Blog Workshop Links

These links represent some of the websites I talked about in my Brown Bag Seminar, Blogging For Business, presented on May 5th at Moorpark Library:

Getting Started: What is, blog search engines, blogging platforms, rss aggregators(blog/RSS/feed readers).

• Wikipedia: Blog – Pretty good survey of blogs and blogging. But it’s Wikipedia, so read with care.
• PBS.org: What Exactly is a Blog, Anyway? – Casual post introducing blogs to novices. Intended for teachers, but useful for all. Be sure to read the comments.
• YouTube: Blogs in Plain English(leelefever) – Fast-paced video giving some background on blogs as “news”-feeds. Worthwhile for beginners.
• Harvard Weblogs: What makes a weblog a weblog? – 2003 article about how a blog is different from a conventional website. Goes in-depth with terms and concepts.
• Doug Williams’s Blogging Terms – A large glossary of blog-related terms. Be sure to bookmark this page for future reference.
• Google Blog Search – The biggie of regular search also has a targeted blog search.
• Technorati – Popular blog search using an interesting algorithm based on user tags and trackbacks for “Authority.”
• BlogScope – Blog search engine boasting a visualization feature.
• Bloglines – Blog search engine and popular RSS reader.
• WhosTalkin? – Searches different social media sources including blogs.
• WordPress – free, open-source blogging platform. Can be hosted on their server, or one of your choice.
• Blogger – Google’s blogging platform. Free. Gives you more design capability when hosted on their server.
• Typepad – Another popular blogging platform, though not free.
• Movable Type – Yet another blogging platform.
• Google Reader – The web-based RSS aggregator I use to read blogs. Requires a free Google account.
• Newsgator – Popular free RSS aggregator application, not web-based.
• FeedReader3 – Free RSS aggregator application that also requires you to download it onto your computer.
• About.com: Top 10 Windows RSS Feed Readers and News Aggregators – A listing of ten RSS readers, some of which are already mentioned here.
• Wikipedia: List of Aggregators – An overwhelming list of blog readers divided by categories. See it just to get a sense of how many choices one has.

How-To: build a better blog, basics of starting, blogging philosophy, analytic tools.

• The Simple Dollar Compilation: How to Build a Better Blog – One of my favorite personal finance bloggers, Trent Hamm, compiled this list of his articles pertaining to creating a better blog.
• Build a Better Blog – Short posts with useful tips abound in this aptly-titled blog.
• ProBlogger – Very popular blog about creating a better(read: more lucrative) blog.
• PC World: How to Build a Blog with WordPress – Comprehensive article about setting up and designing a WordPress blog. Not recommended for beginners.
• How to Build a Successful News Blog: 10 Information Sources You Can Use – List of sources that not only will help you find news leads, but also help the beginner get a better sense of the blogosphere.
• Starting a Blog(manaiakalani) – A decent slideshow that shows how to start a blog using Blogger.
• Also check out the help pages of popular blog platform sites for example: WordPress > Support and Blogger Help.
• BusinessWeek: Who Should Blog at a Company? – Short interview article by Stephen Baker that deals with the issues involved with a CEO blogging. Make sure to see the comments.
• The Corporate Weblog Manifesto – Unmatchable advice for starting a starting and running a business blog.
• FeedBurner – Very useful and easy to implement tools for measuring blog stats among other functions.
• Google Analytics – Google’s tool for measuring site statistics.
• 20 Analytics Tools For Blogs – Lee Odden of Online Marketing Blog compiled a list of twenty free and for-cost tools. The list looks up-to-date. Worth a try.

Notable Company Blogs – specific company blogs, pages that list company blogs.

• Google Blog – Of course the world’s foremost search engine must have one.
• Consumerist – Not actually a company blog. Instead one that makes questionable companies nervous. An example of how blogging empowers consumers.
• Inside Nike Running – Mostly adverts for Nike events with the occasional running tip thrown in.
• Your Friendly Neighborhood Computer Guy – Matt is starting a computer repair business. His blog is advertising his services, offering advice for fellow entrepreneurs, and helping him explore the ins-and-outs of being the computer guy. I’m a computer guy so I can relate.
• Kodak 1000 Words – Portrayed as almost a family blog of Kodak employees with, of course, lots of photos, and a definite ‘focus’ on Kodak(sorry, had to) the shaping the brand.
• Check-Out: Where the Lanes are All Open – Wal-Mart’s informal blog has individuals posting their views on Wal-Mart products and other random thoughts. Not necessarily reviews, either. This is one to look at for ideas for your company blog.
• Nuts About Southwest – The place to meet Southwest employees, see pictures of planes and other multimedia, and enjoy irreverent adverts for Southwest flights, etc.
• Fortune 500 Business Blogging Wiki – Links to Fortune 500 companies with blogs. Great place to go for examples of company blogs.
• ReadWriteWeb: Nine Company Blogs That Are Fun For Anyone to Read – List and review of nine(and some), mostly technology and web-related, companies with nice blogs.

These links are current as of April 21st, 2009. Feel free to…

…include other relevant and/or useful links with a small annotation in the comments.

…let me know if any of these are dead links.

…link to this list.

…e-mail me to let me know that you’re linking to the list or using it.

…inform me of other such lists.