The Blog Herald: Then and Now

If you’ve been around Blog circles for awhile, you might remember the sale of the Blog Herald this past February. My friend and colleague, Duncan Riley took that site to the point of being the source for blogging news and gossip in the three years since he had started it. It was really quite a dominant site.

Duncan started growing weary of the site with having other responsibilities with family and also as one of the founders of b5media. After some stop and go on the sale of the site, Blog Herald fell to BlogMedia. I helped with the transfer of the site along with a mix of emotions on my part.

I loved the Blog Herald. It was actually sold on the second round of bidding. The first one had a buyer but that fell through and as Duncan was thinking about what to do next, I remember telling him, “Dunc, if you decide to hold onto it, or reinvent it or something, I’d love to get in on it with you.” Truth is, I would have bought the site if I had the money to do it. I see it as that much of a gold mine of potential.

Of potential. That speaks to the future being in the hands of the site owner. If Duncan, there is potential. If me, there is potential. If BlogMedia, then potential. No guarantees.

Interestingly, BlogMedia has seen a shakeup of sorts in recent months. I wrote about that not too long ago as a core of their people moved on to other ventures. Sadly, this appears to have left Blog Herald in disarray. What I’m about to get into is no judgement on Matt Craven. It’s just an assessment of ‘how it is’ from the perspective of an interested outside party.

What I see is a downward trend in traffic to the Blog Herald since March (graph courtesy of Alexa).

I think this graph speaks to two things:

1. After the sale of the site, there was so much buzz created by the sale, and so much interest taken in what BlogMedia would do with the site, that traffic continued to climb. There were expectations from readers that BlogHerald would now become an even more established site where “the scoop” could be gained. Duncan had set a precedent for this over three years and he was only one man. What would a team of bloggers be able to do with it? Sadly, it became painfully obvious that, while Blog Herald was still a blogging news source, it was no longer the blogging news source. In fact, the traffic has declined to pre-October 2005 levels as noted in this one year traffic chart.
   
   (the spike in September 2005 related to the launch of b5media of which Duncan was a part)
2. The second thing I can take from this is that much of the traffic surge of the six month span from September to February can probably be attributed to the huge buzz that was (and continues to be) caused by b5media. As one of the largest and fastest growing blogging networks in the world, b5media drew unprecedented attraction to Blog Herald and many other sites. This is not a slight toward BlogMedia, but very few networks have the star power behind it as b5media does and very few networks have the drawing (and staying) power of b5media. Blog Herald benefitted from this good will, but that good will cannot be transferred as part of a site sale. BlogMedia would have to generate their own good will to make Blog Herald continue to be the top of the heap.

Recently, Matt posted an entry at Blog Herald looking for writers. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve contacted Matt about possibly writing for the site. Am I the “star power” I was referring to? No, hardly. I am but a blip on the blogging radar and what attention I have recieved from folks like Steve Rubel and Darren Rowse is wonderful but unexpected. Though I have a vanity subscription for my name, I am still in awe and completely excited when I get one link from another blog. I definitely don’t expect to be the oft’ quoted blogger. But I digress.

I don’t think BlogMedia is able to handle the weight of Blog Herald anymore. With the recent shakeup, only Matt is blogging there these days and he is in the same position that Duncan was – trying to run a blog network while managing the weight of blogging. Blog Herald no longer breaks news – in fact, they are usually late. It doesn’t do analysis or offer commentary, it simply “reports”, often quoting other sources at the expense of pushing original commentary to the fringes.

I’m sad. Really. Blog Herald was a great site. But as I said when I began this entry, the potential is there but lies in the hands of the owners of the sites to see that potential bring returns. I don’t know Matt, besides a name. I don’t follow blogosphere gossip to know anything about BlogMedia except to pick up on an underlying feud between them and 9rules. But 9rules is bitchy too, so I don’t pass judgement on anyone. All I can do is look at what I see with my own eyes today. I hope they can turn the boat around, or sell the site. Put it in the hands of someone who is looking to make a buck on the site while at the same time demonstrating a passion for the site. It deserves that kind of love.

Tagged as: 9rules, b5media, blog-herald, blogmedia, matt-craven