Blogworld party in New York by Adrants eBay and Trancos

Adrants, along with eBay and Trancos will host a cocktail gathering Wednesday, May 25 from 6PM to 8PM at Stitch in New York. Stitch is located at 247 West 37th Street.

The bar will be open (thanks to eBay and Trancos) and there will be some food as well. So stop by, grab a drink, have a bite, meet Ivka Adam from eBay, me, Murray Newlands from Trancos and Steve Hall from Adrants. You know it will be fun and you know you’ll need something to do Wednesday night while at Blogworld.

You can register to attend here.

This post is a bit or a personal update for those that know me and for those that do not yet it will make a good start.

I have been trying to get a US VISA for a long time and it finally came through on Tuesday. This has taken 2 years work and I am more than a little pleased.

While I did not know I was going to get my VISA know I had hoped that it might come through and I had bought a ticket to SXSW in the hope of coming. Flights yesterday were remarkably cheap so I hopped on a plain and am now in Austin.

I have had a great time working with Luke running Influence People and social media monitoring events around the world and while he is a great guy and I liked working with him ( would recommend him to you) I will not be running more events with him. Luke will be running more events so please do look at www.oursocialtimes.com/ for all the up coming events.

So what will I be doing?

- http://theaffiliatemarketingawards.com/ are coming up soon

-I have been consulting with VigLink  for a while and there seems to be a great fit so I will be doing lots more with them. I very much like working with Oliver Roup and the rest of the team over there. I love working with a company which helps publishers make more money in a very positive way. If you are at SXSW and would like to talk with me about VigLink please email me murray at company name dot com.

-Running the 2 blog clubs and opening an LA blog club

-My Online Marketing book is coming out in April – buy your copy on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Online-Marketing-Manual-Murray-Newlands/dp/0470973846

-I have a publisher for my book http://www.howtomakeablogbook.com/ which needs some additions before coming out later this year

-I have a book deal for a book about blogging for small business

-I have some other plans which I can not tell you about just yet.

-Getting a US driving licence and all the other stuff that moving countries entails.

-After 2 years of deliberately being single I might try and find girlfriend.

So as you can see lots happening please do be patient if I do not get right back to all your emails.

I would also like to say thank you again for reading my blog and all the great emails you send me.

Murray

It is no secret that citizens in the UK have been more wary of the country’s financial situation and many have started to look around to find the best way to look after their own money. This is an important change to note, as more businesses are getting less reluctant when it comes to making long term commitments.

This change in behaviour has brought forth a very important observation: not all changes have to be large to be meaningful. Instead, small businesses are discovering that small changes can often lead to big differences, positive upheaval, new ventures, and the discovery of new markets.

In celebration of these small changes in business, T-Mobile is launching a competition with a first place prize of £2K. To enter, simply tell T-Mobile in 140 characters what positive changes you could make to your business with the cash prize.

Each entry will go live on the site, giving proud owners not only a chance to promote their business – but also as a way of sharing the different ideas within the small business community.

Why wait? It’s time to start thinking about how you would spend £2,000 to make a valuable change to your small business. Is it to buy new equipment? Do more marketing? Invest in your training program? Or just buy your team a much-needed holiday?

Visit www.t-mobile.co.uk/smallbusinesschange  to share your ideas.

With all the advances in blogging, the latest stage of development is video blogging or vlogging.

This takes blog post and pages to a completely new level – especially for marketers and affiliates – beyond the static text-based type, or even posts with some photos and other graphics into a much more dynamic and immediate realm.

Blog posts and pages come alive in a completely different way, and establish the blogger as not only an intermediary but also as an expert in the selected niche.

What Is Video Blogging

With a video blog entry, your actual means of interacting with your visitors is the video itself rather than the written word – although text will label or augment what the viewer sees, and can certainly be used within the video itself.

However in many ways, this type of video blog functions the same as one that is mainly text-based.

The video is viewable on a standard blog post or page, which can be updated regularly, and still involves the author choosing what information or opinions to convey. The structure on the blog is also the same, with viewers given space for comments and interaction. All you have done is add an interactive video onto the post.

Anybody Can Start Video Blogging

Some may already have the right tools to start video blogging, such as digital camera or camcorder, but might still be uncertain as to whether or not they have the expertise to try video blogging. They don’t need to worry, because blogging software has been created just for them called easy video player 2.0, in the same way that blog hosting sites created software for text-based blogs.

There is a difference between creating a text based blog and a video blog, so to be honest there are going to be some issues to setting up a blog for this type of medium. Simply capturing and storing the video clips can use up many of your available resources. The video camera needs to be good enough to create quality video that won’t embarrass the creator (or, for that matter, anyone that is watching it).

Presumably the blogger will want to keep a copy of anything that is uploaded to the blog. To do this you will need available storage space you can access easily. The easiest way is by backing up your blog each week.

You Need Suitable Storage For Video Blogging

Since video files can be large, they may create issues between the blogger and their Internet service provider. You can use up a lot of your bandwidth limit when uploading videos to your blog, and some ISPs do not like this high demand on their networks and subsequently put limits on people’s bandwidth usage.

You can also have issues with storage and bandwidth usage issues when it comes to your hosting company, so you may need to look at a service such as Amazon S3.

Video Blogging Will Continue To Grow At A Fast Rate

Video blogging is still in its infancy and will undoubtedly continue to grow in a big way for a few years yet. Educators in particular have begun recognizing the value of using a blog with video clips in teaching their students, or using such blogs for classroom projects.

Bloggers who are looking for effective presentation can even create video blogs for their personal portfolios. This sort of blog provides richer content for the blog readers, viewers and the blog author alike, increasing communication possibilities beyond what was available before.

If you are looking to grow your customer base, add subscribers, or even sell products online such as diamond engagement rings then you really need to consider adding video to your wordpress blog today… If you already have skills in adding video to your blog then the next level in your evolution should be to get Easy Video Player 2.0 so you can have much more interaction with your readers. Easy Video Player allows them to opt-in to your newsletter or purchase products simply by watching the video presentation on your blog.

Note from GrowMap: This is a guest post by Affiliate Marketing power affiliate Ron Cripps of AffiliateXFiles who offers tips on How to Become an Affiliate Marketer and advanced Article Marketing. Check out his WordPress How-To Video and Facebook How-to Video.

Related articles

• 10 Steps to Successful Video Blogging (socialmediaexaminer.com)
• A Word About Video And Audio Blogs (ronmedlin.com)
• Discover how to Dominate Your Niche with Video Blogging [and Win an iPad] (problogger.net)
• Video Blogging Tips with Gideon Shalwick (zacjohnson.com)

Word of mouth – There are different ways to get your brand out there. There are many people to follow, there is lots advice, so whose advice should you be listening to and who should you be avoiding? Firstly as marketers it is important to understand who your consumers trust enough to take advice from and secondly how do you become a trusted source for customers to follow you?

Forrester’s Marketing Forum shed some light on some interesting findings about influencers, adopters and general consumption habits of how people follow advice and who your customers could be listening to. We need to realise that those influences are diverse and we need to find way ways to target them directly.

The forum pinpoints 3 categories that influence consumption; firstly there are Social Broadcasters, Mass Influences and Potential Influences. Social Broadcasters are your top bloggers, connected people who have a broad following base. They reach the mass but not always the most trusted source. People will still perform their own evaluation of the content they write about. Social Broadcasters need to feel unique when you communicate with them so traditional media is usually a no-no.

Secondly there are the mass influencers, the 80/20 rule applies to them. They are the minority (20%) that create the majority (80%) influence. They are the people that influence impressions about products and services. You need to keep this group talking about your brand not necessarily on on-line. Don’t underestimate the off-line presence of this group.

Thirdly, you have the potential influencers. This is where the trust lies. They are the average consumer who listens to their friends, families and peers. They make up the majority of the population. To increase an adoption rate make things easy and relevant to understand. They require continuous engagement.

Each different group should have a different strategy which reaches them directly. This might be a great start to getting your product out there by good ‘ol word of mouth!

Lianne du Toit

Product review blog carnivals can help you boost your traffic. What is a blog carnival? It includes a blogger who hosts the carnival, which has a specific topic. For us, the topic will be product reviews. Bloggers submit their post links from their own blogs to the host who will publish the post with all of the links on a specific date. Each blogger promotes the carnival on their own blog.

Why does a blog carnival increase traffic? Because of promotion from each blogger involved, blog traffic is often higher to the host’s blog and to the participants’ blogs. Since blog carnivals are an ongoing process, sometimes weekly, sometimes monthly, the traffic spikes will continue. The host duties should change each time the carnival is held so that traffic is shared amongst the bloggers.

If you use a site organizer like BlogCarnival.com you will get a badge and have a central place to submit your posts, keep track of the dates and participants and have a well known site that other bloggers and readers know about.

A product review carnival is an easy way to promote your blog, to increase traffic and to gain back links.This is another form of networking where bloggers can connect. Be sure to comment on the host’s blog on the date of the carnival to assist in these efforts.

ConnieFoggles

Many privately-owned businesses don’t allow cameras inside. The blog, People of Walmart, which publishes unflattering pictures of Walmart shoppers, makes such policies completely understandable. Still, not everyone who shows up to a business establishment with a camera has a snarky blog or ill intentions.

Several months ago, I walked into a wig store in Oklahoma City and asked to speak with the owner. I had long-admired the colorful wigs in the window, positioned on mannequin heads as they were. I asked him if I could shoot pictures of his great store for my blog. I told him that most of my traffic came from Oklahoma City, where his store was located, and that I received about 5,000 hits a month. He absolutely refused to let me take pictures.

If I were a reporter for a newspaper, this is probably not the outcome I would have had. Bloggers are still suspect to many people, and so they must work harder to establish credibility. As public relations pros rely more and more on bloggers to get their story out, they need to coach their clients on how to deal with bloggers if they show up unexpectedly. Moreover, PR practitioners can offer to help bloggers refine their pitches so they have more success. By helping the blogger, it will help fortify a long-term relationship. PR practictioners should regard bloggers as unofficial members of the press.

-jen

Tell me about your Blog?
Well, I write very different blogs. But my main focus at this point is on a controversial one. Although it does not meet with a lot of rejection when presented, yet it inspires blushes that makes chatting about it somewhat too cautious. However, the acceptance it receives is completely amazing and unbelievable. I guess by now you are wondering what this blog is all about. Anyway, one more thing, it is one of the reasons I am happy to be born in this age of openness through the aid of technology. So, join me to read and welcome to Erotic Fantasies.

What was your first blog?
As regards this particular blog, it was initially created to focus on my first manuscript for a love-story novel which is gathering ‘byte’-dust in my hard drive now. But I quickly diversified it into general fictional writing when I thought the initial plan was boring. So, the first blog for erotic fantasies is titled ‘The 3 Way Lust’. It was a hit short story that inspired me to push on.

What is the biggest tip you would give to a newbie blogger?
Just as it goes, writing is a window to our hearts. It is enough trouble to think let alone putting fingers to key (no more ‘pen to paper’ as that is so 18th-century-like). So I would encourage a newbie to crackle on. But my best advice is to develop a niche to blog on. This is because blogging is better when subject-focused and that way, it is also easier to talk about or found by fans.

What do advertisers do that you wish they wouldn’t?
Well, my blog isn’t commercial (not yet). So I am not minding advertisers. But on the other hand, I would that they make ads snappy and focused too to relate to the hosting blog.

What do bloggers do that you wish they wouldn’t?
Hijacking of others’ subject or feeling theirs is just the only best.

Where do you see growth in the blogging field?
Freedom of expression and access to contributing and reducing capitalistic madness. And that is reflected at the cross-section of people who are blogging now; mums, dad, employed, unemployed, students, free-lancers, self-employed, government workers and officials, even presidents. Blogging is surely the new media and the traditional media already knows that. Hence they also have taken it on board and even paying or offering incentives for people to blog.

What new ideas are advertisers coming up with to take advantage of new trends?
The London Bloggers’ Meetup (LBM) which I am a member of has had various sponsorships from big names/chains for our meeting this year; all thanks to Andy Bargery (@abarge). It can only mean one thing: they reach more people through escalation method of bloggers writing about them for their different readers. So that’s a great idea.

What do you do to improve the world?
Live in it. Haha! It is confusing these days how and if the ‘damn’ old hag called planet is improving or retarding. What with the new theories of emission, recycling, etc. They are boring and I am not subscriber to ethics or routine, real, invented or artificial. I go about London on a bike not because I want to be ‘green’ (I am black- haha!), and I burn electricity only when I need to not to improve the world but because I think it should be common sense not to play a CD and watch a movie at the same time. An example is I don’t own a TV, or other gadgets, my laptop is a TV, CD/DVD player, Radio, MP3 player, etc. So for me, it’s about common sense. So, ask yourself if you need that mp3/iPod while you have a mobile handset with over 12GB storage capacity on it.

What do you do that is green?
I don’t think about it and as said above, I am not interested. Criticize me if you may.

What is one thing about you that not many people know?
Ah! I wasn’t expecting this. Ehm… most people don’t know that I have any problems at all.

What’s your favorite book?
Ironically, the Ancient & Modern – Church of England hymn book. I don’t practice any religion though.

What is on your iPod?
I have never owned an iPod and would not.

What are your contact details (email, company, blog, facebook, myspace, forums, etc)?
Email; godwys @ godwyns.com,
Blog; www.eroticfantasies.wordpress.com ,
Facebook; www.facebook.com/godwyns
Twitter; www.twitter.com/godwyns
Linkedin; http://www.linkedin.com/in/godwyns
Brightkite; http://brightkite.com/people/Godwyns

What events do you go to?
Mainly social networking, bookclubs, blogging meets, support groups

How do you prefer to communicate?
Depends on the context. Most of the time, I will prefer not speak on the phone but do email. Otherwise, I suffer from text-rithis. Send me a text if it is urgent.

Who would you recommend, and why?
Ahh! Tough one. I normally am awful with special regards. I see everyone as equal regardless of what they do. But on recommendation, it will depend on what’s in need. This is why network a lot. Different people for different issues.
Go for 10 people plus
@abarge – has excellent connections; grab him if you can
@anniemole – has read almost all the fictional books in the world and know London underground. A sure guide in matter of fictional and underground stuff
My CEO at work – friendly but stern
My friend @yiannopoulos – has the brain of a supercomputer(me think) and tweets a lot.
Twitter – excellent blogging mode and instant access to those you probably wouldn’t have.
Georgina – a former colleague who understands everything and never ever show anger or raise her voice
Ruthy my friend – chill and calm and easy
Lynn Herrick – photographer per excellence
Mark – a retired priest in the interpretation industry who is friendly to all and knows a lot
You of course – Murray Newlands; ah! Too curious and surely would know much
Eroticfantasies – for imaginative pleasure and real fascination of ecstasy.

What is one thing people can do for you?
Make sure they check and confirm that what they are going to ask or tell me is relevant.

Tell me about your Company?

Our aim at theblogpaper is to create a platform for bloggers, citizen journalists, photographers and other “content creators” to publish content online as well as in print. We believe that there are vast amounts of quality content online, which seem to be getting far too little attention.
The ultimate goal is to create a platform for bloggers to reach out to new readers, increase their profile and redirect traffic back to their blogs. The main idea is that it should be as easy as possible to post content on theblogpaper.co.uk, making it convenient to get the chance to be published (of course only if the communtiy “likes” your content).

So why print a newspaper?
Our goal is to create a simple platform for bloggers, citizen journalists, photographers and critics etc. that enables them to reach out to a new readership and gain recognition “outside their blogosphere”. On the other hand we want to publish theblogpaper in print to offer readers a weekly review of the “best content” that has been posted online, people who simply do not have the time to go through vast amounts of blogs, rss feeds and twitter updates…- ” a kind of weekly ‘best of’.”

What was your first blog?

We both blogged at some point about our work, but at the moment we do not have the time to actively maintain our blogs.

What is the biggest tip you would give to a newbie blogger?

Less is More. Focus on writing one good article every couple of days instead of 10 mediocre articles a day.

Where do you see growth in the blogging field?

Community micro blogging (communities highly specialized on specific topics.)

Where do you see growth in the publishing and printing field?

We believe that there is still growth in the free-sheet market as well as in the paid for market but only for publications such as the Guardian that maintain a “distinctive personality” and quality content.

What do you do to improve the world?

I buy local products.

What is one thing about you that not many people know?

The internet makes it rather difficult for somebody to know something that others do not know.

What’s your favorite book?

The Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr which we both read countless times. We couldn’t quite decide whether this is our “favorite” book though.

What is on your iPod?

About 6 – 8 GB of audio files.

What are your contact details (email, company, blog, facebook, myspace, forums, etc)?

www.theblogpaper.co.uk

www.twitter.com/theblogpaper

http://www.facebook.com/pages/theblogpapercouk/86336816233

What events do you go to?

I‘ve just been to the New Designers festival at London Business Design Center.

How do you prefer to communicate?

Twitter, E-mail, Facebook.

What is one thing people can do for you?

Give us feedback on theblogpaper.

Citizen Journalist and The Blog Paper founder Anton Waldburg, an Interview

Social Media Blogger : An Interview with Social Media Blogger Lolly Borel with  Blog Till You Drop

Tell me about your Blog?

Blog till you drop! is an advertising, social media and technology blog which I started writing in 2006, when blogs were still in their infancy in the UK. I mostly write about the latest social media tools, or cool advertising/social media campaigns that make me tick! I landed my dream job last year thanks to my blog, and I now work in London as a Social Media Strategist (although my dream is to move to NYC some day).

What was your first blog?

My first blog was blog till you drop, and I am still going strong, almost 3 years on! I also keep a Tumblr digital scrapbook, Cosmopolitan… with a zest of lemon (http://cosmopolitan.tumblr.com), which is a collection of random things I like on the Internet.

What is the biggest tip you would give to a newbie blogger?

Don’t give up! Establishing a blog is a two-way process, and building your readership takes time; read and comment on other blogs, but most importantly forge relationships with other bloggers. I recently travelled to NYC and finally met some bloggers I’ve known virtually for a while – that’s how powerful blogging can be!

What do advertisers do that you wish they wouldn’t?

Pop-up ads make me cringe, especially the ones you don’t sem to be able to get rid of on your screen!

What do bloggers do that you wish they wouldn’t?

I can’t stand lists of Delicious links – I really don’t see the point of doing this. If you want to include links in a blog post, expand on the topic and share your opinions.

Where do you see growth in the blogging field?

Blogging is still very niche in the sense that only bloggers read blogs – I’d like to think that non-blogging Internet users will find blog they like and start engaging with these bloggers.

What new ideas are advertisers coming up with to take advantage of new trends?

Advertisers and PRs are increasingly using social media campaigns to influence consumers’ decision-making process and there are some real gems out there – my favourite campaign in 2009 so far has to be the promotion of Coraline the movie – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4woy-_3azzs – Wieden and Kennedy did a fantastic job!

What do you do to improve the world?

I am a positive person and I’d like to think that people can rely on me

What do you do that is green?

I recycle everything, do not use plastic bags, switch the lights off, and I always buy energy saving light-bulbs…

What is one thing about you that not many people know?

I have music notes tattooed on my lower back

What’s your favorite book?

That’s a tough question – I am a bit of a bookworm! I love Shakespeare (I studied English literature at uni in France), Agatha Christie, Dan Brown, J.K Rowling (I am a huge Harry Potter fan), but also geeky Internet related books (usually something to do with SEO) as well as social media books (Groundswell is a must!)

What is on your iPod?

Lots of different types of music – indie/rock, French, Italian and Spanish music, Jazz/Soul, club and trance music…

What are your contact details (email, company, blog, facebook, myspace, forums, etc)?

Blog: www.laurenceborel.com

Tumblr: http://cosmopolitan.tumblr.com

Twitter: @blogtillyoudrop

Email: Laurence.borel@gmail.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/laurenceborel

Twitter: @blogtillyoudrop

What events do you go to?

I am a regular on the social media scene in London and attend a number of networking events such as the awesome London Bloggers Meet Up, a variety of tweet ups. Open Music media, Barcamps, Linkedin in London…

How do you prefer to communicate?

If it’s personal, phone or Facebook, if it’s professional Twitter or email – there’s only so much you can say in 140 characters.

Who would you recommend, and why?

Mack Collier: the very first blog I ever read! Mack truly is a social media guru! (USA) http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/

Jason Falls: a must read for all things social media (USA) http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/

C.B. Whittemore: a really good retail blog detailing the consumer experience(USA) http://flooringtheconsumer.blogspot.com/

Phil Barrett: a blog about the latest mobile news (Canada) – http://www.burningthebacon.com/

Neville Hobson: our very own home-grown social media ‘guru’ (UK) http://www.nevillehobson.com/

Rax Lakhani writes an excellent digital PR blog (UK) – www.raxraxrax.com

Andrea Colaianni: always on the top of the latest trends and a really nice guy too! (Italy) – http://www.womarketing.netsons.org/

What is one thing people can do for you?

Smile more – life’s too short to be moody all the time!

Social Media Blogger : An Interview with Lolly Borel of Blog Till You Drop