100 Reasons Why Blogussion is an Amazingly Successful Site

And How You Can Copy These Strategies For Your Own Site

Blogussion.com is a Thesis Theme success story. If you visit the site you will see that it is a hive of activity. If you visit other Thesis Theme sites that review other Thesis Theme sites (like this one), there’s bound to be an article or a reference to Blogussion or a comment by Alex Frasier - Blogussion’s 16 year-old teenage owner and founder.

I’ve written about Alex on at least two occasions:   Young Talent Time: Calling All Promising Young Bloggers and Talented Thesis Theme Designer For Hire: Live Portfolio Here Now

100 Reasons Why Blogussion is Successful…tips and tricks you can copy for your own site

In no order of importance…

1. Customize the default theme

• Take the time to make your site look and feel unique.
• The default Thesis Theme is white with grey and blue highlights.
• Blogussion is bold, bright and beautiful in red and orange with grey and white highlights.
• Learn how to use your custom.css (custom style sheet) and your custom_functions.php files.
• You can copy and paste code from the Thesis Theme Forum and many other Thesis Theme sites.
• Start with the Tips & Tricks Directory here at Thesis Theme HQ for an A to Z directory and The Definitive List of Thesis Theme Tutorials.

2. Practice what you preach

• Don’t try and sell Thesis Theme (or any product) as an affiliate unless you understand how it works, what it offers and demonstrate this knowledge and understanding.
• Blogussion is one of the best examples of Thesis Theme on the web.

3. Know your limits

• Don’t try and write articles about anything unless you are confident you know what you are talking about. If you aren’t so sure, simply say so and qualify your comments.
• Blogussion offers advice on web design and customizing the Thesis Theme. They know what they are talking about. They steer clear of topics they don’t have direct experience with (usually through trial and error).

4. Be honest

• If a tutorial is more advanced, or if the Thesis Theme has a learning curve then say so.
• If you tell readers that something is simple, make sure your explanation, examples and images prove that it is.
• The post on Blogussion 4 Great Ways I Customized my Thesis Theme includes such a disclaimer:

“I’m not going to lie, the way Thesis works coding wise will be confusing at first with the hook system it uses. But once you mess around with it, it’s the easiest thing in the world.”

5. If it’s not broken – don’t fix it

• I understand the need to tweak a theme until you are happy with it – but once it is obviously successful – stop tweaking with the look and work on your content.
• If you are going to make changes, try to gradually or slightly change your site’s appearance. If you keep radically changing the look of your site – your regulars may be thinking WTF!
• Blogussion has made some minor changes to its layout but the colors and main structure were a hit from the start – and they haven’t been changed.

6. Love your colors

• Web design is about a lot of things, most importantly a color scheme that doesn’t result in your targeted audience hitting the back button or just closing the tab. If you want to reduce your ‘bounce rate’ at least make your site colors appealing.
• You can’t please everyone with your colors but there are some general rules including limiting your colors.
• Blogussion limits the number of colors but cleverly uses gradients in a color palette to add visual appeal.
• When you are happy with your colors – as above – leave them alone. The mere look of Blogussion is recognisable, largely because of its color scheme.

7. Pay careful attention to Typography

• Being able to read the headlines to skim, scan and search blog posts is very important. A larger, bold text-style that is easy to read is the best way to go.
• Blogussion uses a larger font for headlines and a larger text in posts and pages that contrasts nicely on the lighter background.
• Notice also that the typography uses the existing blog colors and doesn’t introduce additional colors, underlines or hover properties unnecessarily.

8. Tell everyone you are an online entrepreneur

• Many bloggers welcome some extra income to pay for hosting, supplement their income or just pump back into their site to keep it growing.
• Alex is upfront about being an online entrepreneur and Blogussion offers free information on making money with your blog, see From Planning to Earning @ Blogussion for some great info.
• People generally want you to succeed so tell them what you want to be successful at. Alex said he wanted to improve his design skills and he is now a web designer and consultant thanks to people who took a chance with a young man with goals.
• Hats off to Agent Solutions for giving Alex his first break.

“My first client after taking the plunge into freelancing, and I think this made a great start for me.”

9. Get active on Twitter

• At the time of writing this post, Blogussion had over 4,000 twitter followers.
• Bloggusion have also set up an automatic feed of their posts to their twitter account using twitter feed.
• I use twitter feed to automatically post Thesis Theme HQ articles to its twitter account and can personally recommend it. It takes just minutes to set up.
• Even if you never tweet, your twitter account will at least be active and contain links to your recent posts for your followers to retweet.

10. Embrace your youth

• On Retire@21, on the 5th Nov 2009, Alex Fraiser was ranked at number 96
• http://www.retireat21.com/top_young_bloggers/

11. Target your keywords

• Match your domain name to your site name.
• Target keywords in your site name. Target keywords that relate to your site name for extra SEO goodness.

URL	:	blogussion.com
Title	:	Blogussion — Blogging Discussion, Tips & Tricks
Description	:	Blogging Discussion, Tips and tricks. Blogussion provides tips for bloggers, new and old to help improve their blog.
Keywords	:	blogging tips, blog discussion, blog for beginners, thesis theme, blogging guide, make money blogging

12. Make it up

• BLOG + DISCUSSION = BLOGUSSION
• Clever way of getting rid of competition if you can do it.
• Alex’s portfolio/freelance site is coming soon – it’s called KOLAKUBE.
• I checked, it’s not in Wikipedia, yet.

13. Awesome in post images

• The images used in posts and pages on Blogussion are very special. They draw the reader in to read any overlayed text and add visual interest.
• Try cropping your images to a standard size of 260 x330 pixels for example.
• Don’t be afraid to use bright colors.

14. Be a DIC

• Alex is a member of Dream.In.Code (DIC).
• Maybe to be as good with site design, you have to join a club?

15. Love what you do

You better have a lot of patience, and a lot of tenacity to make any money online. You won’t make money doing something you hate doing, but something you love to do. That’s the beauty of the web; it allows you to make a profit doing the things you love.”

Read more of this interview with Alex @ MoneyFellas

16. Catchy titles

“While the content is the thing you should spend the most time on to make it as perfect as you can – the title of the blog post needs to be as catchy as you can.
It’s not really so easy to get the content we write read. The title is usually the one thing that determines whether or not the post will be read. If you have an awesome, catchy title, then the other aspects of a blog post (readability, grammar, graphics, etc.) will come into play. But if not, then all of those things won’t matter much because your content will not be read…”
Read more of this interview with Alex @ MattFlies

17. Use WordPress

“I use WordPress, because it was the first blog software I hear of when I first started blogging. After I have been using WordPress for a few months, I tried out other stuff. Nothing is as good as WordPress, and nothing ever will be.”

Read more of this interview with Alex @ MattFlies

18. Use Thesis Theme

The thing that got me to buy Thesis was how good for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) … I am not that strong in SEO, so the idea of having a theme that will do much of the SEO work for me was awesome…I have upgraded to the Developers Option and have it on all of my blogs. If Thesis isn’t running the blogs design, then I doubt I would be willing to even work on the blog.
Read more of this interview with Alex @ MattFlies

19. Be Generous

• Blogussion is quite happy to reward its readers.
• Read The Best User is the Biggest Winner @ Blogussion to see what participating actively can get you.

20. Do Guest Posts

• If you are prepared to share a little of yourself, then you are prepared to become famous.
• Alex has done quite a few guest posts but I have a couple of favourites (some I have already mentioned above).
• Check out Alex Fraiser: Revisted @ Teenius – another design by Alex and think about how much traffic is exchanged between Blogussion and Tennius as a result of these guest posts.

21.  Fantastic resources

Not only does Blogussion offer great ideas, they write amazing list posts that point you in the direction of great resources. Read the Blogussion article 18 Resources to Help you Write Better Blog Titles to discover at least 18 other fantastic sites about writing better blog titles.

• Create your own feature length posts with links to internet resources or your own resources. Create pages that people will want to bookmark.

22. About Page

The About Page includes information about the blog owners, authors and other site support staff that make Blogussion what it is. It includes photos to give that extra personal touch.

• When your readers want to know who you are, you owe them a bit of an explanation. I know personally, that sometimes even knowing if the site owner is a guy or a girl can make a difference. I was mistaken for a bloke for quite a while so I added a thumbnail avatar to my author profile box to clear that up.

23. Hall of Fame

Recognizing the personalities that have assisted with Blogussion over the years at the bottom of the About Page shows that Alex has heart. There is no guessing where people have gone to after their posts stop appearing on a regular basis.

• Be generous with gratitude. If somebody has played an important role, whether paid or otherwise, give them some kudos.

24. Cross Promote Your Other Sites

On the About Page of Blogussion, as well as on many others, you will find links from words such as ‘unique blog‘ and ‘stands out from the crowd’. These links will usually take you to Unique Blog – a reasonably new subsidiary of Blogussion.  It shares a similar design but focuses on creating a unique blog.

• If you have other ‘blog real estate’ give it an appropriate plug every now and again.

25. Blogussion Talk Forum

Blogussion has its own Forum – Blogussion Talk – for users of its Premium Skin for Thesis.

• You can get your own VBulletin forum or use various plugins (at your own risk).

26. Blogussion Premium Skin for Thesis Theme / WordPress

The well recognised Blogussion Skin for Thesis Theme can now be yours. If you already use Thesis Theme, you might like to check out Alex’s Premium Skin. There are quite a few skins on the market – not as many are as well known as Blogussion’s.

• If you don’t use Thesis Theme for WordPress yet – you will need to purchase Thesis – before you can use Thesis Skins.

27. End of Post Summaries

Blo­gus­sion posts end with a sum­mary and a brief dot point list of key points box in a decorative box.

• Alex recommends against using a summary at the front of an article – instead have it at the end as a kind of a reward for reading through.

28. Highlight your Unique Selling Point (USP)

Alex is 16. When he is 17 he will still be a successful young blogger. When he is older, he can say he started when he was a youngster.

• What makes you different to other bloggers? Do you have children, weird animals for pets, etc? Write about it.

29. Breadcrumbs

Blogussion has a distinct breadcrumb (see image below). It is found between the header and the post box on the grey background. There is never any doubt which category or section you are in.

• Install a breadcrumb plugin to add extra navigation to your site.

30. Social Bookmarks

You will see in the image above that you can Stumble, Delicious, Digg and Tweet any post as soon as you arrive. These prominent buttons are repeated at the end of a post.

• If you use these social bookmarking sites to generate traffic, or would like to, consider adding some links and attractive buttons at the front and/or end of your posts. There are a range of WordPress plugins available.

31. Image Attribution

Alex gets a lot of images from Flickr. You can see in the image above, a clickable attribution link is in the lower right corner of the image.

• How to Use Free Images From Flickr Without Breaking the Rules

32. Fat Footer

The fat footer at the bottom of Blogussion is jam packed with features…

33. Active Discussions

Lists the 5 most recent comments – including part of the comment and a thumbnail of the commenter’s avatar.

34. Random Articles

Readers love a surprise. Grab a plugin that calls up random posts from your archives (your entire collection of posts since day 1) and give them an opportunity to read something they usually wouldn’t or something they had no idea they could find on your site.

35. Contribute a Post

Guest posting is a great way to add content, share link love and manage your time. Have a link to a page that gives people the low-down on how they guest post on your site.

36. About Alex

An image of the blog owner with a little bit of nformation and a link to a lot more information.

37. Secondary Footer Section

The very bottom of the footer has icons and links to affiliate products, associated sites and a groovy Sail on Up link that takes the reader back to the top of the page.

38. New Site Launch

One of the links to Alex’s associated site is to Kolakube – a soon to be launched site – thanks to the success of Blogussion. There is a link to Kolakube in the footer and from other pages.

• If you have one successful site with a great following – launching the next one is so much easier than starting from scratch. Just throw together a squeeze page and link to it from your main site to stay in contact with people who are interested about your next big thing.

39. Squeeze Page

Kolakube has a nifty little squeeze page that has a similar design and colour scheme as Blogussion. A perfect example of an effective squeeze page: capture the name and email address, offer something of value, get it indexed with Google as the traffic drips through.

• For more information about squeeze pages and making your own -  Easy Squeeze Pages, Landing Pages and Sales Pages in Thesis Theme

40. Guest Post Guidelines

Inviting readers to guest post is a great way to give people a voice. They may or may not have their own web presence. If not, you are giving them a wonderful opportunity to taste blogging without the risk of having their own site. If they do have a blog, you are offering wonderful exposure.

Guest posting at Blogussion will also give you great link juice. The Blogussion guest post guidelines page is a full width page of instructions on how to format the post to word count. I  particularly like the grey information box that is floated right.

41. Thesis Customization: Previous / Next Article

Instead of the default Thesis previous and next links, Alex has jazzed it up with bolder lettering and his famously familiar grey and white gradient image background that also appears at the top of posts and teasers.

42. Drop down menus on steroids

Unlike the usual drop down menus that come as a default with Thesis, Blogussion uses the bolder, content packed, two-column variety that even has image links within them. No idea how they’re made (code customization or plugin) but they look great.

The small space on the navigation bar is expanded on hover to nearly a quarter of the page with informatio that you want to know. Makes you curious to see what is behind the others, doesn’t it?

43. Sidebar Rotating Images

Blogussion uses rotating images in the sidebar like the one below for Guest Posting. Background images can include words – use your imagination.

44. Blockquotes

The custom styles used at Blogussion changes the default blockquote into a beautiful italicised paragraph with an image of quotes in the background.

• You can also change your blockquotes style in your custom.css file. Visit the Thesis Forum to get some ideas.

45. Pullquotes

Like a blockquote but instead of being a block the width of the content area, it is about half the width and either right or left aligned – like the one below.

46. Tags

You can list your tags or you can list your tags with an amazing background image like at Blogussion.

47. Related Articles

Every site should have a related articles plugin or widget that displays related posts at the end of a post and/or related posts in the sidebar. If a reader likes the content of a post, chances are they will read the related articles – increasing the length of their visit (good for ranking) and hopefully coming back (repeat visitor / subscriber).

48. Active Discussions

I haven’t actually seen this feature anywhere else before. There is a page dedicated to the most recent discussions (actually comments left by readers) that is formatted like an archive page with thumbnail and teasers of the comment. You can click to contribute to the article.

• This would be a handy feature to have built in to the next version of Thesis Theme – instead of relying on comment plugins that usually let the reader click out to the commenter’s site without first visiting your article. Where is the logic in that?

49. Site Colours

The main colours of black, grey and red are emphasised with red text with red hover background colours (when links are hovered over). This consistent colouring helps guide the reader through the pages – crystallizing the brand colours of black, grey, red and white.

50. Favorites Category

The Blogussion Favorites category is another way of saying Featured - that is, some of the best content there is – but it says it with style. It also gives Alex the opportunity to add his truly favorite posts – just for fun – if he wants to.

• If you don’t have a favorites category – maybe you should start one now. It will give you a chance to add deep links to older content than many readers  wouldn’t usually get to see. Like a random posts category/plugin in the sidebar, it gives your readers variety and shows them that you have been around for a while.

Remember blogging years are like dog years, one is equal to seven.

51 – 60.  List Posts

List posts rock in themselves. If you just want to scan for some great ideas, then go straight to the list posts. Bookmark the good ones so you can find them again.

10 of the Best List Posts @ Blogussion

• 18 Resources to Help you Write Better Blog Titles
• 100+ Lists To Help You Become a Better Blogger
• 45 Link Building Tips To Help You Promote Your Blog
• 30 Real Ways to Make Money Blogging
• Blog Promotion: 169 New Ways to Build Traffic like a Ninja
• Designers Checklist 1.0: Does Your Blog Design Accomplish all of the Following?
• 65 Exciting Words to Spice up Your Blog Headlines
• 9 Ways to Treat Your Blog More Like a Brick-and-Mortar Business
• 10 ways to find post inspiration without even leaving your blog
• 8 discouragements that should be looked at as encouragements

61 – 66. Blog Design

Alex @ Blogussion is young but he is already an ace at web design.

6 of the Best Design Posts @ Blogussion

• What Every Blogger Should Know About Design When Buying a Theme
• Minimal vs. Compact Blog Designs: Design Versus Week
• Large vs. Small Footers: Design Versus Week
• 2 Column vs. 3 Column Blog Layouts: Design Versus Week
• Light vs. Dark Blog Designs: Design Versus Week
• Rebranding vs. Refreshing Your Blog Design: Design Versus Week

67. Easy to read font

Everything – the headline title, font, drop caps (that large letter some sentences start with), block quotes and links – is easy to read.

• Blogussion uses a font called Museo for headlines and verdana for paragraph text.

Get Museo font as a free Download @ exljbris FontFoundry

• According to Firebug, Blogussion font-size is 1.3em, line-height is 1.538em and font-color is #333333.

68. Color Psychology

Blogussion brand colors are red, orange and grey. According to the shrinks, these colors mean something…

• Red evokes strong emotions, feelings of excitement and is associated with love, warmth and comfort.

• Orange is another energetic color that can increase enthusiasm, is great for drawing attention (you’ve seen traffic lights) and can increase appetite.

• Gray (or ‘grey‘ if you are Australian) is timeless, practical, and solid.

So, visit Blogussion for a great time, take notice of all the great information and resources and make sure you take something away (for free or for a penny or two).

69. Subscribers galore

As at July 1st 2010, Blogussion has 1,800+ subscribers (aka fans!).

• If you want a joint-venture partner to send out information/promotional material for you and Blogussion to benefit from (splitting up affiliate commissions, etc) – then this is a very decent subscriber list.

70. Twitter followers

As at July 1st 2010, Blogussion has 4,302 twitter followers.

71 – 74. Blogussion and the people behind it are human – they make mistakes

• 71. Image malfunction on the search bar in Firefox:

• 72. Come on Alex…you are good but your Twitter page is…um, in need of improvement

73. Image bleed…

Publisher beware…your thumbnail image width needs to be less than your content column width.

• Okay…just one more…

74. what happened to the thumbnails? They are seriously stretched out of proportion and hurt my eyes. Pay somebody to fix them already or do a few each week.

75. Thesis default 404 page

Tsk tsk. No customization of the 404 page!!

What happened to the Forum page link?

76. Modern tagline

Okay, what does “Next generation blogging” actually mean?

The other day I made reference to the tardis and somebody in my workplace said, “What’s that?”. I now realise that I am older than most some people in my workplace. Maybe I am “last generation”?

77. Have a winge

Now and again, bloggers let loose with how they really feel and can sometimes make newbies wonder, “Is it really worth bothering with?”

Here is an example on Blogussion, “Interviews are Boring, Reviews are Fake & Lists are Kind of Lame. Let’s Get Real” where Alex could have been a bit more positive but chose NOT to be.

This helps reduce the competition – especially anybody thinking about getting into blogging….Hell! I might retire right now. Is it really worth it?

Well, “Yes.” But it’s nice to know that even ‘up and comers‘ like Alex can sometimes get the sh*ts with it all.

78. The Triple Footer

I’ve seen small footers and fat footers but this is HUGE. This is an upsized triple footer.

79. Tricky CSS

A lot of the ‘clever’ designers – including Jamie @ Shatterboxx – use smart css to change the hover image.

• Check out Blogussion’s hover image in the footer for example and you will see that the site loads a single image for an icon but shows the correct part of it depending on if it is a standard link or a link being hovered over.

Courtesy of Firebug…

80. Say it like it is…No bullsh*t

When Alex makes reference to himself in the footer – he says it like it is…

Being a ‘Kid’ is an asset - not  a hangup.

• If only my 18-year old daughter would believe that!
  

81. Respond to comments

Blogussion has a lot of comments. If you look carefully there are a lot of responses from Alex himself. This is not necessarily a tactic in inflate comment numbers…

it could also help with updating posts so that Google shares its love once again

…it is often a genuine effort to interact with readers and to show you that he cares.

• How many of you tick the subscribe to comments box, looking forward to the blog owner (him or herself) to respond?

Be appreciative of the fact that the blog owner finds the time to interact.

Once the blog-owner gets as big as Problogger for example, you’ll be lucky to get a comment back from his paid-lackies to comment.

82.  PR 5

I’m still a PR 4 site according to Google (as at 2 July 2010), so I am impressed. Each PR (Page Ranking) requires a whole lot more effort than the last to climb those numbers. Google is number 1 for a reason.

83. Alexa Ranking 18,066…and counting

As at 2 July 2010, Blogussion’s Alexa ranking was 18, 066.

• Thesis Theme HQ’s ranking was 32,527 – not too shoddy but still not as good at Blogussion’s Alexa ranking.

84. Keywords

• According to Alexa, Blogussion excels in the following areas:

How To Customize Thesis, Thesis Theme, Thesis Themes, Customizing Thesis, Customized Thesis Theme, Wp-robot, Wp Robot, Thesis Theme Showcase, Customize Thesis Theme and Thesis Theme Customization.

• According to Spyfu, Blogussion excels in the following areas:

Spread 7, successful product launch, big myth, feel like today, little known ways to make money, headline writing, canonicalization, branding statistics, setup a blog and thesis theme.

85. Author’s favorites

They’re not on every post – probably a recent advent – but you will find Alex’s favorites at the bottom of some posts.

This nifty little trick really uses the space after the post wisely – not just with text but with images; better still, images of people’s faces.

Psychological research (I read it somewhere) states that consumers react more positively with images of human faces than they do with images of inanimate objects.

86. Sh*tloads of comments

Just as an experiment, try this. Leave a comment on one of the posts at Bloggusion that rings your bell. Then click subscribe to comments and watch the updates roll in. Many posts just keep getting comments. Many of us would love to get this many comments.

If you aren’t getting this many comments….you obviously aren’t Blogussion. Sh*t happens.

87. Guest blogger: Chris Scott

Chris Scott has written 3 articles for Blogussion as at 2 July 2010, including:

• Capturing Readers with Creative Leads
• Blog Copy Editing Made Easy
• Blogging With a Battle Plan: My 3 Phase Marketing Plan

88. Guest blogger: Stanford

Stanford has written 1 article for Blogussion as at 2 July 2010:

• How to “Blog On Purpose” and Stand Out From the Crowd

89. Guest blogger: Derek Jensen

Derek Jensen has written 1 article for Blogussion as at 2 July 2010 :

• Stop Blogging About Blogging Already

90. Many other guest bloggers

…that have provided 1 or more articles, including:

Mars Dorian, Karan Singhal, Melvin, Adarsh, Mark Johnson, srinirao, Anil Gupta, Rob, Spyros Panagiotopoulos, Onibalusi Bamidele, Zachary Adam Cohen, Jake O’Callaghan, Jonathan Beebe, King Sidharth, Tom Walker, Chris Palmer, srinirao, Henri, Ian Collins, David, Ann Smarty, Ian, Walter, Matt, Nick Tart, Eric C, Henri, Kwame, Stacey, Russ Henneberry, Everett Bogue, Big Girl Branding and Rob Stretch.

91. Tags

According to Wowzio widgets, Blogussion is famous for the following tags:

92. Estimated Value

According to Pagestat.com on 2 July 2010, Blogussion was worth about $31,701.

• Thesis Theme HQ was worth about $26,455.

93. Blogussion made it through it’s first year

It’s fans wished it happy birthday in style – with a tailor-made birthday website. This is some eCard.

94. Diversified Money Making Strategies

Alex has been quite open about what income earning strategies he likes and does not like to use @ Blogussion and online. For example, he is not too fond of advertising on Blogussion, has flipped a website or two and currently sells his services and a WordPress Theme skin (for Thesis).

In the post “30 Real Ways to Make Money Blogging“, one of his former partners Seth, lists 30 blog earning tips. They are divided into Beginner, Novice, and Problogger based on the differing qualifications and needs of each.

If you are new to making money online or need to be reminded of just some of the strategies you can implement, take a read through these items. Head on over to Blogussion to read the full post – it has great links for each as well.

PPC – CPM – Money Widgets – In-Text Ads – Parked Domains – Donations – Affiliate Marketing

Text Link Ads – Feed Ads – Paid Surveys and Polls – Pop-up Ads – Audio Ads – Article Marketing

Direct Banner – Premium Content – Sponsored Reviews – Sponsored Post – Theme or Template Sales

Private Forums – Site Flipping – Plug-in Sales – Email Newsletters – Ebook Sales – Freelance Work

Membership Site – Job Boards – Event Sponsors – Selling or Renting a Single Page

Marketplaces – Hardcover Book

95. Recommended by bloggers: for Guest Posting

22 Blogs Accepting Guest Posts: Only the Best Ones @ iWoodpecker lists Blogussion amongst its top recommendations. This post and others around the web that spotlight Blogussion  may account for the surge in guest posting on Blogussion. This helps Alex keep Blogussion’s content going and hopefully frees up more time for study.

• While you are at iWoodpecker, check out  9 Guest Posting Tips: Increase Your Chances to Be Accepted

96. Recommended by bloggers: for Subscribing to

101 Great Blogs You Should Be Subscribing To @ Blogging Tips includes Blogussion in its top tier recommendations.

• There are some good blogs on this list.

97. Use of gradients – courtesy of Photoshop

Recreating the Sleek, Orange Subscribe Box on Blogussion

If you are a self-taught Photoshop user like myself, you might find this tutorial post helpful in learning how to do gradients. I had no idea until I stumbled across this post last year.

98. Market Research

In January, Blogussion posted a market research post, asking readers to provide information via a few polls within a post. These were the questions and answers as at 3 July 2010.

• What’s the #1 Problem You Face as a Blogger?

• What Topic would you like to see more of?

• How Many Blogs Do You Own?

• How Much Are You Looking to Earn?

99. Seeks Feedback

Blogussion’s post The Easiest Post You’ve Ever Read, not only gathered the above market research results, it also asked readers to provide comments addressing the following:

• What is the #1 thing you like about Blogussion?
• What is the #1 thing you wish Blogussion would improve?

18 notable responses:

1. More videos are always helpful – maybe even podcasts.
2. Less posting about Thesis - some people feel left out.
3. Usually something relevant, and it’s pretty regular. Topics about specific themes (Thesis for example) or software used don’t really appeal to me much personally. It’s still interesting to glance through sometimes but usually they get skipped.
4. Don’t stop writing posts about Thesis though, you’ll lose a core group of your readers. Consider starting a mailing list/newsletter for Thesis users.
5. Good posts about web design (blog theme design).
6. Interesting and attractive titles to keep readers coming back (curiosity).
7. Posts that make me think deeply – that go beyond just “how to write a blog post.”
8. Reviews of tools I’m not yet familiar with.
9. Custom post images rather than using someone’s photo. I realize this takes a lot of time and doesn’t add much value to the site but it’s a nice little feature that you used to do more often.
10. A post on creating custom images.
11. I enjoy the easy, practical lessons that you give through your posts.
12. The fact that you have a no ad policy.
13. Some of the guest posts have not been very good.
14. A series of posts on how other bloggers “want to get 50,000 readers”, “create a million dollar website” fascinate me, and if Blogussion tried to do something similar, like involving an e-book, I’d come along for the ride.
15. I don’t see filler in your posts, and I appreciate that.
16. Mark if a particular resources/strategies are for beginners, advanced, expert, pro etc.
17. You are very good at persuading or helping readers.  There are so many blogs about blogging that are very general and broad, so if you want Blogussion to continue to grow I would suggest defining a closer niche and focusing all your posts around that niche. Or pick a couple of niches, but just get out of the whole general blog about blogging.
18. I am not to that big a fan of Videos, so I guess my answer would be more text.

100.  A word on 100+ Lists

Read Blogussion’s post 100+ Lists To Help You Become a Better Blogger and you will realise that some list posts are easier than others to put together.

A post full of links to other posts on your site and out there on the internet could be thrown together in an hour – if you use Google or other search engines well. Be mindful, that a quality list of links should be checked before publishing it.

Make sure all the links work at the time you are publishing them. Often you will find there are many 404 / dead links still in search engine results.

Only include good quality and relevant sites. If there is a spam/virus or similar bad rating provided by a Firefox add-on (everyone should have these put on), do not go there yourself and do not recommend it to others.

Do not send people to sites just because you know the person or have a link arrangement that you may or may not receive money for. People expect you to be ethical. Recommend sites because they are worthy.

I originally wrote this post as a 3 part series – 100 Reasons Why Blogussion is an Amazingly Successful Site – now here it stands as a consolidated post.

It has been challenging – but I knew it would be.

It was not just a matter of cruising the search engines or Blogussion archives. All of the ideas came from my analysis of the Blogussion site. I did not solely rely on other bloggers opinions – but I did incorporate some when necessary. For example feedback by readers where there is room for improvement.

I undertook this exercise for several main reasons

Competitor analysis

I selected a Thesis blog (because I primarily use Thesis Theme for my blogs) that was popular and successful but not too far ahead of where I am. I believe I can compete in the Thesis and blogging space – albeit from a different angle. I’m still learning – we all should be. I asked myself:

• What is good and bad about Blogussion?
• What strategies can I use on my own blog to improve my offerings, traffic and success?

Continuous improvement

I will now take these lessons – and enjoy sharing them with others who can benefit – and work at improving my blogs.

Commitment

I told the guys at Blogussion that I was going to do a 100 things post on Blogussion. I realised I had to split it up when I discovered how many words and images it took to really showcase the fantastic things I discovered. Making it a 3 part series also helped with bandwidth and page loading times.

Unfortunately, it also let me forget about it for a while. I had hoped to finish it earlier. Now that it is done, I offer some advice to others who commit themselves to write a similar post.

If you say you will do something – get it done – do it as quickly as you can and enjoy the journey.

Did I miss anything?

Despite listing 100 reasons why Blogussion is great, there may well be many more reasons I didn’t list here. Feel free to add additional reasons.

What could Bloggusion do better?

Alternatively, if you think Blogussion can be improved, leave a comment saying how. For example, topics of interest, problems you need solved…