"My first post was in August of 2004 ... no single thing in the last 15 years professionally has been more important to my life than blogging" - TOM PETERS

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Welcome to the AUSTRALIAN BLOG DIRECTORY

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Welcome to the Australian Blog Directory. This list of Australian blogs is a pretty eclectic and growing all the time. It’s not exhaustive by any means, but it’s a start and is representative of the depth and breadth of ‘active’ blogs we have here in Australia. The list is currently segmented into the following categories: [...]

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FEATURED VIDEO

Greetings from BlogWorld LA 2011 (2 Videos)

BlogWorld LA is over for another year. Several thousand people attended – including Darren Rowse, Gideon Shalwick and Nicole Avery from Australia; the number of speakers was crazy, something like 300 blogging experts and new media gurus gave presentations or sat on various panels.

Here are a couple of videos I shot at the event: one is a general overview, the other an interview with Darren Rowse.

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FRESH ON THE BLOG

Winners of the Best Australian Blogs 2012 Competition

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Underscoring the growth of the blogging movement in Australia, 1024 bloggers entered the 2012 competition – last year the competition attracted 570 entrants.
Eden’s Edenland was also the winner of the competition’s Personal/Lifestyle category, which attracted an impressive 526 entries.

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The 2012 Best Australian Blogs Competition launches March 15

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The Sydney Writers’ Centre has announced the return of their Best Australian Blogs Competition for 2012. The competition is one of Australia’s leading blogging competitions, recognising and celebrating blogs on any topic and of any size. The Sydney Writers’ Centre is offering over $15,000 in writing courses for winners and finalists, almost double the prize [...]

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What’s in store for Australian blogging in 2012? Here are 4 predictions.

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2011 has been a huge year for Australia’s blogging movement. Was it the year blogging in this country came of age? I think so.

So what does 2012 hold? Here are four things I think we’re going to see more of:

As bloggers increase their influence and profile not only online but also through traditional media outlets, expect brands (and PR people, ad agencies etc) to come calling, thus ensuring the topic of ‘making money from your blog’ will continue to be as hot a topic in 2012 as it was in 2011, if not more so.

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Simple SEO tips for WordPress bloggers – part one (categories)

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If you are serious about blogging, and want more people to read your content, spending some time on your categories pages is time well spent.

GUEST POST: James Richardson is director of Optimising, an SEO, PPC, web development agency based in Melbourne.

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5 questions with … Bra Queen

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Blogging influences my business on many levels- it allows my readers to get to know me and having free information available to them. The new economy requires transparency and we need to think and be different…let our voices shine through.

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Melbourne bloggers aim to make a difference

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As bloggers we are in a position to receive great products from prominent brands in Australia. We do love this and appreciate the relationships we have with brands and their public relations representatives.

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PR Pitches: Bin the crap but keep an eye out for the gold!

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There’s been a lot of discussion lately within blogging circles regarding the issue that the PR profession doesn’t get bloggers.

Firstly, it’s important to re-frame your situation: Getting crap pitches is a good sign! It means you are getting noticed and recognised as an influential blogger. Mark that down as a huge positive!

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The next wave of blogging: introducing the ‘new media mini-empire’

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Following my recent trip to BlogWorld in Los Angeles, I’ve been forming a view around the increasing sophistication of blogging coupled with the public’s thirst for relevant, credible and authentic content, and what it means for the humble art of blogging.

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Australia’s Digital Parents Go Offline for 2012

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A host of speakers and panelists have already committed to the conference, including Problogger Darren Rowse, Valerie Khoo from Sydney Writers’ Centre and Nicole Avery from Blog Coaching Boost.

Excited about the opportunity to harness the buzz that is hundreds of bloggers in one place, Digital Parents founder Brenda Gaddi said …

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COMING SOON: The Blogger Relations Forum

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As the blogging movement in Australia grows, so too does it become a beacon of interest for brands and their PR and marketing agencies.

Over the past year PR people have latched on to bloggers as additional means to get their clients’ message out into the marketplace. All good so far.

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Michael Stelzner: “You’re not a blogger, you’re a publisher!”

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Their informal chat around all things blogging and new media resulted in the quartet letting loose with numerous tips, ideas, observations and opinions. Here are some that I managed to get down before the conversation quickly moved in another direction!

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Tim Ferriss pops into Problogger Training Day

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The packed audience at yesterday’s Problogger Training Day event in Melbourne got a nice surprise when best-selling business and lifestyle author, Tim ’4-Hour Work Week’ Ferriss, popped in for a quick chat with Mr Problogger himself, Darren Rowse.

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Event wrap-up: Digital Parents Unplugged

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A special event designed to bring bloggers and PR/brands together – Digital Parents Unplugged – was held recently in Sydney.

The event, an initiative of Digital Parents (“Australia’s Largest Online Community for Blogging Parents”), had representatives of both sides of the fence talking about ‘the relationship’ between the blogging fraternity which has a growing and engaged network of readers, and brands that want to tap into their collective influence.

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Full house for Problogger Training Day (Darren Rowse interview)

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The Problogger Training Day in Melbourne has sold out. How many people are attending and where are they coming from?

Including our wonderful lineup of speakers we have 271 people attending the ProBlogger Training day. We do have a couple of North American speakers flying in and one Indonesian attendee but the rest are all Aussies.

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5 questions with … Edenland

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We’ve started a new series of posts under the banner ’5 Questions with …’.

The ‘with’ will be an Aussie blogger. First up with have the spirited Eden Riley aka @edenland. Eden describes herself thus: Redhead. Mother. Wordsmith. Australian. Sometimes hot, mostly not. I’ll show you my Universal Truth if you show me yours.

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The importance of having a great name for your blog

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One of the great things about having your own blog is the ability it gives you to creatively express yourself.

Having a blog title that not only accurately represents what you’re all about but also works effectively in a marketing sense is no easy feat.

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Australia’s 25 best business blogs ~ via Smart Company

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Journalist and author Brad Howarth wrote an article last week for Smart Company in which he listed what he considered to be Australia’s 25 best business blogs.

Here is his list in alphabetical order:

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Blog Ideas To Slap ‘Blogger Blank’ In The Face

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GUEST POST by Daniel Smith, Propaganda House.

You need to write a post, you’re due. Today’s the day, you’ve finally got a spare hour or two to do it. So you get a cup of coffee, sit down in front of the computer, open up word, and……. nothing. You’re totally bereft of blog ideas. You’ve got ‘blogger blank’!

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Health body sets up bloggers’ area on its website

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An organisation dedicated to combating obesity is seeking the support of the blogging community in its bid to improve food labeling in Australia.

The Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC) has set up a dedicated blogger’s area on its website …

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Bloggers bare all (PR firms & brands are invited!)

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Friday, September 30 is Digital Parents Unplugged – an intimate event aimed at starting a real conversation between bloggers and brands/PRs.

Bloggers and Brands/PRs will get the chance to ask questions and get real answers – no holds barred!

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Facebook Success Summit 2011 kicks off on October 5

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Michael Stelzner, the guy behind the hugely popular Social Media Examiner blog and author of Launch, has announced the Facebook Success Summit. It kicks off on October 5 and runs until October 25.

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7 WordPress tips for beginners

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GUEST POST by Aaron Rutley, web developer and WordPress Guy with Eleven Media.

Over the last few years I’ve spent hundreds of hours building WordPress websites, researching / testing plugins and chatting to other developers/bloggers in the WordPress community. I’ve picked up a few tips along the way that I thought I’d share with some fellow bloggers & WordPress users!

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Malaysia Kitchen Blogger Summit

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The Malaysia Kitchen Blogger Summit is one initiative I’ve been keeping an eye on – it’s a cool Oz project, part of the global Malaysia Kitchen campaign that’s designed to get people talking about and sampling Malaysian fare (Mmmmm – I’m super-hungry just writing this post!).

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Opportunity for bloggers who are Carlton fans

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Do you barrack for Carlton Football Club? More importantly: do you blog (and/or tweet)?

Yes? Then this opportunity might be of interest :)

The Blues are looking for tweeters and bloggers for the 2011 AFL finals series.

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Chris Garrett & Sonia Simone coming to Oz

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Two of the big guns of the blogging world – Chris Garrett and Sonia Simone – have been confirmed for the Problogger Training Day on October 21.

Aussie speakers confirmed include Nicole Avery (Planning With Kids, Blog Coaching Boost) and Phoebe Montague (Lady Melbourne).

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Introducing Australia’s ‘social media queens’ (video)

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They’re the new breed of mums – super influential, social media queens.

And so this Channel Ten news report kicks off.

Reporter Emma Dallimore follows two high profile Aussie mummy bloggers – Mrs Woog (Woogsworld) and Eden Riley (Edenland)…

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Duncan Riley launches new online property – Medacity

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Melbourne-based pro blogger Duncan Riley has re-emerged with a new online venture – a new media news site called Medacity.

Riley sold his technology/entertainment/sports site The Inquisitr in May for $330,000. According to a statement on the Medacity website, Riley says: “The idea of Medacity came about after I realized that no one in the market was exclusively covering the new media sector as a whole.

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4 Things the PR Warrior has Learned in 4 Years of Blogging

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My ‘original’ blog PR WARRIOR turned four last month. Boiled down, that’s over 365 posts (roughly eight a month for four years) and 640+ comments from readers. When I first started blogging in 2007, it was to experience one of the ‘wonders of the new media landscape’ in an effort to better understand it and [...]

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The ultimate wrap-up from Nuffnang Blogopolis 2011

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A week ago today I attended the inaugural Nuffnang Blogopolis event along with 300 other bloggers from around the country.

Here is a wrap-up of some of the coverage from the event that I’ve been able to glean from the #nnb2011 Twitter hashtag and various other sources, listed in no particular order:

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Problogger: “Tell the world something important”

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One of the highlights from the Nuffnang Blogopolis event at the weekend was Problogger Darren Rowse’s presentation on ‘Blog Branding and Marketing’.

He was also on a panel discussing ‘The Australian Blogosphere: Past, Present & Future’ (see video for excerpts).

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6 things bloggers need to know about SEO

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Aside from being the most immaculately dressed guy at the Nuffnang Blogopolis 2011 event on Saturday, Arnold Aranez (self-confessed Nutella lover of Mr Gadget fame) also gave the packed house a quick lesson on SEO from a blogging perspective.

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300 bloggers converge on Melbourne for Nuffnang Blogopolis 2011

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Three hundred bloggers from all around Australia attended the first Nuffnang Blogopolis event in Melbourne yesterday (Saturday, July 30).

We’ll be covering the event in more depth on BlogHUB but in the meantime, here’s a video snapshot of the day.

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David Krupp previews Nuffnang Blogopolis 2011

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More than 260 bloggers from around the country will converge on Zinc at Fed Square in Melbourne this Saturday the inaugural Nuffnang Blogopolis event. In this video interview one of the organisers, David Krupp, previews the speaker line-up.

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Have iPhone, will podcast

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As a bit of an experiment I recorded this podcast the other day from the beach at Inverloch in Victoria (pic below shows the view).

Why? To show how easy it is. Some people shy away from blogging because they are put off by the amount of writing required.

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ProBlogger Announces Melbourne Training Day

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ProBlogger Darren Rowse has announced he will be holding an intensive training day in Melbourne on Friday, October 21.

The day follows a similar event Darren held last year when he and a team of seasoned bloggers, including…

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Bloggers to converge on Nuffnang Blogopolis 2011

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I’m really looking forward to attending the (interestingly named) inaugural Nuffnang Blogopolis event at Zinc in Melbourne on Saturday, July 30.

A veritable who’s who of blogging (Melbourne skew) has already registered to attend.

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Blogs influence purchase decisions – survey

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A whopping 89 per cent of blog readers are swayed by a blogger’s review of a product or service and would like to try it for themselves, according to a new survey conducted by Australian blog advertising network, Nuffnang.

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The top 50 marketing blogs in Australia

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To mark the launch of its new proprietary tool BlogLevel, PR firm Edelman Australia collated a list of the top 50 marketing blogs in the country.

BlogLevel was developed by Edelman for measuring a blog’s influence, popularity, engagement and trust.

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Seth Godin & Tom Peters on the power of blogging

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Stumbled upon this wonderful short video posted mid 2009 featuring big-name authors Seth Godin and Tom Peters chatting on the topic of blogging.

This gem from Peters: “My first post was in August of 2004 … no single thing in the last 15 years …

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Tips on how bloggers can work better with PR

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Liss from the popular Frills in the Hills blog frequently canvasses the opinions of PR people re working with bloggers, and vice versa.

Given I’m a PR consultant who regularly works in the blogging space, Liss asked me to contribute to her latest survey:

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Nikki Parkinson on Australia’s growing blogging community

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One of Australia’s top bloggers Nikki Parkinson was interviewed recently on Sky News’ Media Week show following her Sydney Writers’ Centre Best Australian Blog competition win. In the interview she talks about Styling You – the blog she started initially to promote her styling business but which now attracts some 25,000 unique visitors per month

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New service sparks interest with both brands and bloggers

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It’s only a few weeks old but ‘Brand Meets Blog’ – the recently launched service by Melbourne blogger Louisa Claire has already sparked interest from both sides of the fence – bloggers interested in connecting with brands, as well as brands (and their PR agencies) keen to hook up with influential bloggers.

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How to grow your blog to 200,000 subscribers

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Wow! Here I am reading an ebook by Leo Babauta (How I got 100,000 Subscribers in Two Years) when I check out this video interview on Social Media Examiner and discover Leo has now DOUBLED that number!

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REPORT: Best Australian Blogs Competition 2011

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The inaugural Best Australian Blogs Competition is done and dusted for 2011 but the good news for the local blogging community is that the organisers – the Sydney Writers’ Centre – intends running the event again next year.

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Australia’s blogging movement is on fire

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For years we’ve had growing pockets of blogging enthusiasts keeping the faith; today however, blogging in Australia has exploded from being somewhat of an ‘underground oddity’ into a mainstream phenomenon.

We have blogs about parenting and family life; marketing, PR, law and business; media and entertainment; art and craft; fashion, design and architecture; health and nutrition, technology, politics …

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