Gauravonomics Blog

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Quick Summary: Read about how to run an effective blogger review program across a wide variety of product and services categories.

Background: While blogger review/ blogger relation programs have become popular internationally over the last two years, they are virtually unheard of in the Indian context. At the @MumbaiTwit tweetup last Sunday, I was speaking to a friend about setting up a blogger review program, and decided that it will be useful to put down my thoughts in the form of a how-to guide.

Scope: In this how-to guide, I’ll focus on running an effective blogger review program, not a blogger relations program. A blogger review program is typically a tactical, short-term, time-bound campaign focused on getting bloggers to review your new product or service. A blogger relations program involves building more strategic, longer-term, open-ended relationships with bloggers who are influential in your product or service niche. In terms of applicability, blogger review programs can be effective across a wide variety of product and services categories, including books, music CDs, movie DVDs, websites, gadgets and restaurants.

Quick Summary: I have set myself three blogging goals for 2008 — write 100 posts with original content, reach 1000 subscribers, and enter Technorati top 1000.

Daniels at Daily Blog Tips is doing a Group Writing Project on Blogging Goals for 2008 and more than 130 bloggers have participated so far.

While most bloggers participating in the project have set themselves goals on as many as ten metrics related to blog redesign, post frequency, promotion techniques, comments, traffic, link-backs and revenue, I have decided to focus on three simple goals — write 100 posts with original content, reach 1000 subscribers, and enter Technorati top 1000.

Goals only work if they are linked to a long-term objective and blogging goals are no different.

I decided some time back that I’m not interested in using my blog to earn money. Instead, my objective is to use my blog to establish myself as an authority in the marketing, strategy and social media niche. In fact, as I have built a library of quality original content on my blog over the last few months, I have even started putting my blog URL on my resume.

Quick Summary: Read about the M20 list of top ranked blogs written by client-side marketers and my profile on the M20 blog.

I had always wondered if all marketing blogs were written by agency people, until I came across The M20: Top Marketer Blogs.

The M20 — maintained by Peter Kim — is a list of the top ranked blogs written by client-side marketers.

Apart from maintaining a list of the top twenty blogs, Peter also does regular profiles of client-side marketers who blog. Here’s mine.

By the way, here are the top twenty blogs by client-side marketers in November ‘07 –

Quick Summary: Read about how your following/ followers ratio is a foolproof indicator of your position on the blogging chain of being.

Today, I found myself Twittering about the following/ followers ratio, that is, the ratio between the number of people whose blog you read/ who you follow on Twitter and the number of people who read your blog/ follow you on Twitter. Then, as I compiled my updates into a Twitter thread, I had a Eureka moment — I realized that your following/ followers ratio is a foolproof indicator of your position on the blogging chain of being.

If your Following/ Followers ratio is > 2 or < 1/2, you are listening or talking, but not communicating. (Twitter)

That signal to noise (Following/ Followers) ratio rule holds for Twitter/ Pownce, but it also holds for blogs/ RSS feeds. (Twitter)

When you start communicating via a new medium, your Following/ Followers ratio will be typically > 2. (Twitter)

If you are good at using the medium, over time, you will build a following and the Following/ Followers ratio will fall between 1/2 and 2. (Twitter)

Quick Summary: Read about the marketing and blogging chain of being.

Have I ever told you why Grant McCracken is brilliant — because he often makes me think. Like he did today when he asked –

Could there be a great chain of being in the marketing world?

Of course, Grant, there is a great chain of being, not only in the marketing world, but also in the blogging world.

The Renaissance Chain of Being

The Marketing Chain of Being

The Blogging Chain of Being

By the way, here’s the inside story on why most bloggers blog — blogging allows the world to find out how brilliant we are, individually and collectively.

If you think I’m totally brilliant, do let me know via a comment or an e-mail.

Quick Summary: Find out three different ways to share your Google Reader feeds with your readers.

I have 489 feeds on my Google Reader, and that would classify me as a rather heavy user. Even though I don’t read all of them on a daily basis, I manage to read quite a few under my must-read tag.

Over time, I have toyed with various ways of sharing these feeds with my readers. Sometimes, I have shared my OPML file with my friends. Usually, I have satisfied myself with adding a clip of my Google Reader Shared Items on my sidebar.

Now, Google has made it easy for me to share my feeds with you by allowing me to convert my Google Reader feed subscriptions into a blogroll -

As a heavy user of Google Reader, I figured that the best way to get a blogroll would be to have Reader generate it for me, based on my subscriptions.

Head over to the “Tags” section on the settings page, make one of the tags you use for subscriptions public, and click on “add a blogroll to your site.” (Google Reader Blog)

Quick Summary: Find out if Digital Inspiration’s Facebook Flyer experiment worked.

Digital Inspiration is now advertising on Facebook. Amit’s Facebook flyer just showed up on my Facebook profile page and for a moment, I thought Amit had created a Facebook Page. However, it turned out the the flyer linked directly to Amit’s website.

It will be great to chat with Amit on what kind of traffic he is getting from the flyers. Amit?

Update: Amit just pointed me to his Facebook Flyer experiment post –

Though the above advertising campaigns on Facebook were run for a very short period, they do indicate that the click through rates for ads appearing on Facebook can be extremely low.

Gauravonomics is now ranked #224 on the Advertising Age Top Media & Marketing Blogs list.

The top five blogs on the list are Seth’s Blog, Online Marketing Blog, ShoeMoney, Micro Persuasion and Search Engine Watch.

The blogs are ranked based on the sum of scores on four factors -

- Google PageRank (0 to 10): Google PageRank is a link-analysis algorithm that interprets web links and assigns a numerical weighting (0 to 10) to each site. High-quality sites receive a higher PageRank. The actual PageRank number was used in the Power 150 ranking algorithm.

- Bloglines Subscribers (1 to 20): Bloglines displays the number of feed subscribers. Subscriber ranges were determined (i.e., more than 20, more than 30, etc.) and each range was assigned a number (1 to 20) that was used in the Power 150 algorithm.

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

Even celebrities are not immune from the blogging bug. Many have their own blogs and a few even post regularly, or have someone in their entourage post on their behalf :-).

Three Tips for Celebrity Bloggers

While many celebrities have flirted with blogging, very few have seem to have done it well. Here are three tips for celebrity bloggers who want to do it well —

- Make it personal.

Your blog is not your ‘news’ page or your ‘press release’ page. Write about upcoming awards and events, but also write about your friends and family and what’s on your mind.

- Make it regular.

Even if you post only once in a month, do post regularly, so that your readers know when to return to your blog.

- Don’t make it on MySpace.

MySpace is great of sharing music, but MySpace celebrity blogs are painful to loot at and even more painful to read. Good celebrity blogs deserve their own www.celebrityname/blog domain name.

Top Eleven Celebrity Blogs

Here are top eleven celebrity blogs that have got it right —

If you read marketing blogs, you couldn’t have missed the recent buzz on MediaSnackers.

MediaSnackers are (mostly young) people who snack on media, or consume it in small chunks. The 90 sec video on the MediaSnackers website serves as a good introduction to the idea. While the idea itself is not a new one, the packaging - and the catchphrase - is great, and has been rewarded with a meme dedicated to it.

The “Do you respect MediaSnackers?” meme started by Jeremiah Owyang asks bloggers how they are dealing with the low attention spans of their audiences. The meme has spread wide with the participation of many marketing and PR bloggers.

Here are my three quick thoughts on MediaSnackers:

- First, MediaSnacking is about attitude, not about age.

We snack for various reasons: because we don’t have time for a full meal, because snacks are easier to digest, because we simply like snacking. While MediaSnacking may come more naturally to the young, older people who are starved for time and weighed down with information are as likely to turn to it.