Sweet New Free Blog Platform: On Sugar
Post by Robert Campbell on Apr 15, 2009
I’m not usually this far behind… Yesterday I did a search for more information on a new free blog site called On Sugar and that’s when I found an article about On Sugar on TechCrunch where I learned that it launched last November.
Six months later this enterprise is still growing. Now people are asking if perhaps one day it might challenge WordPress dominance. Okay I’ll admit that isn’t likely, but I am surprised this handy new parking lot isn’t already more popular… at the risk of sounding cliché, On Sugar really is blog candy.
Petite Fashionista mentioned On Sugar in her how-to-blog seminar last month. I’d never heard of it before and wrote it down. And I was impressed with the look and smell of it immediately…
Sugar Inc must be more popular in the United States than it is in Canada because honestly I’d never seen one before and I look at a lot of Canadian blogs. This company launched the site or around September 2008. The Drupal-powered OnSugar platform is designed to be simple but also versatile. It has a proven track record as the Sugar blog network is written using the same technology and this has been around since 2006. Navigation is a breeze because the program is very intuitive – it’s the kind of code you write after years of empiric testing. This easy-to-use program gives registered members the necessary tools to create unique looking blogs with lots of cool features like photo galleries and polls. The above mentioned TechCrunch article said something about access to a large repository of free images from Getty which I couldn’t find at first, but later spotted in the image upload area of the website. 
The preview displays white text in the bottom corner of each pictures that says ‘Getty Images’ because nothing is ever 100% free in this life.
Bloggers working On Sugar are still able to monetize their sites through standard ad networks like AdSense or Glam which can be inserted easily into the sidebar using the blank text / html widget. But On Sugar has added something new, a ShopStyle widget option.
ShopStyle was acquired by Sugar last fall. The software lets bloggers create visual spreads of real-world products and then collect a piece of the action – they get a cut of any sales that result from the widgets. This is just the beginning of an entirely new ad network – more on that later.
On Sugar employs the following state-of-the-art internet technologies:
* Drupal – open source content management system
* Akamai – Entire platform uses the Akamai content delivery network
* memcached – Extensive use of memcached
* Smarty – Template engine
* sIFR – (Scalable Inman Flash Replacement) is a technology that allows you to replace text elements on screen with Flash equivalents.
* TinyMCE – Rich Text Editor
* LLMP – Linux, lighttpd, MySQL, PHP
* Fully documented API
Key Platform Features:
* 10 different post types: (text, gallery, spread, poll, quiz, quote, link, chat, video, & audio)
* Free access to a hundreds of thousands of Getty Images®
* Fun drag and drop “spread maker”. Create your look with thousands of fashion images from hundreds of online retailers through ShopStyle, e.g. ShopBop, J. Crew, Net-a-Porter, and others.
* ShopSense: Make money by linking to products and retailers NEW
* Build your audience of followers with automatic notifcation of new posts
* Follow your favorite sites and view an aggregated feed of your followed sites
* Post by email NEW
* Automatic update of your Facebook and Twitter status NEW
* Multiple sites per account
* Multiple authors per site
* Easy import from Blogger, WordPress, & Typepad
* Full domain support
* Free
Key Site Features:
* Drafts/Timed Publishing
* Search
* Archives
* Pages (e.g. About Me, Galleries, Videos, etc)
* Widgets for highlighting content from your site or around the web ( Flickr, Twitter, etc)
* Related posts from your site or, if you choose, from sites you follow
* Completely customizable themes
Have a look at my Dad’s beekeeping blog: CampbellsHoney.onsugar.com is a terrific example of what’s possible and just how it easy it is to use 0 even a 78 yr old beekeeper from Canada can make a fine and useful information portal.
There are nine other properties in the Sugar network:
FabSugar.com – fashion and trends focus.
BellaSugar.com – beauty and skincare.
BuzzSugar.com – entertainment news and reviews, for must-see movies, albums, MP3s and TV.
YumSugar.com – cooking and entertaining with style and ease.
FitSugar.com – healthy, balanced lifestyle focus.
GeekSugar.com – readers’ guide to great gadgets.
GiggleSugar.com – good laughs and humor.
DearSugar.com – An advice web site.
CitizenSugar.com – Politics and News
TeamSugar.com – user-enabled hub of the network where all members go to discuss the content on the other Sugar sites and maintain their own profile pages.
