A screenshot of the site as it was when I finished it is posted below.  Click on the image for a larger version.

VCCS is still working out some issues with the domain and redirects, but otherwise the site is fully operational.  If you’re interested in information about higher education in Virginia, click here!

Google Open Source Blog: Google Blog Converters 1.0 Released: Blogger (now) allows users the ability to export all contents of their blog, the Data Liberation team would like to announce the Google Blog Converters project. This new Open Source project provides the ability to easily move blog posts and comments from service to service. This initial release provides Python libraries and runnable scripts that convert between the export formats of Blogger, LiveJournal, MovableType, and WordPress. This is after Google decided to allow Blogger users to import and export data from Blogger.

BIG kudos to Google for realizing that more people may sign up if they realize they won’t be locked into using one service for the rest of their blogging lives, or lose all of their posts when they decide to move.  Services like Blogger are good for a first blog … allowing you to learn about what it takes to keep a blog running without incurring any hosting or domain registry expenses.  However, I recommend if you’re going to actually keep a blog running you need to eventually get it onto your own domain so you can reap the SEO and branding benefits.  This has truly set Blogger up as a “sandbox” of sorts.

I usually don’t root for the “big guys” like Google, but more companies need to think like they do.

I’m honored that the other presenter at next week’s webinar will be Amy C. Cosper, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine.  I don’t pretend to have as impressive a title, but I think between us we’ll be able to dole out quite a bit of good information and advice.  My portion of the presentation isn’t finished yet, but I expect to be speaking primarily about marketing on the web through SEO, SEO PR, social media and blogging.

The next webinar is on October 22 at 2:00 p.m. ET.  It will likely last about an hour.

To register, just follow this link.  It’s free!

Some other findings from the survey:

• Companies should use social networks to solve my problems (43%)
• Companies should solicit feedback on their products and services (41%)
• Companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand (37%)
• Companies should market to consumers (25%)

This survey illustrates that a website just isn’t enough these days.  Your website has to integrate social media like blogs, podcasts, and vidcasts.  Social media gives consumers a way to interact with the company in a way that simple email does not.  On top of that, they also want to be able to find executives on Facebook and LinkedIn.  Essentially, if your business doesn’t even have a website … you’re not a step behind where you should be, you’re actually two or three steps behind.

Note: Hat tip goes to Podcasting News for alerting me to this story.

What struck me about this post is a comment from Techmeme’s founder, Gabe Rivera:

I asked Techmeme founder Gabe Rivera what he thought of Business Wire ranking #32 on the Techmeme Leaderboard. Gabe replied that this in itself “isn’t a problem.” He told me that “press releases are kind of like poorly-written company blog posts, which also have a place on Techmeme. That said, I wish Techmeme at times did a better job at elevating good blog posts above the press releases they discuss.”

I asked Gabe if people actually read press releases from the likes of Business Wire. “Sometimes people want just-the-facts”, said Gabe, “Some PR Newswire releases are in fact remarkable reads”. He pointed to this recent story about Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo (screenshot below). But, Gabe noted, “many others are less so, and better retold by blogs like RWW.”

Is Rivera actually saying blog writing is somehow superior to news release writing?  That’s like saying songwriting is better than textbook writing.  That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the point I’m trying to make is that blog writing and news release writing are two different styles.  Good news releases aren’t written in blog post style.  While I’m an advocate of using less print-style writing (I’m not much for true AP Style, even when I’m writing news releases), I actually suggest writers use more of a broadcast television style.  It’s something of a happy medium between … say … The Wall Street Journal and Gizmodo.  And, just because news releases aren’t written exactly the way Mr. Rivera would write them, doesn’t mean they’re written poorly.

Back to the point of the ReadWriteWeb post: News releases DO have a place in online discussion, as Mr. MacManus concluded.  As public relation professionals use the web to target their information at the actual public, rather than using the media as an intermediary, their releases will be quoted more as sources by non-traditional media.  It’s a natural progression.  Well written (and even some of the poorly written) news releases can be a fabulous source for blogs and other social media outlets.

Plug alert: Check out the latest EndGame PR news releases!

Lorelle on WordPress recently blogged about running from Katrina, and also on how blogs can be critical in times of disaster.  The post also linked to a blog post on The Blog Herald which gave tips on blogging in a disaster.  Tips included making a list of what you need to blog, using portable applications, storing all of your passwords in a secure place online, and more.  Definitely worth reading if you live on the coast and make your living by blogging.

Rocked by warnings that it will cost news organizations $50,000 more per reporter to cover Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. John McCain, a growing number of journalists and press pundits are questioning why the media is staffing up coverage of the political conventions where little major news is expected. At least one paper and several Washington bureaus, we’re told, have budgeted only $100,000 for political coverage, and their convention teams will eat most of it, leaving little to put reporters on the campaign trail. Mark Potts, a media consultant who blogs about the industry on RecoveringJournalist.com, goes further: Leave the campaign coverage to the big shots, like AP, and spend that money at home. “That $50,000 would go a long way toward paying the annual salary for another reporter to cover something readers really care about, like city hall, or local schools.”

The resulting discussion (one example can be found at The Daily Kos) comes from many news blogs using this to further their case that bloggers can report the news much more efficiently than the traditional print news organizations.  While this is likely true, the problem with this discussion is that this Whispers item is not terribly clear.  Is that $50,000 figure the cost per reporter to cover one of the conventions, or is it the cost per reporter to cover an entire campaign?  I agree that the number is high, but there’s a vast difference between racking up a $50K bill in five days versus more than a year.

That aside, bloggers CAN cover the convention much less expensively than a traditional media outlet, particularly when you look at the traditional media outlet literally eating $100,000 worth of budget.  One great example of economical coverage comes from the blog Pam’s House Blend, which is fully credentialed for the Democratic Party Convention and is funding the trip through donations from readers.