2006 was a massive year for me both on a personal level but also on a blogging front.
I became a Dad in July, V and I took a couple of interstate trips, I travelled to Canada, I started a new blog and forum at Digital Photography School, b5media went to a new level after securing investment (and had lots of highs and lows along the way), I met and got t know a lot of great new bloggers… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Here at ProBlogger it has been another busy year of posting with 1242 new posts going up on the blog (including this one), around 1.6 million visitors and 3.7 million page views (estimates – I lost my stats when changing servers), many thousands of comments, surviving being hacked, starting job boards and more.
Today I spent a few hours surfing through the last year’s archives reflecting upon the year that was. I try to do this type of review on each of my blogs both out of interest but also to analyze what did and didn’t work over the year so that I can improve for future years.
I looked at a lot of stats today but also made a list of blog posts that were successful (both on a comments/discussion level and on a traffic level). Here is a summary of the year that was with a short description of the month as well as a list of the most commented upon posts and other posts that did well in terms of traffic (or that I was proud of).
I hope you enjoy this trip back through the year of 2006 at ProBlogger.
Warning – Be warned there are a lot of links to follow (143) and it might just take you a good part of the next year to read them all – however for newer readers it might prove a useful way to catch up on what we’ve been up to.
January
122 Posts – The start of the year was a touch slow last year as I took a week off over the New Year break and left the blog with a few advance posts and some great guest posters but by mid January things were kicking along again with a little controversy to get things going.
Most Commented Upon Posts (# of comments)
- My Technorati Problems (73)
- How Not to Launch a Blog – The Story of an Amateur Blogger (72)
- 7 Ways to Get to the Top of the del.icio.us Popular Page (71)
- Should ProBlogger Add Forums (70)
Other Posts
- 9 Ways to Screw Up Your Professional Blog
- Sub-Niche Blogging – Lesson’s from a Baker Named Tom
- Lessons from my Tomato Patch on Pruning ‘Sucker’ Blogs
- Becoming a ProBlogger – A Story in Many Parts
- What to Do when Your Blog is Attacked
- Should Bloggers Write for Humans or Computers?
- Why I don’t use Free Articles on my Blogs
February
144 posts – This month was where I ran the Blogging for Beginners series of posts. It was one of the most exciting months of blogging I’ve had as I got back to basics. Traffic went up, reader interaction was great and the posts in the series remain some of the most popular posts on the blog to this day.
Most Commented Upon Posts
- Blogging for Beginners (129)
- What’s Wrong with Blogging? Part 2 (63)
- Designer AdSense Ads (52)
- Blog Stalkers – Personal Safety for Bloggers (59)
- 19 (More) Strategies for Finding Readers (52)
- Choosing a Blog Platform (48)
Other Posts
- Selling Text Links
- How to Measure a Blog’s Success?
- Another Day in the Life of a ProBlogger
- Making Money from Your Blog – Direct Methods
- Making Money from Your Blog – Indirect Methods
March
126 Posts – March saw the continuation of the Blogging for Beginners Series which ended up being ALOT longer than I first thought it would. I remember feeling pretty exhausted at the end of the series – it took a great deal of work.
Most Commented Upon Posts
- How to: Placing AdSense Strategically Between Posts (58)
- Which Statistic is Most Crucial to Your Blog? (52)
- How Often Should a Blogger Post? (43)
Other Posts
- Introduction to Advertising Optimization – Traffic, Ad Position, Design, Ad Relevancy, High Paying Ads
- How to Be Lucky
- Why You Should Join a Blog Network
- Why You Shouldn’t Join a Blog Network
- How Often Should a Blogger Post?
- Converting RSS Subscribers to Blog Readers
- 10 Steps to Writing a Successful Series on your Blog
April
86 Posts – In April V and I took our last break before our baby came along and over the two week break I posted a series of 16 case studies which were submitted by readers telling the stories of their blogs. I also had some cool guest bloggers again but the overall posting rate was down slightly. We did have a great break though! I also finished this month off with a series of posts on Building Blogger Credibility.
Most Commented Upon Posts
- Blog Tools (90)
- Blogs are about Being Elite (62)
- ProBlogger Vidcast (62)
- 10 Steps to Guarantee You’ll Never Make More than 0.14 cents per month with AdSense (57)
- The Cost of Comment Spam (56)
Other Posts
- Diversify Your Blogging Income with Secondary Money Earners
- Is Your Niche Nichy Enough? A Tale of Two AdSense Blogs
- How to Sell Information Products
- Blogs: Frequently Asked Questions
- The Importance of Landing Pages on Blogs
May
126 Posts – May saw me experiment with a new idea for ProBlogger – Group Writing Projects. I’d done similar things previously but it evolved into the group project idea with Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers. I also ran a poll this month asking readers about their overall earnings – results here. Lastly – May was a month where I wrote a series of posts on Maintaining Momentum in Blogging.
Most Commented Upon Posts
- Some ProBlogger News (66)
- Link Lust (65)
- Idol Blogger Crashes Server and Teaches us a Lesson about Hosting (59)
- New Poll – Gender (51)
- How Quickly after starting a blog should I put ads on it? (48)
- Hitting Comment Spammers and Plagiarists Where it Hurts (45)
Other Posts
- Lessons from an Umbrella Salesman
- How to Surf Blog Traffic Tsunamis
- 10 Reasons Why Many Blogs Don’t Make Much Money
- 10 Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers
- Lessons from Eye Tracking
- How NOT to get Banned from AdSense
- 8 Reasons Why New Media is Growing
- The Benefits of Highlighting Popular Posts on Your Blog
June
116 Posts – June was a quiet-ish month as many of my northern hemisphere readers started to do Summery things and as the time got close for our new baby. I ran another group writing project on Blogging Goals and a couple of mini-series of posts.
Most Commented Upon Posts
- A – Z of Professional Blogging (151)
- How to Increase a Blog’s Page Views (52)
- Exponential Growth in Blogging – Getting Through the Early Days (38)
- My Blogging ‘A List’ (34)
- Business Blogging 101 (27)
Other Posts
- Techniques for Using Polls Effectively on a Blog
- How to Kill Your Blog Successfully (series)
- Title Tags and SEO
- Using Digg to Improve Your Content
July
83 Posts – Our son, Xavier, arrived in July and I took a fair portion of the month off as paternity leave. The theme of the blog for this month was ‘If I had to start my blog again’ which was both the theme of the month’s group writing project but also also a ‘one question interview‘ series that I ran where I asked a number of bloggers what they’d do differently if they had to start their blogs again.
Most Commented Upon Posts
- ProBlogger Junior Comes out of Beta (137)
- What has Blogging Bought You? (more on this here) (51)
- PayPerPost – Paying Bloggers to Post – First Impressions (49)
- A Day in the Life of a Blogger – Vidcast (34)
- I get Paid to Sleep (27)
Other Posts
August
97 Posts – August saw group writing projects go up a notch with the Lists Project. I also wrote a number of series including one on using interviews on a blog and another on Persuasive Blogging.
Most Commented Upon Posts
- Top 8 Excuses for Stealing Other People’s Content (46)
- Blogger Jobs – ProBlogger Job Boards (46)
- ProBlogger Quiz (39)
- Introduction to Desktop Blog Editors (37)
- How to Get Eyeballs on Your Archives (37)
- Essential Books for Bloggers (29)
Other Posts
- Marinating Ideas into Blog Posts – My Posting Workflow
- How to Eliminate the Echo Chamber and Add New Dimensions to Your Blog
- The Problem of Default About Pages
- Reinvent Your Blog
- Should Blogs Use the Extended Entry (more) Feature?
- The Eternal Quest for Uniqueness
- Random vs Planned Blogging
September
84 Posts – September saw the most successful group writing project on the topic of ‘How To’. It had great prizes and attracted hundreds of participants. I also ran a bit of a fund raiser in September in my Blogging for Chickens fundraiser (we raised over $1000). Also popular this month was a mini series on Linkbaiting.
Most Commented Upon Posts
- Why Having a Blog is Like Having a Baby (39)
- Blog Security – Tips on Keeping Your Blog from being Hacked (32)
Other Posts
- Lessons from Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter
- CPC Ads vs Affiliate Programs
- Communication Skills for Bloggers
- Fair Fighting Rules
- Do You Write for Individuals or the Masses?
- 11 Lies of Professional Blogging Resources
- 101 Ways to Run Out of Things to Blog about
- How to Make Your Blog More Inclusive
October
72 Posts – In October I took a break from group writing projects and we got down to some basics of blogging again. Ironically the most commented upon post of the year was in this month about – how to get comments on your blog.
Most Commented Upon Posts
- 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog (186)
- What is Your Day Job? (82)
- What do You Think About Sponsored Posts? – Have your Say (48)
- Top 100 Blogs Have an Average Age of 33.8 Months (46)
- Which Bloggers Would You Love to Meet? (43)
- Is AdSense Dead? (42)
Other Posts
- Expertise, Knowledge and Intuition in Blogging
- How to Be Curious
- How to Improve Your Blogging Through Practice
November
102 Posts – November was an exciting month for me as it brought along a 10 day trip to Toronto to meet some some of the b5media team. While I was gone I ran a fun series of guest posts from readers with their ‘quick tips‘. This month I also posted a 13 post series on How to Optimize Your Blog for Christmas.
Most Commented Upon Posts
- Blog Hosting Recommendations (72)
- 5 Essential OSX Blogging Tools (56)
- Social Bookmarking Icons – Are they Worth it? (46)
- How to Optimize Your Blog for Search Engines (42)
Other Posts
- How Comments Can Help Your Blog Rank Well in Search Engines
- What should you do if your Google Ranking Falls and You Lose All Your Traffic?
- 18 Lessons in Blogging – Part II
- How to Choose Affiliate Programs for Your Blog
December
80 Posts – After a busy year December was a month of fun and winding up for the year. We did another writing project on the topic of Reviews and Predictions and I wrote my last series for the year on the topic of Adding a Personal Touch to Your Blog.
Most Commented Upon Posts
- Win 10 Great ‘Blogging books’ at ProBlogger (92)
- Snap Preview – Tell me What You Think (63)
- Blog Gestation Periods(54)
- Microsoft Under Fire Over Laptops Giveaways (49)
- Five Things You May Not Know about This Little ProBlogger (48)
Other Posts
- Why Personal Blogs Rock
- Blogging Wills – What happens to your Blogs When You Die?
- How to Build a ‘Digg Culture’ on your Blog
- How to Cut Through the Clutter of an Overly Blogged Story and Get Noticed
- Use Reader’s Previous Amazon Purchases to Drive Future Sales
- 8 Signs it Might Be Time to Take a Break from Blogging
All in all it was a fairly busy but very satisfying year of blogging here at ProBlogger. Thanks to the many thousands of readers who have contributed either with guest posts, comments, emails and tip offs. I’m looking forward to yet another great year in 2007.
Have a great night tonight for those of you who are celebrating the coming of the new year and I’ll see you ‘on the other side’.
