LET'S CHAT: Afrigator and Adgator issues - bloggers forum

I HAVE huge respect for the Gators who started Afrigator – Africa’s largest blog aggregator, and Adgator – a unique advertising service for bloggers. However, things appear to have gone a little pear-shaped in recent months to say the least.

Both services have been awarded and honoured in the press - and deservedly so. It would seem that the steady growth of Afrigator was something unprecedented. Unfortunately, it also appears that the Gators were unprepared for such (perhaps unexpected) growth. While Afrigator may be winning the popularity contest among the aggregators, it could be argued that it is fast losing popularity among its users.

Downtime, site crashes, delays with the fetching of new content, the slow death of Gatorpeeps, and the inability for bloggers to access their blog statistics, are all happening all too often. I found my own blog crashing and behaving painfully slow in recent months. This was until I removed the Afrigator badge and tracking code. I see that several bloggers have done the same.

Afrigator issues

I tried to reach the Afrigator blog for comment, but it failed to respond. I do have it on good authority though that the Afrigator blog hasn’t seen an update since June last year.

And then there’s Adgator – an advertising service that showed (and will hopefully re-show) much promise. Adgator has made a few bloggers some decent pocket money since its launch, yet lately there seem to be more disgruntled Adgator users than satisfied ones.

On the plus side, the Gators seem to be doing really well with finding new ad campaigns and offering these to bloggers on a regular basis. Every time I hear of a new campaign that’s applicable to my blog category and location, I think “this is it! This is the one that’s going to make it big!” Then I visit my Adgator dashboard a few weeks down the line, often to find an impressive click-through ratio yet a lump sum of about 50cents.

Adgator earnings

December dashboard

Ad impressions worth zilch

I fully understand that not all the ads offered by Adgator are “paying ads”, and that there is a difference between the Adgator earnings and the Ad: Dynamo earnings. However, I can’t shed the feeling that something still isn’t quite right.

I make a real effort to better understand any issues, and the Gator team are really courteous and speedy with their replies. But when bloggers are constantly told that there is a “discrepancy between figures and stats” this doesn’t really offer much by way of solution.

I’m sure the Gators are painstakingly working on such issues and that they mean well. I’m sure they’re also probably sick of being e-mailed complaints and held to accountability. Of course, it’s fair to give them some time and be patient about the whole thing. But, it’s also fair to talk about it and appeal for answers. Perhaps others don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them so to speak.

So let’s get some discussion going. Am I alone here? Do any of the Gators care to respond? Any good news for your users in 2011? I sincerely look forward to hearing from you soon.

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CREATIVE BLOGGING: Better content, more fun

BLOGGING is a creative process by nature, but many bloggers tend to stick to formulas. Content that isn’t fresh and doesn’t look and feel inspired, tends to drag the audience on. This is not good for your blog as this method of blogging is the most definitive way of preventing your blog from growing and evolving. Like SEO, content creativity is critical to content quality and accessibility.

The blogging market is partly responsible for the tendency to treat a blog like a day job - going through routine processes. Creative blogging, which was the original basis of blogging, has become somewhat “industrial”, and the result has been a large number of blogs doing the same things simply because they’re the norm. The creative impetus is reduced, and that hasn’t done much for the blogs either - inflicting lower standards.

This very bad habit has done nothing for bloggers generally, and has taken a lot of the fun out of blogging. In marketing and advertising, “product identity” is critical, and the very samey content and presentation of blogs is arguably marketing suicide.

Creative blogging is really the only antidote to this situation. Good content is the core business model of successful blogging, and creativity is its main driver. It is also the major asset of blogs - the ability to develop new materials and new approaches. This is an extremely flexible medium and allows a lot of experimentation - synergistic with the creative process.

Blogs really are the most effective method of expression for a range of content that couldn’t possibly be done by mainstream media. The creative options are almost limitless and form a major part of the value of blogs as a media genre.

Creative options in blogging

The creative options are quite literally limitless. Subject, content and presentation can be developed and evolved into a unique product. These are also extremely valuable to blogs as both intellectual and commercial property. Some creative blog materials have become true classics and have formed part of the global culture.

Creative product can also fund the development of blogs and blog operators. This is one element of the creative process that can produce excellent results across a range of operations, and also pay for new media assets.

The creative options include:

• Media content: Unique content is particularly valuable - even salable.
• Opinions: The original basis of blogging. Opinions (particularly expert opinions) are major products and sources for media information.
• Graphics: Graphic content on blogs are the most likely to go viral. This material translates into everything from T shirts to merchandising.
• Journalistic content: Blogs are making major inroads into mainstream news media, and this content is becoming useful commercial property.

There is plenty of scope for creativity in blogging. This is “best practice” for blogging and is also the commercial basis of blogging. Your creativity is your greatest asset as a blogger. Develop your ideas and your blog will evolve with them.

Related Posts:

• Don’t knock it ’till you try it
• A beginner’s guide to blogging

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WEB 2.0: Prisoner-generated content & the U.S. prison system

THE United States contains 5% of the world’s population and holds 25% of the world’s prisoners. In other words, a quarter of the global prison population resides in single country - the U.S. This is according to a 2008 research report published in California Prison Focus and really is a staggering thought to fathom.

And not only are more than 2 million people imprisoned in the U.S. but after a brief look at the manufacturing output of U.S. prisons, one can rightfully argue that America has reinvented the slave trade.

According to the Left Business Observer, the federal prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens. Along with war supplies, prison workers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services, 93% of paints and paintbrushes, 92% of stove assembly, 36% of home appliances, 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers and 21% of office furniture.

The list goes on with airplane parts and medical supplies. U.S. prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for the blind.

It’s clear that prison is big business. The multimillion-dollar prison industry has its investors on Wall Street - capitalists who don’t need to worry about their workforce striking or reporting family problems. According to a study by the Progressive Labor Party, corporate stockholders who make money off prisoners' work actually lobby for longer sentences, in order to expand their incarcerated workforce. Disgusting.

An Unlikely Source of Web 2.0 Contributors

However, when prisoners are not tinkering away for 25 cents an hour, several are engaging with social media and contributing towards what largely makes up web 2.0. Social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming more accessible to those incarcerated in the U.S. prison system, and there are even a few that are blogging from behind bars.

A famous example of “blogging behind bars” is the currently imprisoned rapper Lil Wayne who makes semi-regular updates to his website.  Since he does not have access to the Internet, the entertainer dictates his posts using the regular mail system which are then typed on his blog remotely by an assistant.

With the rapid growth of web 2.0 and the benefits that it can offer prisoners, several prisons world-wide are now putting systems into place that offer inmates more direct access to electronic communication.

One particular system that allows prisoners to send electronic messages is called the Trust Fund Limited Inmate Computer System, also known as TRULINKS. This is managed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and provides email communication without granting access to the Internet.

While the TRULINKS system provides email communication (if approved by the prison staff), some penitentiaries are going further by granting limited Internet access to inmates. Several prisons are installing Internet kiosks that offer online banking, email and video conferencing.

This was done in part to reduce the amount of paper created by the regular mail system and to lower the amount of time it takes to screen physical packages. Furthermore, like TRULINKS, it is not taxpayer dollars that are used to fund these services; the inmates pay for it themselves.

Reforming the prison system: Reward or punishment?

Many will argue that granting prisoners Internet access is a luxury that should not be given to those being punished. However, others insist that being linked in can help rehabilitate the incarcerated – better preparing them for a return to society.

The ability to skillfully use computers and the web are vitally important in the modern world. Allowing prisoners to use the Internet offers them the chance to hone these skills and may make it easier for them to find work once released.

Internet access could be structured as a reward for good behaviour that could easily be taken away if an inmate violates any prison rules. It seems like a fair system that is likely to encourage better behaviour behind bars; I’m sure any chance to engage with family and the outside world would. But bearing the truth of the U.S. prison system in mind, what we really need to see are inside scoops about reforming the U.S. prison system entirely.

Related: 10 stats you should know about our prison system

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2010 BLOG AWARDS: Categories, Casters and Criteria

WITH many bloggers now focusing on their blogs full-time, blogs have moved from a fun sideline project to a lucrative form of business. Keeping in line with this trend, the SA Blog Awards have also matured and bloggers will see statistics from their site forming part of the evaluation criteria for the judges in each of the categories in 2010.

Now in its 5th year, the awards will take place on 25 September and will feature more judges per category than in the past. Judges will also be experts in their respective fields with a keen interest in social networking.

Given the past success of the awards and the increased interest in the 2010 event, The SA Blog Awards warranted the addition of a new member. JP Naude, Cape Town businessman and radio personality, takes on the role of CEO for the Awards. One of Naude’s focus areas will be raising the profile of the awards ensuring a heightened sense of credibility in 2010.

Naude has already implemented a partnership with Afrigator, one of South Africa’s foremost blog statistic measuring companies, whereby it will act as an independent auditor providing accurate and up-to-date information on the nominated blogs to the judges.

Naude will be working alongside the original SA Blog Awards team with organiser Chris Rawlinson being the backbone of the awards, and Huddlemind CEO Dave Duarte, adding strategic value.

News24 has been confirmed as the headline sponsor this year.  Naude says, “Having News24 on board will help us take the awards to a new level. Last year alone, the event attracted more than 5 000 blog nominations and over 100 000 individual votes. With News24’s commitment to showcasing content from the nominated blogs to their audience of more than 2 million online South Africans, we expect these figures to increase impressively.”

Karen Dempers, Head of Marketing at News24 believes the sponsorship is a natural fit: “Many South Africans are referring to blogs for updates, opinion and insight into what is happening around them. We have seen a significant increase in the popularity of user generated content across the News24 network and have watched the number of blogs grow year on year as more South Africans embrace this platform to voice their opinions.”

The nomination process
Bloggers in the country will be given recognition for their contribution to the ever growing blogging community. During the nomination process for the awards, the public is requested to nominate their favourite blogs before being judged by a panel of industry experts in 24 different categories.

This year the award categories include the newly introduced SA Tweeter of the Year – acknowledging the best Twitter account, Best Company Blog, and Best Fashion Blog. The entry criteria state that only blogs written within South Africa and/or blogs written by South African citizens are considered eligible for the awards.

Nominations will take place between 2-27 August 2010. Thereafter, the top ten nominees in each category will go into the public vote phase from 1-17 September. The results of this vote will then be passed onto the judges who will cast their votes thereby deciding the category winner. The overall winner of the SA Blog Awards will be chosen by the judges from the selection of category winners.

The following Blog Award categories are available this year:

• Havana Club Rum Best Blog Design: Best designed blog.
• Jameson Best Fashion Blog: Best blog about fashion/style.
• Best Personal Blog: Diary type blogs of a personal life story.
• The Kulula Best Travel Blog: Blog featuring travel related content.
• Best Blog about Politics: Blogs featuring mainly a political theme.
• Best Food and Wine Blog: Blogs written primarily about food or drink.
• Best New Blog: Blogs which were started during the year of 2009/2010.
• The Ogilvy Twitter Micro Blogger of the Year: Best SA Twitter account.
• Best Photographic Blog: Blogs featuring original photographic content.
• The News24 South African Blog of the Year: The Best of the Best from SA.
• Olmeca Tequila Best Music Blog: Blogs about news of the musical nature.
• Best TV/Radio Blog: Best blog by a South African TV or Radio personality.
• Best South African Podcast/Video Blog: Best online audio/video shows.
• Best Parenting Blog: Blogs about the trials and tribulations of living with little people.
• Best Group Blog: Blogs with more than one author. This includes mainstream media.
• Most Controversial Blog: The blog which caused the most amount of discomfort in 2009.
• The Ogilvy Best Media and Marketing Blog: A blog which comments on design, branding and marketing would also fit into this category.
• The Old Mutual Best Green Blog: Blogs covering mainly environmental organic or environmental friendly related content.
• The Evox Advanced Nutrition Best Sports Blog: Blogs written exclusively about any recognised sport.
• The UCT Graduate School of Business Best Business Blog: Blogs about businesses or business education - individually written.
• The Best Company Blog: Best blog by a corporate, small business or non-profit organisation.
• Best Indigenous Language Blog: Blogs written in an indigenous language with a slight bias toward the culture of that language.
• Best Science and Technology Blog: Blogs primarily focused on science, technology, computers or the internet.
• Best Overseas South African Blog: Blogs written by a South African in any foreign country.
• Best Entertainment Blog: Blogs about art, movies, celebrities, theatre and topical issues with entertainment value.

In addition to News24, category sponsors this year include advertising giants Ogilvy Cape Town, kulula.com, Old Mutual, The UCT Graduate School of Business, Evox. Olmeca Tequila, Jameson, Havana Club Rum and Atmosphere Communications - a PR agency that has successfully used social media campaigns for its clients.

• For more information on the awards and the nomination process, visit www.sablogawards.com

About the South African Blog Awards:
The South African Blog Awards were started in 2005 and are a showcase of the best blogs in South Africa voted for by the public and their peers. Since its inception more than six thousand blogs have been nominated with over one hundred thousand individual votes. The SA blog awards is the only event in Africa that reaches all the best South African blogs and online digital influencers in one go.

- Issued on behalf of Atmosphere Communications

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SEO TRICKS: Using image searches to your blogs benefit

CHECKING your site's statistics on a regular (if not daily) basis is extremely useful for determining just how people are arriving at your website via searches. I have been surprised to find that a lot of my traffic arrives via Google image searches. So how do we make the most of this?

If you wish to use an existing image on the web, the first trick is to download and re-size the image. By simply opening the image in Photoshop, you can save the image as a larger file (jpeg) than what it previously was. The result is that if someone does a relevant image search and clicks on the “large” option, your version of the pic is more likely to show up first in searches, and may result in a click-through.

The second step is to tag your images cleverly and ensure that these match with the context of your post and/or post headline. For example, in a post titled How to Photoshop your photos, the accompanying image (below) has been both re-sized and renamed to "Photoshop Before and After." The keyword "photoshop" has also been used within the alternative text and description of the image.

Photoshop Before and After

Photoshop tends to judge, so touch up your human subjects

It is also useful to provide a sub-heading and caption with your images - each containing the same keyword(s). Ideally the same tags should appear in your post headline as well.

Picture Posts

It seems to be very difficult to get picture posts publicity on the web due to their text-free nature. However, by applying the same methods above, your picture posts are far more likely to be found via Google image searches. As an extra insurance, provide a short splurb with each each image - over and above the sub headings and captions - and fuel these with relevant search tags.

That's all for now. Next time we'll look at promoting your posts via social media.

Related SEO Post: Copy Compass: Best WordPress plugin

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MYSCOOP: South Africa’s new blog aggregator with promise

WHEN the blog was born it was met with mild curiosity in the online world. Suddenly every web user had the means to voice their opinion and views and, in effect, have their very own website. Needless to say, the idea caught on, and there are now thousands of bloggers fighting for popularity and page rank on an ever growing blogosphere.

What was needed in the blogosphere was an effective method of categorising the huge influx of blogs and creating order out of chaos. The result was the development of blog aggregators — websites that could track certain blogs and make them more accessible to readers.

These have become the height of entrepreneurial endeavour online, as well as some of the most popular stops for web browsers and bloggers alike. In South Africa we had the emergence of Amatomu — a South African blog aggregator started by the keen minds of the Mail & Guardian online. Amatomu fell in and out of use before officially becoming null and void toward the end of last year. The creators stated that the site had become too much to handle and are currently trying to sell the website.

The blogosphere then saw the birth of Afrigator — a uniquely African aggregator founded by a man named Justin Hartman. Afrigator has shown great promise and has spawned several digital offspring, such as Gatorpeeps and Adgator — a micro-blogging service and a South African advertising service respectively. Afrigator has proved to be extremely popular in the blogosphere — winning a bronze award in the Publishing Integrated Campaign category at the second annual Bookmarks awards ceremony in November last year.

But with the untimely death of Amatomu there was a large, online shoe to be filled in the blogosphere by a new, uniquely South African blog aggregator. Thus came about the emergence of my­Scoop — the latest blog aggregator to take to the rough waters that is the blogosphere.

What is myScoop?

myScoop is the latest addition to the SA blog aggregator family and also operates as a social bookmarking tool. Created by South African web entrepreneur, Nicholas Duncan, myScoop is showing great promise within the blogosphere.

“I use a lot of social bookmarking sites and noticed that South Africa is lacking in this department,” says Nick Duncan. “It was never meant to be a blog aggregation tool at all, but, when I noticed the downfall of Amatomu, I decided to give it a bash and out popped [myscoop.co.za]”

myScoop is also a great example of how the multitude of social networking websites available today are starting to integrate and merge. myScoop specifically makes use of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, OpenID and Blogger accounts — all of which can be used to join or sign into the site.

Nick Duncan is constantly improving myScoop and recently created a badge and ranking system. The site now has the ability to keep track of blog hits in real-time, as well as provide information as to what specific pages users are accessing on your blog at any given moment.

The ranking system keeps track of what blogs are the most popular and which posts receive the most traffic within a day or a month. There is also a dedicated stats section that shows users how many hits their sites had on different dates.

“Right now we offer “live stats” (which is still a bit buggy, but all problems will be ironed out in due time). Once sponsorship is found for hosting, I will be able to develop greater tools for myScoop,” explains Duncan.

myScoop features:

• Blog profile: Each blog entered has a profile displaying its latest posts.
• Blog aggregator: myScoop has a blog aggregator that allows you to create a profile and add your blog.
• Topic stats: There is a very easy-to-understand stats page for each article that shows users the daily clicks for the topic.
• Community: The overall vibe of myScoop is informative and friendly, which is what all social media platforms strive for.
• MyPage: Each member on myScoop gets a myPage area where they can follow others blogs and keep up-to-date with what is happening in their areas of interest.
• Social bookmarking: It has a very easy-to-use social bookmarking platform that categorises and rank submissions according to the number of unique clicks each topic gets.

Unique features and future developments?

The development and functionality of blog aggregators rely heavily on user feedback, which is something that myScoop both encourages and is doing a great job of — by implementing ideas and suggestions offered by its users.

“I would like to make myScoop more community-driven … user input is absolutely vital in any website and I would like to let the actual users steer the ship as to where they want myScoop to go,” says Duncan.

In terms of future developments, Nick Duncan is constantly creating and implementing new features and aims to create a unique user experience: “The ultimate goal is to create something “unique” in a sense; it’s no good having two or three of the same websites floating around … I’d also like to create a platform where users are able to develop their own programs by pulling information off the server. [However] this can only be possible once stable hosting is found,” explains Duncan.

myScoop challenges

A major challenge concerning South African blog aggregators is becoming overwhelmed with online traffic and maintaining connectivity speeds. This is largely what led to Amatomu’s early retirement. Tied in with these issues is local bandwidth — specifically the costs of bandwidth and the lack of it in SA.

“There are a number of factors that hamper the snow-balling effect we all would like to see when it comes to our new startups, such as advertising, hosting and bandwidth costs, says Duncan. These all can limit potential growth, but I feel that, as a young web entrepreneur, staying positive and keeping the momentum, while keeping your ear to the ground and listening to your users, can ultimately lead to your success.”

I personally foresee great things ahead for myScoop (and the blogosphere in general) and would encourage all South African bloggers join in on the debate and follow its development. myScoop is also a great example of a good South African online service and Nicholas Duncan is one of the most reliable and decisive web entrepreneurs I have come across on the Internet.

About Nick Duncan:

I started playing with PHP about three years ago, but have been into HTML since I was about 12 years of age. I am engaged to a beautiful woman and recently experienced the birth of my boy, Logan. (This of course hampers development time, but is absolutely worth it)! I have two good-as-gold step kids aged five and eight that keep me on my toes. I welcome all feedback regarding the myScoop project, which can be directed at nick@myscoop.co.za. You can also follow @Nicholas_Duncan on Twitter.

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