Blog Report Card
10/19/2004
Had an energizing chat with Jackie,Church of the Customer , this afternoon about blogs. Exciting to exchange ideas with another blogger who sees the bigger vision of where blogs are heading and how they can and will impact business. Bloggers are the friendliest people!
Sidebar: Realized that I've never seen or spoken with many of the folks I've "met" online. Strange how relationships and friendships are built via this new medium.
We agreed that as blogs become accepted as credible business/marketing strategies the pioneer, shoot from the hip, attitude we know and love, will morph into a more disciplined approach. [See Diva Marketing's post So Long to the Blog Wild Wild West ] One of the most influential change agents will be the higher education community. Since many colleges and universities offer new media courses it's a an easy stretch to add a lecture or even classes on blogs.
A great example is Dr Jill Walker’s, University of Bergen, class on digital culture. As part of their assignments, students are required to review exisiting blogs. Professor Scott Rettberg, Richard Stockton College, also requires students to evaluate blogs in his new media class. Here are just a few blogs that are used in Professor Rettberg's class:
- What’s in Rebecca’s Pocket
- Jill/txt
- Grand Text Auto
- Smart Mobs (Howard Rheingold)
-
Doc Searls
- My trailer is bigger than your trailer
Lessons Learned: You never know who will be reading (or reviewing) your blog. A thread on Blogshop: one of the bloggers whose blog was reviewed has just announced he might quit blogging seeing people actually WRITING about him.
Based on Professor Walker's suggested criteria, here's a Blog Report Card. What grade would you give the blogs you read? What grade would you give your own blog?
Blog Marketing Report Card
Strategy
1. Is there a clear target audience for the blog?
2. Is the purpose of the blog clear? What is the main point of the blog?
3. Are the themes consistent with the purpose of the blog?
4. Is the content relevant and of value (based on the purpose)? What do you read between the lines?
Structure/Style
5. Is the writing style easy to read on a webpage?
6. Is the organisational structure e.g., use of archives, categories, information about the blogger easy to navigate?
7. Does the visual design add to ease of the read?
8. Are there resouce links and a blogroll?
9. Is the relationship between the graphical design and the style of writing harmonious or conflicted?
10. Frequency: how often does the blogger post?
Credibility
11. Who is the blogger (about us/me page)?
12. Is the blog part of a community e.g, Nettdagbok.no, Livejournal, webrings, etc.?
13. Does the blogger appear to take part in other communities, offline or online?
14. Does it seem likely that the blog might be fictional?
15. Who links to the blog? Are the many links? What kinds of people/websites? (Hint: Use Technorati, Google, etc.)
16. Is discussion encouraged? Are comments enabled? Are there many comments? Are they all from the same people?
17. Would you recommend it to other readers? Perhaps you’d recommend it to some but not to everyone?
18. Will you continue to read it?
"Toto I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!"
