What is the secret to being found?

to the Web 2.0?
 
to Social Media?

There is no ONE  secret!

It's many pieces of a pie. And if you only have a website for your business, you only have one tiny piece. You need many more pieces!

This graphic is not a great visual but it does show a variety of pieces to be considered.  There was also a great article on Mashable this week by  Brian Solis.

We have been preaching this for  4  years  now - and Brian think's the time is right.
 
"At last, 2010 is expected to be the year that social media goes mainstream for business. In speaking with many executives and entrepreneurs, I’ve noticed that the path towards new media enlightenment often hinges on corporate culture and specific marketplace conditions. Full social media integration often happens in stages — it’s an evolutionary process for companies and consumers alike."

We often refer to the process of staging a big broadway show. It's done in steps and is a slow growth process, to reach the finish line. He does a great job of outling the  ten most common stages that businesses experience as they travel the road to full social media integration. It's takes time. It does not happen overnight. But you simply MUST be a part of this new world or your business will be left behind the dust. There is a great distance between where you  are today, and where you need to be.



Read Brians full article outlining the 10 stages of growth.


Derrick Sorles
Blog, Web 2.0, and Social Media Consultant

        

This may seem a little off topic but I'm sharing this because I know many readers are small business owners and or some of you may be planning to launch a business in 2010 and I've found this an extremely useful resource in the business building BS we've been dealing with in our Gay Travel Online Publishing.

 It's easy to search patents on the Internet, but trademarks are still lost in government websites that are not particularly search-friendly.Trademarkia makes trademark search a breeze.

Trademarkia let’s you search all U.S. trademarks filed since 1870, including dead trademarks. The company has scans of all the marks and returns results in a very appealing visual grid. You can search by company, theme, product category, or even filing attorney. Companies can also file a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office through the site.

 

Trademarkia is an excellent resource for anyone researching trademarks, companies getting ready to file a trademark, or even product and brand logo designers. It operates much like a domain registrar like GoDaddy. Instead of searching for available domain URLs, you search for trademarks, and if they are available, you can register them for a fee.

On Trademarkia, for example, you can search all trademarks with a certain image you may want to use to make sure you are not duplicating someone else’s trademark. You can search for dead trademarks as well, and if you like one, you can register it for $159.

You can also can look at all trademarks registered to a company, or sort them to see just the trademarks the company has allowed to expire making them currently available!

        

                            

We have actually used  WOOPRA for the last 1  1/2   years, as part of their  Beta  test program. I loved it. It's a great analytics tool and gave me real time live information about my visitors and the opportunity to even start a live chat with them, while they were on my site! Woopra is the world’s most comprehensive, information rich, easy to use, real-time Web tracking and analysis application. Pretty cool stuff. But now that they have come out of Beta, it comes with a price tag. Whereas Google is all free.


Guest  Author  DANIEL  FOSTER  from  Royal Pingdom did an article recently about the two services. "Google Analytics blows Woopra out of the water where cost is concerned. GA is free for anyone with a Google account and will track a large number of page views for up to 50 sites.

When I started using Woopra six months ago, it was in beta and free for testers. Halfway through writing this review, however, the developer released it for general use and modified the price structure.

A free version is still available, but with major limitations. Freebie accounts are restricted to 30,000 page views a month and data is only stored for 3 months. Small text ads appear at the bottom of the client.

For $4.95 a month, the limit is upped to 100,000 page views and ads are removed. Considering that Woopra updates in real-time and offers such a great user experience, I would be willing to pay this fee if only for one thing: data is retained for only 6 months. Pricier plans store data longer, but even the $49.95 Platinum plan, which tracks 1.25 million page views a month, only keeps statistics for 24 months.

Considering the low cost of storage and the importance of long-term visitor data, this is unacceptable. The limitation can be bypassed by manually exporting data, but this is tedious and forces the user to keep track of the files. While not as streamlined as Woopra, Google Analytics stores data forever at no charge."


Read  his  full article on WOOPRA VS GOOGLE ANALYTICS



Derrick  Sorles
Business Blog Consulting, Web 2.0 and Social Media Strategists

        

While we are all painfully aware Google will not divulge their recipe for a site's success, we do hear about bits and pieces that are leaked, and make sense to follow.   People often ask us, what can I do to get my site ranked higher in search? The reality is it is 101 different little things. 

Hopefully you have a Google account and use their Analytics and Feedburner and countless other free tools like  the  WEBMASTER GUIDELINES. The Guidelines provide a lot of common sense tips that is worth reading annually, to make sure you are doing your best, so that Google gives you the proper treatment when it comes to ranking your site.

Recently I realized I was not compressing my photos and images for the web. A habit I used a long time ago but go away from it, in an effort to save time. It is one extra little step, but can make a difference on how fast your page loads. And I was told Google is now factoring in  LOAD  TIMES to their equation of how a site is ranked.

So when you use in image on your site, make sure it is compressed  or  saved for the web. JPG is the best choice. GIF is the second best choice, and never  use  BMP.  If you have Windows XP there is a way to do it there - if not most photo programs like PhotoShop can do the job easily.

It's one more little step. I know, but will help your site load faster and at the end of the day, it can't hurt!



Derrick  Sorles
Web 2.0  Consultants and Strategists 
Derrick Sorles and Michael Snell - We Help "Pull"  New Business To You!
            Your Business MD's - Business Blog Consultants & Internet Marketers

        

 

Being a professional blogger for  4  years  now, I have been conditioned to follow certain metrics, like  Google  Page Rankings. Lately however, Google is doing a lot of tweaking and revamping and peoples  PR  is jumping up and down like crazy.

Startling news from Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Susan Moskwa  now  comes  fourth....that Google has ditched PageRank from Webmaster Tools.

 

"We've been telling people for a long time that they shouldn't focus on PageRank so much; many site owners seem to think it's the most important metric for them to track, which is simply not true," states Moskwa. "We removed it because we felt it was silly to tell people not to think about it, but then to show them the data, implying that they should look at it." (Source: WebProNews)

SO NOW WHAT? If you work hard on your site and build it's repuation, how do you tell the real good sites from the posers?  PR  was a  way, at a glance, to get a glimpse of a sites authority and realness.

Now we just have to guess?

This could be a big problem I think.....

        

Focus on writing the best content. Let us jazz it up for you.

Simple point & click enrichment of your blog posts (and emails). In real-time, while you type. 
They suggest tags, links, photos, related articles, and more! How much easier can it get?!

With  ZEMANTA, you download  a simple  browser extension. When  you open your blogging software,

BEFORE -

                          



AFTER - it adds bars on the side and bottom to help you quickly import pre-selected images, links and tags, saving you time searching for them! 

                                

Lets you quickly add  Amazon links and Social Media friends as well.


Of course, it does not work with  EVERY blogging platform yet. But it does for most!

ZEMANTA 

 

 

        

JUST  SAY  NO!   To  Blog  Engage!

We first wrote  about BlogEngage in 2008.  It sounded like a cool tool.

But I recently found out they were censoring my gay travel submissions! My sites are not sexual in nature and quite popular with people seeking  LGBT travel  info.  We  are on page one of Google for about 3000  keyword combinations currently, have a page rank of 5, and attract over 40,000  unique readers a month from  150  countries.  We also attract the attention of tourism boards worldwide as well as national advertisers.

MyBlogLog,  BlogCatalog, FaceBook, and many others have no problem with my sites. But apparently, some right wing homophobics keep complaining my gay travel sites are "sexual in nature" - which they are not. So as of today, I am removing all links to Blog Engage, from all of my sites that have been promoting them.

You gotta love censorship, right?


Michael Snell
Derrick  Sorles

        

BloggersBase provides a discovery platform for bloggers, user-generate-content and readers alike. This platform takes the form of an online magazine spanning various topics, each implemented as a multi-authored blog, moderated by algorithm-enhanced crowd wisdom. Their magazine introduces a brand new concept of citizen-journalism, using powerful analytics and unique algorithms.

Bloggers - your audience is here!

Get discovered & monetize on your talent on BloggersBase!
Compete and become a part of an exclusive club of elite professional bloggers!

Readers - Find high quality content that interests YOU to read and watch!
Make a difference by ranking and controlling the content that gets exposed!
Earn recognition for your expertise and gain social status!



CHECK IT OUT! BLOGGER BASE

        

Sorry for the short notice. Sally Falkow and Chris Abraham are going to co-present a free webinar tomorrow, Thursday, May 14, on the subject of digital PR, social media marketing, and blogger relations. This event is at 1PM Eastern time and 10AM Pacific time and you need to register in advance.

How to Do Social Media Marketing:
Bloggers, Social Networks, Metrics, and More

Hear Sally Falkow of Expansion Plus and Chris Abraham of Abraham Harrison talk about the best practices in social media marketing.

Not only is social media marketing the hottest thing in marketing, it may well also be the most effective marketing tool available to anyone doing any form of outreach.The meteoric rise of twitter and the slower but just as large groundswell of blogging have combined to shake communications of all kinds to the core.

But social media marketing isn’t monolithic and it covers a lot of ground. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. But there are best practices, there are tools and tricks and techniques to achieve greater success. Sign up for this webinar to find out how to:

~    use twitter wisely and well
~    reach out effectively to bloggers
~    drive success with social networks
~    combine fronts to multiply your success
~    get your audience to help you reach out
~    measure and understand your success (and failure)
~    Plus many more techniques to help you master social media

Speakers
Sally Falkow is a veteran of the PR industry. She has since translated her experience in marketing, PR and communication to the Internet. Her main interest is in the shift in media consumption and how new technology is affecting the practice of public relations. Sally is the author of the Proactive Report and co-developer of PRESSfeed, a social media tool for PR and marketing professionals.

Chris Abraham, President and COO of Abraham Harrison, is a leading expert in online public relations with a focus on blogger outreach, blogger engagement, and Internet reputation management. Chris is a pioneer in online social networks and publishing, and specializes in web2.0 technologies, including content syndication, online collaboration, blogging, and consumer generated media.

This webinar will take place live on Thursday May 14th at 1 PM EST and 10AM PST. It will include audience participation and will be recorded and made available on demand within two days. Register now!

        

Last week I was approached by
BUSINESS CONSULTING BUZZ
to be a guest writer on their site.

BCB is your one-stop resource center for everything consulting. Whether you’re just starting out, been in the business for a couple of years, are a consulting veteran, or a company looking for information on how to hire good consultants, this is the website for you.

Mike and Sam (or the “Zipursky cousins” as they are often called), created this website with the goal to provide  an arsenal of knowledge to take your consulting business or career to the next level and beyond.



Stop by and see them  and  read my post!

Derrick  Sorles

 Web 2.0  Consultants and Strategists 
Derrick Sorles and Michael Snell - We Help "Pull"  New Business To You!
            Your Business MD's - Business Blog Consultants & Internet Marketers

        

What if there was software with the elegance and extensibility of WordPress but all the features you’ve come to expect from social networks like Facebook?

Now there is: check out BuddyPress.

BuddyPress is an official sister project of WordPress. The idea behind it was to see what would happen to the web if it was as easy for anyone to create a social network as it is to create a blog today. There’s been an explosion of social activity on the web, it’s probably the most important trend of the past few years, but there’s been a dearth of Open Source tools that enable the social web.

In WordPress we have a robust and extensible base that can scale to many millions of users, and BuddyPress is essentially a set of plugins on top of WordPress that add private messaging, profiles, friends, groups, activity streams, and everything else you’ve come to expect from your favorite social network, like a Facebook-in-a-box.

This is just a 1.0 release and it’s not for everybody yet, for example it currently requires using MU which is a bit trickier to get set up than regular WordPress, which is tricky in itself! 


Yeah, call me  when  3.0  is ready!  I need  easy!

        

Don't you hate coming home from a conference with a stack of business cards?
And God forbid you lose a couple along the way....This is an idea that could really catch on! The MingleStick! 

Simplify your life and meet someone with ease.

It’s Simple! Two people connect with each other by pointing their MingleSticks and pressing one simple button. A connection is made within a split second! Lose the need for business cards, pen, paper and the hassle of it all.

Not sure what contact information is right for the occasion? The MingleStick allows you to decide later! Protect your privacy and have peace of mind knowing that your email address, phone number, mailing address will be given to the right people at the right time. MingleStick users socialize and safely connect with others without any risk.

Use your stick to meet anyone - friends, business associates, acquaintances and even complete strangers!

The MingleStick is sleek and small, so take it out of your pocket to make that connection wherever you go!

 

WHY DIDN'T  I  THINK  OF  THAT?!

MingleStick

        

ASHTON KUTCHER now has more followers on TWITTER , than CNN NEWS!

CHARTBEAT is  watching their numbers, live!

I really do not Twitter enough! 
But if you want to follow me, I am BlogStrategist.





blog consultant web 2.0 consultant twitter ashton kutcher business blogging gay travel Turbo Tagger

        

I was on my Facebook page today giving it a much needed update and answering some mails and what not. And I stumbled across a new app  from Darren Rowse!   Problogger  TV!

Of course,  unless you have been living under a rock the last 4 years, you know Darren Rowse is the author of Problogger.net, a website devoted to helping bloggers improve their presence online. 

You can Add this app  on Facebook, to get the latest articles and videoblogs from Darren.

Pretty cool!

        

Imagine...living and working in Australia for 6 months,

exploring the Great Barrier Reef.

And your job is to write, blog, photograph and tell the world about it!
That is what I hope to be doing this coming July!

Please  take  90  seconds and view my video and cast me a vote! 
This would be a dream job for us! Blogging from Australia!

VOTE FOR DERRICK SORLES!

Many thanks!

Derrick  and Michael

best job world great barrier reefaustralia queensland tourism derrick sorles web 2.0 expert Turbo Tagger

        

 

GoDaddy  ( Find, Buy & Sell Domain Names ) has been selling .info sites for $0.99 each for some time now.  And people started snatching them up! Because they could get exactly the keywords they wanted, that were already taken by .com domains. But now  it seems, Google has been flooded with useless, spammy websites as a result.

 

There has been a lot of rumors in the last week or so (and some  valid data) saying that Google has recently dropped MANY .info  sites from their rankings -- sending them from high rankings to  totally off the charts.

Not long ago Google's Matt Cutts said that Google does not differentiate between .com and .info domain names when it comes to ranking, but maybe that is no longer the case.

My personal advice on domains, and I may be wrong,  has always been to not register any  of the .info , .biz,  .tv names  and stick with .com names. You can usually add a word or two and come up with a domain that is very close. And with persistent work and keyword penetration, YOU WILL come up for your originally desired domain. We have done it - with several domains.

By the way, GoDaddy (Find, Buy & Sell Domain Names)  is STILL about the best place, I think, for domain purchases. You can still pick up a  blog for a year for $35 and your domain for $2! And you get 24/7  tech help - you can't get that with WordPress!

        

WOW -  What a journey this year has been! 

Actually, it's been an amazing 3 years. All of our lives we have been entrepreneurs, marketers and big internet users. About 3-4 years ago, we noticed a shift in the Internet. The explosion of Web 2.0 and Social Media. We decided it was worth exploring. We started dabbling with blogs and various Social Media groups and started having these “Ah-Ha!” moments! We discovered if we did certain things, we could get in top Google searches. If we belonged to certain groups, we could get free PR for what were doing. Our phone started ringing. People were finding our sites. Within time, we had a dozen sites and started consulting for others on how to build their web presence by using blogs and other tools that are widely available.


 I met Robert Hruzek, in 2007 thru   Liz Strauss's and Terry Starbucker's  brainchild, SOBCon  (which is an amazing event!) in Chicago.  Robert's site, is  Middle Zone Musings,

Middle Zone Musings is a comfortable place to stop, have a cup of coffee, swap a few stories and share practical ideas for the real world. "I don't ask for much, just a bit of your brain every now and then. Have a seat, take a load off, and relax... "  Well, last year he started something called  BLOGAPALOOZA. And this years  BLOGAPALOOZA  09 just wrapped up! 

All this month  he has been  posting collections of  What I Learned From 2008 ,  from various bloggers.  He has been cranking out the best of the best posts! Take some time and look  at all the great posts and great writers, inparting  great knowledge! People like Best of Mother Earth Karen Hanrahan,  Phil Gerbyshak, Sheila Glazov, Michael Snell and Terry Starbucker.

We have learned SO MUCH in the last 3 years, Michael  and I have invested over 10,000 hours, learning the best of the best of practices, SEO, SEM Content Attraction, importance of keyword and domain selection,  ....we made all the early mistakes...so YOU DON'T  HAVE  TO! And we try to pass on those tips here at our Business Blogging Tips.

My  WHAT I LEARNED FROM 2008  were a selection of posts that I thought shed light for newer bloggers.  Some of what we discovered over the year...things that helped us. 

  Robert runs 12 tips....if I had to pick only 3, they would be...

#1 mistake people make...June discussed the number one mistake people make - choosing a bad domain:
Domain Advice - Selection and Keywords are Crucial to Findability


Start your blog on the right foot!  In January we talked about optimizing your blog and blog posts for maximum search engine lift: OPTIMIZE YOUR BLOG - For Readers and Search Engines

November named 50 top Social Media worth exploring: FINDABILITY - 50 Social Media Sites That Every Business Needs to Know


Congratualtions Robert on a GREAT  event!

blogapalooza robert hruzek business blogging consultants derrick sorles michael snell middle zone musings Turbo Tagger

        

I just discovered this site today and wanted to share it.


WORK.COM    -  Are you great at what you do -- whether it's filing business taxes, choosing the best pizza oven, or customizing ecommerce shopping carts -- and want more people to know you as a guru? One of the best ways to increase your good reputation and spread the word about what you have to offer is to share your expertise -- and content-based marketing is a huge trend. Writing a Work.com how-to guide can help introduce yourself to a business audience and promote yourself as an expert. Join experts such as Anita Campbell, Scott Allen, and Aaron Wall who have already written their own guides!

Writing a Work.com guide may:

1) Enhance your reputation
2) Improve your search engine rankings
3) Increase the chance you'll be linked to around the web
4) Increase the chance you'll be talked about in the blogosphere
5) Help drive traffic to your website
6) Supplement your own marketing efforts

It's just like an article submission site - but with a more narrow and targeted scope.

It's easy to create a free account and start submitting. Follow their tips!

        

 

It really amazes me that in the last 4 years, the blogosphere has really exploded. And we have been evangelists, spreading the word about this medium and on using the Internet to reach new customers and bring new eyes to you and your business.  And yet every week, I run into people who still don't get it. We have numerous articles on our main site, Business Blogging Consultants, that explore all of the aspects and advantages of blogs, Web 2.0 and Social Media.

If you have only a website today, that's like having a billboard out in a cornfield on a dirt road. Wouldn't you rather have your billboard on a busy freeway where thousands and thousands of people can see it???


Some people get it - some people don't. Since we have  LIVED   THIS  for  the  the last  3  years, we understand it,   inside  and   out!  We have invested over 10,000 hours between us, "blogging"!  I  grew up living at the library! (remember those?!) 
But delivery of information changed the world when Google joined the game 10 years ago with a mission to digitize the world! You have a question? Google it! You will find your answer in seconds!
 
 
BLOG  is an ugly word for many people - and it is misunderstood and underutilized!  They started out as boring junky journals. A place for people to vent, share their thoughts, whatever. They have now become robust online magazines!  The top bloggers in the world  figured out the more they post, the faster their audience grew. 


    What is a Blog? The Lines Continue To Blur...

Wikipedia defines blogs as:

A Blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.

The Blogosphere is the collective community of all blogs. Since all blogs are on the Internet by definition, they may be seen as interconnected and socially networked. Discussions "in the Blogosphere" have been used by the media as a gauge of public opinion on various issues.

But as the Blogosphere grows in size and influence, the lines between what is a blog and what is a mainstream media site become less clear. Larger blogs are taking on more characteristics of mainstream sites and mainstream sites are incorporating styles and formats from the Blogosphere. In fact, 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs.
 
Blogs are the NEW website. So you can have an old-school website, out in the  cornfield...or a new-school website on a super highway. Or have both, and just link them together.  

We live in an information society!  And people want their  news, media, entertainment  NOW - not on tonight's TV news and not in tomorrows newspaper.
 
Ask any business - what do they want to accomplish? Reach new clients and/or potential customers! Well guess what? A website probably  won't  do that. A website is simply a glorified business card or brochure online. It's a one-way "push" source of information. 
 
ALEXA  a respected authority in the WEB industry, the top 100 "websites" are not websites at all. (for the most part)
they  are what we call  WEB  2.0  sites. Interactive sites. Streaming news sites. Most of them are updated hourly, daily or weekly. And/or they allow interaction with the public. People seek current, useful information and the public can now participate in the sharing.  (the #1  website in the world? GOOGLE!) 
 
Google (and most search engines)  know how to separate the good from the bad. There is a lot of garbage out there. There are "spammers" who try to weasel in and "work" the system. However, 9 times out of 10, Google will deliver you the best of the best information about what you are looking for.
 
Most people do not realize what has happened in the last few years.YELLOW PAGES  are dead. They are doorstops!  Google changed search. And Blogs  and  "new" information have taken over. And business owners can use this to their  advantage. 
  
This is the power  of blogs.  Providing information. Google  loves  freshness and they love information, that is why most websites don't get indexed well. They are not fresh. They don't provide useful information - they SELL. Also, most search robots cannot read a website fully, because of the crazy code used and complicated  bells and whistles people add to the site to make it  fancy, to make it  "pretty".  Search robots will shut down, and walk away.
 
 
You have to PUSH people to websites.  60-90% (usually)  of all website traffic, is usually  direct hits. Pushed  traffic. People who already know the name of your company or have the web address.  The information these websites provide usually does not attract the search robots.
 
You can PULL  people  to a blog. It can attract   readers organically. 60-90%  (usually) of all blog traffic, usually comes in organically. They  find  YOU.  That's the difference. That's the beauty of blogs. It's because they are written in a simpler code, it's because  Google and robots can read them faster and easier, it's because  search algorithms have gotten smarter! However, you have to understand how they work, the strategy behind a good publisher's efforts, and what the search engines are looking for to win in the game of organic keyword search! And you have to provide information people are searching for. 

 
Google looks  for  freshness. The more you post, the more lift you get.  Most websites do not update very often.
 
Google  WEB  2.0   CONSULTANTS - we're  on page one, out of 8,000,000  links!
 
Google  GAY  TRAVEL, we're  on page  one, out  of  5,000,000  links!
 
Google  MINIATURE  YORKIE - we're on page one, out of 1,000,000 sites!
 
Google   BUSINESS  BLOGGING, we are usually on page one  or  two, out of 10,000,000 sites.
 
Google  SKULL ART,   under images  - we represent an artist, who wanted a website - and we talked him into a blog.   He is  ALWAYS   on page one!  In the last 6 months, he has sold  8,  $3000  pieces of art  AND  been picked up by 3 galleries, all because  they found him and his  "blog".  -  which is really just  a website that he updates about every  12 weeks!
 
 
Google  GAY  ANAHEIM   - we have an article usually on page one or two.  The city of Anaheim and the Orange County Tourism board discovered we  were always on page one  for  GAY  TRAVEL. They wanted to be there too -  and expose their amazing city to gay travelers. They flew us out there, and wined us and dined us, all expenses paid, to get us to cover them. Because the saw the  power of our site. Last month alone, we got phone calls from MTV,  LOGO  TV, and press releases from 10 different companies, all asking us to help them promote something or they wanted to buy an ad on our site! They came to us. 
 
We  have a wonderful  client here in Chicago who does electrolysis - permanent hair removal. She had a website and just was not happy. She heard us speak and she hired us to help her build her blog site. In 6 months - she has gotten more new clients, that have found her with the new site! And get this, she originally had about 2 dozen "keywords" that she thought people would find her by. We ran her analytics reports...over 5000  people found her using 2000 different keyword combinations! An old-school website can not deliver that. Period! 
 
Any business-any industry-can benefit. Anyone can set up a blog! It's cheap. We can  help get you there quicker, by shortening the learning curve. That's why people come to us. They don't want to spend 6 months figuring it out and make the top 10 mistakes most people make. 
 
 
We have countless examples.  IT WORKS!  It may come in round about ways, but people will come and find you! People are still set in the old mindset though, I need a  website... but guess what? blogs are websites. They are the NEW  WEBSITES!  You just have to understand them and how they work, to maximize your information that you can share with the world!

 

 Web 2.0  Consultants and Strategists 
Derrick Sorles and Michael Snell - We Help "Pull"  New Business To You!
            Your Business MD's - Business Blog Consultants & Internet Marketers

        

 

 

China now has more than 50 million bloggers as increasing numbers of people seek an outlet for their views, state press reported.

The number, reached by the end of November, compared to a blogging population of about 47 million a year earlier, according to Xinhua news agency, quoting figures from the Internet Society of China.

The group said there were 100 million blogs, or personal online journals, in China, meaning many people are keeping more than one.

"More and more Chinese want to express their own views about local and international events through the Internet," Gao Lulin, the group's deputy head, was quoted as saying.

The Internet Society of China represents firms in the industry such as service providers and network access carriers, as well as research institutes.

China has the world's largest population of Internet users at 290 million, according to government figures announced last month.

The growth in blogs has become an apparent source of concern for the ruling Communist Party, which strictly controls the media and Internet.

News on social unrest, dissidents, official corruption and abuses, and anything else that might embarrass or harm the government, is typically censored or suppressed.

But blogs and other Internet forums have often filled in the information gap, publicising events considered off-limits by the official media.

In response the government has in recent years imposed new requirements on bloggers, such as requiring users to register with their real names.