While I do not promise you’ll get 614 comments “overnight” like the guy I’m going to talk about in a minute did, at least you’ll get some inspiration and have fun along the way.

Here is what I’m talking about:

Just recently I’ve found about CopyBlogger’s writing contest . This blog is my all-time-favorite when it comes to copy writing and there’s no wonder it attracted 43,000+ RSS subscribers as we speak.

Some bloggers would need 100 years to attract that many readers, how is Brian different and what it does that separates him from the rest of the wannabe pro bloggers out there?

1. It’s the content he (along with his team) delivers

2. It’s the fact that he knows how to write compelling, motivational and emotional copy that moves hordes.

3. And the most important fact is that he knows how to run contests and blog competitions.

If you visit Brian CopyBlogger site you’ll notice there are up to 1,054 comments on that “writing contest” posting alone!

You might tell that a thousand comments is something normal since he has 40+ thousand readers, right?

Nope. Think again. Most bloggers get less than 1 comment for each 100 RSS readers they “own”. Brian should expect to get less than 400 comments if we consider a 1% response rate (which I found to be the standard in the blogosphere).

If you take a look on his recent 10 posts you’d notice he gets less than 100 comments, which is about 0.3% response rate.

Lesson learned here: if you want an instant boost in comments, subscribers and traffic, you need to run a contest on your blog.

If you want to get 100x times more comments than regularly, running a contest is not an option! But not any type of contest.

You’d have to run a desirable contest, where you give away top-notch prizes (products, services, cash, etc.).

Learn from Brian as he’s a master at blog competitions…

The key to running a blog contest is to have a prize that your target audience desperately wants, otherwise it won’t click with them.

Another important part of this is to make sure the contest is easy to get in and state the rules. Keep it simple.

I once tried a contest on Codrut Turcanu dot Com blog and it was a dude.

My plan is to study the topic more in depth and come up with some great contests (and prizes) for 2009 and beyond. I’m currently analyzing the contest machine solution. You might want to check it out too. It’s free at the time of writing this!

Another “blogging contest” I like because it exposes how to create your own (if you study it carefully) is the letssermo post with $300 prizes galore (it got 75 comments already!)

You now have the solution to boosting your blog comments and traffic. The question is:

What are you going to do now?

What about you create your own contest or link to your last one (if it’s not expired already!) and mention it on this post (in the comments section)?

Stay tuned for the next post as I have a hot interview with a top blogger — it arrives tomorrow, and I bet you’ll learn something new about blogging for money…

I’ve just created a cool survey I want you to participate in right away. It takes less than 2 minutes, I promise!

You decide what you want to read next on my blog. Your feedback is important to me…

Yeah! You have the power to vote for the upcoming post, right now…

What would you like to see next at my blog?

Does the Gurus laugh at you for making pennies while they launch one product after another pulling-in tens of thousands overnight?

It is hard to survive in a world full of lies.

It is hard to keep your mind right when the Gurus are laughing on their way to the bank.

Why you can’t succeed? Why only the Gurus are making the money you should be making?

Are they better than you?

Are they smarter than you?

Are they “lucky” and you not?

I think the answer is none of these… the answer is deeper, much deeper.

And if you studied psychology you will love today’s blogging for success tip.

I’m going to be brutally honest with you now:

95% of people who are currently bloging will fail… because they haven’t heard about…

The Missing Ingredient for Blogging Success
In a Financial-Collapsing World…

Want to know what is the secret ingredient?

It is called PARTNERSHIP — and it stands for…

Power to associate with others

Ability to communicate online

Ready to invest (time and money)

Tenacity to become a better writer

Never say never!

Enough is NEVER enough…

Ready to sell your blog if required

Saving your blogging database is always smart

Hiring others do what you can’t is not an option

Inspiring other people is fun and profitable

Push the “publish” button if you have something valuable to share with the world

If you want to read the article which inspired me to write this creative post, click here and learn about it: Is Blogging Keeping You Poor?

It uncovers these key topics…

1. How to Make Millions Online (or Anywhere Else)
2. And of course… The Missing Ingredient for Blogging Success
3. Plus… Partnering Strategies for Invisible Bloggers

After you read it, come back here and share your findings with the other commentators on this blog!

And do not forget to check out my Niche Blogging Profits guide, it’s the hottest on the market…

Here’s WHY:

Because it speaks from my experience, no fluff talk, just real blogging practice, trials and errors…

P.S. I wrote this article in less than 20 minutes. This is my secret: EASY Content Writing Tool

How will you integrarate the answer to this question (re-read the title of this post) in your blog?

How are you going to keep your blog readers (and visitors) happy and give them what they want (not what you think they want)?

In today’s fast world, people do not really have time to spend on blogs. So you have to act fast and hold them right in their tracks.

How will you catch and keep their attention for more than 5 seconds?

Hint — a neat blog design or good content is NOT enough anymore!

Let me give you some quick tips that helps you understand (much) better what your blog readers really want, so you can give them exactly what they are desperately looking for

1. I join a blog if it talks about my niche topic and focuses on what keeps me awake at night.

It could be about the most burning questions I have in my mind.

It could be about the latest niche news and hottest topics.

It could be about the problems I’m currently facing.

In a nutshell, it’s all about the niche topic problems, needs and wants of your target readers.

If you don’t know about this, do your research. I use AdWords no-cost tool.

2. I join a blog if I like the writer’s style, and if I feel his personality shines through his words.

Bloggers who are fake, writing in a boring manner, or just spread the news, with no personal opinion about what they’re sharing, usually don’t get my attention.

These are two of the biggest reasons why I join blogs — what about you?

By the way: in the next post I talk about…

How to Get at Least 614 Blog Comments With Just One Post (Even If You Got Zero Comments Before) - stay tuned!

P.S. Want to learn what I discovered after starting 5 blogs and getting $35,000? Check out my blog for profit guide. I bet you don’t know all my 7 blogging secrets!

If I told you that there’s a way to create your own WP plugins without hiring a programmer, would you believe me?

You should as I have discovered the solution that lets you create an endless number of wordpress plugins the EASY way…

It is called “WP on Crack” ; it was created by my friend Robert Plank, and it is the best tool on the market. I say that because I mean it, not because I know Robert…

Why you should create your own plugin?

1. You might want to sell it and make (big) bucks

2. You might want to keep it for yourself and rake-in the dollars quietly in the background

3. Or, you might give it away to achieve big popularity and tons of traffic, at no cost whatsoever!

Let’s recap:

Sell it and make (big) money online

Use it yourself and take your blog the next level

Give it away and get more traffic and (link) popularity

This is WHY I recommend you grab “WP on Crack” today. If you’re OK with the money you’re making, or the traffic your blog receives, you don’t have to get it!

In fact, forget about it completely.

If $97 is a problem for you, you probably don’t see the profit potential here, so forget about it.

If you want to make more money online, and get more search engine traffic and one-way links, then “WP on Crack” is for you!

If it happens you get this via my link, I have a surprise for you:

I’ll give you a 30-day e-mail consultation certificate (ask me unlimited e-mail questions per day for a whole month!).

I’m charging $499.95 for anyone wanting to pick my brains and tap into my blogging success knowledge and experience.

Here’s how to make sure you get this BONUS…

Follow these three steps very carefully:

1. Clear your browser cookies
2. Buy from this link
3. E-mail me your receipt at codrut @ codrutturcanu dot com

And wait 24-48 hours to deliver the bonus gift, my private e-mail, to start on your 30-day success with WP on Crack!

Once you get in, we’ll quietly work together to make your BLOG business more successful and profitable for long-term!

This is the second part of Top 12 Ways to Blog Like a Pro and Get More Traffic – Part #1 post. Here are 12 other ways to blog like a pro and get more traffic:

13. Get hyper-active in the blogosphere

You don’t necessarily need to say or write something new to contribute on other people’s blogs. Being remarkable is enough! Make sure your comment stands out in the crowd by providing valuable feedback or asking smart questions.

Lorrele says… “Bloggers Who Contribute to the World Benefit the World”

14. Blog commenting is not enough

There’s no secret that the easiest way to build traffic is to comment appropriately on other people’s blogs. But that’s not enough, make sure you’re actively participating in those blogs.

It’s smart you focus on 5-10 quality blogs and get to know their readers better than blast one or two comments per blog, and never come back again.

There’s a great blog commenting discussion going on here.

15. Write for your regular readers first

Most bloggers neglect their regular readers and want to get new folks join their blog, but they forget about their current readers and subscribers.

When you focus on keeping your current readers happy and provide them with great content, something strange will happen.

They’ll start twit your content, spread it on Digg, and even mention it on their blogs. This is nothing new. I had that happened not once, but several times before!

The traffic this blog gets consists of regular readers (over 30%)

16. Do you write for your reader?

I’m not talking about SEO. Not at all! I’m asking if you write with the reader in mind.

Do you write short, concise sentences?

Do you leave a space between each and every paragraph?

Do you use write like you’re talking with your best friend?

If you answered “YES” to all three questions, congratulations! You blog with the reader in mind, just like the pros!

You really have to be conscious of how people read on the computer screen and provide them with a great reading experience.

17. Give readers multiple reading options

I could name just two of the most important ones: power point slides, and PDF reports.

Some might prefer to print your blog posts, why not provide them with a nicely formatted PDF version of your posts?

18. How do you market your blog?

Seth Godin once said, “you are either remarkable or invisible”. This tells me something about blogging. Without putting the time, effort and skills to market your blog, you don’t have one.

What good to write and publish when you have no readers?

Promotion is crucial – and this article helps you learn the smart way to blog for traffic.

19. How often do you publish new content?

I know some bloggers who publish a few times per day and get a boost in traffic almost each and every time; others are doing it twice per month, and they wonder why their traffic is still low.

How often do you publish?

20. Become an expert on your blogging topic (again)

I don’t care if you’re an expert or guru already, everybody has something new to learn from other experts and gurus.

While I hate the term “guru”, I know that constant learning and marketing education is the key! Start learning from the best about your niche blog topic!

21. What have you learned (recently)?

Why not share with your readers something new that you personally learned (recently) that is targeted to your niche topic?

Robert recommends you “Always Write a Report About What You Learned”. What about that?

22. What did you learn from the US election?

Seth says… “Stories really matter.” That’s what folks respond to, so why not learn how to write faster and better next time?

23. Do you run interviews with other bloggers?

If not, you’re missing important traffic. This won’t get you hundreds of readers overnight, but it could get you hundreds of visitors…

My 5^th interview brought me up to 30 RSS readers and as many AWEBER subscribers. This strategy is not one to be easily neglected!

24. Do you link & track back when you post?

In every post I publish I make sure to create outbound links to relevant and high quality blogs; many blogs automatically have track backs enabled (in WP the option is on auto-pilot), so in their comments section they will have a link back to your blog.

If it’s a highly trafficked and ranked blog, this can mean traffic BACK to your blog, and it can draw notice from the author themselves as they often check the stats, don’t you?

Part three will be published next week, stay tuned!

You could answer: everything! Almost… I had the privilege to interview fellow Romanian blogger, Alex Cristache, and find out some secrets from his blogging experience.

He’s a motorcycles and hip-hop music fan, if you get to have similar passions, you could make a new friend today

Click here to download the PDF version of this interview, or read the text version below:

1. Would you mind sharing a few things about

yourself and your background for our readers?

I’ve landed on planet Earth about 28 years ago and disguised myself as a web savvy dude for the last 9 years. Seriously? Ok, I suppose I could call myself a web designer, even though I’ve done quite a lot of other things in my past, from web design to development, corporate identity, web copywriting, SEO, it’s hard to remember everything. I love motorcycles and hip-hop music, as long as it’s not about “money, hoes and pimps”.

2. When did you start blogging, and why?

About 3 years ago, out of pure curiosity and willing to share some of my thoughts and experience.

3. What’s the biggest mistake you

made getting started with this?

Not keeping a schedule, or having a schedule but ignoring it. Chaos seems fun, but in the end, it manages to break everything that you’ve built. Luckily, I became aware fast enough.

4. How did you come up with the

idea of launching your blog?

Blogging is pretty much related to all my past online activities, and since I thought that my experience could be helpful for some people out there, plus the fact that I love WordPress and it’s flexibility, www.Blogsessive.com was the next logical step to take.

5. How often do you publish and

how do you get content ideas?

Usually I publish about four posts a week, but only because I also need to dedicate time to my freelancing activities. Otherwise, I’d publish at least two posts per day.

Content ideas? From my own experiences, from things I read, from music I listen, from movies I watch. Basically, everything can become a source of inspiration, that’s why I like to keep an open mind.

6. How do you mainly receive (or generate)

traffic to your blog?

My main traffic sources would be social bookmarking websites and Google searches. Lately, I’ve been focusing on attracting more search engine traffic, since it has much more benefits than those traffic spikes in stats.

7. What is your most closely-guarded

secret about blogging for money?

There’s no secret. Well, maybe for the lazy people. Money don’t fall out of the sky. You need to work, to invest, to sacrifice. Sure, ads on a blog could bring some cash, maybe even a decent amount, but I’ve always placed my bet on “additional services”.

Becoming an authority in your niche gets many opportunity doors opened. I’m not yet what you’d call an authority in blogging, but I’m working my way to that. Even so, people come to me for consulting services on blogs, WordPress themes design and development, basically, all things blogging and design related.

8. What differentiates your blog among

all the others in your niche field?

Good question. I’ll let my readers judge the quality of my posts, but they seem to enjoy them. Two things that could make Blogsessive stand out are the design and my once-in-a-while-creative-posts. If you look for my posts that relate bloggers to Hollywood actors (http://blogsessive.com/blogging-tips/are-bloggers-hollywoods-next-big-shots/), or blogging tips collection out of song titles (http://blogsessive.com/blogging-tips/10-blogging-tips-from-the-top-100-songs-of-2007/), you’ll see what I’m talking about.

9. If you had to get a boost in comments

from your blog readers, how would you do it?

Ask for them. Start an open discussion. If you’re thinking about paying for comments, forget it. The best way to do it is to train your conversational skill. Also, answering comments will most likely encourage further conversations.

A good way to attract comments is to startle your community with sensitive topics, provocative thoughts. Find out what they find interesting, and then, look for weak points. It’s a dangerous game, but readers will want to share their views, some positive, some negative, but still a good deal of reactions.

I’ve done this with a post called 20 Reasons Why Your Make Money Online Blog Will Fail (http://blogsessive.com/blogging-tips/20-reasons-why-your-make-money-online-blog-will-fail/). I’ve been getting a good reaction on that one.

10. Which are the blogs you visit frequently and why?

www.Problogger.net

www.Copyblogger.com

www.SmashingMagazine.com

www.Traffikd.com

www.LostArtofBlogging.com

www.Rubiqube.com

and www.WordsOfaBrokenMirror.com. Why? Because I always enjoy their content, with no exception! With the last two I even formed an “alliance” called WiseVox Network, but we’re still working on the concept.

11. Which are your favorite bloggers and why?

Darren Rowse for the example he has become. By the way, look for “blogging” in Google and see what website comes amongst the first results. Amazing right? Brian Clark, Sonia Simone, Chris Garrett, Chris Brogan.

Why?

100% quality content!

12. Which plugins you can’t live without and why?

Akismet does the job stopping most spam comments. All In One SEO Pack has proved to be a faithful companion in my SEO strategies, just as Google XML Sitemaps did. Finally, Bookmark Me made it a lot easier for my community to save favorite posts with their preferred bookmarking services.

13. What is the most important thing you learned about blogging that you could share with your best friend?

Be yourself, and don’t talk about things you’re not good at. The community will let it go once, twice, but in the end, they’ll smell it. Fake it till you make it is only a myth.

Luckily, I’ve never been there, but I’ve seen examples. Don’t ask me who, it’s not nice to point fingers.

14. What plans do you have for

the future with your blog?

I’m still investing time and creative energy in it and will continue to do so. I have no plans to sell on “retire”. I enjoy the rush too much.

Cheers!

We wish Alex success in the future and thank you very much for sharing your BLOGGING tips, tricks & secrets with us all!

If you want to get further into blogging, check out these resources:

WordPress Profit Maximizer - The BEST WordPress Plugins sent to you weekly via e-mail!

Lazy Blogging dot Com – Everything I learned about blogging!

Thank you,

Codrut Turcanu.

http://www.CodrutTurcanu.com

You might think he’s fooling around, right?

Why in the world would a millionaire want to blog for a few dollars… why he doesn’t enjoy his millions and let us wrestle with this blogging thing!

Before you scream out loud, let me tell you that I just got a brand new interview with the net Fool in person, Jim…

Click here to download the PDF version of this interview, or read the text version below:

1. Would you mind sharing a few things about

yourself and your background for our readers?

Hey, my name is Jim and I am the author of www.theNetFool.com, a popular blog run through my conglomerate of online media, JRR Enterprises LLC.

I am a 19 year old student, a lead manager of a $5 million mutual fund and an online entrepreneur of sorts. I typically blog about how to make money online, so stop on by if you are interested in getting a second income through the internet.

2. When did you get started blogging, and why?

I got started blogging because I was looking for a resume booster. Sad but true, eh? Eventually this developed into an obsession with making money on the internet… so I shifted focus toward the entrepreneur aspect of things and started to help people make a living on their own.

3. What’s the biggest mistake you

made getting started with this?

Refusing to put money into the project! Seriously, I wasted about 4 months of writing day in and day out with no yield because I had a crappy design and an underfinanced marketing scheme. You don’t need much to get started, but I do recommend investing in a premium theme from the get-go. In terms of marketing, the beginning is always the most painful. Once you get off the ground, you can really sustain yourself off of traffic from referred users.

4. How did you come up with the

idea of launching your blog?

There are too many people that preach themselves as the “next best thing.”

So I though, hey, I’m just a fool like everyone else, eh? I can make money online… believe me. But the fact is that I’m not an expert, I’m just an average guy who works hard and will tell you what is right and what is wrong. Sometimes learning from your peers is a lot more effective that learning from one of the big guys.

5. How often do you publish and

how do you get content ideas?

I try to publish every day. Unfortunately, as of late I am trying to do too much and it’s really taking a toll on my sleep habits! As a full time student and fund manager, I have to be aware of the markets and my studies.

Blogging comes third, sorry guys. However, I do take the time to write effective content and won’t clog your inbox with garbage. I mostly get my content ideas just from being there. I do a lot of things that my readers are interested in mirroring… so I’m going to give you all the tools to do exactly as I do, no strings attached.

6. How do you mainly receive (or generate)

traffic to your blog?

They come to me. Seriously, it’s like magic!

Since I have ~700 RSS readers, these guys will show up if I write something on that day. I see about 2x the traffic when I write… so that’s definitely an encouragement to write. In addition, if I write something sleek I typically get featured on other blogs. In the initial phase, you should try out social media websites like StumbleUpon and Digg. However, you are going to have to be self-sustaining after awhile… so get your RSS readers interested and you’ll see traffic spike.

7. What is your most closely-guarded

secret about blogging for money?

That’s kind of an odd question isn’t it? If something is my most closely-guarded secret, I would probably be pretty weak-willed to let it go as soon as someone asks. On the other hand, if I tell you that I don’t have one… you’d probably suspect me of lying.

Hmm…

Let’s just say that you can pick up on everything I’m doing to make money by subscribing to my RSS feed. Yes, I’m going to make you read through my antics to find out the more profitable techniques.

8. What differentiates your blog among

all the others in your niche field?

Are you kidding me? I’m the Net Fool! You definitely can’t top that. The other jokers out there have smaller blogs… whereas I’m one of the few that has been able to creep up toward 1,000 readers without conforming to the standard tactics and repetition. Give me one reason X blogger is better than me and I will either offer up 2 rebuttals or resign from office.

9. If you had to get a boost in comments

from your blog readers, how would you do it?

That’s easy! Write something controversial. Many people think controversial means writing “Google is Bad” but that won’t cut it. I have found that you can either A. comprise a huge list where you link to 20+ other blogs to essentially beg for comments and traffic. Or you can B. take a successful blogger and cut him down a few notches in public. Don’t be rude, just be effective. We don’t want a lawsuit on our hands, and you can always go at someone without actually offending them on paper… think about that!

10. Which are the blogs you visit frequently and why?

I’d rather not list my entire RSS feed, because I like to spread the wealth around and don’t really focus in on one or two specific bloggers. I usually check in and support the smaller bloggers more than I read bigger blogs, basically because I like to see what the up and comers are thinking. www.IMWithJoe.com is one of my favorites in that category. Mid-cap blogs I like are www.JohnCow.com and www.TylerCruz.com. I like to frequent stock market blogs like Between the Hedges and Bullish Bankers as well for my daily market reads.

11. Which are your favorite bloggers and why?

My favorite bloggers are the cow himself, Jason Katzenback, the family man Gary Conn, ShoeMoney’s Jeremy Schoemaker, IMWithJoe’s Normal Joe, MoneyBites’s “madman” Max and The University Kid’s Jason Pereira. These guys are generally industry names, and great people to work with.

12. Which plugins you can’t live without and why?

My favorite plugin is All In One SEO because it makes WordPress a lot more viable as a Google-rankable product. If you are using standalone WordPress, you are in a world of hurt!

I’m also a big proponent of CommentLuv to get people some commenting motivation, OIO Publisher for advertising (best option by far) and Top Commentators for getting people talking.

One of my secret tools is the stock market plugin that I use to generate in-text stock quotes from companies that are updated in real time with the American markets. You can see an example of this in almost any post on BullishBankers.com

13. What is the most important thing you learned about blogging that you could share with your best friend?

“Blogging won’t make you any money, having a blog will.”

Yes, it sounds counter-intuitive… but I actually make next to nothing from my blog. This is pretty standard (unless you are ripping off your advertisers or are using your blog as a spam service), and I really believe that the true power of being a blogger is from your networking. If you can build a strong network of users to interact with you and play along with what you are trying to do, you can leverage this to build up big incomes every month. When you have people that follow what you do, this will usually lead you to great commissions from everyone working with you!

14. What plans do you have for

the future with your blog?

I’m definitely going to try to pass 1,000 subscribers before year end. I’ll probably at least get close, eh? There are certain plateaus to blogging I believe, and I am currently in one. I literally exploded from around 200 to 600 and am now sitting steady around 700 for awhile. This is totally natural and as long as I put out good content I will get the subscriber base before long.

To me, I really only care about increasing my influence on the Internet… the more people I can help out, the happier I am. I’m in the business of under-cutting the profits of the “big boys” out there… and I am going to continue serving the public until I feel like the blog has reached its tipping point. It’s really a lucrative business, and I believe strongly that I can keep building and growing for quite a while. J

Stay Bullish on the Net!

-The Net Fool

We wish Jim success in the future and thank you very much for sharing your BLOGGING tips, tricks & secrets with us all!
If you want to get further into blogging, check out these resources:

WordPress Profit Maximizer - The BEST WordPress Plugins sent to you weekly via e-mail!

Lazy Blogging dot Com – Everything I learned about blogging!

Thank you,

Codrut Turcanu.

http://www.CodrutTurcanu.com

I had the pleasure and opportunity to interview the pro blogger guy, Darren Rowse, his blog currently shows 66,740 RSS readers.

If you haven’t managed to get that many folks reading your blog yet, you have to listen to what Darren has to teach you about blogging. He gets the “lucky” chance to mail his blog readers every day…

If you had the opportunity to write for 66k people, do you think you could make at least $10,000? You bet! I suspect Darren makes a lot more…

Because he was too busy already and almost declined the interview, I decided to just ask him 8 easy questions

Click here to download the PDF version of this interview, or read the text version below:

1. Would you mind sharing a few things about

yourself and your background for our readers?

I’m a 36 year old guy living in suburban Melbourne Australia with my wife and two boys (they are 4 months old and 2 years old). After high school I studied Marketing for a while and then switched to Theology (a strange mix I know).

I’ve worked in a number of jobs over the years but most have centered around working in churches as a minister. I’m also a keen photographer and avid reader (although both have suffered since having a family I’m afraid).

2. When did you get started blogging, and why?

I began blogging in November of 2002 on a personal blog which covered a lot of topics - everything from culture, spirituality, politics, movies, church and a lot more.

I originally got into blogging as a result of being sucked into and intrigued by a number of other blogs (particularly those talking about emerging forms of church). I was fascinated by the way that they gave people a voice and amplified that voice globally while also helping the blogger to form community around the topics that they wrote. I started a blog the very day that I stumbled upon these blogs.

Over the years I expanded that first blog into a number of more commercial or entrepreneurial blogs including Digital Photography School (a blog on digital photography) and ProBlogger (a blog with blog tips).

I’ve been lucky enough in the last few years to build these blogs into a full time income - blogging progressed from a hobby, to a part time job to a full time thing. I also started (with two other bloggers) a blog network called b5media.

3. What’s the biggest mistake you

made getting started with this?

My mistakes happen on a daily basis - the key is to learn from them and to use those lessons so that you improve what you do.

One mistake that I made was to start ProBlogger with ProBlogger.net instead of ProBlogger.com. The .com version was not available in the early days but I could have bought it for a lot less than I eventually paid for it.

Similarly Digital Photography School is a URL with hyphens in it - something I wish I’d not done. However even mistakes like these don’t mean you’re doomed - I managed to build successful blogs, even on dodgy domains (phew!).

4. How did you come up with the

idea of launching your blog?

With ProBlogger the idea simply came about because I myself wanted to find information on how to improve my blog and make money from it - however I couldn’t find that kind of information anywhere - so I started my own to document my journey and in the hope of connecting with others doing similar things to me (ie to learn from others).

With Digital Photography School the idea came out of another blog which I was running that was aggregating digital camera reviews from around the web. I got a lot of emails from readers who appreciated the reviews but wanted to know how to use the cameras that they bought.

The logical response was to start writing tips on that topic - a new blog was born.

5. How often do you publish and

how do you get content ideas?

On ProBlogger I attempt to publish two posts each weekday and one per day on the weekend. On Digital Photography School I aim to post once per day.

Content ideas come from a range of places including reader questions, extending ideas I’ve previously written about, building on ideas I get in ‘real life’, from interacting with people on social media sites like Twitter, offline sources (like magazines) etc.

I find that the longer I’ve blogged the more open I am to getting ideas in the day to day of life. It’s about looking out for these ideas and having ways to capture them.

6. How do you mainly receive (or generate)

traffic to your blog?

Ultimately it comes down to writing quality content over the long term and letting traffic gro