A couple of weeks ago, Mack Collier kicked off a long Twitter discussion on the subject of blogging. By tagging his question #blogchat it allowed others to join the discussion, which then took off in other directions – and ended up lasting a couple of hours.
Spurred on by this success, Mack decided to make this a regular occurrence – each Sunday at 8pm CST (US). But this week, it was suggested that we take a different approach – let’s try and make this discussion follow the sun! So after a couple of hours of facilitating, Mack would pass the ball to those of us here in Australia (around our lunch time).
It turned into a fascinating event around the topic “how do you generate comments/conversation on your blog”. The discussion ebbed and flowed, with some great comments/suggestions. But at one stage I decided to run a poll, asking how many people on Twitter also had a blog or other social networking profile. The results were quite surprising:
But then, Kate Tribe started keeping an eye on the statistics (as TwtPoll does not provide access to raw data) as they came in. By sampling the data at various points, Kate observed:
From what I can gather, the results for the total votes, is not each person, but each option selected. I came to this conclusion because from timepoint E to F, is an addition of 4 (the same as if you select every option). So all the poll is really telling you is that there are more people with Facebook than LinkedIn, Blog, or Other. It doesn't mean that only 26% have a blog.
Which, I guess, is why you need to have a really smart researcher design, monitor and evaluate your market research efforts.
You can read the full feed here, but some of the highlights for me included:
- @MackCollier @KakieF YES! Make ur blogging PASSIONATE! Readers will pick up on your passion, & that makes ur post more intrstng
- @ariherzog: @servantofchaos I use @swhitley's Chat Catcher service to trap Twitter and FriendFeed comments. See http://chatcatcher.com
- @hacool: @DionnaSanchez I approve dissenting comments as well, it can lead to interesting discussions
- @hacool: @KakieF The more you blog, the more content gets indexed, but in terms of keywords you still need to write with readers in mind
- @KakieF: @DionnaSanchez when you write from your heart about what you are passionate about, word placement doesn't need to be strategic
- @AuctionDirect: Anchor keywords example in a blog post: Instead of "Auction Direct USA" as a link I use "Used Cars"
- @amous: 3 things 2 make sure u have on blog :1. change rss icon (unique), 2.adding twitter field on comments,3.all in 1 seo
- @AuctionDirect: Don't put the emphasis on comment linlks – no SEO benfit, they're no follow links(no link juice passed)
- @hacool: RT @WillEgan: Also run searches in Twitter for the topic you have just blogged about, (inc. link to post) then talk wit em
- @servantofchaos: @vedo Take a look at http://blogcarnival.com/bc/
- @janechin: @servantofchaos a danger of blog carnivals is that it becomes a link catalog and does not foster ACTUAL traffic (i.e. new readers
- @hacool: @timjahn Recommendation traffic gives you more pre-qualified visitors & helps build SEO, all are tools for getting reader
- @dannybrown: @CathyWebSavvyPR That's the problem though. DIGG is a mass-market tool with a minimum market appeal
- @mjschindler: Idea to grow your community – feature a weekly "Recommended Blogger" and do a post to highlight them.
- @dannybrown: Great tool for bloggers as well is BackType – http://backtype.com – for monitoring what's being said in blogosphere
- @dannybrown: @servantofchaos @hacool I've started visiting people's MyAlltop page to get a good idea of new blogs to read
Heidi Cool also bookmarked about 30 blogs from those participating in the conversation which is bound to generate even more conversation in the weeks ahead (once we all start reading each other’s blogs).
BUT most importantly, please remember to join us all next week – that is Sunday in the US and Monday in Australia for what is quickly becoming a fascinating online forum.