First, if you don’t know what A-listers or Z-listers are, then here is a brief description. “A-listers” are essentially the “top bloggers” (in terms of traffic, inbound links, etc.) These are the “loudest” voices in the blogosphere, and subsequently, the ones that garner most of the attention from others.

Conversely, the blogs at the “bottom of the pile” are called “Z-listers.” At the bottom you have a lot of really crappy blogs – but also some blogs that are well-written and contain valuable content, but are overlooked (or dwarfed) by the A-listers. Mack Collier at Viral Garden wanted to do something to give these other blogs some love, so he launched a chain of events to get these blogs noticed. From Mack:

Create a new post on your blog, but CUT AND PASTE the list I have below, and then ADD any blogs you feel aren’t getting their due…It can be 1 blog, or a hundred (or none if you simply want to re-post the same list), but the idea is, find those great blogs that, for whatever reason, you feel aren’t getting their due, link-wise.

Then after you leave your post, the next blogger will do the same thing, cut and paste YOUR list, and add THEIR blogs to the list, then repost it. Add the same instructions in your post that the next blogger should cut and paste YOUR list, and add any blogs they feel should be on it to THEIR list. The list will get increasingly long, and all the blogs will get a sort of reverse ‘pyramid-effect of link-love.”

This is a PAINFULLY easy way to bring extra links and exposure to those blogs that deserve it. I would institute and honor rule that you don’t include your own blog. The end result is that many great blogs will get a tone of extra exposure, we’ll all find some great new blogs to add to our reading list, and you’ll get much good karma points for helping out your fellow bloggers! And who knows, some of that link-love might even come back to you!

I was placed on this list, and thought it was cute, but didn’t really think much about it. Then I noticed that my (completely useless, IMHO) Technorati “ranking” jumped up from about 55,000 to around 32,000. From reading other bits around the blogosphere, I can see where this is helping some other blogs jump up in the rankings.

Of course, as Technorati bases its rankings off of “fresh” inbound links, most of these Z-listers will most likely start drifting back down in the rankings as the meme runs its course. But all of this got me thinking about the “A-listers”, and why there is even a need to track them.

If you aren’t familiar with Technorati’s rankings, the only real benefit is to make your blog show up higher if someone is searching for a specific keyword, tag, etc. (it increases the “authority” of your blog). Well, and of course, it also satisfies the egos of bloggers. Since most people use Google still for, well, finding just about everything, this is a moot point – but I digress.

Personally, I could give a **** where I show up in the rankings. I blog because it is a fun outlet for me, not because I want to stand up on a podium with a megaphone and scream “hey everyone, look at me! I’m a highly ranked blogger who couldn’t get a date in a women’s prison with a fistful of pardons! I am a blogger, hear me roar!”

And yes, I do believe many A-listers fall into that bucket. I also believe that blogging has unfortunately given some people a “voice” that probably shouldn’t have had one in the first place – freedom of speech notwithstanding. As an entrepreneurial spirit, I have always “challenged authority”, “bucked” the status quo, and I’ve probably crossed more lines in my life than most people have crossed “t’s”. I hate “the man” as much as the next Joe … but …

I don’t know which is sadder – the fact that we (as a society) have placed a bunch of people who are (quite frankly) placing very little in the way of thought leadership into the blogosphere onto something called an “A-list” or the fact that people have to resort to doing things like gaming Technorati via a Z-list meme in order to get people to read their ramblings.

It is fun, I admit, to see my blog jump higher in the rankings – however, when the Z-list meme has run its course, and the fresh links stop coming, all of these blogs that are seeing an increased ranking are going to start sliding back down the list. Then, it will be back to business as usual. Of course, this assumes that Technorati doesn’t do something to prevent it (it would be very easy to do – just ignore any RSS feed entries that have more than “n” number of outbound links). For that matter, they could easily drift into the mode of penalizing your ranking if you are suspected of gaming the system (ala Google).

So far, even though I’ve jumped up pretty substantially in the rankings, I haven’t seen much in the way of increased traffic.

EDIT/UPDATE: I should also add that with all of these “generic” inbound links, it makes the task of seeing who is providing “real” backlinks more difficult, as I have to wade through the Z-list links to find someone who is actually commenting on something I wrote.

The Z-list meme will only be a successful experiment, I suppose, if it results in some new recurring readers for these blogs – not just a bunch of anonmyous links that are not going to have a long-term effect on rankings. We’ll see.

I do appreciate being put on the list, though – thanks to whoever it was out there that thought my ramblings here might be of value to others!

Cheers.

I always like going down to the ATDC. I love running into old friends, and making some new ones. But more importantly, I simply like being around other entrepreneurs. There is an unmistakable energy or vibe that you pick up when you are around like-minded people of any classification. It is a nice way for me, as an entrepreneur, to recharge my own batteries a bit.

If you will be attending, I look forward to seeing you there! Thanks to Cindy, Tony, and the rest of the ATDC gang for inviting me to come down and hang out for a while.

Cheers.

Our goals with the panel:

• To disseminate information about the Business and Social aspects of Blogging.
• To show how Blogging has value to the business and customer.
• To show the audience that Blogging can be an effective means of Business and Social interaction.

We have a great panel as well!

• Michele Moore – CEO Happiness Habit, Inc. (Panelist)
• Sherry Heyl – What a Concept! (Panelist)

The program will take place on Tuesday, March 14th, 2006, at 7:30am., and will be held at the Microsoft SE Headquarters in Sanctuary Park, Alpharetta, GA.

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Cheers.

This will be similar in scope to the presentation I gave recently at the Kettering Executive Network (KEN), although it will be a little shorter due to time constraints.

Abstract: Join Atlanta executive blogger and ExecuNet member, Scott Burkett, for a look at how executives (in transition or otherwise) can take advantage of Web 2.0 concepts to further extend their personal, professional brand. Topics covered will include an overview of professional blogging, steps for getting started, sound strategies to employ, pitfalls to avoid, corporate concerns, and several case studies. Learn how to harness the power of a professional blog to drive traffic to your bio/resume, and how to turn those visitors into interviews!

If you would like to have the presentation delivered for your organization, by all means, let me know.

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Cheers.

I will provide an overview of business blogging, and share you some solid strategies for taking advantage of blogging to further build your executive brand.

I will be presenting on Friday, February 17th, 2006, at 10:00am. The meeting will be held in Suite 700 of the Seibel Systems building at 1 Glenlake Parkway.

If you are not a member of Kettering, but would like to have the presentation delivered for your organization, by all means, let me know.

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Cheers.

We have lined up a number of guest bloggers already, and are continuing to look at others who may be interested in participating. This is a great way to get your message out, but not have to deal with running and maintaining your own business blog.

Up first, we’ll have a great article by Derek Haynes of Highgroove Studios. The Highgroove gang are making some great strides in driving the Ruby and Ruby on Rails movement here in the Atlanta tech community. As our first guest blogger, Derek will talk directly to you CIOs and other tech decision makers as to the benefits of the Ruby on Rails framework. I know most of you are wrapped up (and heavily invested) in Java and .NET, but you have to see Ruby on Rails to believe it.

If you or your organization have an interest in participating, and feel that you have some content that marries well with the themes of this blog (see sidebar under the logo), by all means let me know!

Cheers.

As I browse from one blog to the next, I notice a few things that seem to generalize the larger “blogosphere.” First, while there are millions of blogs out there, most of them are “personal” in nature. There is nothing wrong with this, but it makes finding value-added business blogs a very difficult endeavor, to say the least. To really find some good substance out there, you can spend hours upon hours wading through personal notes, photos, podcasts created in the food courts of shopping malls, and of course, the proverbial music, book, and DVD favorites lists. There are some exceptions to this, but good blogs can be hard to find.

I met with a fellow Atlanta executive yesterday, and when I brought up the subject of professional “blogging”, he was quick to state his dislike for blogs. In essence, it boiled down to perceptions. When he went to the net to do research on the blog craze, he was inundated with an ocean of non-professional blogs. I assured him that there was tremendous value to be had in professional blogging, but I’m not sure he bought into it.

Also, most bloggers are not very well-versed in new media, publishing, or web design. As a result, their blogs tend to be “busy” and a bit “over-the-top”, shall we say. Even some of the better business bloggers out there could use some help. Aside from being victims of poor design to begin with, their blogs are crammed with information overload; posts, comments, ads, blogrolls, tag clouds, linkbacks, widgets, wadgets, and random bits of this and that. Font size and color seems to be another source of inconsistency.

The blog you are reading now (The Pothole) will buck this trend. It will remain a clutter-free place. You will not be able to browse my music collection or Netflix queue, or view pictures of my dog; instead, the content will be fresh and relevant to Atlanta business-folk. I am not here to “make money” from my blog, so you will never see any third party advertisements. All of the posts will be formatted in a consistent manner, and it will always be presented in an organized fashion.

I feel that if someone takes the time out of their busy day to come and read my business ramblings, I should at least keep a tidy home for them. After all, if you knocked on the door of my house, I would feel the same way. Can you imagine walking into someone’s house and seeing advertising billboards on the wall, their top ten books, DVDs, and CDs curiously arranged by the front door, and having the host throw a pile of papers at you? I can’t.

Cheers.

I will, however, try to publish my thoughts on some of my professional passions, including e- business, business networking, process improvement, online community building, and technology (with a definite slant toward things that are going on here in the Atlanta area). It is my hope that this blog will become a valuable resource for my contacts, as well as the many talented professionals within the area that I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting personally. I will try to publish at least one entry per week, although sometimes, I’ll post more than that.

At the top of certain articles and postings, you’ll see a small icon representing a pair of headphones. These indicate that a “podcast” is available for that article. Podcasts are audio versions of the content delivered in MP3 format. These MP3s can be streamed using the Flash player on the page (just click the little play icon), or can be downloaded using the link provided (for use in your iPod, home computer, or other device). All of our podcasts are also freely available via iTunes.

Additionally, you will see feature content from “guest bloggers” – these will be from industry thought leaders and other Atlanta area business/technology leaders. They will blog from time to time on topics reflecting their passion and respective areas of expertise.

If you’d like to view a list of all of the articles that have been published here at the Pothole, be sure to visit the site map.

In the menu area to the right of the home page you will see a list of my “Business Associates”, “Friends & Colleagues”, and “Organizations / Groups”. These are people or entities that I routinely do business with, advise, or emphatically recommend to others. I don’t get (nor do I expect) a kickback or referral fee if one of my blog readers decides to use their services. I simply believe in promoting people who are keeping up the good fight out there. If you see someone listed in that area of this site, then I am personally attaching my name to their work.

And by the way, if you are an Atlanta professional business blogger, I’d love to hear from you! There aren’t many of us out there, it seems.

If we haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet, you can learn a little bit more about me by taking a quick look at my online biography. Otherwise, I invite you to browse around at your leisure, and I hope that you find some value along the way.

So, here we go.

Cheers.