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If you don't want to have to wade through pages and pages of history and specs, then check out this cool video from CNET.

Instead of trying to explain what a Blog is, it is always easy to explain the benefits of using one.

Ok, missed the one last year, but am partacing in this year's event which consists of posting some pics of your kitties to your blog and linking to Ross's Blog here.

I already had a bunch of pics up of my boys on my blog, but I'll throw a couple I think really shine in this article. This is my Boy Thunder and….

Thunder and Thor together.

Brothers till the end, just wish I could catch Thunder when he uses the toilet, and believe it or not was NEVER trained! He just figured it out himself somehow, either way if I can catch him with my camera - phone I'll moblog an update pic.

Caught him!

Kathleen gives some great detail on her views of what the differences are and why her company has chosen Blogware.

We wish you all the best with Ping Affinity Networks!

Ok, so I had my new Motorolla V400 phone delivered yesterday and have had a few difficulties setting things up with my cellular provider. Maybe there was some misscommunication, but they didn't activate the access packages requested with the order which is subtly frustrating.

In about 15 minutes of very helpfull and friendly tech support (Nice to see for a change compared to some other providers I have been with) I was able to activate sending MMS messages and Emails.

The only issue now is I can't setup my email on my corporate email box. Issues with connecting to the server due to some other missconfiguration. Support is supposed to call me back so I'll keep updating as this progresses.

Ok, some amazing feedback already with the new release which includes a few huge changes such as a really slick new UI , Some really cool Reseller of Reseller functionality, and alot of neat stuff around the FOAF and the social networking tools available.

Check it out by signing up for a FREE no obligation trial through one of our resellers by clicking on the BLOGWARE button to the right.

Well, what is it? Great debate and conclusion posted by Dave Winer. 

Anything not “blogged” from your base blogging station (Home / Office) is moblogging. Ross doesn't necessarily feel it is anything different from traditional blogging past the unique application itself, but it does highlight the continuing evolution to a connected universe no matter where you go.

Moblogging is more popular in other markets including Asia especially, but that's probably because you are hard pressed in that market to find a cell phone WITHOUT a camera as opposed to North America where it tends to be a premium feature.

Although not as popular in NA, I believe that once the technology proliferates and the cell manufacturers continue to differentiate their products, just like email with hosting, they will be forced to offer camera or video features on every model lineup. Does this mean that everyone who blogs will Moblog? Definitely not, it all depends on how addicted you are to your tool…. and I'm definitely addicted to mine!

One of the key inherent benefits of a blog are some tool's inherent traffic making capabilities. I have outlined some of these in conversations, but here is a great description of how Blog Tracking services up the ante on how to get your blog noticed.

Scobleizer does a great job here, and even goes so far as to summarize his 5 rules of conversational software that also shows the differentiation of Blogs to other tools as well as being a hell of a shorter read than the eight pages in my last post

This is one of five things that make weblogs different from standard old Web pages. (I've written about the five rules of conversational software before, but they are 1) Easy to publish. 2) Discoverable. 3) Social (track linking between sites). 4) Viral (permalinks are built for each content component so that content can be IM'd or emailed around). 5) Consumable (blogs should publish RSS feeds so that readers can easily subscribe to your content).)

He provides direct tips on how to get the most exposure for your blog. Definitely something I have to look into after I delved into my stats last night.

I was asked this question today while training some new sales staff on both of the services I act in a BDM role for. In case it is not highly advertised on this blog, I am also responsible for the really great Website Building Tool service that we launched to our channel back in April, one month post the launch of Blogware.

Let me start with the basics, Blogs are bottom-up Content Management Tools, basically content management for the “rest of us” as a favored reseller coined for us recently. If you do not know what that is take a quick read here. This is a great company that offers this type of sophisticated Enterprise level software at the bargain basement price of around $50k or so and just happens to have an office in the same area as us. I'm not being facetious here; these systems could range in the multi-millions of dollars for some applications. A great example would be ZDnet that uses a similar sort of system. Absolutley amazing for large infrastructures with multiple stakeholders and a truly massive presence of content etc….

Blogs on the other hand are really just database driven systems that generate web pages on the fly in real time, hence the term Dynamic content. This means that every article posted, every picture or spread sheet uploaded receives it's own unique URL and location in the database. When you look at this blog and see the categories, the logos and backgrounds, they are all generated in real time as a “Frame” around the content, which is the real painting of a web presence. If this blog were a static website, specific articles (pages) I have listed under the WHAT’S A BLOG? category would be physically located in that directory on the server in most cases, whereas in this blog that category is really only a pointer to the destination of the database elements (Articles) that I have entered as content. With the Blogware system I could have a specific article repeated on 8 different “pages” or categories, but there is only ONE copy of the article stored on the server. With static HTML there would have to be 8 different pages with that same article replicated on each to mimic this structure.

This means that with our system Content is King and as a user I don't have to worry about the little details associated with a traditional Web Page such as frames or tables, or making sure that logo is just right in the top left corner. All I do is write, upload and post. That's it, it’s so simple, and will more than likely be the biggest reason for widespread adoption over the coming months and years. If you can use a Windows operating system and are somewhat familiar with Word, you will find the Blogware interface that easy to use.

A traditional web page has allot of uses, and some “Blog Providers” actually have a tool that mimics a blog by generating static HTML pages that have entries with chronological order. That is not a web log per se, but it looks like one. Does it acquire the same features as our service? Immediate publishing of changes to the world, no need to FTP or wait for DNS to propagate, higher rankings in search engines etc…? It wouldn't unless there was some strange workaround that did not come inherently with static HTML. 

Here is an excerpt from Google's explanation of how their popular Blogger.com System works:

The Blogger.com references are in effect a security model?

It's both security and our architecture in general. All the dynamic stuff is on Blogger.com—all the application stuff, I should say. Blogger always publishes static HTML out to people's sites. That makes it portable and more compatible; you don't have to install anything. Anytime you're inputting content, you go back to Blogger.com.

If you read the description of their service you will find alot of similarities to how our Website Building Tools service works. The design environment is a database driven system that allows you to design, create content, and export via FTP to your hosting servers in static HTML. The actual content is static HTML and is served to the internet as any other traditional website is. Is their web blog service different than our website building tool service? A little in terms of features, but you be the judge.

Static sites are the solution of the early Internet. Is there a demand? Definitely! This is one of the almost prerequisite features to be successful or even merely competitive in the Hosting industry and we have one of the best offerings available in the market today. Is it the most effective? From a look and feel perspective if your image is built on your website or you have a need to sell online then I would say yes, but if you are in the business of communicating, or looking for traffic, or building a community then the only way to differentiate yourself is to use a Blog. If not as the primary then at least as a parallel Internet marketing tool to achieve your primary goal no matter what that may be.

I hope that somewhat explains some of the differences between blogs and static HTML. Not all differences of course, and I could micro scrutinize this discussion for a few pages, but hopefully you understand the difference without the need to get too detailed.

When I first entered this position I kind of understood it, but one differentiation I didn't truly understand was how is a forum different? Chronological posts, in some cases database driven, comment capabilities, decent search engine rankings….sounds similar, but no. A forum is more like a debate where everyone participating is a debater as opposed to a Blog, which is more like a speaking event where people in the audience can ask questions or make statements in an orderly environment that everyone else may hear, but always controlled by the presenter(s). Our service places the power in the hands of the presenter(s), where a forum can lead to a shouting match of unchecked emotion and chaos.

Out of all three, which technology is best?

IMHO that would be Blogware, not just web logs since so many seem to want the claim to fame. With our security features and notification options which include RSS and email subscriptions, advanced moblogging functionality and full support for third party plug-ins by most who use the Metaweblog or Blogger API, our service is really on the forefront of changing the way people interact. It's not only community development but also viral marketing.

It's not only a content management system, but it is also a forum and a website. Now I hope that last sentence really get's you thinking…   

UPDATE: They have blocked free access to the study, I guess all of the traffic made them reconsider since they charge for other case studies they have The points of interest below still apply, and if you are willing to pay $9 or so this may be of some value to you.

UPDATE #2: This report has been purchased and I have attached the relevant copy as a word document for your view.

How to use a blog to increase your online sales after traditional keyword optimization and other online marketing efforts fail.

Here is the most relevant excerpt:

RESULTS: Site sales tripled during 2003, and have continued strong in 2004. Altogether, blog content helps to bring in about 35% of total site sales — 10% from the email newsletter, 20% from affiliates who often reuse the content, and 5% from Blog traffic itself.

Blog readers are among the traffic most likely to convert to buyers. “Six to eight percent of Blog readers buy something. Once someone finds a Blog entry and reads the whole thing, they are about as qualified as you can get.”

This is a very interesting classification of blogging applications on the business side. I read through this briefly and this blog does provide a great breakdown on the external versus internal potential uses of blogs. This starts to touch on the potential of this tool for internal business process streamlining as well as external marketing techniques by covering the most common and clear benefits of blogging as part of your corporate strategy.

This sort of explanation could provide some of the outline necessary for any reseller of Blogware to be able to effectively solution sell to the Corporate and Business world.