CT Biz Blogs

I said I’d do it, and I did.

Thanks to It’s So Fantastic for the challenge and for showing the way. And thanks to Problogger for providing the inspiration with the post on battling blogger’s block.

That’s a wrap for 2005. It’s been a wild, crazy, and fun ride since I started CTBizBlogs, and I’m looking forward to more of the same in 2006.

Happy New Year to one and all!

For my final post in the 20 blog types marathon, I’d like to talk about blog etiquette and call for blog civility.

I firmly believe that weblogs represent a new opportunity for everyone — blog software has lowered the barrier for publishing on the web. It’s now so much easier than ever to add your voice to the distributed conversation.

But I’d like to remind everyone that once you publish your blog, you can’t take back what you’ve said. Cruel words, written in haste or anger, will be available for everyone to see. Even if you take back a post, chances are good that Google has cached it, or someone has seen it in their RSS feed reader and saved it before you could take it back.

It’s ok to be goofy, to make a mistakes, even to be boring from time to time. You can recover from that, should you care to (I’m all in favor of more goofiness). But cruelty lives on, even after apologies are made.

This goes for comments as well. I’ve been lucky so far, and I haven’t been slammed yet. But I’ve certainly read plenty of rude and uncalled-for comments in other blogs. As a blogger, you’ll need to learn not to take it personally and not to respond (or to respond instead to the ideas, not to the manner in which they were expressed). And as a commenter, if you’re angry or upset, write your words in a text editor like Notepad first, walk away, and then read them before you copy and submit.

That way, you’ll have added something worthwhile to the conversation.

Upate: This just in– here’s another blogger who’s got the right idea.

The blogosphere is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is.*

In this big ol’ blogosphere, it’s easy for little blogs to get lost, and easy for blog owners to abandon blogs without needing to drive to a farm in the country.

Blogs can be abandoned for several reasons. Maybe the blogger started with a fit of enthusiasm, then realized that he or she has nothing to say, or no time to say it in. Or perhaps the blog is forgotten; the owner just starts a blog on one of the free services, makes a post, and then gets busy and forgets that idea. Six months later the owner finds a note in his or her PDA with the blog’s name and the password. Or perhaps someone got a blog for Christmas, and finds that taking care of it as it grows is just too much work.

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If you’ve never had a blog, it might be hard to imagine what it would be like if you did. So here are a few hypothetical situations you might find yourself in, if you were blogging about your business.

• You would get an email from someone saying, “I just read your article about incorporating a business. You’ve raised some issues I hadn’t even considered. I’d like to come in and talk to you about it.”

• You would get a phone call from someone who found you on the web, saying “I dropped my watch into the ocean. What can I do?” But you wouldn’t just tell him over the phone, you’d use the question as the basis for a post. You’d include that post in your FAQs. And you might even offer that person a small discount on a new watch, as a thank you for inspiring the post.

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The post for today in the 20 blog types marathon is the debate. Here’s what Darren Rowse at Problogger has to say about this type of post in the article about battling bloggers block that started it all.

Debates do well on blogs and can [be] either in an organised fashion between two people, between a blogger and ‘all comers’ or even between a blogger and… themselves (try it - argue both for and against a topic in one post - you can end up with a pretty balanced post).

I could find a debating buddy, or even debate myself, but that takes time, and thought. Technology to the rescue once more! Why try to think about the pros and cons of an idea or issue, when you can find a search engine to do it for you?

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Since today is a holiday in the U.S., I get off on a technicality. The last four posts in the 20 blog types marathon will be posted starting Tuesday, 12/27/05, and will end, neatly, on 12/30/05.

After that I’ll take a brief posting hiatus while I work behind the scenes updating the blog and (with luck) unveiling a new look.

(Thanks to Immanuel Kant for the title idea.)

The next blog post on our list of 20 types of blog posts is the critique. Mine is more of a critique-ette.

By “pure blogging” I mean the blogs done for the sheer exhuberant joy of sharing your thoughts with the world. No ads, nothing to “sell.” That sounds good, doesn’t it? Noble and above the fray somehow?

There’s only one problem — a lot of those are awful!

Here’s an exciting example :

Whee!

Actually, there’s nothing wrong with this, really. I wouldn’t want to read it, but this blogger probably has lots of friends who do. There’s plenty of room on the internet, so blog on, person who writes in pink.

However, I’d much rather be reading a blog such as Problogger , with lots of ads, but also lots of worthwhile content!

I am going to be posting the next entry in the 20 blog post types series later this evening. I’m not breaking my streak at this late date (4 more to go after this one).

But I wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays, in case folks are leaving early for the long weekend. For those not celebrating, or not leaving, I’ll see you later today!

Next up in the 20 blog posts in 20 (business) days marathon, is the predictions and reviews post. I don’t really feel qualified to prognosticate, so rather than hazard a few random guesses, I decided to ask a professional. Here’s what I learned:

O wise and wonderful Magic 8-ball, we bloggers have many questions about 2006. Please share your insight with us.

http://www.magic8ball.net/

1. Will TypePad recover from their latest problem? You may rely on it.
2. Will Google be evil? Don’t count on it.
3. Will there be more multi-million dollar sales of blog networks? You can count on it.
4. Will small businesses in Connecticut get blogging? Don’t count on it.

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One of the big issues in blogging these days has to do with content theft. Content theft happens when someone takes a post from your blog and publishes it on his or her blog, in its entirety.

This happens because, with RSS (web feeds), it’s easy to import posts into a blog and publish them — there are actual software products out there which will automate the process. Low-life bloggers steal content so that they can use it on their blogs in place of any original content. They’re using it as filler between the ads, essentially — something to make the blog look good. These RSS bandits sometimes link back to the original blog and keep the attribution, and sometimes don’t.

Here are the views of two bloggers who have had their content stolen:

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