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1. Blogging and Podcasting:
Personal syndication for fun and profit
Alek Davis
Copyright © 2008

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Introduction
• Stats
– According to the PEW's 2008 spring survey:
• 58% of internet users have never read an online journal or blog
• 88% of internet users have never created an online journal or blog

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Topics
• Why
– Read blogs and listen to podcasts
– Write blogs (and produce podcasts)
• How to
– Find quality blogs and podcasts
– Read blogs and listen to podcasts
– Start blogging (and podcasting)

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Technology
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary)
– XML-based format for delivering regularly changing web content (blogs,
audio/video podcasts)
– Version 2.0
• Atom
– Alternative to RSS
– More recent specification
– Version 1.0
• Differences
– RSS and Atom
• RSS 2.0: specification is closed; Atom 1.0: specification can be updated
• RSS 2.0: no way to distinguish plain text from escaped HTML (escaped
HTML looks ugly, e.g. AT&T looks like AT&T); Atom 1.0: format
of content is explicitly labeled (as plain text, XHTML, …)
• More…

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Reading blogs
• Why
– Knowledge, fun, convenience
• How
– RSS aggregators/readers
• Web based
– Google Reader (supports offline browsing with Gears enabled)
– Bloglines (really nice interface)
• Desktop based
– FeedDemon
– RSS Bandit
– Built into browser
• More
– Wikipedia: List of feed aggregators (RSS readers)

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Recommended technical blogs
• Software development
– Coding Horror by Jeff Atwood
– Joel on Software by Joel Spolsky
– Stevey's Blog Rants by Steve Yegge
• Software, productivity, and GTD (Get Things Done)
– Lifehacker
– MakeUseOf
– Online Tech Tips
• Information+technology
– I, Cringely by Robert X. Cringely
– IS Survivor by Bob Lewis
– SuperSite Blog by Paul Thurrott
• More recommendations
– Top 100 Blogs for Development Managers
– See sidebar of Alek Davis: Technoblog

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Information overload
• Behavioral approach
– Mark all as read
• Use capabilities of RSS Tools
– Google Reader (show collapsed unread items)
• Use special RSS tools
– Twitter search
• What people are talking about
– Dapper (DAta maPPER)
• Customize feeds and subscriptions
• Review by FreewareGenius
– Yahoo! Pipes
• Similar to Dapper, but more powerful
• RSS tools for smart shoppers
• More fun with Yahoo! Pipes
• Demo

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Starting your own blog
• Why
– Direct benefits
• Financial
• Name recognition
• Gain and share knowledge
• Personal growth
• Creative expression
• Productivity tool (custom search, references, …)
– Indirect benefits
• Carrier
• Opportunities
• Why not
– Time
– Effort
– Commitment

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Money
• How much can a pro blogger make
– Joel Spolsky: Joel on Software (programming; blog)
• Contributes success of his company Fog Creek Software to his blog
– Jeff Atwood: Coding Horror (programming; blog; 100K readers/day; 60K subscribers)
• Quit regular job
– Amit Agarwal: Digital Inspiration (tech blog; 1.25 million hits/month; 4.5K subscribers)
• Earnings: >$250K/year
– Steve Pavlina: Steve Pavlina (personal development; blog; audio podcast)
• Earnings: ~$40K/month (~$1K/day)
• Steve Pavlina's wife makes ~$5K/month from her blog

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Money (continued)
• Sources of money
– AdSense (and similar programs)
• Q: How much money 100 visitors per day should bring?
• A: About $1/month.
– Affiliation programs
• Amazon affiliate
– Sponsorship
– Text ads
– Contracts
• Other alternatives
– Blogs by multiple authors
• Lifehacker (computers and productivity; blog)
• MakeUseOf (computers and productivity; blog; audio podcast)

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Insight
• Steve Pavlina
– From the Skill post:
• "During my first six months as a blogger, I earned a whopping $167.
That’s about 17 cents per hour… not exactly what you’d call an
unqualified success. But about a year and a half later, my blog’s income
was passing $10K/month and kept going up from there. What if I’d given
up during the first few months? Why didn’t I give up? Partly it was
because I wasn’t doing it for the money to begin with, so I didn’t
define success in financial terms. Probably the main reason though is
that I felt this line of work was such an excellent fit for my passion and
skills that I couldn’t fathom doing anything else. It’s a virtual certainty
that I’d be writing about personal development today in some fashion
even if I was still making only 17 cents an hour. What really drove me
was the desire to creatively express myself in a way that might help
people."

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Blogging essentials
• Platforms
– Self-hosted
• WordPress (PHP, MySQL)
• dasBlog (ASP.NET 2.0, file-based)
• BlogEngine.NET (ASP.NET, many databases supported)
• Moveable Type (Perl 5)
• See comparison chart
– Externally hosted (free)
• MySpace, Bloglines, …
• LiveJournal (social blogging)
• Intel Software Blogs
• WordPress
• Blogger/Blogspot

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WordPress vs. Blogger/Blogspot
• Reviews
– Blogger vs WordPress: Review for the Newbie Blogger
– Which Blog Service is the best? WordPress vs Blogger vs LiveJournal
• WordPress (free hosted version)
– Nice editor (supports full screen)
– Navigations takes getting used to
– Fewer templates, limited customization, no CSS support
– JavaScript is not allowed
– Categories = tags
– Example: Alek Davis: Personal Blog
• Blogger/Blogspot (hosted by Google)
– Easy to customize/hack templates, CSS support
– JavaScript is allowed
– Easy navigation
– Example: Alek Davis: Technoblog

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Resources for new bloggers
• General recommendations
– How to Build a High-Traffic Web Site (or Blog) by Steve Pavlina
– 10 Ways to Eliminate the Echo Chamber by Chris Pirillo
– Thirteen Blog Clichés by Jeff Atwood
• Technical tips and tricks
– 8 steps to a more professional Blogspot blog by Download Squad
– 12 no crap tools to make your blog better by MakeUseOf
– 5 ways to increase Internet traffic to your blog or web site by Online Tech Tips
– How to get more traffic to your blog from Google, Yahoo and MSN by Online Tech Tips
– Blogger FAQ and Help
– Tips for new bloggers (Blogger/Blogspot hacks)
• Statistics
– Performancing Metrics
– Google Analytics

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Writing
• Language tools
– The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr.
– Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, Third Edition (PDF)
– Daily Writing Tips (blog)
– Cliché Finder (online tool)
– Writing Tips for Non-Writers Who Don't Want to Work at Writing (article)

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Legal
• Legal and ethical aspects
– Employer, coworkers, friends, family, …
• Copyright tools
– Copyscape
• Search for your content on copycat sites
– Infringement Notification for Google Blogger
• Notify Google about plagiarism
– Google Report a Spam Result
• Report sites which plagiarize your content
• Copyright issues
– Be careful linking to or using external media

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Media files
• Pictures (photos)
– Blogger/Blogspot and WordPress allow certain amount of image files
– If you exceed the limit, use external image hosting sites
• Manage Blogger Image Storage Space
• Music
– Avoid
• Add Music to Blogspot blog
– Use external playlists/streaming
• Video
– Use widgets from video sharing sites
• Vodpod, …
– Use embedded Flash player
• YouTube, Google Videos, …

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Widgets
• Polls
– Built into Blogger/Blogspot
– Vizu, …
• Books and more
– Shelfari, Amazon, …

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Blogging recommendations
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
– Blog post URLs (tied to titles)
– Meaningful titles
– Keywords
– Tags
• Site layout and navigation
– Keep it simple
– Keep it clean
– Make it fast

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Listening to podcasts
• Why
– Information, entertainment, makes your daily driving time fly
• Recommended technical podcasts
– Software development
• Hanselminutes by Scott Hanselman
• .NET Rocks by Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell
• StackOverflow by Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky
– More:
• Dmitry Lyalin's recommendations: Q&A: Excellent Podcasts

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Podcasting tools
• Hardware
– MP3 player (Zune, iPod, any other)
• Wait wait... fix this podcast!
• Zune (iPod?)
– Keeps track of paused, listened, saved podcasts
– Aux input line, cassette adapter, FM transmitter, and more
• FM transmitters or cassette adapters?
• Software
– Zune (iTunes, …)
– Tools/utilities (RSS aggregators/readers, …)
• Juice
– Downloads podcasts to your hard drive
– Handy for podcasts which limited public availability (lifespan)
• Freecorder Toolbar
– Saves streaming (non-downloadable) podcasts (or other audio)

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Producing your own podcast
• Steps
– Record
– Normalize audio (remove silence, add music, etc)
– Publish
• Equipment
– Microphone
• Noise-cancelling is recommended
– Headset
• USB-based is recommended
– Recording software
• Audacity
• Tutorials
– Create your own podcast
– What is Podcasting
– How to Podcast

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Podcast hosting
• Free podcast hosting sites
– OurMedia
– Odeo Studio (ad-based, max file size: 50 MB)
– PodcastSpot (free for up to 25 MB of uploaded files per month)
• Podcast from your blog
– Use existing space
– Use external host
• Internet Archive (use under Creative Commons license)
– Use Feedburner to generate RSS feed for podcast from existing blog

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Podcasting services
• GCast (free, ad-based service)
– Create podcast over the phone or on computer
– Upload podcast file to GCast
– Podcast is automatically published

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Podcasting via Skype
• When
– For conference calls (2 or more participants)
• Why
– Great quality for free (or cheap)
• How
– How to Record a Podcast Using Skype (video/audio)
– eHow: How to Podcast with Skype
– Think Vitamin: How to Podcast with Skype

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Podcasting recommendations
• Audio quality
– Keep bit rate at ~64 kbps (for voice only)
– Use VRB (Variable Bit Rate) if it helps
– Use ~44.1 KHz sample rate
– Does it have to be stereo? If so, make it Joint Stereo
• Audio (MP3) files
– Define appropriate ID3 tags (genre, title, year, …)
– Add album art
– Use meaningful file names
• Tips
– 8 Professional Podcast Production Tips from SitePoint TechTimes Newsletter #214
– 6 Steps to Professional Podcast Publishing from SitePoint TechTimes Newsletter #216

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References
• Articles
– How To Achieve Ultimate Blog Success In One Easy Step by Jeff Atwood
– How To Advertise on Your Blog Without (Completely) Selling Out by Jeff Atwood
– A New Model For Getting Rich Online by Yuki Noguchi (Washington Post)
– How Much Money Do I Make From Adsense & Blogging? by Amit Agarwal
– Skill by Steve Pavlina
– How to Make Money From Your Blog by Steve Pavlina
– Podtastic! Professional Podcasting for the Rest of Us by Jon Watson
• Videos (short and informational)
– Blogs in Plain English by Common Craft
– RSS in Plain English by Common Craft
– Podcasting in Plain English by Common Craft