The Techconf Blog, part of the Podcast Network, interviewed Jason Calacanis of Weblogs, Inc. / AOL earlier this week.

It’s a great listen.

Jamsi at Work Boxers interviewed David Krug of BlogMedia, Inc. earlier this week about the Blog Herald purchase:

Jamsi: There was some keen Sitepoint dudes trying to steal it away from you, how did you manage to secure the deal?

David: I contacted Duncan direct and we did the deal in about 20 minutes.

Jamsi: We all know Duncan did an excellent job of running the Blog Herald solo, will Blog Herald be run by more than one person?

David: Well the ownership of BlogMedia Inc, and myself discussed this at depth and we are going with multiple bloggers. It just seems like a stronger method of covering the news.

[...]

Jamsi: Thanks for your time Cowboy, may the herald take you and BlogMedia successfully into the sunset – sights set and guns blaring.

David: The Cowboy has retired. But yes thank you for the interview.

John at Syntagma Media interviews Duncan Riley of The Blog Herald, on the eve of his sale:

Lessons from The Blog Herald sale …. without being publicly critical of anyone involved in the sale (particularly the first aborted sale attempt), I wouldn’t do it the same way again. I’d rather not rehash the whole thing but I would give this advice:

* Sites like Sitepoint are full of people who will only consider revenue and are incapable at looking at the bigger picture, they really don’t get blogging.

* Keep your sale time short, and make it public. I honestly believed that selling The Blog Herald publicly would be damaging to the brand itself. There is little doubt that there has been some damage (and hence it didn’t make $72k the second time) to the brand, but a lot less than I expected. If I regret anything it’s that I didn’t just go public with it in the first place. I know talking to some people that they feel that the trust I had built up through the site was damaged by the secrecy, which is a fair call.

* Always insist on a non-refundable deposit from American buyers upfront on a big sale. When I first put The Blog Herald on the market, my father said to insist on getting a deposit because “American’s can’t be trusted”. Sure, it’s probably a little bigoted but as with the first sale attempt he was unfortunately right.

I can’t reveal the identity of the new owners at the time of writing this (they did pay a deposit I’m happy to say), but I can say that they are American, and the experience in dealing with them has been first rate. Great group of people. First class professionalism without any of the hype or marketing-speak you often get out of professionals (particularly in my field of marketing).

Syntagma Media publishes an interview with Jason Calacanis of Weblogs, Inc. today:

1. How has the sale of WIN to AOL affected the blog network scene in general?

Frankly, I don’t know that it has had any effect. When an exit happens sometimes it validates the business model for other investors or buyers, but it’s not like we’ve seen 100 people raise money or get bought since our deal. In fact, I don’t think anyone has been bought, and the only site to raise money is that Pajamas Media thing (or whatever they are calling it now).

2. How has being part of AOL affected you personally?

I have healthcare now.

3. Do you ever get nostalgic for your freewheeling startup days?

As far as I’m concerned AOL is my new startup company. I’m having a lot of impact here and the place is very open to change and new things. So, forgive me if I’m not nostalgic for the days of worrying about payroll and servers going down every other week.

Chartreuse interviews Andy Merrett of Blue Fish Network:

This is a new field, blog networks. What advice would you give someone thinking of starting a blog network?

Don’t think that only one discipline will make you a successful network owner. Create a diverse management team for skills you lack, or become a fast learner. You need a variety of technical, administrative, business and people skills to be successful. Know what your network stands for and what you hope to achieve. Your members are people. Treat them as such, not as statistics. Don’t be afraid to be different.

Our interview today is with Heather Snodgrass of [decentcontent] & Spoke Media:

Tell us briefly about yourself

I’m a freelance writer and consultant. I recently relocated to New York City from San Diego, as most of my writers live out here and I was running on East Coast time as it was. There was nothing really holding me in San Diego, so this seemed like a logical choice for me.

Tell us about [decentcontent] and your sites….

The concept behind [dc] and the other spoke media sites to provide a platform for exposing fresh and solid talent. I want to spotlight and nurture that talent and give the writers an audience that they wouldn’t necessarily have if they were doing it on their own. While the sites have a similar tone and feel, each of them bring their own voice and opinions to the mix. It’s a very interesting, humbling and stimulation environment to be a part of.

There are many blog networks out there now – what makes spoke media different than the rest?

I think the problem with a lot of the other blog networks out there is there is so much focus on the design, and not enough focus on the content. Design and aesthetics is good and all, but if the content isn’t there, you’re not going to retain readership over an extended period of time.

Tell us about being a Professional Blogger – how did you get into this lifestyle? Do you think it’s a viable career option for the long-term?

I’m hardly what could be classed as a “Professional Blogger”. I’d love to make a living like this, working with the amazing people that I do on a daily basis, and there are a lot of monetizing options on the horizon for spoke media. Right now though, it’s just a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Not that I’m complaining – I love what I do, and have faith that it will start paying off in a monetary form in the very near future for me and my team. I’m not sure if it’s a viable long-term career option, given the volatile nature of the internet. Maybe the money is in building something and selling it off. Maybe it’s in licensing, or in back-end development. Personally, I know where I want to be at in five years, and it’s not necessarily going to be as web-heavy as it is right now.

What do you do when you’re not blogging?

I work on my various writing projects. I write business plans and help plan web marketing strategies for small businesses. I design and consult merchandising displays for retail spaces. I try to keep up with the people who are important to me, which is hard when they’re spread out all over the world. I try to be everything to everyone, which doesn’t usually work out the way I want it to.

Your computer & OS of choice? Why?

12″ Apple Powerbook, OSX Tiger. Because you couldn’t pay me to use a PC again. Ever.

Software that you use each day?

Photoshop CS2, NVU, Flock, Fetch, Adium, Entourage, iTunes. I’m fairly basic when it comes to my applications.

Websites you visit each day?

I generally scan through my Bloglines, to see if there’s anything worth looking at. I visit the blogs of the people that write for me, the sites I write for, as well as any articles or sites that get submitted to me via [dc]. I check the basics – NYTimes, Google News, Style.com. I don’t really have sites that I obsessively check everyday – I’ve been living in a little bit of a vacuum the last few months.

What advice would you give someone who is new to blogging and looking to increase their traffic?

Make sure you have something that’s visually appealing – if you can, try and hack up your template a little to make it your own. But really, really concentrate on your CONTENT. Be passionate about something. Anything. Stand by what you write, and be yourself. More than anything, people respond to honesty and ingenuity.

What’s next for [decentcontent] in next 12 months?

We’ve just acquired some incredible new writers, and will be moving onto version two of the site in late January. Other than adding more talent to our stable, I can’t really tell you much more at this point – it’s all very hush hush. You know how it is.

Our thanks to Heather. Visit [decentcontent] and girlspoke for more of her writings.

Interested in interviewing with us?

We’re always interested in profiling bloggers, new blog networks, and others with insight on the blog network world. Drop us a line at interviews [at] blogmedia [dot] biz for a chance at your fifteen minutes of fame!

Technorati Tags: blog networks, girlspoke, decentcontent

I gave an interview yesterday to John from Syntagma Media – the interview is now live:

John: What’s your assessment of the blog network scene right now, given the sale of Weblogs Inc?

Matt: I think that the original two large networks – Gawker Media and Weblogs Inc have set the pace for others to follow. As I wrote in Martin on Blog Network “Watching“, there are serious contenders in the blog network game – and then there is everyone else.

The serious contenders are the ones with great content, strong management, good infrastructure, and a solid business plan. Gawker, Weblogs Inc, b5media, and probably Fine Fools, all fit into that category. 9rules probably does too – but as I’ve said before, I’m still trying to understand what they’re up to. There are likely others but those are the ones that come to mind immediately.

There are alot of folks jumping into the game right now – and that competition is good. The barrier to entry is very very low. Even on shared hosting, someone could setup a decent blog network with 2-3 blogs using WordPress or Movable Type or even Blogger and make a very decent living – particularly for someone in college or just starting out in the world. I think 2006 will bring us even more blog networks.

I also babble on about many other things. Read the rest over at Syntagma Media.

Today’s interview is with Martin Ralya of Treasure Tables, a blog about game mastering of all types. We wrote previously about Martin back when he joined 9rules a few weeks back.



– Tell us briefly about yourself

I’m 28, and I require caffenie to function. I live in Salt Lake City, Utah with my wonderful girlfriend, Alysia, and our neurotic beagle, Charlie, and I’ve been blogging for about 5 months. I was born in France, grew up in New York City, moved to Michigan for college, and relocated to Utah for my job (I manage parking garages).

I’ve also been a freelance writer for the RPG industry since 2004, and I just completed my first solo project and my second major print project (neither of which will be out until 2006).

Read the rest of the interview after the jump….

read on

Today’s interview is with new 9rules network member Tyme White, who writes at NotTooGeeky.com.

Tell us briefly about yourself

My name is Tyme White. I’ve been “blogging” since 2003 but I had

websites that were blogs (but they weren’t called blogs) since 1997. I

am very fortunate to have my own business with clients located across

the country. I have a degree in Business Administration and I am

currently working on my Master’s in Business Management. Although I am

shy I love interacting with people. I’m a geek girl.

Tell us about your sites

Tyme2Breal.com is my personal site. It’s about my life, my goals, my

struggles, my triumphs.

NotTooGeeky.com is my place to talk about topics related to online

interactions and technology in a language everyone can understand. I

question new technologies and the people behind them, and I do not

play favorites. I call it like I see it but that does not mean I am

always right. Through interaction comes knowledge.

TheMicrosoftShow.com – a podcast where I talk, criticize or praise all

things related to Microsoft products.

I have other sites, but I am in the process of a massive re-organization.

There are many blog networks out there today – what motivated you to

join 9rules?

It was the interaction I had with Paul about a post I made about him.

I’ve been reading Paul’s blogs way before the network is what it is

today but I never had any interaction with him. Readers posted

comments asking questions about 9rules and through Paul’s answers, I

had a better understanding of the network and Paul in general. I know

a lot of people join blog networks with very little interaction with

the people behind it. Their focus is what they can get out of the

network…what the network can do for them. That is not my style. I have

to understand the principles behind the network, interaction with

someone from the network and more importantly in it before I want to

be a part of it. For me, it is not always about the money.

There are lots of questions about 9rules’s business model. Is there

one? What are your thoughts?

Yes, there is a model. I think 9rules puzzles people because 1) it

goes against what every other network does and 2) there seems to be no

logic behind it. The truth is the logic is so simple the average

person misses it and I admit, I was puzzled for a while. Paul answered

my questions (and those of my readers) and I understand the model and

I think 9rules will be successful. No one understands their business

model so no one is going to attempt to copy them (right now). By the

time potential competitors figure it out 9rules will have a foundation

so solid it will be hard to compete. If someone attempts to copy the

model without fully understanding it, they will fail miserably. I

cannot describe how much that amuses me…it’s genius.

What do you do when you’re not blogging?

Spend time with those I care about (family and friends). I’m known for

my love of games, particularly RPGs, MMORPGs and strategy games. I

also beta test large amounts of software. If I had unlimited funds I

would travel the world, play with every new piece of technology,

purchase every good murder mystery so they would be on hand when I had

time to read them, pay someone to teach me how to proof-read my own

writing so I do not auto-correct it, explore the oceans, build the

home of my dreams (based on the home I grew up in), pay someone to

teach me graphic design so the designs I see in my mind could come to

life…the list is endless.

Your computer & OS of choice? Why?

My computer is a custom built Athlon running Windows XP Pro. I build

my computers because I demand quality. I’m a power gamer, so it has to

be Windows.

Software that you use each day?

Firefox, Outlook, Outlook Express (for newsgroups), FeedDemon,

Microsoft Word, SmartFTP, Yahoo Messenger, Skype, Audacity,

WordPress…hmmm, this list is getting long and I’m just winding up.

Websites you visit each day?

I have 1000 sites in my RSS reader. Some of the sites I visit are

GameSpot, Digg (and the other sites like Systm, The Podcast

Brothers, This Week in Tech, there are so many but you get the general theme. For

personal blogs I prefer blogs like Whitespace and Joy Unexpected because they are

honest about their true thoughts and feelings, not always siding with

popular opinion.

What advice would you give someone who is new to blogging and looking

to increase their traffic?

Be yourself and write about what you love, not the popular topic of

the moment. I come across so many blogs where it is obvious the writer

is not passionate about the topic or they are mimicking someone else’s

style. When bloggers write about something important to them, that

passion flows through to their writing. Their jokes are funnier, their

tutorials are more thorough. Their stories have more meaning. Their

writing is more interesting. These types of posts will draw people to

the blogger and make interaction much easier.

Our thanks to Tyme for taking the time to answer some questions for Blog Network Watch. Go visit her site at NotTooGeeky.com for more on technology, blogging, and other geeky topics…

Want your fifteen minutes of fame?

Interested in doing an interview with Blog Network Watch? Drop us a note at interviews [at] blogmedia [dot] biz.

Jeremy Wright, blogger at Ensight, and President of b5media sat down with us via email and answered a ton of questions about blogging and about his new book Blog Marketing. Here’s the second of two parts for our interview with Jeremy:

Tell us about your book — how did you come up with the idea?

It’s funny. In May of last year, I kind of tossed up the idea saying that

what businesses really need was a solid book on blogging to help them along.

It really was just a throwaway idea that got poopoo’d at the time.

It was felt that businesses didn’t need a book blogging, since blogging was

so simple and most businesses wouldn’t be diving into it. 6 months later,

though, it was a very, very different story.

Businesses were jumping on board, blogging had matured and people were

starting to realize just how different blogging was from typically corporate

communications. So, when I floated the idea again there was a <i>very</i>

different response. In fact, I signed a deal within 2 weeks of floating the

idea, and the book was out less than a year later – which is basically

unheard of.

Was the title your choice?

Hmm… Not really. My first choice was “The Business of Blogging”, however

it was felt by the publisher that that would make it sound like it was

talking about how to make money with blogs. They felt that something in

“Marketing” was better, and that “Blog Marketing” was short and sweet.

I’ve always agreed it was short and sweet, but my personality is the kind

that always wants to be more creative (like “Naked Conversations”). However,

once the book was written it was obvious that my writing style is basically

“here’s what blogging is, here are all the reasons why you want to do it,

here’s what happened to companies who did and didn’t do this, here is how

you can use this and here is how you can succeed”. In short, it was very

straightforward and to the point.

And, ironically, that’s exactly what the title is. To the point. So it’s a

good fit now, even if it didn’t feel like it at the beginning.

There’s been much hype this year about blogs and blog networks -

particularly with the purchase of Weblogs, Inc. and weblogs.com. Do

you think the time for blogs has come and gone now?

Not at all. Blogs are simply going to become more mainstream, become more a

part of the corporate communications, marketing and PR arsenals and become

more integrated into business tools, business intelligence tools and

customer feedback systems.

The barriers to entry are so low, and so many customers understand the

blogging metaphor that it makes perfect sense for businesses to leverage

blogs to the hilt. Especially given how expensive traditional management

systems are.

I’m sure that in the next couple of years we’ll see blogs running more and

more corporate websites because of how easy they are to setup, manageme,

maintain and extend.

Hugh Macleod at Gapingvoid talks about the “Hughtrain” and has done

a lot of promotion of English Cut and Stormhoek wine via his blog and

others – do you see this as a good example of the marketing

techniques you describe in your book?

Hugh’s an anomaly. It’s like saying that because Katie Holmes wears a dress

when she endorses greenpeace that the secret to greenpeace is wearing

dresses.

Hugh is simply using a massive platform to hawk some fairly good products.

Would English Cut be anywhere near where it is now without Hugh? I doubt it.

It would have helped the business, no question, but it wouldn’t be where it

is now.

In many ways, the examples Hugh has created are the polar opposite of what I

recommend in the book. Primarily that’s because Hugh is coming from a “let’s

make conversations” type of mindset, whereas I’m coming from a “let’s create

positive experiences” kind of mindset.

It’s not that the two mindsets are diametrically opposed, it’s just that

companies shouldn’t be looking at English Cut and Stormhoek and expecting

that if they model themselves after those examples they’ll see similar

results.

It’s far better if they model themselves after, say Moose Tracks or

Stonyfield – as they’ll likely see those types of results: decent returns,

more positive experiences and the ability to create real relationships with

your customers based on those experiences.

Many companies are embracing internal blogging as a way to drive

projects, etc. Is there anyone in your mind that is doing this well

today?

I love what the Disney Channel is doing with blogs. I devoted nearly a

chapter to them in the book, but the short version is that they’re using a

hacked-up version of MovableType to maintain shift logs for their

engineering teams.

The blog is to maintain a list of issues, fixes, etc, so that as each new

shift comes on they know exactly what’s up and what needs to be done.

Anytime a company uses blogs in such a way that helps their employees work

more effectively, that’s a win to me.

Are you using an internal blog at b5media? If so, how? If not, why

not?

We currently have one internal blog at b5. When we first started b5, there

were only about half a dozen of us, so we used a Google Groups mailing list

to communicate. However, as we got to about 20 bloggers that began to become

unwieldy so we started a forum. When that crashed, we went back to the

mailing list.

Then we merged with About Weblogs. The first day everyone was on the list

there were more than 500 messages.

Something had to be done.

So, we created a basic internal blog and it was a hit. Now, 90% of the

communication happens on the blog. Anyone can start an article, anyone can

comment and the conversation flows fairly freely. The list is just for

official notes or for crisis management.

Robert Scoble is one of the best examples of a customer evangelist

out there today. Are there others that come to mind that you

highlight as great customer evangelists via their blogs?

To be honest, I don’t see Scoble as a customer evangelist, or really as an

evangelist at all. As soon as you become paid to talk about a company you

aren’t an evangelist. You’re a marketer, a mouthpiece or a shill.

Robert’s a great guy, and a good friend, but the moment he started accepting

a paycheque was the moment his evangelism of Microsoft ended.

That said, in his early days he was a fantastic customer evangelist. He was

open, honest about the company’s faults and strengths and prone to fits of

joy when things went truly well for any company.

These days he’s either gushing about something nobody else can see, or

apologizing for gushing about things nobody else can see. It’s his blog,

though, and it’s his right to gush

You make some predictions about the future of blogging in your book,

tell us about those.

The problem with reading that chapter is that it was written more than 6

months ago. I’m not sure I even believe what’s in there now anymore (have to

read it again).

The key to the chapter is that companies need to be looking at blogs as part

of their strategy, and need to be figuring out how blogs actually help their

company. If they do, none of the other trends will really matter.

Know your customers. Know your company. Know your industry.

If you base your blog off of that, you’ll do alright.

The first review of your book has been posted over at Blogcritics

(and on Amazon) – it was overwhelmingly positive. What was your

reaction on reading that?

Wow, reading reviews is hard! Every negative bit of it was like a dart to

the forehead. As you said, it was overall very positive. He noted that there

were some bits that you could find elsewhere, which is fair enough. My

thought on reading that was that if companies were smart enough to know

about blogs, be so serious that they went looking for information on blogs

about blogs and actually happened to find that information… Well, they

probably didn’t need the book all that much.

Even so, I still tried to pack a fair amount of material in there, and John

seems to have acknowledged that even companies that are on the blogging

bandwagon can benefit from some of the methodologies, case studies and

challenges in the book.

Yeah, it was a good review

When the first negative review hits, what do you think its challenges

to your book will be?

I think there’ll be a few things that people will pick at. The first is that

the book is overwhelmingly positive about blogging. There is very little

“maybe your company shouldn’t blog if” types of thoughts. And that’s largely

because that’s my perspective. I think every company can use a blog

in a productive way. Even the CIA. Even Saddam Hussein.

I don’t believe that the company, the industry or the level of secrecy in a

company determines how good, bad or successful a blog will be. I believe the

company’s ability to communicate, to effectively plan and execute their blog

and the actual subject-matter of their blog will determine the success.

So, yeah, I’ll take hits for not being entirely “balanced” in my opinions.

I’ll also take some hits because some of the chapters simply aren’t as

coherent as I’d have liked. Some wax poetic while others are too long and

others are too short.

I guess that’s the reality of being an author though. It’s hard enough to

write a 100 word post correctly, nevermind a 118,000 word book.

Do you have another book project planned? What will it be about?

Yeah, I have 2 more books in the works. Once those two are done, though,

I’ll probably swear off book writing for at least a couple of years.

Our thanks again to Jeremy for taking the time to complete this two part interview!