by Paula Neal Mooney
Come as you are
As you were
As I want you to be...
For some reason Kurt Cobain's unforgettable voice and that not-the-Foo-Fighter-guy's guitar riffs won't leave my "memoriiiiia" alone right now, so I'm going to fit my lessons learned about creating a viral blog post into the lyrics of Nirvana's "Come as You Are" song.
Praise be to God, our Paula's List of Blogger Salaries (along with my Robin Thicke lustings) have garnered this blog a record 18,000 pageviews in the past three days.
And it's growing, so here goes:
As a friend, as a friend, as an old enemy...
After creating the biggest blog post of your life, don't be afraid to call on your blogosphere friends -- and maybe a few foes? -- to Digg your post.
I've never emailed and asked so many people in my life to Digg a post, but a good number of you blessed readers did, and once it got over that hump of around 30-something Diggs, the "goodie" mob mentality took over and people saw the high Digg number and kept Digging it.
Thank you all. (Don't forget to grab a screenshot when it makes Digg's front page if I'm in the steam room.)
Take your time...
I can thank Sunny Ellis for her honest comment about me recently.
"...some days I think she is just posting to be posting," Sunny wrote about me.Posting to be posting, posting to be posting...I realized that Sunny was right.
Some days I'm so concerned with having a freshly-dated blog post up, I'll admit I've thrown up less than my best.
So I prayed for a viral post, something like Al at Self-Made Minds' post about blogs who have the most Feedburner subscribers that was so popular. Al took days to create that table, and only in copying his code did I learn how to create a cool table in Blogger.
And this blessed Blogger Tips and Tricks guy showed me how to get rid of the white space.
I slowed down and took the weekend and beyond to create the table of salaries. And now it's paying off big time, being linked to all over the world. If you're like me, blogging at the speed of light, step away from the fray for a bit and take the time to create something other people might not have the time nor desire to, and they will come.
Hurry up...
This lesson is one I learned about the quirky stuff that went viral after Digg's recent user revolt. The guy in the image above got a lot of attention by acting pretty quickly in the melee and Photoshopping (dear God, I hope that's Photoshopped) a tattoo of the HD DVD hack code to his chest that the DiggNation was trying to suppress.
And this guy quickly created a funny (and quite lovely) Youtube video song called "Oh Nine, Eff Nine" about the same situation that became really popular as well.
Therefore, hurry up and jump in on a hot topic, but go into left-field with your take on it.
The choice is yours, don't be late...
How do I know when to hurry up and when to slow down? How did I get a viral idea in the first place? Check my header. I'm a believer in Jesus Christ...
Compartmentalization is crap. My blogging life in so entwined with my spirituality -- and therein is the secret of my pageview success.
I prayed for a viral post and got it.
Got both the idea and the skills to carry it thru. And there's an endless supply for the asking.
Comments
If anyone deserves it you do!
So enjoy it but don't forget us little bloggers on your way to fame ;)
Stay Blessed
Thanks for taking my criticism the way I intended it. My mom called me on posting just for the sake of posting a few weeks ago too. It stung a little bit, but she said she enjoyed my blog until she got to a few posts and thought, "That's not my Sunny."
Welcome Back
That list post of yours was really awesome, to me it was really encouraging. Even though I'm not blogging for money right now, I'd like to earn from my blog soon and to see the potential of how much I could be earning was really cool .
Kinda like when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie used their fame to show folks the tragedy happening in Darfur, instead of focusing on their materialistic blessings.
Laura - Isn't it amazing? The Lord surely answers prayers...
Sunny - I just love honest critics like you whom I know have my best interests at heart and are only seeking to better my writing. Your words rang in my Spirit for days and days and I knew they were true! So look what your words were used to help create! That's precious.
AgentSully - Yeah, and I know my Father has a lot more important things to do around this fallen world than help us with our blog posts, but it's a fervent desire that much more come of this medium of communication.
Dee - Go ahead and monetize! We might as well get paid for all of our hard work.
Take care all and thanks,
Paula
Not only does that it that you personally are growing all the time but you pass on the knowledge, wisdom and fever to all of us, including MOI!
That list was FAR OUT girl, marvelous work!
My RESPECT!
or bi-monthly?
What with your recent jump in page rank and this digg you're blog is going from strength to strength!
You made a good point. Sometimes I find myself posting just to be posting. I guess we all do it at times.
Anyways, keep up the good work.
Good to see you. That was a sweet post about your talking-Mama!
Anonymous -
I just left your site. Nice advice. Question -- Why do many WordPress blogs not tell you that your comment has been received?
Little pet peeve of mine...
Simon -
Yes, I definitely plan to update the list at least monthly. I've gotten so many good folks to add to the list -- I want to do it sooner! Maybe I'll wait till the May 2007 revenue numbers are posted by the first week or two of June.
Maybe sooner. I'm moving with the Holy Ghost!
Thanks, Theo J. -
Bless your soul for good comments and blog love.
Paula
Thanks for the link to my post How to avoid large white space above tables. Greatly appreciated.
BTW. don't know if this post will interest you: Impoving link popularity and PageRank by removing NOFOLLOW attribute from the COMMENTS. I think it is good practice especially if you, like me, often link to your own posts to respond a comment and/or leave a signature with a link to your blog. If you let your blog readers knows about it, it will also encourage them to comment in your posts.
Peter (Blog*Star 2006 and 2007)
Testing Blogger Beta (now New Blogger)
Yeah, I've learned to slow down and focus more on quality over quantity.
Since the number one reason most people unsubscribe to a blog is too many posts, it's done wonders to my subscription numbers for me to refocus and as Bishop T.D. Jakes says, reposition myself for the blessings that are already there for us.
Hey Peter-
Yeah, your post helped save my life that night when I was trying to get rid of all that white space on the Blogger table. THANK YOU SO MUCH for creating it.
And yeah, I'm all over the no-no-follow, do-follow, i-follow movement. My Google pagerank shot to a five and I believe that really helped.
Happy blogging, blog star.
Paula
I'm so pleased hear about your success after you put in such hard work to a post, whilst being really down-to-earth and let your spirituality guide you. If only more bloggers were like you!
I look forward to reading your future posts.
Michelle.
Take care and be blessed,
Paula