Internet Marketing Toronto - Ignite!

Google Adding New Features to Blogger

According to the Blogger Blog Google is adding some new features.

It’s about time! Personally I’m a WordPress user - you’d notice by this blog. So I’m pleased to hear that Google is launching some new features for Blogger. In particular their launching a “Follow This Blog” feature.

Now you’ll be able to see right from your dashboard who is following your blog. You can also add a follow this blog widget to your blog which shows pictures of those who are following you and a convenient link to follow your blog.

Hopefully Google will continue to release new and exciting features for Blogger. It’s the only way they’ll continue to gain traction with it - or keep the users they’ve got!

A Great List Of Free RSS Icons

This is one great list of free RSS Icons!

I was working on a clients blog this evening and needed to find a good set of icons that would match the site. Google comes to the rescue after a search for “RSS Icons” I came up with this great post:

Free RSS Feed Icons, The Ultimate List

After a little poking around I found one that worked well and used it. If you’re in need of an RSS Icon and you don’t have the skills to create one, this post is for you!

NorthxEast’s Fifty Most Influential Female Bloggers is out…

‘Blogging is not just a boys club’ according to the NorthxEast’s Fifty Most Influential Female Bloggers article that was released recently.

Jarkko Laine breaks down a well thought out list of top female bloggers in the industry in this thorough article. My favourite main point in this article is that more women are becoming a part of the technology industry overall, blogging regularly and encouraging other women to get involved. This is a very positive message for those of us just starting out in the industry.

Instead of repeating the list of women here, what I am going to do is lay out the top 10 and also the ones that I found most interesting and have started to subscribe to. Can’t learn enough! I have to note one little peeve if you will indulge me. When trying to add some of these top 50 blogs to my Google Reader collection…some did not have an RSS feed available or have it noticeable. If bloggers are looking for an audience than please please please make your RSS feed link noticeable, available, clear…anything that would encourage me to click on it. PLEASE!!!! Further, if you don’t have an RSS link available to your audience…go get one! I can’t imagine that people are writing just for them…there has to be an audience of sorts. Rant complete!

Back on track. I have only entered the world of blogs in the last 2 years so it is a fairly exciting and new discovery on my part. Reading new information from a variety of sources on a regular basis is very exciting. Please feel free to share your favourite blogs and reasons why you love them! I appreciate your recommendations.

Alright…to the top 10 on the list of the most influential female bloggers:

10. Lisa Sugar

Sugar is the Editor-in-Chief of Sugar Publishing and started www.popsugar.comthat houses several networks surrounding celebrity gossip. NxE noted that her blog is significant because the project has been funded by Sequoia (they also funded Google and Youtube)…should be something to watch out for!

9. Ana Marie Cox

Cox has made herself famous, if you will, by writing political gossip as www.Wonkette.com with her alias Wonkette Emerita. The popularity of Wonkette gave her writer’s kudos in the world of politics. She wrote in Time Magazine’s blog and is currently the editor of Radar.

Personally, I love both Canadian and American politics and as such, will be taking a look at Cox’s work. It sounds exciting!! Who can resist?!

8. Xeni Jardin

Jardin is a woman of many talents as a tech culture journalist; co-editor of www.boingboing.net; co-host of Boing Boing tv; articles published in Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, Playboy and many more. NxE also notes that Jardin has also appeared on radio, television, and runs the Xeni Tech podcast. She is edgy and controversial…a love her or hate her personality and part of a hugely growing community online.

7. Heather Armstrong

Armstrong is well known for being fired from her job after gossiping about her co-workers and company on her blog. I love her already! She writes under the nickname, Dooce and her style is both fun and personal. According to NxE, “her incisive writing, wit and honesty” has given her a unique writing style and landed her in spot number 7. Check it out www.dooce.com! I have also subscribed to this one.

6. Erin Kissane

Kissane is the writer and editorial strategist for good editorial practices and business communications. Her blog, www.alistapart.com is an important resource to web developers. NxE totes her as a person who will “define what the Internet will be today and in the future.”

5 . Michelle Malkin

Malkin is known for her political socially conservative perspective and has made appearances on MSNBC, Fox News, and C-SPAN. Her writing is very controversial…so you know I will be checking it out! Plainly, when Malkin speaks and writes…people listen and read.

www.michellemalkin.com

4. Pamela Jones

Jones is the online legal guru focusing on issues surrounding open source and free software community. She keeps the rest of us non-legal minded folk up to date. She is currently the editor of www.groklaw.net and has offered her knowledge to the book Open Source 2.0: The Continuing Evolution.

3. Gina Trapani

Trapani is one of the best writers of technology and productivity today. She has acquired a committed large readership. Lifehacker is a Gawker media web blog that provides tips and tricks, software and information to its followers. NxE says that it is a “must-read for many people, bloggers, and non-bloggers alike.” This will now be moved to my top 5 list!

www.lifehacker.com

2. Ariana Huffington

How does this sound: 12 books, co-founder and editor of the www.huffingtonpost.com. Huffington Post is a political blog and another on my list to follow. Huffington Post is the fourth ranked blog on Technorati and gets more than 18 million page views this month. It also helps that she has a few noted celebrity friends, according to NxE, such as Norman Mailer and Nora Ephron. Time Magazine listed Ariana Huffington on their list of 100 Most Influential People in 2006.

1. Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort Page & Jory Des Jardins

The top female blogger is a team effort from these three women that are meeting and writing for the purpose of promoting a community site that encourages and supports female bloggers. These ladies have planned and are continuing to plan events that encourage woman to start and succeed at blogging. This is a blog that myself and all other women reading this blog should check out. www.blogher.com

Happy Reading!

~S

New PPC Resource - PPCRockstars

I have been a fan of David Szetela for a while now. His PPC blog has a lot of great information and David has always been a contributing member of the PPC community, never afraid to share his tips, tricks and secrets.

I am a big fan of podcasting and enjoy listening to some industry related content on my ride into work each day… or at least I did until my ipod was stolen last week… but that’s another story for another day. Up until now, there has been very little dedicated PPC podcasts out there - until now! PPC Rockstars looks to be an excellent show for those of us that live “above and on the right :) ”

Who knows… maybe one day I will get up the courage to be on the show. I’ve always wanted to be a rockstar!

Sometimes a simple phone call goes a long way…

A while ago I started reading a quality PPC/SEM blog called Apollo SEM. The blogs author, Jameszol recently received a letter from a California based web development firm with a similar name demanding they change their name as it was in violation of a their trademark. I won’t go into the details but encourage you to read the letter he received here about an apparent trademark infringement on the name “Apollo.”

It seems that after a consultation with a lawyer, Apollo SEM is completely in the right and, should they choose to keep their name, brand and continue on with business as usual.

Instead, Apollo SEM will be seeking a new name and brand and walk away from the situation entirely. Right decision? You be the judge but I would be that Jameszol and his partners will earn a lot of respect and credibility in the industry for this ballsy move.

The funny part, I would bet they might even rank for the term apollo interactive one day soon.

To the guys at the other Apollo firm - consider a phone call next time, it goes a lot further to win someone’s respect than a letter from a lawyer.

Two Common Blog Mistakes Which Will Hurt Your Subscriber Rates

There are two common blogging mistakes I’ve seen recently which will really hurt your subscriber stats. Avoid these and I am convinced you’ll see an increase in subscribers.

The two mistakes to avoid:

1. Not having a site search, or burying it towards the bottom of your home page
2. Not placing your RSS Feed Icon at the top of every page

Site Search

Why is this important? New visitors to your site may have been drawn to your blog by a recent post, but they may be interested in knowing if you’ve discussed other topics. Without a site search, there is virtually no way they can find out. Sure, they can put your feed into Google Reader and search that - but it’s not all of your blog! Make your site search obvious and towards the top of the page!

RSS Feed Icons

Congratulations! You’ve got new visitors to your blog. The hard work has paid off! But hey, where did they go? Why did they not stay and subscribe to your feed? Because you’ve buried your RSS Feed Icons somewhere deep within the middle of your side bar - or obscured them with a million similar icons. Use a simple orange RSS Icon, and place it in the header of your blog, and put text links in your footer. No one will miss it then and they won’t have to go hunting for it!

As I said, I am convinced that if you do these two things you’ll see an increase in subscribers if your doing a good job of getting new visitors to your blog already!

Note: You can feed icons at http://www.feedicons.com

30 Social Media Sites Based On Pligg

Manish Pandey brings us a great list of 30 Social Media sites using the Pligg platform.

Digg has become an amazing social media site in the last several months and is in fact rumoured to be purchased for $300 Million soon. It’s popularity has driven developers to produce Pligg - a Digg like platform that you can download and install on your server for free. Pligg has become very popular and there are now thousands of sites using it to produce user generated content in many different categories.

Manish Pandey has brought together a list of 30 more popular grouped by topic. If you’re looking to generate some social media buzz about your products or services, you should definitely have a look at this list.

Blogs and Social Networking-A Marketer’s Dream

Reaching the right audience is becoming easier for Marketers.

While listening to one of my favourite podcasts today, Marketing Edge, Albert Maruggi talked about social marketing and how it has completely changed the way that Marketers are identifying their target markets. Blogs and social networking groups are rapidly growing on the internet. Everything from Facebook to Ning, what we are seeing now is that people around the world are making an effort to discuss their interests, concerns, and opinions with others in this expansive online community.

A continuous goal for Marketers is to increase the amount of targeted advertising that they participate in. Maruggi went further to discuss that since blogs and social networking sites can be categorized by topics and places; Marketers have a huge opportunity in their hands. Just imagine a car company wanting to develop interest about a new model or event that may be coming up. What better way than to advertise or participate in a discussion where there are people passionately discussing cars?

Although it can be time consuming and almost addictive, try to participate in discussions about the industry that you work in or interests that you may have. What you will find is a community of people that you can provide information to and who can give you good feedback, tips, and advice as well. Don’t be afraid to offer your two cents; it’s not called a “community” for no reason.