I like reading Darren’s blog because there is always something that I can learn from it, even going through the archives I pick up good information all the time.

I also feel like I can understand the person behind this blog too, Darren does a great job of making this blog personable.

One of my favorite things about Darren’s blog is that he stays positive. My wife Jill and I try to keep our blogs as positive as possible.

Unfortunately, I think that you can be a hugely successful blogger by being negative as well. I won’t name names though…

great post though!
carl

I’m surprised no one else has picked up on the “Be First” point. All too often (and I’m talking ’bout myself here too, so don’t anyone take offence) the blogging community seems saturated with “Me Too” rather than “Be First”. Being first doesn’t have to mean you design the next moon rocket or solve the problems of world hunger, it means you learn and take inspiration from others but don’t “Me Too” them. One tool you might use is to ask yourself, why would anyone read my work, what question does it answer for them? There is virtually no one out there who can’t help another with his/her knowledge, but not that much room for “yet another problogger”. I guarantee each of us has a niche … just have to think it through.

On the privacy issue … yep, certainly agree. But make sure with privacy does not bring along insincerity. I started reading Darren because I could tell that he was a “real” person. If you want to hide behind a persona that’s not genuine, some other endeavor may work better than blogging.

And lastly, the “Show Off Your Best Stuff” idea is one of the biggest opportunities I see open in the short term. The blogging world is inundated with choices in blogging platforms, templates, skins, plugins, widgets ad infinitum, but the basic platform of a blog has shortfalls when it comes to getting your ideas before the public. This ties directly back to the “Be First” tip … surely there’s a better way?

I especially agree with your point re: staying power, and Jen’s comment re: positivity, thanks!

Writing stuff you can be proud of is the biggest thing. It doesn’t have to be stellar, just consistent and something you would feel like reading yourself.

Great tips.

I think he’s the reason that my blog has more than the 14 readers a day that I started with!

this is my best trick, be the first and you will be the reference

I’m new-ish to blogging so this kind of well-written recap post is pretty good, especially as there is so much stuff to read on this blog, it can be a bit daunting (but it surely keeps me coming back!).

Additionally, i think the idea of having guest bloggers while going travelling is a very smart idea from Darren.

“show off your best stuff” is definitively a piece of advice i will put to practice soon – i’ve had a good amount of links to some of my specific posts but at the moment, they are hidden away inside the blog. I need to think about how to do it but that’s one thing i like about Problogger – when you first come in (via a search engine in my case), you know where to go after reading your first post.