- Image via CrunchBase
I visited an old friend this evening.
Technorati, the chronicler of all things blog, has been measuring, categorizing, and tracking blogs for some time now. Their success and demise has been declared and predicted by blogosphere insiders just about every year since the site came online.
Some have argued that Technorati is irrelevant and outmoded. They’ve proven their point by not even writing about how irrelevant Technorati is since 2007. Even the crazies have stopped flogging Technorati.
I admit, I have not been a big follower of the site, even though I am a blogger and was before Technorati was born. (Get off my lawn!)
So it was with a slight twinge of guilt (for feeling as though I was wasting time looking around the site tonight) that I found some really useful information on blogging.
I know! Technorati useful? But what about all those results in Google from 2+ years ago declaring the death of Technorati’s relevancy? And then 2 years of silence on the subject indicating everyone agreed and decided it wasn’t even worth talking about anymore.
Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2009
I kid the Technorati. For geeks of blogging it is a terribly interesting site sometimes.
Case in point: State of the Blogosphere yearly wrap ups from thought leaders and stats junkies in the industry.
Some cool stuff I found…
Blog More, Get Popular
Here’s an interesting set of stats on bloggers and blogging that reminded me of part of the reason big blogs get big and small blogs stay small. Popularity and “bigness” seem to be directly linked to the number of posts a blog averages per month.
Although I’ve written about this topic before, the fact rears its ugly head once again from an authoritative study: Bloggers who post more often are more often more popular than bloggers who don’t.
The top 100 blogs (by Technorati Authority) post an average of 29 posts per day. Top 101-500 blogs average 15 posts per day.
More seems to be better if you don’t account for the value of the content being posted to the market it seeks to attract.
It’s a given, the way I see it, that the quality of the posts on these successful blogs is high enough to warrant devotion by readers. Otherwise they wouldn’t be top 100-500 blogs.
In Other Blogospheric News at Technorati…
Seth Godin Interview: SOTB 2009
“Godin addresses the war between the marketers and the “unique voices,” the importance of “consistent generosity,” and blogging as a tool “like a megaphone combined with a telephone.” -Source
Who Are Bloggers?
Would you be in any way surprised that they are considered affluent and educated? I wasn’t, given that computers are expensive and using them takes some know-how.*
*(I didn’t say “intelligence” specifically because of the plethora of ignorant trolls who have somehow managed to figure out how to access the internet. Blame this on the Jurassic legacy of public libraries and their last ditch effort to remain relevant by giving away internet access to people who can find public libraries these days.)
Yes, bloggers have some bank and some brains. So do a lot of internet users. The web ain’t all that accessible to the unwashed masses yet, with the exception of amateur political pundits who have somehow woven themselves into the web.
Twitter and Blogs
How important has Twitter been for bloggers in 2009? Survey says: Very! (But it could be better.) 52% of bloggers reported that they syndicated their blogs to their Twitter accounts. And most bloggers reported using Twitter to market themselves and/or their businesses. Read more…
The Most Famous Blog In History (So Far)
Arianna Huffington is interviewed by Richard Jalichandra about her modest start with blogging leading to the Huffington Post, which tops all lists of the most popular blogs. You have to talk to the Oprah of blogging these days if you are going to have a serious year-in-review on blogging.
Finally, finishing at the beginning, Richard Jalichandra discusses “the impact of professional blogging, how bloggers are using microblogs such as Twitter in 2009, and the influence that blogging and bloggers are having on society at large” at Blog World 2009.
My Findings in 2009
Blog more. Be relevant. Be original, even if you curate content. Give. Give more. Work harder than your competition. Study your market. Provide what readers desperately want – ignore the rest.
And, realize that a blog is a communication device. A blog, by itself, won’t make you famous or rich. Just like TV or radio, if the content sucks or is even average, your chances of being another Arrington or Huffington are less than zero.
SEO and Google are irrelevant if enough people are talking about your content. SEO and Google become relevant only after enough people talk about and point to your content. The days of overclocking your content for the engines before anyone even reads it are long gone. And thank the web gods for that.
Finally, all success, in any industry and by every measure, takes work. Relish the fact that most people are too lazy, scared, unmotivated, under-educated, or too happy working for “the man” to become your blogging competition.
But you still can’t phone it in.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Jack-
Question: What happens (good or bad, SEO-wise ) when you go back to a post later , like this Utility post, that you have previously written and amend it or make it better?
Great post.. 15 posts per day? I would have no life..lol
I think I can work on 3-5 a week,,lol
I agree that if your a blogger You NEED to be on twitter. Twitter accounts for about 25-30% my traffic, would be more if I posted more.
Ron – that’s what I call reverse optimization and it works like a charm. You can increase your rankings greatly with a little reverse optimization once you see where you land in the engines initially.
Your information and teaching is very valuable to me Jack.Yes I used it for free for 10 months or so while I “practised” with my 1st blog in 09 because a very smart young guy told me I MUST have a blog.
He is right and that’s why I’ve started my 2nd blog which will be researched this time and done properly.
I see the vision with you and your team Jack that working hard to become a pro blogger will pay huge dividends in my future which is why I joined BS to get myself to the next level.( Means to retire my wife actually)
“Relish the fact that most people are too lazy, scared, unmotivated, under-educated, or too happy working for “the man” to become your blogging competition.”
This statement jumped out at me because I indirectly get this concern in almost all I do or have done online.
My business I build is directly attached to my new blog listed here and the statement above that you wrote seems to apply across all IM systems to me.
Ii’s the won’t this SATURATE ?…..concern which I get a kick out of because I come from “old school Amway” and it was always a concern we covered when showing the plan as we called it.
I told folks the same thing you are saying that you don’t have to worry about let’s call it saturation since 80+% won’t even start.
Do a little more than most and be consistent with focus.
Looking forward to the blogging journey with BS.
Happy New Year to all !!