Comments on: One Animal Trait That Will Keep Your Blog From Extinction – Mimicry

By: Fisher

Fisher — Sat, 09 May 2009 11:49:01 +0000

I don’t post comments easily. But this post compelled me to write a few words.

Amazing, inspiring and most motivating post I’ve ever read about blogging. So many great ideas in one single post. Enjoyed it thoroughly! Thanks.

By: Don Andrews

Don Andrews — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:38:48 +0000

Great post, I'm new to blogging and am trying to absorb whatever I can. Good ideas and tips here, Thanks. donssite.com learning to liftright.net at http://www.ezee.ca

By: Cj Kidd

Cj Kidd — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:04:31 +0000

There’s nothing new under the sun, right? We all mimic.
I tend to overload my site with all my favorite things, which is certainly not minimalism like I would want. It has been irritating me and I thought I should get another blog just to spread things around :) But yes, all we can do is mimic the ones that are doing the things we want to achieve. The only thing about that is, some of the successful blogs don’t have the content I would expect …go figure. But thanks for the post. I have been hearing that the shorter the post, the better, so thank you for a long one like I enjoy. I think we need to vary length throughout the blog, yes?

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:28:27 +0000

Wonderful post but for a new guy like me much of it seemed overwhelming cause I don’t yet know how to do some of the things you recommended but, having said that, there is no hill too tough for a climber! It’s all about the journey. I am learning a little more each day and posts like this give me added incentive that it CAN be done. If you ever find yourself in my neighborhood feel free to stop by and sit by the campfire. Rick

By: Lily

Lily — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:07:56 +0000

Hi – I was interested in what you mentioned about using numbers as a goal i.e. number of subscribers, number of uniques per day etc.
I actually use this as my starting point this month. I have a list that I eloquently named ‘things in numbers’ which lists things like:- number of members in my Flickr Group, number of feed suscribers, number of people connected on Blogcatalog etc. Whilst like you say I’m not in direct control of these, setting new figures to aim for each months does give me a concrete goal.
However – I then write a list of how I am going to achieve these figures, usually working out how many blog posts I will make and on which topics. I also work in research and networking time.
Personally I find this two pronged approach very effective. I get the easy kick of motivation from seeing my figures go up and a good overall structure for blogging. Hmmm – maybe I should go and write something on this too :-)

By: Ra

Ra — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:39:28 +0000

Aseem,

Thank you for this post. It was really inspirational. Not only did you share your successes, but you shared your failures, and that’s something that most of us can relate to. Seeing your failures helps me realize that my passion will eventually materialize manifest itself into success with patience and ’smart’ work.

Thanks again,
Raza Imam
http://SoftwareSweatshop.com

By: ROW

ROW — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:02:48 +0000

Very nice article….Well, to tell you the truth, I avoid reading lengthy posts on blogs . I was going to avoid this too but for some nice comments which prompted me to have a look and indeed would say its is one of the best posts this blog has seen of late.

Suggestion: You should think about starting a blog on “motivational” niche also :)

By: Abhijeet Mukjerjee

Abhijeet Mukjerjee — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:58:18 +0000

Hi Aseem….this is certainly an incredible post and inspiring especially for aspiring bloggers like me.I am going to start a blog soon and this gives that endeavor a huge boost.

Also would like to say that your blog “Online tech tips” rocks and I have been a subscriber to it for long time now.You are one of those few bloggers who always encourage newbies and is always ready to help others.

Just keep going!

By: Albert

Albert — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 02:16:51 +0000

Hello… it’s funny because upon reading the beginning of your article, I
wanted
to ask you how you were so successful. But after reading it, you answered
all
the questions I had in the beginning. That has got to be the best guest post
I’ve read in a while, good job on it.

By: SiteHoppers

SiteHoppers — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:43:24 +0000

Thanks for the tip, will definitely try out the ‘above the post’ method. :)

By: Aseem Kishore

Aseem Kishore — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:35:11 +0000

@Art Petty – I wanted to stuff this post silly with details and tips that helped me along the way! I’m glad it’s one of the best ones you’ve read so far!

@SiteHoppers – I would definitely cut down the number of posts and shoot for higher quality! Once you reach the size of LifeHacker, then you can pump out 30 posts a day and people will gobble it up (but it’s best to have multiple authors at that point to maintain quality)

Also, I’m using one Google AdSense ad above the post content and it’s been giving me the highest ECPM so far. I would add another, but it’ll be a link ad, not another blog ad for sure.

@Karl Satib – Submit to EZine ASAP! That really helped me get a decent increase in search engine traffic. Went from about 100 or so a day to around 500, 600 after posting into article directories. Note that it took about a month or so to see that change (patience is another trait!)

@JQK – Thanks for the nice comment! ;) Hope it helps!

@University Scholar – hahahaha I laughed when I read that one! I’m telling you though, I am not a good writer at all…I’m an IT geek who likes computers, so if I can write, anyone can! It’s the ideas, not really the writing style.

@Niklas – Not a problem! If you thought I was Darren, then that is the biggest compliment ever! haha Glad you liked it.

@Briana, Kristen – Keep on posting and work through some of the steps I mentioned. As long as you have passion and take a few extra steps in terms of marketing, optimization, and other technical stuff, you’ll be doing well soon.

Thanks guys for all the great comments, I am very happy that people enjoyed the post!

By: Kristen

Kristen — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:58:40 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you…

I am approaching my 6 month anniversary as a lit blog and your post provided me with a number of great ideas to increase my traffic (and my focus).

Great post!!

By: Briana of College Fashion

Briana of College Fashion — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:07:11 +0000

I really identified with this post.

As a fashion blogger, there is a lot of competition, posting on the same subjects as other people, etc. It is really important to focus though on the passion, and what the bloggers you admire do to be so great.

Thanks for this.

Briana of College Fashion

By: Niklas

Niklas — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:35:04 +0000

Uh oh my bad. Sorry Aseem Kishore I didn’t realize this was a guest articles written by you instead of Darren. Was wondering why the style was so different from the usual posts by Darren.

By: Niklas

Niklas — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:55:38 +0000

Wow what a great in-depth post Darren.

I think every successful blog needs a foundation to build itself upon and many times that foundation comes from by mimicking already established blogs to find the characteristics that got them big. For example I would not have personally come up with the idea of summarizing my posts on the front page to expose my readers to more of my content above the fold.

However, I also think that being completely different can lead to success too as it makes you stand out above the crowd. For better or worse in the eye of your readers it at least provides a strong memorable reminder of the existence of your blog or brand. This is a lot like the article you posted on how Facebook while not netting you a lot of traffic is worth it to you because it reminds people of your brand.

By: Barbara Ling (aka Owlbert)

Barbara Ling (aka Owlbert) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:53:16 +0000

Excellent insight article…and the best part of it is, it’s simply plain common sense. The logical, methodical steps outlined plus the suggestions for achieving the goals really resonate with me.

Best wishes,

Barbara

By: University Scholar

University Scholar — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:02:38 +0000

We should be mimicking this post!

By: michael

michael — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:20:23 +0000

Really enjoyed the post. I’m building up a number of websites and SEO really interests me. When I come across the boostranks domain, I thought I might add one more. Your post solidified some of “my” thoughts (”my” cause I read them somewhere else ;)

By: JQK

JQK — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:12:21 +0000

Aseem,

I don’t disagree with anything you said in your post.

You have made valuable observations and scattered helpful tips throughout a superbly written post.

WOW!

By: Karl Staib - Your Work Happiness Matters

Karl Staib - Your Work Happiness Matters — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:59:21 +0000

An in depth article that gave me a few new ideas. I’m going to submit a few articles to ezine. It’s articles like this that help make the full-time working blogger able to increase his readership.

Thanks for the great post!