Comments on: 69 Questions to Ask to Review Your Blog

By: neon

neon — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:03:22 +0000

You certainly have a good list there. They help to put things in context.

By: hikayeler

hikayeler — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:05:01 +0000

Yes, Thats is a good idea. Thanks a lot. Darren is correct: you don’t need to tear your old blog down and build upon the ruins. You simply need to be there, everyday, serving your readers, getting your blog’s URL out there, and faithfully typing and typing and typing!

By: kelly

kelly — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:59:33 +0000

Good comprehensive list!

For me, I keep track of dates of blog entries, blog headlines, keywords, and any blog or forum I joined during a specific time (in simple excel worksheet).

I also analyse from my stats how ppl found my blog and with what keywords, what links or ads get clicked, what’s earned, etc. And then I take that info to see what it was I did that warranted a drop or increase to visits, clicks, comments and sales.

The negative actions (that give no to little results for visits, clicks and comments) are either reduced or cut out completely.

By: bugsy

bugsy — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:41:39 +0000

Very happy to see this post. A great check list, and very useful. Nothing is more effective for me than questions. They’re motivating and get my brain running.

Hopefully we’ll see a second round of these questions =)

By: German Romance

German Romance — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:07:32 +0000

The only way to be wiser in 2009 is to do relfection like Darren suggested to do. Looking back at 2008, and then invest the ‘lessons learnd’ into 2009 to make it a ripper of a year!!

By: Dee Langdon - BloggerNewbie

Dee Langdon - BloggerNewbie — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:08:20 +0000

From a brick and mortar business person to an virtual business person I am finding it difficult to forecast “sales” figures as far as ad revenue. I’m a numbers goal oriented person and I am trying to do the math but am still trying to figure it out I guess.

By: Tom Dobosz

Tom Dobosz — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:31:22 +0000

Hey Darren,

I am totally new to blogging and have been searching for direction. After several days I came across your site. There is so much info right now it is overwhelming, but will disect it one bite at a time.

I have already called Barnes and Noble to put your book on hold for me. Looking forward to 2009 !!!

Thanks,
Tucson Tom

By: Dave Lucas

Dave Lucas — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 15:30:57 +0000

Darren! Happy New Year! As always, a top-notch article. You’ve got folks tweeting it , digging it and stumbling upon it, and it’s all good.

Now hear this: it’s PROBLOGGER and that’s why it’s so good!

It’s Darren’s brand. It’s he himself. Had any one of you “commenters” written the exact same article, no one would care. You could do (or get another to do) the same amount of digging, tweeting, etc. and you would barely get results.

It’s really all about BUILDING your blog (and maybe yourself) as a BRAND: do that and it won’t matter how long it takes your blog to load: I have experienced popular “MySpace” blogs where the blogger is making TONS of money selling music or books or e-books through a MySpace page that takes up to 15 minutes to fully load!

PROBLOGGER just took 10 minutes to load on my dial-up, and still isn’t fully loaded.

How to build your blog? What’s worked for me after years of blogging is simply putting myself and my blog out there: get friendly with Google products and services. Get your blog noticed by wikio, mybloglog, blogbang, blogcatalog, technorati, zimbio, blogoria et al. Go ahead and Twitter: but remember there a millions of other twitterers twittering!

What surprised me: several times during 2008 (and once this year already) were posts from my blog were cited by incredibly powerful web presences including Technorati, CNN, BBC and The Washington Post. KEEP WRITING and KEEP POSTING. And remember, COPYING is poison: the search engines will eventually find you out and then they will IGNORE you!

Darren is correct: you don’t need to tear your old blog down and build upon the ruins. You simply need to be there, everyday, serving your readers, getting your blog’s URL out there, and faithfully typing and typing and typing!

By: Mrs. Accountability

Mrs. Accountability — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:20:53 +0000

Wow, these are great questions, and I will be asking myself all of them. Skimming over them quickly, I’ve met some of them, some of them didn’t even consider or know about! I’ll be posting this to delicious so I can review it occasionally.

By: Money Makers Portal

Money Makers Portal — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:17:55 +0000

I have asked these questions about my own blog and got interesting results.
It has taken me some time to answer so many questions but I want to improve my Money Making blog according to my answers and make it more interesting, up-to-date and of course more money making!

I hope you do like these questions of Darren too!

By: Life Organizer Blog | Kate

Life Organizer Blog | Kate — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:59:45 +0000

Thanks for a terrific, comprehensive and useful checklist!

I especially liked the part about your niche and about topics that energize you. But the whole post is really great!

/Kate

By: Lynda

Lynda — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:21:33 +0000

Hi Darren

This is fascinating stuff. Needless to say, it’s so good I’ve put a link to you on my own (very new) blog, giving you full credit of course, and it’s been Tweeted too. Now i@m off to make my own site review.

Great stuff.

I always enjoy getting your emails. Keep ‘em coming.

Happy New year

Lynda

By: Adele

Adele — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:17:08 +0000

Thanks a bunch Darren – perfect timing. We are having a big snowstorm here in Connecticut – couldn’t even get online until just now and who knows when that will go out again. So now I have your great list to go over to bring in the New Year which it probably is already where you are. Happy New Year!

By: Precise Edit

Precise Edit — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:25:54 +0000

As always, your advice and your expertise are right on the money–thanks for the great post! The community and niche market items are especially relevant to us.

By: Reynosa Blogs | el inGe

Reynosa Blogs | el inGe — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:23:00 +0000

Very Interesting job Darren, i keep it this listo in my desk this 2009.

tnks “n Hppy nW YR 2009 ;)

Joel

By: Jesse Muhammad

Jesse Muhammad — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:39:21 +0000

This is the best advice I have received for my blog going into 2009. Hands down.

By: Ajay

Ajay — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:22:31 +0000

Hey darren,
thats really a very useful and thought provoking information to reflect upon. In fact its a best read for a blogger on a new years eve. Will definitely sit and try to analyze these questions myself.
thanks

By: uwak

uwak — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:06:19 +0000

great question give me some great idea for my new articles on my web….thanks darren

By: Melissa

Melissa — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:34:05 +0000

Thanks for the insightful questions. Really makes you think. Definitely worthy of printing out and keeping on my desk!

By: Martijn

Martijn — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:56:14 +0000

Darren, you must have started this post and just gotten this jolt of amazing creativity. Not a top-10, not a top-20 but 69 items?

Great post, and a good checklist to go over at leisure.