Open Loops

2000 Bloggers Can't Be Wrong

What do Mark Cuban, Donald Trump, Rosie and I have in common?  We have all been chosen to be in Tino Buntic’s 2000 Bloggers project! 

According to Technorati, there are 55 million blogs out there.  That’s hard to fathom.  Tino Buntic’s 2000 Bloggers project attempts to bring 2K of them together in one web site.  That’s only .0036% of all blogs!  I was pleased to find out that Open Loops was one of the first 100 chosen to be included!  That is only .00018% of all blogs!  Sweet!

Click the link below and take a look at the 2K kids as it stands today!  By the way Tino, nice touch putting Rosie and the Donald side by side!

The Conversational Index: Is Your Blog Sick?

Stowe Boyd, former president of Corante, notes another way that bloggers can tell the relative health of their blog. The Conversational Index attempts to quantify the amount of conversation within a blog, with the underlying assumption being that a vibrant and healthy blog is more like a conversation than a monologue.

I agree with Stowe. When people ask me to contrast a standard web site with a blog, one of the major differences that I cite is conversation. There should be an ongoing conversation between the blog author and his or her readers. This two-way exchange of ideas makes the author/reader relationship more enriching for both sides and enlarges the knowledge-base that the author and general readership share.

Stowe points to a simple formula that assigns a number to a blog that reflects the amount of conversation that occurs there.

"While working at Corante, I had the opportunity to peer at the stats for all sorts of blogs that we had going. And one thing that became really obvious is that successful blogs -- ones that were currently viable and vibrant, and those that were on a growth trajectory from their start -- shared a common characteristic: The ratio between posts and comments+trackbacks (posts/comments+trackbacks) was less than one. Meaning that there was more conversation -- as indicated by the number of comments and track backs offered by readers -- than posting articles. I will call this the Conversation Index, just to put a handle on it."

Attack of the Comment SPAM!

I’ve spent a good deal of my morning removing comment spam from various posts on this blog.  It’s been taking up more and more time dealing with this insidious plague (at least it seems like that when I’m dealing with it).  Therefore I’ve had to make the decision to begin filtering/approving comments before they are posted. 

This is not due to commenters disagreeing with anything that I’ve written.  Those of you who have read this blog for any length of time know that I’m open to criticism and more than willing to stand my ground to defend my positions when I feel I’m right. 

I’ve tried not to have to take this measure, but the last one put a list of 30 links on one post and it just perturbs me that I have to take the time to remove them.

Thank you for your understanding!

How to Blog Prolifically

BlogWrite for CEOs: Steve Rubel reveals his 4-hour a day blogging playbook

BlogWrite for CEOs blogger Debbie Weil interviewed Steve Rubel on how he maintains his frenetic blogging pace at Micro Persuation while still finding time for his VP Client Services position at Cooper Katz. 

He's fast, efficient, thorough... and dogged. And he uses every available useful blogging tool. (Sorry, he didn't reveal any shortcuts.)

In short, he has a system:

• He monitors 350 blogs daily
• He scans, links, and posts in "one motion"
• He "writes" longer pieces once or twice per week due to the time and intellectual requirements
• He does all this throughout the day and then dedicates a few hours in the evening to blogging for a total of 3 - 4 hours per day

Quarterly Review Leads to "Site of the Week"

A few days ago, Lisa Haneberg, over at Management Craft, brought up the idea that the 2nd quarter was over and that it was time to do a review of where we are in relationship to where we want to be.  She compared this process to having one's automobile serviced.  Excellent idea!

Six Tips for Better Blog Links

I’ve been to many blogs and clicked on hyperlinks.  I’ve been taken to sites that required registration (Grrrr), documents other than html (“I don’t have that program!"), and have found many broken links (Aarrggghhh!).  In response to my frustration, you will notice that I’ve changed the way that I’ve been adding hyperlinks in my last few posts:

• No more links in the body of the post, except for unusual circumstances or for the sake of clarity
• All links will be added at the end of the post, sort of like endnotes
• More than one link in a post will result in all links placed in bulleted lists
• No more “Click here”

This is to try to put my links in a consistent place so my readers will find them easily.

Thoughtsignals had a post about how to make your links reader-friendly.

[Broken link has been removed]

Upcoming Yahoo! 360 Developments Announcement

Link: Upcoming Yahoo! 360 Developments - The Unofficial Yahoo! Weblog - yahoo.weblogsinc.com _.

*Yawn*

Although I LOVE Yahoo! and subscribe to many of their premium services, I'm afraid I haven't used my 360 account since I received my invitation and I have no plans to do so.  I don't need training wheels.  The addition of RSS feeds doesn't do it for me.  I still think they're trying to make a purse out of a sow's ear (Sorry about the cliche).

More Freebie Tools for Bloggers

Bloggers routinely post their thoughts and opinions, but sometimes don't give much attention to the overall look of their blogs.  So, let's make it easy.  Cooltext will create a banner title for your blog.  It's simple, as all you do is choose the font, add the title of your blog, and tell it to render the logo.  Simple, slick, and oh, so cool.

Oh, yeah, it makes custom buttons too!

Here's a sample of a logo--

Juicy Studio: Readability Test

Here is another of a few short posts to help out other bloggers out there.  Check your site’s readability level.  This site will analyze yours and give you the readability level.  It will then give you comparisons to let you know what other literary works your site stacks up against in readability.  Finally, it will tell you what grade level a person must attain to be able to read and understand your site.  This is great to make sure you’re reaching your intended audience.

Give it a shot:

Juicy Studio: Readability Test

Yawn-Hoo 360 or Yahoo Cares?

After much behind the scene whispering and strategic peeks that were allowed to influential individuals, Yahoo! 360 was released today.  I wondered why the release was by invitation only but upon the gates being opened, the answer was obvious.  When the base group of beta testers began to invite friends and those friends then began to invite people, the groups began to grow quickly.  One can imagine the cascading effect caused membership to grow very quickly.  I received my first invitation within just a few hours.  I was more interested in this as another strong blogging tool with a few extras thrown in on the side to make it interesting.