I’ve been looking for a more efficient system to replace the flawed commenting practices that blogs currently employ. There are number of up and coming services that look very good, such as SezWho & Disqus. After much deliberation, I have opted to go with Disqus (with a bit of help from Louis Gray )
Basically, Disqus allows me to centralize my comments and create a threaded environment that is far more intuitive than the current commenting system. For more information on Disqus, have a look at their FAQ.
I have two options going forward - the first is to only use it on old and new posts that have no comments (which is what I’ve already done - as you will see with this post), the second option is to apply it to the whole site and move all the historic comments into Disqus. I’ve very keen to do this, but before I do, I thought I’d test it out and get your feedback!
Join the “Disqussion” and let me know if you think I should move everything across…
As a follow up to my last post, in which I try to help my readers with SEO on their blogs, I thought about a great resource that I’d like to share. Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger is a fantastic website and offers great resources to anyone who is starting out blogging - and even more experienced folk. Of particular note, is his post on Blogging Tips for Beginnners, which links to a wealth of great posts that are well worth reading. I highly recommend reading this website, and adding it to your list of RSS feeds!
I’m very pleased to be able to announce that Jeremy Palmer and myself will be publishing a book next year, called “Clicks to Customers” - and no, it’s not about my life story at Clicks2Customers, but it will be focusing on the industry and how it’s evolved. Specifically, on how the money flows within in the industry, and why online marketing is a cost of sale business, and not a line item expense - as offline advertising is.
We have setup a Wiki that will allow readers from our respective blogs, as well as the industry at large, to assist in writing the books, and provide us with ideas and commentary. With your help, we will hopefully write a New York Times bestseller
I’m taking December off to write this book - and Jeremy will be doing something similar, so the work until then will be very much preparatory - spread the word, and help us build a community on our wiki! This is very exciting for us - I’m sure you all share our enthusiasm with this book launch!
I first heard about BlogRush only about a week ago, and when I met the CEO at TechCrunch40, I told him that I thought it was a pyramid scheme for Internet traffic - or at least, that’s the impression that I got from the YouTube Video.
After he explained the business model too me - I realised that I overlooked the number of links on each widget - the penny dropped. I now think that this is a great idea to generate more traffic to your blog, and open your blog to a wider customer base, so I’m going to test it out. There’s nothing to lose - so try it out!I created an account - and here is the widget they produce for you. If you signup through my link, I get extra traffic to my blog through their network - so please click away!
Writing on this blog has been a lot of fun - and I’ve met lots of new friends and business contacts. I haven’t written much lately, mainly due to the fact that I’ve just been extremely busy. One of the things that I try to pride myself on, is writing good stuff that people want to read, not just writing for the sake of writing. Too many bloggers these days just throw a whole bunch of stuff up on the wall, to see what sticks - without much regard for focus or quality. My career focus & operational roles are changing very quickly and hence I think need to evolve what I write about.
Setting up a Venture Capital fund is never easy, but it’s a great challenge for me, and I’m learning a heck of a lot since moving on from incuBeta which was a full time role, to one as a Non-Executive Board Member & Shareholder. Running a startup (Synthasite) at the same time is even more challenging, yet fun and exciting. I’ve probably never been more focused and distracted at the same time in my life!
This all begs the question : What do I now blog about, that my readers will enjoy, given my change in roles?
I could easily cover Search, Affiliate Marketing, Online Marketing, Startups, Venture Capital, etc.
The Answer : You Decide!!
I have put up a poll, and I’m going to try and use the results as a guideline as to what I write about. I often preach that websites should be user centric - so here goes!
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