Tips for joining the A list
I keep getting asked “how do I get more traffic?” Or, “how do I get TechCrunch to notice my blog?”
Quick: go to Technorati and do the brrreeeport search. Now, which headline and opening text grabs you? Makes you wanna click? Hint: we’re all being slammed with hundreds of sites every day. The more interesting you can make your headline, the better. Think about what your headline will look like in the search engines and use every one as an opportunity to grab a little bit of traffic.
Now, look at the 98 brrreeeport results on Technorati. All are on the same topic, right? But some headlines stand out from the noise. Which ones grab your eye? The one that says simply “brrreeeport report?” Or the one that says “brrreeeport beats Mohammad cartoon?” Conflict is a story telling device. Use it in headlines!
Also, notice that Technorati has a way to “claim” a blog and if you do that you’ll get a little picture next to every one of your posts. Posts that have pictures win!
One other fun thing? Brrreeeport is a “top search” on the Technorati home page right now.
Need another tip on how to join the A list?
Here’s another one: be different. What do I mean by that?
Well, Dan Wieringa asked me for some help with his blog. It’s a decently written blog, but it isn’t getting much traffic.
First notice how his blog looks very similar to tons of other blogs? That’s hurting him.
One of TechCrunch’s popularity secrets is that he uses lots of graphics and screen shots. Makes his blog more pleasing to the eye. Sorta the way Technorati looks better than Google’s blog search.
Another thing? Dan’s title tag is boring. You need some personality! Look at Darren Barefoot’s title tag. Lots of personality and gives me some sense of who Darren is. Oh, and his blog’s design sticks out too. Different. Clean. Personal. Who wouldn’t fall in love with that smile? Yeah, WordPress.com makes it hard to change the template right now (Matt Mullenweg promises that’s changing soon, but in the meantime you can get ready by doing the other things — come up with a better title tag, write better headlines, work on finding interesting content that’ll help you stick out of the crowd on search engines and memetrackers.
Another way? Steph Booth taught me this one: tag often. Tag frequently. Tag better. In WordPress.com your categories are also tags. Don’t worry about using too many tags. The more tags you use, the more likely someone will find you in a search engine.
Another tip? Make friends with other bloggers. You know, if 15 z-listers link to you, are you a z-lister, or did you just move up to the m-list? Hint: it doesn’t take that many links to be seen as an “authority” on Technorati. Well, unless you’re Om Malik and then Technorati just thinks you don’t have any authority. Yikes. But, anyway, usually you will get noticed if a few blogs link to you and it’s not hard. Got a good post today? Why don’t you email a few people (one at a time, not in a group) and say “hey, I think you’d enjoy my post today on xxxxxx.” Don’t beg for a link, just show some passion about what you’ve written or posted.
Or, heck, do what I’m doing this week — just say screw it all and go skiing. See ya from the slopes tomorrow!
While I’m slushing at Keystone, Colorado as part of the Bloggy Mountain High trip (yes, my way was paid for, so this link is a sponsored link) why don’t you stick in your own URL and toot your own horn and join the A-List! Or, at minimum, post a good tip for getting noticed!
Powered By 
February 14th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
“Categorites” :-)
Glad to see I bugged you enough to get you tagging!
February 14th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Steph: thanks! Heh.
February 14th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
- Post to your blog with a frequency that mirrors high school girls chatting on the phone about boys?
Come on Robert, you are a guy who works for Microsoft, people go “Ahhhhh, ohhhhh” at your every word, but for us regular weenies, blogging usually comes to an end after we realize that nobody really cares about our little insignificant worlds.
But on a positive note, those who blog about things that they are passionate about eventually find others who have the same interests, these are not at the same levels of an “A list” member BUT this is what blogging is all about.
Break a leg! (Well not really, you know the saying…hehe) :)
February 14th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Ah, don’t think I should take all the credit for that. Keving obviously did a good job of nagging you at NV ;-)
February 14th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
Ew! Kevin, not Keving. Sorry for the noise.
February 14th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
Nice tips!
February 14th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
Escape the z-list
I have to thank Robert Scoble for introducing me to BlogCode.com. I strongly suggest that everyone go and check it out. Basically, you “code” your blog and then it gives you recommended blogs that are coded similarly. I’ve already…
February 14th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Hey Robert,
I like the A list tips. You should maybe do a blog tip when you can. Loved Naked Conversations. I just finished it.
February 14th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Definitely appreciate the feedback. I was hoping “Content was King”, but the blog world seems to need a dose of “curb appeal” as well. A huge thanks for taking the time to think/white this out. Definitly will be working on it ASAP.
Dan aka ‘admitting-I-have-a-boring-blog-name’ (for now)
:)
February 14th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
I’ve got another tip: be active in the community, participate in the conversations. Say interesting things, add value when you comment, and people will go and see who you are.
February 14th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
A-Listednesss.
Here are what I think are the top 5 A-list techniques other than promoting Technorati (seems to be a pre-req) and having snazzy post titles.
1) Be somebody in real life. If you are a millionaire playboy, founder of a major company or even just a mid-to high level functionary in a famous company (Google, Microsoft, etc), you are bound to attract a lot of readers, no matter how boring your posts might be. Having A-list bloggers as friends helps.
2) Spread link love. To the extreme. Start every other post with “A-lister X says” or “Gadfly Z thinks”. Link, link, link. Bloggers reciprocate. Egosurf frequently, make sure that people who link to you don’t go unlinked. The best post of this type is “Y thinks that I am/do/was …”. Even if the post is negative - there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
3) Have impeccable and popular taste. Link to a lot of interesting sites. Here’s how this works: troll the web, find interesting web pages. Summarize them in your post and take the best picture, make it a little smaller and use it as an illustration for your post.
4) Post very frequently, even overfrequently. People don’t like subscribing to rarely updated feeds.
5) Start memes. Everyone love those.
Notice that providing original content, being funny and/or interesting does not matter as much. I mean, A-listers can be boring and unoriginal as well as interesting and original - but it’s not a differentiator as far as the A-listedness counts.
February 14th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
Another tip - dont talk too much about things you don’t really understand well - focus on what you know - perhaps more importantly, don’t try to sit at the ‘cool kids table’ just because you think it is the cool place to be. Hang out with the people that really matter for what you do and get over the high school popularity contest…
February 14th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
“Don’t worry about using too many tags. The more tags you use, the more likely someone will find you in a search engine.”
Remember meta keyword spam? Well, the same thing is going to happen here, no?
February 14th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
Heh, thanks for the plug. If only you’d dump that wife of yours and we could run away together to some Greek isle.
Just kidding, in case, you know, anybody gets the wrong idea.
February 14th, 2006 at 2:34 pm
Robert, great post. I think you’ve cornered the market on the high-energy “just do it” style of writing. That’s a compliment by the way.
I think deadprogrammer also has some good points.
One thing people need to decide on is WHY they blog and WHAT they want. I’ve had a blog for almost 2 years now, and my traffic was abysmal. About 2 months ago I said “Hey, I need to understand this better”, so really started expending more energy. Being a true z-lister, I was surprised a few weeks ago when my discussion posts started showing up on Memeorandum in the headlines… almost overnight. Hmmmm. Taught me alot about the whole cross-linking process and also gave me some real insights into how Memeorandum and other ranking engines work.
I have tried to be genuine in everything I’ve posted, and I do have a rather argumentative devils-advocate approach to most things. I was on the side of the telcos in the “Net Neutrality” debate, and was comparing the A-list to good-ol’-boys conservative men’s clubs. Those counter-point views are a bit unusual, and do attract attention if they’re written well. It just so happens also to be the REAL me, which I think is vital. BS is pretty transparent these days.
But, it takes work, and frankly I’m not sure that “being on the A-list” is even remotely close to my goals. I don’t want to be a journalist but love writing.
But, the moral is that a truly nobody z-lister like me can, if motivated to get into genuine discussion I care about, end up at the top if he says something interesting and authoratative. I do really think it’s not as much who you are, but what you have to say and how much insight you have that matters most. At least for now. Sure, Robert works for MS, but he expends enormous effort communicating with people. I actually think the latter, rather than the former, is why we’re here talking to him.
I also think that if you have something to say, you absolutely need to do the things Robert recommends to “be seen”. There’s too much noise. And you’re competing with a huge number of people who are great at self-promotion. So, you need to belly up to the bar and do the same or what you say will be lost. Timing is also critical. When something breaks, you either need to react, write, and have something intelligent to add…. QUICK. Don’t bother parroting what other people say. If you have nothing REAL to add, don’t bother. But, if you DO have something to say, 24 hours later there will be so much chatter that it’s almost pointless to join in.
Just my $0.02 from the bottom looking up. :-)
February 14th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
I agree with not going with the flow just for the sake of being popular.
My personal goals for traffic are to give away information for free that has worked well for me…
(like investigating the value of Compact Flourescents - ok, a little nerdy, but $30-50/month in my Toy Fund is pretty sweet - got a USB GPS unit this month)
…or get discussions going on things that are important
(like maybe getting lobbyist influence in the piublic eye instead of Britney Spears!)
Kinda like a think-tank-coop/tech-mob idea…?
February 14th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
You know what I would like to see? A-listers that actually read blogs and search out blogs that are not A-listers.
These blogs are the one’s that make the A-listers possible, and many times all I see are A-listers cross linking with A-listers. That’s what makes it hard, because there’s a bit of a clique just like in anything in life. Many times, Robert, all I see is you linking to other A-listers and friends. It’s really up to people like you to encourage the growth of the blogesphere, and linking to your friends (as Om malik does), doesn’t encourage that.
February 14th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
[...] Scoble is running a test of blog search engines, and this is my contribution to the dataset. Hmmm…I am not yet there. Let’s say “brrreeeport” and “truthiness” in the body of the post and see what happens now. [...]
February 14th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
[...] Much to my surprise, he wrote quite a lengthly article in reply, and posted it to his own blog, entitling it ‘Tips for joining the A list’. I appreciate the lengthly response immensely, but I want to clarify that my intentions are not for fame personal gain. In fact, I commented later on in his thread with the following: My personal goals for traffic are to give away information for free that has worked well for me… [...]
February 14th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Hey congrats. Some (alleged) spammer regged your “brrreeeport” on a DomainsByProxy hit and has already started doing Ad Sense dog and pony SEO hits, and no doubt — a splog next up, wheeeeeeeee. The brrreeeport meme SPRINGS into ACTION. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. :)
So the moral to this whole stupid game comes down to ‘have catchy zany headlines’, tag often, and play the incestuous “friendship” blog-link “authority” traffic games? Ummm, that’s pretty gee-whiz grade-school common sensical, but I guess bloggers need things jackhammered into their skulls.
February 14th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
I’m a firm believer that unique content is the key to getting people to bother reading your blog. Sure, more links from more blogs helps you crawl up Technorati ranks and such, but what good is that if all you do is recycle memes and Daily Show jokes?
Of course, the occasional blatant whoring (like commenting on this post) never hurts.
February 14th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
Wow, blatant whoring Kurt, I thought that the exchange of conversations was what this was about. I blog to talk to anybody out there that wants to listen or to nobody at all. It is important for people to be recognized and to be a part of something. I personally just like fact I can talk about cooking hot dogs and receive comments from some guy across the plant.
As far as being an Alister or a Z lister, as the fella says: what do you want to do?
February 14th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
Thank you for the inspiration! I am not longer going to ask how to… I’m going to read YOUR blog :D
Thanks for the cow.
February 14th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
“talk about cooking hot dogs or receive comments from some guy across the planet”. All this “A list” talk sounds like the psychological results of not enough attention at home growing up. Is that really the goal of a blog? To get into the “in crowd” and really feel like you are cool and somebody? Even if all your blog does is repeat content from other blogs and talk about how important one perceives themselves to be? Personally I could give a rats ass how “popular” a blog is, or where it ranks on somebodys weekly blog ranking poll. I read a blog for content, pure and simple. If the content is compelling and maps to and holds my interest, it has accomplished its goal. And in the end, isn’t that the point? Or is the point to see who gets to be the most popular kid in school? I agree with Christopher. This whole “wanna be an A-lister?” seems very juvenile. Hey Scoble, maybe you can package this up and make a bunch of late night infomercials and go around the country giving seminars are $400 a pop. I’m sure there are plenty of insecure geeks out there that would pay to learn how to “be like Scoble”.
February 15th, 2006 at 12:31 am
Are you really skiing?
February 15th, 2006 at 6:15 am
There is no A-list
To ensure hell froze over, Om Malik linked to Kent Newsome, who had written in his post (emphasis added): Having said that, I have genuinely tried to reach out to a lot of Scoble’s blog buddies through links, comments, humor,…
February 15th, 2006 at 6:43 am
Scoble on Tips For Joining The A-List
Robert’s advice to the bloglorn is a bit superficial, focusing on eBay-ish features like adding a picture to your Technorati profile, or catchy headlines. Some of the tips are useful, like using lots of descriptive tags (as that will help
February 15th, 2006 at 7:27 am
Headlines make the biggest difference in readership, in my opinion (and some Eye Track research). You can read some tips about writing headlines in the sidebar on this page: http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=58928
February 15th, 2006 at 7:41 am
“I’ve got another tip: be active in the community, participate in the conversations. Say interesting things, add value when you comment, and people will go and see who you are.”
I have been commenting more, again, and I really only do when I feel like visiting (and I usually then feel like commenting) my liked blogs.
I always keep in mind the adding value part, but sometimes I just know the blogger will appreciate “great article!” (Unless he or she thinks it’s spam, but I’m acknowledged in my blogging circle, so nah.)
Anyway, I posted a couple of arguing points in a friendly way on blogs I visit and like … and then I was quoted in subsequent articles inspired by my comments! How good does that feel? It’s unbelievable that I could cause that.
But it really can happen to you … I’m not THAT great of a commenter!
February 15th, 2006 at 8:38 am
Despite some the advice and encouragement given above, I think B, C, and Z-listers will find it nearly impossible to break into the A-list. It’s not because the A-listers are “better” than the rest of the alphabet (although many are very good). It has more to do with the fact that the A-listers staked a claim early in the game. Blog search and aggregators like Memeorandum feed the A-list trend, regardless of quality — looking at Tech Memeorandum right now, I can see that of the posts linked to the top item (”Here Comes Measuremap”) a large handful are simply repeating the news or describing what Measuremap is. These are not great posts. They are featured because the Memeorandum algorithm has pushed them to the top because they mention the subject and lots of other blogs and websites link to these blogs.
The best chance B-Z listers have to break in is by consistently scooping mainstream media (and other blogs) on certain trends, secrets, or developments, IMHO.
February 15th, 2006 at 8:52 am
[...] Scoble wrote a post that all kinds of people are linking to (1, 2, 3, 4). Most seem to agree with him. Which isn’t much of a surprise. Scoble’s pretty good at STAYING an A Lister. [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 10:09 am
Call me cranky, but are people blogging because they enjoy it or because they want the self validation. Blog because you are passionate about it, whatever it may be and the content will reflect it.
February 15th, 2006 at 10:43 am
[...] Me? I’m just in it for the potential for a little more traffic to SyncSpeed and the rest of the DPBlogs network. So I’m trying out the “brrreeeport” title and tag as well as Robert’s advice on joining the A-Listers. As he states in his blog, only a few posts, with interesting topics stand out. Blog traffic is something that interests just about everyone in the blogosphere. It’s stretching the truth a little a lie right now, but if I get just a few more fresh eyes today, it’s massive to me. Who knows. Maybe I’ll get a little link-love. [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 11:23 am
I suppose it doesn’t hurt to be mentioned and linked to in one of the most popular blogs on the ‘net either.
February 15th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
People are such attention whores. Um, sorry, but they are. To get attention, dig deeply in your most personal interests and fascinations, observe, create and innovate, and do it again tomorrow. Both my brothers read my blog; what more do ya want? The end.
“brrreeeport mindmap” gets like seven google blog hits. but that project’s something i did solely because it fascinated me. all this glamour and stardom is pure gravy, and distracting. the vast majority of the “blog-o-sphere” has no clue an “A list” exists and never will care. the hierarchy is made up! just do your thing! what would be great even if you got No hits???
Of course I know you know this, Robert. Keep the creativity coming.
February 15th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
[...] At 11:29am Scoble posted this subject Tips for joining the A list where Scoble gave mention to the feedscott view tank blog title “brrreeeport beats out the Mohammed Cartoon” saying [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
[...] And while we’re on the topic of misunderstandings, I just noticed how the word ‘keep’ seems to be the fifth most popular tag on Blinklist. What’s this? Keep? Um, if you blink your page, it is kept; it is a bookmark, a favourite… Sufficient reason for me today then to add a tag to my cloud called brrreeeport. Now there. [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
[...] To Clarify: The image is from Om’s comments, Robert Scoble also gives tips on how to join the A list. No further explaination your honor. Tags: Blogging, Policy Posted by James | [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
This is almost funny because since I am the top guy on coComment people have asked how I jumped on coComment so early. I just laugh and say it pays to be awake at 3/4am. But sadly my hit rate has gone down. I am a student first and foremost. If people go back a few pages it’s just me talking about my day, a review now and then but barely.
February 15th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
Scoble on Joining the A-list
Robert Scoble has an interesting Tips for joing the A list, as in A list bloggers, the ones with seemingly infinite traffic. I’ve got to go back and re-read later tonite. Kent Newsome has a wonderful analysis and commentary of
February 15th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
[...] Denle un vistazo al full post [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
[...] Tips for joining the A list — Robert Scoble [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 4:29 pm
[...] Still want to join the A-list? Maybe the Scobleizer has the answer . Bookmark at del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | Blinklist | Furl | Reddit | Yahoo! MyWeb [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
[...] That’s right, brrreeeport. Brrreeeort brrreeeport brrreeeport. Apparently there’s a giant experiment going on in the blogosphere (That’s right, the blogging community is called the blogsphere. And yes, I did just learn all this blog lingo to make me look like a serious blogger!) It was started by this man as an experiment of sorts. Anyways, it seems a lot of people in the blogosphere are going along with it. [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 7:41 pm
[...] 15th, 2006 and is filed under News Brief. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently notallowed. [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 8:19 pm
I should have checked back earlier, it seems. To Guy Pelletier: the “blatant whoring” comment was only in reference to myself, since this is not a blog I frequent and certainly not a blog I’m a frequent commenter on. My point is that, sometimes, even comments that add something to the conversation are posted partly in the hopes of getting a few new eyes.
Had it not been for the wording of the request for comments in the post (”…why don’t you stick in your own URL and toot your own horn…”), I wouldn’t have commented. Simple as that.
February 15th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
Beating the odds and becoming an A-list blogger: The 7 tips
Robert Scoble posts some tips on becoming an A-lister in a post here. Some of his tips were also covered by Prof. Gibson in class last week and I’ve slowly begun to adopt them. Here’s the crux: 1. Make the
February 15th, 2006 at 8:35 pm
[...] Robert Scoble posts some tips on becoming an A-lister in a post here. Some of his tips were also covered by Prof. Gibson in class last week and I’ve slowly begun to adopt them. Here’s the crux: [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
I was interested to read about your tips about getting more traffic, and i think that I will implement some of those.
A question. How about encouraging comments? ;)
February 15th, 2006 at 11:42 pm
Here’s tooting my horn a little.
See the 2 little graphs on this post?
Some of the “trick” like headline, promoting will get you spikes like this if done just one time.
On the other hand, sustained growth like this is from consistency.
Just sharing my ideas a little.
February 16th, 2006 at 12:20 am
[...] Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger » Tips for joining the A list I keep getting asked “how do I get more traffic?” Or, “how do I get TechCrunch to notice my blog?” (tags: Blogs blogging Tips Traffic) [...]
February 16th, 2006 at 1:13 am
@Weiyen: I think it’s who you are is part. No offense to Scoble but I have seen a few posts that he said blah blah blah basically and everybody made it sound like he was the creator of the universe. Just think if Bush had a blog and it was really him writing, don’t you suspect he’d get a few hundred comments within 5 minutes of posting. Also if I posted “I took a shower today” I most likely wouldn’t get any replies. But if I posted “I showered with Britney Spears” I’d probably get 50 comments for pics or proof.
February 16th, 2006 at 1:19 am
Useful hacks
February 16th, 2006 at 5:12 am
[...] Not really but apparently provocative (mis-leading) headllines are the way to get on the ‘A-List’. (Note: He’s changed the paragraph about titles so it’s much softer than what I got in my RSS feed). [...]
February 16th, 2006 at 6:24 am
[...] Back when I was a bit of a “WordPress.com celebrity” a week or so ago, I received an email from Dan Wieringa asking for some advice as to how he could improve the traffic on his blog. It appears he sent the mail to all the bloggers who were running at the top of the WordPress rankings at that time, including Scoble, who blogged about it and sparked all manner of conversation on the topic. The best advice I saw was from B5 Media’s Jeremy Wright and I particularly agree with this key comment: You just swap your real life for a virtual one. [...]
February 16th, 2006 at 7:00 am
(Clears throat to use best Mae West voice)
Hey there handsome, is that a tag in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
(Snickering all the way back to my z-list blog)
February 16th, 2006 at 7:12 am
[...] Buried in Scoble’s recent tips for joining the A list of blogging was this gem: “In WordPress.com your categories are also tags.” If that’s true, WordPress should be shouting it from the rooftops. That is a COOL feature. [...]
February 16th, 2006 at 7:13 am
Ironically, you’ve been Linked to.
February 16th, 2006 at 9:58 am
[...] Robert Scoble has posted tips on how a blogger can join the so called “A-List” of bloggers. Kent Newsome and others have picked up on this and commented on or offered their own suggestions on how to go from being a Z-List blogger (bloggers with a small readership) to an A-List blogger (those bloggers who draw large audiences). Many of these tips most bloggers will find very useful in trying to create a larger audience. [...]
February 16th, 2006 at 11:20 am
[...] Check out the full story here. You will find his site on my Blogroll. [...]
February 16th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
[...] I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that typically a good Z-lister is not aspiring to be an A-lister. A quality blog, whether it’s A-list or Z-list comes out of a person’s passion for what they do and it’s evident by the quality of their content. However, if you have a dream of becoming an A-lister, check this out, again from Scoble- Tips for joining the A list: Another tip? Make friends with other bloggers. You know, if 15 z-listers link to you, are you a z-lister, or did you just move up to the m-list? Hint: it doesn’t take that many links to be seen as an “authority” on Technorati. [...]
February 17th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
[...] Continuing in this series, I have been dissecting the suggestions given to me by Robert Scoble on his blog, and seeing what works and what doesn’t. [...]
February 17th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
[...] Robert Scoble has created a “Fun With Technorati” experiment involving the nonsense tag brrreeeport. As a follow-up to Scoble’s search engine prank is a lesson about using the power of headlines to get on the blogging A-List , so I thought I’d join the fun. [...]
February 17th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
Thanks for the tips, I really appreciate the help. I’m going to start implementing these. Maybe you should become a site consultant.
February 18th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
[...] This has very little to do with being an internet cartoonist really, except that we are always trying to make people notice what we are doing and therefore search engines and how they work are of great interest. [...]
February 19th, 2006 at 9:21 am
Having a title with personality is both a good and bad thing. It’s a good thing because it attracts readers. It’s a bad thing because it may not tell you what the entry is about and it won’t help in terms of search engines.
Honestly, there’s no one magic formula that will make a blog an A-lister. A lot of it is luck and good writing. The rest… pray and make best friends with A-listers, which isn’t easy to do because they think everyone is using them.
February 20th, 2006 at 3:09 am
Hey Robert, I’ve been blogging virtually every day for 6 months. I have a Google PR of 4 and I get around 300 Unique visitors a day. I used to post a lot of original short stories and long commentaries but I’ve found people seem to go more for the short hits that I mostly find trawling the Web or reading mainstream media. Nobody wants to read anything longer than 500 words and we all seem to be obsessed with celebrity and SEX. So I chuck a fair bit of that in too. If I want traffic it’s easy - I just go to some right-wing nutcake’s site and leave derogatory comments. They can’t help themselves, they and their coterie attack back. But it’s not really the audience I want. Increasingly I find there’s a great sameness to all the blogs out there. Some stick out - like cocainecorner.com but they’re rare. But really, I think you just gotta post what you’re into and to hell with the rest. I’d rather have 300 interested regular visitors than 3000 morons looking for cheap thrills. I did post Brrreeeport though. What’s my blog about? A 55 year old Australian bloke married to a 29 year old froggie sheila living in Paris with their 19 month old son and yearning for the surf and beer of his native Sydney and commenting on what a fucked-up world we live in (thanks in part to you guys). Cheers mate.
February 20th, 2006 at 10:26 am
[...] Continuing on in my series, I’ve taken a few suggestions from Robert Scoble and tried to expand on them to make a full-featured how-to on blog improvement. I’ll continue polling other leading bloggers and posting how-to’s based on their suggestions, but today we’ll look at Scoble’s tagging suggestion: Another way? Steph Booth taught me this one: tag often. Tag frequently. Tag better. In WordPress.com your categories are also tags. Don’t worry about using too many tags. The more tags you use, the more likely someone will find you in a search engine. [...]
February 20th, 2006 at 11:59 am
There is no one magic formula that will make a blog an A-lister, but integrating offline PR with online linking is the way to go to beomce an A-lister.
February 21st, 2006 at 5:33 am
[...] A while back Scoble wrote some tips for getting our blog into the A-list. [...]
February 21st, 2006 at 7:47 am
[...] I keep getting asked “how do I get more traffic?” Or, “how do I get TechCrunch to notice my blog?” Quick: go to Technorati and do the brrreeeport search. Now, which headline and opening text grabs you? Makes you wanna click? Hint: we’re all being slammed with hundreds of sites every day. The more interesting you can make your headline, the better. Think about what your headline will look like in the search engines and use every one as an opportunity to grab a little bit of traffic. Now, look at the 98 brrreeeport results on Technorati. All are on the same topic, right? But some headlines stand out from the noise. Which ones grab your eye? The one that says simply “brrreeeport report?” Or the one that says “brrreeeport beats Mohammad cartoon?” Conflict is a story telling device. Use it in headlines! Also, notice that Technorati has a way to “claim” a blog and if you do that you’ll get a little picture next to every one of your posts. Posts that have pictures win! Read More [...]
February 21st, 2006 at 8:09 pm
[...] I was inspired in part by a recent article by A-Lister Robert Scoble who discussed just that - getting on the A-List. [...]
February 21st, 2006 at 11:01 pm
Lately it seems that everybody is an expert when it comes to getting on the blog A-list. Robert Scoble for example tells us that we should all go over to Technorati and do the brrreeeport search and make friends. That’s great advice Robert, but I guess being a Microsoft employee/blogger had nothing to do with your new found “success” did it. (Rhetorial question).
February 23rd, 2006 at 11:44 am
Why Are A-List Bloggers Old?
There, I said it. I don’t mean that they’re actually that old, I don’t think many are over 50 and most probably don’t even crack the 40 mark, but the question stands, where are the young
March 1st, 2006 at 7:29 pm
M-listers and Down-linkers
Interesting discussion going on about M-listers - the middle crowd, somewhat known bloggers but not quite A-listers - crosslinking to each other, eventually elevating some to A-list level. “In time the M-lister who is most prolific on this subj…
March 5th, 2006 at 10:34 am
[...] I have had about 60 odd posts on here and I have 90+ categories already. I apparently took Scoble’s advice of using as many categories as possible rather enthusiastically. [...]
March 6th, 2006 at 8:41 am
[...] You also have Scoble, Boyd and even Hugh (in his usual, inimitable way, natch. Here too.) weighing in to the debate. [...]
March 13th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
[...] In response to Dave Winer reporting that he will stop blogging,Scott Karp writes here that the blog has become a medium for a brand independent from the individual behind it. While this might be true if you happen to be an A-lister, I don’t think it’s true in general (and as blogging becomes more and more mainstream — see the MySpace and LJ crowds), and I don’t think it will become true in general, either. [...]
March 18th, 2006 at 4:24 pm
[...] Wait a minute, you may be asking. Didn’t Robert Scoble do something similar with that brrreeeport thing? [...]
April 9th, 2006 at 1:07 am
[...] Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger » Tips for joining the A list February 14, 2006 Tips for joining the A list [...]
May 13th, 2006 at 1:21 pm
getting more traffic to your blog
Got a question from Bruce Reyes-Chow about how to increase blog readership, and thought I’d share with the public too. That’s the beauty of blogging, it’s easy to share information with the public instantly, and search engines help pe…
June 21st, 2006 at 7:25 am
[...] Tips for joining the A list de Robert Scoble. [...]
August 1st, 2006 at 5:20 am
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August 1st, 2006 at 6:17 am
I’ve got a great idea for getting traffic. Yank out your chest hair online!
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March 23rd, 2007 at 2:20 am
[...] Circa 2006: Already an A-lister, but not yet blinded by power, Scoble advises us on how we can join the A-list. Is it through hard work an perseverance, as Steve Rubel would [...]
March 23rd, 2007 at 3:49 am
[...] there were tips given on how to become an A-List blogger or get noticed by one, it was Earl Mardle who actually said it best with this statement in an [...]
March 27th, 2007 at 1:38 am
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April 8th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Cool, I think I am either c or d list at this point, do you know of any math or forumlatic ways of determining blog ranks or scoring beyond sites like bloginfluence?
June 1st, 2007 at 5:35 pm
[...] recommendations. One of my favorite bloggers is Robert Scoble and he wrote this post titled ‘Tips for joining the A list‘ way back in February 2006. He makes some excellent recommendations and upon further [...]
June 5th, 2007 at 12:33 am
[...] Scoble also mentions the use of catchy headlines in his post titled Tips for joining the A-List, along with tagging and networking. Darren Rowse suggests short, frequent posts and networking with [...]
August 13th, 2007 at 2:14 am
[...] Tips for joining the A list [...]
September 28th, 2007 at 8:41 am
I will be honest and say that I am new to the blogging, but I hope that I am getting closer to the A list. I doubt it as of right now, but someday. Great posts, and good information.
Rick Marnon, Howell
http://www.oaklandlivingston.com/howell.html
March 27th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
[...] “A” in “A-list” does not stand for Awesome, or A+ as in school work. It stands for Authority. Whether or not [...]