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Sensors In Condoms
This application of Ubiquitous Computing is too good to pass up, if for no other reason than it stands out (no pun intended) from other news items in the field.
From Ananova courtesy of the Paste&Vinegar blog:
"A musical condom designed to play louder and faster as lovers reach a climax is to go on sale in Ukraine.
Grigoriy Chausovsky, from Zaporozhye, said his condoms came fitted with a special sensor that registers when the condom is put on."
While I don't particularly endorse/not endorse this application, it serves to drive home (it's really hard to avoid double-ententres with this) the fact that sensors and processors are indeed becoming ubiquitous. (See my article Why Ubiquitous Computing? for more on this).
So, I have to ask: what next? Will the condom give performance feedback and metrics? ;)
Ubiquitous Computing Is Not Cloud Computing
I have noticed a trend on blogs and online news sites where they are confusing other concepts with the concept of ubiquitous computing (also known as ubicomp). This is happening more recently as a result of (I'm not saying "because of") Tim O'Reilly's keynote speech at the 2008 Web 2.0 Expo in which he spoke about cloud computing and ubiquitous computing. This apparently served to reinforce the munging, already in progress, of these and other terms.
It is not particularly surprising since, although there are distinctly different concepts involved, they all relate in some way to what happens as we are surrounded by computers and network connections. Fortunately, (and even though nobody asked) I am here to help set the record straight by distinguishing between these major concepts relative to ubiquitous computing:
Cloud Computing
As defined by wikipedia, cloud computing is "simplification of the data center by leveraging virtualization technologies to reduce complexity". The idea is that the user of computer resources is abstracted from the actual hardware underneath. The user's application could be running on a dedicated computer, a shared computer, or across multiple computers. Related terms include mesh computing and virtualization.
Software As A Service
Software As A Service refers to a software delivery or licensing model where a software application or suite of applications is developed on a Web-based platform and hosted on a Web server for use by its customers over the Internet. Examples of this include the many online applications provided by Google such as Gmail, Google Maps and Google Docs, as well as things like the well-known photosharing app Flickr and the project collaboration tools from 37signals. The key point is that these software applications are never installed on the user's local (or company) computer, but instead the user always connects to the Internet to use the app.
Ubiquitous Computing
For the definition of ubiquitous computing I will defer to Mark Weiser who is credited with launching the ubicomp movement with this article. In this Weiser defines the goal as:
"Ubiquitous computing has as its goal the enhancing [of] computer use by making many computers available throughout the physical environment, but making them effectively invisible to the user".
He further adds:
"Unlike virtual reality, ubiquitous computing endeavers to integrate information displays into the everyday physical world."
Other terms include pervasive computing, ambient computing, proximity computing, location-aware computing, and everyware (no wonder there is some confusion). So, the key points here are that:
- Computing will be dispersed in your local physical environment.
- The user will interact with objects in a way that makes the computers seem invisible.
So, while all these terms somehow involve the use of increasingly more pervasive computing resources and network access, they are tackling different problems and evolutionary paths. Cloud computing is more of a focus for the IT community--the way in which users interact with the computers, by definition, should look the same. Cloud computing can be applied to any generation of Web apps including Web 1.0, Web 2.0 or later.
Software as a service is more relevant to what Tim O'Reilly is referring to and is consistent with the definition of Web 2.0, which O'Reilly helped define. With this concept, users are not just connecting up to the Web to browse and search for information, but are now using the Web for applications that traditiionally were installed and run on a local computer such as word processing, spreadsheets and email readers. However, this does not require cloud computing and doesn't have much to do with ubiquitous computing.
With ubiquitous computing, the focus is on interacting with computers that aren't even on the Internet (although there is nothing to prevent some of them from being connected). Instead they are embedded in objects all around us. Further, with ubicomp, the goal is not to be interacting with software applications as we know them, but rather to interact directly with objects which just happen to have computer intelligence (simple, but with some level of awareness) built in.
Now that I have discussed how these concepts are different, I will now suggest how they can work together. Suppose you decide to lose a few pounds by trying out the new Blogger's Diet you read an article about (I don't know if there is one, but might not be the worst idea ever). Back in the day you might have created a MS Excel spreadsheet on your PC to plan your diet and track your progress. But wait, you found this great website, MyBloggersDiet.com, where you can create an account and manage your diet online. This is great because you can log in and access your account even when you are traveling on business. This is an example of software as a service. Lars, the webmaster for MyBloggersDiet.com, wants to make sure the diet web app has a high uptime percentage and also will scale massively in case blogger obesity reaches epidemic proportions. So he arranges to get the application hosted with an ISP providing a cloud computing infrastructure.
If we introduce ubiquitious computing into the mix, then instead of trotting into your study to log onto your computer or the website, you have the option to ask your refridgerator directly to provide a menu for the day. Behind the scene, your fridge has accessed your account at MyBloggersDiet.com via an API, compares possible food options against what you have eaten recently as well as its current contents, and suggests some meal choices. It also informs you that you are running low on alfalfa sprouts and further suggests that maybe you would like to order some low-carb beer. This last interaction suggests the essense and potential of ubicomp, because even though you are still connected to Internet, you can accomplish your goals through different, sometimes more direct or natural, interactions with your environment.
rk
Why Ubiquitous Computing?
Now that we've discussed a bit about what ubiquitous computing is, a legitimate question is: why should we care? Why should we be concerned about ubiquitous computing? My response to that is we should care because:
1. To a degree, it is already here--computers are already becoming ubiquitous,
and
2. Others are already planning our ubicomp future, so we may want to start paying attention.
Let me elaborate.
Computing Is Already Becoming Ubiquitous
Many devices and objects with computing built in are already here, and more will come. To support this claim and make it more tangible, I conducted some research in my own home. Basically what I did was just go through my house and inventory things which had some kind of microprocessor in them. This is what I found:
- Home office: 13 processors
- Kitchen: 7 processors
- Master Bedroom: 10 processors
- Family Room: 10 processors
- Master Bathroom: 2 processors
- Kid Bedroom 1: 7 processors
- Kid Bedroom 2: 7 processors
- Rec Room: 4 processors
- Dining room: 1 processor
- Bathroom 2: 2 processors
- Spare Bedroom: 3 processors
- Garage: 3 processors
Oh, and we shouldn't forget to count our two cars--each contains multiple processors for things like:
- ignition control
- ABS
- alarm
- stereo
- climate control
So that adds another 10 processors for a total of at least 80 processors around our house! Yes, we are fairly digital and have been accumulating stuff for many years, but we are far from abnormal and upcoming generations show signs of easily surpassing us in accumulation of digital gadgetry.
Others Are Planning Your Ubicomp Future
One of the more developed forms of ubicomp comes in the form of location-aware systems for proximity marketing. Proximity marketing is basically a system which detects your presence by sensing your Bluetooth phone (typically) when you pass nearby, and then attempts to send some form of marketing message or media to your phone. This is already happening in different places and different events, and these are no longer prototypes. There are several companies with commercial products and services for implementing proximity marketing. They would very much like to push even more marketing and advertisements at more people in more places.
In some ways it won't be much different from the barrage of advertisement pushed at us via our radios and TV sets which we have tolerated for decades. But wouldn't you want to have a say in how, where and what is pushed at you, especially if it can now find you as you walk the city streets, or roam the shopping malls? To be fair, most of the companies involved in this field are sensitive to the privacy concerns and provide a form of opt-in (or out). But the potential for abuse and media overload is very real.
In addition to these specific commercial applications, and unknown to the average person, (even most techie types) work in academic institutions has been going on for many years to develop more advanced and pervasive forms of ubicomp. Multiple conferences now exist which are dedicated to the fields of and related to ubicomp.
One might argue that this is a sign that ubicomp is a misguided concept. However, just because something spends years in R and D with no noticeable public impact or visibility does not mean you can dismiss it. Bluetooth was hyped, then arguably stumbled, but it eventually "stuck" as hyped and predicted and growth of bluetooth devices shows little signs of slowing. HDTV is taking forever--literally decades--to get developed, standardized, and gain widespread usage, but it too will soon be "ubiquitous".
At this point in time, there is a sufficient mix of available technology, decreasing hardware cost, and sufficient applications to drive ubicomp to its tipping point. Further, ubicomp is not an all-or-nothing proposition. It can emerge in different guises and ultimately only requires computing elements to be ubiquitous, which I don't think anyone could argue has not been happening for some time.
rk
What Is Ubiquitous Computing?
Wikipedia defines “ubiquitous computing” as “... a model of human-computer interaction in which information processing has been thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities.”
Taken literally, ubiquitous computing means “computing everywhere”. It is that, but it's much more than that.
Ubiquitous computing is also known by its shorter form of “ubicomp” and additionally, there are other terms used to describe this concept such as “pervasive computing”, “ambient intelligence”, “proximity systems”, and “location aware” computing. It would be easy to assume this is simply the work of academics or market folk trying to push their individual brands.
But, in fact, it is more that just a matter of personal naming preference. The variety of different terms reflects the multi-faceted nature of what can be done, and what it means, to have computing everywhere. Consider this list of some of the facets or aspects of ubicomp:
- Computing is ubiquitous, so it's available everywhere.
- Computing is pervasive so it essentially becomes impossible to avoid.
- In ubicomp, the computer is not something in the environment that interacts with a human—it is the environment interacting with a human.
- The computing infrastructure is aware of your location or proximity, and makes use of that information.
- Since the computing is integrated in the environment, the human may not even be aware that it is doing something.
- As a result of all of the above, the environment embodies an emergent sense of awareness, in other words: “ambient intelligence”.
Ubiquitous computing has the potential to:
- employ computation in ways we haven't thought of before,
- change our perspective on how we interact with our environment as well as computers,
- use information to impact our lives in new ways, possibly far beyond what the Internet does today,
- and forever change our notions of security, privacy, and community.
That's the party line anyway, and while I think most parties involved in the field believe the above to ultimately be true, it is still very speculative and the actual evolutionary path of ubicomp is less than obvious.
One of my new goals in life, then--if you'll pardon a little drama--is to help make ubicomp more real by exploring the technical aspects of ubicomp and practical applications. There has been a lot of academic research in the field, but, at least to my mind, the "killer" applications, or at least implementations, remain to be realized.
Until next time,
rk
Back With A Mission
I am back after taking a sabbatical from this blog for a while. Looking at the date on my last post, I can't believe it has only been about three months, although it seems like much longer (and in blog time that may as well be forever).
The reason I took some time off (only from the blog that is) was that I didn't particularly like the direction the blog was going in nor was I happy with the projects I was working on. The two major problems as I saw it were:
- While I enjoy writing and blogging, I have always been more of an architect by nature as well as career (systems and software), and after some introspection realized I really wanted to be building something, and that should be where my entrepreneurial energy goes vs. primarily being an analyst/blogger.
- Although I had a good idea of the technical space that was a match for my background and interests, my focus was in the wrong place.
In my time away from this blog I have been working on my picobuzz web app at picobuzz.com. I've also been exploring Twitter and other social media and networking sites and apps. I've never been much for things like chat, IM and texting in the past, but I am particularly fond of Twitter and the people active on there.
There was a method to this jumping around: while I was off doing some soul-searching on what new direction I wanted to take with my entrepreneurship, I have been gaining some valuable experience on buliding a Web 2.0 app (picobuzz.com). Also, I have been getting a meaningful (not superficial) pulse on social networking, or at least those aspects I might be interested in.
All of this has helped me figure out my new focus. I will still be actively maintaining picobuzz (because it is a rush seeing what the Twitterverse is buzzing about). However, I am also going to be starting work on my new focus: Ubiquitous Computing, also known as "UbiComp". In retrospect, this is more of an evolution for me rather than a revolution. I already have a background in many of the related technical aspects like wireless communication, bluetooth and distributed computing. I was in the ballpark with my prior blogging focus on proximity marketing. Yet, I was close but still so far. The reasons:
- Proximity marketing is too often like a solution in search of a problem. There are some interesting applications and businesses doing work in this area but they are for the most part niche applications.
- There are issues related to privacy and intrusion that bothered me about proximity marketing.
- Even though I was aware of the work in Ubiquitous Computing, Pervasive Computing and similar domains, I had trouble seeing the mass appeal and value proposition for the average person. I am not far off the mark in thinking this--there have academic efforts and conferences on this for several years now but most people, even technical, are unaware of this field. And this is a field which could have mind-blowing ramifications.
In closing (for now), I am happy to say that I have come up with some new ideas for exploring and (hopefully) advancing the field of Ubicomp. I will be starting work on these ideas immediately and sharing my thoughts on this blog in the upcoming weeks.
rk
12 Days Of Traffic -- Day 12: Giving
I am going to close the 12 Days of Traffic series on the subject of giving. Everyone has heard an expression like "Give and it will come back to you ten-fold". So what am I saying: if you give, you will be rewarded with an abundance of Web traffic? Pretty much.
I have already discussed how participation on social networking sites and other blogs will motivate other people to visit your website. But it goes beyond that. I have heard and read repeatedly from some of the most successful entrepreneurs that giving to others results in great rewards. You don't have to believe in divine intervention or karma (but that's ok, too). I think it is a simple truth is that when you give to others, you become the kind of person who others want to know, trust, and give back to. From what I've seen, these entrepreneurs didn't consciously give with the expectation of anything in return. They gave for giving's sake and discovered that they prosperred when they helped others prosper.
So first, I would like to say that part of my motivation for writing the 12 Days series was to give something back to bloggers and other Web entrepreneurs. If anyone ends up benefiting from my thoughts and research, then I will continue it a success, no matter what my traffic statistics.
Second, I would like to give some link love to some other writers and bloggers who's work I enjoyred and some of whom are also working on Web entrepreneurial endeavors:
Chris Bloczynski: Chris is another blogger (and another Chris, btw) who writes about entrepreneurship and Internet marketing.
Breaking Free: This is the site of Brian Armstrong who wrote a book of the same title (Breaking Free) about getting out of the corporate cubicle world run your own business. Brian did a 30 day series with some tips similar to what I've discussed.
ProBlogger: I've mentioned Darren Rowse's blog before but will mention it again because it is a great source of information.
Edith Yeung: Edith's blog is about personal development as well as entrepreneurship.
DoshDosh: The mission of DoshDosh is "helping you make money online". I thoroughly enjoy reading Maki's articles.
Finally, I will leave you with link to an organization specifically geared toward entrepreneurs in poorer countries:
Kiva: In their own words: "Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence." You can loan as little as $25 at a time and loans are made easily and securely via PayPal.
Or, if you would like to give time or expertise instead, check out these organizations:
GIVE (Global Initiative to Advance Entrepreneurship. GIVE is a nonprofit founded by Steven Van Yoder of Get Slightly Famous™ that is dedicated to addressing the growing problem of global poverty in developing countries by supporting entrepreneurship.
ThinkCycle: A nonprofit organization that has created a culture of open source design to engineer solutions--such as alternate energy, water filtering, etc.--for underdeveloped areas.
That concludes the 12 Days series. I hope you got something out of it. In about a month I hope to come back and report on results. In the meantime, I have work to do putting all these methods into practice.
Happy Holidays,
rk
12 Days Of Traffic -- Day 11: Roundup
I am going to use this post to comment on a few useful sites and services. Having recently moved back to Texas, I am obliged to use at least one Western term--hence the "Roundup".
Technorati
If you are a blogger, know any blogger or can spell the word "blogger", you will run across the name "Technorati" and hear about get a top Technorati ranking. Ironically, despite it's importance to bloggers, it is not easy to find a good definition of what it is. If you think of it as a blog search engine crossed with a social bookmarking site, that is probably as good a definition as any. For their own perspective, check the
Here is a good post on Guy Kawasaki's blog: Ten Questions with David Sifry (founder of Technorati) which helps explain what it is about.
There are a few things you can do with Technorati as a blogger:
1. First sign up for an account and "claim" your blog at Technorati:
Sign up for Technorati account
Then set up your blog to ping Technorati when you update your blog.
However,
2. Make use of Technorati tags with your posts. Technorati tags are like those keywords you put in or on your web pages (to assist readers and SEO); however these tags are like keywords on steroids which get your posts linked and categorized in the Technoratisphere.
Here is the Technorati page on tags.
To add Technorati tags to your posts, you can use a tag generator such as this.
For alternative or more automated ways of tagging your posts, google it for your particular blog software.
3. Add a social bookmark link with your post to allow people to mark your content as noteworthy. To do that, add a link with the following format:
http://technorati.com/faves?add=http://www.yourwebsite.com
Of course, substitute "www.yourwebsite.com" with the url name for your blog.
Social Bookmarks
That last bit on Technorati will allow me to segue into Social Bookmarks in general. Social Bookmarks are a way to allow readers to easily mark or tag their favorite content for social networking sites. Or more to the point: they are a way for website owners to increase their traffic by allowing readers to easily mark or tag their favorite content for social networking sites.
Social bookmarks are typically implemented as a collection of little icons that appear at the bottom of a page or blog post. For example on my blogs, they look like this:
Here is a nice, readable-by-normal-humans article on Using Social Bookmarks To Promote Your Blog.
To get URLs for various bookmarklets, here is a page on how to add 30 way-more-than-30 social bookmarkets to footer for you blog posts. On behalf of myself and readers everywhere, I strongly urge you not to add anywhere near this many bookmarkets, but this page will have a link to any social site you may be interested in.
MyBlogLog
I mentioned MyBlogLog briefly before, but I will elaborate a bit more here. In addition to being another place to register your blog(s) MyBlogLog organizes blogs and blog readers into "communities".
You can find a good introduction to MyBlogLog by Danny Sullivan here. To quote Danny:
"Probably the coolest thing about MyBlogLog is that when you go to a blog running the code -- and if you're a member -- then you'll see yourself show up in the "widget" or member box that people typically run."
As that article also mentions, MyBlogLog is now affiliated with Yahoo!, so you will signup or get a Yahoo! id.
The way to get a widget for your site is to first add a site/blog you author. Then you click on "Get Widgets" to go through the process of generating the appropriate widget to insert into your web pages.
Other Social Networking Sites
I'll finish the roundup with a few other social networking sites. You have no doubt heard of some these already, but I'm throwing them in to round out your social networking traffic strategy:
Facebook: A general social "identity" site, oriented toward people who might be a little old or otherwise have an aversion to MySpace.
LinkedIn: Is a business-oriented social networking site.
Spoke: A lesser-knonw but still interesting business social networking site.
de.icio.us:The premier social bookmarking site. It never really resonated with me--perhaps the spelling of the name is too tedious. Regardless, it is popular service.
Flickr: Speaking of spelling, I get this one wrong frequently. It seems like if it's cool to drop the "e", the "c" should be omitted too. Flickr is, of course, the photo sharing site and is hooked into many blogs. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and, if it is appropriate for your site (and the images are not inappropriate :) ), it is a powerful way to attract readers and stay in their memories.
That's it for this post. I'll spare you any corny puns on "socializing".
rk
12 Days Of Traffic -- Day 10: Blog Carnivals
A blog carnival is like an online magazine where a collection of blog posts are published on a common theme, but from different authors. Each edition of a blog carnival is a single blog article that contains permalinks links to other blog articles on the chosen topic. Blog carnivals are an excellent way to get one-way inbound links and traffic. And like all the techniques I've discussed so far, they are free.
Other sources of web traffic such as search engines and high-traffic social networking sites like Digg are dominated by larger players (who can invest $ for adwords and other advertising) and power users who command the lion's share of attention. It will take you some time to work your way up into visibility on these sites. Blog carnivals, on the other hand, are very newbie-friendly. As long as you produce some quality content and put in some effort, you can get in the game quite quickly. At first your readers will tend to be other people involved in carnivals, but that is ok because you will establish visibility and relationships with potential peers and build a solid foundation for traffic.
Blog carnivals involve the organizer (who is like the publisher), the host (who is like the editor) and the bloggers who submit posts. The organizer starts the carnival and defines what it will be about, what the submission criteria are, and how often it will appear. They also coordinate who will host each edition of the carnival and publish details on upcoming carnivals. The host is a blogger who volunteers for an uncoming edition of the carnival. The host then collects links from all the submitters (other bloggers), organizes them into a single article, and finally publishes the collection on his or her blog. Each edition may be hosted by a different blogger so that the carnival travels around in that's carnival's community.
The place to start with blog carnivals is, naturally enough:
You should browse around to find carnivals that are a good fit for your topic area. There is also a pretty decent FAQ to walk you through the process. Here is another introductory article on blog carnivals which seems to be popular: Five Questions (And Answers) About Blog Carnivals.
How do I plan to employ this technique towards picobuzz.com? Well, as it turns out, I will soon have accumulated 12 new articles to draw material from. Sure, I wouldn't just throw all of them out there and I will have to do some editing, but it gives me a great running start. You would almost think I planned it that way.
rk
12 Days Of Traffic -- Day 9: Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking service that enables you to broadcast short messages to your friends or "followers". Twitter's slogan is that it answers the question: “What are you doing now?” Twitter messages--also known as "tweets"-- are limited to 140 characters, so each message can be sent as a single SMS alert.
Twitter and similar services (Dodgeball, Pownce) are known as microblogging services. The blog part of the name is appropriate because when a person does an update(tweet), they are broadcasting it to their followers as opposed to IM where there is more of a live, one-to-one conversation going. The "micro" part of course refers to the small size of the "post", which is part of Twitter's utility as well as part of its charm.
I held off talking about Twitter up to this point due to my personal bias, given that my own website picobuzz.com is based on Twitter. Nevertheless, Twitter can add to your traffic strategy and help you gain visibility.
How is Twitter good for generating Web traffic? Well, I'm sure you figured out from my 12 Days of Traffic series so far that a common theme in building traffic on the Web is to get out there and participate and contribute. So why bother to use Twitter in addition to the other social networking services discussed so far?
Well, for one thing Twitter is dead simple to set up and use. The limitation on the post(tweet) size is actually liberating. With only 140 characters to work with, it takes little time to write such a micropost and leaves little reason to fuss over it and spend time editing your thoughts. As such it offers a way to stay active on the Web during those down times when you don't feel motivated to sit down and write a regular blog post. You can even tweet from your mobile phone using SMS or one of several mobile twitter apps out there.
Another great thing about Twitter is that it is pretty much a positive anarchy, where you can follow and interact, or at least attempt to interact, with anyone. You can find politicians (BarackObama, John Edwards), Web celebrities (Jason Calacanis, Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki), and I believe Hollywood celebrities (which I have little interest in looking up). Not that I'm recommending you stalk these people or anyone else. My point is that it is easy to follow someone on Twitter, and chance the occasional reply, without looking or feeling like a stalker.
You can sign up for a Twitter account here.
Twitter is easy to figure out, but if you want, here is a Newbie's Guide to Twitter. There is also TwitDir which is a Twitter directory that can help find if someone you know has a Twitter account.
Finally, there is a Twitter helper app I am using: twitterfeed. What this does is monitor my regular blog's feed and automatically do a tweet for me with a link to my new post.
Ok, really finally: If you haven't yet checked out my Twitter buzz app picobuzz.com, please do so (thanks).
So--“What are you doing now?”
rk
12 Days Of Traffic -- Day 8: Comment With Abandon
One of the most consistent bits of advice that accomplished bloggers give to new bloggers and webmasters hungering for traffic is:
Actively leave comments on other people's blogs.
I don't delude myself that I am revealing earth-shattering new web traffic secrets here in the 12 Days. For one thing, if it was so secret you might not know or believe it works. Plus it is hard to keep a secret from everyone on the Internet. The real problem is separating fact from hype and identifying what is likely to work consistently. I am including this one because I have seen it work and, just as importantly, believe it is still one of the best techniques for building quality traffic.
For a similar opinion on the subject, check out this article by Yaro Starak at Entrepreneur's Journey: Proof That Blog Commenting Still Works To Build Traffic.
Commenting on other people's blogs is effective for building traffic, not only because it creates awareness in your blog, but also because it inspires genuine reciprocity in the other bloggers. When you show support for someone else's work, at some point they tend to feel compelled to return the favor or at the very least curious on what you are about. Plus, since bloggers are constantly looking for new things to blog about so they may start to think of your site as a good source of content. They will feel more comfortable referencing your content knowing it is a mutually beneficial situation. In summary, it's a win-win situation, which means that it's a sustainable process.
Before I forget, I want to point out that you don't need to have a blog site to use this technique. My picobuzz site is not primarily a blog, yet I fully intend to build relationships with bloggers. In fact, non-blog content provides new material for bloggers as an alternative to spending too much time commenting on each others blog posts.
The other aspect of commenting on other people's blogs is illustrated in this picture which shows a typical comment for an individual's blog:
In addition to leaving your name and comment, you are often allowed to provide your website's URL. Why? Because bloggers know you want to spread your URL love around, and also that you will be more motivated to contribute comments for that very reason. Getting your URL on several quality blogs will have a positive impact on your search engine placement.
Here's where things get challenging: although smaller blogs and sites will allow this sort of thing, larger blogs and sites do not because of the risk of abuse by spammers. As mentioned in my post 12 Days Of Traffic -- Day 7: The Digg Effect, Digg does not support this when commenting. The same is true for Reddit and about any other social networking site known for high traffic. So we are left with a bit of a dilemma: we want to comment on a site with good traffic but we also want to leave our URL.
To this, I offer a two-part solution:
1. Pick a couple or few blogs with the following characteristics:
- They cover topics in the same topic, interest or industry as your site.
- You respect and enjoy reading their content.
- They have respectable but not huge traffic. You are more likely to develop a good relationship if the bloggers are still small enough to be reachable.
- Oh yes, and they allow adding your URL in comments.
2. It is possible to find a site that has good readership but is not so "big" that URLS are banned. I recommend Mashable as a worthy site for supporting and commenting. I enjoy reading it, they have a cool site, and it allows URLs in comments. It also has a respectable Alexa ranking of about 1300 at this point.
You can sign up for Mashable here.
Happy commenting!
P.S. this blog allow urls in comments