Poliblog Perspective

The BBC provides an archive service, which lets visitors track changes in the bbc.co.uk Homepage retrospectively.

The archives go back to May 2005. Here, for example is a screenshot of the Home Page as it was when the Cutty Sark fire was reported at 8.05am on the morning of 21st May 2007.

The service enables you to navigate through the BBC site by time as well as topic - if, for example, you remember that “something was on the website before I went to work” on a particular day. This is the description of the service:

The Home Archive is a new service, developed to produce a comprehensive library of how the BBC Homepage changes throughout each day. It was developed by Matthew Somerville (the BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites) and was an initiative begun on backstage.bbc.co.uk.

Here, you are able to see the latest changes that have gone through on the Homepage, section by section. Also if you click on the ‘Time’ links on the left hand side of the main column you can see a ’snapshot’ of how the page appeared at that time. The archive goes back to July 14, 2005 and if you click on browse by date you can view how the Homepage changed throughout each day and
also how it looked at a particular time.

Not every change on the Homepage is recorded, however, for example, changes to the weather forecast. Everything else is tracked though, including when the page changes to breaking news or sport or when the main promotion slot changes to full page.

The links:

• Homearchive Service
• Browse Homepages by Date

A useful service.

One caution: the archive updates run about a month behind the current date.

Under the Hood - Technical Notes for New Political Bloggers

The technical bits of creating a blog are the boring bits, but also cause the most problems in the future if you get them wrong.

These are my views, and some others will not agree.

Put your blog in the right place

Blogs suffer very badly when they move around the internet, because links and authority in search engines are based on specific web page addresses (called “permalinks” in blog-speak).

A blog that moves to a new location has to start from scratch again. It can be done, but it is an intricate process that takes up your valuable time - and is not necessary when you plan properly.

Choose a domain name carefully

Think carefully about your domain name - and try not to change it in the future. There is at least one Conservative Candidate for Westminster who has “AM” in his domain name - you can see the obvious problem if he wins the election.

My preference is to use a personal name or pseudonym to create a personal “brand”. One hazard of this approach is that a well-known name can bury you in the search engine results, which is bad luck for politicians called John Smith or Witney Houston.
I share “Matt Wardman” with a part time gay model called “Matthew Wardman”, which is a little close for comfort but manageable.

Use a UK domain name

Unless there is a very good reason, use a “dot uk” domain name. Google UK prioritises these over international (e.g., .com) domain names in its search results, and accounts for more than half of all UK internet searches. I cannot overemphasise this point.

A lot of important UK Political Blogs are stranded on “dot com” domain names like beached whales - so this is one way that new blogs can steal a march on the “oldies”. Many people are gradually changing over - but each takes a traffic and profile hit when they do so.

It is far better to start on a “dot uk” site.

Get your domain early

Even if you are not starting at once, get a domain now - if you can predict the name. Put up a basic blog and post occasional articles on it.

Submit it to internet directories, and ask a few blog-friends to link to you. This will help shorten the delay to gain visibility once you really start.

Own your own Blog

Own your publishing platform, your own separate domain name and make sure that you are not dependent on your current position or employer. That way they cannot close you down, and you do not risk embarrassing the organisation by something you say.

The only exception is if you are writing a blog that reflects your professional role, and will be closed down when you leave. However, in that case you should consider writing a personal blog in addition.

So, be an “owner occupier” blogger rather than living on somebody else’s system (e.g., Blogger), even if it is rent-free. You have less control and less flexibility as a tenant.

One alternative that may be available to you is to use a hosted service such as Blogger or Wordpress.com with your own domain name. I don’t recommend this, for the reasons described in this article.

There are also people specialising in political websites, who will manage your whole site for you.

What will it cost?

My sites are hosted on Dreamhost, and I use a package that costs around $100 per year. At present all my sites are hosted there, and I am using only a small fraction of the bandwidth and space available to me. This is a good place to start.

I would describe Dreamhost as a convenient and easy to use service, rather than one that is of industrial strength. If I were running a site pulling in more than say 15-20,000 users or delivering 40-50,000 page impressions per day I would host it somewhere else.

However, there is (I think) only one UK political blog drawing traffic in this category - and that is Political Betting.

For UK domains I use 123-reg.co.uk, and it costs £6 for 2 years.

So you should be able to get up and running on your own domain for around £60 or so.

Further Reading

There is a good list of the pros and cons of using a hosted platform vs maintaining your own domain on owning your own domain and installing blog software such as Wordpress on attackr.com.

Wrapping Up

I’ll be finishing off this series about starting a political blog tomorrow with a list of things that I think are needed on all politician’s blogs.

One example: Elected Politicians should make their position, affiliation, and constituency obvious in the first screen you see when you visit their blog; many do not.

This is the third in my series of articles about starting a Political Blog.

My first article, Starting a Political Blog I: Blogging is like Traditional Campaigning , introduced a parallel between political blogging and traditional political campaigning.

The second article, “Starting a Political Blog II: How to Get the Basics Right “, highlighted the extreme transparency that exists when you write a blog, and the need to engage with your potential audience in a long-term strategy.

This post looks at some of the basic principles to follow in order to write a credible political blog.

Principles to Apply

Be transparent

One major difference between blogs and newspapers is that blogs are usually more transparent. Newspapers often do not declare gifts and travel expenses paid; good bloggers do. Many blogs have their own voluntary “register of interests”.
If you write about something, but do not declare a personal or financial interest, you will (rightly) be treated quite roughly when you are found out - especially if you are a public figure.

Be consistent

Do not start something you will not be able to maintain. Your blog is yours, and it is up to you to set your targets and to meet them.

There is no problem if you wish to post daily, weekly, occasionally or even seasonally - as long as your readers know what to expect. Do not, however, give hostages to fortune.

And please, do not apologise for “lack of blogging”. One of my pet hates is people who do that all the time. They would be able to do much more writing if they did much less apologising.

If you find yourself needing more material for your blog, why not make it a “team” blog, or use “guest bloggers”. The latter is one good reason to develop a network of “blog friends” - or to join a network such as Blogpower (www.defendingtheblog.blogspot.com).

Be circumspect

A blog is a publication, and you are subject to the same laws as your local paper - without a legal specialist. Be (reasonably) circumspect, and do not give too many hostages to fortune. The Internet does not forget anything you say.
Good ideas are to check two sources for anything questionable, and to ask a specialist blogger if necessary - most will give a little time to help a fellow “amateur” understand their subject. If you receive help, link back to their blog as a thank-you.

Be anonymous?

There is a place for the anonymous blog. The upside is that what you say will not affect your daily life and reputation - unless you are unmasked. The downside is that what you say will not affect your daily life and reputation - unless you are unmasked.

If you are running a political blog aiming to help your political profile in the wider society, an anonymous blog is not an option.

My blog - The Wardman Wire - is pseudonymous because I like to keep my online political writing separate from my work.

Enjoy it!

And finally, don’t be surprised at your own success. If you stick at writing a political blog, you may find that after a year or eighteen months you have as many visitors as the circulation of your local paper.

At that point you will have understood the fun of political blogging, and will have a number of new friends (and a few enemies).

If you last 18 months of posting regularly and thoughtfully, you will probably deserve the success.

Wrapping Up

In my fourth article tomorrow, I will look briefly at some technical questions in positioning your blog on the Internet.

Many political bloggers have not got the basics right in my view - whether it is sticking for too long with a blog built on somebody else’s website, or having a web address targeted to North American traffic rather than visitors from the UK.

The upshot of that is that of the political bloggers profiled in Iain Dale’s Guide to Political Blogging published in the autumn of 2007, something well over half are stranded - like beached whales - on domains that are punished by Google UK in their search results.

This is the second in my series of articles about starting a Political Blog. My first article introduced a parallel that exists between political blogging and traditional political campaigning .

This post extends the comparison between developing a blog and running for political office, and highlights some of the similarities and differences.

The Basics

Blogs vs Leaflets: The back room no longer exists

A blog is a communication tool - just like the leaflet or the brochure that you distribute to your target audience.

However, now the previously separate processes of publication, distribution and follow-up conversation are all rolled together, and there is less cost involved.

Further, all these processes are now done in public, and leave an audit trail that can be read by anyone who takes an interest. The latter group will - inevitably - include your opponents at the next election.

Listen First

Spend some time reading a number of blogs - several months is not too long.

Engage in the conversation. Find some friends and allies in similar situations or with similar ideas, who can show you the ropes. And find your opponents, and learn when to argue with them and when to work with them.

In other words - it is just like politics.

Define your objectives

Ask the same questions that you do when you start an election campaign:

• Who am I/are we representing - on whose behalf is this blog published?
• Who do I need to convince?
• What do they need to be persuaded of to support me/us?
• What needs to be done to achieve that?

Each of these questions can be asked of the use of a blog, and applied to the online audience - just as they can of any other campaign and community.

Start early, and work long term

If you want to win a seat, whether in Parliament or in your Local Council, you need to be known locally. Preferably, you need to be known (or come to be known) as a local. Candidates are best appointed as far in advance as possible, which gives a period of several years to work in the community building support. The same principles apply to a political blog.

Build support over time

When you start a blog, your visitors will largely come via three routes: your fellow bloggers, search engines such as Google, and links from relevant websites.
It will take up to 6-12 months of consistent work to gain credibility with your fellow bloggers - and to gain credibility with the right fellow bloggers. Until that point, they will link to you and send you visitors based purely on trust, or on the relevance of individual articles.

In the UK, “search engines” means Google; it is the dictator of the Internet in this country with an 80% share of the UK search market. Google often waits as long as 6-9 months before placing you high enough in search results to send you many visitors.

Relevant websites may be major sites in your niche, directories, your local council or even the BBC Regional website. You can approach these to ask for a listing, and such links will help promote your blog with other bloggers and search engines.

Wrapping Up

In my third article tomorrow, I will be describing some of the principles and values that you need to work with when writing a blog - otherwise you can be embarrassed very easily.

Tags: political blogging, iain dale guide to political blogging, politics, matt wardman[tags]political blogging, iain dale guide to political blogging, politics, matt wardman[/tags]

Introduction

Between today and New Year I am publishing a series of short articles on Poliblog Perspective about starting a political blog. If you have been thinking about starting a blog, the New Year is a good time to do it; these articles are designed to help you think through what you want to do, and to get the important things right at the outset.

These articles first appeared as two chapters of “Ian Dale’s Guide to Political Blogging 2007″.

Poliblog Perspective will be covering more aspects of Political Blogging during 2008.

Political Blogging is like Political Campaigning

We have all done it - slogging round a no hope street in a no hope constituency in the rain in November on a Saturday or Sunday morning, when we should be at home in bed with our breakfast.

Then, at the last house in the last street, our finger is bitten without warning by a small, homicidal, dog that can just reach the letterbox when it stands on its hind legs.

Fortunately, we may have seen the good side as well: winning when we do not expect to do so.

Writing a blog contains many of these experiences - both the enjoyable and the frustrating. In this article I have focused on the early days of writing a blog, and on the things you need to know at that stage - through the lens of political campaigning.

The lessons apply to both blogs aimed at a national audience, and also to those focused on a particular area.

Over the next few days I’ll be publishing a series of short articles about starting a political blog.

Why Start a Political Blog

As a starter for 10, here are a few good reasons you may want to consider starting one:

1. You are an elected politician who wants to communicate with your constituents.
2. You have a local or national issue you wish to campaign on.
3. You want to become involved in grass-roots politics.

Or .. to modify a statement originally by Mr Eugenides:

You are a loudmouth with a well-stocked drinks cabinet and a broadband connection, who wants another audience now that your mates at the pub ignore you.

Wrapping-Up

In my next article I will be looking at some of the basics of political blogging.

Tags: political blogging, iain dale guide to political blogging, politics, matt wardman[tags]political blogging, iain dale guide to political blogging, politics, matt wardman[/tags]

Each day from 26th December I will be posting an article about some aspect of starting a political blog on my Poliblog Perspective website.

The first article - on the 26th - will appear at 2:00pm.

I have just soft-launched a new website aggregating comment on blogs from members of the Welsh Assembly (The Senedd).

It used the same format as my Welsh Political Newssite.

The web address is www.senedd.me.uk , which seems singularly appropriate for Elected Politicians who have to be notoriously conscious of their own public image. Perhaps there should be a domain senedd.me.me.me.uk .

The combined feed can be found at http://feeds.feedburner.com/senedd

Comments are more than welcome, and especially notification of any extra blogs I have missed.

I’ll be doing a proper announcement on the Wardman Wire, and adding the site to the toolbar tomorrow or Saturday.

[tags]senedd, welsh politics, blog aggregator[/tags]

I had reason to clear out the database on the Scottish Political News aggregator last night, as a blogger requested to be removed from the site - and that all previous aggregated posts from their blog be deleted.

Since the aggregator had been reading some full posts in error, so it was a reasonable request, but if you have attempted to clear out old posts, you will know that it usually comes down to one by one deletion - and is a prime pain in the backside that can take hours.

I chose to delete everything and start again, as the site needed reconfiguring to aggregate only excerpts from blog posts.

How to do a Wordpress Spring Clean

I used a plugin to help me.

The Wordpress Suicide Plugin

I used a Wordpress plugin called “Wordpress Suicide“, which works directly on the database. On this occasion I deleted 2650 posts in 5 seconds:

This was a fun one to write. What if you wanted to start over again? Just wipe the slate clean and start blogging without any baggage. Well, that’s actually hard to do unless you’re comfortable using the mysql client on the command line (or phpMyAdmin).

So I whipped up a little plugin that does just that, and no more. Install it, activate it, and you’re just a single click away from blogging salvation (or is it purgatory?). In other words, this plugin gives you the power to delete all your blog posts from the database in one fell swoop. You can also use it to delete categories, comments, links, and custom fields, as well as users and blog settings.

But take precautions

It is a very powerful plugin, but disastrous if used by mistake.

To avoid any risk of this whatsoever, after using the plugin I deactivated it in Wordpress then deleted the plugin’s files from the disk. If I need to use it again I will reinstall the plugin from scratch.

Of course, all readers of this blog have their databases backed up properly.

[tags]wordpress suicide, politics-scotland, wordpress spring clean[/tags]

Spotted in the comments on Miss Wagstaff’s blog:

Dimwit and luddite that I am…can you explain tagging? I just came across this on comments

Miss Wagstaff replied: Tagging is a way for you to notice that I’ve linked to your site, so that you can then refer to mine (usually via technorati). If that is you, I’m sure that you know everything there is to know about Welsh poltics and politicians.

It can be a bit wider than that in my opinion - and I’d define “tagging” as “letting another blogger know you are referring to them” (i.e., not necessarily just via a link).

Two are for people who understand blogs:

1 - I put “pippa+wagstaff” as a Technorati Tag. Some bloggers monitor “my Technorati Tag” quite closely, and have been know to find a post about them in as short a period as 20 minutes.

2 - I put a link in the post, which should then be noticed by conscientious bloggers in the “back office” of their blog.

And 2 for the the less blog-aware:

3 - Send them an email.

4 - Send them an instant message.

If you’re trying to do something that needs solid communication to work, then you’d be wise to do both one and two, and one of three or four.

Note to Miss Wagstaff: your blog is now in www.politics-wales.co.uk.

[tags]pippa wagstaff, welsh blog, politics-wales, how to tag, tagging[/tags]

Spotted in the comments on Miss Wagstaff’s blog:

Dimwit and luddite that I am…can you explain tagging? I just came across this on comments

Miss Wagstaff replied: Tagging is a way for you to notice that I’ve linked to your site, so that you can then refer to mine (usually via technorati). If that is you, I’m sure that you know everything there is to know about Welsh poltics and politicians.

It can be a bit wider than that in my opinion - and I’d define “tagging” as “letting another blogger know you are referring to them” (i.e., not necessarily just via a link).

Two are for people who understand blogs:

1 - I put “pippa+wagstaff” as a Technorati Tag. Some bloggers monitor “my Technorati Tag” quite closely, and have been know to find a post about them in as short a period as 20 minutes.

2 - I put a link in the post, which should then be noticed by conscientious bloggers in the “back office” of their blog.

And 2 for the the less blog-aware:

3 - Send them an email.

4 - Send them an instant message.

If you’re trying to do something that needs solid communication to work, then you’d be wise to do both one and two, and one of three or four.

Note to Miss Wagstaff: your blog is now in www.politics-wales.co.uk.

[tags]pippa wagstaff, welsh blog, politics-wales, how to tag, tagging[/tags]