Written on July 24th, 2007 at 12:07 am by Darren Rowse
How Can I Make ProBlogger More Useful for You?
It’s time for a reader question - how can I make ProBlogger more useful for you?
Every 6 to 12 months I like to ask readers this question in an effort to keep improving the blog and making it more effective in helping to improve your blogging.
I don’t like to lead such discussions too deliberately - but find that the discussion is better if I give a few general questions to stimulate the conversation. So here are some areas you might like to comment on:
- Topics - are there topics (specific or general) you’d like covered in the coming months? What are the main issues that you’re facing as a blogger at the moment? What would you like to learn about or grow most in for the remainder of the year?
- Types of Posts - reader questions, tutorials, case studies, short tips, guest posts, tool reviews…. have your say about what you’d like most/least
- Posting Frequency - too many posts, not enough, just right?
- Design - we are just weeks from launching a complete redesign - so your comments and ideas would be helpful at this point
- Blog Features - what would make your reader experience better?
- Community - do you feel you connect well with other readers? Are there features that you’d like added to help connect more?
- Services and Tools - what could ProBlogger offer you to help you improve your blog?
- What Frustrates You about ProBlogger? What is Best about it?
- Other Ideas and Feedback - anything goes, big or little.
The ‘Rules’ - Any feedback, suggestions, dreams or ideas that you have are welcome. While I can’t promise to respond to each comment or put every suggestion into place I make a commitment to you to read anything you have to say.
All that I ask in return is that you be honest, courteous and constructive with your feedback.
ProBlogger is a project that I pour a lot of time and effort into - as a result sometimes criticism can be a little difficult to hear - however I think it’s vital to take it all on board if this is to continue to be a valuable resource for bloggers wanting to improve their blogging.
So it’s over to you. Feel free to either leave your feedback in comments below or to share them privately with me via my Contact Page.
92 Responses to “How Can I Make ProBlogger More Useful for You?”
OneYearGoal.com - $100,000 online in one year
July 24th, 2007 12:12 am
Tips on how to monetize your blog and advertise your blog would be most helpful. Beggining bloggers like me haven’t yet “lost our groove” but we’re still trying to figure out how to increase readership and make a little spending money while we blog.
One Man. One Year. $100,000 online. How’s he doing it?
http://www.oneyeargoal.com
Gavin Smith
July 24th, 2007 12:23 am
“ProBlogger is a project that I pour a lot of time and effort into - as a result sometimes criticism can be a little difficult to hear - however I think it’s vital to take it all on board if this is to continue to be a valuable resource for bloggers wanting to improve their blogging.”
I read your blog on a daily basis, and I find it very interesting, yet I found the above quote to be a “sympathy grabber” - you make MONEY from the site and lots of it which is a reward for your “time and effort”.
Lastly, I think that you’re are doing everything perfectly with the site; you should keep on doing what you’re doing, but leave quotes like the above out.
Regards…
Jeremy Steele
July 24th, 2007 12:35 am
More posts about networking with other bloggers would be neat.
Have you thought about doing forums on here?
And, isn’t it about time to update your photo? Same one has been up for as long s I can remember…
Melissa
July 24th, 2007 12:37 am
I love your current blog, but I wouldn’t mind the design being a bit wider. It would be nice to be able to communicate more with those that visit your site. I loved the top 5 contest! Do more of those :-) The only other thing that is a little hard for me is the size of the font, but I am 33 and I am aging…Not your fault at all!
Rick McLaughlin
July 24th, 2007 12:37 am
Don’t go changing. I’m a fan and definitely get a lot out of the way you are doing this. Content-wise, my own challenges right now are surrounding the monetizing bit, so anything else you have to say about the various ad vendors would be great. Otherwise, I say “stay the course.”
Thanks,
Rick
Bush Mackel
July 24th, 2007 12:42 am
I’m pretty new to the site, and I’m sure that it’s been covered before but if it hasn’t, here it goes…
One thing I’ve been interested in is how this site gets all these readers! I mean, my site is still very small, and it seems in terms of readership, I pick up a few here and a few there. At this rate, it would be literally FOREVER until I got say 5% of your readership. I know this type of thing doesn’t happen overnight, but it still seems like such a unfathomable goal…
Dimitris
July 24th, 2007 12:52 am
Perhaps you can try to quantify a bit the time a blog takes to reach certain milestones in terms of popularity/readability. This is something I’d be interested in and I put it down as an idea - don’t know how hard it is to reach any kind of estimate.
Also it might be a good idea to pick a blog (perhaps submitted by users or selected after some sort of competition) and do a detailed case-study type analysis about it. That can be done with the cooperation of its author (supply of stats etc) or simply at face value (e.g. say a few points about its design)
My 2p
Mock Duck
July 24th, 2007 12:55 am
I read regularly, and so I hesitate to niggle, especially when I’ve enjoyed and absorbed so many of your tips, but… (and I admit this is really picky) I really wish you’d learn to discern between “its” and “it’s”, a problem that has arisen in many of your previous posts (though not this one, admittedly). Yes, I’m a grammar pedant. The trouble is, if you are a grammar pedant, that sort of thing really gets in the way of reading a post.
julide
July 24th, 2007 1:02 am
I would like to hear more about monetizing forums. There is not much information out there and it is pretty motivating to hear that people can make up to 10K a month on standalone forums.
I also would like to hear about non-English supporting ad providers/affliate programs that are successful. (will chikita every support international?)
I also would like to see the left hand column to be smaller. I would like to see the articles spread out on the page a little.
HTH.
alam
July 24th, 2007 1:04 am
Yes, forum would be nice
you have so many useful post, more interesting discuss it in a forum. With smiley, choose font etc.
silvino
July 24th, 2007 1:15 am
two things I’d like to see more often:
1. Types of Posts - Case studies
Applying you’re blogging knowledge to specific blogs is more brain-stimulating for me.
2. Blog Features - ‘Where do I start?’
This site is no regular blog, and it can be overwhelming even to regular readers. You’re “key articles” on the top are no longer enough to easily navigate through all this info.
silvino
July 24th, 2007 1:15 am
two things I’d like to see more often:
1. Types of Posts - Case studies
Applying your blogging knowledge to specific blogs is more brain-stimulating.. at least for me.
2. Blog Features - ‘Where do I start?’
This site is no regular blog, and it can be overwhelming even to regular readers. You’re “key articles” on the top are no longer enough to easily navigate through all this info.
45n5
July 24th, 2007 1:29 am
More video! I think i saw you do one about a year ago, why did you stop?
steph
July 24th, 2007 1:31 am
- blog directory with voting: a place where we can promote our blogs. something like: http://freeglobes.net/
a forum would be great.
Vincent Chow
July 24th, 2007 1:41 am
More on making money blogging, short tips and blogging tools would be great (I mean really short, I tends to skip long posts here). Reading via feed so design ain’t important to me. A forum might be good too, I believe many readers would appreciate it.
The only thing is for me is posts are too long. I normally scan my feeds after school everyday, and that’s when I’m really tired. I rarely finish reading completely a post here as they are too long and I would just, well, skip.
Good luck Darren!
James
July 24th, 2007 1:43 am
I was thinking the other day about volunteering to make an online table of contents for your blog. It would be nice to have all of the info in Problogger in book form so that it can be studied like a book.
So, perhaps some kind of table of contents would be nice. Perhaps I’ll put together a sample of what I’m talking about and let you know when it’s done.
I think you should definitely consider making a Problogger book as it would probably sell like hotcakes! :)
Buxr.com
July 24th, 2007 2:02 am
Darren, How about a Forum to build on the great community you already have? Seems like a natural progression.
Kim
July 24th, 2007 2:14 am
My own design aesthetic says less is more. Your blog is busy…but I liked the colors.
A forum does sound like a good idea, so I’ll yay that one.
My concern about the blogging community in general at this stage is that it must be changing because of the big money getting into it and you’ve been here from the beginning so surely you are witnessing changes? Keeping all of our readers ahead of the game would give us an advantage and would keep attracting more readers to your site. Since my blog is about keeping companies and certain people ahead of the trends in industry, it’s always an important focus for me.
Lastly, and I guess I could have numbered these to be more list oriented but to the person requesting it’s vs its…this is common to blogging. I see the same mistake being made regardless of who is blogging. Highly well-regarded journalists with MSM make the same mistake. I think there are natural problems like this that occur in creating copy w/o editors all the time….and there may be something scientific to it where you could even come up with the most common typos made because of whatever (you can figure out the reasons too).
Thanks.
Kim
July 24th, 2007 2:17 am
I made a typo–third paragraph, 4th line, should read “your readers” and not our readers (maybe wishful thinking on my part?).
Mike Goad
July 24th, 2007 2:29 am
This is the only blog that I read on a regular basis so I don’t have an ideas relative to that.
One thing I would not want to see is a Darren Rowse ProBlogger forum. I think it would dilute what you are presenting here. Perhaps a readers forum would be ok, but it should be not be something where you (Darren) make a regular appearance and where someone else has the administrative responsibilities.
Turtle King
July 24th, 2007 2:32 am
Maybe give some love to other bloggers by posting links to our blogs. It’s all about traffic and your site could really help get our blogs going.
Martin Muehl
July 24th, 2007 2:36 am
It would be a huge timesaver for me if you add a stylesheet for printing.
You have so much useful information on this site, but it’s just pain when I want to print them, because at the moment the whole site gets printed (including sidebar, advertisement, …). Since I really don’t need them on paper instead of just hitting the print button I have to mark the text, select printing from the context menu and then tell him to only print the marked text.
Pat Gundry
July 24th, 2007 2:47 am
I love it just the way it is.
A new pic might be a good thing, sort of visual variety, maybe you could change your pic each month. I’d like that.
My best suggestion would be to add an email discussion list for readers, not a forum though. I think a forum would pull readers away from commenting on your blog, but an email discussion list would provide instant feedback and information, plus discussion about any topic related to ProBlogger’s focus areas.
As a long time email discussion list owner and manager I think they can’t be beat for instant communication among a large group of people, building community, and being downright useful.
Terra Andersen
July 24th, 2007 3:08 am
Agreed with commentor #1. Even giving the opportunity to network with you and other A-lister bloggers at chats, webinars, or more would be pretty cool!
Kevin
July 24th, 2007 3:30 am
Design - I think that the site would benefit if the new design was expanded a little. This would give more space for the content to be displayed:) I think a latest posts area could be helpful too
Posts - Case studies are fun, I’d also like to see more guides and tutorials as at the moment there seems to be more news and views about the blogosphere than tips
:0
julide
July 24th, 2007 3:34 am
I want to clarify something. I suggested forums but I did not mean starting a Problogger forum. What I mean is case studies, observations, and tips on MONETIZING from forums. I don’t think Problogger needs a forum :D
NewsScribe
July 24th, 2007 3:35 am
Accidentally stumbling upon this site is what made me start blogging in the first place. I’m currently trying to find the right look and layout for my blog. I would like some updated info on content management systems, wordpress, and creating new blogs. Also an updated post on current blogger tools would be nice. Things change so fast. Thanks for everything.
Jon Smock
July 24th, 2007 4:01 am
Don’t change a thing to your content. I love the lengths and frequency of your posts. I really appreciate the way you think and enjoy the topics you discuss.
I do like case studies, but you give plenty of examples, so I’m not going to count that as a criticism. Case studies are hard to come by, I’d imagine.
I can see why you might include some better navigational pages in your re-design effort. You’ve been writing so much for so long that it’s difficult to navigate the vast amounts of content in the site. I really like the current look and feel. The layout is great, too. Also, I like the picture of you (it’s almost like a logo at this point).
Keep up the good work. I almost didn’t comment, but I saw the amount of criticism (all constructive, good job team) above, so I thought I’d put a good word to encourage you.
Jon
July 24th, 2007 4:13 am
Hi Darren,
As you know I’ve been a huge fan since the days when your feed counter was in the low 200s! So I love ProBlogger.net just as it is.
That said the one thing I’d love to see you write more about is productivity. How is it that you manage to product high volume AND high quality content (ON MORE THAN ONE SITE!!) month after month, year after year.
That blows my mind constantly.
It takes me at least 1.5 hours to produce what would be a mediocre post by yours standards, so I there is no way for me conceive of how you can produce 4.3 posts a day.
I really think productivity is your secret weapon. It may be all natural talent, but I’d love to hear about any tips that you could share to improve workflow, and keep both quantity and quality high.
Thanks a lot for an amazing resource,
Jon
Brown Baron
July 24th, 2007 4:14 am
I’d like to see more case-study posts like silvino mentioned.
Eric
July 24th, 2007 4:29 am
I have an issue that has been on my mind for a while. Many bloggers post images on their sites… where do they take these pictures and what are the rules? I’m sure there are copyright issues, but I guess most bloggers don’t care. I’d like to know the hard truth. What pictures can we put on our blogs and how not to infringe copyright laws?
Thanks.
Deepak
July 24th, 2007 4:29 am
Another vote for case studies
Jason Bartholme
July 24th, 2007 4:30 am
Darron, how about more frequent group writing assignments? I received some great link love from you as well as others who linked to my post for the project.
Keep up the great work!
marquis
July 24th, 2007 4:35 am
A forum would be a good idea. Other than that, I think the site is perfect. Keep up the good work.
http://alltalksports.wordpress.com/
JohnPlace
July 24th, 2007 4:54 am
Darren,
I have a couple of suggestions and a question of my own.
1) The interface of your Website could really stand to be “uncluttered.” This is not a question of too much stuff in too little space, but rather a question of layout. When I first saw your site, the clutter chased me away. However, once I saw that you had 20K subscribers, I figured your information was worth paying attention to, so I started coming back! :)
And your articles have always been good, Darren. That’s the most important thing.
2) If I had as many readers as you do, I’d start a forum. But that’s the business person in me talking, not the reader.
And now, my question for you:
1) How do you make any sense of the answers you get to questions like this, knowing that only a tiny perfecentage of your readers will bother responding to it? Whenever I try asking my readers for feedback, I get 10 responses or so, which certainly can’t be representative of my entire user base, given that it’s such a small percentage.
It always makes me wonder if asking questions like this is really the best way to gather feedback… Are there other ways?
LaurenMarie
July 24th, 2007 5:12 am
It seems that I’m the only one that would vote for fewer posts (just one per day!). You have such excellent advice, but I feel overwhelmed when I see 3-5 new posts when I open my reader.
Do you have a section for top posts? The Top 20 in the box at the top on the left is old and I would love to see something that is dynamically updated. Top Posts show new readers what the “best of the best” is on a blog and it’s often where I start getting to know a blog.
Content: I like your most recent series on Rediscover Your Blogging Groove, and, farther back, 31 Days to a Better Blog. Are you planning to write more posts like these that are designed to help us with the content of our blogs?
Future content: Do you have any articles on time management for bloggers? Healthy attitudes for bloggers would be a good thing to talk about, too. You may already have articles similar to these, there’s a lot of archives to look through and I may have missed them!
As to design, I’m favoring navigation on the right more than the left. That’s where the scroll bar is and it just seems easier to use.
I am just starting to launch my own blog and I’ve learned so much from you. I really love the Lessons I’ve Learnt (again at the top in the box). Would there be any updates to that?
Thanks for all your hard work! I would hope to have half the success that you do someday.
Max
July 24th, 2007 5:12 am
more short tips and tool reviews could be good
Thanks for all your work
TextAdSearch
July 24th, 2007 5:26 am
How about getting back to basics, your tag line is helping bloggers earn money. Let’s have some more of that.
Chris
July 24th, 2007 5:32 am
Organize your archives more. This blog is great if you have the background and it’s acting as a kind of daily magazine, but as a comprehensive resource for a new blogger, the huge pile of old posts is too hard to go through.
One thing may be to simplify the layout of the archives. Have one long list of post titles, organized by topic, instead of a handful of posts with summaries per page.
V. Neely
July 24th, 2007 5:42 am
I’m throwing in a vote for a forum as well. :) Other than that I can’t think of much. I enjoy the information that’s been coming out, although the topics that have been of keen interest to me lately is “blog stickiness” (what makes readers come back) and traffic.
Serge
July 24th, 2007 5:47 am
Darren,
I only discovered your blog a few days ago and read quite some articles. Maybe my suggestion is already covered: since I have a full-time job and I also recently started with an independent occupation as photographer, I wonder if it might be interesting if you cover some articles, share tips or recommend books about time management and self-discipline. It doesn’t have to become too psychological either, but you understand what I mean. Blogging (to me) is so time consuming and sometimes I don’t know where to start first when I come home.
Thanks.
Michael Martin
July 24th, 2007 5:56 am
A couple of things in the design could be changed I think; like the search bar. Why is it set to searching the web by default? And then when you do make the search, you’re reading bright orange text on white. That’s hard enough for a person with good eyesight to see, never mind someone with an impairment.
The other thing that bugs me is when you do a series, and you have a series logo in the top left of the content, and an advert in the top right of it. You end up with a tiny little column of text between the two (It’s not really a problem. Just strange. :P )
A forum is an interesting one; I think that if you wanted one, you would have the best forum on problogging, without doubt, (There are currently no established forums on the subject really, just some new ones. With ProBlogger’s readership behind the forum, you’d overtake them no problem. xD ), but a forum is a lot of work. You’re busy enough as it is I imagine, so you’d want to choose mods (Volunteers) etc. to help out, and even then, forums aren’t known for being profitable… (Users get used to the ad placements)
Mario Parisé
July 24th, 2007 6:20 am
Personally, and I emphasize that this is just my perspective and is likely not the view of others, I would love to see less from you. I mean this in the nicest possible way. I read a lot blog and lately I’ve come to realize I just wish everyone would talk less frequently and wait until they had something truly valuable to say. Note: I am as guilty as everyone else of writing too often. But the truth is, I really truly *want* to know what you have to say, but there’s not enough time to read it all. “Mark All As Read” is becoming more frequent.
So for me, selfishly, it would be just awesome if I could get 1 kick ass, mind melting post per week, and nothing else.
GeorgeK
July 24th, 2007 6:23 am
Hello this believe it or not is my first post to another Blog, I have built a blog using all the various tool available on blogspot and still learning and reading lots, like the website which links to it that was born out of research and lots of testing. My suggestion would be offering a ‘Rate my Blog’ I could do with some advice on how I can get other blogs to link back and where best to find them, at this moment in time the ’submit your blog appears to be an endless pit of this and that site all promising to bend over backwards.
Perhaps if you could offer a rate this as a one off to the site listed in this post that would be really helpful, i know that my posts could do with some work, but as I am working on behalf of my employees and their Marketing Head their is no problem in shifting the focus or altering the angle of the stories we want to tell, I only wish our membership would get more involved in telling the world what they know, the knowledge of this unique sector far exceeds my own.
For the record we are a regional concern offering alternative businesses loans for people refused by the bank regardless of new or existing status, we even do some personal lending in the Birmingham and Warwickshire region delivering on the financial inclusion policy, so I guess some people would be interested to hear how this all works, we are really trying to set the standard for the West Midlands part public and private sector funded institutions.
I really hope you could find some time to give us a fighting chance, now or in the near future.
Thanks, have a great day
Daniel Scocco
July 24th, 2007 6:29 am
I think it is on the way ,but get a wider theme :).
redwall_hp
July 24th, 2007 6:39 am
ProBlogger would be a lot more useful if you gave us free laptops and iPods. :)
Karito
July 24th, 2007 6:53 am
As Serge and Jon said, I would love to hear your secrets about productivity, time management and self-discipline. This is something I need badly because, as you can see, the default Drupal homepage is been on my site too long…
Andy Beard
July 24th, 2007 6:53 am
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That would then encourage discussions between readers that are more meaningful and easier to follow.
Andy Beard
July 24th, 2007 6:58 am
On the design one simple tip would be to make sure your H1 tag isn’t
Written on July 24, 2007 by Darren Rowse
If you want to go overboard on the design/seo, I am sure your team can pick up some tips from my Wordpress SEO Masterclass for Blogs in Competitive Niches.
Matt Huggins
July 24th, 2007 7:39 am
I like silvino’s suggestion of providing case studies to help understand how to put what you write about into practice. I follow a weekly case study update at CourtneyTuttle.com, and it’s a fun learning lesson that really demonstrates how to implement some key concepts related to successful blogging. I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more of this kind of thing!
Ori
July 24th, 2007 7:41 am
My suggestions:
- More case studies (lots)
- More tips on “getting things done” for your blog (time management etc…)
- More posts on the indirect benefits of blogging (networking, consulting, etc..).
Darren Rowse
July 24th, 2007 7:50 am
Gavin Smith - yes you’re right, I do get some financial benefit from this blog (although you’d be surprised how little it is in comparison to my other blogs - this is not a massive money machine). I guess that quote was more me psyching myself up for this post. What I was trying to communicate was that this blog has become something that I’m very passionate about and work very hard on - as a result it can be difficult to hear criticism and I’d appreciate people keeping that in mind as they share their constructive suggestions and critique.
The quote wasn’t a sympathy grab - it was simply me worrying out loud that this thread could turn into a ‘lets bag ProBlogger’ post - something that I’m very pleased to see that hasn’t happened.
To everyone - thanks for your constructive ideas and suggestions. I’m still reading and digesting them all. Thanks!
Rich Minx
July 24th, 2007 8:02 am
Hi Darren,
First, I’d like to say that you’re my favorite ‘how-to-blog’ blog and I find pretty much every post useful in some way. So thank you.
If you’re looking to add features, I’d suggest a forum since you definitely have the traffic for it and your readers love to respond - and many have their own successful blogs.
I’d also like to see some case studies looking at smaller bloggers, their progress, your suggestions etc.
Mike Dammann
July 24th, 2007 8:14 am
Darren, I am part owner of Bloggertalk.com and asked a similar question regarding my upcoming newsletter and here is what some people have said:
http://www.bloggertalk.com/showthread.php?t=7156
It seems that people want anything that is new. Your blog covers everything related to blogging already. New technology, new ways to reach people, more interesting ways to blog. Anything that helps people connect with the more targetted audience would be of help.
Mike Dammann
Marija
July 24th, 2007 8:18 am
I’ve discovered your blog a few weeks ago, and I read 95% of your posts from top to bottom. Your blog is simply fascinating, you’re doing everything right, as far as I’m concerned. Since I read your posts in their entirety, sometimes there is too much to read (especially when you give a lot of links), but basically, that’s not a problem. To sum up, your are my blogging Bible, and I think your blog is perfect.
Sorry, I was not helpful since I gave no suggestions, but I had to tell you that you have one more faithful reader.
Gavin Smith
July 24th, 2007 8:28 am
Darren,
That is quite fair; I misunderstood your motives behind the statement. Don’t take my remark as an insult - I seriously admire your blog.
Keep doing what you ‘do’….
Regards
Better Blogging with Michael Martine
July 24th, 2007 8:38 am
What I’d love to see is a cleaner, better design that’s easier on the eyes and less cluttered.
You’re running a blog network, yes? I’d love to hear about it: how it’s run, what decisions were made and why, what it takes to run it well, what tools you’re using, and so forth.
In any case, you have my warmest regards and best wishes for your continued success. ProBlogger has been the most helpful blog I’ve ever had the pleasure to read.
Jason
July 24th, 2007 9:07 am
Hi Darren.
I’d like to see organized posts containing your philosophies and strategies on one digestible page. …Much like your series pages but on a very large scale.
Sounds like a fun task, right?
I love ProBlogger! Anyone who wants to criticize it, I challenge you to a duel!
Ravi
July 24th, 2007 9:35 am
Darren, 3 things:
1) Comment #31 was an excellent idea for a post. I only recently started my blog and I’m still confused with the legal use of images. Am I allowed to take Attribution-Noncommercial Creative Commons images from Flickr to use on an Adsense-supported blog? I think some of your insight here would be blog gold.
2) Redesign is long overdue — glad to see it is being worked on. The first few times I came to this site, I was scared away because it seemed cluttered and the colors a bit “gaudy.” I soon learned the value of the content and returned shortly; still, a redesign would help draw in search engine visitors, me thinketh.
3) Since this is 2007, and the era of Youtube, why not get some video tutorials from you? I think, using the right screencast software or the like, you could ably show us some new things to do with our blogs. Even if its not a regular feature, I would love to see some videos every once in a while.
The case studies were a great idea…my favorite posts from Copyblogger were when he “upgraded” actual blog titles.
Keep up the good work!
Suzie Cheel
July 24th, 2007 9:38 am
I like the series you are doing,could you space that out, I am finding it a challenge to read all you posts and then implement the strategies, that work for me.
How do you organize your information so it works and is productive?
Don’t think you need a forum
Thanks for sharing you knowledge
Jason
July 24th, 2007 10:01 am
I’m serious, I will fight you with a ProBlogger t-shirt on and everything. It will say “Darren’s US Bouncer.”
Samantha Enns
July 24th, 2007 10:02 am
Two things:
1) I just started a niche blog after getting a blog about making money online up and running. There are tons of resources and readers for making money online, but it’s more difficult to spread word-of-mouth about a niche. Advice on that would be great.
2) This is partly a solution to #1. Combine the blog case-studies and the forum. Let there be at least a section of a forum for people to post their blog and get feedback, or for you to post a case-study of it and let readers give supplemental feedback. You could even code it so that a user had to do two or three quality blog reviews/case-studies in order to post their own.
Basically you’ve got a huge, amazing readership right now, and the way to keep them coming back, and to keep them spreading the word, and to keep them on the site for longer, is to give them more to do.
Michelle
July 24th, 2007 10:03 am
Yeah, I love all of your blog’s content; don’t change a thing, unless you’re planning on adding more… but you are a dad, so spend time with the kid, too!
Otherwise, I think a redesign is well due. The site can look a little cluttered or messy at times, but I heart it.
Thanks for everything you do!!
-mG
CatherineL
July 24th, 2007 10:26 am
Hi Darren - I think posting once or twice a day is fine. Anything else is just overkill.
I really enjoyed the exercises in Rediscover Your Blogging Groove, and a lot of others seemed to do so too, so maybe it would be good to include more exercises and tutorials in the future. Perhaps you could do other tutorials and exercise on topics like: how I increased traffic to my blog, and how I connected with other bloggers?
This blog is probably the one I’ve read more than any other. I find the links at the top of the page useful - eg 20 best posts etc, so more categories up there would definitely be helpful.
Thank you. Catherine
Martin Neumann
July 24th, 2007 11:23 am
Hey Darren,
- Not a fan of the forum idea, lots of work involved in running it and it’ll water down the conversation here.
- sidebar clutter: no big deal, but it’s getting a bit messy.
- Andy’s tip of threaded comments is a good one; makes it easier to reply to a comment directly without having 30 or so comments in between to confuse folks.
- Group writing projects, though hard on you, seem to be a big winner with many.
- if categories and the sheer number of information is too much, then two eBooks is my tip: one a freebie, basic information on blogging and another full featured one in the mold of Aaron Wall’s seobook model.
Topics: I know it’s a hard issue because you have to balance between providing information for those new to blogging as well as those further along. For us further along the road, I wouldn’t mind seeing more written about direct advertising/sponsorship options/approaches, media kits, online media rooms, etc.,.
Finally, The Blues need a new coach - I’m sure you could add that into your schedule. ;-)
Cheers,
Martin
Darren Rowse
July 24th, 2007 11:30 am
Martin - LOL - very amusing on that last point :-)
MT Herald Dot Com
July 24th, 2007 12:01 pm
Too many posts; many a time has felt junk. Prefer quality than quantity.
Lori
July 24th, 2007 12:21 pm
Darren,
I’m a stay-at-home mom with 3 kids. I, first, started blogging for money and quickly learned that it was much harder than originally anticipated. I became overwhelmed and currently blog for fun but with hopes of resuming my money blog soon. I read your posts daily (I am a fairly new reader) and understand the information you are giving us for the most part but I’m not exactly sure how to use it to my advantage. The real problem is that I am, in fact, a newbie (4mths) and need the information explained to me like I’m a 2yr old (so to speak). Example: I’ve signed up with a cajillion affilliates but need to know how to use them respectfully and need to know about which easy-to-understand tools are best to let me know what affilliates are working best for me. Flat out, I just need basic tutorials. I need steps to use and implement different programs, techniques, and simple methods to make a little money.
Ok…obviously, I carried on and on a little too much. I would like to see you post a step by step guide to achieve a particular something. Whatever that may be…….
P.S. I posted my personal blog url because I am ashamed of my money blog. It is very heavily monetized and in need of a complete “overhaul”.
B. Durant
July 24th, 2007 1:16 pm
Maybe have an interactive Q&A session once a month or so where you post 10 or 20 questions from the community and answer them via your blog. Or better yet have a live chat session…
Tine
July 24th, 2007 1:33 pm
I’m not sure if you’re blogged about this, but what about some tips and suggestions for tired-out bloggers? Bloggers who are, after a while, unmotivated, feeling a bit dry, not able to write good posts? That’s what I’m feeling right now :(
I do enjoy reader questions and tutorials, so if you could maybe write more on that, that’d be great. Also, the site’s a bit cluttered, so maybe you could rearrange some stuff around?
Cheers.
Deb
July 24th, 2007 2:55 pm
Considering the diversity of your audience I think overall you are spot on. I have read nearly every comment to this post and for the most part the authors are requesting consolidation of style and content as though their personality type was the only one that existed or mattered. I hope you continue to encourage all ages and personalities to hang out here.
The only specific bone I might have would be the proposal by several commenters to switch to forums. I hope if you would ever decide to host a forum that it would be separate from the blog. I have belonged to several forums and have left all of them because the format encourages keyboard sniping even if it is registered users only.
That’s all that comes to mind. Keep up the great work.
Bryan @ OneMansGoal.Com
July 24th, 2007 3:10 pm
Just keep doing what you are doing!
“If it ain’t broke… Don’t fix it”
Colin
July 24th, 2007 3:43 pm
Darren
I think you’re doing a pretty good job right now. I’m reasonably new to the site but have enjoyed your daily tips.
I put my vote in for a forum as well.
Col
—
BloggingWorks.. But only if you do it right!
topSPINme
July 24th, 2007 4:06 pm
Maybe allow your readers to submit their blogs to you for review. And then you would post what’s good/bad in this particular blog. I believe you have solid patriotic readers, but no matter how hard they try following your tips, still end up unsuccessful especially in terms of readership. I guess they would like direct first-handed practical solutions to their blogging dilemmas. That way, it can be pointed out what specifically in their blogs work and doesn’t work.
Scot
July 24th, 2007 4:37 pm
Darren
I think post length is perfect - I read via RSS and have consistently read through every problogger post. I find I get the most value out of longer posts, as opposed to shorter newsy posts. Speedlinking breaks that up beautifully though.
Regarding a forum: While I think introducing a forum would enhance the level of community amongst the biggest Problogger contributors, some of your (presumably numerous) quiet (backseat) readers may find it slightly alienating miss out on a significant part of the discussion that might occur.
Posts concerning the range of tools you’re currently using to earn money via blogging would be appreciated, because although you’ve covered it before there is a feeling of content dating very quickly online. Also, many people like me are looking to find the most appropriate and respectable form of advertising/other revenue earners for their sites. No one wants to be scammed though, and a word of recommendation from you goes a long way.
Your case studies have proved most useful to me. Plus content generating ideas like your last series, which I thought was a fantastic re-energiser for pro blogger.
Cheers
Scot
April
July 24th, 2007 5:32 pm
Could do with a bit of help on multi-author blogs and payment options. I have a site which is a few years old and want to turn it into a blog on fashion, beauty etc. I though of allowing the blogger to keep all the adsense and affiliate money from their post whilst I keep money generated from the sidebar.
Does this sound like an OK idea?
Thanks
Mike
July 24th, 2007 6:21 pm
How about reviewing a different blog every week? Not just the big, popular blogs but any one of the millions out there. I think this could help people relate this info more easy back to their own blogs.
Truden
July 24th, 2007 7:25 pm
Hi, Darren :)
Thanks for this topic.
Great attitude about your readers, which we don’t see so often.
I’d like to hear from you “what a new blogger should not do”.
Love your design and hope that after the revamp the load time will improve (it’s not always that bad).
Your post infrequency is just perfect.
Not too dense and not too occasional - keeps me happy to see it in my feed reader ;)
KiwiPulse
July 24th, 2007 7:59 pm
I’ll vote for a Forum, I know it represent more of your time to moderated it. But it will help you to simplifly your work by getting ideas on the discussion forum. Having a active growing community, thats priceless :D
Chris Peters
July 24th, 2007 9:20 pm
Hi Darren,
First of all I’d like to say that this blog has been my favorite since I found it. I love the design because it’s easy to oversee and when you are new you simply check out the key articles to start with.
Some mentioned a Problogger forum but I advise strongly against it. Not because a forum is no fun but because a forum and a weblog are two different kinds of communities. You have built a community here, something that is vital to your success and I believe a forum would undermine your ‘formula’ as it is now.
This weblog is regulated very well, updated more than most blogs and therefore you don’t need user generated content besides the comments you get. Case studies about monetizing forums are welcome given the number of votes for even though it’s almost off-topic being a different medium.
The quantity and the quality of posts is perfect, I think this topic will tell you all you need to change. This topic itself is the key to improvement, readers are actively involved in the process of change: a win-win situation.
I’m sure you will continiue to deliver high quality on Problogger and I wish you the best of luck.
Kind Regards,
Chris Peters
MajoTajoJulia
July 24th, 2007 11:18 pm
How about read my emails?.
Also I would like you to see to write more about SEO , who is doing that stuff for you etc.
Find for us how people can get better ranking in SE?
Why don’t you use keywords? or Meta Tags.
Bob Blick
July 24th, 2007 11:53 pm
Answering questions from time to time. Wordpress is easy but yet can get a little complicated. Things you can’t figure out why they’re happening as there seems to be no logical answer and no way to find the answer. Yep - I have such a problem right now. :-)
Overall though, this is an excellent site and should be frequented by anyone interested in doing blogs.
Sue
July 25th, 2007 2:47 am
I cannot believe people want you to “review” their site. If they are reading this blog on a regular basis, and your archives, they don’t need it reviewed, they’d pick up enough tips. Like you don’t have enough to do! LOL! Okay, rant over. :-)
My suggestions:
Design: Perhaps consider going fluid on the width. I am seeing some huge resolutions at my little site, and with your traffic, it must be mega times more than I see. I’m coming to believe that is the way to go.
Content: Keep doing what you’re doing. I’m nowhere near to monetizing my blog, but it’s maybe something for the future. Even though I’m not ready, and may never be, due to being very niche specific, and not something that a lot of people would read, the suggestions on building traffic and respect are the best. In fact, that’s how I found this site in the first place.
I think the amount of posts is just right, along with the divisions between the content. And the length is good. Maybe I have a higher attention span, but too short posts (other than speedlinking ones) are a waste of a visit. You have a lot to say/teach and you do it in an effective manner.
Forum: Uh-uh, no way. I don’t think you’d want the hassle. And it is a major hassle, and with your traffic, you’d have to have dozens of moderators. Comments work fine, don’t let anyone sway your opinion on that. You’re just opening up a can of worms if you start one. (Visions of flame wars, spam, spam, review my site please, etc.).
Also, personal to Darren: I think very few of us read that quote mentioned by Gavin Smith as a plea for sympathy. Whether a blog makes money or not, no one wants a new you knowwhat ripped, just to slam the Darren, and I think you have a high caliber of commenters here. :D
I can’t think of anything else, other than to keep up the great work. You are appreciated.
Mark
July 25th, 2007 5:06 am
One suggestion I would like to make is that you consider starting a Bloggers Forum.
Your readers base is impressive. I’m sure there are plenty of blogging enthusiasts who would be delighted if you were to start a blogging forum.
Use Invision Power Boards. They offer regular upgrades and their forums are already high quality.
If you start this bloggers forum, I would be one of the very first to join up. I would be ecstatic at all the blogging knowledge I would soak up in there.
You could call it the Probloggers Forums.
racketboy
July 25th, 2007 5:55 am
One of the comments above gave me a good idea to agree with.
I’ve toyed with the idea of paying contributers to keep my blog going strong. (I’ve been writing for over two years and have less time than I used to)
Coming up with strategies for organization and payment would be great. Determining a fair payment amount is the hard part. (Knowing how much a person’s post is worth to me/making it worth their while to write for me)
Tony
July 25th, 2007 3:25 pm
A Print Plugin. I have a friend who doesn’t have access to the internet but loves your stuff. I love printing it out and reading it somewhere else and as everyone knows ie is useless at print and firefox isn’t much better. I have seen some sites with a print plugin and they work extremely well.
Mark Levison
July 26th, 2007 2:05 am
How about solve the worlds major problems: climate change, world peace, …. :-)
Oh you meant relevant feedback:
1) No videos or podcasts please. I can read much faster than you can speak. I just don’t have time for them. Consider I spend about 30-60 minutes a day reading blogs.
2) Allow the main column to a bit wider on large screens. Not infinitely wide - maybe 50% larger.
3) I struggle to keep up as it is so please don’t increase the posting frequency.
4) A few case studies might be fun.
5) As I’ve suggested via the contact form a story on Click Fraud - especially the risks of having your adsense account suspended through no fault of your own.
Cheers
Mark “Notes from a Tool User” Levison
Jason
July 26th, 2007 2:49 am
I think it would be interesting to have forums where people could ask your readers for advice on specific things (a la “How do I make my landing page more sticky?”). That way we could get feedback from all your readers, who, presumably are interested in such things and likely constantly looking to learn more and refine their already existing knowledge, and not have to use up your valuable time.
Ray
July 26th, 2007 2:52 am
I love your writings. But I hate to see some shallow and quickly written posts. 1-2 post per day is enough provided they are really meaningful and useful to us.
PS: I don’t really like your Speedlinking post. I come to your blog just to get your opinions and not others ;).
Nathan Chapman
July 26th, 2007 6:03 pm
I read your blog about once a day, and I am constantly finding that the site design seems too cluttered, especially around the header. I appreciate how hard it is to design blog themes, but Problogger could really do with an overhaul.
Jungle Mama
July 27th, 2007 12:25 am
I’ve just started reading your site and love it very much. There is a lot which does not pertain specifically to me as I am a “Mommy Blog”. Do you know how much I hate that term? I really do! I want to be recognized as something other than a Mommy Blog. How do I pull myself out of that rut? I’ve got a little niche that we are an overseas family, but to tell you the truth, the experience has had it’s great disappointments and I fear the blog would go to close to the edge if I described them, though how can you help scratch the surface on some of those issues. Well, aside from outright asking you to tell me what I should blog about, if you’ve got some advice for how to get an average Mommy Blog into a new realm I’d be grateful.
As far as your design, it would be nice if you could clarify your lists along the top. So many titles I’m not sure what I’m looking at or where the link will take me. Will I stay on your page or go somewhere else?First impression was a little . . . can I use “scary” and not offend you?
Thanks for all of your great reading material you’ve given me :)
Turkey Photo
August 1st, 2008 6:49 am
Another vote for case studies
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