but just remember why you’re blogging in the first place.

Posted on July 28, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

Posterous: The who, why & how from the founders. Is it the next big platform?

I’m not sure if you have noticed but recently a lot of people have been posting various forms of multimedia content to their Twitter stream with the short url http://post.ly. That short url redirects to Posterous.com a Y Combinator startup that launched a little over a year ago. Posterous isn’t just a short url or multimedia content platform, it’s a social network, blogging platform that integrates with other platforms that allow you to post content via email and more. You can use Posterous as your blog which some have see: Steve Rubel , as a life-stream site or just post random pictures and photos to push to Facebook, tumblr or your other blogs.

At SXSW 09 Kipp Bodnar and I had a chance to meet and interview the founders Gary Tan and Sachin Agarwal about Posterous and upcoming plans for the platform. Also some have wondered how do you pronounce “Posterous” listen very closely as you’ll here it once from Sachin.

In the video the founders talk about how easy it is to use Posterous and upcoming plans for the platform.

Since SXSW I’ve created a Posterous site and configured it to post to a various social networks. As the founders stated in the video being that you can use email to post to Posterous I send pictures from my iPhone to my site. But since I have purchased the iPhone 3Gs I have used Posterous as a podcasting platform by emailing a voice recording message or for video blogging as I can send audio and video emails to Posterous and it automatically adds the necessarily embedded player.

If you thinking that Posterous is just another one of those here today and gone tomorrow startups, I suggest you take a look at some of the users and think again. Posterous users range from everyday bloggers to leaders in the social media marketing and technology space. Here are a few Posterous sites from users who you may recognize:

• http://chrisbrogan.posterous.com
• http://andybeal.net
• http://tedmurphy.mobi
• http://rah.posterous.com
• http://bwana.posterous.com
• http://ginnyskal.posterous.com
• http://georgegsmithjr.posterous.com
• http://idonotes.posterous.com
• http://jasonfalls.posterous.com
• http://jakrose.posterous.com
• http://tweetdeck.posterous.com
• http://ijustine.posterous.com
• http://holykaw.com

Recommended reading: Ten Tips to Get the Most Out of Posterous

Do you have a Posterous site if so let me know the url in the comments and how are you using it.

Posted on July 27, 2009 - by Wayne Sutton

3 apps for easy iPhone mobile blogging

If you have noticed the text “Post From My iPhone” on a few of my post recently is because I have been using the BlogPress iPhone app to post with. BlogPress was one of the first iPhone blogging apps along with iBlogger, iWriter and soon afterwards came the WordPress iPhone app. Almost all four blogging iPhone apps support multiple blogging platforms such as blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, Drupal and more.

My favorite is the Wordpress app but it doesn’t always work with self-hosted Wordpress blogs do to some XML-RPC error therefor I use the BlogPress app for mobile blogging. BlogPress may be my second favorite app but that doesn’t mean it’s lacking features. As a matter of fact it has some features that the WordPress iPhone doesn’t such as image resizing but according to WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg a new better version of Wordpress for the iPhone is on the way soon after the release of the iPhone 3.0 OS.

In terms of mobile blogging with the iPhone it’s simple, select
a photo, type and post. My only disappointment so far is the lack of support for posting vidoes from within any of the blogging apps since the release of iPhone 3Gs. I see more apps making it easy to send video to Facebook and Twitter than I do to allow users to post video to your blog. But I hope that changes soon.

Either way if your good with your thumbs on your iPhone and don’t always have the time to blog from your computer, I suggest give WordPress, BlogPress or iBlogger a try.

What is your favorite iPhone blogging app?

– Post From My iPhone