No matter what your level of expertise, blogging mistakes are inevitable.

I know I’ve made my share.

When Darren Rowse, author of Problogger and co-author of ProBlogger: Secrets Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income agreed to participate in my A.S.K. (Answers Sharing Knowledge) series, I wanted to know his answer.

I asked

As bloggers we often reflect back on the mistakes we’ve made along
the way. What is the biggest mistake you’ve made in your blogging career,
and what did it teach you?

Darren answered

Some of the more obvious ‘mistakes’ were around the domain names that I selected. My first blog was a .org.au domain which doesn’t lend itself to an international audience. My second was a .net instead of a .com (I ended up buying ProBlogger.com off someone for a lot of money later) and Digital-photography-school.com doesn’t have an easy to say ‘ring’ to it (too many hyphens).

What did it teach me? Firstly – think ahead – but secondly, you can still be successful even with less than perfect domains.

Reflecting On The Answer

Thank you Darren for sharing your answer with us. Although you see your domain names as a “mistake”, that certainly hasn’t deterred readers from finding you.

I must agree, when I picked the names for my blogs, I had no idea where my blogging would take me. Looking back, I know I could have done better, but that’s the past and like Darren, I’m not going to let poorly picked domain names stop me from succeeding.

Although the domain name for this blog may sound silly or often raise the “why is it named what it is” question, I did learn the name is keyword dense. For those who don’t understand what keyword dense means, I have the words blog and blogging in my domain name and for search engine purposes, the title of my blog matches the content. Some will say, “that’s a good thing”.

To answer the question, “why is it named what it is?”, when I was learning how to blog, I was documenting what I was learning. It was that process of note taking and/or journaling I realized we all “blog”. The only difference is with a blog, we’re publishing our words online.

In previous posts we’ve talked about other mistakes we’ve made in blogging, but today let’s concentrate on our domain names.

Today’s Assignment

When you look at your domain name, are you happy with it or do you wish you had put more thought into it?

Has your domain name handicapped you in any way?

If you don’t have a blog yet, have you considered the implications of choosing an appropriate name?

Let’s discuss this topic further in the comment section and share our insights with others.

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A.S.K. Darren Rowse of Problogger – How Do We Increase Our Readership
A.S.K. Andy Bailey – What Was The Inspiration Behind The CommentLuv Plugin
A.S.K. Liz Strauss – How Do You Inspire Readers To Join Your Community
A.S.K. Liz Strauss – How To Format Blog Comments To Maximize Comments

Most bloggers get impatient and want fast growth. We try whatever others suggest to grow our blogs and drive traffic to them. Some techniques work better than others, but no one tells us what to expect, when.

I wanted to ask someone who has been there, so in this third part of my A.S.K. (Answers Sharing Knowledge) series with Darren Rowse, author of Problogger and co-author of ProBlogger: Secrets Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

I asked

It’s not unusual for a blogger to expect rapid success. Based on your 6 year blogging history, when (timeframe), and how did your know your blog was a “winner”?

Darren answered

For me I’m looking for ‘signs’ that my blogs are growing from the very start. It’s not so much about getting certain amounts of traffic at certain points but rather seeing signs of growth and reader engagement.

For example with ProBlogger I knew I was onto something with potential before I even started it because the posts that I wrote about blogging on my personal blog at the time were getting more comments than any other topic.

With Digital Photography School I knew there was potential in the early days because other blogs began to link to it.

It’s all about looking for signs of growth and engagement – not just traffic. You should start to see these (even if they are just very small signs) from the first few months.

For a blog to reach its potential though, you need to give it considerable time. It takes a couple of years to get to its potential.

Reflecting On The Answer

Thank you Darren for sharing your answer with us. It certainly sheds a new light on the time commitment blogging entails.

Darren mentioned we can see growth in other ways than just traffic. Another way we can measure the growth of our blog is by our Google Page Rank. We all start with a ranking of 0/10, and as our blogs grow and gain credibility as being reputable, our page rank increases.

Todays Assignment

Can you think of other ways a blog’s growth can be measured other than in just traffic numbers or comments?

With regard to your blog, are you seeing continual growth?

Were you surprised when Darren said a blog takes “a couple of years to get to its potential”?

I’m curious to hear what you think. Feel free to share your answer.

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A.S.K. Darren Rowse of Problogger – How Do We Increase Our Readership
A.S.K. Andy Bailey – What Was The Inspiration Behind The CommentLuv Plugin
A.S.K. Liz Strauss – How Do You Inspire Readers To Join Your Community
A.S.K. Liz Strauss – How To Format Blog Comments To Maximize Comments