Darren Rowse has invited bloggers to a group writing project - writing about our top 5 things within our area of interest. Yesterday I wrote my Top 5 WordPress tips based on my own experience - today I’d like to talk about a related Top 5, the five blogging gurus that I listen to the most. Most of them are technorati top 100 (which is appropriate, as I wouldn’t want to be taking advice from anyone who didn’t know what they were doing).
They are:
- Darren Rowse: Number 1 has to be Darren Rowse. While there are many influential blogs about blogging, problogger.net has special meaning for me because Darren is also Australian - if he can do it, then maybe I can too. This writing competition is a prime example of why he is where he is today - a blog carnival that is working for everybody concerned. His writing gave me a lot of hints about making money from blogs.
- Steve Pavlina: Reading Steve’s blog taught me a lot - probably the most valuable was his thinking about posting frequency and spreading the love over several blogs. I’ve quoted him on blog carnivals, and he wrote the definitive blog monetization article.
- Yaro Starak: I don’t always agree with what Yaro has to say, but I listen and think about it.
- The socialmediasystems crew: these guys are great - they helped me a lot when I was just starting to think about how blogging should be done and what was really possible. I liked what they had to say about 10 rarely used blogging tips and not letting your blog suck.
- Matthew Hodgson: chances are, unless you are an information architect or a fantasy RPG player, that you may not have heard of Matthew. I am lucky enough to work with him. He knows Topic Maps better than anyone else I know. He also encouraged me to just write for my own pleasure, and I owe him a lot for that. We’ve discussed blogging strategies over coffee several times and he has always been on the money. I promise to encourage him to blog on blogging - he knows more than he thinks he does and I think you will like what he has to say.
Honorable mentions should also go to two other big influences - Seth Godin and Steve Collins.
Note: according to the competition rules, I can only submit one posting, which I’ve already done. But I felt it was a good idea to keep writing “Top 5″ stories - I’ll try and get one out every day this week.
Thanks for the mention and I’m glad you like our blog. I’ve got a lot more blogging material in the works which you may find useful including some more in-depth stuff. I see your blog is new, but it looks like your off to a good start.
Thanks Solomon,
I’ve learnt a lot from your articles and am happy to recommend them to others.
Best regards, Andrew
Am very flattered by your kind words Andrew.
Everyone should blog to help crystalize their thoughts and communicate to others, friends and colleagues alike, what they think and feel - whether it’s social psych, knowledge management, the social web, or even blogging about blogging!
Blog on!
M
Hi Matt,
meant every word of it
You have been an inspiration.
Best regards, Andrew
I have read blogs of all those people you mentioned, except one(Matthew Hodgson).
In my personal opinion, Steve Pavlina is no. 1. His indepth articles added to my thoughts and reactions the most.
But I must say Darren is more complete (problogger) in blogging guides.
Hi Sandip,
thank you for your comment.
It would be hard to choose between Steve and Darren (and Yaro, and Solomon Rothman). Matthew is a friend and colleague who encouraged me to get started and has helped me a lot. Good bloggers all, and an inspiration.
Best regards, Andrew