Mw2008 Blog Workshop Case Study Ellis

Case Study 2: The “Electronic Museum” blog
Originally came up with a “bigger” idea: a space for museum technologists to share ideas and techniques
Did about 2 years development in my own time
“ Launched” during MWeb 2005
Realised very quickly that actually I needed a team of 5 to do what I wanted to do
Site stagnated very quickly and was much too complex, technically
In truth, I liked the domain www.electronicmuseum.org.uk and so wanted to persist!

but...
I learnt two important lessons:
1. Be simple
2. Be simple.

the next iteration
I decided to simplify(!) and turn the site into a blog
Having played with the “big three” blogging engines (Blogger, TypePad, Wordpress), I finally settled on WP
Everyone is different but in my experience:
Blogger: too basic
TypePad: too techy
Wordpress: just right 
I sometimes use Windows Live Writer, too
Like Brian, I use hosted version too but have recently re-pointed my domain for $10 a year

getting started
I’m a serial domain/ideas/launching person
So much of what I’ve done before has just sat there
This won’t be news, but getting traffic is hard...!
...although blogging helps enormously...
...and WordPress gives you intelligence about traffic, sources, trackbacks etc
once you start linking to people, they notice and link back. Before you know it, you’ve got traffic!

“ launch”
I used last years MWeb conference as a focus for my first few posts
This gave me a natural starting point
I linked to Brian and he linked to me
On the first day (18 th April 2007), I got 11 views 
19 th April 2007: 24 views!

remit
Less strategic direction than UKWebFocus. My “remit” or mission statement is, simply: “ a bunch of thoughts on museums and the web”
Over time, I honed this and now blog about “museums, the social web, innovation”
I follow tech trends and innovation. The tendency is for my posts to be about cultural institutions, but not exclusively
I always look for my writing to be light , opinionated , and hopefully fun too

community
I allow comments from “previously approved authors”
I’ve had more comment spam than page views...
...but Akismet is very good at filtering these
RSS obviously drives traffic
..as do blogrolls, Twitter, Facebook, commenting on other blogs

measuring
Because my blog is hosted, I don’t have GA installed
...which makes me sad...
...but in reality I get what I need from the WP stats:
page views
referrer (vital!)
search engine terms
I don’t spend time on Technorati or worrying too much about traffic...
...but it’s lovely when you see a spike
to date around 20,000 page views

I learnt this...
Writing is a skill that needs practice
..but it’s enormously fun, and satisfying
You quickly develop your own style and TOV
I like reading blogs with opinion...
...so I try to be opinionated. (which fits me well!)
Choose your own tools – it really makes a difference
Use FeedBurner. I don’t, and regret it 
If you use a default theme, fiddle with it

thanks
any questions...?

Mw2008 Blog Workshop Case Study Ellis

by Mike Ellis on Apr 18, 2008

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Mw2008 Blog Workshop Case Study Ellis — Presentation Transcript