As you would have figured out by now, I’m never quite satisfied with my blog. As I learn more about the art and science of blogging, I find more and more things on the blog that need to be fixed. Yesterday was my day off from work and I spent most of it working on the biggest tweak on my blog ever since I shifted from Wordpress.com.
The thing is, Gauravonomics is not one blog anymore, I have split it into two separate blogs -
- At Gauravonomics Blog, I’ll write about blogging, marketing and personal development. If you want to read about what I’m thinking about, head over here.
- At Gauravonomics Diary, I’ll write about love, life and pop culture. If you want to read about what I’m doing/ feeling/ reading/ watching/ listening to, this is the blog to read.
I split the blog into two because I found myself writing for two separate sets of readers on the same blog. My older readers wanted more personal posts about what was happening in my life, but the focus of the blog had moved to what was happening in my head, resulting in a new set of readers looking for posts on marketing, technology and blogging tips. With the split, I’ll find it easier to have meaningful conversations with both sets of readers.
According to the the Forrester Research Social Technographics report, social technology, or web 2.0, behaviors can be categorized into a ladder with six levels of participation (via ZDNet) -
- Creators (13%): Publish web pages or blogs, upload videos to video sharing sites.
- Critics (19%): Comment on blogs, post ratings and reviews.
- Collectors (15%): Use RSS, tag Web pages.
- Joiners (19%): Use social networking sites.
- Spectators (23%): Read blogs, watch peer-generated video, listen to podcasts.
- Inactives (52%): None of these activities.
The percentages don’t add up to 100% because, apart from the inactives, the other five levels of participation overlap with each other.
Forrester recommends that instead of looking at Web 2.0 as a list of technologies to be deployed on an ad hoc basis, marketers should first analyze where their customers are on the Social Technographics ladder and then create a Web 2.0 strategy to transition them to the next step.
Here are my top of the mind thoughts on the Social Technographics report -
Filed in Internet, Marketing, Novice Blogger
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Also tagged Apple, Blogging, Blogs, Dell, Forrester-Research, Novice Blogger, Podcasting, Social-Networking, Social-Technographics, The-Next-Marketing-Guru, Wannabe-Web-Millionaire, Web-2.0, ZDNet
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While Dave Sifry’ ‘State of the Live Web’ report gives a positive spin on blogging growth, the numbers look different if you dig deeper.
According to BusinessWeek, while the total number of blogs ever tracked by Technorati has grown to 70 million from 57 million on Oct ‘06, the number of active blogs updated in the last three months has plateaued at 15.5 million. Therefore, the percentage of active blogs has come down from 27% in Oct ‘06 to 21% in Mar ‘07. What’s more, while the number of new posts per day increased from about 1.3 million to about 1.5 million, the number of English language posts per day dropped to 495,000 in Mar ‘07 from 507,000 in Oct ‘06.
BusinessWeek quotes Gartner -
Given the trend in the average life span of a blogger and the current growth rate of blogs, there are already more than 200 million ex-bloggers. Consequently, the peak number of bloggers will be around 100 million at some point in the first half of 2007.
- and insists that the number of bloggers is peaking and even argues that it might be a good thing for bloggers -
Compete compares Technorati and Google Blogsearch traffic data to find what I knew anyway - Technorati kicks Google’s ass in blog search -
Technorati grew monthly unique visitors 91% and pageviews 138% in Q1. During the same time period, Google grew unique visitors by only 39% and pageviews by 47%. In both absolute and relative terms, Technorati is dominating Google.
Thursday, April 19th, 2007
Gauravonomics is a Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blog now!
A big “Thank You!” to everybody who made it possible.
If you also want to make it to the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blog list, please leave a comment on my Technorati Favorites Exchange which allows you to be automatically favorited and discovered by hundreds of new blogs across the world.
If you are new here, please have a look at my noteworthy posts and, if you like what you see, subscribe to my feed via your feedreader or via e-mail.
I’ll write a longer post about my Technorati Top 100 quest later, but here are some thoughts -
- Gauravonomics is the first non-tech desi blog to be on Technorati Top 100. That must mean something!
- It’s so easy to game Technorati. John Chow has made a career out of doing just that; I’m sure there are others.
- What will Technorati do now that the number of fake favorites on Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blog list is approaching double digits?
- Nothing if impossible. If you have the will you will find the way.
- There are shortcuts to everything. It might not feel as good or mean as much to get to your goals via shortcuts, but, often, that’s the only way to get there.
- Is it 1 down 29 to go on my 30 by 30 list?
Filed in 30 by 30, Internet, Marketing, Novice Blogger
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Also tagged 30 by 30, Blog-Tips, Blogging, Blogging-Tips, Blogs, LinkBaiting, Noteworthy, Novice Blogger, Technorati-Favorites, Technorati-Favorites-Exchange, The-Next-Marketing-Guru, Wannabe-Web-Millionaire
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Thursday, April 19th, 2007
63 67 71 74 84 90 101 125 people have already favorited me and I only need 61 57 53 50 40 34 23 more faves to break have broken into the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blogs list.
A big “Thank You!” to everybody who made it possible!
If you love reading my blog, please please please add me to your Technorati Favorites now!
Filed in Marketing, Novice Blogger
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Also tagged Asides, Blog-Tips, Blogging, Blogging-Tips, Blogs, LinkBaiting, Novice Blogger, Technorati-Favorites, Technorati-Favorites-Exchange, Technorati-Top-100, The-Next-Marketing-Guru
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Wednesday, April 18th, 2007
Quick Summary: Read about how I entered the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blogs list.
- X - X - X -
Gauravonomics is a Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blog now!
A big “Thank You!” to everybody who made it possible.
- X- X- X-
A Little Background First: My 30 by 30 List
I made a little list sometime back - ‘Thirty Things I Want to do Before I am Thirty’ -
The interesting thing about my 30 by 30 list is that every single thing on it looks impossible today… But, if I do manage to do all thirty, what a story it will be! So, even though I know that the odds are impossible, I’m doing it anyway, because, never again in my life, will I be young enough, or foolhardy enough, to even try something as insane.
- and ‘Take Gauravonomics into the Technorati Top 100 List’ was one of the more ambitious items on my list.
My Technorati Favorites Exchange
When Dosh Dosh broke into the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blogs list by running a Technorati Favorites exchange program I realized that -
Filed in Noteworthy, Novice Blogger
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Also tagged Blog-Tips, Blogging, Blogging-Tips, Blogs, Desi Blogging, Desi-Blog-of-the-Day, LinkBaiting, Noteworthy, Novice Blogger, Technorati-Favorites, Technorati-Favorites-Exchange
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Maki at Dosh Dosh is becoming one of my favorite sources of blogging tips, along with Daniel at Daily Blog Tips and Darren at ProBlogger.
Inspired by Maki’s posts (experiment and results) on using Technorati WTF (Where’s The Fire?) to drive traffic to your blog, I have written my first WTF on (what else?) Sanjaya Malakar. The WTF is based on one of my better Sanjaya posts in which I argue that Sanjaya deserves to win American Idol because he has created more buzz than all the other contestants except Antonella Barba.
If you liked my post, please vote for my Technorati WTF so that it can get to the top of the Sanjaya Malakar page on Technorati. Even ten votes will be enough for this, so every vote counts!
And, yes, go write a WTF yourself!
Discover New Blogs, Not Only Exchange Links
Check out the new version of my Technorati Favorites Exchange which allows you to be automatically favorited and discovered by hundreds of new blogs across the world.
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Dosh Dosh has managed to break into the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blogs list at #31 by running a Technorati Favorites exchange program -
Create a post on your blog announcing that you are exchanging Technorati favorites. Prominently include a link to this post to indicate that there is a similar exchange going on at Dosh Dosh.
Once I’ve noticed the link via trackback or Technorati, I’ll include a link to your post on Technorati favorites in this post itself so readers here can visit your blog to participate if they want to.
While it is really difficult to break into the Technorati Top 100 Most Linked Blogs list, it is easier to break into the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorited Blogs list because you only need about 125 people to add you to their Technorati Favorites list.
Filed in Noteworthy, Novice Blogger
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Also tagged Blog-Tips, Blogging, Blogging-Tips, Blogs, Desi Blogging, Desi-Blog-of-the-Day, LinkBaiting, Noteworthy, Novice Blogger, Technorati-Favorites, Technorati-Favorites-Exchange
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Saturday, April 7th, 2007
Highlights from David Sifry’s State of the Live Web Apr ‘07 report -
- Over 70 million weblogs, up from 57 million in Oct ‘06.
- 1.5 million postings per day, up from 1.3 million in Oct ‘06.
- 22 blogs in the list of 100 most popular sites, up from 12 in Oct ‘06.
- 230 million posts, or 35% of all posts, from 2.5 million blogs, use tags.
I have two quick thoughts on the report -
- The first three trends reflect the maturation of blogging, and the question we need to ask ourselves is - what new innovations will be needed to take the number of blogs from 70 million to 150 million?
- It’s interesting that, in spite of all the talk about tagging, less than 5% of all blogs use tags. There’s an opportunity in there for tools that allow bloggers to use tags easily, irrespective of their blogging platform. There’s also an opportunity in there for someone - Google, or Yahoo, or Technorati itself - to take on the role of a tagging evangelist.
What do you think?