Maybe there is another,
hidden, reason to blog...
John C. Dvorak who writes for PC Magazine. He claims Internet Explorer usage is down to about 50% on his site. I don't know if that is a reflection on browser usage worldwide, but everyplace you look people are talking about FireFox. FireFox, as you know, is the stand-alone browser based on Mozilla.
Matt Hicks, of eWeek says, "The Mozilla Foundation on Tuesday plans to release a preview of Firefox 1.0 that incorporates the final set of features for the browser's full version, said Asa Dotzler, Mozilla's release coordinator. Among the new features are a newsreader for RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds..."
This is a feature Microsoft was expected to include in the next OS release, code name Longhorn. I understand we can't expect to see that until 2006... and then the developers are so far behind schedule that now they are starting to cut features out of the new OS just so they can make the release date. I think it is fair to say that it is anyone's guess right now, what new features the browser might or might not have.
Even if it is released in 2006, it usually takes about 18 months before the majority who are interested in running the new OS have it installed, so we are looking at 2007 before Microsoft has enough users to take advantage of a RSS feedreader embedded into it's software.
For everyone else not interested in the new Microsoft OS, there isn't any new browser releases planned. As well... Microsoft is dropping support for Outlook Express.
Now let's forget about Microsoft for a minute...
With the popularity of FireFox increasing, as well as other RSS feedreader applications, both free and paid for, the possibility exists to reach a lot of subscribers who's spam filters are blocking your emails. There is increasing speculation about paying to send email as one alternative to reduce spam, but whatever way you look at it, Blogs that are XML/RSS enabled might be a good way to reach people if email marketing continues the way it is.
I know it isn't as easy to tell how many people are viewing your blog, as looking at X number of email addresses in your list... but X number of email addresses is starting to mean less and less, because most folks are not cleaning their lists or asking subscribers to renew their subscriptions. This means the open rate has dropped way off.
Then, too... by using a click tracker in your links on your blog... and once in a while offering a free, but valuable report, that would appeal to a general audience, you can get a rough idea about the size of your following. This is better then nothing ;-)
###
