The last formal portion of the Social Flooring Index looks at Blogs which I've updated for May 2010.[Here is a link to the first update, Social Flooring Index: Blogs - Beta, issued in July 2009. The second Social Flooring Blog Index was issued in November 2009.]
You'll notice that I've added two columns to sort these flooring related blogs:
+ Role in the industry: association, consultant, misc, retailer [refers to anyone engaged in flooring commerce], trade show and writer.
+ Blog content
Social Flooring Blog Index methodology
I continue to use both the Hubspot website grader and the Hubspot blog grader. I find that the information that each gives is of value and relevant depending on the blog's publishing activity [i.e., static vs. dynamic].
A few observations about the Social Flooring Blog Index:
I noticed considerable improvement in the Blog Grade for those blogs I graded in November.This listing includes 18 blogs included for the first time!
Go explore! I suggest you focus on those with a personal tone as they will offer you the most ideas for using the blog medium to bring your organization's personality to life.
Then, let me know what you think!
Disclaimer:
For the record, I have included three of my blogs [Flooring The Consumer, Social Flooring Index and Carpetology] in the listing for calibration and also because of relevant content.Also, I am involved with the Carpet and Rug Institute Blog, the DOMOTEX Blog and the Floor Covering Institute Blog.
As usual, if I've missed an active blog, please let me know.
[Note to see the rightmost columns, expand the width of this page. Last column is tone [personal vs. impersonal] and you should be able to see enough of the word to figure out which is which. I'll work on making this more user friendly. 5/18/10: I've tweaked the table a bit.]
| 4/26/2010 | [as of 5/15] | ||||||||||||
| Blog | Website | ||||||||||||
| Blog | Grader | Grade | Post. Freq. | Last Post | First Post | Tone | |||||||
| ASSOCIATION | |||||||||||||
| carpet industry | http://www.carpet-and-rug-institute-blog.com | | 98 | | 96 | | 2x per week | | 5/11/2010 | | Apr-09 | | personal |
| flooring, design | http://floortalk.wfca.org/ | 88 | | 98 | | monthly | | 4/22/2010 | | Sep-07 | | personal | |
CONSULTANT | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | ||||||
| wood flooring | http://hardwoodflooringnut.blogspot.com/ | 96 | | 63 | | inconsistent | | 1/27/2010 | | Oct-07 | | personal | |
| carpet, design | http://Carpetology.blogspot.com | | 77 | | 97 | | monthly | | 4/22/2010 | | Dec-08 | | personal |
| flooring info | http://fromthefloorsup.com/ | 77 | | 95 | | 2x per week | | 4/30/2010 | | May-09 | | personal | |
| flooring marketing | http://FlooringTheConsumer.blogspot.com | | 77 | | 98 | | 2x per week | | 5/12/2010 | | Jun-06 | | personal |
| flooring industry | http://www.socialflooringindex.com | 69 | | 89 | | 2x per mo | | 4/26/2010 | | Sep-09 | | personal | |
| flooring industry | http://blog.floorcoveringinstitute.com/ | | 69 | | 85 | | 1x per week | | 5/11/2010 | | Sep-09 | | personal |
| flooring info | http://www.floorfacts.com/floor-blog/ | 42 | | 73 | | inconsistent | | 11/18/2009 | | Feb-08 | | impersonal | |
| flooring products | http://www.flooringprofessor.com/flooring-blog.html | 42 | | 81 | | inconsistent | | 8/11/2009 | | Jul-07 | | impersonal | |
| flooring industry | http://blogs.findanyfloor.com/corporate/ | 20 | | 94 | | inconsistent | | 3/9/2010 | | Aug-08 | | personal | |
| flooring industry | http://blogs.findanyfloor.com/pro/ | 20 | | 91 | | 4-5x per week | | 5/10/2010 | | Jun-08 | | impersonal | |
| flooring products | http://blogs.findanyfloor.com/consumer/ | 20 | | 97 | | 4x per week | | 5/10/2010 | | Jun-08 | | impersonal | |
| Green flooring | http://blogs.findanyfloor.com/green/ | 20 | | 95 | | inconsistent | | 5/7/2010 | | Dec-08 | | impersonal | |
| flooring, design | http://www.scarletopustrendsblog.co.uk/ | 11 | | 61 | | 2x per week | | 5/14/2010 | | Feb-09 | | personal | |
MISCELLANEOUS | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | ||||||
| flooring products | www.askthebuildingexperts.com | 85 | | 71 | | inconsistent | | 4/6/2010 | | May-09 | | impersonal | |
| flooring, design | http://rscarpet.blogspot.com/ | 85 | | 67 | | inconsistent | | 3/29/2010 | | Dec-07 | | personal | |
| carpet design | www.blog.ultron.com | 85 | | 82 | | inconsistent | | 12/21/2009 | | Jun-09 | | personal | |
| carpet info | http://carpetgirl.wordpress.com/ | 22 | | 51 | | inconsistent | | 3/3/2010 | | Jun-09 | | personal | |
RETAILER | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | xxxxxx | ||||||
| flooring products | http://www.flooringnow.com/ | 98 | | 93 | | inconsistent | | 4/7/2010 | | Sep-07 | | impersonal | |
| flooring, design | http://blog.duralumcarpets.com | 96 | | 66 | | 1x per week | | 4/25/2010 | | Oct-09 | | personal | |
| wood flooring | http://faq.woodyoulike.co.uk | 96 | | 97 | | 2x per week | | 4/28/2010 | | Sep-06 | | personal | |
| flooring, design | http://blog.builddirect.com/ | 90 | | 99 | | 1x per week | | 5/10/2010 | | Dec-07 | | personal | |
| flooring info | http://infloormation.com/ | 85 | | 90 | | 2x per week | | 5/5/2010 | | May-09 | | personal | |
| flooring products | http://blog.mybigbobs.com | 85 | | 92 | | 1x per week? | | 5/11/2010 | | Aug-09 | | personal | |
| wood flooring | http://blog.mckayflooring.co.uk/ | 85 | | 95 | | 1x per week | | 5/10/2010 | | Oct-09 | | personal | |
| wood flooring | http://www.mckayflooringblog.com/ | 85 | | 88 | | monthly | | 5/6/2010 | | Jun-08 | | personal | |
| flooring, design | http://flooringgallery.blogspot.com/ | 77 | | 53 | | inconsistent | | 2/24/2010 | | Feb-09 | | impersonal | |
| flooring products | http://www.colesfineflooring.com/blog/ | 69 | | 79 | | inconsistent | | 4/5/2010 | | Aug-09 | | impersonal | |
| Green flooring | http://blog.builddirect.com/greenbuilding/ | 69 | | 98 | | 1x per week | | 5/10/2010 | | Jul-08 | | personal | |
| flooring industry | http://blog.builddirect.com/industryinsights/ | 64 | | 95 | | 1x per mo | | May-10 | | Apr-08 | | personal | |
| testimonials | http://flooringstories.empiretoday.com/ | 64 | | 89 | | 3-4x per week | | 4/29/2010 | | Feb-08 | | personal | |
| flooring products | http://carpetonefh.blogspot.com/ | 62 | | 49 | | inconsistent | | 9/1/2009 | | Mar-09 | | impersonal | |
| flooring, design | http://hwintertile.blogspot.com/ | 62 | | 45 | | 1x per mo | | 5/5/2010 | | Aug-08 | | personal | |
| Green flooring | http://alexandriacarpetone.wordpress.com/ | 62 | | 86 | | 1x per week | | 4/7/2010 | | Sep-08 | | personal | |
| Green flooring | http://workinggreenrdweis.blogspot.com/ | 62 | | 57 | | 2x per week | | 5/5/2010 | | Feb-09 | | personal | |
| rugs, design, info | http://rugnroll.blogspot.com/ | 62 | | 42 | | inconsistent | | 3/25/2010 | | Sep-09 | | personal | |
| flooring, design | http://hemphillbrett.wordpress.com/ | 42 | | 65 | | 2-3x per week | | 5/14/2010 | | Feb-09 | | personal | |
| flooring products | http://www.mercercarpetone.blogspot.com | 38 | | 38 | | 2-3x per mo | | 5/14/2010 | | Dec-09 | | personal | |
| flooring, design | http://johnsoncarpetone.blogspot.com/ | 37 | | 21 | | inconsistent | | 4/9/2010 | | Aug-09 | | personal | |
| flooring products | asktheflooracle.com | 31 | | 49 | | inconsistent | | 1/26/2010 | | Apr-08 | | impersonal | |
| carpet cleaning | http://craigscarpetcleaning.blogspot.com/ | 22 | | 31 | | 3-4x per week | | 5/11/2010 | | Mar-09 | | impersonal | |
| flooring | http://bigbobherself.blogspot.com | 22 | | 35 | | inconsistent | | 5/15/2010 | | Feb-10 | | personal | |
| flooring products | http://justinlmorgan.blogspot.com/ | 22 | | 15 | | 1x per week | | 4/29/2010 | | 9/27/2010 | | personal | |
| flooring promos | www.carpetoneboise.wordpress.com | 22 | | 30 | | inconsistent | | 2/25/2010 | | May-09 | | personal | |
| flooring promos | http://hptyler.blogspot.com/ | 22 | | 16 | | 1-2x per week | | 5/10/2010 | | Mar-10 | | impersonal | |
| flooring products | http://www.carpetsbyotto.com/ | 18 | | 95 | | monthly | | 5/1/2010 | | Aug-08 | | personal | |
| flooring | www.yourfifthwall.com | | 12 | | 58 | | 2x per week | | 5/7/2010 | | Mar-10 | | personal |
| wood flooring | http://bestwoodfloors.biz/ | | 12 | | 54 | | inconsistent | | 4/20/2010 | | Oct-09 | | impersonal |
| flooring industry | http://blog.builddirect.com/buildingmaterialsprocurement/ | 11 | | 96 | | inconsistent | | Mar-10 | | Jan-09 | | personal | |
| flooring, design | http://www.zabitatz.com/profile/OntheFloor | 11 | | 51 | | inconsistent | | 1/26/2010 | | Apr-08 | | impersonal | |
| wood flooring | www.wideplankflooring.com/blog | 11 | | 89 | | 4x per week | | 5/9/2010 | | Jan-08 | | personal | |
| flooring, design | http://floorcrunch.co.uk/ | 0 | | 20 | | 1-2x per week | | 5/12/2010 | | Dec-09 | | personal |
Definitely, go explore for yourselves. Blogs, moreso than any of the other social platforms, represent the cornerstone for a content marketing strategy that integrates into the other social tools. Explore how these blogs differ from one another, which ones communicate relevant information to you, and how you might make sense of the medium for your business.
Best,
C.B. Whittemore
Note: Graphic above is Social Flooring Index Wordle from Flooring The Consumer
