Blog Metrics, Anyone?

Ask a marketer about social media and they will sing praises, especially with the attention blogs, micro-blogs, and user-generated content apps are getting in mainstream media. But ask a marketer what’s the one thing that they will make them pause about going forward with social media and they will probably say “There are no credible metrics readily available.”

Well, that type of reply is not unfounded. I’ve talked to a lot of marketing folks and they say that they would be more comfortable if there was a data source on the metrics of social media sites like blogs. This is perhaps borne from the orientation of the senior marketing executives’ reliance on Nielsen for media data on traditional media.

Why are these metrics important? These numbers are needed to justify the effectiveness of the campaign and determine the Return on Investment (ROI) of marketing activities. Of course, when it comes to ROI, the higher the better.

So, how do we answer the age old question of where to obtain readily available metrics for blogs?
These days, it’s not that hard because most blogs install analytics tools like Google Analytics to collect data on basic stats about the blog. If these analytics tools are not installed, it’s easy to install them. Things get iffy when it comes to industry-wide data because there’s still no universally accepted source of data. (Well, maybe Google will make something like this in the future.)

Just remember, metrics are important to measure performance with quantitative goals. But If you ask me, you can be a successful blogger without wrapping yourself around the numbers.

Mozilla Firefox: The Blogger’s Browser

I’m going out on a limb to say that if there’s a browser bloggers should be using, it should be Mozilla Firefox.
Apart from the inherent speed and good JavaScript handling for the AJAX-powered websites, Firefox simply has the available add-ons to make blogging an easier activity.  Here are a few of my favorite blogger-friendly add-ons that are currently installed in my computer:

1. Word Count Plus – Not blogging platforms have a word counter, nor all bloggers work with a word processor, so Word Count Plus makes sense. This add on counts the number of words from a selection, which is very useful for bloggers who need to meet a certain word count per post.
2. Add This – This add-on makes it easier to share blog posts you’ve just finished writing on various Web 2.0 and social media sites. Add This can help in generating traffic to blog posts via these sites.
3. SeoQuake -  Very handy little tool for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), this may look daunting for newbies, but this tool may be a good stepping stone towards better SEO understanding and appreciation.
4. Web Developer – Good way to test your blogger’s templates with the CSS editor and CSS disabling.
5. Fotofox – A pretty spiffy add-on for managing your images and hosting your photos to web apps for images and multimedia.

There are more extensions out there (Mashable already made a feature) for Mozilla Firefox, and it could only pick up from here. And with these customizations that benefit bloggers in different platforms, Firefox stands tall as the bet browser for bloggers.

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4 Blogging Topic Trends for 2010

The topics I’m recommending are ones that have shown a healthy rise in the last few months that is likely to carry over on to the next year. Here are four topics that may rise in 2010:

1. Television – Several new shows launched this year have definitely caught the viewing public’s attention. These shows include “Glee,” “V,” and “The Vampire Diaries” and these shows could gather more steam by next year and blogging about these shows with reviews could be beneficial in getting good traffic and possibly earnings.
2. Social Network Privacy – If we are to believe the online social networks’ data, more and more people are signing up and establishing their own online presences. This could also mean more compromised accounts and stolen identities. This topic could focus on a younger demographic that may need some resources on privacy and online reputation handling.
3. Social Games – We all know that games are big business but niche topics on social games like the ones from Zynga and Playfish are booming. Blogs on tips and tricks on FarmVille and Mafia Wars will definitely have an audience in my opinion.
4. Finance – The global financial sector is recovering and people may be interested in recovering their financial positions. If you have the know how and have the passion for writing, your financial blog could be 2010’s sleeper hit.

There may be other topics that will explode in December so this topics of 2010 blogging trends will be revisited. :)

Blogging for A Company? Makes Sense to Me.

Professional blogging comes in different sizes and shapes. For some, professional blogging is just getting some money for a paid review. And for others, its seeing the checks in gather in the mail from ad networks.

There’s one aspect of professional blogging I feel doesn’t get the cred it deserves: the Hired Blogger aspect.

Hired blogger are on a company’s payroll like regular employees or a consultants on a retainer. Depending on the arrangement, the hired blogger may be paid per per post or a fixed salary with specific goals and measured performance indicators. Responsibilities include writing blog posts on topics surrounding the company’s business and making sure that the blog posts are error-free and interesting enough to be shared around by the blog’s readers, and hopefully the company’s customers.

If you ask me, this kind of professional arrangement makes sense to the company and the blogger.

It really boils down to stability and consistency in the professional relationship– the company has a steady hand behind the blog and the company can give direct feedback about the posts with little fear that the blogger will just jump ship. The blogger, on the other hand, will have a predictable stream of income.

The only caveat here is the motivation factor. Money will never be the full motivator for the blogger to come up with good posts, so the company has to keep an eye on the hiring process to really see the candidates who really has the passion.

As I’ve said, blogging is marked by passion and but when a company tries to leverage on this passion, is there really anything amiss? From the professional side of things, it just makes sense if you ask me.

Why It's Good to Test Your Blog on Different Browsers

From the web design perspective, the relationship most bloggers have with their blog's design is quite limited. More often than not, bloggingfolk use web design templates designed and developed by another person so the determination of the blog's look and feel aspect becomes more like a shopping task.

But once the template has been selected, one big assumption oftentimes arises: This template works in all browsers.

Blog templates are never 100% working, especially with some broken browsers (*cough*IE6*cough*) still out there.

It's good practice to test the browser yourself with the common browsers. You can start with Internet Explorer (version 7 and 8 if possible) and Mozilla Firefox. These two browsers would already comprise almost 80% of browsers out there. For good measure, you can also check on Google Chrome and Opera Browser. To be sure, you can refer to your blog's stats (if available) to see which browser the majority of your readers are using and test your blog's template.

If you don't want to install extra browsers in your machine, there's always BrowserShots, a web site that will take a snapshot of your sites using different browsers.

Just remember not all browsers are created equal and a blog template not working could spell the difference between a successful blog and a lemon.