Blog or not to blog your site?

[lebisol]

...that is the question now.
Hello everyone,
I know that most of you are stuck on projects and live the code view ;-) but perhaps you have a few min. to share your opinions.
What are your thoughts on use of blogs in sites?
This content (read garbage of the content) seemed to bloom over last few yrs and people are addicted to it as much as they are to tube-what-everDOTcom or myspaceDOTcom.
Personally, blogs, shoutboxes and adds stuck in the middle of the content are...just as a great pop ups. If there was a blog-blocker I would be the beta tester.
But seriosly what happend to days when you could actually read something...usefull...and bigger than 50x50px of the entire overcrowded page?

Now,
Well, this was an argument that I had with a few friends/developers so I was hoping to get the other side of the story from webmasters here...

Have you used blogs effectivly to increase Valuable content or have they just turned into 'another storage room' holding crap that you can't wait to get rid of?

There it is...share your love or your pain.
What is your rule of thumb?
Thanks for your comments!
All the best!



:--------------------------------------:

All around in my home town,
They tryin' to track me down...

 

[TamedTech]

He, well, I think blogs can be a very effective thing, i know as a CF developer that i enjoy reading other developers CF related blogs.

However, I think that you are right to asume that some personal bloggs are a little dull, and I loath the fact that MySpace is so popular, when most developers could knock up a similar system in an evening or two ;-) hehe.

If you've ever seen the Ricky Gervais stand-up show of 'Animals' then you'll have enjoyed his discussion of the internet and personal type blog spaces, hillarious.

Rob

 

[lebisol]

Thanks tamed,
agreed on some...and I mean Some blogs that are really handy to see some of the trial & errors done by develpoers.
It, to me, seems like a lot of overhaed to maintain the crap that is typed up....
"so I went to school today...stay tooned to read what I am going to do when I go out to eat"

"MySpace is so popular, when most developers could knock up a similar system in an evening or two hehe."
could not agree more...a hotmail skin with a place to paste html....strange how certian fades pick up.
I would just hate to submit to blogs just to keep the stats/audience on the site...
In any case, thanks for the post!
All the best!



:--------------------------------------:

All around in my home town,
They tryin' to track me down...

 

[ctopher06]

I have not seen a blog yet that was worth reading. Most of the info on them I have read already on other web sites.

Chris

 

[ChrisHunt]

There are some really fantastic blogs out there. Sites like

http://www.themaninblue.com

,

http://simplebits.com

or (my personal favorite)

http://www.456bereastreet.com

are excellent reading for the web developer, and that's just scratching the surface.

Sure there are many more worthless blogs out there written by bored teenagers - so what? There are many more trashy novels out there than there are great works of literature. It doesn't mean that the great works don't exist or that all novels are worthless. The crap ones are crap the good ones are good. Find the good ones.

Blog software can also be used as a form of CMS, rather than being limited to the traditional diary-style affair. If you're reporting news stories (say), if you've got a group of people that want to collaborate on producing content, if you want to build an online community, blog software might do the job. I've recently done just that at

http://www.yhagroup.org.uk

(design comments welcome btw).



-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[lebisol]

hello chris & ChrisHunt,
thanks for the posts!
I can see the perspective of news being in colab sessions that would make sense...what really gets me is sites that are rss-ed and google-senesed along with blogs...even called sites. it is just junk that hurts my eyes.
Imagine if your site was set of iframes to google.yahoo. etc and tada...'my best search engies.com' wtf.

Maybe it is just me, maybe I was 'out of the loop' for too long...it seems that is harder and harder to get to content...a single page of it at least. I have to dodge adds,comments, blogs, everything else and go through 8-9 pages where content is actually worth 2 .

Again, maybe trends have changed...maybe it is not about content any more...maybe it is about getting spiders into your site and misleading visitors that is something worth reading and then stuffing them with adds or cross-liked blogs. I don't remember when was the last time I bookmarked something...it all leads to some other site...
"oh yeah read about DW tips here....now that you are here...oh sorry we actully don't have this content...it really is located on the xyzsite.com that everyone knows about...but hey check out our discount on socks"

ok I better stop lol...I think I am just angry that blog was asked an option on my little site I am trying to put up.

btw > News & Views for YHA Local Groups
great...I know what I am getting and what to expect...no problem here! content matches the sites statement (nice earthy colors and clean design)

In any case, I apprechiate your opinions!
All the best!


:--------------------------------------:

All around in my home town,
They tryin' to track me down...

 

[TamedTech]

Lol, I love it when people get angry and opinionated, I do it all the time, "rant, rant, rant" I go lol

I think blogs can be used as a great communications tool for liasing with clients, I know on my latest project i've been looking into it as a more friendly experiance to a discussion board where i can pitch new software features to customers and get their feedback.

I think Chris was just right when talking about other litterary forms and how there are many a trashy novel or magazine.

For instants, I picked up a friend 'Marie Claire' mag this morning, had a flick through, utter garbage, nearly the entire thing was adverts, yet it sells in its millions.

I think blogs have a place in this eWorld of ours, but if you're going to develope one, make sure its good :-D

Rob

 

[lebisol]

Hi TamedTech,
yeah I know..it is fun to rant
I just wanted to show my buddies that here..."here is the community of respected designers (yes I do read your posts lol) and this is what they say."
And yes I love the comparison to books from Chris...and also this states it pretty good :
"I think blogs have a place in this eWorld of ours, but if you're going to develope one, make sure its good."

Hence, my point you can't release bog to public and expect it to be of 'value'.

Thanks for the attention!


p.s. while we are ranting....hellooo how about an upgrade on these forums...how abut making an "extra feature" such as EIDT post

:--------------------------------------:

All around in my home town,
They tryin' to track me down...

 

[feherke]

Hi

I think like most of the guys : I love good professional blogs and hate stupid personal blogs.

Some time ago I thought to put a blog on my site, just because the "land lord" just installed a blog engine. ( Namely NanoBlogger. ) Want to share my experiences related to the site's subject.

But then decided to try first. So I started with a small blog on company intranet, discussing business related problems and solutions.

After a couple of mounths my experience was :
- nobody reads my blog, even if is related to their daily activity
- for me the pleasure ends when I finished coding the blog engine

So currently I would not put blog on my site, regardless if I can or not provide quality content for it.

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[lebisol]

thanks feherke,
I am pretty sure I will fight 'them' off with the whole idea of blog as well.
love this

"for me the pleasure ends when I finished coding the blog engine"

Thanks again!
All the best!

:--------------------------------------:

All around in my home town,
They tryin' to track me down...

 

[ChrisHunt]

Hence, my point you can't release blog to public and expect it to be of 'value'.

I think you can, but you can't expect it to be of more value than you're prepared to invest in it yourself.

I'm going to put a technical blog onto my site - just as soon as I can clear my inbox of a few other projects. I don't expect to get much traffic, but it'll be nice to have somewhere more permanent than thiss place to post my, ahem, wit and wisdom.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[lebisol]

u got me there Chris, the only reason I ever even gave into pressure of 'why don't you build your site beyond index page' vs. posting crippled snips of code into forums... ;-)

so to give some of it away I am looking into Joomla CMS...and shure as hell, it comes with Blogs. (should have never told my friends that blogs are an option lol)

I think I am going to opt out for version to where I will allow moderated authors to post real articles/tutorials on approval basis....all the blog lovers can go somewhere else!
As far a my 'tech notes'...ah crap...I am lucky if I get to comment the code..as lazy as I have gotten over the time.
See what happens when u stop doing this for living!

Thanks guys for your thoughts!
All the best!

:--------------------------------------:

All around in my home town,
They tryin' to track me down...