While blogs about blogging is a crowded niche, there is always room for a new entrant with a fresh approach.

Eric Hamm (Motivate Thyself) and Sean Platt (Writer Dad) have teamed up to launch Blogopolis Blueprint, a blog dedicated to helping bloggers find their online voice and remain one step ahead of the curve.

Eric and Sean have been busy in recent months with guest posts on Zen Habits, ProBlogger and Pick The Brain (here and here). If you have come across these posts, or are familiar with their own personal blogs, you will know both men are great writers and have a lot of insightful knowledge to share.

Eric and Sean tell me Blogopolic Blueprint will highlight a specific blogging theme each week, and in addition to their own articles the blog will feature a rotating cast of guest authors and interviews.

But that’s enough out of me…. go check out Blogopolis Blueprint (or subscribe via RSS and email).

Peter Clemens is Editor of Pick The Brain (follow him on Twitter).

Photo by L*u*z*a

According to Technorati, it is currently tracking 112.8 million blogs, and estimates that there are over 175,000 new blogs created every day. What is it, then, that takes a blog from obscurity to a place where thousands of people read it each and every day? There are, of course, many different reasons but in this article I want to turn the spotlight on one reason that I consider to be absolutely essential: belief.

Why is belief so important? After all, can’t any fool believe their blog is destined for greatness? And belief is worthless unless it translates into action, right? Well these things are true. Anyone can believe, but the truth is many people don’t (even when they think they actually do!). There is a big difference between hoping your blog will become popular and truly believing it will. And this brings me to the key point in this article: what you believe determines how you act. When you truly believe you are destined for success, you do the things that successful bloggers do.

If you are sick of simply hoping your blog will become popular, the following are some specific ways in which you can take it to the next level by being a true believer.
Click here to continue »

Jason Calacanis, A-List blogger and founder of Weblogs Inc. (the company behind the enormously popular Engadget) has written a post stating some general rules for link baiting him. Follow these rules, he says, and he’s very likely to link back to you.

Basically he expects people to stroke his ego a bit before bashing his usually controversial opinions. He recommends citing his past accomplishments, mentioning his bulldog, or displaying attractive pictures of him before he gained weight. Click here to continue »

Is There Any Money for the Little Blogger?

In the past two days I’ve been contemplating two important ideas that make me feel very uncomfortable about what I’ve done and what I plan to do with this site.

This is a very good thing.

The first idea can be summed up in two sentences.

Make something remarkable.
Make something worth talking about.

This idea comes from Seth Godin. If you aren’t reading him you should be. Read everything he writes. Start with this free e-book. Click here to continue »