What is Browsershots?

Browsershots makes screenshots of your web design in different browsers. It is a free open-source online service created by Johann C. Rocholl. When you submit your web address, it will be added to the job queue. A number of distributed computers will open your website in their browser. Then they will make screenshots and upload them to the central server here.

The service displays thumbnails of your website after you enter the web address into a queue and return to the site a few minutes later.

There are options to check the appearance with different screen sizes and colour depths, and with Javascript, Flash and Java turned on or off.

The search facility uses the Google search results, but allows me to nominate a network of websites from which an alternative set of search results are selected - so the service incorporates features of social networking websites into the site-search.

I have set up some of the other contributors to the Wardman Wire as my “network”, and I’d be interested to hear what you think.

You can find the search box at the bottom of the sidebar on the blog version of the site.

The Guardian has started breaking its web traffic figures down by the various sections of its website: News, Arts, Blogs, Books, Business, Comment is Free, Education, Environment, Film, Football, Life and Style, Media, Money, Music, Observer, Politics, Science, Society, Sport, Technology, Travel.

So now blogs in each of these niches can start to make some interesting comparisons.

The numbers have been published as part of the advertising offer for the Guardian.

Overall Guardian September Figures

Worldwide Totals

Worldwide Page Impressions: 208,701,946
Worldwide Monthly unique users: 24,186,422

UK Page Impressions: 93,244,526
Worldwide Monthly unique users: 8,972,467

These Worldwide figures are generated from the monthly audit of Guardian logfiles by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (Electronic) .

Detailed Section Totals

Here are the detailed numbers for August and September.

August Detailed Figures.

September Detailed Figures.

This detailed data is generated by Generated by Omniture, who are totally reputable. The data is generated from a Javascript snippet in each page, which means that the figures are (very roughly - my guess would be to allow a tolerance of perhaps +/- 20%) comparable with Google Analytics figures. My detailed comments are below the fold.

Comment

The most interesting comparison with Independent Political Blogs are probably the UK figures for the Comment is Free and the Politics Sections of the Guardian Website, since most UK political blogs have their traffic massively dominated by UK visitors (to the degree is >80-90% or more - there are very few with significant US traffic).

The traffic profile for these Guardian Sections is broader and shallower than most political blogs. That has implications for potential advertisers, which I will cover in a further article.

What I will add now is that careful correlation of this data with the Guardian Rate Card and Financial Reports would facilitate some quite revealing analysis, for example to compare the potential advertising income of the site with the estimated income.

There are also massive variations between August and September. That is partly due to the Olympics, partly to the summer holidays and Party Conference season, and possibly also due to the new reports bedding in at the Guardian.

This is the current ratecard, which is marked as “Effective from September 2005″. That statement tells its own story of over-optimistic pricing.

Wrapping Up

Next time I’ll make some comparisons using these figures between Guardian advertising and advertising on blogs.

I’ve now done something like 2000 blog posts using an offline Blog Editor called Blogdesk by Johannes Oppermann. I am very pleased with the software. This is only suitable for a PC, but there are other editors available, and I have a list at the bottom of the article. Here is what Blogdesk looks like: Click on the image for a full screenshot.

Offline Editor Benefits

These are the benefits of Blogdesk which I came up with. This is not exhaustive.

1. I do maybe 95% of my editing offline, and can then “squirt” a post in maybe 10 seconds, rather than having to pfaff with online delays (and I am on a relatively slow - 512kbps - link), and I get a good editor and decent image crop / resize / borders / align utility that is v. quick.
2. Responsiveness is massively better than any online editor.
3. The is no need to login to WordPress every time I do something.
4. I have maybe 25 different post templates some with WP Options and
   Custom fields set up as required etc, e.g., with all the different
   attribution links in for the different cartoonists each morning.
5. In my setup I run with 2 copies of WP (the “Magazine” and “Blog” views) - and things like videos have to be posted to each separately easily.
6. I have boilerplate phrases and paragraphs to hand.
7. There is no need to upload pictures and photos through the Wordpress online image library feature, which is slow.
8. I don’t have problems with my connection going down or website response times
   while editing.
9. I also cross-post quite regularly - I can cross-post just by ticking off boxes next to each one.
10. I can get straight at the last 99 posts without needing to troll through the Wordpress Backoffice.
11. I can automatically upload sound files. I only use this feature for small files since I have a tight limit set on my server for “upload” size. I usually use ftp for media files.
12. I get a full display of categories rather than a little Window showing about 3.
13. I can disable the WYSIWIG editor in WordPress, which removes one past source of hacker attacks. Note that it is safer now, but on this subject it is useful to be slightly paranoid.
14. I can do Wordpress and Technorati Tags, and Customised Fields directly from my PC desktop.
15. I can go and write in a pub over a pint, or on a train without the risks of a mobile connection.
16. A boilerplate text storage area.
17. Configuration was a doddle. You need to know your blog configuration settings, and what a few terms mean - but that is about it.
18. There are decent support forums.
19. Blogdesk is free.
20. Blogdesk supports the blog systems WordPress, MovableType, Drupal, Serendipity and ExpressionEngine and does not support Blogger, which means that it helps get people away from that system. Some may disagree on this last point.

A Wide Choice

There are a large number of desktop editors available, both free and paid. A recent post on Smashing Magazine gave summaries of 15, and there was a decent discussion in the comments.

These are the ones they list:

• Windows Live Writer (Windows)
• MarsEdit (Mac)
• BlogDesk (Windows)
• Zoundry Raven (Windows)
• Ecto (Mac)
• w.bloggar (Windows)
• Thingamablog (Window, Mac, Linux)
• Qumana (Windows, Mac)
• Scribefire (Firefox)
• BlogJet (Windows)
• Flock (Mac, Windows, Linux)
• Post2Blog (Windows)
• Bleezer (Mac, Windows, Linux)

This is the conclusion reached by Smashing:

If you have little experience in blogging you might try either Flock, Windows Live Writer or Scribefire. Those three have fairly intuitive interfaces and don’t have all the advanced features that more robust programs have. Also, they are free so you can check out what application better manages to cover your needs.

Advanced bloggers looking for a bit more firepower should try Ecto, BlogJet or BlogDesk. BlogDesk works especially well for bloggers who frequently use photos in their posts (Image Wizard). Windows Live Writer and Ecto have extra functionality built in, as they both allow you to install plugins to add specific features.

Every desktop blog editor is a great benefit to any blogger’s toolkit, as it saves time and has features that traditional blog platforms don’t always have.

How to Proceed

My recommendation is to try experimenting, while accepting that some people genuinely do not get on with offline editors. If you like it, the benefits can be significant.

Scribefire is worth a look if you do not like separate applications, as it is a plugin for the Firefox Web Browser.

You may need to experiment - I tried about 6 different editors before I settled on the one I like. So be patient.

Here’s a nugget to chew on which throws some light on why Slugger is further integrated into the local political process than any other blog in the country: Slugger’s penetration of it’s local market is up to five times higher than any other site (to my knowledge, anyway).

A note on numbers: I am making the comparison by comparing Unique Visitors (representing how many individual computers have visited the website) for the largest political site in a country (England, Wales etc.) with the population of the Local Market. It’s not a perfect comparison, since the percentage of blog traffic from outside the locality (country) varies, but it is good enough for this broad conclusion.

Site / Absolute Uniques per Month / Population / “Market Penetration”

• Northern Ireland: Slugger O Toole ( 23,000 ) vs 1.75 million = 1.3%.
• Scotland: Mr Eugenides (~15-16,000 ) vs 5.2 million = 0.3%.
• (*) Wales: Ordovicius (~6-10,000) vs 2.9 million = 0.3%.
• England: Guido Fawkes (110,000) vs 51 million = 0.2%.

(*) In Wales there are several blogs at roughly the same level.

I’m not claiming huge accuracy for these figures, but the difference is startling even if my numbers are some way off. The sources are all from hosted web counter services.

It looks as though Slugger may have crossed several thresholds the others have not yet reached for an independent political site, and that - combined with the fact that it is 6 years old, nonpartisan and is read (for example) by nearly all Northern Ireland Parliamentarians - may account for the site’s ability to impact in some broader way on the political process itself.

This is a broad brush thesis and I am open to comment / correction.

Wrapping Up

I’d be interested to see the comparative local figures for English regional political sites - such as The Stirrer (Birmingham).

The Wardman Wire is number 13 amongst UK Politics Blogs, and 26 amongst all UK Blogs - based on editorial links in from blogs monitored by Wikio over the previous 9 months.

There is more detail in the previous article, but my headlines all hold with minor changes, except that Nick Robinson is still in the Top 20.

2. Liberal Conspiracy is now number 3 (which puts it at no 7 in the rankings for “All UK Blogs”).
3. LibDem Voice is now ahead of Labour Home. Update: In Top 10 for all UK blogs.
4. Nick Robinson’s BBC Politics Blog has dropped (just) out of the Top 20 behind some Independents. Update: Still in Top 20 Politics Blogs.
5. Dizzy Thinks is at number 18 (now 16), having appeared from nowhere in the politics rankings last time.
6. The Wardman Wire is now number 14 (now 13) (18 under the previous system). Chicken Yoghurt has also advanced.
7. If Normblog were in the “Politics” not the “Other” category it would be in the Top 5 (now Top 6) in this list

That is assuming, of course, that you care about this stuff.

That is a big enough change to be worth a look.

You can see the graph and other data here. I have some thoughts for tomorrow, but I’d be interested to hear other views first in the comments.

From Paidcontent.org:

Financial info site BankRate is expanding its financial product listings, as it’s acquiring Bankaholic, which provides info on deposits, savings accounts, and money market accounts. The company will pay $12.4 million up front, with another $2.5 million possible earnout over the next 12 months. Bankaholic’s sole employee John Wu will assist in the transition and remain for an unspecified period of time.

Interesting points

• The blog is built on Wordpress.
• It is run by a single person - Johns Wu, and has been purchased by bankrate.com.
• The traffic is not *that* high, which tells us something about the value of financial niche markets.
• The blog is relatively new (the domain was first registered in 2006).

Bankaholic Traffic

This is the graph of estimated traffic over the last two years from Quantcast.

Derek Draper is the leader of Labour’s new rebuttal unit . I went looking for his blog and couldn’t find it. Anyone who doesn’t have a blog can’t engage in conversation, and is likely to end up with a case of “Japanese students on bikes for the first time in their lives going round a traffic island the wrong way looking like Martians” syndrome.

It seems to me that the focus of the work needs to switch from one-way rebuttal to two-way debate and dialogue, and then DD will get an enthusiastic welcome from (nearly) everywhere.

Treating the blogosphere as something to be rebutted will be very, very embarrassing - especially if they end up needing to rebut things that are true.

(I develop this theme more at the Wardman Wire).

Tags: derek draper, dolly draper, Labour, Labour Party, pr week, rebuttal unit

Over the last 12 months the Wardman Wire blog audience has grown reasonably quickly by about 6-7 times, and I’m thinking where to take it over the next year. The actual numbers are open to dispute depending on how you count them; but the comparison is consistent.

We’ve experimented with lots of things including daily papers’ reviews and writing content for different niches (politics, technology related to politics, MSM bashing - which is fun but depressingly easy, news, web statistics, cartoons, campaigns, local government and various others).

I need some decent information about who is reading the site to inform my thinking (and - hopefully - help convince advertisers) rather than my own wibblings, so please could you help by filling in the reader survey.

I would have had a prize draw a la Iain Dale, but since I’ve asked for basic demographic information (age bands 0 0-18, 19-34 etc.) and income information information (0->15k, 15k->30k) etc. I thought that it was unreasonable to obtain email addresses that could potentially be correlated against individual details (even though I wouldn’t do it).

So I’ll be doing a sort of “collective reward” instead.

If I get more than 100 responses, I’ll run a prize draw for anyone who wants to enter. Prizes will (inevitably) include a £25 Amazon token first prize and a promotional button spot for 6 months on the Wardman Wire home page shared among about 6-8 runners up.

I will also be publishing an analysis.

Fill in the survey here. Thanks for your help.