Blogging Experiment

Blogging ExperimentA Mind Boggling Experience

““BloggingBlogging is is

an an intellectuallyintellectually andand emotionallyemotionally overwhelmingoverwhelming

activityactivity””

Sharing the blogging experience

Do you have what it takes to blog?

http://MyHomeTown.SG © 2008

Outline

• Experiment Objective• Context Overview• Plan → Do → Check → Act• Qualities of a Respectable Blogger• How Do I Start Blogging?

For any questions, I’m at http://MyHomeTown.SG. Register as a member and we can discuss about blogging there. Have fun!


Experiment Objective

• What makes a blog successful?Unique Visitors

Referrals

Visit Depth

Page Views

Number of Singaporean Visitors

CommentsVisit Depth

Building a Community


Context Overview

BLOG

1 or Many Bloggers

Text Pictures Videos Widgets etc

BloggingEngine

Your Readers

Content Management WYSIWYG Editing Tag / Category Layout / Skins

RSS Feeds Web Analytics

Unique Visitors Page Views Referrals …

Manual Means Popular Forums Popular Blogs “Word of mouth”

Search Engines Google Yahoo

Meta Blog Aggregators MyHomeTown.sg Ping.sg / Tomorrow.sg Technorati MyBloglog

Social Networking Sites Slideshare.net Youtube Facebook …

Read, Analyse and Write


Context Overview

• Let’s watch a short video clip on Youtube


Experiment ResultsMonthly Statistics on Page Views

Month Jul 07 Aug 07 Sep 07 Oct 07 Nov 07 Dec 07 Jan 08

Pageview 239 4,603 11,102 13,520 10,362 9,405 7,954*

Entries 18 69 96 85 44 18 6*

* As of 25 Jan 08


PLAN: Your Blog

• Ask Yourself– How much resources (time and money) do I have?– Who are my target readers?– Is there an objective to start a blog?

• What should I do first?– Read blogs (as well as comments)– Find out where are the popular social networking sites– Find a suitable blogging engine (know their limitation)

• Plan what to post– Text, Pictures, Videos and other widgets– Start researching for relevant materials!


DO: Setup, Gather, Post & Market

• Learn to setup and manage blog (Demo)• Take pictures/videos and process them• Research and Post• Market the blog

– Register the blog at every likely social networking site

– Visit forums and post (signature links to blog)– Through friends and colleagues– Join Social Networking sites

(Add signatures, widgets)


CHECK: Blog Results• How do people get to the Blog?• How many people come to the Blog and

number of pages viewed?• What are the topics they are interested in?• Which layout would increase page views?• What are the peak hours?• What do they comment on?• How to improve blog’s rank or popularity in

Bookmark Site/Blog Aggregator?• … etc.


What did they click to enter?


How Many Unique Visitorsand Page Views?

*28 Aug 2007 at 11:54pm *26 Jan 2008 at 10:48am


Where were the Visitors from?

*28 Aug 2007 at 11:54pm *26 Jan 2008 at 10:48am


See Who’s Online?* 27 Aug 2007 at 8:43pm


Would Frequency of Posts affect the web analytics?


Where did the Visitor go?Foreigner Example


Where did the Visitor go?Singapore Example

Keyword search = “cedele”Using Google


Appearing in Google SearchKeyword search = “kfc hotline”Using Google


What do Visitors Comment on?Recent Examples


At What Hours Would They Come?


Rank and Popularity in Technorati.com


Best Page Views Recorded


Other ways to attract Visitors


ACT: On the Results

• Find out why how visitors landed on the blog and try to repeat it with a similar entry

• Find alternatives when blog engines’ web analytics report is inadequate

• Understand your reader• Pace and vary the following:

– the styles and types of entries– the frequency of posting– the layout of the blog


What it takes to be a respectable Blogger?

• Willingness to Share • Clear and concise web writing skills • Take and process good pictures• Blog/Comment responsibly • Practise Reciprocity• Time and Diligence to post regularly• Be knowledgeable; Read!

Demo using Wordpress.com, photobucket.com as an example

How Should I Start One?

BLOG or NOT TO BLOG?

YOU DECIDE!

Technology

Blogging Experiment