CEO Bloggers' Club

Which are the best blog search engines?

Who Really Are the Elite Bloggers? And What are the Best Ways to Measure a Blog's Reach?

Our NYU college intern Chris Duncan and I (much more Chris than I) have been researching the efficacy of the various blog ranking engines, in connection with the research and marketing of my new book. 

Our goal was to identify the top influencers in the blogosphere. We are in the process of reaching out to them, mentioning our book, and encouraging them to consider writing about it. The easiest way to identify these thought leaders is to review the ranking lists created by the blog directories or search engines, including PubSub , Technorati , Bloglines , Blogrolling , Feedster , and Icerocket . Influencers use these lists as leverage in ad rate negotiation, to establish their level of influence, and simply as a bragging point. More generally, as in most areas of life, success is sticky. The more visible sites attract more visitors, and therefore become even higher ranked.

Have you heard about blooks ?

A blook is a printed and bound book, based on a blog.

Most famous ones are from 'Salam Pax: The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi' (Grove Press), the eye-witness accounts of the Iraq war by the blogger known as Salam Pax, 'Small Pieces Loosely Joined' (Perseus Books), Dan Gillmor's "We The Media" (O'Reilly), David Weinberger's spiritual interpretation of the Internet, actor Wil Wheaton's memoir 'Just a Geek' (O'Reilly), and Jessica Cutler's 'The Washingtonienne' (Hyperion), a novel based on her scandalous blog of the same name. More scandalous still is 'Belle de Jour: The Intimate Adventures Of A London Call Girl, by Anon' (Phoenix), which started life as an infamous blog, describing the life of a north London prostitute, and read by 15,000 a day.

It seems like more than 100 blooks have been published till now, there is now also "The Blooker Prize" that has been launched on the 10th of October 2005, the world's first literary prize for blooks, organized by Lulu, a website that enables anyone to publish and sell their own book. (well, yes, that's linked...)

The prize will reward blooks in three categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction and Comic-Blooks, it is open to blooks published anywhere by anyone, provided they are in English (Loïc, you should translate your blook in english to compete against Scoble's and Shell's one !)

Judges will be: Cory Doctorow, co-editor of BoingBoing, Robin Miller, editor-in-chief of Slashdot and Paul Jones, director of iBiblio.

The Lulu Blooker Prize will take place annually. The short list of books for the inaugural prize will be announced in March 2006 and the winner on 3 April, 2006.

Know what, there is an additional step: Flooks ! Film based on blooks ! ;o)

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