What Kind of Blogs Would You Like to See Here at Skinny Moose?

This is your time to give us some input and let us know some of the things you would like to see here at Skinny Moose Media. What types of blogs would you like to see and how are you liking what we have so far? Feel free to answer some or all of the questions below in a comment.

1) What other type of blogs would you like to see here at Skinny Moose?

2) What type of blogs do you already read here?

3) Do you find our blogs informative? Friendly? Resourceful?

4) Do you feel a sense of community when visiting Skinny Moose?

5) How long have you known of Skinny Moose?

Thanks guys and gals and I look forward to hearing from you all. Don’t feel limited to these specific questions if you have more to say. Appreciate the feedback…

Interview With Field and Stream’s Online Editor; Nate Matthews

Over a year ago I was able to get an interview with Nate Matthews who is the Online Editor for Field and Stream. Currently there are a few blogs running on the site and when I did the interview a lot of them were quite new. I asked him 12 questions about the Network and what some of their goals were. I wanted to pull this interview up over a year later and see how things might be progressing. So bear in mind when you read this that this interview was done over a year ago. I would like to contact him and do another one. Enjoy!

Steve: Hi Nate and thanks for being able to answer some questions about Field & Stream’s new blog network. First off, can you tell us what exactly you do for Field & Stream and how long you have been a part of the team there?

Nate: I’m the online editor. Been here for about a year and a half. Before coming to F&S I ran the web site for the National Wild Turkey Federation. My job, basically, is to update, maintain, and improve upon the main fieldandstream.com site and our three blogs: Field Notes, The Gear Hound, and The Gun Nut. It’s an odd combination of coding drudgery and creative insanity. I spend half my time entering data online, and half brainstorming ideas, new programs, story assignments, anything I can think of to increase traffic on our sites. Which all basically boils down to the fact that I don’t get out in the woods often enough.

Steve: All three of your blogs are off to a great start. The Gear Hound is only a week old and the others are about a couple of months old. Some of us are wondering, are you planning to create more blogs at Field & Stream?

Nate: Thanks Steve. We’re working on a massive overhaul of our web strategy, and these blogs are a big part of that effort. The idea here is to provide daily, top-notch content that acts as the nucleus around which a community of hunters and fisherman can form. We’re learning as we go, so expect lots of tweaks, but so far the response to what we have up there has been fantastic.

As to what’s coming down the pipeline, I can’t really discuss that in detail, but I can tell you to look for more blogs in the near term, and for a more streamlined integration of them all into the main fieldandstream.com site a bit further down the road.

Steve: You mentioned community. Recently blogs have been a growing tool for businesses to relate to consumers. Is the vision more about community or business?

Nate: That’s an interesting question. The key thing about the web in general, and blogs in particular, is that you can immediately track what people are doing and saying on your site and adapt to what you learn. This means I can fine tune my content so that it interests more people, which means I’m growing my community. Since my job, ultimately, is to sell eyeballs to advertisers, then ultimately it’s about the business. But I think the two are joined at the hip.

Steve: Blog networks seem to be the recent rage. Who ultimately came up with the idea to put together this Network at Field & Stream? Did it sort of happen, or was it a person or group of people who sat down and came up with this great idea?

Nate: As you say, they’re all the rage. It wasn’t that hard to see the potential in them. We’re all part of a big team here at the magazine, so everyone’s input has contributed. But I give most of the credit to my boss, Sid Evans, our editor-in-chief. I think he’s very forward-thinking about integrating the magazine and the web site.

Steve: As an avid hunter and fisherman myself, I see that there are still limited places on the web to retrieve sound information regarding hunting, fishing, and the great outdoors in the form of blogs. Blogs are a great way to easily share that information and do so quickly. Some of the smaller blogs will be wanting to link up to your network to get good quality information. In saying that, do you recommend hunters and fisherman from all over to start their own blogs and will you allow trackbacks on your network, or will that depend on who is doing the blogging? Right now I only see where Field Notes allows trackbacks.

Nate: We’ve got a big advantage in the authority of our brand, and in the resources we have to work with to support original content. And we’re also making everything we run in the magazine available for free on the main fieldandstream.com site. If other hunters and fishermen out there want to link to that content as they start their own blogs I’m happy to help them out. We’re looking at adding trackbacks to all our blogs to facilitate this.

Steve: That sounds great Nate. Now, you mentioned we should expect more blogs in the near future. Do you have bloggers already lined up ‘in house’ or will you be looking for bloggers to fulfill your Network goals?

Nate: We like to depend on writers who’ve established themselves in the magazine because they then lend their presence to our online effort in a way that someone without name recognition can’t do. That said, I’m always looking for ideas. We have a limited amount of resources to devote to managing these things, and I don’t want to spread our community too thinly across multiple sites, but if a well-polished writer has something really unique to blog about I’d love to hear a pitch. My advice would be to find a subject only you have access to and focus on that.

Steve: One of the biggest struggles every blogger faces is to continue posting fresh content on a regular basis over a long period of time. Is Field & Stream prepared for this challenge and can we expect to see fresh content every time we go there?

Nate: Yes. Dave Petzal already posts new content every day, our gear blog is daily, and Field Notes is updated with three stories each day. Any future blogs will most likely follow the same schedule.

Steve: While we are on the topic of blog content… What do you see as the potential for blogging? Do you think its got a shelf life or do you think its here to stay?

Nate: Hard to say. As a format I think that it’s just starting to reach its potential. But I also think that blogging will outgrow itself, and that we’ll see new trends in online formats that can’t be contained by the term. This is already happening. Look at some of the major sites out there labeled as “blogs” … like engadget, gawker, boingboing. These things are professional daily publications with staffs and salespeople; they’re not that different from magazines or newspapers. The only real thing they have in common with the more traditional meaning of the term blog … which I’ve always taken to be “someone’s personal online journal with comments” … is the simple, chronological format.

Steve: I guess my next question has two parts to it. First off, some people believe the future is complete digitalization, which could mean a steady decline of magazine and newspaper sales soon. We all know that there are people who will always enjoy the “hardcopy”, but if what people are saying truly happens, what does this mean to the Field & Stream magazine publication? AT&T, for example, kept up with the sudden telephone industry shift and restructured their business to accommodate cellular phones as landline telephones bacame less poplular. Would you equate your sudden vision involving a blog network, to be in-line with keeping up with the demands of the consumers in the magazine industry?

Nate: Complete digitalization is still a pretty big “if”, and it’s a problem I think our magazine is much less susceptible to than are, say, the big news outlets. You don’t read your laptop in the bathroom, you read Field & Stream. You don’t take your computer to your hunting camp. So our web effort is not so much about competing with or propping up our magazine as it is about taking advantage of a new medium, a new source of readers using our content in an entirely different way.

Steve: Let’s get back to your website for a minute. I know you are doing a massive web overhaul and in the process of change, but I noticed there aren’t any links from your home page to the blogs. Do you plan on placing those links on the Field & Stream home page to make it easier to navigate?

Nate: There are actually links on the home page to all of our blogs right now (look under the Field Notes heading), but I understand how they’d be hard to recognize as such. Yes, our redesign will most definitely be featuring them much more prominently.

Steve: Where do you see Field & Stream’s web site in ten years?

Nate: I see it as a vibrant online community, a place where every sportsman comes to find the latest how-to service, the most diverting entertainment, the chance to create and critique their own tips and advice, discussions of the important issues facing sportsmen, and the ability to develop reputations, to gain status, based on the content they generate.

Steve: Nate I would like to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer these questions and would be happy to keep in touch with you in the future as your blog network develops. I will certainly be checking in on a daily basis. I have one last question to ask you before we part ways. As a person, Nate, do you enjoy hunting or fishing? I am curious as to what sort of things you enjoy doing in the outdoors. Would you be happy to let us in on your hobbies and passions as an outdoor enthusiast?

Nate: Sure I do. Avid fly fisherman, turkey hunter, venison lover. I tie my own flies, hunt with a bow and a muzzleloader, enjoy backcountry fishing trips. This past weekend I was up at 3 a.m. catching herring in the Potomac River, right where it flows through D.C., for use as striper bait. And we caught some big stripers, too, up to 30 pounds.

Home Pages Are Formal Attire, Blogs are Semi-Formal Dress

I have always stressed to hunting and fishing guides and outfitters that blogging is something they should look into. Why? Blogging is new media, and the great part of it is you are the editor. New media allows an opportunity for you to be heard. If you are a small business and you don’t have a blog then I would seriously consider jumping on the blog train real soon.

This is how I look at it, your home page is equivalent to formal attire. In other words, you want your home page to look the best it can. You literally have a couple seconds for people to decide whether they want to stay at your website or leave. Most outfitters already have websites and some are looking really sharp. Others… well they need a little work. But you need to look the best you can on that home page. It is crucial.

Some websites have forums where you can chat with each other. This is equivalent to casual wear. In other words, you can take that tie and jacket off now. Readers may have liked how you looked and so now they want to learn more about who you are. Sometimes forums can be deadly. Fights can break out or sometimes miscommunication occurs. But that is the nature of forums. It is simply more casual.

A blog added to your website is equivalent to semi-formal attire. You can direct people from your home page to your blog, shed the tie and jacket but still remain in khakis and a collared shirt. The way blogs are set up, you can write more casual articles but still remain professional. Blogs are set up to take comments so they can be interactive as well. Businesses should look into blogging for the sake of remaining professional and at the same time reaching your readers on a regular basis with updated articles and updated comments. You can post regularly as long as you have an internet connection. There is no software needed and it is just a matter of logging in and writing.

Share some of your newest success stories, post pictures of your latest hunting or fishing trip, provide hunting tips, or what your business offers. Keep it up as an ongoing journal for your professional business. Show and teach your readers that you are the right outfitter for them. Show them through your interactive blog.

Skinny Moose Media can provide your guide service or outfitter with all the tools necessary to start up a blog almost overnight. We will host your blog on our domain at no expense. We will take care of all the technical aspects of the blog and help promote it. You will be linked to all other blogs in a matter of minutes which is good for search engines. And the most interesting aspect of it all, you may actually make money doing it. There is the direct money you can earn and there is also the money you can potentially earn indirectly.

Direct Money - We will pay all of those bloggers on our Network based on how much traffic your blog gets and how long you have been blogging. Simple as that.

Indirect Money - By having a blog you are reaching more potential clients. And of course, this means more business for you.

Contact us at admin@skinnymoose.com

Are Blog Networks the Rage?

I recently wrote an article called The Top 5 Reasons to Join a Blog Network. In that article I closely spell out 5 benefiting reasons as to why joining a blog network is really worth your while as opposed to going it alone. There are benefits to doing things on your own in all cases but I strongly believe a Network can provide you with much better benefits in the long term as long as the Network is not too controlling, and can guide their bloggers down the right road. But blogging is about freedom and so Networks can’t hinder their blogger’s performance and freedom.

Blog Networks “were” all the rage a year ago. Blog Networks since that time have failed, and others have really flourished, just like any industry that takes off. The rage might be over from the perspective of starting a Network but not much is different when it comes to how blogs can benefit greatly from them.

And like any industry, we need to learn what works and what doesn’t. By trial and error we have success and we have failure. Skinny Moose Media might have lucked out by starting up its Network a year after others have, and by watching and learning what makes a successful Network and what causes a Network to crumble and die, and then implementing what is necessary to allow steady growth. I believe Networks can survive even if they start up 10 years from now. It isn’t the industry that will be a failure or necessarily a success, but much rather the management styles, good business practices, and the drive to do what needs to be done.

As blog Network vary from one to the next, so will strategy. So will the bloggers. So will Management. It is a matter of taking the tools necessary and implementing them to execute a vision.

So ultimately it can come down to Networks with damn good CEO’s that make all the right contacts or Networks with poor CEO’s who just sit there and stare out the window hoping their own bloggers will do something for them.

But it comes right down to the blogger no matter how large a Network you are. If the blogger is benefiting then so is the Network. If the Network is benefiting then it is the duty of the Network to benefit the blogger. Besides base pay and bonuses what is the blogger getting? Free hosting, free tools to succeed, community, a Network who relies on you to succeed thefore will provide everything they can so they can do just that, internal linking, and almost instantaneous recognition from day one.

So, joining blog Networks are still benefiting the blogger in every way. Networks promote themselves better than individual bloggers unless you are already “somebody”.

Next I will talk about finding the right Network that will benefit you as a blogger.

Skinny Moose Media Continues to Grow

Skinny Moose Media is the fastest growing hunting, fishing, and outdoor blog Network. It is the only one of its kind and has been offering aspiring writers not only a place to publish their own articles but actually making a little money doing it. Skinny Moose has been around on the web for about a year, since early 2006, but just in the last several months we have seen lots of growth in the number of blogs, and in the number of potential advertisers, which ultimately helps pay our bloggers to do what they love.

There are great things in store for Skinny Moose and we look forward to a very busy year ahead of us as we continue to create new blogs and grow.

We encourage people to join Skinny Moose if they follow a certain criteria. First off you should enjoy writing about your passions as an outdoor enthusiast. You also have to enjoy being part of a team and tossing around ideas to help make you, as a blogger, better at what you do. And at the same time, you can make some money on the side from advertisers. The more active your blog becomes the more money you will find in your pocket at the end of the month.

Right now Skinny Moose is about to launch a few more blogs bringing the total blog count to around 30. We plan to increase that number as we move forward. So if you want to be a part of a growing online community centered around writing about your passions and blogging 4 or 5 times per week then please contact us and let us know. Ask some of the other bloggers in the community first. This may help determine whether Skinny Moose is right for you.

You can see for yourself what some of our current bloggers have said about Skinny Moose Media since they have been blogging with us. Enjoy!

“Joining Skinny Moose Media is a unique opportunity for the outdoor blogger to worry about sharing life’s lessons from the deer stand, instead of worrying about the tougher details of blogging. Skinny Moose provides it’s bloggers with accountability, advice, and an encouraging support network of other bloggers. Sometimes it feels like we are sitting around a virtual campfire discussing our most recent hunting or fishing trip. I think we’d all agree time spent around the campfire is always beneficial.”

Bill Anderson
Muskoka Outdoors
Trout Waders

“In my short time as a contributor to the Skinny Moose media family I have truly found a voice here for all things outdoors. All of the writers and staff here are not only professonal they are like family to me. What can I say….I wouldn’t want to write anywhere else.”

Brent Reece
(Aroostookbasser)
Aroostook Flyers and Tyers

My name is “SID”, I have a blog called SIDs paintball. I have been blogging with Skinny Moose Media for only a short time, but found that it was one of the funnest decisions I have made. Everyone here is fantastic and willing to help. I have met so many great bloggers and am honored to be part of the group.

SID
SIDs paintball

“Skinny Moose is an amazing group of people that love to share their ideas, tips, and memories with other people. I have been part of this community of people since early on and have seen this group grow. This community continues to become stronger and just as fine wine becomes better with age, so does Skinny Moose Media.”

Norm Sargent
Outdoors With Norm

“Since I have been blogging with Skinny Moose Media I have learned so much that it is almost addictive. I look forward to posting something everyday and sometimes more than once. Everyone with Skinny Moose Media has been very helpful especially when I did not know a thing when I started and I am still learning.”

Richard Kratzke
Tails and Trails

“Hey, John here. I write the Nutria News blog and find it fun, and challenging. When I started I knew nothing about blogs, and still don’t know that much. My blog deals with hunting and fishing in Louisiana, and I do commentary on legislative issues which threaten our 2nd Amendment rights and our ability to carry on the hunting traditions taught to us by our forefathers.”

Hello. My name is Rick Passek. I am the author of “The Fledgling FlyFisher” Blog. I have been blogging with Skinny Moose for some time now and have learnt much about how to improve my Blog and get traffic to it from Steve Remington (The Adminisrator of Skinny Moose) There have been times that I would get a writers block, But I found that Steve and the others at Skinny moose were always there to help out and get the creative juces flowing again. I look forward to Blogging more in the future with Skinny moose and I look forward to all the posts by the other authors involved with SkinnyMoose.
Rick Passek

“I really like Skinny Moose, because it is informative and I can see what’s going on in other parts of the country.”

Garth
Bow Hunting Maniac

“WOW, what a great source of information. Great info and great people. Look forward to a long and lasting relationship with Skinny Moose media.”

John Petrello
Coyote John

Steve Remington

The Top 5 Reasons to Join a Blog Network

Community - One of the first reasons most people join a blog network is simply because of community. There are always people in the Network looking to not only help each other out but just get to know each other. Here at Skinny Moose Media we sometimes don’t always talk about blogging and there have been some good off-topic conversations. Of course we are always talking and brainstorming about how to make things better, we can always rely on each other for conversations based on a number of different things. And how hard is it to just throw up a blog and get an instant sense of community? It takes time and there is nothing wrong with it but Skinny Moose Media already has an ongoing, new, and exciting community of people who are genuine.

Search Engine Optimization - Adding a blog to a network, or joining one, can really help when it comes to Search engine results. Our goal as a Network is become found through search results and we have been having some good performance. When you join up your blog becomes linked immediately to an entire community of blogs and it will not only be found through links but Search engines favor blogs and websites that have some type of relevancy such as those who have incoming links.

Traffic - One of the greatest parts of joining a Network is seeing traffic almost immediately. When you become part of a community and your network launches your blog, you will be given initial readership. It is your job from there to keep up that traffic and work together to continue to build it. The other thing to keep in mind is that as the network grows so will you, as you are part of it. So traffic is something a network can generate more of, which most individual blogs sitting out in cyberspace alone will have a more difficult time finding it.

Increased Revenue Potential - It is difficult to start new blogs and get the revenue one desires. The potential to make more money by joining a blog network is that much greater. Not only from a boost in traffic or better search engine results, but because there is a desire for advertisers to seek out Networks and not individual blogs. Networks provide a variety of benefits that individual blogs can’t, and, in turn, will then benefit all the blogs in the network.

For instance, Outside Hub a marketplace that enables advertisers, publishers, and ad networks to efficiently trade media, and in turn allows blog networks to earn revenue at the same time offering advertisers highly targeted readership. Outside Hub can affectively sell advertising to Networks which will benefit all the bloggers in the community.

Expertise/Administrative Work - Though you may be an expert in what you blog about, blog networks are experts in what they do too. And by joining heads you can become a powerful force. Think of all the Administration work that the network will do for you and all you, as a blogger, really needs to do is write blog posts, and worry about promoting and networking with others in your niche. So by joining a blog network you can leave the administrative work up to them and the blogging up to you. For those who work full or part time, this will give you more time to do the writing and less time fiddling with technical issues and administrative work.

Steve Remington
President/CEO
Skinny Moose Media

Update: This article is part of a Problogger writing project.