BlogBurst

So Mostly Muppet Dot Com is now an official member of the BlogBurst network. What does that mean? It means my blog is now a part of a “digital wire service” that will hopefully garner me some increased visibility.

Having a quote in the AJC recently (and online at Access Atlanta without a live link) is one thing; having a full-text feed of my blog, with attribution in the form of a graphic and a link back to me in Washington Post.com, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle or San Antonio Express News is another.

And that’s the potential of my “distribution deal”: no direct financial benefits, but increased visibility through a non-blogger channel. Tehcnorati, blogrolls, Google and regular subscriptions via RSS are good, but augmenting the “reach” of my blog through traditional publishers’ websites is an interesting idea so I’m giving it a shot.

Here’s a brief email exhange with Eileen Smith of BlogBurst from Friday:

Hi Seth,

Just a quick note to let you know that Mostly Muppet has been activated in BlogBurst. When you get a chance, you should upload an image for your blog (logo or photo) to make it more attractive for publisher pick-up. Be sure to check out our “Burst Blog” for updates and news at http://www.burstblog.com/. Thanks, and let me know if you have any questions.

Eileen Smith

My stupid questions:

Thanks, Eileen.

Just curious: how many bloggers are in the BlogBurst stable and what
pubs (and how many) will potentially be running my content?

-Seth

Her response:

Hi Seth,

Currently we have about 200 bloggers activated in the system, with many more still in the review category. And this is before the official launch! We have four publishers right now – washingtonpost.com, SF Gate, Houston Chronicle, and San Antonio Express-News. How often your content gets picked up depends on the (ever changing) needs of our publishers. We are in discussions with additional publishers and will continue to recruit them as our network moves out of beta.

Eileen Smith

I haven’t been picked up by any of the publications yet, but I’ve still got to update my profile with a thumbnail and some additional metadata – a byline and whatnot. I’ll keep you posted if I get “published” via my BloBurst membership.

My updated “comments” on my blog, for prospective publishers:

I was born at a very young age and have been writing ever since I could clutch a pencil. First it was bad teenage poetry, then diatribes and screeds in my college paper and now I have a steady job, a wife, a kid and a blog. I write about many topics, but I tread water in the geeky/obsessive end of the pop culture pool. I blog Lost every Wednesday night, other TV when it delights or pisses me off, TiVo if I’m feeling technical, Muppets when I have news or goofiness to share and most of my other entertainment experiences if I have a zinger to bestow. All in all, just your typical blog.

Go me! Wish me luck.

3 thoughts on “BlogBurst

  1. Yeah, I think I registered just as they went public with the service so the quality and speed with which my email got answered was relatively high and not necessarily indicative of how the process normally works.

  2. Fame is where you find it…

    Or, sometimes, where it finds you.
    Right now I’m basking in the warm glow of Reuters (yes, that Reuters) running one of my blog posts (the one on Brian Henson) because of my affiliation with BlogBurst. I saw a little bit of traffic, no comments …

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