I am officially announcing the launch of The A Penny For.. BizLinkBlog.

People tell me they can’t read all the blogs I do. The APF BizLinkBlog is a solution. I read lots of stuff in print and online. I don’t have time to comment on everything and alot falls through the cracks. I am hoping the linkblog will help capture the lost and provide value to my readers.

You may just get a link, an excerpt or the whole post, depending on length and value.

I am playing with the format a bit. I want a format where I can copy and paste quickly over to the linkblog. So, it might change over the next couple of weeks as I work it out.

If you want one feed that give you the best of the 150+ business feeds I read, you can subscribe here.

Enjoy!

Just wanted to let you know that I have been adding to the Top 24 blog. I added four lists on Tuesday and three more today. If you want in, send me a note at top24 at apennyfor dot com with a link to the post on your blog.

Happy New Year!

The guys over at Signal Vs. Noise have changed their RSS feed and are now including advertisements with posts. They are testing a new service offered by Feedburner.

This is the post that announced the change and the response has been fast and furious. Some have been supportive saying things like “It was bound to happen.” I think there is a very vocal contingent who is very upset and disappointed with the change. While everyone expected ad-supported feeds to be a progression, I don’t they expected SvN to be at the forefront as a beta tester. I think many thought you would never see something like this on SvN.

From the responses by SvN, they seem to be digging their heels in. They feel they can do what they want.

This is a perfect example of how customers are the ones who own the perception of a company. People have a vision of what SvN is. Ads in feeds doesn’t seems to match well with that customer-held perception. Do something that doesn’t match that perception and you run a great risk of alienating some of your greatest supporters.

I am waiting to see what happens next…case study in progress…

You have to go check out BlogJam.

I think it is great.

Lots of folks blogging about everything that is business-y.

It is a controlled form of controlled chaos.

It started yesterday and ends today.

BTW, my contribution was a comparison post between the books Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin and Free Gift Inside by Stephen Brown. I may put up one more today.

Steve Rubel writes about the launch of the QuickBooks Online Blog.

I think the blog is a great start. I agree with Steve that it is a little stiff right now. The other observation I have is that it is like watching TV and flipping through a different channel with each entry. I wonder if there shouldn’t be some separate blogs/channels for different content.

I just started using QuickBooks, so it will be interesting to see how the blog helps me through this learning curve.

Update: This blog is for the online edition of QuickBooks. I think that might confuse some others too.

Zach Braff of Scrubs fame is writing a blog to promote his new movie Garden State. He wrote it, directed it and stars in it with Natalie Portman.

I think the entertainment industry could benefit greatly from using blogs to promote projects. There is always a built in set of people who are passionate about a project. It could be because of the love of the actors, the director, the original writer of the material, etc. The key is to have the person producing the passion be the one who is blogging. Consider Zach’s blog. He is getting between 60 and 300 comments on each entry. People want him to succeed.

[link courtesy of David at Dial.Log, photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures]

Suw Charman has a new blog at Corante called Strange Attractor. You may know her from her blog Chocolate and Vodka. She says:

In this blog, I want to understand the processes and functions that create these strange attractors, these swirly folded patterns. What makes for a successful blog? How do we counter high churn rates and rapid abandonment? And how do we implement blogs in business in a way that engages users and brings most benefits? [link]

More people asking questions…

I just like posting a reminder every once in awhile about the bizblog directory wiki. We have just over 80 people now listed. If you are looking for some new reading, check it out. If you are blogging about your business or business in general, add yourself to the list.

Here are my answers’ to John Cass’ Corporate Blogging Survey.

1. Why do you blog for your company?

   I have been doing A Penny For… for about a year and I like blogging. I pitched a project to Jack (Covert) at 800CEOREAD about starting a blog about business books. He liked the idea, so we went and did it.

2. What goals did you set for the blog?

   Our first goal was to generate traffic for 800CEOREAD. We wanted to have 1000 a day reading the site. In three months, we are pretty close to meeting that goal. Our second goal was to become the best single source for information about business books. We do that through a combination of aggregated content and original material. Again, I think we are close to reaching that goal. Our third goal was to provide a PR medium for authors. We write reviews, invite authors to host the blog, run excerpts, etc. We do alot of that now and have more planned for the future. Our fourth goal is to sell more books.
   That is a long-term goal.

3. How do you think your blog fits into your company’s communications strategy?

   We think it builds both sides of our business. On one side, we build our brand as business book experts with readers. Readers of our blog are spending 2 to 7 minutes with our brand every day. That is pretty compelling. On the other side, we build relationships with authors.

4. Tell me about the publishing mechanics of your blog. How often do you publish? How do you decide what to publish? Any special publishing techniques?

   We publish on working days and put up between 2 and 10 posts a day. Our content is based on what we see in business media, what we see people reading (from their blogs), and what new books come across our desks.

5. Who writes the blog? Who contributes to the blog on a regular basis?

   I am the primary writer. Jack probably contributes the second most material. After that, we have volunteer reviewers like John, Diego, Rich, Cathy, and Evelyn. We have authors like Tom and Susan.

6. Have you achieved your original communications goals?

   Not yet. I think we are 30% to 50% of the way there.

7. Were there any any unexpected communications or learning consequences as a result of publishing your blog?

   I feel a little more pressure on the 800CEOREAD blog versus on A Penny For… I think it is really important to maintain a steady stream of new content on the corporate blog. Keeping it fresh and interesting can be a challenge. I don’t think personal blogs have the same pressure. It is much more “write when you want to”.

8. How have you built better relationships with customers?

   It is still early, but we think so. We know we have added new customers because of it.

9. Macromedia, Microsoft and other companies are encouraging more of their employees to blog. How do all of these different voices together affect the direction of a company?

   I don’t think they do. Blogging allows you to see more of the goings-on, but blogging doesn’t in itself change the strategy of the company. Maybe others can provide proof the other way.

Steve Rubel had breakfast with Nick Denton and he has three great takeaways about the way Nick does business:

1. Pick a Great Name
2. Use Blogs to Get Traffic
3. Focus on Men

[via Scoble’s Linkblog]