Getting Granular: The DigitalGrit Blog

Jobs on the Job Blog

In case anyone reading the blog happens to be a smart, talented, super-cool Internet marketing professional who *happens* to live within commuting distance of beautiful Boonton, NJ...

Just thought you might want to know that we have some fantastic career opportunities available at DigitalGrit.

Read all about them on the Job Blog.

(Have I mentioned, by the way, that we're one of the fastest-growing companies in NJ - and the #1 Best Place to Work?)

Jobs on the Job Blog

In case anyone reading the blog happens to be a smart, talented, super-cool Internet marketing professional who *happens* to live within commuting distance of beautiful Boonton, NJ...

Just thought you might want to know that we have some fantastic career opportunities available at DigitalGrit.

Read all about them on the Job Blog.

(Have I mentioned, by the way, that we're one of the fastest-growing companies in NJ - and the #1 Best Place to Work?)

Joe Connolly: The Abundance of Blogs & Podcasts Reveals How Little People Have to Say

Joe Connolly of the Wall Street Journal and New York's WCBS AM radio is a huge fan of Internet business and eCommerce. If you listen to reports, they're usually peppered by stats on eBay stores, Google's growth and other online news.

Joe's also a blog-watcher, keeping an eye on how blogs are affecting business. This morning he had some funny observations. (I believe he was quoting another analyst, but quite honestly, I didn't have a pen and paper - or a voice recorder - on hand in the car, and the radio station isn't fabulous about archiving his reports.)

The gist of it was this: The rapid growth in the number of blogs is proof-positive that most of us don't have a heck of lot to say. Certainly not a lot worth reading anyway.

Similarly, the lack of worthwhile content extends to Podcasts. He notes that there lots of useless Podcasts out there, produced by inexperienced and unqualified content providers.

Apple, he warns, had best protect its brand by getting a grip on this before iTunes becomes a jungle of junk content.

Joe Connolly: The Abundance of Blogs & Podcasts Reveals How Little People Have to Say

Joe Connolly of the Wall Street Journal and New York's WCBS AM radio is a huge fan of Internet business and eCommerce. If you listen to reports, they're usually peppered by stats on eBay stores, Google's growth and other online news.

Joe's also a blog-watcher, keeping an eye on how blogs are affecting business. This morning he had some funny observations. (I believe he was quoting another analyst, but quite honestly, I didn't have a pen and paper - or a voice recorder - on hand in the car, and the radio station isn't fabulous about archiving his reports.)

The gist of it was this: The rapid growth in the number of blogs is proof-positive that most of us don't have a heck of lot to say. Certainly not a lot worth reading anyway.

Similarly, the lack of worthwhile content extends to Podcasts. He notes that there lots of useless Podcasts out there, produced by inexperienced and unqualified content providers.

Apple, he warns, had best protect its brand by getting a grip on this before iTunes becomes a jungle of junk content.

MarketingSherpa on Blogger Content Thievery

Seems that MarketingSherpa's Anne Holland is facing black hat blogger problems herself.

The Queen of the Case Study has been having her proprietary content lifted by bloggers, as she's discovered via her weekly Technorati searches.

According to Anne, her thieves are falling into two camps - the overly enthusiastic fans who don't realize they're guilty of copyright infringement when they "share" her content, and the black hats.

The black hats, she claims, are  "profit-driven, generally seeking Google AdSense revenue. They publish as many blogs as possible populated with lifted content, and sit back to collect commission checks from Google on ad clicks. Some have created automated programs that suck up content from around the Web and post it without need for a human editor."

It's a similar scheme to the one we've seen on other blogs, the ones that exist only to boost rankings and drive traffic to another main site.

This is the dark side of blogging. This is a channel that has a lot of potential...and it's being exploited by the same ugly breed of marketers that have given us spyware and spam.

Read the whole article on MarketingSherpa. (May be for-fee after 7/28. And no, we don't get a cut!)

....and by the way, we had express permission from MarketingSherpa to include that article quote. It's just too hot a day to deal with a 'Cease and Desist.'

MarketingSherpa on Blogger Content Thievery

Seems that MarketingSherpa's Anne Holland is facing black hat blogger problems herself.

The Queen of the Case Study has been having her proprietary content lifted by bloggers, as she's discovered via her weekly Technorati searches.

According to Anne, her thieves are falling into two camps - the overly enthusiastic fans who don't realize they're guilty of copyright infringement when they "share" her content, and the black hats.

The black hats, she claims, are  "profit-driven, generally seeking Google AdSense revenue. They publish as many blogs as possible populated with lifted content, and sit back to collect commission checks from Google on ad clicks. Some have created automated programs that suck up content from around the Web and post it without need for a human editor."

It's a similar scheme to the one we've seen on other blogs, the ones that exist only to boost rankings and drive traffic to another main site.

This is the dark side of blogging. This is a channel that has a lot of potential...and it's being exploited by the same ugly breed of marketers that have given us spyware and spam.

Read the whole article on MarketingSherpa. (May be for-fee after 7/28. And no, we don't get a cut!)

....and by the way, we had express permission from MarketingSherpa to include that article quote. It's just too hot a day to deal with a 'Cease and Desist.'

SEO & Blogs Webinar - Positive Feedback

While I don't like to rehash old info, this is worth the re-post.

We've been getting such positive feedback on this webinar, I'm getting more excited about it every day.  Radiant Marketing Group gave us a great mention, pretty much crystalizing the tone of what we've been hearing, which is basically that there are too many deviants out there abusing blogs for higher rankings, and that we really need to establish hard-and-fast best practices for SEO & blogs:

As you may well know, blogs are being used as a tool by blackhat SEO scam artists, which gives both business blogging and SEO a bad name.

SEO can get a bad name on its own without involving blogs, but I get livid when I think about such outfits using them in less than ethical ways. Go to Technorati and put in any number of keywords and what do you get? Spam blogs of course! Blog spam is becoming something we’re going to have to address head on, and soon. And Google is going to have to come to terms with the fact Blogger is being used as a pawn to foist this scheme upon us. (Read the whole post.)

So, while it wasn't our initial goal in producing this webinar, we're happy to contribute to any dialogue that moves our industry towards a standard of best practices.

Sign up for the webinar. It's free, and we're happy to share our views on the topic -- and to hear yours.

SEO & Blogs Webinar - Positive Feedback

While I don't like to rehash old info, this is worth the re-post.

We've been getting such positive feedback on this webinar, I'm getting more excited about it every day.  Radiant Marketing Group gave us a great mention, pretty much crystalizing the tone of what we've been hearing, which is basically that there are too many deviants out there abusing blogs for higher rankings, and that we really need to establish hard-and-fast best practices for SEO & blogs:

As you may well know, blogs are being used as a tool by blackhat SEO scam artists, which gives both business blogging and SEO a bad name.

SEO can get a bad name on its own without involving blogs, but I get livid when I think about such outfits using them in less than ethical ways. Go to Technorati and put in any number of keywords and what do you get? Spam blogs of course! Blog spam is becoming something we’re going to have to address head on, and soon. And Google is going to have to come to terms with the fact Blogger is being used as a pawn to foist this scheme upon us. (Read the whole post.)

So, while it wasn't our initial goal in producing this webinar, we're happy to contribute to any dialogue that moves our industry towards a standard of best practices.

Sign up for the webinar. It's free, and we're happy to share our views on the topic -- and to hear yours.

Newsweek Article: Why is it so hard to search the blogosphere?

In a July 14th article, BusinessWeek asked why searching blogs is so far behind the curve:

Here's a quote from "Finding a Blog in a Haystack":

FORMIDABLE OBSTACLES.  While Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft's MSN decline to detail their plans, industry observers say it's likely a question of months before the big three dive into blog search -- and perhaps scoop up one or two of the venture-backed blog search engines. On July 8 a prototype Yahoo blog search page was briefly spotted before the company pulled it back. "If [the three giants] are not in blog search by the end of the year, I'd be very surprised," says Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li.

It stands to reason. Blogs are the fastest-growing segment of the Web, and the posts -- many of them dispatched directly to subscribers -- are perfect for the kind of targeted advertisements favored by search engines. Strategically, whichever company masters blogs gains an edge: It can serve up its archived treasures with timely updates from the blogs.

If blog search is so vital, why are the giants moving so deliberately? In part, say observers, because blending blogs into Web search is a knotty conundrum. It requires adding a new dimension -- time -- to traditional search. Currently, the search hierarchies used by Google and its rivals define the leaders and laggards in a vast library that changes little day by day. Sites rise in rank as they receive more visits and as other sites link to them.

Read the whole article. Lots of good stuff there.

Clearly this is an area in which there's a demand for fast action. As the article points out, businesses and consumers alike are looking for an efficient way to glean useful data from blogs. We already know that Yahoo's got an RSS search in the works. (Thanks to Steve Rubel for what's probably the most linked-to blog post of the summer.)

It'll be fun to see who's got the biggest, best, and first big fix. Should I start a pool?

Newsweek Article: Why is it so hard to search the blogosphere?

In a July 14th article, BusinessWeek asked why searching blogs is so far behind the curve:

Here's a quote from "Finding a Blog in a Haystack":

FORMIDABLE OBSTACLES.  While Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft's MSN decline to detail their plans, industry observers say it's likely a question of months before the big three dive into blog search -- and perhaps scoop up one or two of the venture-backed blog search engines. On July 8 a prototype Yahoo blog search page was briefly spotted before the company pulled it back. "If [the three giants] are not in blog search by the end of the year, I'd be very surprised," says Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li.

It stands to reason. Blogs are the fastest-growing segment of the Web, and the posts -- many of them dispatched directly to subscribers -- are perfect for the kind of targeted advertisements favored by search engines. Strategically, whichever company masters blogs gains an edge: It can serve up its archived treasures with timely updates from the blogs.

If blog search is so vital, why are the giants moving so deliberately? In part, say observers, because blending blogs into Web search is a knotty conundrum. It requires adding a new dimension -- time -- to traditional search. Currently, the search hierarchies used by Google and its rivals define the leaders and laggards in a vast library that changes little day by day. Sites rise in rank as they receive more visits and as other sites link to them.

Read the whole article. Lots of good stuff there.

Clearly this is an area in which there's a demand for fast action. As the article points out, businesses and consumers alike are looking for an efficient way to glean useful data from blogs. We already know that Yahoo's got an RSS search in the works. (Thanks to Steve Rubel for what's probably the most linked-to blog post of the summer.)

It'll be fun to see who's got the biggest, best, and first big fix. Should I start a pool?