The War of the Bloggers
(written under a pen name for a client)

In the world of blogging anything goes. You can find blogs about any subject by doing a Google search. Recently I've read blogs about how to lose weight eating oatmeal, not voting for a presidential candidate, managing stress by screaming - and all of these were from a very personal (almost too much info!) perspective. It seems nothing is sacred anymore. If you can think it, write about it on the 'net.

Then, there's the comic relief blogs. The other day I came across another interesting happening in the Internet Marketing blogosphere - a heated battle between two well-known bloggers, John Cow and Garry Conn. It all started when Garry Conn started making derogatory remarks about his competitor, saying that all he is interested in is making money, not offering value to his visitors. That, of course caused the hackles to arise on John Cow who in defending himself challenged Garry Conn to a duel - not the guns and bullets kind, but one that would put their respective reputations on the line. Since both claim to be experts in the blogosphere, a competition of skills would prove which of the two were telling the truth.

So, the battle lines were drawn and the game plan hammered out in a heated debate. They call it a 'cowtest" and a "cowpetition", and have engaged a very funny, but very effective battle of words to get their blogger-followers involved. The "team members" participate by helping their respective captains promote the new blog each will build and sell on Sitepoint.com - the blog selling for the highest price will be declared the winner. John Cow says that if (and when) he wins; he will donate whatever monetary gain he gets to World Vision.

These two well-known bloggers have caused quite a stir that will certainly get the attention of other bloggers in the Internet Marketing arena. However, it brings home the point for all bloggers that in order to be successful at blogging you simply must get your readers involved. So, how do you do it? I've listed a few points below:

1. Start a friendly competition with another blog (like Cow vs. Conn mentioned above).

2. Allow visitor comments - yes, this opens you up to spam, but you can moderate your comments and remove the spam before it goes public. It's really not fair to spout off your soul if you don't allow your visitors (whom you hope to make your life-long friends) to get involved.

3. Get personal - no, you don't have to give sordid details of a romance gone wrong, but be willing to give your followers a glimpse of the real you.

4. Offer value. Don't just rant and rave - give something of value to your readers. They came to your blog searching for information - give it to them in spades and they'll be back.

5. Give your visitors something to DO. Post a poll on your blog, a survey, a feedback form - something to get them involved in a physical way. ASK your visitors to get involved. You will be surprised at the response.

6. Leave them hanging .... You want them to come back for more so don't tell everything in one setting. Besides, people usually don't like to read pages and pages at one setting. Most want bite-size morsels. Let them know there's more information coming soon; invite them back tomorrow.

Yes, the world is full of bloggers. We're not all famous (or infamous) like John Cow and Garry Conn, but we can have a successful, fun adventure of blogging if we will watch and learn from these gurus and adapt those qualities that have made them reach it to being two of the top 30 blogs in their niche. It would be worth a visit to their websites to see what they do.