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Matt from Abstract Gourmet is free tonight for one night only  - Monday 5th.

Looks like we’ll meet at the bar in Mini, basement 141 Flinders Laneat 7.30 to 8.

Let me know via email or comments with a mobile number and I’ll text if it lookslike we are moving on.

Popularity: 5% [?]

If you haven’t noticed most people find your website or blog through Google. Yes, it may be through Yahoo! But until somebody comes up with something better Google is king.

The reason why restaurants or any other small or medium sized business need to take notice of blogs is that very probably a blog will come higher up in search results than you. This is unless the Google search is for your website name alone. In reality, it may be for something like “Melbourne Italian restaurant”. Moan about it all you want. But unless you think you can topple Google, you can’t stop bloggers.

Plus is a country where media ownership is concentrated into a few powerful hands and you are lucky to find two daily papers in a city, blogs offer a tiny little bit of diversity. For instance, in The Age gossip columnist and reviewer John Lethlean writes three columns a week, plus two in the Melbourne Magazine and at least one (two this month) in Gourmet Traveller monthly. That’s seven columns in one week sometimes and, yes, I’m jealous of the money and exposure. John’s a nice guy and I’m not after his job (there are many in line before me). But sometimes it is nice to hear from someone with a different point of view. And this is a function of the lack of local media diversity.

Blogs also offer a marketing oportunity if approached in the correct way.

I was interviewed on blogging for the new restaurant industry website and job directory I Eat I Drink I Work by journalist David Sutherland. He gives a very fair account of the current debate, some may say stand-off, between bloggers and chefs and restaurateurs. I was also invited to speak to a small group for Restaurant and Catering Victoria on the same topic the other week. I had a few technology problems but hope I got the same message across.

And at Talk Business sessions at Restaurant08 I’ve been given another opportunity to pontificate in two sessions - one on reviewing and another on the web (with someone with Google who will put my small pot of knowledge to shame).

So here we go my:

1. Blogs are here to stay and somebody will one day blog about you. Because blogs are automatically Search Engine Optimised it is likely that a blogs story about you will rank higher in a Google search than you will. Don’t believe me? Google Collingwood tapas or Gordon Ramsay Melbourne or Bistro Guillaume or Giuseppe, Arnaldo. You’ll find me. Or another blogger up there with The Age and News Ltd.
2. 70% of people don’t get past the first four results of a Google search. Even fewer get to the bottom of page one or to page two and beyond. You need to be Search Engine Optimised, which means using certain words and techniques which are actually quite simple. Somebody out there wants to charge you thousands for SEO. Your own blog does it for nothing but a little effort.

3. Blogs are Search Engine Optimised because:

• They are content rich. For example I now have over 650 stories each seen as a single page by Google which helps take me up the search rankings. You only need to post a couple of times a month if that. It is the constant renewing of words on a site and growth of content that partly helps increase rank in search.

• Blogs get lots of links which looks good to Google.

• Blogs get lots of comments which looks good to Google.

• Stories published within blogs can be tagged - just words that are associated with a story. For example, tapas, Collingwood, restaurant, Gertrude Street. These are exactly the kind of words people use in Google to find a restaurant.

• Feeds, often known as RSS or Atom feeds. These are a stripped down version of a webpage that tell search engines and readers when a webpage has been updated. It is that funny orange symbol at the top right of this page. Online services such as Google Reader allow you to subscribe to RSS feeds and will tell you when a webpage is updated. All blogs have this technology built in.

4. The software behind blogs is incredibly powerful and is the same or better than that used to drive most expensive websites. It is often free (Wordpress, Blogger) or reasonably cheap (Moveable Type, Typepad) or Open Source (Wordpress) which means there are loads of neat bits that can simply be plugged into it. It doesn’t take too much to learn how to use this. If you have a teenager to help, all the better.

5. Blog RSS feed statistics can be read through the free service Feedburner. This service also allows you to make your feed into a simple newsletter and manage its subscribers online. This is FREE. Many small businesses I know pay a subscription for newsletters based on the numbers of subscribers. This is a really good cheap way to communicate with customers. Many web design companies will charge a fee for each newsletter sent out.

6. Google Analytics is one of the most powerful statistics packages you can get. It is FREE. many small businesses are charged money by web development companies for statistics. You don’t need to pay just cut and paste a bit of code into a template or use an easy to plugin piece of software. If you choose to buy online advertising you can monitor traffic through Google Analytics.

7. You do need some background software with your webhost that many local web hosts charge extra money for locally. Therefore I would go with a host such as Bluehost which has it all installed. In fact, you can install Wordpress which is what many leading bloggers use in literally the click of one button. it is as simple as sending an email. Bluehost also has a service whichwill submit you to search engines for free.

8. Designs simply have to be uploaded to a folder on the web server and can be swapped in one click. Many many designs are free. And a tailored design can costs from under $100 to about $1,000.

9. Don’t think of a blog as a blog. It is a website in a particular format. You can use a blog to drive a website and have your blog whereever you want on the site. The most effective place to put a blog is on the front page.

10. But what content do you use? Think of a blog as a newsletter. Anything that is new. The new seasonal produce, the new menu, the new staff member, a new wine on the wine list. Even your football tipping. These are all stories that will engage people and be attractive to Google. It is simple to set-up Feedburner to send out a newsletter too - for FREE.

11. Linking is easy. Link to other blogs and they will find you. Importantly you should comment to - be social. When you comment you leave your web address and some other information. This links back to your site so people can find out who you are. try it now and people will click to your site.

12. I would suggest registering a blog with the site Technorati which is a search engine for blogs and monitors links. Again, it is free and simple.

13. Some of these things sound complicated but they are not. They just take a bit of time and very little money. If there is demand, I’m happy to post about how to se up a Wordpress website or blog.

FOOD FASCIST

• Nice to see that the Gourmet Traveller blogs finally have RSS feeds. This should help build regular traffic every time it updates. Will comments come soon.

• It’s a shame that I Eat I Drink I Work doesn’t appear to have an RSS feed yet.

• More main media food blogs required. SBS launches one next month. My latest effort Food and Wine Daily is in development here which so far has cost less than $100 (although I have a couple of small creases to iron out).

Popularity: 25% [?]

Smile, you’re on bloggers’ camera: (l to r) Purple Goddess, Vida and Stickyfingers.

What is the Bloggers’ Banquet?

Just an opportunity to meet up, eat and chat. That’s not to forget take photos, blog, post to flickr and all that other social stuff. Nothing hard. V1.0 was back in November. V2.0 will be held Saturday 5 April from 12.30 onwards  in Dromana hosted by the Purple Goddess. Good food, drink and conversation are assured.

Wow! That’s a long way to go.

Yes, but can pitch your tent or simply pass out on the lawn.

Who is it open to?

Any bona fide blogger. No stalkers or trolls please. Email the Purple Goddess. Details are here.

What do I need to bring?

Everything. Food, drink, fags, toothbrush, clean panties - the lot. (I’ve no idea about the bog roll)

How do I get there?

Email the Purple Goddess and she shall tell.

I don’t know anybody. is it still okay?
Yes. Nobody bites apart from me and I have to be at a wedding somewhere else. This blogging lark is not exclusive and open to absolutely anybody with a blog however small or large. Come along.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Thanks to Matt Preston, creative director of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, for sharing his exclusive from El Bulli’s Ferran Adria:

I caught up with Mr Adria and a few journos at MadridFusion08 in Jan. His
opening response was to a question about what the big changes in food were
this year. His answer was translated from Spanish so there may be nuances
missed by the translator but the inference was that there has been a
explosion in blogs. “One year ago there were no blogs - now that is a
revolution.”

Matt promises some provocative material from the huge body of interviews from this trip to
culinary congresses in Milan and Madrid.

Meanwhile, an email from local molecular chef Ray Capaldi promises that molecular gastronomy is not dead. We look forward to hearing from him on the artistry-formerly-known-as molecular gastronomy or tecnoemoción (and variously referred to as tecno emoción or tecnoe-moción) as it perhaps is now known.

Popularity: 20% [?]

According to The Age, The findings…”showed the bloggers were happier about the number of friends they had, both online and face-to-face, and were more likely to reach out to these friends for help.” “They felt more socially integrated,” Mr Baker said.

I think that makes us real Epicurians for whom, according to Wikipedia, “the highest pleasure (tranquility and freedom from fear) was obtained by knowledge, friendship, and living a virtuous and temperate life.” Okay, forget about the last bit.

The Age comes late to the Gogarty blog mauling (the comments are solid gold):

“There are competing issues in this relatively untested medium that need to be ironed out: the duty of care owed to the journalist by the news organisation and the ability of editors to exercise quality control and to provide readers with decent writing.”

Meanwhile, in Sydney Corporate Engagement has an obsolute loo and is at a technology gabfest where Fairfax people talk sensibly about blogs:

- Great bloggers are people who start conversations. Commenters / bloggers talk to each other across platforms; a very strong community. Over 76% of commenters have higher education quals.

- the first step is to choose a SEO-friendly title for the story. For instance, the SMH online where the headline writers have been thoroughly drilled on SEO came up with ‘Heath Ledger dies’, which is ideal. The Age in Melbourne came up with ‘dead in bed’. Hopeless, who is going to search for ‘dead in bed’.

Meat curtains (via Crikey): Photo-realistic and very edgy pictures of meat. A few of the artworks are still for sale. Any daring restaurateurs out there?

Popularity: 15% [?]

This is why journalists and restaurateurs hate bloggers. All that unregulated opinion that’s happening just now because of Monday’s Out of the Frying Pan chatfest. It was my first exposure to the loathing.
First, I’m going to praise blogging. Foodfest creative director Matt Preston tonight told me that as a result of the publicity blogs gave to the conference another 40 tickets were sold.
And to blow my own blogging trumpet, it is because I read Noodlepie that I found that the I Love Pho exhibition wanted to go on tour. I put Matt in contact with Cuong from the Casula Powerhouse in NSW and so it has come to be at the Footscray Arts Centre as part of the festival.
I’m not here to bury Stephanie, a blogger and deputy on The Sydney Magazine. I know where she is coming from is her views that journalists are better than bloggers. I certainly feel vulnerable as I only make money if I can sell my words to magazines and newspapers. But I’ve yet to be paid anything to write for a website. And I may just make enough money this year from this blog to make up for the one article I won’t be writing for The Bulletin because it closed.
I want to defend the skills of editors, writing accurately to a deadline and pulling it all together in an engaging package.
But the truth is, just like stockbroking, management consulting, cabinetmaking, plumbing, cooking or nuclear physics, anyone with the intelligence can do it.
Desktop publishing unleashed a revolution and many dreadful newsletters and magazines. Blogs offers cutting edge technology that makes it simple to publish online in addition to being a social movement. Some blogs are boring and many are good.
Check out this magazine website built using Movable Type’s blog technology to see what you can do.
What did we really learn on the day? I discovered from Juliette that Tim White (Mr Cookbooks, not wine) described me as tall and looking like somebody who could be a friend of Anthony Bourdain. I think I’m flattered.
I observed that writer Bénédict Beaugé looked like he’d been out drinking the night before with Anthony Bourdain (who isn’t here as far as I know) and how many Australian panel members have been refused alcohol.
That Hugh Grant William Sitwell, the editor of a glossy magazine that is quite good but only survives because it is sponsored by Waitrose, annoyed a few people.
Chef Gabrielle Hamilton kills flies, is kinda cool, has a good website and has her finger on the pulse. (Think simple food, casual restaurants and the politics of food.) Perhaps I even fancy her a bit.
I heard from sevenish textures of chocolate Oriol Balaguer that the Llama is a quadruped (it may as well have been as the translation from Spanish was bloody awful) and that he was upset that a blog has a picture of something he no longer makes.
And that Stephanie loves blogging and is prepared to expose far more about herself emotionally that I. While I’m confused because I also support Vida who took Stephanie down a peg or two over her blogger attack.
The star of the Future Food, Future Media session was Claude’s Chui Lee Luk. She had good commonsense advice, spoke fluent English and has a brilliantly simple and elegant website.
Beaugé admitted he had no idea what he was going to do with his web presence which I quite like. The same goes for publisher Luc Dubanchet who admits his site is out of date. It is an excellent example of the worst excesses of flash animation.
I think I’ve made my views clear on Balaguer. Despite winning awards for his site, it is annoying because of the flash animation.
That leaves Gilles Choukroun. His website should be applauded for being content rather than design driven. You can read about his meals chez Ben Shewry au restaurant Attica, et le second, chez Robin Wickens dans son restaurant Interlude. All I know is that my poor French is better than the annoying rock music on this site.
I think that leaves Helen Razor (I’ve given up trying to find her blogs because it’s time for bed) who I wish would have moderated us a little less. But seeing her with Matt Preston on the podium made me nostalgic for her days doing breakfast radio with Mikey Robins on JJJ.
Check out the posts and comments on Stephanie’s Elegant Sufficiency, Confessions of a Food Nazi, Duncan’s Syrup & Tang for a full picture of the debate.

Popularity: 16% [?]

I’ve done a deal with Matt Preston from the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival that the first 20 bloggers to write a post linking to and promoting the Out of the Frying discussion on food and the media on 3 March will each get a free ticket worth $135 each.

The rules are simply:

Write a post about the Out of The Frying Pan event and link to this festival page here and the booking page here (I think this works). Leave your details in comments by Wednesday 27th.

The whole event should be fascinating to anybody interested in food and food media trends. In particular, there are two sessions which will probably interest bloggers. Matt tells me that “Future food. Future Food Media” talking about how chefs innovate online will be addressing social media and blogging and the cutting edge of the internet.

There is also the afternoon session “Web2.0: How to blog and how not to blog” in which Stephanie Wood, Simon Johanson (Fairfax Online editor), Jackie Middleton, Helen Razer (ABC 774 Sunday Show) and myself waffle on.

Matt emailed me some questions that will be addressed during this session. But inevitably the discussion will range far wider. I’d be interested in comments.

What makes a blog a blog?
A diary format and certain features such as the ability to comment and subscribe to RSS feeds. A blog is a subset of social media, which includes sites such as Flickr, Facebook, Last.fm. Del.icio.us and so on.

What are the benefits of writing a blog?
Many people just do it for pleasure as a personal diary of their cooking, eating or drinking. For others it is about opinion. Some make money but I don’t think any food blogger will be making as much as someone like Problogger Darren Rowse who since 2003 has personally earned $700,000 from two advertising products, Google Adsense and Chikita.

When I started it is was a hobby but as an unintentional spin-off has led to some paying journalism work. It also made me rediscover photography something I’d dropped last century when my SLR broke.

Importantly it has connected me with a community of like-minded people interested in food and wine.

What are the pitfalls of writing a blog?

Potentially stalkers and trolls. None have chased me - yet. Criticism if you can’t take it.
Spam, but software mostly takes care of that.

What should you never never do a when writing blogs?

I have no idea. A lot of people are hung up on grammar and spelling. I often have to rush posts so make mistakes. It’s more about getting the ideas out there that is important, I think.

How do you maintain control of your blog?

I ony delete comment spam and have powerful tuned-up spam filters. Anything else goes.
There are some technical issues relating to having my own domain but they are quite boring.

What are blog readers looking for?

My statistics tell me how people find me. Many people are looking for tomatos and are, sadly, dissapointed. Otherwise the most popular search term is some permutation of Anthony Bourdain Gay (over 4,000 people last year).

Here is a rough list:

• My Chai recipe (linked from Wikipedia)
• Sydney vs Melbourne
• How to cook perfect lamb chops
• First night at Nobu
• State of Melbourne food blogging
• Restaurant review category in general
• The best burger in Melbourne
• Gordon Ramsay
• Jeremy Clarkson
• Zingara Cucina con
• About me
• Tempura Hajime
• How to make the perfect cup of tea
• Foolproof greek salad
• First peek at Dan Hunter’s food at Dunkeld
• Bloggers banquet
• How to make the perfect sandwich with leftovers
• Friday night is local brew night - Emerald Hill Microbrewery (Guardian blog link)
• Pizza e Birra
• Old media hacks bagging bloggers
• Designer kitchen on a budget
• Movida
• Top ten gins
• Best Pho in Melbourne

I should add that some people simply like to see the pictures of new restarants and dishes.

How do you best pitch to them?
I don’t pitch. But last year I decided to be much more Melbourne focused rather than global. I try to go to restaurant opening nights, give top tips and comment on the state of blogging. Very personal posts about health and disasters are popular. Also very bad reviews.

How do you best reach them?
They find me. But I’m social and leave comments on blogs which often leads to a visit. I also occasionally participate in food and wine blog events.

How do you differentiate your blog?
See above. I also try and be a bit different in the way I write things, perhaps polarising in opinion. I also use a lot of pictures of restaurant food.

What advantages does blogging have over traditional media?
Instant publishing. When I blogged the first night at Lau’s Family Kitchen it was up within an hour of me leaving the restaurant. Also it is not constrained by the fixed formats and conventions of print. I can fucking swear if I want here. I can publish a one-word post or a ten thousand word post.
There is also the interactive element. I get comment feedback and statistical feedback on posts.

What disadvantages?
I don’t get paid for it. Time consuming.

What rights and responsibility do you have as a blogger?
All the usual laws on defamation and copyright apply. There is a lot of talk about defmation and blogging. It is more important to look at the practicalities of somebody taking an action against somebody who probably has a very small audience - a few hundred people a day - compared to a newspapers with potentially millions.
There is a code of linking and citing between bloggers.

How do you start blogging?
At the most basic level establish a free blogger account. And just start writing.

What advice would you give to those who want to blog?
It’s never too soon. Focus on one thing. If you think you are serious get your own domain and use Wordpress. A dot.com.au can cost $100 plus. A dot.com in Australia costs about $60. In the US $10. It’s a no brainer. Also webhosts in Australia are ridiculously expensive. Go to the US everytime.

How is the food publishing landscape changing in relation to blogging?
In Australia the food media haven’t really taken as much notice of bloggers or blogging as in the US.
Blogging is fragmenting media in its own small way as well as fragmenting itself into many tiny niches. It certainly has changed my reading habits and now I get my ideas and kicks from a much more diverse group than trad media journalists.

What do you see as the future opportunity for bloggers?
Some will be the restaurant reviewers, wine writers and food writers of the future. In Europe and the US some have published books and no doubt some will here. There is little opportunity to make money with a food blog because the local audience is small. But there is a huge opportunity to connect in niches such as vegetarianism, food allergies, vegans, preservative free wines, kids, grannies and so on.

What impact will tech advances have on blogging?
The point is that the technology make blogging easy and cheaper and more effective than a static website. To publish a blog in its most simply form is as easy as clicking save on Microsoft Word. Adding various widgets to blogs has become and will continue to become simpler. Faster and cheaper broadband in Australia will make it easier. In particular, cheap access to fast WiFi on the move will make blogging much more mobile as will the new generation of WiFi enabled phones such as the iPhone (whenever it arrives).

How do independent bloggers avoid being swamped by the traditional media’s push into new media arenas?
They haven’t been swamped and trad media probably won’t swap bloggers in Australia because there isn’t enough money in it. A niche audience of 0.001% of the population in the US is 30,000 people, possibly viable as a magazine. In China it would be 100,000 people, definately viable as a magazine. In Australia it is 2,000 people. I can’t imagine traditional media swamping that space here. What is happening is that blogs are contributing to the general fragmentation of media and building audiences in very small niches, often connecting globally. There are some big global food blogs and old media food blogs in the northern hemisphere but because we are out of season there is a disconnect with the southern hemisphere.

What do life experience / knowledge have been valuable in your blogging life?
I work in the media so I knew about writing and already had a fairly thick skin to reader criticism.

Popularity: 25% [?]

A: When Gourmet Traveller launches it.

To date we have a home page and one post each on the magazine’s Food, Wine and Travel.

Each blog has “del.icio.us this”, “dig this” and “send to a friend” but have no real blog functionality. There are no RSS feeds which make it impossible for any readers to subscribe to the page and keep updated. There appears to be no way to leave comments either.

The first food post is an inauspicious start to blogging giving an anonymous post on with behind the scenes photos of Gourmet Traveller Christmas party - posted on February 12. Another anonymous poster tells us: ” A few of Gourmet Traveller WINE’s regular contributors have, recently, been incommunicado while judging at the Sydney Royal Wine Show.” At least we have a named poster - Andrew Mueller - for the travel blog.

It’s early days and all new food blogs are welcome, especially from the dead tree world.

Let’s hope they pick up their game and add some functionality to the sites - and play social.

Popularity: 18% [?]

The Bloggies nominations are out.

Go on give them a hand and vote for local food blogs.

Best Australian or New Zealand Weblog:

The Breakfast Blog

Milk and Cookies

Best Food Weblog:

The Food Pornographer 

Voting closes 31 January.

Popularity: 16% [?]

It’s a healthy breakfast that sees in the new year. Nearly tasteless $10 a punnet strawberries, diced melon and banana and passion fruit smothered with live yoghurt and topped with a lone home grown strawberry. Remarkably I am not hungover although I am pretty cranky.

So what’s in store?

- Jak is in posession of Jill Dupleix’s Lighten Up and plans to give me the choice between sausages and beer.

- In return I’m waging war on the petit bourgeois.

- Specifically it’s war against place mats and coasters.The former are a waste of time. The latter, topped with an unbalanced misplaced wine glass, is an accident waiting to happen.

- I write an amusing book about curry that comes with a packet of moist wipes but nobody wants to publish it.

- Economic boom turns to recession. Freelance journalists turn to roasting pet dogs as a means of survival.- The cat is working tricks on Grey St.

- Instead of drinking fewer bottles of better wine I’m drinking more cheap casks.

- In desperation I auction ads on this blog on eBay (having already sold all my possessions).

- Finally, I introduce a new blog template. Everything goes a bit wonky in coming weeks.

- In early March Four food bloggers at a Melbourne Food Festival panel on blogs are trampled by an angry crowd of journalists and chefs.

- Wordpress is giving me a hard time and doing weird stuff and losing formatting. Fifth save coming up…

Happy new year everyone. I guess it’s business as usual here.

Popularity: 12% [?]