Blog Category: The Bygone Bureau
Student Category: Think Artificial

Congrats! Thank goodness they aren’t in the same category so they can both win.

In the email there are specific instructions you need to follow so I can set up your site. It’s not hard but I need you to follow the instructions otherwise it delays the process in setting up your site. I will be processing them in batches as they come in.

If you did not receive an email from me, please let me know at 9rulesTyme@gmail.com (that’s the email address it was sent from). If you have any questions, you know what to do.

***Read this very carefully: if your blog was accepted but not on this list linked above you will get an email later. Do NOT email me saying you didn’t receive an email. It’s coming later…promise.***

Thanks!

I’ll be talking about blog/site improvement later (you might want to follow my Twitter if you’re interested in that topic), so let’s get to the list shall we? I will be contacting new members this week to get them processed. I will make a separate entry to let everyone know once the emails have been sent.

On with the list…Congrats to the new members. I look forward to working with you.

http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com
http://athertonbartelby.wordpress.com
http://www.autumnatoakhollow.com
http://www.billmuehlenberg.com
http://www.billshrink.com/blog
http://blogsessive.com
http://www.breakingmurphyslaw.com/
http://buildingbrowsergames.com
http://bygonebureau.com
http://chrisberryonthe.net
http://www.eatingwellanywhere.com
http://www.elysekufeldt.com
http://freebies4mom.com
http://insightsandingenuity.com
http://lifeforbeginners.com/
http://mom-blog.com/
http://mythology.ourgardenpath.com/
http://www.neonesoft.com/blog/blogs/cmullins/default.aspx
http://www.noobcook.com
http://www.onsimplicity.net
http://www.pharmastrategyblog.com
http://www.psdrockstar.com
http://www.semanticallydriven.com
http://www.subversiveinfluence.com/wordpress/
http://therestofmylifesofar.blogspot.com
http://thinksimplenow.com

For those of you looking to increase traffic to your blog, I wrote an article about extending your blog on 3by9. End of the year is a good time to fiddle with your site. Start the new year off with a bang. Remember there are many tools available to assist you in achieving your blogging goals. Use them wisely.

Have a wonderful holiday (if you celebrate) and a safe New Year’s. Scrivs wishes that you guys would stop blogging. yes, that’s a joke - no one gets his jokes

Our innovative creative design team spends hours ensuring that your unique and suited to your needs.

Hm? Guess that means our leaf that we created 4 years before them isn’t unique or innovative…at least their grammar is unique.

I’m posting this because, as per the instructions:

Only Websites Launched in the Calendar Year 2008 Are Eligible to Enter (Except For “Classic” Category)
This year’s competition is open to all sites launched or redesigned in the calendar year 2008. The only exception is the “Classic” category, which consists of sites launched before January 1, 2008.

Let me be blunt: there are some new sites we’ve seen during 9rules rounds that have a good shot. Submit. Please. Do it. What? You’re still reading. Dang it! Go submit!

If you’d like more information, you can find it here. Adobe will be presenting the award this year. Submissions end December 19th at midnight (CST - NOT EST).

Good luck!!!!!

I know you guys are anxious but look at it from this perspective. From the amount of sites we receive each round in submissions if I went through them as quickly as many would like it would mean I spent seconds on each site.

You don’t want that.

When I go through a site I browse it just like a reader would. I read a random selection of your articles then I take notes on my experience on the site. I use those notes to give feedback later. It takes time to read the sites that were submitted. This is why we don’t have a cookie-cutter rule book on what articles “should” have because each site is different and the author(s) are unique. What works on one site can bomb terribly on another.

I’m not prepared to give an exact date on when the results will be posted but I will keep you guys update. In the meanwhile, next week is Thanksgiving. If you are indulging, have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the time with family, friends and loved ones.

If you have any questions…you know what to do. Yes, that’s right - don’t throw them out on Twitter and pray I see it. Write a comment or send me an email where you KNOW I’ll see it. You guys are so smart!!!!

I don’t have an exact date as for when the acceptance list will be posted, but it will be done much quicker than usual. The last submission round of 2008 is complete!

One of the things that is very clear interacting with people about their blogs is how rare it is for bloggers to have neutral feedback on their site. From people who are strangers, with nothing to gain from being honest about your site. For example, a friend or family member might not give you the real deal about what they are thinking because he/she doesn’t want to hurt your feelings. But there is another reason for doing this. Having someone you don’t know browse your site and give feedback will give you a different perspective on your site.

When I want an objective opinion I go to the library (or another public place I can whip out a laptop) and ask people to surf the site. I pay close attention to the expression on their face and which pages they go to first. How far do they scroll down the page? Does anything catch their attention? Their expressions can be priceless at times - giving away what they “really” thought. They liked the site and hated the color combinations on the site. They liked the design but the content didn’t interest them. I usually ask at least five people. This isn’t a lot of people, obviously, but it is enough to spot design problems when they all have similar reactions.

Remember that everyone won’t see your site as you see it.

I look forward to reviewing your site Round 8. If you have any questions, let me know.

Update: I have responded to everyone that emailed me about site feedback. As of 5:00pm EST I’m not accepting any others because I cannot respond in time before the round opens up.

1. Send your feedback requests via email (9rulesTyme@gmail.com) for sites that were rejected Round 7 today until 6pm EST. I will be checking to see if the site is on the submission list.

2. I will do my best to respond prior to the when Round 8 opens up (November 5th). I will be answering them in the order received.

3. Requests received after 6pm EST today are going in the “respond when you get a chance” folder.

Some common reasons as to why a site was not accepted:

• The site has less than 6 months of consistent posting.
• We do not accept Blogger/Blogspot sites that have the navigation banner at the top. Those “next” links can lead to anything. We do have members that have Blogger/Blogspot sites WITHOUT the banner.
• Lack of consistent quality/entries lack depth. Many times bloggers slip into the habit of publishing “something” and will post quick entries that lack depth. For example, a review that says a game plays well with a good recommendation. Be more thorough. What are the system specs it was played on? How were the graphics? Installation? What did you like, didn’t like, could be improved, what should have been left out?

Exception: some sites are meant to be “quick” for people on the go. However, quick does not mean lack of depth. If the reader does not receive the information they want the “quick” entry will prompt the reader to look elsewhere.

An example from a personal blog: “I went to the store, then work, had a boring day. What will I eat tonight?” That’s a set of Twitter entries. Our Personal community is about a person’s life. You went on a date, what happened? You have a problem - discuss the points. Share the funny thing your children/spouse did when you got home. Something the reader can take interest in. The goal is for the reader to get to know the writer, not their schedule.

• No dates listed on the article. Our readers use dates as a indicator to how deep they’ve navigated in your site. If they are reading an article from 3 months ago perhaps he/she might want to look for a more current article on the topic.
• No PubDate in an RSS feed - we need that to grab your updates.
• Lack of proper navigation. Archives, categories, tags, etc. It’s great to have a blog with lovely content but what good is it if the reader can’t easily locate what he/she is looking for?
• No brain dumps. This relates back to the personal blog example above where a writer drops a bunch of stuff into an entry. We’re looking for conscious, purposeful, focused entries.

If you take an objective look at your site and your site falls into one of those categories, that’s most likely why your site was not accepted. Some of these are quick and easy fixes (Dates, navigation, removing the Blogger banner and if the blog did not have 6 months of consistent posting last round it might be fine now). #3 and #7 are bigger fixes and depends on the direction you want to take your site. If you are pleased with your site as is, end the end, that is all that matters.

For more pointers for blog improvement tips you can view the archive of previous articles. Don’t forget to put your blog name and URL when you email!

Update: I’ve responded to every one. If you did not receive a response, let me know.

Spread the word so we can add a ton more amazing sites for the final batch of 2008.

Seriously, 9rules should enable at least summary in their Feeds instead of just title.

I’m going to explain why we don’t do that.

On 9rules we use the writer’s RSS feed to pull the information. Usually summaries pull the first 50 or so words in an entry to display to the reader as a “preview” or lead-in for what the article is about.

Using WebFwrd’s blog as an example, this is the feed for the blog that is listed on the Twitter profile. The first entry (as of this writing) is an image, so no summary or excerpt would show. The second entry is a normal entry. Let’s pull the first 50 words of the article:

Well, I have not been able to release any update for Diana at all this few weeks. All due to increasing projects and workloads that I do not have any available time set for Diana’s updates yet But it is not going to die this way, probably I will set aside…

This is what happens most of the time when the first X number of characters are shown as a summary. The summary doesn’t show enough information to give the reader a clear understanding of the article. This can go two ways. Using the example above the reader could see the article is about lack of updates and move on, completely missing the plans the writer stated in the entry (the meat of the article). Or the reader could see the title of the entry (Updates for Diana) and if interested in that topic, click over and see the upcoming plans detailed in the article. Let’s look at another example, my last 9rules article:

I might not be processing the new members for the next couple of days. Ike did a job on my city and I’m at a library sending this. They are estimating a couple days until power is restored. No clue when it will be restored.
I am keeping track of those

Forget the formatting issues with this and notice the same thing happens. The important information (do not send a second email) is in the second paragraph. In both cases the user could read the summary and think he/she has enough information to make an informed decision to click through but in truth, the “important stuff” is lost. Most bloggers do not write their articles so the important information is in the first 50-something words. Those that post images for an entry wouldn’t display anything at all - their profile page would look empty in comparison to the other members.

An example of a site that has excellent summaries is Ars Technica. Look at their feed. They write excerpts for their entries so people click over to read the article. That is the ideal situation for summaries.

WebFwrd asked a good question and the reason I decided to blog about it: you might want to consider adding excerpts to your entries. Some content management systems use the excerpts for search results as well. If you use partial RSS feeds over full feeds using an excerpt would most likely help your click-through ratio because the reader would see exactly what the article is about, not what happens to be the first 50 words.

That is why 9rules does not have summaries…we would not want to place further requirements on our members. We used to have summaries but the only time they are of value for the reader, across the board, is if all members adopted the Ars Technica style of creating them. You might want to consider trying them out on your blog, especially if you use partial feeds or full feeds.

Thanks WebFwrd for bringing the topic up!

I am keeping track of those I processed and those left to be processed so please do not send another email. Once I am done processing people I will contact those left to be processed.

When will I be opening it up so that those that were not accepted can find out why? When I have processed the new people. I do not have an ETA at this time.

Just a quick update. Gotta take everything out of my refrigerator/freezers. If you have power…hug your computers for me. You’re lucky….appreciate it.

I’ll post an update when things are back to normal.

In the email there are specific instructions you need to follow so I can set up your site. It’s not hard but I need you to follow the instructions otherwise it delays the process in setting up your site. I will be processing them in batches as they come in.

If you did not receive an email from me, please let me know at 9rulesTyme@gmail.com (that’s the email address it was sent from). If you have any questions, you know what to do.

***Read this very carefully: if your blog was accepted but not on this list linked above you will get an email later. Do NOT email me saying you didn’t receive an email. It’s coming later…promise.***

The other major reason: the content lacked depth. If you are doing reviews the more thorough the review the more the reader benefits from it. This does not mean it should be book length, but it should be thorough. “I watched the Eureka premiere. This is what happened. OMG, he’s gone! Overall I liked it.” lacks depth. Stretching those sentences into paragraphs doesn’t give depth.

Scrivs and I were talking about doing a chat or stream so we could talk to multiple people on these types of issues. Point out why some sites made it and why some didn’t so it can be a true learning experience. Don’t feel bad if your name isn’t on the list…that doesn’t mean your site won’t sport the leaf.

Other reasons why sites weren’t accepted:

• The site was new: We require at least six months of consistent posting. Please resubmit your site in November so the guys and I can drool over them again. I cannot stress enough to resubmit.
• No focus: The author of the blog used their blog to randomly dump information. Every blogger has their own style but our readers are looking for more focused content where the blog has a clear direction on the content being published.
• Inconsistent posting: If you only write a couple of articles a month or write sporadically the content can be superb, but it would be lost on our site. Especially in the larger communities.

Those are the main reasons. For the sites we had questions on, I’ve already sent out the emails. I will be contacting the new members NEXT WEEK - NOT THIS WEEK - NEXT WEEK. Yes, that’s right, I said NEXT WEEK to get your sites set up. After I get everyone set up I’ll go back and open it up for those that weren’t accepted to find out specifically why, working with them. We always have sites that weren’t accepted get added - that’s one of the reasons why there is a gap between rounds. It gives me time to work with sites.

Ok…here’s the list…CONGRATS!!!!

http://9to5ers.ultracrepidate.com/
http://www.adventures-in-motherhood.com/
http://www.adventuresinparenting.org/
http://www.afrigadget.com/
http://www.alexshalman.com/
http://baglady.dreamhosters.com/
http://www.balkhis.com/blog/
http://www.barrywise.com/
http://www.bitheway.co.uk/
http://www.blackzedd.com/
http://blog.charlenechua.com/
http://blog.miragestudio7.com/
http://blog.ivman.com/
http://blog.mastykarz.nl/
http://www.bloggerbuster.com/
http://www.bloggingtips.com/
http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk
http://brainblogger.com/
http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/
http://chenpn.com/
http://christianpf.com/
http://chuboi.com/
http://condomunity.com/
http://www.concretebadger.net/blog/
http://conflictzen.com/
http://www.designer-daily.com/
http://discoveringdad.net/
http://experimentsinliving.wordpress.com/
http://www.flakphoto.com/
http://freelancefolder.com/
http://www.fuelyourcreativity.com/
http://www.getelastic.com/
http://www.guitarnoize.com/
http://www.happiness-project.com/
http://www.heyitsfree.net/
http://www.highlighthealth.com/
http://www.idiotsguidetoblogging.com/
http://www.ipatrix.com/
http://jamesmckay.net/
http://www.jefflittle.ca/blog/
http://jen-sized.net/
http://www.marcofolio.net/
http://mwcfootball.wordpress.com/
http://myillusion.net/itsumo/
http://www.neverhappen.com/
http://nicethingsbaddebt.blogspot.com/
http://onefusedlife.com/
http://ourfourpenceworth.com/
http://parentingsquad.com/
http://perishablepress.com/
http://www.phoenixcentre.com/blog
http://www.problogdesign.com/
http://punditmom1.blogspot.com/
http://putthingsoff.com/
http://www.puttingblogsfirst.com/
http://scrumptious.animeblogger.net/
http://www.shankrila.com/
http://www.showyourpony.com/
http://www.simplehelp.net/
http://www.simplemarriage.net/
http://simplemom.net/
http://spaceagesage.com/
http://sparklette.net/
http://www.thehealthylivinglounge.com/
http://theredzonereport.com/
http://www.thiswomanswork.com/
http://www.tutorial9.net
http://vividlamp.com/
http://www.webrampage.com/
http://www.whatgeekseat.com/wordpress/
http://www.wine-girl.net/
http://www.wisebread.com/
http://wilcosworld.co.uk/

I’ll explain this when the announcement is made but let me quickly explain the process.

1. A list of the new members will be posted on the blog.
2. Within the next couple of days after the announcement, I will be contacting the new members to begin processing their sites so their content displays on 9rules.
3. At this time I will be sending out questions to those blogs that were not accepted but we had questions for the owner. If you saw the stream those are the sites we said were “maybes”.
4. During this time it is not unheard of for there to be shifts within the communities. Depending on the sites accepted new communities might start, others might be merged, etc.
5. If time permits (after I am done getting the new members settled in) I will post here on the blog how you can contact me to find out why your blog was not accepted. This is done privately via email.

That’s it! I just wanted to give everyone the date when the results will be posted.

Thank you for starting 9rules. Thank you for all you do. Thank you for being you.

Happy Birthday Scrivs!