This is a stream-of-consciousness report on the discussion:
How does blogging enhance and/or affect freelancing?
Nina started blog on how web 2.0 will influence museum exhibits...now when clients talk to her they are interested in what she’s written, as much or more than in what she’s done...
Erik, started his blog 1/06 when started law school...during course of researching how to get Macs supported on law school campus....blogging on subject, got picked up by a recommender, and then traffic spiked way up, to settle ~4X. Then IT directors started contacting him about issues supporting Macs...started meeting in person folks who had read his blog. “Inkblot” effect...wanted to be very specific and helpful, but spread to Mac people, law students, IT people...a really tight niche makes it easier to get a general audience. An unfocussed blog is not really read.
E.g. Museum folks not really blog readers, traffic can spike with folks from outside the core audience. Have to make the conscious choice to stay focussed. Success: got a column in an industry magazine, which helped drive people to the blog.
About 8 hours per week...leading to more “volunteer” opportunities.
Jon: cartooning and illustration...how do you balance the blog with doing your actual work? A friend putting the content out for free, then consolidating into trade paperback; skips traditional monthly comicbook.
-should he move in that direction? What is the cost benefit ratio?
If you have content already, then it’s not that much of a burden...Nina suggest making the commitment for posting on a regular, frequent schedule (e.g MW), is critical for maintaining a reader base.
The “average” is once per 3 weeks...vast majority are “zombie blogs,” started then died.
“Pictures from my bike” blog...to inspire other people to be able to ride bikes.
Mixing personal and professional blogs is problematic, for both providers and readers.
Look for blogs in your community...see what’s in the landscape for your community?
Comments are a way to connect and learn about your readers...
Favorite blogs:
“Daring Fireball” cannot get his insights anywhere else...focussed on SW industry, macintosh stuff (and competitors). His detailed original blogging posts are longer than “traditionally” accepted, but there’s value.
cheezburger, “what you wish you knew about blogging” book,
Everything you want to know about blogging(?)
feministing...feminist perspective on politics etc.
Public radio blogs, Bob Patterson, to produce his own blog trying to balance visual vs. written, etc.
Company blogs? Whose voice...some impersonal company, a single person, or multiple voices of workers? One company is encouraging a one per week posting philosophy...
Julian’s problem, staying focussed in his own blog. Kept a personal blog, but then found family members reading his thoughts about them...just made him nervous. How do you post professionally when a lot of your personal life is private. boingboing.net, lifehacker.com
As a manager, you have to expect people to be following your personal blog...and perhaps stifle your voice a little?
Making your voice personal in your professional blog will help target the right customers to you...people who know what you’re about.
With blogging, you can’t control who reads what you write.
For a remote company, the blogging can be an internal communication method as well as a public forum.
Can you get paid to blog? Maybe from print magazines that are stretching their presence.
And content created for journals, etc. cannot necessarily be presented...
Iwillteachandberich and problogger are resources to find paid blogging gigs.
Companies looking for “ghost bloggers.” Maybe worth letting the agencies know you’re available.
For KUSP site: how to solicit local bloggers? Cruzio has a list of local bloggers. And the “local” bloggers are often not-so-local, with traffic from around the world.
Don’t forget Craigslist as a source for work.
Where are blogs going in the context of social media...”microblogging” with twitter....more frequent posts with images, etc.
Blogging and raising children...
Lots of people checking blogs before hiring people, etc...mistakes of the past don’t go away?
College students: managing your internet identity.
The Transparent Society as a perspective on the presence of information on the web...
Formula for writing a blog? Content that has immediate value and content that has lasting value. When thinking about how to write it...if you’re trying to stay “current” and be the first, there are other people our there writing about it. The posts where you step back and be more reflective have more staying power. If you’re trying to be too immediate, the long term value can be minimal.
Iwatchstuff.com...is pretty much an in the moment only blog.
One of the good things...an article that’s a reference tool...
How do you organize archived material for users, readers who have a certain need?
How do you deal with your own trail of mistakes? Link back with corrections?
On the other hand...if you’re confident in your voice, blogging is a great way to get people to listen to you.
Third-party platforms...wordpress has a lot of adherents. Use googleanalytics with your blog.
Is blogging worth the time? When it is a business development tool there’s more pressure.
