Last weekend blogging guru Darren Rowse ventured over to Western Australia to present the inaugural Problogger event. The chance to sit at the feet of someone who’s been blogging for 12 years was too good to miss. So too pondered 100 fellow W.A. bloggers who quickly filled the Boulevard Centre at Floreat Library. Darren spent a good two hours imparting his wisdom, finishing off with 10 quick tips. Later that night, pondering what I’d heard, I realised that I’d learnt 20 things, not 10. Here are the other 10 things I took away, hope they help all my fellow bloggers out there.
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| Thanks to Chris Guillebeau |
The thought of doing something so all-encompassing for 12 years and not giving up, is testament to what happens when you are truly following your passion. Clearly Darren’s passion hasn’t diminished.
No I don’t mean the blogs background design. I mean YOUR background. Ponder this … what does a background in Theology have to do with cameras? Nothing right? Well then you might be interested to hear that Darren’s background was in Theology. Interesting hey? A great blog can be developed by anyone who has an idea and the desire to see it through.
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Darren Rowse Problogger in Perth
© The Ponder Room
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What happens if your blog takes off, what then? Would you immediately shut it down and hide out in the cupboard, or would you hang on for the ride?
Blogging is only a part of your life. No, I’m serious blogging buddies, it really is. Talk to your family before you get too involved in blogging. What would they think about you spending all your time with your head in your computer?
Be very clear about what you will and wont do on your blog. Will you include photos of your family or not? Real names or Mr X? What sort of advertising will you accept, sponsored posts, affiliates?
We all know not to give people our PIN numbers, but just how much personal information are you divulging on your blog? What if that safety spills over into real life? Darren opened up about his own experience with a stalker … not a cyber stalker … a real life stalker.
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| Problogger in Perth © The Ponder Room |
8. There’s no one way to blog
That’s the beauty of blogging you don’t have to be, you can let the blog do the talking for you. Having sat in way too many ‘ra-ra’ presentations it was a relief to find Darren was (relatively speaking) a quiet down-to-earth man.
16 Comments
Brilliant Glennys – Darren really has so many lessons to give doesn’t it, and you’re right, it’s so refreshing that he’s a normal down-to-earth guy.
Thanks for telling me about it
Talking with you last night and reading this post have fired my enthusiasm for my blog. Thanks, Glennys
Maureen Helen
Great to here. It was a great night
or hear even, as opposed to here … don’t blog when you are tired 🙂
Loved your takeaways, Glennys and it’s yet again reminded me of key points that I tend to forget in the miasma of blogging! Great to catch up with you too 🙂
Fantastic to see you too. Thanks heaps for the lovely connect. Keep well.
I can’t wait to implement all the changes too, I was a bit annoyed at myself for not realising a lot of the stuff Darren pointed out as it really is common sense but I guess that’s why he’s the guru and I’m not 🙂
Hi Jaz,
He he, look forward to seeing you up on the stage next year, am sure you’ve got some insights to share too. Great to see you in The Ponder Room. Apologies for the delay, have had a frantic week
Great article, it is nice to read your article.
Thanks for the feedback
Nice post, i hope everyone will like your post..
Thanks
You said you learned 20 things. Feel like sharing the other 10?
Hi Gail welcome to The Ponder Room. I don’t think I can give out the first ten things as they are Darren’s words/work that the participants all paid to hear. But I think they might be on his problogger site which is absolutely excellent if you haven’t already been on there.
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