Probloggers Always Make A Bang

by Guest Writer

If you write daily, regularly check your stats, and do search engine optimization work seriously, are you a problogger now? No. Of course not.

If you have a premium theme along with the great plug-ins (even if they’re paid), the professional logos and all the stunning design works, then, are you a problogger now? No. Maybe not yet.

What about if you have your own ebook, a decent newsletter subscription, a long contact list of friends (A-lists too), and a lot of following in all those social media sites, well now, are you a problogger? Probably. But I’d still say no.

So what’s the point of all of these? How do you really become a problogger?

I used to think there are checklists

Back then, whenever I hear the term ‘problogger’, I think of metrics and visible gauges. Like a letter ‘K’ in the feedburner chicklet for example, or even something as shallow as the average number of comments each posts are receiving. I sometimes even judge by the looks of the theme (you can’t blame me, I started blogging back in a time when John Chow heavily promoted custom themes made by Unique Blog Designs).

I even went as far as actually trying to figure out all the things in the supposedly ‘problogger’ checklist. I know… I was that determined. But the thing is, I never figure out the exact formula.

Now I know why, there’s none

Yes. You heard that heard. There’s no formula in being a problogger (at least that’s my opinion). Sometimes, it’s not about how regular you post (like Maki of Dosh Dosh), or how elaborate your blog theme is (Seth Godin surely wouldn’t really care), or how large your newsletter list (Darren started one just recently) or even how good you are in the SERPs results (John Chow was punished by Google for a year remeber?).

If you want to be a problogger, wake up, there’s no magic formula. You could have the most normal looking theme, or the most inconsistent posting frequency and it wouldn’t matter.

It just all boils down to one thing – make a bang

What is a bang?

Probloggers are probloggers because they know how to put themselves in the center of an explosive mayhem. It’s not about blending it and getting along with the crowd, it’s about standing out and making the crowd follow you.

A bang creates a point of reference

Let’s be honest. Being a founder of a blog is never enough. It’s about being the person behind something big that could leverage your blog. It could be an absurdly great product (for example, Robb’s Ramped Reviews eBook did place him in thousands of people’s radar) or coaching program (like Yaro’s Blog Mastermind), it might even be a one-of-a-kind free report (remember Authority Rules by Brian Clark?).

If blogging examples are not enough, how about listening to one of Einstein’s Laws of Motion…

“Every action creates an equal and opposite reaction…”

The bottomline of this post is simple – if you want to make it big, do something big. Make a bang.

Bio: Liane is 17, and she founded Better Blogging For Bloggers and Twarks Twitter Designs. She spends her free time reading books, watching any kind of movie except Japanese horror films (seriously scary!), goofing around with her Photoshop and beating guys in badminton. Oh, let’s not forget blogging too (it’s highly addictive).

Liane also created a really cool poster for bloggers titled “70 Ideas for Your Next 70 Posts”. You can check it out by clicking here.

Image by Garp B

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8 comments

Mo March 22, 2010 - 7:34 am

Making a bang makes total sense. I’m not sure if it really applies to me, but I’ll see if I can apply the principal nonetheless.

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zazo March 22, 2010 - 7:54 am

“Probloggers are probloggers because they know how to put themselves in the center of an explosive mayhem”
Hi Liane, I simply loved this article and specially the line which I quoted above,to me bang for any pro blogger comes with a creativity with equal professionalism. Most of the times I noticed that either of one thing find missing in any new wannabe problogger, like me. I did mistake in my problogging career and still paying for it. Your post just went like you are writing directly about me.
I now believe that the meaning of problogger is not something related with blog themes, followers or anything else. It all comes with time, patience, dedication and over all the way we learn things from others, positively or negatively.
Thanks again for a lovely read.
zazo

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Liane March 22, 2010 - 10:49 am

You have no idea how this comment made my day zazo. Best of luck in blogging, and on becoming a pro 😉

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zazo March 23, 2010 - 10:59 pm

Thanks Liane, that’s why we all are serving each other everyday, to make a sophisticated professional environment. :p

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Mikkel 'DaneBlogger' Juhl March 22, 2010 - 10:05 am

Good post Liane.

I’m not sure if I agree. Of course as a problogger you will have to be able to make these “bangs,” though I think that you can be a problogger by doing something else than just “banging.”

You do not need to make a “bang” to become a problogger. Everyone can do it, as you said.. There is no magical formula.

You can do other stuff than a “bang,” to make you a problogger. You just have to stand out from the crowd (somehow) and then I bet that you need amazing content, a great design (some people says it isn’t that important, though I have talked to people who doesn’t wanna visit Daniel Scocco’s Daily Blog Tips, because of the design) and you need a commanding influence.

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Liane March 22, 2010 - 10:43 am

Point taken Mikkel. There’s a bit of clarification though, when you said ‘stand out from the crowd’, that’s exactly what I referred to when I said ‘make a bang’.

The reason why saying ‘standing out’ isn’t enough is that it’s too overrated already. People say that a lot, but how do you exactly do it?

The answer is that you need too do something beyond the standard blogging procedures- make a bang.

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Jarrod@ Optimistic Journey March 23, 2010 - 2:14 am

Great post! I totally agree. A problogger has to set him/herself out from the crowd and create leverage for their blog. This is great food for thought!

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ShaneHudson March 5, 2011 - 7:24 pm

What a great post. It is so true, who CARES about any one thing on most bloggers checklist? Have you seen Jacob Nielson’s Alertbox? The design is dreadful, its boring, but he is probably the most well known “guru” in website usability and good design.

I agree that John Chow made people think themes are important (and I think John Cow actually had more of an impact on me in that way), he is just there for the money. He made a LOT of money through persuading other people that they need to give him their money. Others (even right now) are doing the same thing.

Being a problogger is not about getting people to give you money. Give them good advice, you will make good money… you don’t need to feed them bad advice just for the money.

Lastly, it is about getting your name out there. Robb – Oh ye, I know him, the guy that likes bikes? Gary V – Oh of course, the wine guy. Darren – You mean the one that taught every blogger on the planet?

But it is not just those making mega money that stick in your mind. There are currently 5 comments on this post. Out of the millions of blogs (and bloggers for that point), I know of at least 2 of the commenters here. Surely that means something? For somebody that has not blogged in over a year to come to a blog and instantly recognise even one person by their name or avatar? Well done Jarrod and Mikkel.

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