2009 has been a great year for blogging. Established blogs got bigger and better, several new "blogs that blog about blogging" were started and thousands of great blog posts about blogging were published (and there's still plenty of time to publish even more). This post lists the 42 most popular and viral blog posts about blogging that were published on 2009.
These posts have received several thousands of blog comments and re-tweets. These posts have been bookmarked and dugg by thousands of bloggers around the world. The posts on the list have been picked from Digg, Delicious, Twitter and other social networks, based on the number of "votes" the posts have received in those services.
Very large, popular sites (like Lifehacker) get more exposure in Digg and Twitter, so to balance the list, I went through the most popular blogs about blogging and picked up the posts with most comments and included some personal preference into the list as well. But without any further ado, let me present you the 42 most popular blog posts about blogging 2009!
Blogs and Blogosphere
- 50 Most Influential Bloggers of 2009 by Michael Dunlop (Income Diary)
- 1100+ re-tweets, over 300 bookmarks on Delicious. Just a few Diggs thou.
- State of the Blogosphere 2009 (Technorati)
- The annual survey from Technorati showed that bloggers are making more money than ever (and there was much rejoicing) and that social media has become very important medium for bloggers for both promotion and collaboration.
- 250+ re-tweets on the introduction page alone. Hundreds of Delicious bookmarks spread over the different parts of the report.
- PCmag's Favorite Blogs 2009
- 600+ Diggs and 50+ bookmarks on Delicious.
- 25 Blogs To Help You Stay Current With Social Media (Freelance Folder)
- 100+ Diggs, 700+ re-tweets and ~300 bookmarks on Delicious.
- NASA Astronaut Blogging from Space (Advertising Age)
- An odd blog post on this list tells a story about NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, who started blogging about her experiences preparing for her first space flight and her life on the International Space Station. The story has been dugg well over 200 times.
Make Money Blogging
- Top Earning Blogs – Make Money Online Blogging by Michael Dunlop (Income Diary)
- 350+ re-tweets, 40+ Diggs and 100+ bookmarks on Delicious.
- The 25 Most Valuable Blogs by Nicholas Carlson (Business Insider)
- 500+ Diggs and 70+ bookmarks on Delicious
- How To Make Money Teaching People How To Make Money by Yaro Starak
- 140+ blog comments, 30+ re-tweets. Using the "metrics" I have here doesn't do this post justice, so it's more of a personal choice and tribute to Yaro.
- The Condensed Guide to Making a 4-Figure Income From Your Blog by Caroline Middlebrook
- Caroline has not been the most active blogger during 2009, but here's one of her posts from April.
- 11 Lessons I Learned Earning $119,725.45 from Amazon Associates Program by Darren Rowse at (Problogger.net)
- 300+ re-tweets and nearly 200 blog comments
- How I Make $40,000 a Month From a Blog by John Chow
- An hour long video filled with great information about John's blog and how he makes money. Nearly 200 blog comments.
Blogging Tools and Resources
- Top 10 Tools for Your Blog or Web Site by Kevin Purdy (Lifehacker)
- 800+ Diggs.
- The Beginner's Guide to Tricking Out Your WordPress Blog by Gina Trapani (Lifehacker)
- 360+ Diggs. 1100+ Bookmarks on Delicious.
- 10 Killer WordPress Hacks (Smashing Magazine)
- 900+ Diggs. 2000+ bookmarks on Delicious!
- Practical Guide to 404 Error Pages: What WordPress is Missing by Joost de Valk (Yoast.com)
- 75+ blog comments. 200+ bookmarks on Delicious.
- 350+ Resources to Help You Become a WordPress Expert by LeVoltz
- Published only couple of days prior to this post, this post took the classic link-bait list post format and went overdrive.
- 40 WordPress Optimisation tips by Joost de Valk (Yoast.com)
- 180+ blog comments. 300+ bookmarks on Delicious.
- 10 WordPress Plugins Guaranteed to Save You Time by Pranav Shirodkar (Six Revisions)
- 430+ Diggs, 580+ re-tweets and nearly 1000 bookmarks on Delicious.
- 17 Really Useful WordPress Plugins That Probably Are Essential (Smashing apps)
- 870+ Diggs and 800+ bookmarks on Delicious
- 31 WordPress Plugins To Enhance Your Blog and Life by Andrew Lennon (The Daily Anchor)
- 570+ Diggs, 120+ re-tweets and 440+ bookmarks on Delicious
- 20+ Brand New and Incredibly Useful WordPress Plugins by Ivor Padilla (net|tuts+)
- 990+ re-tweets, 650+ bookmarks on Delicious.
Blog Improvement
- Starting Your First Blog? 29 Tips, Tutorials and Resources for New Bloggers by Darren Rowse (Problogger.net)
- Great collection post published early on 2009.
- How to Build a High-Traffic Blog Without Killing Yourself by Tim Ferriss
- 320+ blog comments. 450+ re-tweets.
- How I Got Google PageRank within 3 Weeks of Launching My Website by Keller Hawthorne (FresheVenture)
- Over 100+ blog comments and Keller blog was brand new when this was published. Must read!
- Must See SEO Guide for All WordPress Bloggers (wpbeginner)
- 110+ Diggs, 290+ re-tweets and 350 bookmarks on Delicious
- 15 Tips And Plugins To Monitor, Speed Up And Optimize Your WordPress Blog (WebDesignBooth)
- 110+ Diggs. 250+ bookmarks on Delicious. 230+ re-tweets.
- Do You Make These 10 Mistakes When You Blog? by Michael Hyatt
- 150 blog comments, 200 bookmarks on Delicious.
- Write an Elevator Pitch for Your Blog [Day 1 -31DBBB] by Darren Rowse at (Problogger.net)
- 31DBBB is a 31+ posts series where participants take one action to improve their blog every day. The first post in the 2009 31 Days to Build a Better Blog (31DBBB) has over 1000 comments at the time I'm writing this.
- The 31DBBB "event" itself has taken place on 2005 and 2007 too, but the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog -workbook was published this year, combining all the posts in the series into an eBook. The 31DBBB eBook has sold nearly 20000 copies in less than 6 months.
I bought the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook when it was published and I think it is the best investment I have made as a blogger. For $19.95 (the price at the time) it has improved my blogging and blogs more than any other book I've read about blogging. With that, I am proud to recommend it to you (and use my affiliate link).
Blog Writing and Content Creation
- 73 Ways to Become a Better Writer by Mary Jaksch (Copyblogger)
- 1110+ re-tweets. 580+ bookmarks on Delicious.
- 100 Ways To Find Ideas For Your Blog Posts by Steve Aitchison (LifeSnips)
- 480+ re-tweets. 300+ bookmarks on Delicious.
- How to Create an Article of 1,000+ Words in 90 Minutes or Less by Patrick Stöckmann (WriteToDone)
- 70+ bookmarks on Delicious. Great post.
- 50 Helpful Resources That Will Enhance Your Writing Skills (Smashing Magazine)
- 2250+ bookmarks in Delicious. 760+ Diggs.
- The death of the boring blog post? (Smashing Magazine)
- 540 blog comments in two weeks. 880+ bookmarks on Delicious.
- The Art of Writing Great Twitter Headlines by Brian Clark (Copyblogger)
- 1690+ ret-tweets. 470+ bookmarks on Delicious.
- 23 Essential Elements of Sharable Blog Posts by Chris Brogan
- Good tips and it's always cool to see post that teaches "how to write viral post" goes viral, just like the Copyblogger post above.
- Reached the popular page on Delicious, 300+ bookmarks now.
Blog Design, Themes and Templates
- 20 Excellent Blogs for Those Who Love Design by Henry Jones (WDL, WebDesignLedger)
- 480+ re-tweets. 730+ Diggs.
- 25 Most Useful Blogs for Web Design & Development by Ray Cheung (WebAppers)
- 740+ Diggs. 290+ re-tweets. 680 bookmarks on Delicious.
- 30 Highly Creative Blog Design Layouts (Spyre Studios)
- 120+ bookmarks on Delicious. 240+ re-tweets. 80+ Diggs. All that in couple of days.
- How to Display Your Content on a Blog’s Front Page (Web Designer Depot)
- 220+ re-tweets. 260+ bookmarks on Delicious.
- 55+ Free Premium WordPress Themes (WPSmash)
- 140+ re-tweets, 250+ bookmarks on Delicious. Also in just couple of days.
- 40 Stylish, Minimal and Clean Free WordPress Themes (Specky Boy)
- 750+ Diggs, over 1000 bookmarks on Delicious.
- 43 Minimal And Really Clean Free WordPress Themes (1stwebdesigner)
- 370+ bookmarks on Delicious.
Looking at the list, the blog posts that received most Diggs and got bookmarked in Delicious were mostly blog design, WordPress or in general, "resource-oriented". Because of using these social networks as criteria for popularity, this list is also full of, well, list posts. For true "popularity" we'd need to see traffic stats and do in-depth comparison.
This list is not comprehensive and scientifically gathered, so yes, there are probably blog posts that could be considered more popular than these. If you feel like the best, most popular post is not in the list, the comments are open!
What blog post has made the biggest impact on your blogging this year?
Now that you've seen the 42 popular blog posts about blogging 2009, it's now your turn: I'm sure you have read blog posts that have tremendously improved your blogging skills and your blog that are not included in this list.
Why don't you share that best post with the rest of us? So please, take a look at your bookmarks, notes and share the post that made the biggest impact on your blogging this year... and leave a comment to this post!
This post is a part of Group Writing Project: 2009 in Review at DailyBlogTips.com.
