Last, but not least, the updated Social Flooring Blog Index for November 2009...
[The first version is available via this link to the Social Flooring Index: Blogs - Beta.]
As with the updated Social Flooring Twitter Index and the Social Flooring Facebook Index, I've added columns. In this case:
+ post frequency - to gauge how active the blog is
+ date of last post - to determine how fresh the content is
+ date of first post - to evaluate how old the blog is
+ blog tone - is this personal conversation or not
Blogs represent the cornerstone of content marketing as well as of social media marketing. An organization committed to its blog presence will publish [i.e., post] regularly [think of John Battelle's comment about making media annuities - small, consistent contributions over time]. A blog offers value to its readers, so content matters and the most engaging blogs are written from a personal perspective.
Social Flooring Index methodology
In analyzing these blogs, I encountered several frustrations. First, the Hubspot website grader worked to evaluate some blogs, but not all. It rejected URLs that included subdomain names so I could no longer rely entirely on it.Next I turned to the Hubspot blog grader which had no problems with subdomains. However, as you'll see from the listing below, the results seem inconsistent: why would a blog that ranks high on the website grader rank low on the blog grader? Possibly because the database of blogs graded is small [under 6,000] compared to the almost 2 million websites that have been graded.
I've started to dig deeper into the individual blog results [i.e., Alexa traffic ranks, inbound links, Google indexing, etc.] and expect that the next Social Flooring Blog Index update will reflect what I discover...
Meanwhile, I'm eager to hear your reactions to the results below. Wherever possible, I included both the website and blog grades so you see inconsistencies for yourself.
For the record, two of the blogs listed are mine [Flooring The Consumer and Carpetology] and three are ones that I am closely involved with [the Carpet and Rug Institute Blog, the DOMOTEX Blog and the Floor Covering Institute Blog]. Yes, I believe strongly in blogs!
A few observations about the Social Flooring Blog Index:
+ I'm surprised at how few blogs include pictures of their main contributors. And even more surprised when the contributors aren't identifed by name. Readers want to know who's writing. It adds to the blog's credibility and paves the way for engagement.
+ Age matters, so don't wait too long to establish a presence for yourself. It takes about six months to get a blog established.
+ Notice how few blogs there are compared to the number of Twitter and Facebook accounts.
+ Where are the large industry players?
Please do visit these blogs. Consider subscribing to them. Evaluate them. Here, too, you'll notice fascinating ways to bring businesses to life via photos, details on community activities, etc. and ideas for engaging customers and readers.
I hope you'll let me know what you find most interesting and how you might apply these to your business.
As usual, if I've missed an active blog, please let me know [I purposely removed several that had shown no sign of life in a year.
| 11/23/2009 | Blog | Website | |||||||||
| Blog | Grader | Grade | Post. Freq. | Last Post | First Post | Tone | |||||
| http://www.carpet-and-rug-institute-blog.com | 90 | 92 | 2x per week | 11/19/2009 | Apr-09 | personal | |||||
| http://blog.builddirect.com/ | 82 | 99.6 | 2x per week | 11/18/2009 | Dec-07 | personal | |||||
| http://flooringgallery.blogspot.com/ | 82 | 68 | 1x per mo | 11/2/2009 | Feb-09 | impersonal | |||||
| http://FlooringTheConsumer.blogspot.com | 81 | 99 | 2-3x per week | 11/18/2009 | Jun-06 | personal | |||||
| www.wideplankflooring.com/blog | 79 | 86 | 4x per week | 11/21/2009 | Jan-08 | personal | |||||
| http://Carpetology.blogspot.com | 78 | 94 | monthly | 10/29/2009 | Dec-08 | personal | |||||
| http://blog.builddirect.com/industryinsights/ | 69 | x | 1x to 24x per mo | 10/30/2009 | Apr-08 | personal | |||||
| http://floortalk.wfca.org/ | 66 | 99.5 | 2x per mo | 11/20/2009 | Sep-07 | personal | |||||
| http://blogs.talkfloor.com/ | 66 | 96.9 | 4x per mo | 10/25/2009 | Jun-08 | personal | |||||
| http://www.mckayflooringblog.com/ | 66 | 82 | old blog | 10/20/2009 | Jun-08 | personal | |||||
| http://www.floorfacts.com/floor-blog/ | 64 | x | 1x every 2mo | 11/18/2009 | Feb-08 | personal | |||||
| http://fromthefloorsup.com/ | 52 | 91 | 4x per week | 11/20/2009 | May-09 | personal | |||||
| http://infloormation.com/ | 41 | 85 | 2-3x per week | 11/20/2009 | May-09 | personal | |||||
| http://www.about-floor-cleaners.net | 41 | 57 | inconsistent | 9/8/2009 | Jul-09 | personal | |||||
| http://flooringstories.empiretoday.com/ | 38 | 89 | 3-4x per week | 11/20/2009 | Feb-08 | personal | |||||
| http://www.domotexblog.com/ | 26 | 79 | 1x per week | 11/16/2009 | Aug-09 | personal | |||||
| http://www.flooringnow.com/ | 22 | 95.7 | 1x per week | 11/19/2009 | Sep-07 | impersonal | |||||
| http://hardwoodflooringnut.blogspot.com/ | 22 | 61 | 2x per mo | 10/29/2009 | Oct-07 | personal | |||||
| http://workinggreenrdweis.blogspot.com/ | 22 | 41 | 2x per week | 11/11/2009 | Feb-09 | personal | |||||
| http://jefflikescarpet.blogspot.com/ | 22 | 34 | 4x per mo | 11/20/2009 | May-09 | personal | |||||
| http://blog.floorcoveringinstitute.com/ | 20 | 77 | 2x per week | 11/20/2009 | Sep-09 | personal | |||||
| http://blog.builddirect.com/buildingmaterialsprocurement/ | 18 | x | monthly | 11/2/2009 | Jan-09 | personal | |||||
| http://blog.builddirect.com/greenbuilding/ | 18 | x | 1x per week | 11/20/2009 | Jul-08 | personal | |||||
| http://rscarpet.blogspot.com/ | 18 | 84 | 1x per week | 11/19/2009 | Dec-07 | personal | |||||
| http://blog.mybigbobs.com | 18 | 83 | 1x per week? | 11/6/2009 | Aug-09 | personal | |||||
| http://blog.mckayflooring.co.uk/ | 18 | 81 | 4x per week | 10/20/2009 | Oct-09 | personal | |||||
| http://www.socialflooringindex.com | 18 | 76 | monthly | 11/20/2009 | Sep-09 | personal | |||||
| http://faq.woodyoulike.co.uk | 15 | 96.7 | 2x per week | 11/21/2009 | Sep-06 | personal | |||||
| http://www.carpetsbyotto.com/ | 12 | 95.7 | monthly | 11/16/2009 | Aug-08 | personal | |||||
| http://johnsoncarpetone.blogspot.com/ | 12 | 47 | inconsistent | 9/25/2009 | Aug-09 | personal | |||||
| http://craigscarpetcleaning.blogspot.com/ | 9 | 49 | 3-4x per week | 11/19/2009 | Mar-09 | impersonal | |||||
| http://carpetgirl.wordpress.com/ | 9 | 43 | inconsistent | 8/14/2009 | Jun-09 | personal | |||||
| http://carpetonefh.blogspot.com/ | 9 | 18 | monthly | 9/1/2009 | Mar-09 | impersonal | |||||
| http://blogs.findanyfloor.com/consumer/ | 7 | x | 5x per week | 11/19/2009 | Jun-08 | impersonal | |||||
| http://www.flooringprofessor.com/flooring-blog.html | 7 | 86 | inconsistent | 8/11/2009 | Jul-07 | impersonal | |||||
| http://blogs.findanyfloor.com/green/ | 3 | x | 4-5x per week | 11/20/2009 | Dec-08 | impersonal | |||||
| http://blogs.findanyfloor.com/corporate/ | 3 | x | 2-4x per week | 11/20/2009 | Aug-08 | personal | |||||
| http://blogs.findanyfloor.com/pro/ | 3 | x | 4-5x per week | 11/20/2009 | Jun-08 | impersonal | |||||
| http://67.199.20.178/ | 3 | 27 | 3x per week? | 11/16/2009 | Oct-09 | personal | |||||
| http://www.askthebuildingexperts.com | 2 | 64 | inconsistent | 8/19/2009 | May-09 | impersonal | |||||
| http://www.blog.ultron.com | 1 | 62 | 2x per mo | 9/28/2009 | Jun-09 | personal | |||||
| http://www.tilemagonline.com/CDA/blogs | 1 | 57 | 6-8x per mo | 11/15/2009 | Aug-08 | personal | |||||
| http://www.zabitatz.com/profile/OntheFloor | 0 | 76 | monthly | 11/12/2009 | Apr-08 | personal |
Thank you to those who helped me fill gaps in this Social Flooring Blog Index listing.
And, I'd love it if you would consider becoming Facebook fans of Simple Marketing Now... or subscribing to Flooring The Consumer and the Simple Marketing Blog!
Best,
C.B. Whittemore
Note: Graphic above is Social Flooring Index Wordle from Flooring The Consumer
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