Blog Aggregator Best Practices - Recently Updated Pages

Brainstorming

kgreenbaum — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:07:36 CDT

Our Wiki Whiteboard

This page is where we can collect ideas from everyone in the group. Click EasyEdit to add text, tables, photos, etc.

Brainstorming Topic #1: What attributes does a successful blog aggregator have?

Visible stats?
Obvious deliniation that it is an agrregator and who contributed the content
Opt-in only with easy access to opt-out - if recruting blogs it should only link after whomever is running the aggregator contacts the content creator, asks permission, and explains why their blog was choosen (i.e. they should know what and who they are aggregating if recruiting)
Easy text links directly to the original post
Text links that help the SEO of the blogger that is being linked too. For example, if the blogger is writing about politics, make the text on the link related to the politics the blogger writes about. This will increase the SEO rankings for that blogger so it is a win-win situation.
An understanding of the blogger and their subject matter - i.e. human aggregation
Usability is key - I like the technorati model, but it is very hard to navigate... i like especially how you can leave little comments about why you like the blogger but can't figure out how to do it for my favorites just as an example

Brainstorming Topic #2: What do we NOT want in a blog aggregator?

Advertising (question: Suppose bloggers got a piece of the action? -- kurt)
Linking that cycles the user internally and deeper into the aggregator site

Brainstorming Topic #3: What do we need to do to establish our own blog aggregator?

There's a great WordPress plugin called FeedWordPress that can be used to create an aggregator: http://projects.radgeek.com/feedwordpress/ This is, in fact how www.cvilleblogs.com is run.
Relationships with the bloggers
how about http://simplepie.org/wiki/tutorial/how_to_replicate_popurls I think this is used for AllTop which is a very popular agg..

See also: Project Schedule | Rough Draft | Research | Team Members

Team Members

kgreenbaum — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:05:33 CDT

*NOTE: If you do not want to be contacted, please do not include your information.

Name	Email	Phone Number	Web Site
Marijean Jaggers	mjaggers@standingpr.com		www.standingprblog.com
Susan Iskiwitch	siskiwitch@standingpr.com		www.standingprblog.com
Todd Jordan	tojosan@gmail.com		toddjordan.wordpress.com
Melody Cissell	melody.cissell@gmail.com		www.news-bitch.com
Kurt Greenbaum	kgreenbaum@post-dispatch.com		stltoday.com/vstl

Wiki Tip:
To add more rows to a table, put your cursor in the last row of the table and right-click with your mouse. Select "Add row" from the tool tips menu.

Research

Iski — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:41:20 CDT

Examples of Blog Aggregators (the good, the bad, the ugly, etc.):

1. www.cvilleblogs.com
2. www.blogcatalog.com
3. www.stlbloggers.com
4. www.blognetnews.com
5.

Printed Resources:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Wiki Tip:
Add a hyperlink to any text by highlighting the words you want to link, then clicking EasyEdit and the "Link" button. In the field provided, type in the wiki page name you want to link to, or the complete URL for any site on the web.

See also: The Assignment | Brainstorming | Rough Draft | Team Member

Building the Best Blog Aggregator

mjaggers — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 08:31:01 CDT

A Collaboration Wiki to Develop Best Practices for Blog Aggregators

We would like to invite the blogging community, particularly St. Louis bloggers, to collaborate on a project to develop a blog aggregator that everyone can enjoy, use and benefit from. We need your participation to make this aggregator project a success.

This site is a central point to keep track of our goals, the project schedule, and our work in progress. Add pages as necessary, brainstorm on the wiki "whiteboard" page, and use the person-to-person messaging feature to keep in touch with team members.

The Assignment	Project Schedule	Brainstorming
Drafts	Research	Team Members

What's a wiki? This video by Commoncraft will help explain:

Project Schedule

mjaggers — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:46:36 CDT

Project due date: -- August 1, 2008

Progress tracker:

Milestone:	Date due:	Date completed:
1. Invite participants	April 1, 2008
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

See also: The Assignment | Research | Rough Draft | Team Members

Wiki Tip:
Did you know you can add Excel spreadsheets and PDF attachments to any page? Click "Add an attachment" from the Page Toolbox.

The Assignment

mjaggers — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:45:34 CDT

Project description: Develop a list of best practices for blog aggregators that is our "dream scenario" of what a community building blog aggregator would encompass.

Goals: Create a fully detailed proposal on which the whole community agrees.

Deadline: What do you think? August 1, 2008 (this could change)

See also: Brainstorming | Team Members | Project Schedule

Rough Draft

wetpaint — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:26:13 CDT

Our work in progress:

Use this page to add text, tables, photos, and attachments related to your project.

Wiki Tip:
Did you know that you can add attachments to any page? Select "Add an attachment" from the Page Toolbox at right to add PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, and more.

See also: The Assignment | Research | Brainstorming | Team Members

Blog Aggregator Best Practices - Recently Updated Pages

Brainstorming

Our Wiki Whiteboard

Brainstorming Topic #1: What attributes does a successful blog aggregator have?

Visible stats?

Obvious deliniation that it is an agrregator and who contributed the content

Opt-in only with easy access to opt-out - if recruting blogs it should only link after whomever is running the aggregator contacts the content creator, asks permission, and explains why their blog was choosen (i.e. they should know what and who they are aggregating if recruiting)

Easy text links directly to the original post

Text links that help the SEO of the blogger that is being linked too. For example, if the blogger is writing about politics, make the text on the link related to the politics the blogger writes about. This will increase the SEO rankings for that blogger so it is a win-win situation.

An understanding of the blogger and their subject matter - i.e. human aggregation

Usability is key - I like the technorati model, but it is very hard to navigate... i like especially how you can leave little comments about why you like the blogger but can't figure out how to do it for my favorites just as an example

Brainstorming Topic #2: What do we NOT want in a blog aggregator?

Advertising (question: Suppose bloggers got a piece of the action? -- kurt)

Linking that cycles the user internally and deeper into the aggregator site

Brainstorming Topic #3: What do we need to do to establish our own blog aggregator?

Team Members

Research

Examples of Blog Aggregators (the good, the bad, the ugly, etc.):

Printed Resources:

Building the Best Blog Aggregator

A Collaboration Wiki to Develop Best Practices for Blog Aggregators

The Assignment

Project Schedule

Brainstorming

Drafts

Research

Team Members

Project Schedule

Project due date: -- August 1, 2008

Progress tracker:

The Assignment

Project description: Develop a list of best practices for blog aggregators that is our "dream scenario" of what a community building blog aggregator would encompass.

Goals: Create a fully detailed proposal on which the whole community agrees.

Deadline: What do you think? August 1, 2008 (this could change)

Rough Draft

Our work in progress: