- Write a post about caring for someone you love with pictures and emotionally touching sincerity. I don’t have to worry about most of them doing that! They may lose a point in page rank!
- Show personality in a post.
- Respond to your reader’s comments with warmth and genuine friendliness. Better yet, respond to every comment on every post calling your readers by name!
- Actually go leave comments on other blogger’s posts smiling and chatting on their shoutboxes! You would lose your reputation of being a callous unfeeling seo robot.
- Only read the personal blogs of MyBlogLog and join a ton of keyword free communities!
- Go on a five week spree of meme writing and tagging everyone you can.
- Actually get to know people in your community and comment back and forth in a frenzy of gossip and fun!
I read a post from a famous blogger this week who spoke about how comments can hurt you. He bickered on and on about little things that bothered him, complaining about how some people take advantage of his status. Well, first of all, you know absolutely nothing about commenting because you NEVER reply to any of them. You avoid leaving comments on other blogs in fear if losing a few page views! You make a lot of money and have a lot of readers. I can guarantee you didn’t make any money from me and I don’t subscribe to your blog either!
If any of you out there who aren’t rich or a noted blogger are clicking ads on the pages of big bloggers, please go get some professional help. You need it! I noticed that ProBlogger only belongs to two communities on MyBlogLog. That’s two!!!!! Still he has a massive horde of people who are members of his. Are you one of them? If you are, you should ask yourself why! Since when did SEO stand for Soulless Entrepreneurs Only? Anyway, that’s enough of my funny blogging tips!
Here’s a linked post: Page Rank Research
Bush Mackel has a great post: Speedlinkin
Thanks for the tips
I was losing my way until now.
I think it should be titled: Seven ways to be a real blogger.
Brent: Thanks! I had a feeling you would like that
Haha I love this post. Number 2 is my favorite!
Brown Baron: Thanks BB! This post is fully based on good seo practice, believe it or not
That’s sad. I don’t wanna be a ProBlogger for sure. There’s no fun in blogging if you don’t have friends to share your fortune (and theirs).
Rolando: Thanks! I think your readers should always take center stage above anything else. They make your blog, no matter who you are
Oh Bobby is being funny!!!::::::::applause!::::::::
Right on the money(so to speak). LOL. I guess I’ll never be a problogger. Ah, c’est la vie.
Janice: Thanks: I always thought that personalized customer service was the hallmark of being a pro
I wonder who is this famous blogger Bobby! Giving comments is one of my fav things to do!
Mariuca: Thanks! Yes, and you are so good at it too
Yes! Finally i am the first to leave comment!
Very good article, looks like i am not a pro blogger cos i have almost done point 1 to 7. I try to reply to every comments posted. LOL. ok, got to sound serious in this comment. I have linked this article to my recent blog post
http://projectheavytraffic.blogspot.com/2007/09/research-on-pagerank.html
Cheers!…ah…I mean
Regards,
MakeTraffic
MakeTraffic: Thanks! I’ll have to add you a link too
Hi Bobby! Great article! I am wondering who is this famous blogger?
Emila: Thanks Emila! If you look carefully at the post, his site’s title is in it
Hi bobby great tips …shall implement it..thanks for sharing..youre the best!
Nafa: Thanks Nafa! I believe you already do
Oh oh, I noticed now. I will go and look at the blog.
Emila: Please don’t take my post out of context. The truth is, Pro Blogger is great and I do understand why he only belongs to 2 communities and can’t reply to every comment. I don’t have 20,000+ subscribers so I really don’t see things from his perspective. After reading the note you told me to check out, I actually feel bad and next time I may write something positive about him. I’m just mad that he doesn’t visit my blog, but I have no content to offer someone that big yet
Ha ha, I wouldn’t feel too bad for Darren Bobby.
I was one of his fans until I read one of his posts
about how blogging is for the elite. I never got over it, lol
I think that some of the A-List bloggers basically let all of the
compliments go to their heads. You have to
remember where you started out.
Great post!
Christy: I think many of us just want to see the human side of A-list bloggers. It gives us something to relate to and brings us together rather than making us feel separated. I think because of the way my life has been, losing everything I owned twice and never meeting the right woman, I can never forget where I started and I am thankful for it. Thanks Christy:)
How he communicates then? Leaving & Replying comments is a way to communicate with your readers. So, pro-blogger doesn’t communicate with readers huh!
Jean: I think I was a little out of line with what I said but the commentary between me and my readers is all I have. Money will never replace that
I am glad to be back here. Looks like I missed quite a lot of your reads here. But anway….
the most important thing is that I am here again :):):)
Janice Ng
Janice: It is so very nice to have you back! I have missed you like crazy and I hope you are having a good day! I’ll be by later:)
Not quite sure how to respond to this one. First - I’m assuming that at least in part this is directed at myself and while it’s not easy to read I do take what you’re saying on board.
I don’t pretend to answer every comment left on my blog or leave hundreds of comments on other blogs - however I do try to interact as much as possible with people. However it’s not always easy.
I don’t like making excuses - but when a post can get 40, 60, 100+ comments on it it can be difficult to respond to every comment left in a personal way. I do respond to a lot - many via email - but I fail miserably to respond to everyone. In terms of commenting on others blogs - I don’t do it on hundreds of blogs a day - but I do comment on 20-30 other blogs most weekdays when I find things that I think I can contribute to. Sure it could be more - but I have to balance things (between being a dad, husband, minister of a church, blogger on three blogs and running a blog network where I train 150 or so bloggers there’s only so much a guy can do each day).
I’d also say that when it comes to injecting personality or writing with emotion - I’d say that there are times and places for this. Different blogs will have a different mix of this. Some have topics that are more easy to write in this way while others will need a different style and voice.
I do slip in some personal stuff from time to time - in the last few months I’ve posted about my son, shown my house, talked about selling my home etc - however when your blog is about blogging it’s probably not appropriate to do it too regularly.
Lastly - MyBlogLog - I don’t use it these days and stopped actively promoting it a while back when I found it became inundated with spam and people trying to manipulate it for personal gain - that probably explains why I only belong to a couple of groups.
Hmmm - hoping this doesn’t come across as too defensive because I do take your points here on board and thank you for them. I try to do the stuff you talk about each day, but I guess all I’m trying to say is that it’s not always easy to do.
Anyway - I’ll leave it at that. I appreciate you taking the time to write this and have just subscribed to your blog.
Darren: Thank you so much for coming by and sharing this with me and my readers! I think many of us do feel alienated by you and other A-list bloggers sometimes and we want to see a little more of a human quality in a blog. I understand that your blog is a business and with a busy schedule and family, it’s tough to respond to every comment. My blog is constantly evolving as I learn more and more about seo and other concepts. I do see things about blogging that I feel are overlooked but just as important as any issue facing humanity as a whole. In my humble opinion, bloggers have a responsibility to help make an effort in ways that many of us aren’t aware of. Blogging is helping immensely in the area of world peace. This might not be in the news or on the minds of many of us, but it is true. My worldwide friends are personal friends and they are from everywhere. My goal in blogging is to promote world peace, promote the general feeling of love for all humanity and run a profitable business at the same time. Darren, I truly appreciate you taking the time to leave me a comment! It’s really nice to have you here and I feel good knowing that you are more accessible than I previously thought. You have a great blog and you are a pioneer in blogging. Please don’t take what I said too personally and just having you come by has changed my view of you in a big way! Thanks for subscribing and I will return the favor. All I really want is to be friends. As far as I am concerned, I consider you my new friend - welcome!
BTW, I didn’t know you were a minister - I think that’s great:)
Christy - I think you might be talking about a guest post written by a guy called Aaron on ProBlogger (this one perhaps?) Not something I wrote….
Revillian - glad my long comment was taken in the spirit I left it in.
I actually find it difficult to read critiques and do tend to take them personally (as I guess most people would) however try to take a deep breath before responding and take things on board.
i would say that if you ever have concerns with anything i do (or don’t do) I’d simply encourage you to drop me a note via my contact form. While I have the same problem with emails as I do with comments (I get 500-1000 a day and find it hard to respond to them all) I do read them all and try to respond to concerns people have.
I’m actually surprised how many people write critique posts without asking questions via comments or email first. But that’s life I guess (and blogging).
Anyway - points taken and I hope we can be blog buddies
Darren: You can call me Bobby. I take criticism very personally and I will definetly keep in touch. I should have asked you these things personally and lesson learned. I want to make money just like lots of people and I am confident my dream is just around the corner. I would love to be blog buddies! You have made my day and I am proud to have the best of the best come visit me. To be honest, if I ever get 500-1000 comments a day I don’t know how I’d feel. I’m sure the first time you went through that, it was overwhelming. Getting burned out would be a big problem to deal with too. Anyway, I’ll bet my readers will be coming to read your blog more often, just as I will. Darren, it’s great to have a new friend
blogger burn out is a big issue for many bloggers. Some give up - some just stop responding to readers and others hire people to help them. I’ve tried to soldier on… and probably work too many hours in a day as a result. I think whatever option you go with to cope with it there are costs.
Darren: I have already experienced it! What I do is write about it holding nothing back. I expressed wanting to quit in several posts and my readers responded with very caring comments. What keeps me going is having a genuine feeling of friendship with my readers and it is a beautiful thing. I have laughed, cried and exploded in anger but my readers and their comments kept me going and I love them all for that. I know there are costs and I am prepared to face them.
Darren, thank you for being cool enough to respond to my comment. I did think that it was you who wrote that article so thank you for clarifying it. I just don’t understand the bloggers with inflated egos, after all everyone starts at the bottom.
If it wasn’t for your Problogger blog I wouldn’t have learned how to blog in the first place, and treating you like you’re this untouchable person without feelings is totally inexcusable. It’s not only rude but also unproductive, and that’s not who I want to be.
I’m very sorry, and I think you handled this whole situation extremely well.
Hi Christy, it was very nice that he came here. I learned a valuable lesson today. Overall it is nice to make a new friend and to know that there is a real person behind every blog:)
[...] - Seven Surefire Ways To Avoid Looking Like A Pro Blogger Actually go leave comments on other blogger’s posts smiling and chatting on their shoutboxes! You [...]
Pro Blogger is actually one of the very few so called “A-list” blogs that I’ve started to warm up to lately for a second time.
Like Christy I had read the same post she referred to and that really rubbed me the wrong way. It was pretentious, arrogant and really not necessary. I didn’t even bother to make a reply to the post because I figured not being one of the so called elite bloggers, it wouldn’t matter what I had to say.
Regardless of the fact that it was a guest post, I felt like Darren should have been a little more responsible in allowing someone to post an article like that to his blog. I would assume not everyone reading Pro Blogger could be classified as elite bloggers, so what better way to alienate them all than with a post saying blogging is for the elite? It didn’t make any sense to me.
Having said all of that though I never did unsubscribe to Pro Blogger’s feed, I just stopped visiting until a series called “31 Days to Building a Better Blog” started showing up in the feed. The headline caught my attention so I decided to give it a look. I found the posts to be very excellent, well written and most certainly helpful to bloggers regardless of who they were. I’ve been visiting Pro Blogger ever few days or so since that series and I plan to continue to do so.
Hopefully there won’t be any more boneheaded “blogging is for the elite” articles in the future
Mike: Thanks for the meaningful comment! One day when you, I or our friends become A-list bloggers (I am confident it will happen) we can bring a human quality to the forefront unlike anyone before. A little personal attention and letting people know we are all equal as human beings can go a long way towards building and maintaining blog friendships. Having great blog buddies will always be the most important thing to me. Because he came here and left some surprising comments has changed my opinion in many ways. We are all in this together and my goal as a blogger has always been to make friends and bring people together. There is nothing more important than that! Setting a good example for beginner bloggers is more about being a good person than making money. I love blogging and I have taken many people by the hand and personally helped them for free. I will do that as long as I live
It’s good to see Darren here! With over 500 comments, I think I’ll never be able to answer to all. Might hire a helper but then I’ll be afraid that the helper might not be able to really answer all the comments the way I wanted.
Great to see a blossoming friendship.
Emila: Yes, that would be overwhelming! When I get to that point I should be making enough money to possibly hire someone to help. I would oversee that very closely. It would be next to impossible to be friends with that many people and spam would be a real problem. I’m ready for the challenge
I just finished reading all the comments. Interesting opinions. It will be interesting to see who will be blogging 2 years from now. Burnout rate for bloggers is pretty high.
I think one of the biggest choices z-list bloggers (like me) have to make is who to link to, the big guns, or the masses. Personally, I love linking to blogs that haven’t hit it big yet. I just hope I see each one of you still blogging in 2 years. If you feel like quitting, just talk to Bobby, he’ll get you on track again.
Brown Baron: I rarely ever link to A-list bloggers, I prefer those unfamous also. I will tell you that money cannot go to my head, it’s impossible. I have had a lot of money and had very high paying jobs. I also have lost everything I owned twice. 50 million dollars would be nice but I wouldn’t love the money because I cannot love a piece of paper. Truthfully, I could care less about cash. I’ll be here in two years even if it’s just to chit-chat with all these great people all over the world
Bobby, remember when I said “blogs that haven’t hit it big yet”? I have a feeling it won’t take long for this blog to hit it big. That’s the time that I’ll break my policy and still link to you heh. Why? It’s because you got class my friend. A rare commodity nowadays
Brown Baron: Thank you! All I really want is to bring light to the real power bloggers have in their grasp but hasn’t yet become a solid, tangible idea yet. When you are on top, your responsibility to use your blog for great things other than making money is, or should be a top priority. World leaders, big bloggers, corporation owners; what is wrong with these people? Bill Gates, the richest man alive could go down in history for something so much more powerful and meaningful than the money he’s made or Microsoft. He won’t though. I believe in my goals and the meaning of my mission. Friends like you give me strength to really push for something big. I want center stage, so people will listen to what I have to say before I die. I assure you of one thing, it’s about humanity as a whole and what we all can do to make this world a much better place
Bobby: You have a great attitude about blogging and about life!
Mike: You’re too cool for words.
Brown: Great comment. I never thought much about blogger burnout. If I survive for two more years I’ll be very rich and very tired, lol. Not such a bad combination. Hmm…
Christy: Mike and BB are just great people and I love their comments so much! Christy, you sure deserve to be rich! You are amazingly dedicated and the amount of writing you have done is truly astonishing. When you become rich and famous, will you fly down in your private jet and have dinner with me?
Christy - no need to apologize - mistakes happen.
Mike - it was unfortunate that the post caused offense and was interpreted by some as being written by me - although I was away on a month long trip at that time and when I go into guest blogger mode I hand the keys over and trust the blogger that I have selected to do a good job. I also encourage them to express their opinion and generally choose a variety of different voices and styles of bloggers because to me blogging is all about diversity.
I personally wouldn’t have written that post and don’t completely agree with it - but that’s the rough and tumble of the blogosphere and at the very least the post caused some interesting discussion (which is what he was trying to do with his ’shock’ headline). Knowing Aaron personally I don’t think he was really trying to say blogging is for the elite - but perhaps in the construction of his post he worded it strongly to get the discussion going.
Hi Bobby!
These are really great tips for a not-even-amateur-blogger like myself! I am not sure what is the definition of a Pro-Blogger. Lot’s of traffic? Links? Comments? Whatever the definition, I am sure I do not live up to it.
I agree on the importance of sincerity in networking with fellow bloggers. Leaving comments and remarks with feelings and sincerity goes a long with in establishing too Blogalationships!
Thanks Bobby! Have a Good Week Ahead!!
WaterLearner: The traditional definition of a professional blogger is one who blogs for money and runs the blog as a business. Most truly professional bloggers do not add a lot of personal posts etc. Think about this: If you had a catalog for Dell computers, and you were serious about buying one - but the catalog were filled with stories about Dell employees and what they had for dinner. Would it be very professional? Professional bloggers often see it like this. However, blogging is much different than a plain catalog from a business. I happen to think it’s ok to have personal articles mixed in with profesional articles as long as they are categorized properly and allows a reader to easily read only what they want
You have a great week too Karen 
If I were to be asked, I’d say blogging is for crazy people. Here we all are .. all crazy people. We look good though right? Heh.
Brown Baron: Crazy? My doctor says “crazy” isn’t a word he likes to use for people like us. He calls it “dangerously insane” which does sound better. Of course we look good and only have the craziest of intentions!
Hey Bobby!
I do think the same that it should be alright to add that personal touch even to a so-called professional blog.
Have a Nice Evening Bobby!!
Karen: Absolutely! A little heart, and some personal touch makes people feel special. I know I like to feel special when reading someone’s blog! It lets people know you care and that is a wonderful ideal to strive for no matter what you’re about
Bobby, I came to give you some comment love but I think it makes not much difference cos you already passed with more than 50… hehe
YEAH !!
Janice Ng
Janice: I take all comment love from you and keep it right next to my heart. Thanks sugar pie honey bunny
Ah, a very nice and refreshing piece Bobby. Well done!
Shine on,
Aaron
Aaron: Thank you very much my good friend! I really learned a lot through all the comments and have changed my attitude on certain things.