Current home of helping under-appreciated blogs.

Today I want to continue on with the discussion of where to go next with Bloghiker. At the moment, we’re focusing on what’s in it for those of us participating. What’s in it for the featured blogger, and what do the participants get from it?

What’s in it for the featured blogs?

First, I want to look at what the featured blog gets out of it all. The most alluring aspect is obviously going to be a burst of traffic, at least for most people. Beyond that, there’s a great chance for building some relationships and making use of the feedback in the comments. Traffic, friends, and feedback are biproducts of attention. What makes Bloghiker different and special is the sustained nature of that attention (in theory, at least).

What’s in it for the customer? (the readers?)

Now more crucially, what’s in it for participants? Without a large number of participants actively engaged, there’s nothing special about being featured here rather than anywhere else on the web. It’s essential that readers are on board in a big way, and this is more complicated than with the featured blogs.

I think there are three reasons here that someone might really be on board–community, learning opportunities, and finding enjoyable new content to read. You could maybe add a fourth one for altruism, but that pretty quickly rolls into community.

Community is a tenuous thing that requires an active facilitator to make it work, as Jeb pointed out in the comments of the last post.

Learning opportunities come from more posts per featured blog and also require a bit more active facilitation to make it work.

Enjoyable new content doesn’t require much, relatively speaking, to keep it going but does necessitate a limited audience; you’d have to pick a niche or type of blog to avoid alienating a bunch of people when it doesn’t match their interests.

Tomorrow, I’m going to break down some of the possibilities given these factors. In particular, what are the pros and cons of the different ways to appeal to the readers?

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Looking at your comments on my “Mission Failure” post back on the old blog, I see some themes emerging. Not everyone will be interested in every blog. Those who stick with it anyway need some context to be interested in.

As R.A. Porter pointed out, a major issue with the project is that not everyone will be engaged by every blog. While his suggestion of multiple streams of blogs holds promise, he’s right that it would require more time than I have to give at the moment.

Picking a blog for a large, diverse audience to read for two weeks is bound to lose the attention of a major chunk of those people. As people lose interest in a particular blog, the chances that they fade out of the project increase dramatically. This is one of the big issues.

James A. Woods makes another good point. Those participants who are hanging in there and sticking with the blogs need some context, and as Laurel Plum says, having that context only occur in the forums is the wrong approach. It needs to occur in the body of the blog, as it did when we had the exit interviews and other follow-up.

So for those who are altruistic and after a learning experience (possibly the most core group of participants in this project), more context needs to be provided. These are also the people likely to stick with the project even through a blog they don’t enjoy.

B J Keltz reminded me that many of the people who signed up were self-interested only. They misunderstood this as a traffic pyramid scheme of some sort.

The two big questions are these:

1. What is the value for participants?
2. What is the value to the featured bloggers?

Is it altruism? Entertainment? Learning experiences? Traffic? Relationships?

I have my thoughts, and I’ll post them tomorrow. Let me know what you think.

Image by sbcarlile.

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Here you have it. Regardless of what the project becomes, you’re looking at its new clothing. Thanks to Tate Linden and Stokefire.com for helping me come up with a name for this thing.

Thanks to Matt Cheney and Sherple.com for designing the logo, customizing the theme, and moving everything over to the new blog and new domain. I think it’s a great look, and they were incredibly helpful in getting everything set up for me too.

There are plenty of others that I would like to thank for their help, and I’ll be doing so in the near future.

Also, I see that I’ve received some great comments on my most recent post on the old site. Rather than respond in the comments section, I’m going to take tomorrow as an opportunity to respond in a post here.

I do appreciate the supportive words and the thoughtful suggestions, and I’m excited to continue this conversation. For now, don’t you think Stokefire and Sherple did a nice job?

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Hello world. I love Chuck’s mission to help under-appreciated blogs and am thrilled to be part of it!

1. Who are you?

I’m June. Currently a student at the University of Texas at Austin studying finance and operations engineering. I’m an Internet person. If I had to live anywhere, I would live in the Internet so that I can be connected to the thoughts and experiences of brilliant people. Instead of frat parties, I go to geek parties (LAN festivals, blogger parties, TweetUps, etc.). Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a frat party in my life (and I go to the number 1 party school in the nation or something like that). We’re also supposed to be into something called football, but I’ve never been to a game either.

I am constantly doing things, have an incessant need to be busy, and can’t stay in one place. Right now, I’m “focused” on finishing my last year of school, working on a start-up, working at a wind energy company, and trolling for more shoes on the Internet. In my life, there’s not really a concept of work/life balance. I also love modern art and fashion; my favorite artist is Kandinsky and my favorite designer… that’s a hard one but, if I had to pick one, it would be Oscar De La Renta. You can read more about me here .

2. How would you describe your blog?

I write about a lot of random things like entrepreneurship, financial markets, strategy, school, food, shoes, and dresses. I guess you could integrate all of these things to describe it as a techie nerd’s musings on fashion and business. I don’t claim to know everything (or anything), but I make a genuine effort to share the knowledge I accumulate through my studies, workshops, and experiences.

Even though my blog is highly personalized (hello, it’s my name [dot] com), I sometimes pretend that future employers don’t read it and try to sort out random thoughts about my life. Right now I’m primarily focused on my startup, so I’m going to be blogging a lot about my thought process, what we learned, how it’s affected my life… so that I can later look back and laugh at myself. After all, I’m just a n00b.

3. Why do you blog?

In the beginning (like 6 years ago), I blogged to release my teenage angst upon the world and because all my friends were doing it.

I think I’ve matured since then, and now I blog to share information, expand my horizons (it forces me to do research about things I want to find out about), and encourage discussions. I’m very analytical, so my self improvement process involves reflecting on past ideas / situations / experiences, thinking about all the antecedents that attributed to the outcome, and trying to figure out how to improve next time. Blogging helps with that.

4. What blogs do you love?

I subscribe to a ton of blogs on my Google Reader, but my favorite ones are

• Mixergy – I love hearing about other people’s ventures and adventures, and this is one of the best sources
• Seth Godin’s blog – this man is genius.
• Penelope Trunk’s blog – I love her candor and unconventional approach to things. Her story is also amazing.
• Politicoholic - I love her attitude
• Valleywag - A reminder that even smart people do dumb things (all the time).
• DABA – Guilty pleasure; it’s like really bad reality TV: blog style.

5. What’s something interesting about you that has nothing to do with blogging?

I used to play World of Warcraft and do ballet. Weird combination, I know, but I’m eclectic like that.

6. Which 5 of your posts would you recommend for new readers to start with?

I’ll give you a taste of everything:

1. Be the Change you Want Through the Power of Technology
2. Recession: The Sound of Settling
3. 10 Reasons Why You Should Blog
4. New York Fashion week (part 1 , part 2)
5. My IPOs [Used to] Bring all the Girls to the Yard

Please feel free to leave a comment because I am always learning and would love to get your feedback =)

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For the next two weeks we’ll be reading ‘Inverse Candlelight‘ by Miss Banshee. Be sure to subscribe to her RSS, but don’t forget to visit first.

Ahoy Hoy, people! I was SO thrilled that Chuck asked me to be part of this here blog, so let’s find out about the enigma, I mean, the mystery, I mean the goofball freakshow that is Miss Banshee, shall we? Oh, and did I mention that your ass looks great today? Are those new pants? Cause seriously, your ass? Spectacular.

1. Who are you?

I’m Miss Banshee. I am a writer and rabid squirrel from the great state of New Jersey, and I am here to entertain you. I don’t like long walks on the beach, but I DO like bad television, making fun of my family, and big black boots. I am always open to gifts of big boxes of money, suitcases full of diamonds, and most importantly, new readers of my blog.

2. How would you describe your blog?

I’d describe my blog as the workings of my brain, for better or for worse. It’s funny, except when it’s not. Sometimes I write actual conversations I’ve had with various people and inanimate objects, and they’re all true, except for the parts I make up. Sometimes I talk about my cats, but not in a schmoopy way, don’t worry. More in a “why do you torture me every second of your life?” kind of way. Sometimes my grammar is atrocious, which is why my dad doesn’t read it. Thanks, dad!

3. Why do you blog?

I blog because I have too much in my brain. I need to let it be FREE, man! I started way back in the Diary X days, right after the dinosaurs, because I was wicked bored at work. Then Diary X went away, POOF! and all my writing went with it. I was so pissed! So I hopped on LiveJournal, then Blogger, then Wordpress, and then Typepad, and suddenly, through all my manic jumping around, I had a blog! And that was neat.

4. What blogs do you love?

My favorite blogs? WELL. obviously, MamaPop would be #1, because all the people who write for it are incredibly talented and v.v. good looking, and of course, I am one of those writers. You’d be a very smart and also good looking person if you followed all the writers there, because I will get fired if you don’t.

5. What’s something interesting about you that has nothing to do with blogging?

I blog about EVERYTHING, so that’s a little tough. I’m bipolar, and also in recovery from alcoholism. That’s where the not-so-funny posts come from, unless I’m talking about rehab, which was HILARIOUS. Oh! I’m single, and I don’t really blog about that, because it makes me sound desperate, doesn’t it? Maybe if I go on some really bad dates I’ll blog about it. Oh, who am I kidding, of COURSE I’ll blog about it. What else…Well, I was once felt up by Keith Richards, that’s pretty cool, right? Right.

6. Which 5 of your posts would you recommend for new readers to start with?

1. A Love Letter To My Wireless Tech Support Dude
2. Where The Hell Is My Boom Box When I Need It?
3. An Actual Conversation About My Neck
4. Mourning The Monster
5. Lulu Returns To School You In The Ways of The Lulu

And that’s it! Hope to see you over at Inverse Candlelight. We have cookies!

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For the next two weeks we’ll be reading ‘The Fearless Blogger‘ by Faryl. Be sure to subscribe to her RSS, but don’t forget to look at her great design first.

Hello there, fellow chuckwestbrook.com readers! I’ve been a fan of Chuck’s project since it started, and am thrilled the The Fearless Blogger is being featured!

My blog is still young (about three months old), and still a bit in the development stages. I’m learning from experience, tweaking the site and finding my voice as I go. New as I may be, I’ve quickly fell in love with the opportunity for new connections that come with having a blog. So, I’m especially stoked to get a chance to connect with the community of readers here.

The blog is still evolving, and I always love feedback. I adore hearing from readers and getting a sense of who dropped by, so would love it if you said hello!

Looking forward to meeting you all!

Now onto “the questions”:

1. Who are you?

The over-simplified answer is: I’m a geek girl, living in Southern California writing a blog.

If I had to describe myself in one word it would be “eclectic”.

Being a chatty gal who rarely keeps it simple, I’ll elaborate. The product of a New York Jewish family, I moved to Seattle (my adopted hometown) in my 20’s to (forgive the cliche) “find myself” and slowly have migrated south - with a five year layover in San Francisco before ending up in San Diego (where I’ve surprised myself by being able to envision a long-term future living here). I’ve had jobs ranging from assistant director of a daycare to health club receptionist to manager at a top public accounting firm to unemployed (with accompanying diverse salaries/lifestyles). My music tastes range from the Grateful Dead to Justin Timberlake and I’m not ashamed to admit to have been a card-carrying member of the Ricky Martin fan club.

Aside from cheesy music and warm climates, my passion is technology - especially anything that gives me a creative outlet, connect with people or learn something new. It’s probably not a shocker that I’m equally addicted to anything Apple and the internet. I get jazzed about seeing how the web is evolving and the social technology that’s been popping up to open new ways to form new connections with people. I get even more jazzed sharing (some might say evangelizing) the information with non-techie folks to help demystify the web and identify relevant ways to incorporate it in their lives.

Other randomness that flavors who I am: I have severe ADHD (first diagnosed in my 30s), have a huge soft-spot in my heart for animals, bleach my hair within an inch of its life, am chronically late and diabolically messy. I’m a huge procrastinator (but will tell you more about that later). My preference to focus on the good in the world is somewhat offset by my sarcastic sense of humor. I’m vegetarian and adore carbs. I’m a fan of wordplay and puns. I love to make people laugh.

I also love to talk. And write. Both are evidenced by my oversized collection of run-on sentences, despite a deep yearning to be brief and concise. (Admittedly, I’ve clearly missed the “concise” mark with this answer!)

(For the curious, nosey, masochists, bored-and-needing-something-to-do, or psychologists-looking-for-a-case-study, you can ready yet more about me here.)

2. How would you describe your blog?

If I had to describe it in one word it would be “eclectic”. (Whoa! Deja vu!)

My “official” description is: A girl geek’s musings on technology, web/graphic design, social media trends and life in general.

Although it’s not a cat blog, I consider The Fearless Blogger to be a personal blog in that I blog about things that interest me that I think other people might be interested in. Rather than working to keep myself or my voice out of my posts, I’m trying to get better at injecting more “Faryl” into them.

My posts range from personal reflections and reactions to software/site reviews and social media trends. I write about blogging, but it’s not a blogging blog. I love social media, so find myself frequently writing about that. I’ve been finding myself fascinated by Twitter and the surrounding culture evolving around it - but am making an effort to continue to write about a wider range of topics, since the world really doesn’t need another Twitter blog!

One particular series I’ve been having fun with is Inside the Bloggers Studio, where I ask bloggers and other non-actors the questions from Inside the Actors Studio. (The next one features a familiar face - Johnny Truant!)

3. Why do you blog?

I started blogging because I wanted a place to have a voice. For one thing, I felt after being a bit of a lurker in the blog-o-sphere and gaining so much from the blogs I’ve read, it was my turn to give back and contribute to the online community. I also provide social media consulting services and I wanted a professional homebase.

I’ve continued blogging because I’ve since discovered that blogging is my passion. I love to write and share and I love connecting with my blog’s readers. When I can’t blog, I miss it.

Connecting with readers is the other reason I blog. I don’t mean subscribers or page hits - those are just numbers. I love the emails, comments and tweets. As I’ve said, it’s important to me to write about what interests me and let my voice shine through. But if I didn’t feel I was connecting with or reaching anyone, blogging would lose it’s allure for me. I’m still learning to find that balance between writing for both me and my readers, hopefully it’s something I’ll get better at!

4. What blogs do you love?

Besides chuckwestbrook.com and the featured blogs? (Which I do love!)

For information, resources and trends, I love Mashable, Chris Brogan’s Blog, all the sites in the Envato network, Lifehacker, Seth Godin’s blog and Just Creative Design.

My favorite personal blogs at the moment are Who is Jon Ray and the up-and-coming-brand-new Jocephus.com (OK, I’m biased towards that one, because my sweetie’s the writer!).

I have a tendency to find a blog and spend a day exploring it - so I sure I’m missing some top notch faves, but those are the first that came to mind.

5. What’s something interesting about you that has nothing to do with blogging?

I used to do improv.

I started taking improv lessons as a way to meet new folks when I moved to San Diego, and surprised myself by accepting an invitation to become a member of a group. Even bigger surprise - performing in front of an audience rocks!

Although I’m no longer with the group and it’s been a while since I’ve performed, improv is something I think I’ll remain connected to throughout my life. Chronically running late and procrastinating gives a girl a wealth of experience of thinking on her feet. Turn that into an asset and pair it with making people laugh and I’m hooked!

(On the off-chance you want to learn more random facts about my life: Seven things (I’ve been tagged!)

6. Which 5 of your posts would you recommend for new readers to start with?

1. To get a sense of how I started and the background of The Fearless Blogger: The Fearless Blogger’s Maiden Voyage.
2. A post that’s just about me putting my thoughts and feelings out there: Free Fall | Dedicated to my Brother.
3. In the “least -creative-but-most-popular” category would be: Four Blog Ideas Worth Stealing.
4. Any of the posts in my Inside the Bloggers Studio series.
5. Because it’s a message I don’t think can be said enough: Never too Late to Say “Thank You”
6. Bonus posts:
   • For those with short attention spans (and proof I can be brief!): Musings: Wealth and Happiness, I Have a Pornographic Mind, It’s funny ’cause it’s true
   • For fun pics, helpful links, humor, pop culture and other randomness: The Fearless Blogger Sidenotes (my tumblr: “Links and other tidbits perhaps not worth blogging about, but definitely worth telling you about”

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Tune in Monday for the next great blog. I think this will be the last time I tease an up-coming blog, but I’m open to changing my mind if you want to convince me otherwise.

Monday’s blogger is an all-around talent. Friendly, engaging, interesting, and with a nicely customized theme to boot. See you then!

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For the next two weeks, we’ll be reading a group blogging project called, ‘Sketch War’. Go ahead and sign up for the RSS!

Hey everyone, we’re thrilled to have been picked for Chuck’s Blog Mob project (I keep using that name hoping it’ll catch on; if enough of you join in, we’ll be an unstoppable wave.) Our blog itself is only two months old, but we’ve been having our weekly battles on our personal blogs for a year now. It started out because I’m pathologically competitive (like most good things in life like the Olympics, G.I. Joe, and double-fudge brownies.)

One cold Friday back in February of 2008, Michael posted a sketch on his blog and said he was going to try to be more disciplined about writing regularly. So of course, I banged out a sketch that evening, posted it, and threw down a virtual gauntlet. Every single Friday since then without fail, there has been a “battle”. Some weeks it’s only two people, some we’ve gone as high as five (one or two very embarrassing battles have contained only one sketch.) In December, we moved to the group blog to get all the sketchy goodness in one place.

Now, on to Chuck’s questions…

1. Who are you?

• Michael Brownlee - is a law office lackey who likes to think he’s a writer.
• R.A. Porter is an unhappy software engineer trying to change careers and become a television writer. He’s the hyper-competitive jackhole who started this whole thing.
• Ken Robertson - is a mild-mannered software engineer by day, improv actor and writer by night, with some graphic design thrown in for spice. He started his working life as a professional actor and then go involved in 3D art, animation, and video games.
• Peter Rogers -also toils in the software mines and sometimes writes stuff. He’d provide a funnier introduction but is contractually obligated to save the funny for the blog.
• Dave Stinton - is a sometime playwright and fulltime marketing shill living in Chicago.
• David Niall Wilson - is a horror, dark fantasy, sci-fi author with 17 novels and about 200 stories so far. Father, guitar player, funny guy.

Note the large representation of software professionals. Must be something in the water.

2. How would you describe your blog?

Sketch War is a community of comedy writers who write sketches on a single theme each week, always trying to one-up each other. It is also expanding to include critical analysis of our sketches and others (e.g. SNL, Whitest Guys You Know, Second City,) filmed versions of our sketches, and pieces on the construction and theory of sketch.

Think Monty Python without the actors and less funny. Or SNL without the actors and much funnier.

3. Why do you blog?

We all write, and most of us write either plays or screenplays. Sketches are a unique opportunity to write that format in short, self-contained nuggets. Having a community of fellow writers motivates us to write regularly and helps us improve our work. And seeing the work of the other writers is inspirational.

Also, we feel sorry for all those people stuck reading thousands of posts about weaving baskets from oak leaves and recipes for beechnut gum cookies. We’re doing our part to improve the signal-to-noise ratio.

4. What blogs do you love?

This is a composite list and doesn’t scratch the surface of what any one of us reads, let alone all of us…

• By Ken Levine
• What’s Alan Watching
• Jane in Progress
• John Hodgman
• Storytellersunplugged
• Neil Gaiman
• Joe Janes
• F*** You, Penguin

5. What’s something interesting about you that has nothing to do with blogging?

• Michael once spent six months sharing bunk beds with MadTV actor Keegan-Michael Key…
• R.A. has a shockingly fast and accurate tennis serve…
• Ken has the same birthday (not year) as Eddie Izzad, Chris Rock, and Charles Dickens…
• Peter was a bit obsessed with drawing stick-figure cartoons before all the cool kids started doing it…
• Dave wrote and performed a song that got played on “The Dr. Demento Show” back in 1989…
• DNW was once President of the Horror Writer’s Association, and Clive Barker called him a few weeks ago at Midnight.

6. Which 5 of your posts would you recommend for new readers to start with?

Because there are six of us, we’re going to do one extra and have one from each of us.

• Michael chooses The Loan’s the Thing…
• R.A. chooses An Awkward Birthday…
• Ken chooses 3:34 AM…
• Peter chooses Learning Something New About History…
• Dave chooses Bookworms
• DNW is our newest member and only has one sketch posted so far, but it’s a good one - Better Than Hunting Rats.

Please let us know what you think about our sketches. We’ve all got thick skin and want to improve with each piece. Also, if anyone wants to join in the fun, please send an email along to sketchwar(nospam)@dreamloom.com.

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