Something New Means Something New to Learn
It started two years ago, with a tiny idea that had a respectable turnout. Many folks I met at that first Blog-to Show are folks I still see. When we’d been talking about Creative Networking, it seemed natural to brush off the old idea and try it again.
I forgot that things on the web grow exponentially.
And where there’s big growth, there’s bound be big learning.
You’ll find the entire showcase here and a debrief below.
What I’d Hoped and What I Found
The longer I work with social media, the more value the tools as a way offer people a way to connect around something they care about. When you offer what’s fun and useful, the connections naturally follow. I’d hoped that the idea of showcasing our blogs would offer that.
The Blog-to show proved that out more than I expected.
- More people submitted blogs.
- More people cleaned up their blogs for visitors.
- More people visited the show.
- It also took more time and was more fun than I expected.
- More people said “thank you” thank I would have dreamed.
Even reading the submissions made me feel more connected to the folks who participated this weekend. The comments and conversations speak to the generosity of those who came.
People pointed out the best of the blog their viewing. Many testimonials cropped up. We were discussing great blogging. Can’t miss the sense of community and participation.
Taken and Missed Opportunities
Some 30 entries arrived in the first few two hours after I announced the Blog-to Show. From then forward, submissions rolled in faster than I could process them. At one point on Friday, entries arrived a rate of one per minute. When I got home from my Friday meetings, I had a pile over 100 deep, While I worked on that pile, 100 more came in.
Doing so many at once, I saw the varied levels of investment people put into this opportunity to offer this “mini-blog” resume. How well the submission was formatted and finished seemed to show how seriously the blogger thinks about his or her blog and the community that would gather.
- The submission request had five distinct parts chosen to give value to all show visitors. Over 30% of the submissions had missing information.
- Some submissions offered straight sales copy. In the overall picture, those submissions stood out in a way that might not have helped them.
- Some folks don’t do brief. Those who wrote a novel — when the request was a sentence — might have been reflecting their blog writing. I found myself thinking that with so many to choose from I might choose based on the quantity as well as the quality of what submitters wrote
- Some folks didn’t use the requested subject line which meant their email ended up in the wrong place in my email filters.
From a marketing viewpoint, these are all things I’ll remember when I enter the next such submission myself. People remember when you make their life harder and when you make their life a breeze.
What the Technology Did that Surprised Me
I planned the event for Saturday, because traffic is lower the issue of damage if something went awry. Problems occurred with my XML-Sitemap plug-in, the server timings, and published posts that didn’t show up on the front page.
The mystery of the disappearance of posts 163-201 was found later on my dashboard. Though the timestamps clearly showed them published in sequence, somehow they were in reality rescheduled to post at 3 hours, 4 hours, and 5 hours after the rest were done. Great WordPress minds are researching what happened there.
I also stretched the limits of my clipboard to copy and paste — it became a resource suck. Apologies to those who’s links got pasted incorrectly in the process. As far as I know all are well now. Thanks to all who were generous in calling such things to my attention. That’s what community is about.
If you’re wondering, after all were compiled and formatted, it took about 2.5 hours to copy in and timestamp the individual entries.
How It Will Look Next Time — Get Ready!
Enough of you who participated this time (and some folks who just missed getting in) have asked about if there will be a next one. It seems that the opportunity to make something even better won’t let me leave the idea. So, I’m already planning. Here’s where I am so far. Feel free to add ideas in the comments.
The January 2009 Blog-to Show
Dates of the show: January 31 and February 1, 2009
Submissions due no later than: January 15, 2009Hereââ¬â¢s what I think the application will include.
Write up the following information — each part separate by a line space.
Here’s a filled out example.Bloggers Name(s):
Blog Title:
Blog URL link in the full http:// form:
Blog Tagline (no more than 10 words):
One or two sentences about what makes your blog worth visiting.
A brief paragraph of blogging advice or a short bloggy quote that shows a little personality.
Must enter in only one of these categories
go cart (newbie blogger — less than 6 months)
street car (theme-based design)
formula 1 (custom theme or high mod)Every entry also must include a .jpeg thumbnail of your front page, no larger than 150px wide or a pix of the blogger.
Any entry without all of the pieces will be returned unsubmitted.
I’m telling you now so that you’ll have time to get ready . . . and I’ll have time to get some more exciting reasons to participate lined up for you.
And maybe next time, it will be something a little more creative . . .
What do you think? What did you see that I didn’t?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Liz, you’re the gift that keeps on giving. I think that tightening the submission criteria will help to hold people more accountable for their submissions.
With an unjuried list of fifty bajillion blogs, I’d be curious to know how many of *them* received additional traffic after being included on your site? 😉
Mine did, even comments & new contacts. Plus it’s still early, even I haven’t scanned them all. The rest is up to blog owners, to build their community. It doesn’t end with traffic…
I was thinking, instead of getting bloggers to write “a brief paragraph of blogging advice or a short bloggy quote that shows a little personality”, why not get them to include one (or maybe two) of their best posts?
I am suggesting this because usually one of our best posts reflects our personality. Or what our blog is about.
That way, bloggers will not be too carried away by offering “advice that aren’t advice”.
What do you think? 😀
Thanks for the putting this on Liz, I read this over a few times, one question pops up: is there a start date for accepting entries? I just looked again, did not see one 🙂
I am looking forward to the show, thanks for being thorough with the submission requirements, btw great blog.
Cheers,
Hi Liz,
Your idea certainly worked wonders! Thanks again for doing it.
For the next Blogger Showcase,
perhaps adding a link for each blogger’s main social networking page?
And to make it easier for you, maybe creating a form in which folks submit their information and it’s then sent to you in a readable database?
Thinking off the top of my head,
Barbara
Barbara, everyone should get one of these:
It has a link to my website, my blog (Reiki Help Blog), you can email me from the card, see what I’m up to on Twitter & Plurk.
If you click Recent Posts the rss will be listed. If you click Twitter or Plurk you’ll see my timeline right in the card. The Profiles open up in a new page.
You can connect with me on Digg, StumbleUpon, Mixx or the Gaia Community. Look forward to it.
Oops sorry Liz & all, the digital card did show up in my blogs comment field when I tested. Here’s a direct link:
http://retaggr.com/Card/PamirKiciman
Hi Pamir!
I agree. We need more formal guidelines and structure.
Hi almostgotit!
When I started I really expected only about 50. It was a decision to let it go longer that had pros and cons. The final choice was that I figured people would be more included to return to explore one list rather than two or to bookmark it for later . . . I think traffic from this post will be happening for some time.
It’s also a great idea to go inside the list and leave comments. The folks who are here are looking to connect with new bloggers. So I’d make it easier by connecting with them.
Hi Barbara,
I’ve been thinking along the same lines. I’ve been thinking of lots of things. 🙂
Hi Tabs!
Not until I officially announce, which will probably be sometime in December. I need a nap . . . a long one. 🙂
Hi Liz. I am sure that I left a comment earlier today, but I don’t see it here.
So, I’m back again to say a big Thank You for organizing this. I had a great time going through the list and will be back to check out the ones I missed in the first round.
I am really glad you shared the details from the idea to the execution and all the steps in between – my thoughts are how the heck does someone do this ? Copy/pasting is one thing – my gosh this was much more. Awesome exampling and I too am appreciative. Very appreciative!
Liz, I am still working my way thru the list. Only on 21, so it will take a while. It would suggest doing in parts rather than so many at once. With 260 to choose from, it is overwhelming and many will get lost in the shuffle. Perhaps 20 a day for 2 weeks or something along those lines .. you could still have the aggregate list when everything is done for easy bookmarking …
thanks again for organizing!
Hi Liz,
I’m one of the ones who didn’t give you all the info asked for. Sorry about that. I’ll do better next time!
Here’s a suggestion. Could we have categories for blogs? Thus, a blogger would choose to be listed under subject matter such as marketing blog, education blog, etc.? Would make it easier for a reader then to pick out the ones he/she wanted to read first.
Interesting reading how you did it. I’m surprised it didn’t take even longer, although we all know you are a whiz at this stuff!
Not surprised at the 30% rate of missing info. Think that’s a pretty typical ratio even for what seems basic. We’ll have more time to double check our entries going to the next one
I like Delaney’s idea of dividing them up so many per day over the course of however long, then compiling them at end.
The idea of categorizing them seems good. But, in reality I think mixing them up into an integrated list gets better attention. I know I’m coming across some I would never look at if they were in their own category. But, going down the list I might make a quick visit into some new territory.
What a diverse group you attract! That’s a good thing.
Liz,
You are amazing. The Blog-to Show was greatââ¬âI’m still working my way through the list. Thank you for sharing so generously.
What you did is very cool. Hopefully you have inspired many others to try something similar.
Delaney Kirk already said it, but I have to agree that I think asking for a category would be a great way to add some information in that short space we had.
Also, you’re proposed categories seem to be categorizing different things. Why have one category based on the length of time I’ve been blogging and the other two based on how my site looks?
For one thing, the length of time blogging can be a weird decision. I’ve been blogging for a while, but I just started my photoblog (#73 in your list) a few months ago. Would that be considered new based on its age, or old based on my total amount of time blogging?
Also, the design of the blog I think is mostly irrelevant.
I also think the idea of showing less in a day is great. I’m not going to complain about free exposure, but having more time on your front page can’t hurt any.
You could have a day for tech blogs, a day for blogs written by mothers, a day for shaving blogs, that sort of thing.
Hi Davina!
So many posts I’m having trouble keeping them straight . . . I’ll look to find the other one on another one. 🙂
You’re welcome twice over !!
Hi Mother Earth!
Yeah, it was complicated! Thanks for the support!
Hi Theresa,
Great point I was thinking that too. Just didn’t think I could do it this time based on how the whole thing had been introduced and set up.
Hi Delaney,
I’ve been thinking about how to organize into categories too. It’s harder than it looks. 🙂
Hi Francie!
It’s so fun to have you back!
I like the diversity too . . . Everywhere else folks are classified and categorized. So I’m thinking about the pros and cons on that one. 🙂
Hi Lillie!
I know folks will be heartened to know that you’re still going through things.
Hi Nicole!
My experience is that a few people might give it a go . . . 🙂
Hi Chris!
Great points all . . . I’ll keep them in mind. This thing could last all through February!! 🙂
Today’s the day that I get to eat bon bons and go through your amazing list. Thanks for putting that together!
I didn’t get to participate, but I’m looking forward to the January -09 event.
The interesting thing for me, as a workplace journalist, was reading your comments about how some of the “little things” people did wrong in this process may be indicative of bigger problems. I’m always writing that you can get really screwed by spelling errors in a resume or cover letter, or by going for an interview in pajama pants and flip-flops.
I think you provide a real pearl of wisdom to everyone about not forgetting it’s those “little things” that provide the foundation we need to build bigger things.
Terrific observation, as always, Liz!
Hey Liz, thanks for doing this. It should be possible for an enterprising WordPress developer to create a form that allows people to submit the requested information to your site without you having to extract the information by hand. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, WordPress has a built in feature to submit posts via email that could probably be adapted for your next list.
Hi Karen!
Wish I could join you!
Hi Anita!
Thanks for thinking so! Can’t wait to have you!
Oh Marcus!
I had no idea that this was going to take off the way it did . . . or I would have put more process in order. You are so right about ways to do this much more easily. 🙂
Wow. Now I’m even more impressed that you took the time to go back and forth with me a couple times when I didn’t understand I was allowed to have a tag and a description.
I think sorting by design is interesting. It may not be relevant to content, but it does fit well with your original concept of an auto show. When you do the official call for entries I’d like a little more explanation on the difference between street car and formula 1, though.