TDH: Portfolio » serial http://tdhedengren.com The portfolio of Thord Daniel Hedengren Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:08:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Blog networks going deep rather than wide http://tdhedengren.com/blog/blog-networks-going-deep-rather-than-wide/ http://tdhedengren.com/blog/blog-networks-going-deep-rather-than-wide/#comments Sun, 17 Sep 2006 13:31:44 +0000 Thord Daniel Hedengren http://www.tdhedengren.com/archives/58 Martin Neumann, who also writes for The Blog Herald, commented on my recent post regarding Instablogs niche gadget blogs. He, just like me, thinks it’s a good idea to go deep rather than wide (his words, but still true) as a blog network, delivering niche sites within the network rather than competing with established hotshots.

Like Instablogs does, because by launching their niche gadget blogs they won’t fall victim to giants like Engadget or Gizmodo.

How would I apply that to my (still) fictional blog network? Well I would, for starters, pick a niche and get crackin’ with no less than two, perhaps three, blogs. They in turn would be going deeper into the niche and therefore not compete with whatever established major blog that’s available. For let’s face it, there’s at least a couple players in every niche and some of them are bound to be so bit that they feel like the niche standard or sorts. By going under their radar the startup blogs would actually be a better choice for readers particularly interested in this part of the niche. Granted, none of my startup blogs would have a chance of achieving the traffic of a wide and successful blog covering the whole niche, but such would have a harder time getting established.

Now my blog network has a couple of deep going sites in a selected niche, two or three. So now I do it all over again, with a new niche, rather than going deeper into the first one. This is because I don’t want my network to be firmly attached to one particular niche, I want it to span wider. When niche #2 goes online (again, two or three blogs going deeper into the niche) I’d make sure to brand each niche in a nice way so that they would feel separate, but still a part of the blog network.

And so it’s officially a serial, the blog network posts, here at tdhedengren.com! Stick with me as I go with this.

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]]> http://tdhedengren.com/blog/blog-networks-going-deep-rather-than-wide/feed/ 0 I feel like starting a blog network http://tdhedengren.com/blog/i-feel-like-starting-a-blog-network/ http://tdhedengren.com/blog/i-feel-like-starting-a-blog-network/#comments Thu, 31 Aug 2006 08:32:43 +0000 Thord Daniel Hedengren http://www.tdhedengren.com/archives/42 I really should be writing something else at the moment. News, articles, The Blog Herald posts – anything really. But sometimes things just doesn’t work out that way.

I feel like starting a blog network.

Got your attention there, didn’t I? So how would my blog network work? Well, first of all I wouldn’t call it a blog network, not because it’s geeky (sorry John, have to link you every time I touch this forever on!) or because 9rules doesn’t do it. No, it’s more a matter of definition since my blogs would have a more daily approach, I think. I would scrap the traditional gadget blogs (which I enjoy reading otherwise) and aim for depth rather than speed. My gaming blog wouldn’t pump out news Joystiq style, it would give you in-depth analysis and features – quality over quantity. And it would definitely lack reviews, man – they are everywhere these days.

My blog network would be small, which is plain stupid when it comes to getting the links in and Pagerank up, but I can’t help it – pushing out loads of blogs feels wrong. They can do that when I sell it for a truckload of money. Every site would have two or three authors and should be updated daily.

I would use Youtube, Flickr and similar services to do my dirty work. Hosting your own video clips is expensive, but having a user on Youtube solves this problem. This especially would suit a gaming blog well since you get pitched with a gazillion trailers every month.

Podcasts suck. That’s my general opinion. If you got to do them, do them right – like The Blog Herald (proud of you Matt!). My podcasts wouldn’t suck, they would be short and concise, professionally mixed by my nerdy brother who’s into that sort of thing. And they would be right to the point, a weekly part of the content flow. Maybe I would do a network edition, with the best stuff all crammed into one. As a playlist of course, if you don’t want to hear about the pains of an aspiring novelist you won’t have to.

My blog network wouldn’t have a job board, better that I partner with one. It would however have a Wordpress dedicated blog, with tips and tutorials. That would be giving back to the Wordpress community, and also a not so subtle way to hoard good PR (not Pagerank) and inbound links.

The blogs in the network would have somewhat similar designs, but not too close to each other either. You would (almost) recognize a blog in the network, but the tipping point that makes you sure would be the network menu at the top of each page. A dynamic thing by the way, with links to other blog one click away but dropping it down would give you the highlights of each blog as well. Nifty huh?

What blogs would be in there? How would the network rule the world? Who would pay for it and who would write what? That’s something for another post, I think. Hey, maybe this’ll become a serial here at tdhedengren.com! Spooky.

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