“And so, my fellow BooTribbers: ask not what your blog can do for you–ask what you can do for your blog.” –paraphrased from a great Massachusetts liberal.
It’s been an interesting couple of weeks around the blogosphere, wouldn’t you say? I’m always amazed that things hold together so well considering we’re a bunch of emotionally-charged, news-addicted, cross-generational human beings. Sites like this allow us to hash out the issues of the day as well as arm ourselves with the truth to fight the ideological war that will determine the future of our country and world.
Blog Administrators like Señor Boo walk a fine line of getting their message out to the internets, creating a lasting community, and maintaining the practical needs of a website. Major e-props to Frogstalker Boo for dancing the jig so skillfully.
How can you give back to Booman Tribune? A site that has helped many of us increase our political activism?
Here is a good start:
- Invite your friends by email to join the site, perhaps with an excerpt to a diary you know will interest them.
Example: I just sent my best friend the link to AuntyPeachy’s Costco diary because she is an employee of Costco and I know would be interested in the commentary. That’s how you can hook people into the blogworld and politics–show them how it affects their lives.
- Visit the ads. This helps out both the site and the advertisers. (I recommend the Cowboy Junkies, they are a great band)
- Check the blogrolls of your other favorite blogs. Booman Tribune is now in the top 20 lefty blogs for traffic. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be on every blogroll. Send an email to the site administrator requesting that BooTrib be added with a link to the homepage. Be nice of course!
- Bring the Frog Home. Visit the BooTrib Store for coffee mugs and t-shirts. I’m anxiously awaiting my set so I can show off Darwin to southern Arizona.
- Don’t forget Jerome. Make sure to do the same promotion for our sister site, the European Tribune. I know I’m guilty of being a lurker there, but my mind is continually blown by the perspective found across the pond in Europe.
For the record, I don’t personally know Gran Masta Boo. I’m just a regular BooTribber like the rest of you. Over the past few months I have been increasingly grateful for the community and the commentary found here at Booman Tribune. As I’ve searched for ways to give back, these were some ideas I came up with. I hope you’ll join me in promoting the site across the blogosphere and helping to make sure the Frog Pond continues to grow.
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I’ve been meaning to write this diary for awhile, it’s been on my mind. Can’t wait to toast the site with my new coffee mug!
If you have a blog of your own, put your links here. I hope you’ll already added the site to your blogroll. (hint, hint. wink, wink) 😛
and small or not I think the links contribute to Boo’s success – right?
SpiritMother
Absolutely! Thanks Grandma Jo 🙂
Kept quiet.
It’s the least I can do for such a great man.
🙂
.
To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom–and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe, struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves. For whatever period is required–not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society, cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy 1917-1963
USA WELCOME: Make Yourself Known @BooMan Tribune and add some cheers!
Thanks for the additional quote Oui, Kennedy’s speeches are a wealth of inspiration to us all.
This, too:
Most excellent, Man Eegee. My coffee mugs are on the way and I take credit for bringing Katiebird over, you’re most welcome. But I need to go after some other friends and also remember to click on those ads more often.
Here’s another easy, free, helpful thing to do–visit the Froggy Bottom Cafe, even if it’s just a quick hop-in to say hi and then go on your way. Boo told us that the cafe boosts his return visits and page views and that’s important for attracting ad revenue to keep the site alive financially. We’re known as a “sticky” site, because people who come here tend to stick around for more minutes than do the visitors at other sites. We don’t have the same high number of visitors as other popular blogs, but we outpace them in certain other categories and that’s what puts us way up there. (Boo, if you’re reading this and you want to correct/amplify anything, please do. Facts are good.)
I don’t know Boo, either. But I know this site pretty well by now and I’m all for doing what we can to strengthen it.
Thx for the reminder kansas, I’ll see you in the cafe after I get some work done here at the office. Gotta keep the boss semi-happy right? hehehe
First, thanks to Man Eegee for thinking about the site’s success. But also, we are a sticky site, and the Cafe has a lot to do with that. Basically, the whole welcoming attitude of the members is helpful to making people enjoy the site.
So thanks to you all. And everyone will be receiving their mugs and shirts soon!!
Hi Man Eegee, Thanks for the diary. It’s a good reminder that I need some new coffee mugs for those early mornings at the Froggy Bottom Cafe.
I’m heading over to THE TEEPAD to stock up on some mugs and some disc golf supplies…
Good mornooning (morning-afternoon-evening) blueneck, I’m sure Booman and wolverine writer will be most appreciative for the patronage.
I can’t thank kansas enough for inviting me here. It’s my blog-home. And in honor of this diary, I finally placed my order for a mug!
Awesome katiebird! I’ve been missing you for the graveyard shift at the FBC. Glad to have you here at the site.
M.E., Thanks for this compilation of suggestions, all in one place. I’ll have to get over to the cafe today.
thx boran2, I wanted to show how we can all help out, even if we can’t contribute monetarily with items at the store. I’ve already contacted four other blogs to ask them to add the site to their blogroll, I hope others do the same so we can get more exposure.
Paz
(I’ve been on client calls for the past couple hours while this comment has been sitting around growing mold, so if the items I mention have already been addressed, please ignore my post.)
This was certainly a thoughtful gesture on your part, Manee. Not only reminding us to support the site – but providing so many suggestions on how we can do so. You are such a great asset to this community. (And . . .um. . . that’s not just my blog crush speaking ;^).
Aside from the numerous items you’ve mentioned, members can contribute to the site’s success simply through quality writing – via diaries, or thoughtful commentary in general. (Not to mention – making sure we recognize – and participate in – the great work on the front pages)
One blog roll in which BT’s absence seems to stand out is on Arianna Huffington’s site. I stopped over there the other day and she appeared to have pretty much every left leaning site on her blog roll other than this one. I have no idea how much traffic she generates, but it seemed like a good place to add a link.
I’d be interested in more information regarding the positive impact of the FBC. (I didn’t fully understand the comment above.) And once again, I’d like to thank and congratulate everyone who played a role in the design and evolution of that feature. It was a wonderful addition to the site, and it demonstrates a fine example of community spirit in action.
Thanks again for taking the time to write this diary. And . . . Tenga usted mismo un dia fabuloso!
For all who wonder (and forgive me if I’m only repeating what you already know), here’s how I understand the financial impact of the cafe.
If you look at the very bottom of this site you’ll see a “Site Meter” symbol. Click on that and you can get all sorts of interesting info about the traffic here. For instance, right now, it says (among many other things):
VISITS
Total 277,567
Average Per Day 3,694
Average Visit Length 7:25
Last Hour 236
Today 2,369
This Week 25,859
PAGE VIEWS
Total 1,630,460
Average Per Day 18,382
Average Per Visit 5.0
Last Hour 1,156
Today 10,895
This Week 128,674
As I understand it, that “Average Visit Length” is extraordinarily long for a blog. The people who come here spend a LOT of time here. (Just consider how many minutes it has taken me to write this comment, lol. Was this a trick to boost our Visit Length ratings??) It’s “sticky,” in other words. That’s one of the main things that advertisers look at, apparently, when they’re deciding where to place their bucks. By comparison, at Atrios, to use a popular example, the Average Per Day of visitors is 134,016, obviously much much higher than here, but the Average length of visit is only 0.04 minutes and the Average Page View per visitor is only 1.1!
So while we are not big in total number of individual visitors, we are a whiz-bang when it comes to attracting people who stay a while and take their time and look around.
Now then, where does the Cafe come in? I suspect you’re way ahead of me in figuring that out. Take me, for example. I’m a cafe host and devotee. ALMOST EVERY TIME I come to this blog I check to see if there are new messages in the cafe and if there are I read them and I respond to many of them and I pass out 4’s like candy. We’re talking about a day’s worth of messages that can run nearly up to 200. Imagine how much time I spend reading just those, not to mention the other diaries and the front pages. That’s how the cafe makes a big difference (and why, if I may say so, it deserves Recommended status–not only because it’s popular, but also because anything we can do to make it easy to get to will increase those precious visits and lengths of stay.) In order to do all that BooTrib reading, the truth is I spend less time at other blogs than I used to do, probably a lot less. I am skimming more of them, but not staying at any of them any longer than it takes to read just the front pages that interest me. The Cafe has cemented my loyalty to this site.
So, there you go! I hope that’s clearer than mud, and let me know if it isn’t.
Speaking of Atrios, that’s one site that I don’t see us on the blogroll. I know he recently changed his email address to evade the spammers and trolls, but maybe Boo can use his Philly connections to hook it up. 🙂
Glad you mentioned that. I’d like to see him there, too.
Do you think we only imagined he wasn’t? 🙂
Now do you suppose we can get Digby/Hullabaloo?
Oops, I think our wires crossed. I meant that we are not listed on Atrios’ blogroll.
Only one of us is crazy and I fear it’s not you.
Thanks for the highly detailed explanation – interesting stuff! As timing would have it, I was checking out the statistics on advertise liberally earlier today.
I’ve sometimes wondered which route would be best – staying logged on to the site all day (as I currently do for speed of access) – or to log back on each time I visit. In light of the various considerations, I didn’t know which number would be of greater significance – volume of hits or length of stay.
Thanks again, kansas – and have yourself a fabulous evening!
Thanks backatcha and good question. I hope somebody will answer you so the rest of us can find out, too.
click on the ‘Advertising Liberally’ button, you will see how we are ranked. We are ranked by adding up our page views per week.
Even though our visits our low, our page views per visit are extraordinarily high. This is related to the amount of time people spend at the site, but it really is simply a matter of how many times people refresh, or surf around the site.
So, the cafe helps a lot by making people stick around and refresh a lot. Most of all, it contributes by making people feel welcome and valued as members of the site.
Diane101 really doesn’t know how much she has aided the site by taking it upon herself to be a welcoming committee. And all of you that have joined her and helped to come up with the Cafe are also really doing a lot to help the page views per visit, which allows me to charge more for advertising.
It’s good for the financial end, but more importantly, it fits in with my philosophy for the community. We should be more than an information outlet. We should empower each other. So, thanks again. Thanks Man Eegee, and thanks Diane, and thanks to everyone else who has made this possible.
You’re very welcome. Thank you for putting up with loudmouths like me.
“putting up with loudmouths like me”
Mmm. . . hmmm. . .we’ve been conducting top secret meetings to determine how to deal with “loudmouths” such as yourself. ;^)
I always wanted a fan club. I’m guessing that spiderleaf is another member of this brigade? 😛
I think we can safely assume. We number in the thousands, so it’s been difficult to maintain the membership rolls.
(We’re even in the process of registering the domain: “weheartmaneegeereallymuchinspiteoftheloudmouthfactor.com”.
Thanks to you boo for having a site where we can become a community.
Great thoughts on giving back to our little community(that has grown frogleaps and bounds. I too have been meaning to offer mugs. Will do tomorrow(payday). If you are reading Boo, I would love to see the Artwork for tshirt on the back instead of the front with maybe a small logo on the front. Would that be possible?
My friend is looking into getting a laptop because I keep telling him about your diaries and the community here and OMIR’s stories.
I think blogs have really picked up because so many felt isolated from the reality that several are not apathetic, several are not going gently away.
It’s empowering.
Thanks Booman and BooTribe
Damnit Damnit Janet, ur makin’ me red in the face! This place is empowering, thanks for helping to make it so. Happy laptop hunting for your friend.
have him check out Tigerdirect.com
they are always selling laptops that are good for internet surfing at around $400 and sometimes less and they offer a 1 yr warranty. Of course they also have high end systems that run into the 2K realm if that is what is needed.
I file stories, and I participate in discussion. I tended bar one day….. And I cross posted some stories onto a news site…. other than that I don’t do much.
I check in to Daily Kos for the news, but not the comments… it’s very difficult to wade through the comments to find references or reasoned discussion.
But if anyone asked me to do anything, or to do more, I would. I love to be asked to make a contribution… welcome it, really.
thx for jumping right in suskind, your FBC diary was great. Keep up the good work.
Paz
What Man said!
Booman, and his site to me:
I need to say that what I am about to say sounds selfish on my part. For this, Booman and my fellow Americans and other lovely guests, I want to say a hardy and heartfelt THANK YOU. YOu saved my live…sell sortof in a way you all will never ever know about. Politically, I was dying in my soul and heart. I thought I really did not have a voice. EVen when I did take a chance to voice it, I really felt it was not heard.
When I came here, I soon felt and saw with my open eyes, that I was really a part of a real community. Even tho it is cyberspace we all are living in here, it has become a reality of which I, personally, can live with. This is a spactacular event in my life.
Oh there are times I get frustrated and say things I should not have said. I accredit it to real living and we all do it at one time or the other. I have learned (REALLY LEARNED HERE) very much.
The diaries have been some of the best ever. I have read other sites and they have their best of the best too. But here we “all” are the best of the best. If it were not for us all contributing to this site, it would just be medicore and average. Well it is not that, as you all can see, so it is becoming one of the best attractions online that Booman is responsible for producing and we are its glue that holds it together. Even tho we disagree sometimes with each other on things, we have learned how to ask questions and then we can see others points of view. This is so much needed nowadays in our world.
Booman, again and to all the rest of you here. My sincere love and adoration goes out to each of you. YOu are my heros and the wind beneath my wings that carry me from day to day to deal with my frustrations of life. May what ever faith you have or even if you do not have one, Blessed friends to each of you, I pray that you all have “LOVE AND PEACE” each and every day.
I ask that you hold onto my hand as I desperately try to take one day at a time and live the best way that I can and be the person I want to be. You have all given me hope. I can now look toward a politcal and living future, that I could not have done before.
PS: I do not have much to give back except my heart. Please take it and I am sure you will treat it right.
Thank you so much for your heartfelt post. One of my favorite sayings in latin comes from John Henry Cardinal Newman: Cor ad cor loquitur – Heart Speaks to Heart. It says it all.
Paz
I admit it.
I havent’ done boo
🙁
Sorry Syniel, I’m gonna have to disagree with you on that one. I just checked out your comments and ratings and you have been hopping all over the place. What would a site like this be without people like you joining the dialogue? Thx for being here.
Awww, thanks man Eeegee 🙂 But i ‘ll admit it.. I just couldnt pass up the chance at a good (or bad) pun!
I do not kno wif I can state thsi right or not, but aren’t we a total of the sum of all the parts…something like that anyhow.
If you have an RSS Feed, are you signed up for the BoomanTribune diaries list?
It’s FABULOUS! Omir did it. He’s a god.
47 comments later and no one made mention of my song reference in the title (Janet Jackson). Hilarious to me considering I sing to myself everytime I see it. Obviously I need to step away from the keyboard.
Anyone contacted another blog about their blogrolls yet? I sent an email to the Left Coaster (paradox!) and John at AMERICAblog asking to add us.
No, but I’ve clicked on several ads–all because of this diary, Manee.
Woohoo!
Man Eegee! Sorry… I didn’t even recognize the song. I’m fairly pop culture-less ;).
Great diary, great suggestions (I know, I know… I’m just a tad late). I have very little brain left, and will probably have less soon, but I will be adding BooTrib to a few (internal) blogs this weekend. And also sometimes people, like Shakespear’s Sister, put up “blogwhoring” threads, where people can promote blogs. I’ll try and catch one next time I see them (I usually see them way later than when they were posted).
Also, now that there are more people here, (as well as the various pie slice spin offs) I may try to do that discussion thing again, and invite from various blogs to participate.
And let’s see…oh! ad clicking always, of course.
You should do one (some) too. A discussion thingy. Somewhere, over the past couple of days, Susan posted something you said somewhere (did I mention my lack of brain yet?) about the focus of the national discussion on immigration. How it was on borders and such, instead of economic and other issues, or something.
Anyway, I think that would be a great discussion to have and to invite people to participate in, because not only is that going to be a big issue in 2006 and 2008 (I believe), but many people even on the left don’t have a full grasp of all that is involved, and of things like the people dying in the desert and other stuff.
Anyway, it’s a thought ;).
thx Nanette 🙂 You do a great job of commenting in most diaries, I read 99% of them but don’t always comment, yet I see you ever-vigilant throughout the discussions. Kudos to you. I’m working on another immigration diary regarding Kyl/Cornyn’s new Senate bill. It’s horrid.
Talk to you soon
Thanks, and great… I’ll look forward to it. He (Cornyn) is a horrid man, so it’s no surprise the legislation is. Sigh.