• How To Make My Blog Stand Out From The Crowd?
• 17 New Wordpress Themes That Will Rock Your Personal Blog
• Twingly: The Blog Search Engine That Is Actually Moving In The Right Direction
• Technorati Media Launches Their AdEngage Product. Just a Poor Advertising Network
• Crenk’s Top 10 SEO Blogs Worth Subscribing To

I know that most of these directories aren’t really comprehensive and they don’t tend to include all blogs in the right areas, but who really cares, it is just a bit of fun.

• Top 10 Web 2.0 Blogs on Blogs.com
• Crenk Showcased In Top Wordpress Galleries
• Join The Crenk Community
• Top 10 Adsense Optimized Wordpress Themes
• Blogs.com: The Blog Directory Profiling Some Of The Best News From The Blogosphere

The plug-in has a new version, 0.4, that appeared a few days back and it already includes compatibility with the latest WordPress version.

So what exactly a blog antivirus can do? You may ask. Well, this plug-in can help you out on monitoring possible platform vulnerabilities, virus injections, malicious links inserted, etc. Includes also features like email notifications and whitelisting.

The installation process it’s the same as every WordPress plug-in:

1.Download AntiVirus plugin
2.Unzip the archive
3.Upload the folder antivirus into ./wp-content/plugins/
4.Go to tab Plugins
5.Activate AntiVirus
6.Edit settings
7.Ready

WordPress users and webmasters always find the need to keep a good eye on the deployed platform in case any vulnerability appears and, if that happens, just pray for a quick hotfix. It’s nice to have a quick option that can help you be more proactive about the health of your deployments.

• You Can Now Update to Wordpress 2.7 Just Like Crenk
• W3 Total Cache Wordpress Plugin That Provides a Transparent Content Delivery Network
• Theme Grade: Free Wordpress Themes Graded by SEO Quality and Overall
• AVG Version 9: Free AntiVirus Coming October 15th
• Microsoft Free Antivirus Releasing Today

Richard Jalichandra, chief executive of Technorati, said that at any given time there are 7 million to 10 million active blogs on the Internet, but it’s probably between 50,000 and 100,000 blogs that are generating most of the page views.

But why is this happening? Why people just suddenly looses motivation to write or share experiences, information, articles, etc? The article also remarks that people usually confuse the idea of blogging as a fast way to financial independence and rapidly find themselves discouraged.

But, besides the possible financial disappointment, is it twitter related to this? In a small way, I think.

Over an year ago (maybe more) when I started to hear about Twitter I found this short comic (from Gapingvoid), metioned also on an old post of mine about Twitter:

For some cases, I’m sure this is a very realistic comic. After all, Twitter it is a way of micro blogging, share information and (current) experiences. And it is easier and simpler to keep updated your Twitter account instead of your blog. It is the same? Absolutely not.

Blogging is so much richer, states as a permanent document (Twitter also does, but not so friendly to review them), or even as your historical experience in a given subject. It’s all about sharing: information, opinions, expertiece, experiences, etc etc.

My take? Never stop blogging.

• Top 5 Digital Music Blogs That You Should Read On a Daily Basis
• Building your Own Arcade Cabinet (shared)
• How To Make My Blog Stand Out From The Crowd?
• You Can Now Update to Wordpress 2.7 Just Like Crenk
• Blogs.com: The Blog Directory Profiling Some Of The Best News From The Blogosphere

Make sure you head over and check out the list at The Next Web and let me know what blogs should have been added to the list.

• Top 10 Web 2.0 Blogs on Blogs.com
• Retweet.com Is Not a Tweetmeme Killer
• Invesp: Comprehensive Blog Directory
• Wordpress Antivirus Plug-in
• Twitter Keys: Shortcuts Icons for Twitter

Hypebot – Hypebot is written by Bruce Houghton and is a daily report on the last news in the digital music space. Bruce is also the founder and president of Skyline Music (booking agency) and Skyline Consultancy in which he is a music and technology consultant to many music startups.

Digital Music News – Digital Music News is the news and information authority for music industry and technology executives. Digital Music News is founded and edited by Paul Resnikoff. Paul writes daily posts on Digital Music News and also send out a dialy newsletter to industry executives called the Daily Snapshot.

Billboard.biz – Billboard.biz is the digital music arm of the Billboard website. Billboard.biz discusses digital music news with normally at least 10 articles per day. Articles on Billboard.biz don’t just come straight from the USA they as encompass International digital music news, so that you get the full picture.

Digital Audio Insider – Digital Audio Insider is written by David Harrell, who writes digital music news from an artists perspective. David is in a band based in the UK and they use all kinds of different digital music stores and partners to sell/stream their music, and David’s writings are a great insight into what the average artist is thinking and what they are looking for.

Coolfer – Glenn Peoples has worked in the music industry for over eight years and founded Coolfer.com while working and living in New York City. Coolfer was a total ad free blog which is pretty unheard of these days. A week or so ago Glenn announced on his site that he would stop writing because he was offered a new job over at Billboard.biz asSenior Editorial Analyst, so you can now read his work over there.

• Wired Has Decided To Close Music Related Blogs, Listening Post and Underwire
• Blogs.com: The Blog Directory Profiling Some Of The Best News From The Blogosphere
• 95 percent of Blogs are Abandoned
• Blah Girls: Why Isnt Ashton Kutcher Pushing It on Twitter?
• Jango Launches Music Vertical Advertising Network

The process is very simple, head over to Review My Web and add in the website you want analytics for and then also type in two competitors and then your email address. It normally only take up to five minutes for the report to then be sent to your email address, and its that simple.

Review My Web is a great free seo analysis tool, but it would also be great to see previous results and compare if everything is moving in the right direction.

• Dataopedia: Look At Your Sites Key Metrics In One Place
• Yahoo! Buys a Start-Up Site
• SaySoMobile: Make Money Receiving Text Ads On Your Mobile Phone
• Lovely Charts: Best Web Based Tool For Flowcharts and Wireframes
• Timecamp: Keep Track of Your Employees Time

It was first mentioned that Problogger is the best source for this information on the web, however I have been reading his site for many years now and most of the content seems to be getting a little reproduced. Additionally, Problogger talks a lot about social media and how to use it to your advantage, but these days everyone has been reading those articles for year and most bloggers use StumbleUpon, Digg, Mixx, Buzz and other very proficiently. If most bloggers are using these tools to their advantage then you still have the same issues, how to stand out from the crowd?

I know that here in Europe a blog that has been on the rise lately is TheNextWeb, but I know these guys have been writing that blog for several years now and they also have one of the best technology conference on the mainland of Europe. Therefore if I want to improve my readership it is a little difficult to just start a conference, or is it worth adding some add-ons to the site such as job board, marketplace or others?

Content is also a major player in this issues, cause most good bloggers say that content is king. However, I think that content is king when you are either a small blog or a large blog, but definitely in the middle content isnt king and it is all about promotion and push.

This is main problem with web 2.0, noise! Currently, there is just simply so much noise in most niche’s, so why instead of writing individual sites and keeping a little revenue, maybe the plan should be to join forces with other blogs and create a larger blog and take a smaller slice of a much larger pie.

I propose this question to you, “how can I get my site to stand out from the rest, especially considering we produce amazing content that is much better than the majority of our competitors”?

• Top 10 Web 2.0 Blogs on Blogs.com
• The Blog Sale Rush… Are You Next!
• Wordpress 2.8 Releases in Beta
• Top 5 Digital Music Blogs That You Should Read On a Daily Basis
• MakeMoneyOnline.com: Money Making Tips Sites Thats Actually Worth Reading

It only took about five minutes to upload via FTP and it is so much better than the previous 2.6 version.

The interface is a lot easier to look at and the dashboard has so many features to use. Additionally, one of the best features has to be editing and commenting right within the admin dashboard. Brilliant.

If you haven’t already head over to Wordpress.org and download Wordpress 2.7 now.

• Wordpress 2.8 Releases in Beta
• Blah Girls: Why Isnt Ashton Kutcher Pushing It on Twitter?
• Top 5 Digital Music Blogs That You Should Read On a Daily Basis
• Irresistible: Personal Wordpress Theme for Free by WooThemes
• How To Make My Blog Stand Out From The Crowd?

Wired have thanks approximately 12 writers who have worked on the blog and it still hasnt been fully confirmed if they will be completely out of a job or not.

This seems to be a very strange move from Wired. It might have just been better to slowly move the Listening post material into another niche instead of just closing down the 40th most linked to blog in the world according to Technorati. I really do think it is a shame because I have been really loving the Listening Posts articles over the last year or so, and if the writers ever need somewhere to write please contact me, because we also have another blog over at RouteNote in which we are always on the look out for writers who can help musicians in the current climate.

• Top 5 Digital Music Blogs That You Should Read On a Daily Basis
• Jango Launches Music Vertical Advertising Network
• Stop Dreaming – Start Doing With VOIS
• Dell Download Store Launches With Games, Music and Software at Great Prices
• Don’t Get Sued… Use Tunerec

Blogs.com has been a great success from launch and has some great traffic already to the site. However, when I look closer at the site it seems they it is very basic and isn’t providing too much insights, so why such high traffic numbers. For one it is very hard to get your content shown on their, so doesn’t show true news from the blogosphere, just selected information. Additionally, I have submitted Crenk three times to their direct and I don’t even think they have referenced my site yet!

The design itself is very limiting and only allows them to show a certain amount of information on every page. Additionally, when it comes to finding more interesting sites in a particular niche, I think this just doesn’t happen at all. It is hard to find their directory and they don’t seem to want to show information from various blogs, just stick to the top blogs that everyone has already heard of.

• Top 5 Digital Music Blogs That You Should Read On a Daily Basis
• Wired Has Decided To Close Music Related Blogs, Listening Post and Underwire
• Where Can I Find Tech Company and Product Info? Crunchbase or Tradevibes!
• WebHostingRating.com: The Newest Place TO Head to Find Out The Right Hosting Package For Your Needs
• Meme will Challage Twitter in a World War

The top bloggers by monthly income:

• How To Make My Blog Stand Out From The Crowd?
• 95 percent of Blogs are Abandoned
• Top 5 Digital Music Blogs That You Should Read On a Daily Basis
• Trafficspaces: Self-service Ad Management Platform
• MakeMoneyOnline.com: Money Making Tips Sites Thats Actually Worth Reading

If you feel that you should be included, you can get in touch with Ad Age here, who will sort you out. As soon as you’re in, I’ll pick you up in this filleting of the AA chart.

I really looking forward to seeing if James make a nice badge for the sites on the list. I would be sure to place it on Crenk.com. Also, im a little surprised that James doesnt promote the list a little more on his site, because it is a big draw point to the site.

I also just wanted to point out that I came across another great blog that is not UK based, but i thought was worth a mention, DailyWritingTips. There currently is a post that is rising on digg, 44 resume writing tips.

• Top 10 Web 2.0 Blogs on Blogs.com
• How To Make My Blog Stand Out From The Crowd?
• Twingly: The Blog Search Engine That Is Actually Moving In The Right Direction
• Technorati Media Launches Their AdEngage Product. Just a Poor Advertising Network
• The Blog Sale Rush… Are You Next!

• How To Make My Blog Stand Out From The Crowd?
• Wired Has Decided To Close Music Related Blogs, Listening Post and Underwire
• Top 10 Web 2.0 Blogs on Blogs.com
• Wordpress 2.8 Releases in Beta
• Top 5 Digital Music Blogs That You Should Read On a Daily Basis

Currently, here at Crenk we have already compiled a Crenk-ed List, which lists some of the best sites on the net. I just wanted to take this a little further and tell you more about some of these sites and others.

Technology News and Analysis:

This area of the blogging world is centered around several key sites and there doesnt seem to be many new up and coming blogs. The leaders are Techcrunch, Silicon Alley, Read/Write Web, Mashable, VentureBeat, Gigaom and Webware. Recently, we have also seen the demise of Mykinda and Blognation. There arent too many blogs on the rise and starting to compete with the big boys, but the main new site is CenterNetworks. CenterNetworks has recently taken on a few more contributors on a frequent basis and im sure brings in a nice income for Allen Stearn.

There are also lots of the older sites out there that seem to be in decline, for example Rev2.org and Programmable Web.

Web Product Analysis:

Currently, this niche is quite easy to get into and there arent too many major players in this area. There are 2 sites that really seem to be growing very quickly at the moment and thats MakeUseOf and Sizlopedia. Both of these sites have seen great growth in the last 3-6 months and i can seeing this continue and possibly overtaking some of the larger technology news weblogs.

Technology Ramblings:

There are so many tech gurus out there with blogs who just like talking about crap. Examples are Scoble, Calacanis, Battelle and Feld. Are any of them actually worth reading? Hell Yeh! However, i am also really keen to see a collaboration by such a-listers. That would be a must read and would provide a entire discussion area in one simple site.

This all being said and done there has been a lot of discussion last week about comment Michael Arrington from Techcrunch made about getting a few high profile blog sites together and taking the market by storm. I think he was a bit ambitious about some issues, but overall it is a good idea and up until now there has been no collaboration between high profile bloggers. With more and more blogs coming into the blogosphere everyday, collaboration and networking is definitely the way forward. So look out for some of these high profile blogs mentioned to start combinding their efforts.

• Top 10 Web 2.0 Blogs on Blogs.com
• Invesp: Comprehensive Blog Directory
• Wordpress Antivirus Plug-in
• 95 percent of Blogs are Abandoned
• Crenk In The Top 150 Popular Blogs About The World Wide Web

Today Forbes.com have officially announced the creation of a Business and Finance Blog Network, comprising of a community of pre-screened, influential business and financial blogs.

The network will allow advertisers to target a highly engaged, exclusive niche audience of senior business decision makers and affluent investors easily and effectively. Four hundred-plus blogs have already joined the network, with many more expected to sign on before the official launch in the next few weeks.

Nick Ricci has been appointed General Manager, Sales. He will be responsible for overseeing the sales, marketing and promotion for the Blog Network as well as the Forbes Audience Network (FAN), which launched in November 2007.  Nick joins Forbes.com from About.com, where he served as Senior Vice President, Sales and Ad Operations. He has also held senior sales management and marketing positions at Times Mirror Magazines, Cox Interactive Sales, and Hachette Filipacchi Media US. Nick is already in the process of hiring and building a dedicated network sales team.

“I’m thrilled that Nick has joined Forbes.com to oversee the sales efforts for the Blog Network,” added Spanfeller. “He is a seasoned executive with several years of sales and marketing experience who will play a key role in driving the network’s success.”

Crenk is one of the four hundred blogs that has already signed up to the Forbes.com network. Im not too sure how the network will perform, but the expectations are high and from all reports so is the CPM rates that we can expect. Overall, this initiative seems to be a step forward for Forbes, who are trying to cash in on selling advertising across their network and then potentially grabbing millions more impressions from these blog partners.

• Forbes Blog/Advertising Network Is Taking Shape
• Adap.tv: Online Video Ad Management Platform
• MyBuxNetworks: Is This The Worst Ad Network You Have Ever Seen?
• Technorati Media Isnt Moving In The Right Direction
• Has Gigaom Been Affect From Moving Away From Federated Media and to IDG?

We have seen the Bloggy Network sell off their most popular blogs to Splashpress Media (Bloggy now to focus on Blogflux), Blogging Fingers sold for $6000, Ryan Shamus sold for $2500, OneMansGoal sold for $8500, NxE sold for $8200 and Shylock Blogging for $4000.

These sites have had a great mixture of statistics with relevance to visitors, pageviews, subscribers and blog life. At present because of this a lot of bloggers are trying to work out how these blogs have be evaluated, with mixed views. 45n5 divides subscribers by the sale amount and then average the amounts per subscriber, thus averaging about $30 per subscriber. This $30 per subscriber seems to be a great amount to judge if you should place advertising on your site for the little income in the short term compared to the value you will have from subscribers in the long term.

If you site currently has 100 subscribers and has been making $200 per month ad revenue, but your subscriber growth has been slow. Wouldnt it be a better idea to remove the ads if your goals are set beyond 6 months so that you can allow subscriber numbers to grow at its full potential. There is no point monetizing your blog as much as possible in the early days unless you are looking for an income or getting ready to sell.

Additionally, how come there isnt a place online that specifically provides auction space for blogs that are trying to sell?

• How To Make My Blog Stand Out From The Crowd?
• MakeMoneyOnline.com: Money Making Tips Sites Thats Actually Worth Reading
• Top Money Making MMO Games of 2008
• Top Bloggers: Monthly Income List
• THE UK’S Top UK Marketing Weblogs

Overall I just think the list is pointless and it just boosts the ego of the few that are on it! It has the same relevance as most of the lists you see around the place about the “top 50 bloggers” or “top blog awards”. Pointless!

• Techmeme and Their New Leaderboard
• Invesp: Comprehensive Blog Directory
• New York Times Report That Online Advertising Brings in Nearly a Quarter Of Their Revenues
• Has Rivals Techcrunch and Silicon Alley Insider Partnered??
• Top 10 Web 2.0 Blogs on Blogs.com

I have long been toying with ideas of how to expand Crenk and which areas will actually help readers in the overcrowded space that is tech news. There are a few ideas I will be exploring over the next few months but for the time being I am looking for some writers interested in either Guest Blogging or Lead Writing on Crenk. If you might be interested please let me know via our contact form.

Anyways back to which tech sites are worth reading. There are really 10 or so big tech news sites that are really driving traffic numbers at present, but how does a smaller blog break into the market? Techcrunch, Mashable and ReadWriteWeb are all growing fast and they are based around very professional writers and good journalists. Here at Crenk we would like to compete on traffic numbers with the above 3.

If you have a smaller technology blog and would like to help build the next large Technology Blog site, then please let me know and submit your articles or becoming a fulltime writer. With every article you submit, if the material is used you will receive credit for the article and links to your site.

• Crenk Twitter Lists: Crenk Team, Top Technology News Sources, Tech Talk and Bittorrent News
• Crenk Community News
• Newsy: News Aggregator But Shows The News from Multiple Sources in One Video
• Top 10 Web 2.0 Blogs on Blogs.com
• Invesp: Comprehensive Blog Directory

I love people that come up with ideas like this and instead of trying to complicate it they just provide the basics. Feedjit provides real-time traffic data on your blog. It is so simple im sure my little sister could even use it. Just cut and paste in the code into your site and it is ready to go. There is no registration and it’s completely free. They also track popular links across blogs, so if your site is the first to link to a popular site, your blog may appear on their home page, which im sure is not going to boost your traffic, but it is just a nice touch.

• The Pirate Bay Launches Interactive Torrent Map
• Biz Information: How Much Is My Website Worth? Some Figures Are Even Accurate
• Why Do People Go Online?
• Top 10 Web 2.0 Blogs on Blogs.com
• Invesp: Comprehensive Blog Directory