AgWired

It’s the end of the day, the last session. The main thing I got out of the “metrics” session had to do with registering you blog on search engines, using “keywords” in posts and keeping an eye on how you’re doing. One place to look at how your website (or blog) is doing is Marketleap. It has some neat online tools for seeing how your site is doing, especially in comparison to other sites and for keywords!

This last session on strategy and policy for corporate blogging is certainly relevant for companies that are considering creating a blog or blogs. I’m going to point you to the Blog Business Summit website for more information.

This has definitely been a great opportunity to learn more about the blogosphere and most importantly talk with others who are using blogs as a business tool. Glad I came and will be doing the long travel home thing tomorrow.

I didn’t realize that we weren’t really supposed to take pictures of the presenters and post them without asking permission (whoops). I only know this because they have a big screen slide that was up with this instruction between sessions. So I gave myself permission to post my own picture.

I’m in one of the last sessions of the day that I hope to get some concrete information on. It’s “Measuring Success: Setting Goals and Establishing Metrics.” There’s that word “metrics” again. Gotta have metrics. We’ll see what Sally Falkow has to say. I ate lunch at her topic table on RSS. One of the key things I had wondered about RSS was “Can I measure how many subscribers I have to my site feed (RSS)?” Basically, the answer is no but there are some ways to get an idea of what level of subscribership you have to an RSS feed. I can tell you that we do have subscribers to AgWired both because of the feedback I get from them and because I can see the activity on the website. However, without going into a long explanation, I really can’t tell you how many actual subscribers AgWired has. I’m going to continue to research this.

Back to the BBS. Right now we’re on “Blog Writing Style” with Molly Holzschlag and Darren Barefoot. Prior to this today we heard about different types of blogging software with explanations of how each might best fit a particular application and level of experience for someone who wants to start blogging.

Now we’re getting specific about writing! For example, the idea of editing what you’ve written before you publish it and it’s on the web. Good idea. Although I can attest that as you get proficient you’ll find that you get more and more comfortable hitting the publish button when you’ve got it all entered.

Darren’s telling us to find our “voice” and as long time broadcaster that used to mean how your voice sounded. In the blogging world it refers to the “personality” that comes through in your writing. Of course, if you podcast, you can kind of do both.

I like the point that Darren just made regarding corporate blogging, that the company doesn’t blog, an individual at the company blogs. That reinforces what I try to tell people about using a blog as a way to personally connect with an audience.

We’re now into the Keynote session “Why Microsoft is Betting Big on Bloggers & RSS.” After Dean Hachamovitch got us started with a little review of how we’ve gotten to the point where blogging is so popular we’re now getting the Robert Scoble perspective. He’s discussing why he blogs and where blogging has taken him, especially in terms of building relationships with people. He’s now doing video internally with different employees which is distributed to other employees. Great way to communicate and I assume build team spirit internally at Microsoft.

Now we’re hearing about RSS and the whole idea of syndicating information. We’re supposed to hear an announcement from Microsoft on where they see the future of business blogging.

I had to run back up to my room and get my computer’s power supply. I didn’t know the setup here. Weve not only got free wireless access that seems to be working fine, but we’ve got power outlets. The room has filled up and as you can see in the picture, there’s lots of screens lit up here!

It’s a blogging kind of event. I haven’t seen a session like it before!

Here’s where the Blog Business Summit (BBS from now on) takes place in very cool San Francisco. We’re getting ready for breakfast and to learn about WordPress. It’s the software I use and recommend but can use some instruction. Do we ever really learn everything there is to know about any software?

I’ll try to post periodically throughout the day, especially if I hear something you might be interested in.

Got anything you want me to ask or look into while I’m here? Email me or post a comment and I’ll see what I can find out

I got into San Fran this evening on time and made it to the Blog Business Summit reception where I met several interesting people. One of my main “targets” was the people here from WordPress and I was introduced to Matthew Mullenweg. He very patiently answered my questions and I’m looking forward to learning more tomorrow at breakfast (they’re sponsoring). Thank you to DL Byron for introducing me!

Then it was off to dinner with several folks who were kind enough to invite me. We had Karlie Stanton, AutoTrader.com, Bob Wyman, PubSub, Bob Brooks, and our host from Intelliseek, Jay Stockwell, along with Dan (he didn’t have a card, I’m sorry).

We had a great time. They were intrigued by the idea of an agriblogger. Or should I say the whole concept of agribusiness getting involved in blogging! Who’d have thought it? Hey Jay, that was some excellent foie gras!

It’s late so I’ll have more tomorrow. In the meantime have a nice evening.