TDH: Portfolio » blogs

I’ll be back soonish

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:16:34 +0000

“You should blog again!” said David Krug a few minutes ago. “It’s almost been a month!”

It has, hasn’t it? The thing is, I’ve been holding out for the launch of my new design (already up in beta on tdh.se). Unfortunately, I’ve been too swamped to actually put the hours into it that is needed.

Yeah, I suck.

Still, it’s on the radar. And when I’ve relaunched I’ll be blogging more frequently about things, doing series of posts and so on.

In the meantime, sorry David and folks. I’m in a hiatus here at the moment.

Do subscribe to the RSS feed to get the latest dirt when it relaunches.

Possibly Related

Looking for blogosphere bloggers

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Sat, 19 May 2007 11:37:26 +0000

Are you a kick-ass blogger with lots of knowledge and passion for the blogosphere, blog networks and the theme scene? Then I need you for a gig… You’ll be paid per post.

Interested? E-mail me: tdh (at) palepublishing.com

Possibly Related

Blogs and forums, do they match?

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 19:31:24 +0000

Web 2.0 startup news blog TechCrunch, headed by bigshot Michael Arrington, have launched discussion forums. Last year girly gadget blog Shiny Shiny did the same and they were not alone.

Forums are great, but I don’t want to see them as a necessary feature on blogs; the communication possibility is already there, in the comments. Sure, they’re tied to one particular subject – the blog post of course – but still. If you add a forum and encourage your readers to participate in discussions in it, you’ll soon see that the amount of comments on your posts will decline. The same discussion that normally would occur in your post comments, with the possible benefit of actually making the content better, now resides on your forum.

That’s not so bad? Well, it is, because you’ve probably written your blog posts for a reason, and your view on the topic in question can evolve when your readers weigh in. Compare that to the forum, where of course the same thing can come up, but it’s more likely to be less focused and therefore perhaps not going the full length.

Now, if I were in Arrington’s place I would’ve done the same thing. It would have been a cleaner solution perhaps, but too would launch forums. He’s got the massive amount of readers that is needed to support both forums and comments. But more importantly, he’s got the spin-off in the fact that he now won’t need to cope with as many e-mails about start-ups that wants him to give them coverage: they’re directed to the forum! A smart move.

You should only start a forum for your blog if you:

Have lots of readers who comment all the time.
Can integrate it smoothly in your blog design.
Can offer the same login for both your blog and forum (dual memberships for one site are not OK).
Have the time to moderate the forum.
Have extra content and/or value to entice readers to be active in your forum.

TechCrunch fails 3, I’m sure they’ll manage 4 although that’ll be one to watch. One could argue that they haven’t integrated the forum well enough, but I’ll let ‘em pass there, although the solutions clashes a bit it still shares most of the TechCrunch elements. Check them out.

Do consider these points before adding a forum, and also do take a moment to think about what forum software to use. And most importantly, think long and hard what you’ll gain from launching a forum, and what you’ll lose. As always you need a plan to succeed.

I still believe that the absolute majority of blogs are better off without forums.

Possibly Related

The trouble of finding a good dotcom name

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 12:28:36 +0000

Sometimes it’s really hard to find a good domain name for your projects. I limit myself to dotcom domains since I don’t want to make regular readers of various Pale Publishing blogs too confused.

One of the blogs planned for release in the network this year evolved before even being developed. To the better I’m sure. Anyway, this presented the not so easy task of finding a more, well, general domain for the project. We had a great one for the smaller niche, but this changed everything so we’ll have to use it for something else (it can be read in various ways so that might work). This has been quite a nuisance the past two weeks, and has pushed the release forward by this time as well. Actually, it has pushed everything, very annoying.

But now, finally, a domain we can live with! Short, easy to remember, pretty close to the topic. Nice.

Hopefully I’ll do the launch post for the blog next week. If my bloggers can find some time in the middle of the Christmas chaos that is.

Possibly Related

Where is online advertising heading?

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 14:14:10 +0000

I’ve had quite some thoughts on advertising online and the methods that are used. CPM is a true menace in my book, especially if you’re active in the blogosphere. Blogs are just not made to maximize the number of page views per visit, nor should they be. It’s an old and deprecated way of selling ad space. I don’t use it.

For more on this, check out my post Where is online advertising heading? over at The Blog Herald.

Oh, and check out David Krug’s latest venture, 901am. It’s a news site for new media, worthy of your bookmark and RSS subscription I can assure you.

Possibly Related

Your new bookmark just happens to be my first international project

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 07:00:10 +0000

Go figure huh? Want to know what it is and why I’ve chosen it? Do you really?

Of course you do.

The new feature blog having just one specific kind of features will be found at *drumroll*

bloggertalks.com

What does the name tell you? It certainly makes you aware that the site residing on that particular URL has something to do with blogs, and apparently it’s up for discussion in one way or the other.

No, it’s not a forum, nor an event. Sorry.

Picking the name for an international project is hard. You need a .com and you don’t want it to be either too long or too hard to spell. I personally think that finding such a talkative (pun intended) name as bloggertalks.com was a gift from The IntarWeb Gods mentioned by Jeffrey Rowland.

I went with the name for two reasons. The first being that it’s easy to remember and spell, and I think it flows easily off your tongue. The second being that it tells you that it’s about blogs and it’s about communication of some sort.

I’m happy with it; bloggertalks.com wasn’t my primary choice but on my initial list at least. Not having to dig deeper than this was either a pure stroke a genius, or just plain dumb luck. I’ll go with the sooner, although it’s probably the latter.

Coming up next: So what is it already?!

Possibly Related

More about my (still secret) first international project

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:46:01 +0000

I’d like to talk a little about the first international blog I’ll be launching. Actually, I intend to do it in a number of brief posts covering both the creation process and the actual vision of the site.

So yeah, the launch is imminent, a couple of weeks away if nothing evil happen. Which it will, so I’ve planned accordingly – this isn’t my first site launch, as I’ve pointed out previously.

Anyways and onwards!

I became fascinated with the blogosphere a couple of years ago and have followed it from afar since then. The last two years have been spent watching and learning, and the launch of this blog as well as my freelance gig over at The Blog Herald all really comes down to this: the first international launch of my own.

I’ve been doing web since 1996, but only in Swedish. A new language (well, English is taught in school here) and a whole new market shouldn’t be taken lightly, which is why I’ve waited this long. In retrospect I’m not sure if that was the right thing to do, I feel I get better when I push myself into new directions rather than sitting and waiting for something to happen.

But the choice to enter the international blogosphere was both calculated and is being set in motion way more methodical than I’m used to. It’s probably a good thing, I guess, but it sure feels weird.

I’ll be launching the first project soon, and it revolves around the blogosphere. That much has been said before. It’s not a news site, I’ll not be doing what I do for The Blog Herald, and it’s not a new webshow or anything like that. It’s not even a podcast.

It’s a feature blog about the blogosphere, but not any kind of feature – no, just a certain kind.

Coming up next: The name and why I chose it!

Possibly Related

A bit of own horn-tooting

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 13:08:06 +0000

I just published a post over at The Blog Herald about how you can get your own flash movies on your blog, hosting them yourself and not relying on Youtube.

It’s long. Matt should pay me double.

Go read.

Possibly Related

Blogging the start-up process, or not?

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 15:00:19 +0000

I’ve been thinking of whether to blog about how things are going for my upcoming launches. Kicking off in a new (well) language is hard enough, and I probably run into choices others won’t even see or bother to make during the start-up phase of everything.

Still, letting you all know how it goes feels a bit awkward. I’m afraid there’ll be too many posts where I won’t be able to get any facts out there, just hinting stuff. Those posts suck.

Then again, the ride could be a bit interesting, to follow in the present as well as returning to when I’m all done.

I’ll play it by hand until I get to a place where I feel I have reached far enough to let you guys in on the bigger picture. Which or course won’t feel so big to you, since you won’t be able to grasp it all without pouring through my brain and cluttered notebooks…

No easy choices here, but I think I just decided to keep everyone who cares somewhat posted here. Now how’s that for creative blogging, sorting things out on the go!

Possibly Related

Taking the leap towards the whole wide world

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:41:41 +0000

It’s such a rush having set things in motion. I’m quite full of it actually, even though I’ve launched a good number of sites and projects over the years – some mine and some not.

I’m not exactly new to this, but still it feels so fresh.

Venturing into the English speaking segments of the Internet, the huge international parts, was a big step for me. It’s a whole new ballgame where my ten years in this business needs to be tweaked and put into a different light.

That’s a good thing, and during the two years I’ve spent watching and learning what’s happening in the blogosphere, with Web 2.0 and all the hype, well, I’ve picked up quite a few things. Some clash with past experiences, while others proves to be springboards from what I’ve done before.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. I’m getting ready for international launches. That’s plural, there will be more than this first little blogospheric thingy. Three this year if all turns out well, but it could be less but hardly more.

It’ll be interesting to pit my experience and knowledge of, well, making kick-ass web sites, against the rest of the world.

‘Cause Sweden suddenly felt very small.