Popular bloggers are setting new trends, and my question is, are you following them?
- Problogger Darren Rowse changed his theme two weeks ago. John Chow got a makeover Wednesday.
What does this mean?
Even the most popular bloggers can’t help but change things around a little. This doesn’t mean go and change your theme right now, but eventually you should switch, or even try out a new header design or change around the colors. I changed my theme in the beginning of July. It’s a lot of work, but it’s fun to do and the readers will love it (or really hate it).
- John Chow gets rid of google adsense and sells his prime ad spot to a private advertiser. Next thing you know, other blogs are trying out this technique too! I’ve seen at least two other blogs do this.
What does this mean?
You don’t have to bow down to The Man. Relying on the ups and downs of Google Adsense is risky. Why not cut out the middle man, and sell the spot privately? That way, all the money is yours, and you get it right then and there. This eliminates the worrying about getting tons of clicks, trying desperately to reach the $100 payout, and worried about getting banned by Google. If anyone wants the prime advertising spot on my blog, feel free to drop me an e-mail through the contact page.
- Both Darren Rowse and John Chow sell little cute square advertising buttons in their sidebar. Who hasn’t started doing this one yet?
What does this mean?
Forget Google! You can get a steady income if you manage to sell off sidebar buttons. I’m definitely doing this one soon. AdIcons doesn’t appear to be much of a success and could probably get more people interested if the spot was bigger.
- Darren Rowse’s old blog used to have three sections on the top of the blog with things like “Popular Posts” and “Subscribe to the Blog”. John Chow’s new layout now has this, Carl Ocab just did this, and Court has had it for awhile.
What does this mean?
You should totally do it too! This one is a no brainer. What’s about the fold is seen first. Show off your best work, your feed, an advertisement, or some recommended sites with this layout. I’m going to try and implement this into my blog soon enough.
- Cash Quests got rid of allowing comments on the blog a while ago. It created a ton of controversy, but some bloggers dared to try it out too.
What the heck does this mean?
You don’t HAVE to follow the trends of probloggers. Don’t be afraid to take a little risk. Now, I wouldn’t suggest removing comments from your blog, but trying out new things is always a fun learning experience.
Have you noticed any new trends that popular bloggers are setting and others are following?
Sometimes the new trends aren’t worth following, but if a successful blogger does it, it surely can be enough to convince us small time bloggers to try it out too.
I think you need to be careful about following trends to closely. I think the best sites are the ones that go out and do their own thing, or put a unique twist on the familiar.
For the record, I was the first one who installed the header than john chow!
“put a unique twist on the familiar”, Agreed