WEBLOGS

Weblogs are the newest Internet craze — there are an estimated 500,000 active weblogs available to the surfing public. Commonly known as “blogs,” weblogs are so popular that the May 2002 issue of Wired Magazine predicted that “Weblogs will outrank the New York Times website by 2007 (based on a Google search of five keywords or phrases reflecting the top five news stories).”

A weblog is a web-based writing space or online journal. And, like a journal, a weblog is a dynamic, continually updated website that grows over time with the accumulation of writing and other content. Typically, weblogging (or blogging) takes place within a community of other webloggers (bloggers) who share a common interest.

One of the reasons weblogs have spread so rapidly is their ease of use — the writing, editing, look, and feel of the site can be managed through your web browser. A good weblog is designed so that a new entry can be “turned” each day (just like a journal). In addition, a weblog site should be able to keep track of the date, and archive all entries.

Weblogs are ideally suited to interaction between people sharing special interests. Thus, many e-commerce businesses may want to consider adding a weblog to their website. The weblog’s capacity for information dissemination and feedback potential can tap into the buying power of a blogging community.

Requirements

Your weblog requirements will vary depending on what type of weblog you want. Is it to be added as an adjunct to an e-commerce website or to stand by itself? Is it to be self-hosted or to be hosted by a weblog service?

If self-hosted or part of an existing e-commerce site then the infrastructure requirements are the same as for any other type of e-commerce website, except for the addition of XML (actually RSS, a dialect of XML) and a database (if one is not already being utilized). Weblogs also need a set navigation structure and a means to archive the daily entries automatically.

If you go the weblog service route, all you need is a computer with an Internet connection, a viable email address, and possibly access to a web server with FTP (File Transfer Protocol).

Software

We will now discuss some of the software and tools you might want to consider using to establish a weblog.

RSS

Before you implement a weblog, you must understand its underlying technology — the XML dialect referred to as “RSS.” RSS provides the means for organizing and publishing the content on your web pages. The acronym “RSS,” which can stand for either “really simply syndication” or “RFD site summary” (the differences will be explained later), refer to the code that underlies a weblog. Specifically, RSS (whatever version) is a protocol that is an application of XML, which provides an open method of syndicating and aggregating web content, including weblogs.

Through the use of RSS, you can create a data feed that supplies headlines, links, and article summaries from your weblog to your niche market (as long as they ask for the feed). This allows interested parties (e.g. your niche market) to obtain constantly updated content from your website through the help of a news aggregator.

As mentioned previously, there are two types of RSS currently used as the underlying code for weblogs.

RSS 0.91 is referred to as “Rich Site Summary.” Netscape released the original popular version 0.91 in July 1999. That initial RSS code has since been upgraded by Dave Winer of Userland — first to 0.92, then 0.94, and now 2.0.

RSS 1.0 is referred to as “RDF (Resource Description Framework) Site Summary.” This version of RSS provides an XML structure for describing document metadata content. The RSS-DEV Working Group created this RSS version to support the Resource Description Framework. RSS 1.0 documents can draw upon any RDF-compatible extension syntaxes called modules.

RSS Editors

Don’t want to worry about the RSS coding or adding the cost of an authoring/publishing application to your budget? If so, you have a number of options. While you can create a RSS file with any type of text editor, in doing so you run a real risk of syntax errors. Thankfully, there are plenty of free RSS-specific web-base tools for your use. Make use of one of the following free web-based RSS editors:

• Ukoln’s RSS-Xpress editor forms RSS 1.0 XML. Go to the Ukoln’s website (http://rssxpress.ukoln.ac.uk) for more information on this tool.
• WebReference’s RSS Channel Editor generates valid RSS 0.91 files. To access this tool go to the WebReference website (www.webreference.com/cgi-bin/perl/rssedit.pl).
• WebDevTips, which also offers the RSS Headline Generator, constructs RSS 0.91 feeds. It can be found at www.webdevtips.com/webdevtips/codegen/rss.shtml.

After a file is complete, save the files locally, and then load them to your server when applicable.

For more detailed information on RSS and authoring/publishing a weblog:

• Visit these two websites — http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss and http://web. resource.org/rss/1.0/. Both sites discuss in detail the two incompatible versions of RSS: RSS 1.0 and RSS 0.9x/2.0.
• Use the RSS Workshop which is available on the State of Utah’s website at http://gils.utah.gov/rss/.
• Read Content Syndication with RSS, Bill Hammersley, (O’Reilly). O’Reilly has placed on its website Chapter 4 of the book, which explains the Really Simple Versions of RSS (www.oreilly.com/catalog/consynrss/chapter/ch04.pdf). Another good book is The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog, Rebecca Blood, (Perseus Publishing).

NOTE
All RSS files must conform to the XML 1.0 specification, as published on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) website.

Authoring/Publishing Tools

To design your own full-blown weblog with capabilities similar to, for example, the Steve Gillmor weblog on CMP Media’s CRN website (www.crn.com/weblogs/stevegillmor/), the Ken Layne and the Corvids weblog at www.kenlayne.com, the actor Wil Wheaton’s weblog at www.wilwheaton.net, or the Nick Denton weblogs at both www.gizmodo.com and www.gawker.com, you will need authoring/publishing tools.

Weblogs are content-oriented with much more text than graphics, and most have some degree of collaborative editing capability, thus you can use a regular content management system both to create and to manage a weblog. (The only real distinction between a weblog and other types of web-based content is the RSS coding and the chronological element of weblogs.) Examples of software systems that are suitable for weblogs include the following:

Manila (http://manila.userland.com). This robust Internet server groupware allows a collection of writers, designers, and graphic designers to manage a website (including weblogs) through an easy-to-use browser interface. (Blogue.com uses Manila.) Cost — $900.

Movable Type (www.movabletype.org). After this powerful, customizable publishing system is installed on your web server, an individual or a group of collaborators can manage and update weblogs, journals, and site content. Costs — although Movable Type is free for personal or non-profit use, commercial users must pay a licensing fee of $150.

pMachine (www.pmachine.com). This innovative software enables the publication of virtually any kind of web content — from a basic weblog, to an advanced interactive magazine. pMachine gives you complete control over the presentation and the interactivity of your website. It is also simple to set up and use, allowing you to have your first weblog entry up-and-running in record time. (The Blogalization community used pMachine.) Cost — $125 for commercial license.

Scoop (http://scoop.kuro5hin.org). This collaborative media application falls somewhere between a content management system, a web bulletin board system, and a weblog tool. That is because Scoop enables a website to become a community. It empowers a site’s visitors to be the producers of the site — contributing both news and participating in discussions. Cost — Free.

w.bloggar (http://wbloggar.com). Billed as “the best interface between you and your blog,” this application is both a “post” and a “template” editor, and sports a number of features and resources that the average browser-based weblog editors (discussed later) don’t offer. For instance, because w.bloggar runs over a Windows GUI it allows the writer to edit his or her posts offline, and then save one or more text files locally for posting on the weblog at a future time. The software stays minimized to the “tray bar” as an icon until the writer wants to write and/or publish new text. All that is needed is for the writer to click the icon and the editor is ready to go to work. Once the text is finished, another click (if connected to the Internet) and the post is published to the website. Out of all of the previously mentioned tools, w.bloggar is compatible with the most weblog systems (e.g. e.bloggar can post and publish to Blogger, b2, MovableType, Nucleus, BigBlogTool, BlogWorks XML Blogalia, and Drupal blogs). Cost — Free.

Zope+Plone (www.zope.org or www.plone.org). Zope+Plone is not your average blogging software. This expensive, robust, multiplatform system requires the programming language Python and you also need an experienced programmer on staff. The Zope+Plone system includes the Plone Content Management Framework [CMF] for portal construction and content syndication. Everything is stored in either Zope’s built-in database or an external database application. Although its main use is as a content management system, Zope+Plone currently is used to support a number of heavy-duty weblogs including NATO, the Austrian Government, two U.S. governors, CBS New York, and Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, part of the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver. Cost — varies according to website’s needs.

NEWS AGGREGATOR

Just as a web browser can “read” a page of HTML, a news aggregator (also known as newsreader) can “read” RSS. You may notice when you visit a weblog that some have a small orange XML or blue RSS pictograms displayed — both of these little icons indicate that the page is available in RSS, i.e. news aggregators can automatically collect updates. News aggregators read news, weblogs, and other types of “feeds” on the Web and aggregate them so the news feeds are readable from a single place, regardless of their source.

To subscribe, however, the reader needs a news aggregator client — a piece of software that decodes RSS feeds. There are a number of free news aggregator clients available including NewsGator (www.newsgator.com), which runs within Microsoft Outlook; RSSReader (www.rssreader.com); NewzCrawler (www.newzcrawler.com), which gathers news content from a list of source channels and displays them in a customizable view (e.g. scrolling list, news balloon and news ticker); and Aggie (available on the SourceForge.net website).

Weblog Services

If you don’t want to incur the expense or expend the time required to design your weblog site from scratch, you can use a weblog service. Many good weblogs are operated using such services, e.g. Amy Wohl (http://amywohl.weblogger.com/), Bag and Baggage (http://bgbg.blogspot.com/), Ernieattorney (http://ernieattorney.typepad.com/), Isen.com’s blog (which is powered by Blogger).

Some of the more popular weblog services include Blogger.com, Blogspot.com, Typepad.com, and Weblogger.com.

Business Model

An e-commerce business can use blogging as a powerful, cost-effective tool for communicating with its customers. Some brochureware site owners are even considering replacing their current static pages with a dynamic weblog.

But, unless you are pairing a weblog with another e-commerce model, it may be difficult to generate income by writing a weblog. That being said, here are few ways to earn revenue from a weblog-based e-commerce site:

• Sell products and services that are of interest to your niche market.
• Enter into affiliate agreements with other websites, e.g. Amazon.
• Ask members of your blog community to make donations. If you craft your weblog in such a manner that its contents are perceived as valuable to your niche community, and that community is involved in the blogger’s agenda, some will be happy to give a donation every once in a while. (That’s why you see so many PayPal links on weblogs.)
• Syndication — but only if you already are well known in your niche marketplace (such as the previously mentioned Nick Denton).

NOTE
For more ideas of how to earn income from your weblog, you might want to purchase “Blog Profit Ideas Exposed” by Mani Sivasubramanian. To order a copy, go to www.blogprofits.com.

Tips

Until you are completely comfortable with posting your weblog’s content, make use of one of the free weblog validation services. Despite its relatively simple nature, RSS is poorly implemented by many of the tools used by the average blogger.

Use a web-based validation service. These services can codify your text (i.e. translate it into code) to ensure you are producing RSS correctly. Two of the best free weblog validation services are:

RDF Validation Service (www.w3.org/RDF/Validator/), a service of the World Wide Web Consortium. All you need to do is enter a URI or paste an RDF/XML document into the site’s text field box and a 3-tuple (triple) representation of the corresponding data model as well as an optional graphical visualization of the data model will be displayed.

RSS Validator (http://feeds.archive.org/validator/). This service only requires that you enter the address of your feed and click “Validate.” If this validator finds problems in your feed, it will present a message indicating the problems and highlight the point where the problem first occurs in your feed.

Measure your weblog’s popularity. Once your weblog is up and running you might want to use tools like Blogrolling’s Top 100 and Technorati’s Link Cosmos to measure its popularity.

Weblogs make a good collaborative tool. Consider using a weblog as a content management tool for internal collaboration. A number of companies (including Microsoft and Google) do exactly that.