Monday, November 17, 2008

#14 Getting Not-So-Technical with Technorati

So now that you’ve been blogging for awhile, you might be wondering just how big the blogosphere is. Well, according to Technorati, the leading search tool and authority for blogs, the number of blogs doubles just about every 6 months with almost 113 million blogs currently being tracked by the site.

Yes, these numbers are astounding, but as you’ve already seen for yourselves, blogging is so easy that these publishing tools are being taken advantage of by almost every industry, including libraries.

So how does a person get their blog listed as part of the blogosphere and how can you tag your posts with keywords to make them more findable through a Technorati search? The answer to the first question is that your blog is probably already being captured by Technorati due to the fact that you're already using Blogger, the most popular blogging tool. But if you want to join the party and have your blog officially listed on Technorati and also take advantage of the watchlist and other features, you’ll need to claim your blog yourself. As for tagging posts with Technorati tags? This is easy, too. All you need to do is add a little bit of HTML code to the bottom of your post and Technorati will pick up these tags when it spiders (or web crawls) your site.

Using Technorati you can search for keywords in blog posts, search for entire blog posts that have been tagged with a certain keyword, or search for blogs that have been registered and tagged as whole blogs about a certain subject (like photography or libraries).

Discovery Resources:

Technorati Discover & Popular features

Discovery Exercise:
  1. Take a look at Technorati and try doing a keyword search for “Learning 2.0” in Blog posts, in tags and in the Blog Directory. Are the results different?

  2. Explore popular blog, searches and tags. Is anything interesting or surprising in your results?

  3. Create a blog post about your discoveries on this site.

  4. Post a comment to this blog with a link to your blog post.

OPTIONAL: If you're up for a challenge, learn how to tag your posts by with Technorati tags so they can join tag searches. Create a post about something. It can be anything you want and add the HTML code to the bottom to tag it as “JPLL2.” You may also want to consider claiming your blog and creating a watchlist.

NOTE: When adding HTML code, you'll want to make sure you're in Blogger's Edit HTML window.

32 comments:

Ed Lein said...

#14 Not a Book by Dale Brown ...

Lucky7 said...

http://thisandthat-lucky7.blogspot.com/exercise #14

Yay, I "claimed my blog" in Technorati.

I also viewed "blogger central" & found that there are 3 ways to view the most popular items.

G said...

http://gregs23.blogspot.com/2008/11/discovery-exercise-14.html

Anonymous said...

http://jaxscots.blogspot.com/2008/11/technorati.html

I looked at the Learning 2.0 stats a few times over the past 30 minutes and they went up and down quite a bit. Had to go to the advanced search to find the tag stat.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I claimed my blog! yay!

http://jackiesmith86.blogspot.com/2008/11/14.html

Sharon Jaskula said...

Glad to see by these other comments that SOMEONE in this system knows what they're doing!(Don't look here)

http://jaskulajourney.blogspot.com/2008/11/14-feels-like-itchy-wool-sweater.html

Karren said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Karren said...

kdeas (kdeas@coj.net)

I tried claiming my blog and it did not work. The Technorati monster had escaped and told me to try later. What is a Technorati monster. I give up

http://kadsblogger.blogspot.com/2008/11/technorati-lesson-14.html

Anonymous said...

Do I really want to admit those are my rants by claiming my blog? Maybe later.

http://jpl-part-timer.blogspot.com/2008/11/technorati-and-digital-takeover-of.html

Katie said...

http://www.fromkatiesshoes.blogspot.com/

I claimed my blog and survived another technology exercise.

brad said...

Technorati fun!

I was able to claim my blog, and add a Technorati gadget to my blog. I added the JPLL2 tag, but when I click it, it said "no blogs are tagged JPLL2". So maybe I didn't get this part right?

Anonymous said...

This is a valuable tool. Here's the link to my blog post: http://reflections-learner-learner.blogspot.com/2008/11/week-6-discovery-exercise-14-technorati.html

Anonymous said...

Still catching up, apologies:
http://cornerdemon.blogspot.com/2008/11/technically-technorati.html

Jason said...

#14!

NicoleS said...

Exercise #14 done. I don't particularly care for Technorati.
http://nicolesblogjpl.blogspot.com

loveX6 said...

http://sixofhearts-lovex6.blogspot.com/2008/12/14-technorati-getting-not-so-technical.html

Finally finished this exercise after a short hiatus.

jaxcat said...

http://jaxcat.blogspot.com/2008/11/technorati-exercise-14.html

omebi<>dreams said...

thing 14:
http://pluto-raechel.blogspot.com/

Justin said...

http://modernsackbut.blogspot.com/2008/12/technorati.html

I couldn't search around Technorati too easily at work. The Internet speed is so incredibly slow. I do searches and get to watch the browser spin for minutes at a time. It's like taking a time machine trip back to dial up days.

CALwishart said...

#14 completed

jackie said...

http://butterflies-jackie.blogspot.com/2008/12/technorati.html

jackie said...

http://butterflies-jackie.blogspot.com/2008/12/wikis.html

Carrie said...

Technorati!

Anonymous said...

mgloag@coj.net

I claimed my blog and that was no easy matter! I have also attempted to add the [JPLL2] as instructed, but cannot be sure that it "took". However, I have enjoyed tangling with Technorati and, while I can build a web site for you, I cannot find my way easily around some of these sites you have given us.

www.meanderswithmaggie.blogspot.com

Feather on the Path said...

#14 Yet another exercise in frustration.
http://featheronthepath.blogspot.com/2008/12/tagging-folksonomies-technorati_20.html

sarthurgeiger said...

Getting Not-So-Technical with Technorati

My blog posting can be found at:
http://sarthurgeiger.blogspot.com/2008/12/14-getting-not-so-technical-with.html

Anonymous said...

Just finished technorati (#14)
. . . slow and steady wins the race.
To read my scintillating comments, go to
http://miss-val-the-librarian.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

. . . I have also claimed my blog (hoping for extra credit points).

http://miss-val-the-librarian.blogspot.com/2008/12/exercise-14-technorati-contd.html

Jill said...

ex 14
http://lionsleepstonight.blogspot.com/2009/01/ex-14-technorati.html

aleonard said...

http://daniellealuminum.blogspot.com/2009/02/technorati.html

Anonymous said...

#14 done. See my comments at
http://terryandrover.blogspot.com/