RJ Dudley

MarketingProfs has some good food for thought in their Q&A with Josh Hallett:

Q: We keep hearing about the growth of Facebook. For most companies, does it make more sense to use its blog, or social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as tools to stay in touch with its customers?

A: If we look at many of the "tools" of social media and social networks, the foundation is conversation and relationships. The majority of users are on the services to interact with friends. But can a corporation be a friend? Does a corporation really have anything of value to offer a customer in terms of conversation or relationships?

This is where the human element comes in (has DOW trademarked that yet?). I'm not going to "friend" a company, but I will friend somebody who works for the company. However, is that person able to speak on behalf of the company?

Ooohhh, that's good stuff.  I see a lot of companies--large and small--thinking they need to get into Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.  Why?  People are loyal to brands, but don't really relate to companies.  Now, the owner of a small business can build a cult of personality around themselves, but that makes separating oneself from the business especially tricky.

Read the full story at http://www.marketingprofs.com/7/social-media-qa-with-josh-hallett-collier.asp.

Friends Cindy Closkey and Mike Woychek are back in the saddle with another awesome opportunity to learn about blogging, podcasting and marketing in the "new media".  Sadly, I'll be on my way to Hilton Head Island this weekend.  But don't let that be an excuse not to attend--it will still be a great event.

In case you haven't heard, PodCamp Pittsburgh is coming back for a SECOND great year!

WHAT: PodCamp Pittsburgh 2 (or PCPGH2)
WHEN: August 18-19, 2007@ 9 AM - 5 PM
WHERE: The Art Institute of Pittsburgh (420 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh PA 15219)
COST: FREE!

UPDATED! The session schedule is open! Please visit the website to view the schedule or add your own if you want to conduct a session and share your knowledge!

Meet social media creators -- and fellow viewers / listeners / readers!

Exchange tips, build contacts and launch new ideas!

Learn how to integrate (or improve) podcasting, blogging and social networking into YOUR
business!

Questions? Sponsorships? Registration?

For more information, please visit our website:

http://podcamppittsburgh.com

You can also add us at Twitter: http://twitter.com/pcpgh

Looking forward to seeing everyone in August!

If you’re interested in getting started blogging, but don’t really understand what blogs are, or what the fuss is all about, maybe the best idea is to wade into the blogosphere, rather than dive in.  A recent article at Marketing Profs includes this advice, from ProBlogger’s Darren Rowse:

Listen first, and then join the conversation.

What he means here is start by reading blogs.  Then, leave some comments when you feel you have something to say.  Once you’re comfortable with expressing your opinion, start your own blog.  And that’s where the rest of Marketing Prof’s tips come into play.

Full story at Blogging Baby Steps: How to Join the Conversation Without Starting Your Own

Splogs suck.  We all know that.  And we all know where they are, and why they're there.  And we know Google has been slow to do anything about the problem, since Adwords are a gravy train for them.  Recently, Microsoft researchers have gotten to the bottom of the scum, and may have a way to filter splogs from legit blogs:

The researchers’ specific findings included evidence that some blog-hosting services have permitted an explosion of phony doorway pages. For example, the researchers noted that such pages were far more prevalent in Google’s blogspot.com service than in other hosting domains. The Microsoft Research team has worked extensively with the managers of Microsoft’s Spaces blog-hosting service to detect and identify search-engine spam, Mr. Wang said. Google would not comment for the record on its own efforts to combat such practices.

Full article at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/technology/19spam.html?ex=1332043200&en=63a9e5286915f3bb&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink.

(Hat tip: Stephanie's FlowerHaus)

Add to this the findings that blogger.com is riddled with malware, and it seems to be only a matter of time before corporate filters blog blogger.com (if they don't already).

About a year ago, I tried to give an alternate way to think about "what is a blog".  Since then, I've also become a big fan of Pajama Market.  Great minds think alike; on the same day, Brian came out with his "what is a blog" post, I was trying to explain them in a private florist forum.  Here is my attempt:

This single post isn't a deifnitive answer, but a discussion opener.

A blog is a web-based application. Some people confuse them with a traditional website, and some use blogs instead of websites, but blogs are actually different. If you think about a traditional website, the navigation is very structured, and content is arranged usually hierarchically. The design of a webpage can get very complex, and may contain a considerable amount of content. It often takes a lot of work to create and maintain a traditional website, sometimes involving special software tools and technical knowledge. When a visitor returns to a traditional website, the new content is not readily apparent.

On the other hand, blogs are designed to be very simple. Content is shown in order of date added, with the most recent posts at the top of the page. After a certain time period or number of posts, older content rolls off the bottom. The blog application automatically creates the navigation. Posts are arranged by date, and into categories (a.k.a. tags). Clicking on a tag brings up all posts in that category, arranged from most recent to oldest. There is typically only one or two levels of navigation in a blog. The page layout of a blog is very simple.

Adding a new post is easy. You simply log in, click the "new post" button, and use a rich text editor, same as posting here. Very, very similar. No software necessary other than your browser.

Different blog applications differ in their capabilities. The software we use at FloristBlogs.com has some very advanced features, but is easy to use.

...

On many traditional websites, there was often a "what's new" or "announcements" page, that was cumbersome to work with, and just as difficult to update as the rest of the site. A blog is a far superior way to replace a "what's new" page.

One of the limitations of a website is knowing who is linking to to you. Blog applications are designed to talk to one another. When I post a link on my blog to someone else's blog, my software sends a message called a "trackback" to the other person's blog. They know immediately that I linked to them, and can follow the trackback to the post which has the link. Trackbaks were originally shown along with post comments, but trackbacks have become heavily abused by spammers, so the trackbacks are now rarely displayed, if the functionality is even enabled at all.

The obvious follow-up is whether to have a blog, or a website, or both. This depends on your business, but in our case, I'd recommend both if possible. They serve different purposes. A website should be considered an additional shop, while a blog is a marketing channel.

I missed a few points in my definition, which Brian covers in his post at http://www.pajamamarket.com/pajama_market_small_busin/2007/01/what_is_a_blog.html.  Worth a read.

Scott Hanselman reports that dasBlog 1.9 is released.  Previous version is 1.8, so this looks like a minor upgrade, but after you read the list of all the new stuff, you'll wonder what constitutes a major release.

Lightbox is that cool photo-opening javascript/css combo.  You know, the one where the page is greyed out and the image is overlaid on the page.  If you haven’t seen it, go to http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/ for a demo.  While you’re there, download it.

Once you have the download, unzip it.  Upload the JS, CSS and IMAGES folders to your dasBlog root.  If you have an images folder there already, just add the images to that folder.

To add the scripts and CSS to your blog, you need to find the theme.  Figure out which theme you’re using, and drill down in the Themes folder, and open your theme’s folder.

Find the homeTemplate.blogtemplate file, and open it in Notepad.  In the <HEAD> section, add the four includes (three JS and one CSS) as specified on the Lightbox sit  You can cut and paste from the sample page in the ZIP if you’re lazy.

That’s it!  All you need to do is activate your links with ‘rel=”lightbox”’, and you’re good to go.

Coming in January 2007: Blogger & Podcaster Magazine.  Get your free subscription now at http://www.bloggerandpodcaster.com/.  You knew it was only a matter of time.

 

Chiwi's CS Galllery Manager is a free application for uploading multiple images into a CS gallery.  Prior to uploading, you have the ability to add a photo title and description, and you can control thumbnail settings.  You can upload to any gallery you have permission to, and can choose the album/tag for the photos.

The first issue I found was URL you need to configure.  You want to use http://<siteurl>/photos/galleryservice.asmx.  For instance, I had to configure http://floristblogs.com/photos/galleryservice.asmx. 

The second issue I found was exceeding the maximum request size.  In uploading some images into floristblogs.com, any image over 1.5MB could not be uploaded using Chiwi's tool.  However, I could upload the same photos via the photo control panel.  I have a Nikon D50, and almost all of my photos are right around the 1.5MB mark with the high-quality setting.

If you have a lot of images that only need to be resized slightly, get the free Image Resizer PowerToy and shrink your images slightly, then upload using Chiwi's tool.

Windows Live Writer is a brand new blogging tool from Microsoft.  It's easily configured for use with a number of blog applications, including Community Server.  FloristBlogs.com uses the Express edition of Community Server, and this post will help you configure Windows Live Writer for use with FloristBlogs.com.  The steps below will only need to be completed once.

1. Download Windows Live Writer from http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/blog/cns%21D85741BB5E0BE8AA%21174.entry.  Save the file somwehere you can find it again.
2. When the download completes, find the Writer.msi file and double-click to start the installation.
3. When installation has completed, you'll be able to start the program from the Start menu.
4. When you start the program, you'll see the welcome screen below.  Click Next to continue.
   
5. You need to choose "Another weblog service", and click Next.
   
6. Enter the information for your blog.  Your URL should be similar to below.  Remeber that the subdirectory for your blog is "blogs" (plural), not "blog" (singular).
   
7. Live Writer will analyze your blog to try and determine some features of your blog.
   
8. Live Writer will need to be configured for Community Server by selecting it from the drop down list.
   
9. You need to change <hostname> to floristblogs.com, as seen below.
   
10. Live Writer will again scan your blog.
    
11. If your configuration information is correct, Live Writer will display your blog information.  Click Finish and Live Writer will start.
    
12. Live Writer's interface is a simple rich text editor, similar to Word but far more basic.  You can easily choose categories, add photos, enter and format text.
    
13. Community Server doesn't support direct uploadingof photos into galleries, so you'll first have to upload images to your photo gallery and then add them to your blog by using Insert >> Picture from Web.  Then, enter the URL of the image from your photo gallery.
    
14. As you edit your post, you'll be able to see the formatting, and choose options for formatting images in your post.
    
15. Just to the right of the Save Draft button is the preview button.  One cool option is the ability to see your post exactly as it would look without publishing it by choosing Web Preview.  You cannot edit your post in this mode; you'll have to change back to Normal mode to resume editing.
    
16. Inserting a hyperlink is easy.  Highlight the text you want to turn into a hyperlink and click the globe and chain icon on the toolbar.  Enter the URL's information, including its relation.  Setting the Rel to "tag" adds the link to your site's tagcloud, and signals sites such as Technorati to add the link text to their tagcloud.  Setting Rel to "nofollow" means that Google and other search engines should ignore this link.
    
17. When you're done, click the Publish button to add the post to your blog.

There are a lot more features than covered here.  For instance, you can open old posts to edit them, then publish the edited post (which will correct the version online).  You can save drafts and edit them later.  You can also configure several blogs, if you have more than one.

Even though Community Server doesn't support direct upload of images, Live Writer can upload photos to an FTP folder on your site.  The configuration for every website will be different, so we're not going to go through that here.  This makes adding images very easy, but your readers won't find the images in your photo gallery.  You'll also have to add a watermark manually to all images, where the Community Server photo gallery will add the watermark automatically.

<semi-correction 8/16/2006>

The Metablog API, used by Community Server (as well as most blogging platforms) doesn't support image upload.  Community Server does have an API for directly uploading images into galleries, which is used by Chiwi's CS Gallery Manager.  If you have a lot of images and want them in your galleries, this app might be a great help.  With any luck, someone will add a plug-in for WLW which will support CS galleries.

If you're using Chiwi's app, the address you need is http://<siteurl>/photos/galleryservice.asmx.  Remember to replace <siteurl> with your site's URL.

We got a small mention in today's USA Today about marketing with blogs.  We were interviewed a little over a week ago by the reporter who had found our weddings blog (http://www.bloomeryweddings.com/blog/) and our other blog  at http://floristblogs.com/ while researching the article.  We spent about 15 min on the phone discussing various aspects of blogging and business.  The author was enamored with MySpace, and even went out of his way to claim that MySpace is a blog, sort of.  We don't do anything with MySpace simply because we can't control what ads might be displayed on our site, and it's possible that our content on MySpace might have an FTD ad next to it.  Not what we want!  The full story is at http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2006-06-13-web-marketing_x.htm.  A link back to our site would have been nice, but who's complaining?

Jennifer Laycock has an additional reason not to mix marketing and MySpace:

In general, I'd chalk that up as a bad idea. No one like unsolicited marketing messages, especially not when they're in an environment where they want to chat and have fun. It's one thing to score a link on someone's MySpace page...it's a WHOLE other thing to send out spam mails to all of your friends and your friends' friends.

Full article at http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1149152717145

Bloggers cannot be hit with libel suits on the basis of anonymous postings on their Web sites because federal law grants them immunity by explicitly stating that they cannot be treated as the "publisher" of such comments, a federal judge has ruled.

I have to echo the sentiments of the plaintiff:

The judge's decision is awesome

We received some nice press in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recently.  We were interviewd for an article titled "Blogs offer new avenue for businesses":

Brides-to-be love to read anything pertaining to weddings. That's why the owners of a Butler floral shop reach out to them through a blog, or Web log, that invites their comments.

Richard and Kathy Dudley of The Bloomery post messages and pictures with wedding ideas: Mini bouquets can be made with a deep purple calla lily that looks almost black, for example.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_445885.html

Well, one thing has changed.  In response to the article, we have had new customers check out our blog and website.  They found our prom gallery, and came in to order their prom flowers.  Progress!

You can find our blog at www.floristblogs.com and our regular site at www.bloomery.com; our wedding website is www.bloomeryweddings.com, and our wedding blog is www.bloomeryweddings.com/blog.

Technorati: The Bloomery | Florist Blogs | Bloomery Weddings | The Wedding Blog

Especially note "P"!

http://www.searchengineguide.com/shawncampbell/007240.html

According to Download Squad, SplashBlog (the photoblogging app I use with my Treo 700w) has been bought by the makers of Movable Type:

Six Apart, the company that owns popular blogging software Movable Type and web services TypePad and LiveJournal, has been busy lately. According to TechCrunch, they've raised $12 million in VC funding and, more interestingly (to me, at least), acquried SplashBlog. SplashBlog is a service for blogging and photoblogging from mobile phones and PDAs, and it's reasonable to expect Six Apart to integrate SplashBlog's offerings into its current line-up.

That's the entire post, but if you're interested, full story at http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/03/16/six-apart-gets-funding-buys-splashblog/.

Now playing: The Human League - (Keep Feeling) Fascination