Author Archive

• 1,000 Twitter Followers: Lessons I've Learned
  How Brian Carter got 1000 Twitter followers in only six months.
  (tags: twitter microblogging tips howto)

• Kevin Kelly: Focus on attention - and the money will follow
  The new rules for the new economy can be summarized as: Where ever attention flows, money will follow. Almost anything else except attention can be manufactured as a commodity. Luxury goods are only luxuries temporarily. They quickly are counterfeited and commodified. Premium brands are only premium because they garner a surplus of attention.
  (tags: internet attention branding marketing blogging)
• Solid SEO Starts With A Solid Business Model
  Aaron Wall writes: Bob Massa, one of the original SEOs, always talks about SEO from a conversion standpoint, offering quotes like "traffic without conversions is the epitome of futility. The SEO space is a bit crowded right now. So many people are fighting for attention that it seems like people are fighting without purpose. There may be more people writing SEO blogs than there are reading them. That abundance of new publishers makes it easy for established authors to build links by re-spinning old phrases with new definitions, but if those links don’t create profit what is the point?
  (tags: seo searchengineoptimization blogs free Publishing)
• Micro-Site Strategy for Link Building and Brand Awareness
  Ann Smarty writes: Creating a network of micro-sites for the sake of link power manipulation is a controversial technique; hence it has become risky to interlink your own websites even for very “white hat” purposes (e.g. to let your readers know about your other relevant sites). Nonetheless, link building with micro-sites can be a highly effective technique if done correctly.
  (tags: linkbuilding branding seo sem microsites microblogging internet)
• WebProNews: SEO Marketing In An Uncertain Economy
  With the economy in limbo what should search marketer's focus on? WebProNews spoke to Milind Mody, CEO of eBrandz Inc, an SEO and SEM firm, about online marketing and advertising. He says he believes that online advertising is more recession proof than other forms of advertising and that research indicates that any decline in online advertising is because clients are slashing their overall budgets.
  (tags: internet sem seo search money future marketing)

• Google Changes Universal Search
  Universal Search has changed the way we view search engines and even the act of searching. Now Google has changed the way video shows up in the Universal Search results.
  (tags: search searchengines google News)
• YOUmoz | Is SEO a Service?
  YouMoz member MikeTek writes: “SEO” has become a catch-all of sorts. As a result the term can be unclear, perhaps even meaningless. Not because there isn’t such a thing, but because there is no clear understanding, no central definition of the term.
  (tags: seo searchengineoptimization searchengines article)
• The Fire Horse Trail: Evolution and the Art of SEO
  Great and insightful blog post by David Harry.
  (tags: seo search internet)

Blog World celebs John Chow and Tim Ferriss (Photo by Shashi Bellamkonda)

Richard Avedon once said: “All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.”

Truth or not - the good news is: Hundreds of little Avedons were among the attendees of this year’s Blog World Expo. Everybody took pictures of everything and everybody else (especially of the ‘celebs’). Since we live in the age of photo sharing, I don’t have to rely on my own snapshots anymore. As of now, 4587 photos related to the BWE have been posted on Flickr. Wow - and all these pics were taken in 3 days (if you include Friday with all the BWE partner programs)!

Since I was curious what kind of pictures my fellow bloggers were taking, I made the effort to browse through Flickr and find the accounts which include a great variety of this year’s new media and blogging conference in Las Vegas.

These are my 10 most favorite Blog World Expo photo collections on Flickr:

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As I mentioned in my previous post, the thing which surprised me most about my experience at this year’s Blog World Expo in Las Vegas is the fact that all the attendees - including the famous and successful A-Bloggers - were super cool, friendly and willing share many blogging “secrets”.

As a long time fan and avid reader of the infamous blog Problogger, I am especially pleased that Darren was kind enough to give me a couple of minutes of his valuable time, accepted to be “dragged” to a quiet conference room and was willing share his wisdom about blogging in a one on one interview (ca. 5 minutes).

In this interview, I ask him…

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Robert Scoble, Hugh McLeod and Stowe Boyd during the B5 Advisory Board Q&A

One day before the official Blog Word Expo started, B5 Media - one of the largest blog networks in the world - was running a training day for their bloggers, titled B5 Blogger Summit, that was opened up to any BWE registrants that wanted to attend.  Needless to say that I did not want to miss this great opportunity to get blogging tips from the pros and get to know the people behind this rapidly expanding blog network in person.

In the hindsight I have to say that it was totally worth to take this additional day off and travel to Las Vegas already on Thursday night in order to be fresh and ready for the first session on Friday at 9 AM. Here’s why:
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After attending the Blog World Expo last weekend, I have to say that I feel enriched in many ways: I made new connections with interesting fellow bloggers of all sorts, learned a whole lot about blogging, microblogging, online journalism and social media at all these sessions and workshops - and I got new energy and inspirations as a blogger and online writer.

Although I lost my beloved cordless computer mouse (by Logitech) and customized mouse mat with a photo from the beach of Santa Monica, it was totally worth the 300 miles drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas (yes, I went by car) and be a participant of this young conference (2008 was the 2nd edition).

There are countless things I will remember from this great event - but these are my 5 most important takeaways:

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I am excited to say that I am going to attend the world’s largest blogging and new media conference this year, the Blog World Expo in Las Vegas. Over 130 speakers will talk about a wide range of topics in 50+ seminars, workshops and keynotes during September 20 and 21. The seminar cover topics such as Blog monetization, Podcasting, Widgets, Open Source, Social Media, Political Blogging, Content Marketing, Personal Branding - and much much more. Given that there are so many great speakers and fascinating things to hear, learn and talk about, it’s difficult to pick the ‘best’ sessions.

One thing I already know: I definitely want to go to the Seminar Making money online with a blog, where the “super panel” including iconic personalities like Darren Rowse (Problogger), Brian Clark (Copy Blogger), John Chow, Shoemoney, Zac Johnson and Jim Kukral are going to talk about their journey to become successful blogger and hopefully share some great tips. As John Chow promised on his blog: “You will not want to miss this session because we’re going to blow your mind.” Well, that’s a teaser…
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With a live audience of 75,000 people and a TV audience of 38 million viewers, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama delivered not only his best, but also the most watch Convention speech ever. It won rave reviews from the media as much for style as for substance. Pundits praised it as “one killer speech”, “more a symphony than a speech”,  an “soaring oratory” with “the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop”, among others.

Barack and bloggers have one thing in common: They both have to rely on their phrasing skills in order to make their case in front of an audience. 

Barack certainly delivered. Can you?

Here are 10 things you can learn from Obama’s acceptance speech:

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• An illegal street race causes three deaths in my neighborhood Eagle Rock. http://is.gd/20L0 #
• Finally cooler temperatures in the mornings. Hope it stays that way. http://is.gd/20Lg #
• Has YouTube really figured out now how to make money? http://is.gd/20Lr #
• Beware! Apparently the “password resetting” tools are the weakest link in Web security. http://is.gd/20LQ #
• The Bloomberg financial newswire accidently runs Steve Jobs’s obituary - and retracts it. Bad journalism. http://is.gd/207u #