Blogging – WTF?

http://www.shaolintiger.com http://www.darknet.org.uk @ShaolinTiger on Twitter

Yah..so who are you?

My friends are bloggers

I read a lot of blogs

How many of you regularly read blogs?

Yah I also have a 'serious' Blog

- Top 5 infosec blog in the world- 35,000 RSS Subscribers- 6,000 Twitter followers- Etc...

So what is a blog?

“A blog (a portmanteau of the term web log)[1] is a personal journal published on the World Wide

Web consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically displayed in reverse chronological order

so the most recent post appears first. Blogs are usually the work of a single individual,

occasionally of a small group, and often are themed on a single subject. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to

a blog”

So...

- By that defition..is Techcrunch still a blog?- Is Huffington Post still a blog?- Is Slashdot still a blog?

Interesting..

- Quite a number of sites that started out as blogs (according to the traditional definition) have ended up as huge, extremely successful news portals

- In a way this shows the intrinstic value of blogging and the heights it can reach if done correctly

The value of blogging

- Engaging – not just publishing

- Branding – both personal and corporate

- Finding people – either as friends or to hire

- Marketing – Be a thought leader/influencer

- Community – building your tribe

- Rapid publishing – which allows transparency

The percieved negatives

Losing control You never had control over what people say

Negative sentiments They are out there anyway, a blog is a way to

address them effectively It's a lot of effort

Yes it can be, but done right it's worth the returns

How to Engage YOUR audience

1) Write about what you are passionate about

1)Provide high quality content without the expectation of anything in return2) Respect your audience3) Communicate (leverage social media, reply to comments)4) Update regularly

Advantages of Blogging- No editorial process (can be a pro and a con),

but it enables very rapid responses and very honest, open writing

- You forge the direction, narrative, intended audience and every other aspect

- There's no pressure, unless you create it yourself

- You can easily establish yourself as a subject expert by blogging (goes for companies too)

Should you Blog?

- You should TRY it, honestly it's not for everyone (it costs nothing to give it a go)

- Should every freelancer & company blog – absolutely yes (as long as there's someone committed to updating it)

Disadvantages of Blogging

- You are the WHOLE TEAM (writer, researcher, editor, photographer, web designer & server admin)

- You don't have anyone to check with if you're 'doing the right thing'

- You can feel certain expectations to write a certain way once you've built an audience

- If you start accepting ads, you've sold your soul to the devil (especially advertorials)

Great examples

Richard Brandon Tony Fernandes

Get Blogging..

- http://wordpress.com

- http://blogspot.com

- http://www.tumblr.com

- http://posterous.com

The END!

Questions?

Feel free to stalk me @ShaolinTiger

This preso will be on http://slideshare.net/shaolintiger