Press Release: For Immediate Release
1 April 2010
MELBOURNE, Australia. (April 1, 2010) – ProBlogger, the web’s #1 Blog Tips site, today announced that it has been acquired by Google.
This acquisition will be a part of Googles extension of the ‘Blogger’ brand and a precursor to their new professional blogging suite of applications – ProBlogger.
“Blogging continues to grow in popularity, not only for personal use but by entrepreneurs and businesses around the world. Once seen as a ‘fools game’ – blogging has now grown up.” said a Google representative today. “Google’s new professional blogging suite, ProBlogger, will put an amazing array of tools into the hands those wanting to take their blogging to the next level.” said a Google representative today.
“What better brand to align these new tools with than ProBlogger, a blog that has consistently produced blog tips for professional bloggers for just under six years.”
“Some have called me a ‘fool’ for even considering selling ProBlogger,” said founder of ProBlogger Darren Rowse, “but I’d be a fool not to allow the ProBlogger brand to be developed by one of the world’s most innovative companies. I’m excited to see where Google will take ProBlogger going forward.”
The acquisition of ProBlogger will allow Darren to concentrate on his other projects including his main site – Digital Photography School – and an upcoming project – FoolsMedia.
Darren Rowse will remain a part of ProBlogger over the next 331 days where he plans to to begin a series of posts entitled ‘331 days to Build an Even Better Blog’ – a follow up to the successful 31 Days to Build a Better Blog.
About ProBlogger
ProBlogger is a blog about blogging. Kinda sad really but not as sad as having a blog about Tweeting… or a book about blogging… that’d be sadder! ProBlogger was founded by Darren Rowse on September 23 2004. Since that time Darren has published 5,356 posts and the blog has received 178,448 comments. A Foolish endeavour? Maybe – but perhaps not as foolish as this press release!
When I saw the title, my first thought was “Noo! They got Darren!” But then I realized what today’s date was.
Nice one. :)
Great news, all the best Darren ! Will you be sharing the G algorithm with us then ?
Got a few more hours here in the UK until the next month :)
Shucks…You’re so lucky. :)
Through the first two-thirds of the post, I wavered between two thoughts: 1) good for him!, and 2) this would make a great April Fools’ prank, but it’s not April yet, so it must be true…
Though I would wish you the mountains of cash that I’m sure you’d get for PB, it’s also refreshing to know you’ll still be here in this format.
Ha! That’s great. It’s so much better that it’s middle of the day on March 31st for me.
Nice, keep up the great posts and sign me up for “331 days to build a better blog!” ;-) Actually…
Wow! That one really scared me for a minute. Then I remembered it was April Fools Day! That was a real good one indeed. I’m really glad it’s not true. I didn’t want to see this wonderful blog destroyed by Google!
Ah! At first I was shocked and at second, I was stunned to see it is April.. huh.. relieved. Waiting for your next post Mr. Problogger.
My mother’s bday is April 1, so I am generally cautious. This was fun to spread though!
It’s still March 31st where I am so I did a double take :)
Oh I totally fell for this. God damn Aussies being on a different timezone (I should know as a fellow Kiwi).
This was an awesome joke, it totally had me going – no thanks to John Haydon’s tweet (I mean who doesn’t believe John).
As Gwen says above, I think it makes perfect sense for Google to acquire – perhaps if you were built on Blogger….
Natalie
Ah Darren, you’re a hoot! Good to see an Aussie getting a head-start on Google for their annual April Fool’s Day announcements :)
If I was Google, I would have sued you — and later say “April Fool” :)
In Brazil, it’s 31st, march, 3PM.
You got me :-)
What a Post Tag !!
Surely you realize the joke is lost on most of us for whom it’s still March 31st for many more hours?
And Darren, today is GMail’s 6th Birthday…and its not an April Fool.
And they are not so comfortable in posting about it on their blog, as people may think it as April Fool!
I was supposed to say, “Isn’t it a bit early for April Fools?” And then I glanced at the clock and the calendar.
Oh, well, April Fools! :D Nice one, Darren.
Oh my, you almost got me there..
LOL… Yeah you got me… I was in crazy shock until I started reading the comments then realized April fools is tomorrow (or today for you)…
This is a pretty good one… You’re really going to have to put some though into next year’s to top this.
You totally had me! Haha!
Best April Fools prank ever!!!
Darren, you suck! :) I read ProBlogger religiously, and read halfway through today’s post when interrupted by the kiddies. The entire time I was away from the computer, all I could think of was, “What? There can’t be a Problogger without Darren? This has to be one of the saddest days or a really cruel April Fool’s joke!” Realizing that might have been the case, I ran back to the computer and saw that it was.
Wow! Great prank! Just please don’t do that to us again! :)
Greetings from Mexico! And Happy April Fools!
Ha! Google could care less about “pro-blogger” all they wanted was the legit license to the DOMAIN NAME.
But nice job spinning what is otherwise just a routine land grab.
Hi Darren,
I’m new to blogging but find your site very inspirational. You really had me worried reading this but well done on the April Fool. Although it’s still 4 hours away for us readers in the UK.
Look forward to more great tips in the future. thanks.
could have easily taken the tone of “how dare you disparage us”, “you don’t know our technology”. etc. Instead, he thanked me for writing about his company, dropped a few hints about future projects and invited me to keep watching them
Had me going for a minute . I forgot you guys are way ahead of us in time zone. Good link bait.
Hi Darren the title was too obvious but still a funny post. Happy April fools day!
That’s one of the best GOTCHAS ever! Maybe it will come true someday! Thanks for the laugh Darren.
AAAHHHH. You got me.
Great one. lol
Haha. That was a good one. It’s actually March 31 here in Nigeria but i saw the RT on twitter and of course I checked.
It’s also a great way to get traffic on a holiday!
Brilliant
Almost forgot it’s April 1 in Australia!
(Technically you’re not supposed to fool Americans until tomorrow.)
And I was briefly looking forward to “331 Days to Build an Even Better Blog” too.
Very funny – great way to round off March 31st in the UK. Keep up the good work! ;)
Darren !!!
Very innovative post for April fools day.
This post has certainly created a buzz around the web.
Love it!!! Great trick… I just love you sad blog about blogging!!!
LOL wow well I am on Arizona time and not even thinking about April fools right now. You definitely had me fooled!!! So glad I did not re-tweet this thinking it was for real!
Got me. I should have noticed how many times the word “fool” appeared.
LOL – had me too, it’s midday the 31st here. For a sec I was thinking I better print off my favorite articles before something happened to them.
Brilliant – based in the UK so you got me for a split second there!
Yo, you got me there for about 2 seconds..Then the post date gave it away.
Dam it I was fooled!!! Can not believe I feel for that one!
Nice
Wow! my 1st of April started with your fantastic joke.
It’s fun for us Aussies to have the timezone favor us in playing pranks on fool’s day when the rest of the world is not at guard !!
love all the April fools jokes… must admit it did cross my mind. in any case well done! i will wait with anticipation to see what unfolds :)
You certainly had me fooled too!! I saw it first on Facebook and went ‘what the hell’ before furiously searching the web for answers…especially the price you got paid. LOL – good one!
haha….that’s a great one. I’m going to use it on my readers at MoroccoBlogs.com with a few minor modifications.
Great one Darren!
LOL – Darren would be pumped if this were a real press release :-) April Fools! In other news, did you see the Yahoo Publisher Network closed? They are referring their clients to Chitika! Should be good news for the Chitika folks, looks like they stand to gain a ton of publishers here!
Impressive, but proves flaky as there is are no direct references or news from Google, and the Representative could be anyone. :)
Good to know about this. Really excited to know about the future of Problogger now..
Good April fools Joke. But you should not have given it away with the tags and other hints.
I would have waited till after 1 April, then updated the post. Would have made for mass hysteria.
Love … though since it’s 6:30 in the evening here, and still March, it took me a paragraph or so to catch on!
Genius Darren. The time difference nearly caught me out too, as it’s still 31 March. Well done!
caught me off guard :)