March 2008

Blogs are again doing what they do best: self-reflection. The most recent episode of navel-gazing was kicked-off by the New York Times contrasting the differing styles of TechCrunch blogger Michael Arrington and PaidContent, a site that just opened its second office, this time in Manhattan.
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Pro Blogging News, our site covering the financial side of professional blogging, has been accepted into the invite-only Forbes Financial Blogging Ad Network. We’ll have two ads on the front page, a rectangle in the right sidebar and a leaderboard up top. For more information on the network, click on the Forbes icon or check out our soon-to-be updated ad network page.

Since its baseball season again, I thought I’d write a brief review of WordPress 2.5, the long-awaited major upgrade to the popular WordPress open-source blogging software. Although Matt Mulleneweg and the crew were aiming for the seats with this version, it appears they instead scored an in-the-park double.

In the run-up to the release, much was written about what WordPress 2.5 would improve. Always at the top of the list of improvements was a revamped administration interface. Although there were multiple delays, Mullenweg offered glimpses of the admin screens, complete with details on how the new software offered your choice of color schemes. But beyond the eye-candy, was WordPress 2.5 worth the wait?

No.

Take the “write post” area, please. Henny Youngman allusions aside, the changes are a step back, rather than an evolutionary advance. The new WordPress version takes information, such as categories, post author and other information that had been on the right of the entry screen and placed them below, forcing you to scroll and scroll. This is simply stupid. Not even the elegant “fluencyadmin” plugin corrects this most obvious design mistake.

What are others saying about the new WordPress look? TechCrunch blogger Michael Arrington wonders aloud whether its time to change.

“I am really wondering if WordPress really cares about being a solution for big blogs, or if they think the market is in millions of one person shops. that may be the right thing for them, but i’m not sure its the right software for us.”

Mashable notes the upgrade took six months to produce and wonders if it shouldn’t have been named WordPress 3.0, for all of the new features.

Dave Peralty of Splashpress Media’ Blogging Pro, joined the chorus thankful the long wait is over. “I am excited to get moving on using the new version,” Peralty wrote Saturday. A week ago, Peralty was questioning whether what Mullenweg produced would be worth it.

“I am feeling more and more like WordPress 2.5 will have to be amazing to convince people that the wait was worth it,” Peralty had said.

Is WordPress 2.5 ‘amazing’? Check out what WordPress 2.5 users are saying on the WordPress.org support site.

One nagging flaw we’ve found is when trying to add a link to a story. To get the link to the WordPress support forums, we had to switch to the HTML editor. The “link” button in the visual editor opens a blank window without any input for a URL.

Update: the link problem, outlined at the WordPress support forum, is browser-specific. I experienced problems with the latest Firefox, but had no problems adding a link in the visual editor when using Safari.

Will WordPress 2.5 increase Automattic’s lead over Six Apart? Although Mullenweg escaped with just a few scars from the hissy-fit thrown over Six Apart’s attempt to lure away WordPress users, the jury is still out whether 2.5 will help or hurt WordPress’ competitiveness.

We have upgraded to WordPress 2.5, the latest version of the open-source blogging platform used by Pro Blogging News. Let us know if you experience any weirdness. We’ll be writing an in-depth review of the software.

PaidContent, the blog that tracks the content business, is heading to the Big Apple. Rafat Ali, who founded PC in 2002, said Thursday he’s opening offices in New York City and hiring the new leaders in what he termed the “next phase” for ContentNext Media. Along with the executive shuffle, the New York Times wonders if Michael Arrington’s view of blogging has gone out of style.

Ali said he’s stepping down as CEO and has picked former Dow Jones Online chief Nathan Richardson to take the helm and join the board.

Also coming aboard is Patrick Dignan as Chief Sales Officer. Dignan previously held sales posts at Philly.com, as well as publisher at Family PC.

PaidContent also added former Variety publisher Charlie Koons to the board and promoted founding journalist Staci Kramer to the Co-Editor and Executive Vice President position.

In the wake of all the changes, the New York Times talked to Ali about Arrington’s belief blogs have to unite, get big quick and dispatch the likes of CNET. Ali, on the other hand, sees himself running a trade media company, not a blog.

“If CNet is the only target you can aspire to be, that is selling yourself really short,” Ali told the NYT’s blogger Saul Hansell.

B5 Media, the Canadian blogging company, is now searching for a content director as it hopes to remake itself as a larger media power. The news comes just days after losing Aaron Brazell, the company’s founding chief technology officer.

Joey deVilla, the company’s self-described “Nerd Wrangler,” announced the job search. (when are these firms going to grow up and use adult titles, like personnel director? I guess it is too much to ask for businesses led by twenty-somethings.)

“We’ve done pretty well so far, growing b5 from a collection of 5 blogs (that’s where the “b5? comes from) into a network of over 300 blogs with a total of 10 million unique pageviews a month. Our goal is to take this growth to the next level, which means going beyond our current audience, the type of people who generally read blogs, to the mainstream.”

Unclear is whether Content Director replaces Christina Jones, who is b5’s current Content Manager.

Here’s another talking point the next time chums Nick Denton and Michael Arrington get together to discuss cricket - Gawker Media is worth $150 million versus TechCrunch’s $36 million. Or so figures the folks at 24/7 Wall St., the financial blog.

Analyst Douglas McIntyre checked public sources (such as pageviews and advertising) and added a pinch of insight into a blog’s risk-level (like Arrington getting hit by a bus and the bulk of TechCrunch going down the tubes) to create a list of the 25 most valuable blogs. McIntyre admits there is a bit of tea-leaf predicting involved.

But getting back to the point, what makes Gawker Media (which is a network of several high-profile sites) worth more than the mighty TechCrunch? McIntyre describes Gawker as a network that is growing with a 50 percent margin. Conversely, TechCrunch, according to 24/7 doesn’t believe the site’s pageview numbers. While TC claims 3.2 million unique visitors, Compete reported 900,000 visitors in February.

Also disconcerting is “the company’s audience is not growing,” McIntyre writes. The analyst puts TC’s value at $36 million, not far from the $35 million Silicon Alley Insider’s Henry Blodgett put on the tech blog. This No. 5 ranking for Arrington comes as the startup guru is shopping for $15 million in funding.

Has HuffPo Peaked?

McIntyre makes another interesting point, ranking the giant Huffington Post site as No. 3, rather than second place. Although Ariana Huffington’s baby is valued at $70 million, the 24/7 analysis believes HuffPo’s salad days will vanish with the political season.

“HuffPo has tried to building out other content sections, but it is likely that they cannot replace the visits from the core audience which visits the site for political comment,” McIntyre writes.

Although the HuffPo was on the way to profitability, raking in $7.5 million in 2007, the analyst said the site is on a downward trend with increasing costs, falling visits.

The Apple blog MacRumors, by contrast is attracting a growing number of visitors. The site, which 24/7 believes is worth $85 million, is also attracting well-healed advertisers paying around $30 CPM.

Seeking Alpha or Seeking Profits?

Although mum about its own financial balance sheet, 24/7 does speculate on Seeking Alpha ($15M), the other huge financial news site. Among the highlights: although attracting between 400,000 to 700,000 visitors, the site is top-heavy with staff and a margin of around 10 percent.

Search Engine Land ($2.7 million, ranked No. 15) is one of those blogs few have read if not involved in the battle between Google and Yahoo. McIntyre believes SEL attracts 500,000 pageviews and $50 CPM ad space, some of the highest on the list.

The list (all 25 blogs, plus an explanation is at 24/7 Wall St.) is likely to spark more speculation in the tightly-held professional blogging arena.

Aaron Brazell,  technology director for Canada-based B5 blogging network, announced Wednesday he’s leaving the job. Brazell,  who worked for B5 CEO Jeremy Wright for two and a half years, said he wants to blaze a new trail in social networking.

“Recently, through my interactions with so many wonderful people in the DC technology community, the PodCamp community, the larger social media, business and technology communities, my appetite for something new and challenging has been overwhelming,” Brazell wrote from his personal blog.

Brazell became B5’s technology chief at a time when the blogging network was using WordPress 1.5.  Now the open-source blogging software is on the verge of releasing WordPress 2.5, described as a radical upgrade.

Wright said he was “incredibly sad” to see Brazell go, but has begun searching for an immediate replacement.

Toni Schnieder, the CEO of Automattic Media, the company behind the free blog hosting service WordPress.com, is slated to be a speaker at the upcoming Economics of Social Media Conference 2008 set for April 29 in Los Angeles.

Schnieder will be among several other social media leaders to speak, including Digg founder Kevin Rose, and the heads of interactive operations at the Wall Street Journal and CBS. Walt Disney Interactive President Steve Wadsworth will give a keynote question-and-answer session with Wall Street Journal’s Kara Swisher.