New Search Engine Watch Blog

[dannysullivan]

We've opened up a new blog for Search Engine Watch. You can check it out here (http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/). Comments welcomed!

[Nick W]

Funny url there Danny, you couldnt install it in the root dir? :eek:

Good luck with it!

Nick

[I, Brian]

Ah, so you are trying to compete with Aaron's SEObook.com blog? ;)

Looks interesting - I've actually started reading a few SEO-related blogs on a regular basis. Will keep it book-marked.

[dannysullivan]

Right now, the blog is running on a separate server from searchenginewatch.com itself. It will be moved over down the line, so having the /blog/ will make more sense. In particular, they need to be in the same place so the category archives for our paid members will write into the proper location. Or at least, that's the plan!

As for the other blogs like Aaron's, the more the merrier. That's why we run a blog roll. I read a ton of different search blogs, and it's interesting that while sometimes the same topic may be on all of them, it's more often that they all have many posts that don't overlap at all.

[pleeker]

Good stuff Danny / Chris / Elisabeth / Gary / et al. Look forward to reading it, nice addition to the SEW stable.

[Marcia]

>>Comments welcomed!

I like it, I really do! But I have to admit that in your place I'd have a hard time deciding what goes into the blog and what goes into the newsletters that go out. Blogs do have a different feel, tone and style usually, though, so I imagine one will just supplant the other with different tone and perspective.

>>Ah, so you are trying to compete with Aaron's SEObook.com blog?

Nooooo, he is trying to compete with marciahoo.com which is also in beta. ;)

[hiero]

I like the content, makes for great reading! I wish it looked more like a blog site. It's almost hard to differentiate between the regular web site and the blog site.

[Marcia]

>>I wish it looked more like a blog site. It's almost hard to differentiate between the regular web site and the blog site.

Sometimes I think a lot of blog sites look too much like cookie-cutter blog sites, like they're all created from the same CSS template.

Do you think a blog that's part of a bigger site should look "different" from the rest of the site, or should it look like the rest of the site does? How about the branding issue?

[seobook]

Ah, so you are trying to compete with Aaron's SEObook.com blog? ;)
sounds like a plug...oh wait, its for me. great remark ;)
Looks interesting - I've actually started reading a few SEO-related blogs on a regular basis. Will keep it book-marked.
Gary finds tons of news and regularly published it into the forums in a blog like style. couple that with other breaking news stories that Danny and the rest of the crew covers and a blog is an obvious good call
Nooooo, he is trying to compete with marciahoo.com which is also in beta. ;)
fun logo on that site
I like the content, makes for great reading! I wish it looked more like a blog site. It's almost hard to differentiate between the regular web site and the blog site.
blog software is just a (usually simple) content management system. this site has a powerful brand and I can not see any reason why they would want to drastically change the layout and whatnot.

[Elisabeth]

Gary finds tons of news and regularly published it into the forums in a blog like style. couple that with other breaking news stories that Danny and the rest of the crew covers and a blog is an obvious good call


Yea, you'll see much more of Gary's finds over there from now on, since some of them may fit better in the blog/headline format anyway.

[rustybrick]

Yea, this is a great idea. Many of Gary's posts here were very excellent news related items. But after reading them, I was like - hmmm...wow that is interesting news. But I had no comment. So many of those posts fit well in a blog setting, as opposed to a forum setting. Great work Gary and all those at SEW - awesome resource!

[rustybrick]

May I ask, why no commenting at the blog? Was this addressed?

Danny, I know your an avid reader of Jeremy's blog, where he once posted an entry named Jonathon Schwartz: One Way Blogger (http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/002157.html).

Just asking, don't really care either way - but I am just curious if this is temporary or what? :confused:

[hiero]

>>
Sometimes I think a lot of blog sites look too much like cookie-cutter blog sites, like they're all created from the same CSS template. Agreed http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
>>
Do you think a blog that's part of a bigger site should look "different" from the rest of the site, or should it look like the rest of the site does?Yep, and I don't think that SEW needs to go that far from it's present design, but to differentiate to make it known that you're reading a blog in my opinion would be better.

>>
How about the branding issue?Again. it doesn't need a totally new look but differentiate from the present look slightly. Why not create a brand within a brand?

[dannysullivan]

May I ask, why no commenting at the blog? Was this addressed?
Yes, it's in the Welcome post. Basically, we've got the forums. The forums seem the right place for comments to go. For one thing, we know comments can be prone to spam. So sending people to the forums means we only have to watch one place for comment spam, rather than two.

More important, sending people to comment in the forums helps ensure the discussion, while kicked off perhaps by a blog comment, doesn't only stay limited to blog readers. Others in the forums can also discuss the issue.

Also, many times we'll no doubt blog stuff already being discussed. So, trying to avoid duplication. In fact, if you look at a number of things put out there today, I've actually called out places where the topic is being discussed already.

I am planning to add a "How Can I Comment" page to better explain this, because I know some blog readers expect comments to be offered (though not every blog does do this, of course). Hope to get that going later this week.

Yep, and I don't think that SEW needs to go that far from it's present design, but to differentiate to make it known that your reading a blog in my opinion would be better.
I did want to keep the look similar to the rest of the site to help avoid confusing people. What we might do is bring in the calendar style of navigating posts that's very common, to better help say "Blog!" I had that in there originally but left it out to keep things simple for the launch. But other blog features, such as trackbacks and permalinks, I hope will help say this message to people.

[orion]

Great idea!

Orion

[strategicrankings]

Why isn't there a link to the SEW blog in the left hand menu? Or am i not seeing it? :confused:

didn't even find the link in the site map. :eek:

[dannysullivan]

I need to finish off one last thing to the navigation links you see on the blog, hopefully later today or tomorrow. Once that's done, then you'll see the new nav shortly follow to the forums and the SEW site itself.

[DaveN]

is there any where on the internet that spammers can find a whitelist of bloggs ;)

DaveN

[rustybrick]

With MT blogs, you can see if they are using MT Blacklist by just adding to the main blog URL /blacklist.txt.

If they don't have it and comments are allowed, its pretty much a free for all.


Danny, I like the new side navigation bar on the main SEW site.