A day late, but worth the wait.

Blogtipping is the invention of Easton Ellsworth. Smart guy that Easton. A community builder, blog evangelist and generally nice person…Easton created blogtipping to give people a chance to do 2 things:

• Promote cool blogs by picking 3 blogs you like and listing 3 great things about each; and,
• Help bloggers out by giving each of the 3 blogs you’ve highlighted 1 tip.

Simple enough really. And quite a bit of fun. Oh, and you blogtip on the 1st day of every month. I haven’t been keeping up 100% but I did do some blogtipping in February, November 2006 and October 2006.

With the recent success of DemoCamp Montreal, I’ve decided to do some local, Montreal blogtipping…

Blog #1: web1979 by Mat Balez (RSS feed)

1. Mat is wonderfully opinionated. He’s not coddling up to anyone, which is quite refreshing. Note a couple of recent posts – The A-List Blogger Phenomenon: Antithesis of the Web and RIP Twitter (2007-2007). Whether you agree or not, at least he’s honest.
2. He’s tackling meaty issues. Mat’s not one for short, quirky posts. He’s going for the jugular with a lot of his content – going deep instead of wide. Although for those of us with bad cases of A.D.D. (i.e. ALL bloggers) this might be challenging, sometimes you need to just sink your teeth into it.
3. The design is as simple as they come. Granted, he’s using the WordPress.com service so he doesn’t have a lot of opportunity to change the design, but he’s picked a super simple design; the content is the focus here.

The Tip: Write more. It might be tough when each post is meant to be a dissertation of serious consideration, but writing more will help draw people back and develop a community around the blog.

Blog #2: Montreal Tech Watch by Heri Rakotomalala (RSS Feed)

1. Quick, interesting news. Heri’s covering the Montreal technology scene, and he does it quickly and efficiently. I find myself checking it regularly for interesting tidbits.
2. It’s not just the news. The blog could be quite bland if Heri just fed us the news, but he’s injecting his own opinions and ideas into the mix as well, giving us a 1-2 punch of news stories and insight.
3. He’s serving the community. Heri is making a difference in Montreal by contributing. And that’s great to see. While some complain that Montreal tech entrepreneurs don’t do enough, Heri steps up on a daily basis.

The Tip: Setup WordPress and get a slick, custom theme. It’ll do a lot to enhance the overall style of the blog but also draw more attention to the content. It’s worth investing to take the blog to the next level.

Blog #3: Montreal Startup by John Stokes (RSS Feed)

1. A great combination of local content and expert advice. John’s expertise and interest lies in VC and angel investing, with a local/Montreal focus, which means an interesting combination of information on investing and entrepreneurship along with a good amount of attention on what’s going on in Montreal.
2. John has a frank, open style. There’s a certain openness to John’s writing that makes you feel welcome, engaged and curious about what he’s up to.
3. John is tapping into the Montreal tech scene very quickly. He hasn’t been here too long, but John’s making an effort through his blog (and showing up to events / participating) to get involved and show his interest in Montreal and the tech entrepreneurs working here.

The Tip: Not to be redundant, but…write more. I know it’s a challenge, but I would guess that there are others out there like me interested in hearing a bit more about what you’re doing, planning and thinking.