Mama, Don't Let Your Baby Grow Up To Be A Blogger

The good, the bad and the ugly That sounds a bit trite right now but that's the way it has been for 2007. The blogosphere saw its fair share of winners, losers and whiners. And worse...

Now, Willie Nelson's' outlaw country song "Mama, Don't Let Your Baby Grow Up To Be A Cowboy" seems to resonate with this post about bloggers who are trying their luck at making money blogging. So I'd think it's great to have a post entitled "Mama, Don't Let Your Baby Grow Up To Be A Blogger."

Right on. I think it has been a tumultuous year for bloggers especially those who "live and die" by Google PageRank. It has come to a stage where bloggers are split in their opinion of PageRank. That's not surprising in an edgy situation like the PageRank slapfest.

Enough has been said about the PR slapfest and those who had blogged their way into the doghouse.

Let us have a quick flashback on some of the other goings-on in the global blogging community that may have escaped the attention of those who came later on the scene. This is based on my own observation.

How To Make Waves

When the year started, I can recall that two blogs were creating some waves -- John Chow's blog and The Thinking Blog.

By now, we know enough of JC and his promos of Agloco, "link love" review campaign, and a host of his other antics plus his eating habits. The one that few people are raving about in the later part of the year is The Thinking Blog.

Remember the popular avatar that made the rounds in the MyBlogLog community? It showed the face of a strikingly beautiful young woman with a red flower in her hair. Just like the old tale of Helen of Troy who launched a thousand ships, the blog became a destination for many bloggers. In no time, that blog became a huge success for its owner. But we are not sure whether the person behind is a man or a woman - just like the Japanese blogger Kumiko who has remained a mystery blogger.

Anyone for the Grammy Award?

Then we started seeing bloggers handing out all kinds of awards with great fanfare and all that jazz. Well, there's nothing wrong about it if people want to feel good about it, but don't you think it may have gone overboard? Anyway, it has sort of died down. And what happened to that Blogging To Fame awards campaign? Are there any winners? I don't know because I don't follow it.

Moo Your Way To Success

Next, who can forget the John Cow blog, a parody of Mr Big Beef himself - John Chow. It was a darn good idea that nobody had thought of until this guy from Dublin, Ireland, grabbed the bull by the horn and launched it to great success.

He was making some good cowsense of it with a couple of linkbait tactics that caused a lot of moos across the blogging farmland. Although some other bloggers didn't see it as funny.

New Kids And Their Blogs

Towards the later half of the year, a new crop of bloggers were starting to come out of the woodworks. Their main focus was to sell themselves as "blogging gurus" writing "great tips about how to make money online and gain traffic". They were like grasshoppers to be seen in almost every blogging community.

Geez, do they know how to leave comments and handle their P's and R's. Some were making so-called "good money" within three to four months of blogging and if you followed them closely, they would be posting (and boasting) their earnings each month. I guess, they learned all this from Big Beef and some other A-listers.

When Two Gunslingers Rode Into Town...

But like a great Western movie, two "strangers" came riding into town in the later part of the year and started showing all the punk cowpokes what the real deal is in blogging. Court and Vic are the guys with smokin' guns and they meant business. If you get to know them, I guess you can pick up more tips as you go through the learning curve, gain from this blogging experience and go blogging beyond.


Related posts:
Ouch! It Hurts But You Learn From BU
Roller Coaster Year For Blogging
PageRank Massacre Of The Blogs
Would You Wait 10 Years To Earn Some Small Change?