Subscribe to Peter DavisRSS Feed
Browse > Home / general / What would I do if I was starting over again?

What would I do if I was starting over again?

Filed Under general · Tagged:  

What would I do if I was starting my blog all over again? My blog is almost three years old, there’s a nearly endless list of things that I could do better, with 20-20 hindsight. But, the honest answer is that I’d do some things the same, and some better.

I’m not displeased at the progress my blog has made. I never started out to become a pro-blogger, and still don’t have that goal in mind. Some of the things I know I could do better, I probably wouldn’t. For example, I could post more. Certainly I’d be more successful as a blogger if I posted once a day or more. Keep up the pace of two or three insightful posts every single day is nearly a guaranteed recipe for success, but I won’t do it. Not to pah-pah at anyone who’s been a success as a blogger, but I just have other things that interest me more.

I could put up a better design, and integrate ads and bring in some income. I have a few hundred people visiting per day, and a nice PageRank. Certainly I could monitize that. Perhaps I will some day. But, I’m glad I didn’t have that as a goal when I started out. I think I would have disappointed myself, and given up long ago. Not that it’s impossible, or even difficult to make good money off a blog, it’s just as websites go I know of many other ways to produce that are far easier than blogging. If I had gone into this as a point of making money, I would have realized this at least as soon, and been disappointed and abandoned the project. So, this is another thing I would not have changed.

Ok, I can hear you asking, what would I have changed? Sure, lots. I’d be more of a link hound. I’ve been doing that more this year than in past years, and met with some success. I’d have started that earlier. I’d do more networking with bloggers who are interested in the same topics. I’m not an island. I’ve been making far more efforts this year to reach out and make connections with other blogges than ever in the past. I enjoy that part of blogging.

I’d stay more with the unique stuff. Blogging about what everyone else blogs about isn’t interesting. Well, this topic is, but I feel I have something unique to say about it, and that it’s worth saying. I rely heavily on Bloglines to read my most favorite blogs. I gets rather tiresome when I see everyone writing the same topic. I’ve been guilty of that too. My goal is to only post something if it seems remarkable and if I think the people reading this blog will find it useful and haven’t already found it on another source. Sure, that makes it more difficult to come up with interesting posts, but I’d rather stick to my couple of posts a week and make them count than be a “me too” blogger.

This is in response to Darren’s call for people to discuss this topic. I really like the idea, and the subject, and decided to participate. Here are a few other blogs posts that I read who jumped into the discussion.

July 27, 2006 by admin

Comments

19 Responses to “What would I do if I was starting over again?”

  1. MamaDuck on July 27th, 2006 4:02 pm

    I think you make some excellent points and are doing great - thanks for the link!

  2. Damien on July 27th, 2006 5:15 pm

    Thanks for the linkage. :)
    Also, great blog. Love your writing style (I’ve been working on improving mine). Kudos for the simple design, too. I’m rather partial to simple designs — makes reading a lot easier.

  3. JohnTP on July 27th, 2006 9:20 pm

    WoW!! WHat a spammer…

    Directly ripped this content from Problogger,net

    Very Well done

  4. Peter T Davis on July 28th, 2006 6:01 am

    John, I’m not sure I understand your point, so I’m assuming it’s an objection to my linking out to you. I’m fairly free with linking out to other bloggers, and wanted to link everyone who’s participating in this. But, since you seem unhappy, I’ve removed the link to your blog. Sorry if my linking upset you. Anyone else who objects to me linking to them, please speak up, but as you can see from the previous two comments people are generally pleased to be linked.

  5. Catherine on July 28th, 2006 6:25 am

    Peter,

    I think it’s an excellent idea to link to everyone who joined in.

    So much so, I wish I’d thought of it first! It’s a great way to acknowledge those who took the time to join in.

    I don’t join in on Darren’s projects for the link love, I mainly do it to force myself to focus on the ‘why’. But it is noticable that there is not a whole lot of traffic coming from the effort, so this was a nice gift.

    Also, it’s a great way to remind me to visit your blog if I’ve been too busy to take a peek :-)
    cat

  6. Renee on July 28th, 2006 6:36 am

    Thanks Peter for the link. I’m very please with it, so no worries.

    To be honest with you, I rarely (almost none) read blogs of my similar niches to get inspiration. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or bad foresight. I might do a bit before starting one, other than that I venture to my secret places for more targeted topics once I begin blogging. Sometimes there is no need to look far for inspiration, many are right under our noses.

    Cheers =p

  7. Curt on July 28th, 2006 7:12 am

    Peter, thanks for visiting and linking.

    To reply to JohnTP part of the group writing project was to link to others when the project was complete, I believe it’s to the blogs you’ve read and found useful.

    Peter, I share some of the same thoughts on “what I’d change” as well and also on the monetization aspect.

  8. Caryn on July 28th, 2006 10:32 am

    First of all, thanks for the link! I’ve been reading many of the bloggers’ posts on this subject, but there are so many, and I actually ended up here via your pingback, so that linking thing works. :-)
    You had an excellent point. I, too, know that I could probably get a little something out of monetizing my blog (though not as much, as I don’t have as many daily hits). And I could do better if I posted more. But I am not going to do either of those things, and I think that’s just fine. So, as you hinted, just because we know what we could do better doesn’t mean we have to do it–a lesson that’s difficult for me, since I’m a perfectionist.

  9. ricemutt on July 28th, 2006 11:00 am

    Thanks for linking, Peter. I appreciate the points you’ve made, and I realize now that part of the reason I have no regrets on my own site is due to the experience of people like you, Darren, and others who’ve been at it longer and made jumping into blogging much smoother a process for the rest of us than it would have been!

  10. Alan Thomas on July 28th, 2006 11:03 am

    A very practical, dare I say, mature approach to your blog. Well done. I also like the professional/clean design.

    I’d like ot know more about pagerank - do you think it has come about by being at it for so long? It sounds like our readership is similar…but I have no pagerank yet….but have only been at this for a month.

  11. Steve A on July 28th, 2006 2:34 pm

    I think that if your happy with the overall aspect of your blog then why change it. Monetizing is not everything even though I try to gain a few cents on my own blog when I can. I find the design of your site clean and fresh making it easy on the eyes.

    The most important aspect is to provide quality content without duplication as often as possible to gain an edge in your chosen subject, something that I have to work on myself. I totally agree with you that it’s more satisfying to post something unique than to be a “me too” type of guy.

  12. Jersey Girl on July 28th, 2006 9:53 pm

    Thx for the link. I also think that maybe not setting a goal too early of where I should be, or what I am doing helped my blog be more of who I am. I may have boxed myself in if I tried to fit a mold I set for myself.

  13. Internet Marketing Blog - SearchFeature.com » Blog Archive » If you had to start all over … on July 29th, 2006 1:18 pm

    [...] what would you do differently? Interesting question, huh … so is Peter T. Davis’blog entry about it … Explore posts in the same categories: Search Engine and Directory stuff, Blogging [...]

  14. Kristonia Ink! » Problogger’s Writing Project Submissions on July 29th, 2006 5:34 pm

    [...] What would I do if I was starting over again by Peter [...]

  15. Better Than Crabs » Blog Archive » Problogger’s Writing Project - My Summary Links on July 30th, 2006 9:20 pm

    [...] Would I care if I made $0.00 - by Adnan I laughed when I read his “I’d check Adsense all day long” part of his post. When I first installed Adsense I was checking it every hour or so seeing if people were clicking on my ads. I know better now. I check it weekly now and usually see no change and that’s expected with the “aim” of this site. The ads are there more as an experiment than anything else. However, I do check those stats often — I’m an addict what can I say. Listed: My ‘Starting Blog Over’ favorite posts - by 52 Reviews Problogger’s Writing Project Submissions by Kristonia Ink Problogger group writing project - my favorites by Digital Thom What would I do if I was starting over again by Peter T Davis Why this blog isn’t perfect - by Mama Duck (Lil’ Duck Duck) [...]

  16. Pass the Torch on July 31st, 2006 12:29 pm

    Thanks for linking me!! I just revised my site based on what I learned in this project. Very cool. Check it out! http://www.kellycurtis.blogspot.com .

  17. Brad Shorr on August 10th, 2006 8:23 am

    You make some solid points. I learned a lot about blogging thanks to this group writing project. Thanks for the link!

  18. John on December 2nd, 2006 3:58 am

    Peter, you mentioned that you would do more networking with bloggers who are interested in similar topics… What about websites that are not blogs? Would you be interested in networking with non-blog type sites as well?

    I’m not a blogger, although I’ve considered it. Maybe someday I will. With my non-blog sites I often think about what I would do if I started over… A greater focus on networking with other websites is always part of that.

  19. Peter T Davis on December 4th, 2006 1:45 pm

    I’ve actually been doing more of all types of networking with other webmasters the last few months. Even in person; I’m getting together with a bunch of guys this evening for coffee and talking about our websites.

Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!