Happy 2nd Blog Anniversary: Web Strategy Blog

Categories: Ruminations, Social MediaPosted on June 27th, 2008

I can’t believe how fast time flies, I’m now at my second year for this domain. While I’ve been blogging longer than two years (blogspot, 360, etc), the purchase of this domain web-strategist.com has been a milestone, let’s recap.

By the numbers: A Benchmark
What was the path? When I started this new blog, according to Technorati, it was ranked in the millions of blogs, last year was 1,708 and today it’s ranked at 540 (the lower the better), and has over 10,000 incoming links. According to Feedburner there are now over 12,000 subscriptions. According to Google Analytics, there are 86,725 Visits, 132,198 Pageviews, in the last 30 days. Wordpress indicates there are there are currently 1,914 posts and 17,017 comments (over the two years).

Two year Impacts
Despite all this, most of these numbers are meaningless. For each of these metrics, I question the validity of measurement and measurements only make sense if you benchmark against the previous year, which of course, I did: see last year’s stats. What really matters is the impact that blogging has over the industry that I cover, and the jobs it’s helped me to get.

My Blog Strategy: How I did it
So enough stat-porn, I’ll tell you exactly how I did it, giving you all that I learned so you can improve too. Here’s how I did it:

Created focused content
I focused on the topic of making decisions for corporate websites, primarily around social media. It’s important to find something interesting and unique to discuss, avoid echoing techmeme. When I first started, I tried to be on Techmeme, I just became a small link when someone else would break a larger story. For some time now, I’ve avoided being on techmeme, as I’d rather be original and small rather than larger but just echo. I also avoid ‘blog fights’, I’d rather deliver ‘how to’ posts an be a resource.

Publish frequently
I published nearly every day, in fact multiple times a day. How’d I find time to do that I slowly work on drafts (I’ve over 100 of them sitting in wordpress) and I’d budget my time in the morning to pay myself first. (It’s 430 AM when I write this).

Think of readers first
Make it easy to read. Sure there’s a lot of text, but I organize it in an easy to scan (yes scan) way by indenting, use horizontal rule (lines) bolding and using indent points. I approached this as more of a resource to busy professionals rather than my personal journal (although I occasionally share personal info in the context of posts). Forrester conducted a survey, if you want to see who reads this blog and why, the results are public.

Interact
Join the conversation. Such shallow words that are thrown around now, but it’s true. I link to whatever else readers would want to learn about (knowing the more I helped them, the more they’d come back) answer comments on my own blog, and occasionally leave comments on other blogs (I could work on that more). I self reference to older posts, and that helps to tie everything together as the body of work builds on top of itself.

“Productized” content
Developed some unique posts that were mainstay type of posts: my digest, the many index lists, and the on the move series. These help me to manage the industry I cover, have an online archive, make it easy for info-hungry folks, and reduce my time to come up with constant new ideas.

Have Passion
I’m so lucky that I get paid to do what I love, I think this is one of the most important things to do in life, sadly, it’s hard to tell when work starts and stops. Many people thought it was really strange when is started this blog, many said it was a fad, and really didn’t look down the line.

So what’s the future to hold? Well for one, I’m starting to ask people to follow me on Friendfeed. Regarding this blog, I’ve no intentions to stop this pace sharing and learning, thanks for being part of this, it’s a fun adventure and I learn many new things from being part of the conversation, (from your comments and links) every day.

Share This Post:

This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 4:57 am and is filed under Ruminations, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Hi Jeremiah,

First, you have a great blog, congrats!

2nd I’d like to submit a subject to you : what do you think about ISP building their own social network, I’m thinking about what Orange is doing with sites like pikeo / soundtribes / bubbletop / etc that are aimed to be eventually brought together on one single platform ? Do you think it’s relevant and can Orange compete with Facebook, Flickr, … ?

Hope to read your opinion about it, keep up the good work!

Posted by René-Pierre Corbu on June 27th, 2008 at 5:15 am

Once again Jeremiah, I want to thank you for the great resource, sharing and insight that you have given this industry.

I have found your content to be the most relevant and stimulating for my work, often breaking the news to me on tools and strategies that I need to learn more about. Your generosity in a competitive industry is rare and unique.

I wish you well, and for bountiful success in everything you put your hand to.
Paul

Posted by Paul Grant on June 27th, 2008 at 5:15 am

Thanks Paul!

René-Pierre Corb, I’d be looking at the infrastructure level, watch players that already create network devices, services, and ERP software.

Of course, you do know that Comcast purchased Plaxo.

Whatever emerges won’t compete with FB or Myspace, but will be more of an aggregation that ties social graphs to media.

Ok back on topic…we’re about to light the candles

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on June 27th, 2008 at 5:34 am

Just last year did I start reading your blog on a regular basis and I couldn’t be more thankful for the information and knowledge you divulge, day in and day out.

I’ve learned an immense amount from you and truly appreciate what you’ve done for my personal/professional growth and ultimately, for your community.

Thanks again.

Posted by Sonny Gill on June 27th, 2008 at 5:52 am

Jeremiah,
Great work continue it. As one of the supporters of your blog from day 1 it has grown to be what we talked about. A big ‘node’ in the social graph of web strategy and now social media.

Congrats and keep it posting.

Posted by John Furrier on June 27th, 2008 at 6:47 am

Congrats Jeremiah for hitting this milestone. It’s amazing the amount of excellent content, context, links and insight that you put out both in the blog and on Twitter. Looking forward to reading your blog for many years to come.

Posted by Carter Lusher on June 27th, 2008 at 6:53 am

[...] Posted by John Furrier in social media. Tags: Forrester, Jermiah Oywang, social media trackback Congrats to Jeremiah who’s blog turns 2 today. I hired Jeremiah when I was running PodTech because of his ability but also his vision. My wife [...]

Posted by Jeremiah Owyang Blog Turns 2 Years Old - He Shares His Secrets « Furrier.org - Business & Technology Blog on June 27th, 2008 at 7:00 am

Wow thanks John, Carter, Sonny!

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on June 27th, 2008 at 7:01 am

Jeremiah,

A big congrats on the 2nd Anniversary of your blog. Thanks for providing such great content and keeping us on our toes every day. Keep it coming.

Posted by Michael Barber on June 27th, 2008 at 7:18 am

Congrats on the anniversary Jeremiah. I find your blog to be an amazing resource. I have used your ideas and insight to help Mobile Loaves & Fishes (not-for-profit) in Austin, Texas, my own company, and some small businesses. You are providing a great service and you do it with passion and grace. Keep up the good work! Don’t forget to play too!

Posted by Mary Greening on June 27th, 2008 at 7:37 am

Your stats don’t acurately represent the impact you have made on business both in the real world and the virual one.

My organization helps companies use strategy and technology to build 1to1 relationships with their customers. Social media has a central role and your insight has been invaluable. I share your posts daily with my team, our readers and my “powers that be”. You have helped me and my organization move from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and now we have a vison for Web 3.0. Thanks and congratulations.

Posted by Marji Chimes on June 27th, 2008 at 8:46 am

Congrats on your accomplishments! I think that the stats are interesting. I know what value your blog provides to me. It’s good to see that so many others are cruising thru too.

I recently posted my accomplishing a rank of 19,700! (it’s a far cry from 500, but I’m still pleased) I think we need to celebrate these things.
Keep up the great work!

Posted by Connie Bensen on June 27th, 2008 at 8:46 am

Awesome results with your blog. You have a great blog and I enjoy reading it.

Thank you for your posting idea. Doing drafts when you have time is a great idea. Off to work on my 100

Posted by Michael Johnson on June 27th, 2008 at 10:40 am

Congrats Jere…! Typo error “it was really strange when is started this blog” shouldn’t it be “I” for the “is” you have mentioned ? I guess you were half sleep when you posted this entry..!

Certainly aspiring web analyst find this blog motivating and providing enough details to cap on.

Cheers!

Posted by Vinay on June 27th, 2008 at 11:32 am

Congratulations on your 2nd anniversary!

Very impressive stats! Thanks for sharing your strategies.

Posted by Michael Wilson on June 27th, 2008 at 11:44 am

Jeremiah, heartiest congratulations. The accolades that you’re getting from the community are well deserved.

I must admit I found it extremely comforting to learn that you feel you don’t comment on other blogs as much as you should. I’m in the same boat and feel that I am not giving back enough if I don’t comment. I’m hoping to fix that in the near future.

Posted by Shiv Singh on June 27th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

Thanks for your ideas . . . I recommend your blog whenever I speak at conferences about social media.

Cheers,

Posted by Boyd Neil on June 27th, 2008 at 1:06 pm

I’m relatively new to your blog, but I’ve found it incredibly informative. Thanks Jeremiah!

Posted by Chris on June 27th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

Boyd, wow thanks!

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on June 27th, 2008 at 5:02 pm

Congrats on the milestone and on the continued success of the blog. I teach a Graduate course in HR Technology, and while my subjects are only marginally related to yours, I always highly recommend your blog to my students.

Posted by Steve Boese on June 28th, 2008 at 6:37 am

I love your reference and description of “pay yourself first.” It’s been a few hours this morning that I’ve been following links everywhere, and wasn’t until I arrived here that I realized I could now cash in on the time I’ve spent.

In my opinion, the time reading, commenting and writing blog posts has to be a passion. Sometimes it’s when we’re not working that the ideas present themselves in comments overheard or headlines on the newsstands, and even walking the dog.

I carry pieces of paper–and somewhere, somehow those jotted down notes I make enter a blog post or another piece of creative writing.

Sometimes it’s about being aware and in the moment–and that moment isn’t always behind a computer monitor or w/my fingers perched on a keyboard!

Congratulations on 2 years!

Posted by Debbie Hemley on June 28th, 2008 at 7:03 am

Steve, thanks for recommending me, young minds are great. encourage them to comment too!

Debbie, glad you can ‘cash in’, thanks for this.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on June 28th, 2008 at 7:19 am

[...] I find people like Jeremiah Owyang a true inspiration– for his originality, innovation and sticked-to-it-ness. Jeremiah is a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research’s Social Computing and focuses on Social Computing for the Interactive Marketer. He’s been writing the widely successful Web Strategy Blog which celebrates its second birthday this month. In a recent post, Jeremiah describes his blog strategy. [...]

Posted by Strategies for Blogging | Impressions Through Media on June 30th, 2008 at 10:00 am

I am a bit late, but CONGRATULATIONS! As Marji Chimes says in her comment the stats don’t really show the impact you have made.
When I started reading your blog I was a beginner in online marketing and was completely lost. However reading your posts and applying what I have learned from them in the practice made it a lot easier for me to start building my self to be a real professional.
Thank you