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The 20 Biggest Benefits of Blogging

20 years ago, blogs didn’t exist. Today, there are
over 150 million of them.
Still, I get a lot of puzzled looks when I tell people
that having a blog is the single most important
thing a business, cause, or person can do to
advance online. Even though ‘blogging’ has hit it
big, most people don’t get what makes blogging
so powerful, helpful, and beneficial.
To put an end to that, I’ve compile a list of the
20 biggest benefits of having a blog below. If
you’re among the uninitiated, prepare to be
enlightened. If you’ve already started a blog of
your own (as I assume many of you Income Diary
readers do) then you can consider this an
affirmation of why you do what you — and a good
place to direct people who still think that a blog
is just a pointless public diary.
The 20 Biggest Benefits of Blogging
#1 Get a Better Job
According to MediaBistro , nine in ten companies
mine online profiles before making a new hire.
Employers want to hire people who have a strong
online influence:
“
“Determining influence is so critical to
brands because this is what drives word of
mouth validation – typically the most
powerful and cost-effective marketing
method available.”
Mark Schaefer, from an interview on Inc.com
Put simply, employers prefer to hire people with a
positive online influence and blogging is the
single best way to achieve that.
#2 Start a New Business
Sometimes a blog starts out as a hobby only to
become a full-time business.
That’s what happened to Pat Flynn, who created
a blog called Green Exam Academy simply to
share his thoughts and insights on architecture.
When Flynn was laid off from his job, he decided
to take his blog a little bit more seriously and
about one year later the blog had become a $
100,000 per year business.
That type of growth isn’t typical. But Flynn’s
story is a great example of how a simple blog can
be the foundation for a thriving business if you’re
willing to commit to it.
#3 Get More Clients to Your Existing Business
Static websites don’t attract many new clients or
customers. But a regularly updated blog can
produce a constant stream of good leads from all
around the world.
When you publish in-depth blog posts that help
potential clients/customers solve their problems,
they come to trust you and respect you as an
expert in the field. If they want more help than a
blog post can offer, then they’re likely to be
interested in hiring your business.
I know that this is Neil Patel’s primary revenue
model for Quicksprout and I’ve also used it to
good effect for my video business.
#4 Become a Better Writer
The only way to become a better writer is to
write – pages and pages, day after day.
Of course, that’s exactly what an active blogger
spends his or her time doing. The more you blog,
the more you write – and the better writer you
become.
#5 Become a Published Author
The publishing business isn’t what it used to be
and publishers are less likely than ever before to
take a chance on an unknown author.
They would much rather give a contract to an
author with a built-in audience of readers – and
that’s where having a blog comes in. So keeping
a blog isn’t just a good way to become a better
writer, it may be your fastest path to becoming a
published writer.
#6 Get Immediate Feedback
An author has to wait months between finishing
his/her book and reading the reviews, but
bloggers get to read their readers’ comments the
same day they click ‘publish’.
This makes blogging a great way to get feedback
on an idea that you want to develop further.
Having an outside perspective and a little bit of
constructive criticism is invaluable.
#7 Learn More About a Group of People
Bloggers spend most of their time sharing their
ideas and insights with their readers. But if you
listen, you’ll find that your readers share a lot
with you too.
I learn a lot about the readers on Income Diary
from your comments, your tweets, and your posts
on the forums. That information helps me to
know what type of posts to write and I know that
it also helps Michael determine what products to
develop that will help his readers the most.
Knowing about your audience is invaluable (this
is why companies spend so much time and
money testing out their products in focus groups).
As a blogger, achieving this type of insight is a
natural byproduct of your day-to-day routine.
#8 Gain Influence
What’s the best way to change the world? You
could become a politican, activist, or volunteer.
Or you could become a blogger. A successful
blogger gains a wide audience of people who
trust and respect them.
#9 Establish Yourself as an Expert in Your Field
Anybody can start a blog on any subject they like.
So you don’t get a lot of respect just for saying,
“I have a website about that.”
But over time, as you write more posts and share
more of your expertise, you’re website will change
from ‘just another blog’ into a powerful
demonstration of your knowledge in a field. When
somebody visits your site and sees the insights
you’ve shared on a subject, along with the
community of people who respect and seek that
insight, it will be clear that you’re genuinely an
expert in the field.
Being an expert is a good thing. You may get
consideration for careers, awards, or consulting
opportunities.
#10 Build a Network
“
“The richest people in the world build
networks.
Everyone else looks for work.”
– Robert Kiyosaki
Starting a blog is a guaranteed way to expand
your network.
First of all, valuable and interesting blog posts
attract readers who will then comment on your
site and send you personal messages through
your contact page. Many of your readers will be
asking for help, but others will be looking to help
you.
A blog is also a good platform for reaching out to
others. Many of the first posts on Income Diary
were interviews with experts in the ‘make money
online’ community. With every interview, Michael
gained a personal relationship with an influential
person.
#11 Learn In-Demand Skills
Easy-to-use blogging platforms like WordPress
have made it so that a person doesn’t need to
have a grasp of computer programming in order
to start a blog.
But through the process of blogging, most people
learn some HTML and CSS simply because it’s
easier to make minor improvements to your site
by yourself than it is to hire somebody each time.
That’s good news because fluency in web design,
HTML, and CSS are highly valued skills in this
day and age.
The same can be said for a whole slew of other
blog-related skills, such as graphic design, search
engine optimization, content marketing, and social
media marketing.
#12 Improve Your SEO
Ultimately, search engines want to deliver results
that are helpful to their users. When you write a
series of in-depth, valuable articles around a
topic, Google takes notice.
Each high-quality blog post that you publish is
another opportunity to get traffic from search.
#13 Collect Emails
There’s a lot of talk about social media today,
but email is still the most reliable way to
communicate online. People check their email
regularly and they’re used to receiving important
updates.
Getting somebody to give you their primary email
isn’t easy, but once you have it you have a direct
connection with that person. You’ll then be able
to get their attention whenever you find
something that you think will benefit them or if
there’s something important regarding your
business or blog that you want to inform them
about.
#14 Stay Knowledgeable in Your Field
If you’re looking for an incentive to keep up to
date on all of the latest information on a certain
subject, starting a blog is a great start. Your
weekly quest to put up new content will lead you
to always be searching for new information and
sharing it with your readers.
#15 Sell a Product
A blog can make for a great virtual store. Michael
has made a small fortune selling Pop-Up
Domination on Income Diary and other bloggers
have found success selling everything from e-
books to membership sites.
#16 Talk to Your Idols
I first became an entrepreneur back in 2010 when
I helped Nicholas Tart compile a book of
interviews with 25 of the world’s top young
entrepreneurs .
One of the entrepreneurs we wanted to interview
was Joe Penna, AKA Mystery Guitar Man . Like
me, he was a musician and producer of creative
online videos. Getting to sit down and talk with
him was an inspiring experience that I’ll always
remember.
If we hadn’t had a blog, I truly doubt we would
have had the online credibility for Joe to take the
time and sit down and talk with me.
#17 Express Yourself
This one’s pretty simple: a blog is an expressive
medium that can contain words, images, and
sounds. Whether your blog is formal business
affair or a personal “what-I-ate-for-breakfast-
this-morning” diary, blogging is powerful form of
self-expression.
#18 Help Others
Every good blog helps its readers. Income Diary
does this by offering free information about how
to make money online. Other blogs help people
lose weight, raise their kids, and come to terms
with life-threatening disease. Yet others mobilize
groups of people to take action and raise money
for important causes.
The power of a blog to educate, inspire, and bring
like-minded people together makes blogging a
great way to help people.
#19 Build Trust Online
Trust is a rare and valuable commodity online.
You can’t buy trust. It has to be earned by
demonstrating your commitment to your readers,
time and time again.
As it turns out, that’s exactly what good bloggers
do by regularly posting valuable, honest articles
on their blogs. The more people whose trust
you’ve earned, the easier it will be to accomplish
your goals online.
#20 Take Control of Your Online Identity
Whether you’re a person or business, there’s
probably lots of information about you online.
When somebody searches for you online, you
want to make sure that they get an accurate and
complete picture of who you are and what you’re
all about.
Starting a blog that covers all the bases is a
great way to control your online identity and
make sure that the top result on Google makes a
the right first impression.
The Last Word:
After listing the 20 biggest benefits of starting
and maintaining a blog, I still feel like I’ve left a
lot unsaid. A blog can be more than just a way of
advancing your online presence; it can be a way
of advancing your life… a platform you create that
can propel you forward in the direction of your
choice.
One place your blog may take you this year Yanik
Silver’s Underground Seminar in Washington DC.
In case you missed it, Income Diary will be giving
away scholarships to the event to ten deserving
young entrepreneurs.
If you can think of a big benefit to blogging that
I’ve missed, please share it in the comment
section below. Otherwise, please share this post
through your social networks so that people will
stop giving me those confused looks when I talk
about the huge importance of blogging.

The world's 50 most powerful blogs

1. The Huffington Post
The history of political blogging might usefully be
divided into the periods pre- and post-Huffington.
Before the millionaire socialite Arianna Huffington
decided to get in on the act, bloggers operated in
a spirit of underdog solidarity. They hated the
mainstream media - and the feeling was mutual.
Bloggers saw themselves as gadflies, pricking the
arrogance of established elites from their home
computers, in their pyjamas, late into the night.
So when, in 2005, Huffington decided to mobilise
her fortune and media connections to create, from
scratch, a flagship liberal blog she was roundly
derided. Who, spluttered the original bloggerati,
did she think she was?
But the pyjama purists were confounded.
Arianna's money talked just as loudly online as
off, and the Huffington Post quickly became one
of the most influential and popular journals on the
web. It recruited professional columnists and
celebrity bloggers. It hoovered up traffic. Its
launch was a landmark moment in the evolution
of the web because it showed that many of the
old rules still applied to the new medium: a bit of
marketing savvy and deep pockets could go just
as far as geek credibility, and get there faster.
To borrow the gold-rush simile beloved of web
pioneers, Huffington's success made the first
generation of bloggers look like two-bit
prospectors panning for nuggets in shallow creeks
before the big mining operations moved in. In the
era pre-Huffington, big media companies ignored
the web, or feared it; post-Huffington they started
to treat it as just another marketplace, open to
exploitation. Three years on, Rupert Murdoch
owns MySpace, while newbie amateur bloggers
have to gather traffic crumbs from under the
table of the big-time publishers.
Least likely to post 'I'm so over this story -
check out the New York Times'
huffingtonpost.com
2. Boing Boing
Lego reconstructions of pop videos and cakes
baked in the shape of iPods are not generally
considered relevant to serious political debate.
But even the most earnest bloggers will often
take time out of their busy schedule to pass on
some titbit of mildly entertaining geek ephemera.
No one has done more to promote pointless, yet
strangely cool, time-wasting stuff on the net than
the editors of Boing Boing (subtitle: A Directory of
Wonderful Things). It launched in January 2000
and has had an immeasurable influence on the
style and idiom of blogging. But hidden among
the pictures of steam-powered CD players and
Darth Vader tea towels there is a steely, ultra-
liberal political agenda: championing the web as a
global medium free of state and corporate
control.
Boing Boing chronicles cases where despotic
regimes have silenced or imprisoned bloggers. It
helped channel blogger scorn on to Yahoo and
Google when they kowtowed to China's censors
in order to win investment opportunities. It was
instrumental in exposing the creeping erosion of
civil liberties in the US under post-9/11
'Homeland Security' legislation. And it routinely
ridicules attempts by the music and film
industries to persecute small-time file sharers
and bedroom pirates instead of getting their own
web strategies in order. It does it all with gentle,
irreverent charm, polluted only occasionally with
gratuitous smut.
Their dominance of the terrain where technology
meets politics makes the Boing Boing crew geek
aristocracy.
Least likely to post 'Has anyone got a stamp?'
boingboing.net
3. Techcrunch
Techcrunch began in 2005 as a blog about
dotcom start-ups in Silicon Valley, but has quickly
become one of the most influential news websites
across the entire technology industry. Founder
Michael Arrington had lived through the internet
goldrush as a lawyer and entrepreneur before
deciding that writing about new companies was
more of an opportunity than starting them
himself. His site is now ranked the third-most
popular blog in the world by search engine
Technorati, spawning a mini-empire of websites
and conferences as a result. Business Week
named Arrington one of the 25 most influential
people on the web, and Techcrunch has even
scored interviews with Barack Obama and John
McCain.
With a horde of hungry geeks and big money
investors online, Techcrunch is the largest of a
wave of technology-focused blog publishers to
tap into the market - GigaOm, PaidContent and
Mashable among them - but often proves more
contentious than its rivals, thanks to Arrington's
aggressive relationships with traditional media
and his conflicts of interest as an investor
himself.
Least likely to post 'YouTube? It'll never catch
on'
techcrunch.com
4. Kottke
One of the early wave of blogging pioneers, web
designer Jason Kottke started keeping track of
interesting things on the internet as far back as
1998. The site took off, boosted partly through
close links to popular blog-building website
Blogger (he later married one of the founders).
And as the phenomenon grew quickly, Kottke
became a well-known filter for surfers on the
lookout for interesting reading.
Kottke remains one of the purest old-skool
bloggers on the block - it's a selection of links to
websites and articles rather than a repository for
detailed personal opinion - and although it
remains fairly esoteric, his favourite topics include
film, science, graphic design and sport. He often
picks up trends and happenings before friends
start forwarding them to your inbox. Kottke's
decision to consciously avoid politics could be
part of his appeal (he declares himself 'not a
fan'), particularly since the blog's voice is literate,
sober and inquiring, unlike much of the red-faced
ranting found elsewhere online.
A couple of key moments boosted Kottke's fame:
first, being threatened with legal action by Sony
for breaking news about a TV show, but most
notably quitting his web-design job and going
solo three years ago. A host of 'micropatrons'
and readers donated cash to cover his salary, but
these days he gets enough advertising to pay the
bills. He continues to plug away at the site as it
enters its 10th year.
Least likely to post 'Look at this well wicked vid
of a dog on a skateboard'
kottke.org
5. Dooce
One of the best-known personal bloggers (those
who provide more of a diary than a soapbox or
reporting service), Heather Armstrong has been
writing online since 2001. Though there were
personal websites that came before hers, certain
elements conspired to make Dooce one of the
biggest public diaries since Samuel Pepys's
(whose diary is itself available, transcribed in blog
form, at Pepysdiary.com ). Primarily, Armstrong
became one of the first high-profile cases of
somebody being fired for writing about her job.
After describing events that her employer - a
dotcom start-up - thought reflected badly on
them, Armstrong was sacked. The incident
caused such fierce debate that Dooce found itself
turned into a verb that is used in popular parlance
(often without users realising its evolution):
'dooced - to be fired from one's job as a direct
result of one's personal website'.
Behind Dooce stands an army of personal
bloggers perhaps not directly influenced by, or
even aware of, her work - she represents the
hundreds of thousands who decide to share part
of their life with strangers.
Armstrong's honesty has added to her popularity,
and she has written about work, family life,
postnatal depression, motherhood, puppies and
her Mormon upbringing with the same candid and
engaging voice. Readers feel that they have been
brought into her life, and reward her with their
loyalty. Since 2005 the advertising revenue on her
blog alone has been enough to support her family.
Least likely to post 'I like babies but I couldn't
eat a whole one'
dooce.com
6. Perezhilton
Once dubbed 'Hollywood's most hated website',
Perezhilton (authored by Mario Lavandeira since
2005) is the gossip site celebrities fear most.
Mario, 29, is famous for scrawling rude things
(typically doodles about drug use) over pap
photos and outing closeted stars. On the day of
Lindsay Lohan's arrest for drink-driving, he
posted 60 updates, and 8m readers logged on.
He's a shameless publicity whore, too. His reality
show premiered on VH1 last year, and his blogsite
is peppered with snaps of him cuddling Paris
Hilton at premieres. Fergie from Black Eyed Peas
alluded to him in a song, and Avril Lavigne
phoned, asking him to stop writing about her
after he repeatedly blogged about her lack of
talent and her 'freakishly long arm'.
Least likely to post 'Log on tomorrow for Kofi
Annan's live webchat'
perezhilton.com
7. Talking points memo
At some point during the disputed US election of
2000 - when Al Gore was famously defeated by a
few hanging chads - Joshua Micah Marshall lost
patience. Despite working as a magazine editor,
Marshall chose to vent on the web. Eight years
later Talking Points Memo and its three siblings
draw in more than 400,000 viewers a day from
their base in New York.
Marshall has forged a reputation, and now makes
enough money to run a small team of reporters
who have made an impact by sniffing out political
scandal and conspiracy. 'I think in many cases
the reporting we do is more honest, more straight
than a lot of things you see even on the front
pages of great papers like the New York Times
and the Washington Post,' he said in an interview
last year. 'But I think both kinds of journalism
should exist, should co-exist.'
Although his unabashed partisan approach is
admonished by many old-fashioned American
reporters, Marshall's skills at pulling together the
threads of a story have paid dividends. Last year
he helped set the agenda after George Bush
covertly fired a string of US attorneys deemed
disloyal to the White House. While respected
mainstream media figures accused Marshall of
seeing conspiracy, he kept digging: the result was
the resignation of attorney general Alberto
Gonzales, and a prestigious George Polk
journalism award for Marshall, the first ever for a
blogger.
Least likely to post 'Barack is so, like, gnarly to
the max'
talkingpointsmemo.com
8. Icanhascheezburger
Amused by a photo of a smiling cat,
idiosyncratically captioned with the query 'I Can
Has A Cheezburger?', which he found on the
internet while between jobs in early 2007, Eric
Nakagawa of Hawaii emailed a copy of it to a
friend (known now only as Tofuburger). Then, on
a whim, they began a website, first comprising
only that one captioned photo but which has
since grown into one of the most popular blogs in
the world.
Millions of visitors visit Icanhascheezburger.com
to see, create, submit and vote on Lolcats
(captioned photos of characterful cats in different
settings). The 'language' used in the captions,
which this blog has helped to spread globally, is
known as Lolspeak, aka Kitty Pidgin. In Lolspeak,
human becomes 'hooman', Sunday 'bunday',
exactly 'xackly' and asthma 'azma'. There is now
an effort to develop a LOLCode computer-
programming language and another to translate
the Bible into Lolspeak.
Least likely to post 'Actually, dogs are much
more interesting..."
icanhascheezburger.com
9. Beppe Grillo
Among the most visited blogs in the world is that
of Beppe Grillo, a popular Italian comedian and
political commentator, long persona non grata on
state TV, who is infuriated daily - especially by
corruption and financial scandal in his country.
A typical blog by Grillo calls, satirically or
otherwise, for the people of Naples and Campania
to declare independence, requests that Germany
declare war on Italy to help its people ('We will
throw violets and mimosa to your Franz and
Gunther as they march through') or reports on
Grillo's ongoing campaign to introduce a Bill of
Popular Initiative to remove from office all
members of the Italian parliament who've ever
had a criminal conviction. Grillo's name for Mario
Mastella, leader of the Popular-UDEUR centre-
right party, is Psychodwarf. 'In another country,
he would have been the dishwasher in a pizzeria,'
says Grillo. Through his blog, he rallied many
marchers in 280 Italian towns and cities for his
'Fuck You' Day last September.
Least likely to post 'Sign up to our campaign to
grant Silvo Berlusconi immunity'
beppegrillo.it
10. Gawker
A New York blog of 'snarky' gossip and
commentary about the media industry, Gawker
was founded in 2002 by journalist Nick Denton,
who had previously helped set up a networking
site called First Tuesday for web and media
entrepreneurs. Gawker's earliest fascination was
gossip about Vogue editor Anna Wintour, garnered
from underlings at Conde Nast. This set the tone
for amassing a readership of movers and shakers
on the Upper East Side, as well as 'the angry
creative underclass' wishing either to be, or not
be, like them, or both ('the charmingly
incompetent X... the wildly successful blowhard').
Within a year Gawker's readers were making
500,000 page views per month. Nowadays the
figure is 11m, recovering from a recent dip to 8m
thanks to the showing of a Tom Cruise
'Indoctrination Video' which Scientologists had
legally persuaded YouTube to take down. Gawker
remains the flagship of Gawker Media, which now
comprises 14 blogs, although gossiping by ex-
Gawker insiders, a fixation on clicks (which its
bloggers are now paid on the basis of) and fresh
anxiety over defining itself have led some to claim
Gawker has become more 'tabloidy' and celeb-
and It-girl-orientated, and less New York-centric.
But its core value - 'media criticism' - appears to
be intact.
Least likely to post 'We can only wish Rupert
Murdoch well with his new venture'
gawker.com
11. The Drudge Report
The Report started life as an email gossip sheet,
and then became a trashy webzine with negligible
traffic. But thanks to the decision in 1998 to run
a scurrilous rumour – untouched by mainstream
media – about Bill Clinton and a White House
intern named Monica Lewinsky, it became a
national phenomenon. Recent scoops include
Barack Obama dressed in tribal garb and the fact
Prince Harry was serving in Afghanistan. Drudge
is scorned by journalists and serious bloggers for
his tabloid sensibilities, but his place in the media
history books is guaranteed. And much though
they hate him, the hacks all still check his front
page – just in case he gets another president-
nobbling scoop.
Least likely to post 'Oops, one sec – just got to
check the facts…'
drudgereport.com
12. Xu Jinglei
Jinglei is a popular actress (and director of Letter
From An Unknown Woman) in China, who in 2005
began a blog ('I got the joy of expressing myself')
which within a few months had garnered 11.5m
visits and spurred thousands of other Chinese to
blog. In 2006 statisticians at Technorati, having
previously not factored China into their
calculations, realised Jinglei's blog was the most
popular in the world. In it she reports on her day-
to-day moods, reflections, travels, social life and
cats ('Finally the first kitten's been born!!! Just
waiting for the second, in the middle of the third
one now!!!!!!!! It's midnight, she gave birth to
another one!!!!!!'). She blogs in an uncontroversial
but quite reflective manner, aiming to show a
'real person' behind the celebrity. Each posting,
usually ending with 'I have to be up early' or a
promise to report tomorrow on a DVD she is
watching, is followed by many hundreds of
comments from readers – affirming their love,
offering advice, insisting she take care. Last year
her blog passed the 1bn clicks mark.
Least likely to post 'Forget the kittens – get a
Kalashnikov!!!!!!!'
blog.sina.com.cn/xujinglei
13. Treehugger
Treehugger is a green consumer blog with a
mission to bring a sustainable lifestyle to the
masses. Its ethos, that a green lifestyle does not
have to mean sacrifice, and its positive, upbeat
feel have attracted over 1.8m unique users a
month. Consistently ranked among the top 20
blogs on Technorati, Treehugger has 10 staff but
also boasts 40 writers from a wide variety of
backgrounds in more than 10 countries around
the world, who generate more than 30 new posts
a day across eight categories, ranging from
fashion and beauty, travel and nature, to science
and technology. Treehugger began as an MBA
class project four years ago and says it now
generates enough revenue from sponsorship and
advertising to pay all its staffers and writers. It
has developed a highly engaged community and
has added popular services like TreeHugger.tv ,
and a user-generated blog, Hugg. It was bought
by the Discovery Channel last year for a rumoured
$10m.
Least likely to post 'Why Plastic Bags rock'
treehugger.com
14. Microsiervos
Microsiervos, which began in 2001, took its name
from Douglas Coupland's novel Microserfs, a
diary entry-style novel about internet pioneers. It
is run by Alvy, Nacho and Wicho, three friends in
Madrid, who blog in Spanish. The second most
popular blog in Europe and the 13th most popular
in the world (according to eBizMBA), Microsiervos
concerns itself with science, curiosities, strange
reality, chance, games, puzzles, quotations,
conspiracies, computers, hacking, graffiti and
design. It is informal, friendly and humorous,
moving from news of an eccentric new letter font
to reflections on the discovery of the Milky Way
having double the thickness it was previously
thought to have.
Least likely to post 'The internet is, like, so over'
microsiervos.com
15. TMZ
You want relentless celebrity gossip on tap? TMZ
will provide it, and when we say relentless, we
mean relentless. The US site is dripping with
'breaking news' stories, pictures and videos, and
deems celeb activity as mundane as stars
walking to their cars worthy of a video post. TMZ
was launched in 2005 by AOL and reportedly
employs around 20 writers to keep the celeb juice
flowing. It pulls in 1.6m readers a month and is
endlessly cited as the source for red-top celeb
stories. It was the first to break Alec Baldwin's
now infamous 'rude little pig' voicemail last April,
for instance. TMZ prides itself on being close to
the action, so close, in fact, a TMZ photographer
had his foot run over by Britney Spears mid-
meltdown. They auctioned the tyre-tracked sock
on eBay in aid of US charity the Children's
Defense Fund last autumn.
Least likely to post 'Paris is a metaphor for Third
World debt'
TMZ.com
16. Engadget
Engadget provides breaking news, rumours and
commentary on, for instance, a camera able to
track a head automatically, the very latest HD
screen or 'visual pollution' concerns prompted by
hand-held pico laser-projectors. The world's
most popular blog on gadgets and consumer
electronics, Engadget was founded by Peter Rojas
in 2004 and won the Web Blogs Awards that year
and each year since. Now part of Weblogs Inc
(owned by AOL), it is offered on many other sites
(including GoogleMail) as a default RSS feed, and
is published in English, Spanish, Japanese and
Chinese. Last year, a mistake confirmed
Engadget's power - upon reporting a supposed
email (which turned out to be a hoax) from Apple,
informing Apple employees of a delay in the
launch of iPhone, Apple's share price fell by 3 per
cent within minutes. Rojas also co-founded rival
gadget blog Gizmodo.
Least likely to post 'An iWhat?'
engadget.com
17. Marbury
No matter what happens between now and 4
November, you can be certain the US presidential
election of 2008 will be among the most
historically important and dramatic of any fought.
Having an informed opinion will be a must, but if
you are as yet unable to tell your Iowa Caucus
from your Feiler Faster Thesis, Marbury – a
British blog on American politics – is the place to
start. The site's creator, Ian Leslie, is an ex-expat
who fell for American politics during a four-year
stint living in New York. The site signposts
important events and interesting analyses, gives
context and witty commentary on everything from
the most serious speeches to the silliest election-
themed YouTube clips. And West Wing fans will
be pleased to note that the blog's name is a
reference to the show's British ambassador to the
United States, Lord John Marbury, who,
appropriately enough, provided an eccentrically
British but reliably insightful appraisal of
American politics.
Least likely to post 'Is it just me or is Romney
getting cuter?'
marbury.typepad.com
18. Chez Pim
Attracting around 10,000 people from all over the
globe to her site every week, Pim Techamuanvivit
has tried and tested an awful lot of food. From
Michelin-starred restaurants to street food and
diners, she samples it all, and posts her thoughts
and pictures to share with other foodie fans. She
advises her readers on what cooking equipment
to go for, posts recipe suggestions for them to
try, and gives them a nudge in the direction of
which food shows are worth a watch. She's not
just famous on the net, she's attracted global
coverage in the media with her writing, recipes
and interviews appearing in such diverse
publications as the New York Times, Le Monde
and the Sydney Morning Herald.
Least likely to post 'Chocolate's my favourite
flavour of Pop Tart'
chezpim.typepad.com
19. Basic thinking
Recently rated the 18th most influential blog in
the world by Wikio, Basic Thinking, which has the
tag line 'Mein Haus, Mein Himmel, Mein Blog', is
run by Robert Basic of Usingen, Germany, who
aims 'to boldly blog what no one has blogged
before', and recently posted his 10,000th entry.
Basic Thinking reports on technology and odds
and ends, encouraging readers to rummage
through an 1851 edition of the New York Times
one minute and to contemplate the differences
between mooses and elks the next.
Least likely to post 'Mein heim, mein gott – I
need to get a life'
basicthinking.de/blog
20. The Sartorialist
As ideas go, this one is pretty simple. Man
wanders around Manhattan with a camera. Spots
someone whose outfit he likes. Asks if he can
take a picture. Goes home and posts it on his
blog. But the man in question is Scott Schuman,
who had 15 years' experience working at the
high-fashion end of the clothing industry before
starting The Sartorialist. He's got a sharp eye for
a good look, a gift for grabbing an on-the-hoof
pic and an unwavering enthusiasm for people
going the extra mile in the name of style.
Minimalist it might be, but his site – a basic
scroll of full-length street portraits, occasionally
annotated with a brief note – is mesmeric and
oddly beautiful. The site attracts more than
70,000 readers a day and has been named one of
Time's Top 100 Design Influences. So if you're
out and about and a guy called Scott asks to take
your picture, just smile. You're about to become
a style icon.
Least likely to post 'Sometimes you need to chill
in a shellsuit'
thesartorialist.blogspot.com
21. Students for a free Tibet
Taking the protest online, Students for a Free
Tibet (SFT) is a global, grassroots network of
students campaigning to free Tibet, which has
been occupied by China since 1950. Students in
Tibet face arrest for posting on the site, but many
escape to blog about their experiences in exile.
With a history of direct action, the group is now
uniting worldwide members through the web,
blogging to spread word of news and protests,
and using sites like Facebook to raise funds. The
organisation, which was founded in 1994 in New
York, spans more than 35 countries and gets up
to 100,000 hits a month. In 2006, SFT used a
satellite link at Mount Everest base camp to
stream live footage on to YouTube of a
demonstration against Chinese Olympic athletes
practising carrying the torch there. Later this year
the web will be a critical tool in organising and
reporting protests during the games. 'SFT plans
to stage protests in Beijing during the games and
post blogs as events unfold,' says Iain Thom, the
SFT UK national co-ordinator. 'But for security
reasons we can't reveal details of how or where
yet.' Similarly, a massive protest in London on 10
March will be the subject of intense cyber
comment. In response, the site has fallen victim
to increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks.
Investigations have traced the sources back to
China, leading to speculation that the Chinese
authorities are trying to sabotage the site to stop
online critics.
Least likely to post 'Hey guyz, any hotties in the
Nepal region?!'
studentsforafreetibet.org
22. Jezebel
Last year Gawker Media launched Jezebel – a
blog which aimed to become a brilliant version of
a women's magazine. It succeeded quickly, in
part by acknowledging the five big lies
perpetuated by the women's media: The Cover
Lie (female forgeries of computer-aided artistry);
The Celebrity-Profile Lie (flattery, more nakedly
consumerist and less imaginative than the movies
they're shilling for); The Must-Have Lie
(magazine editors are buried in free shit); The
Affirmation Crap Lie (you are insecure about
things you didn't know it was possible to be
insecure about); and The Big Meta Lie (we're
devastatingly affected by the celebrity media).
Their regular 'Crap Email From a Dude' feature is
especially fantastic, as is their coverage of current
stories (opinionated and consistently hilarious)
and politics. It offers the best lady-aimed writing
on the web, along with lots of nice pictures of
Amy Winehouse getting out of cars.
Least likely to post 'How To Look Skinny While
Pleasing Your Man!'
jezebel.com
23. Gigazine
Created by Satoshi Yamasaki and Mazaki Keito of
Osaka, Gigazine is the most popular blog in
Japan, covering the latest in junk foods and
beverages, games, toys and other ingredients of
colourful pop product culture. Visitors first
witness 'eye candy' such as David Beckham
condoms (from China), 75 turtles in a fridge, the
packaging for Mega Frankfurters or a life-size
Ferrari knitted from wool, learn of a second X-
Files movie moving into pre-pre-production,
watch a vacuum-cleaning robot being tested and
compare taste reports of Kentucky Fried
Chicken's new Shrimp Tsuisuta Chilli.
Least likely to post 'Anyone seen these charming
croquet mallets?'
gigazine.net
24. Girl with a one-track mind
Following in the footsteps of Belle de Jour – the
anonymous blogger claiming to be a sex worker –
the girl with a one track mind started writing in
open, explicit terms about her lively sex life in
2004. By 2006, the blog was bookified and
published by Ebury, and spent much time on
bestseller lists, beach towels and hidden behind
the newspapers of serious-looking commuters.
Though she was keen to retain her anonymity and
continue her career in the film industry, author
'Abby Lee' was soon outed as north Londoner
Zoe Margolis by a Sunday newspaper.
Least likely to post 'I've got a headache'
girlwithaonetrackmind.blogspot.com
25. Mashable
Founded by Peter Cashmore in 2005, Mashable is
a social-networking news blog, reporting on and
reviewing the latest developments, applications
and features available in or for MySpace,
Facebook, Bebo and countless lesser-known
social-networking sites and services, with a
special emphasis on functionality. The blog's
name Mashable is derived from Mashup, a term
for the fusing of multiple web services. Readers
range from top web 2.0 developers to savvy 13-
year-olds wishing for the latest plug-ins to pimp
up their MySpace pages.
Least likely to post 'But why don't you just
phone them up?'
mashable.com
26. Greek tragedy
Stephanie Klein's blog allows her to 'create an
online scrapbook of my life, complete with
drawings, photos and my daily musings' or,
rather, tell tawdry tales of dating nightmares,
sexual encounters and bodily dysfunctions.
Thousands of women tune in for daily accounts of
her narcissistic husband and nightmarish mother-
in-law and leave equally self-revealing comments
transforming the pages into something of a group
confessional. The blog has been so successful
that Klein has penned a book, Straight Up and
Dirty, and has featured in countless magazine and
newspaper articles around the globe. Not bad for
what Klein describes as 'angst online'.
Least likely to post 'Enough about me – what's
your news?'
stephanieklein.blogs.com
27. Holy Moly
If a weekly flick through Heat just isn't enough,
then a daily intake of Holy Moly will certainly top
up those celeb gossip levels. The UK blog attracts
750,000 visitors a month and 240,000 celeb-
obsessees subscribe to the accompanying weekly
mail-out. It's an established resource for
newspaper columnists – both tabloid and
broadsheet – and there's a daily 'News from the
Molehill' slot in the free London paper The Metro.
Last month Holy Moly created headlines in its
own right by announcing a rethink on publishing
paparazzi shots. The blog will no longer publish
pics obtained when 'pursuing people in cars and
on bikes', as well as 'celebrities with their kids',
'people in distress at being photographed' and
off-duty celebs. But don't think that means the
omnipresent celeb blog that sends shivers round
offices up and down the country on 'mail-out day'
is slowing down – there has been talk of Holy
Moly expanding into TV.
Least likely to post 'What do you think of the
new Hanif Kureishi?'
holymoly.co.uk
28. Michelle Malkin
Most surveys of web use show a fairly even
gender balance online, but political blogging is
dominated by men. One exception is Michelle
Malkin, a conservative newspaper columnist and
author with one of the most widely read
conservative blogs in the US. That makes her one
of the most influential women online. Her main
theme is how liberals betray America by being
soft on terrorism, peddling lies about global
warming and generally lacking patriotism and
moral fibre.
Least likely to post 'That Obama's got a lovely
smile, hasn't he?'
www.michellemalkin.com
29. Cranky flier
There's nowhere to hide for airlines these days.
Not with self-confessed 'airline dork' Brett
Snyder, aka Cranky Flier, keeping tabs on their
progress. He's moved on from spending his
childhood birthdays in airport hotels, face pressed
against the window watching the planes come in,
and turned his attention to reporting on the state
of airlines. His CV is crammed with various US
airline jobs, which gives him the insider
knowledge to cast his expert eye over everything
from the recent 777 emergency landing at
Heathrow to spiralling baggage handling costs
and the distribution of air miles to 'virtual
assistants'.
Least likely to post 'There's nothing wrong with
a well-conducted cavity search'
crankyflier.com
30. Go fug yourself
It's a neat word, fug – just a simple contraction
of 'ugly' and its preceding expletive – but from
those three letters an entire fugging industry has
grown. At Go Fug Yourself, celebrity offenders
against style, elegance and the basic concept of
making sure you're covering your reproductive
organs with some form of clothing before you
leave the house are 'fugged' by the site's writers,
Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks. In their
hands, the simple pleasure of yelping 'Does she
even OWN a mirror?' at a paparazzi shot of some
B-list headcase in fuchsia becomes an epic battle
against dull Oscar gowns, ill-fitting formalwear
and Lindsay Lohan's leggings. The site stays on
the right side of gratuitous nastiness by dishing
out generous praise when due (the coveted 'Well
Played'), being genuinely thoughtful on questions
of taste and funnier on the subject of random
starlets in sequined sweatpants than you could
possibly even imagine.
Least likely to post 'Oprah looked great in those
stretch jeans'
gofugyourself.typepad.com
31. Gaping void
In the middle of a career as an adman in New
York, Hugh MacLeod found himself doodling
acerbic and almost surreal cartoons on the back
of people's business cards to pass the time in
bars. Everyone seemed to like the idea, so he
kept going. Things started going gangbusters
when he pimped his cartoons on the internet, and
as he built an audience through his blog, he
started writing about his other passion – the new
world of understanding how to adapt marketing
to the new world of the net. Remember when
everybody was madly printing off vouchers from
the web that saved you 40 per cent? That was
one of his: aimed at helping shift more bottles
from Stormhoek, the South African vintner he
works with.
Least likely to post 'This product really sells
itself'
gapingvoid.com
32. Dirtydirty dancing
If someone stole your camera, took it out for the
night to parties you yourself aren't cool enough
to go to and returned it in the morning, you would
probably find it loaded up with pictures like those
posted on DirtyDirtyDancing. The site seems
pretty lo-fi – just entries called things like
'Robin's birthday' and 'FEB16' featuring pages of
images of hip young things getting their party on.
And that's it. The original delight was in logging
on to see if you'd made it on to the site – your
chances increase exponentially if you're beautiful,
avant-garde and hang out at clubs and parties in
the edgier parts of London – but now the site can
get up to 900,000 hits a month from all over the
world.
Least likely to post 'Revellers at the Earl of
Strathdore's hunt ball'
dirtydirtydancing.com
33. Crooked timber
With a title pulled from Immanuel Kant's famous
statement that 'out of the crooked timber of
humanity, no straight thing was ever made', it's
an amalgam of academic and political writing
that has muscled its way into the epicentre of
intelligent discussion since its conception in 2003.
Formed as an internet supergroup, pulling several
popular intellectual blogs together, Crooked
Timber now has 16 members – largely academics
– across the US, Europe, Australia and Asia. The
site has built itself a reputation as something of
an intellectual powerhouse; a sort of global
philosophical thinktank conducted via blog.
Least likely to post 'Did anyone see Casualty last
night?'
crookedtimber.org
34. Beansprouts
Combining diary, opinion and green lifestyle tips,
Beansprouts is a blog that covers one family's
'search for the good life'. Melanie Rimmer and
her family of five live in a 'small ex-council
house' with a garden on the edge of farmland in
Poynton, Cheshire. They grow food on an
allotment nearby, keep chickens and bees and 'try
to be green, whatever that means'. Rimmer set
up the blog nearly two years ago when she first
got the allotment and says she felt it was
something worth writing about. With one post a
day, often more, topics for discussion can range
from top 10 uses for apples to making scrap
quilts.
Least likely to post 'Make mine a Happy Meal'
bean-sprouts.blogspot.com
35. The offside
Launched by 'Bob' after the success of his
WorldCupBlog in 2006, Offside is a UK-based blog
covering football leagues globally, gathering news
and visuals on all of it, inviting countless match
reports and promoting discussion on all things
soccer, from the attack by a colony of red ants on
a player in the Sao Paulo state championship
third division, to the particular qualities of every
one of Cristiano Ronaldo's goals so far this
season. Considered by many to be the best
'serious' blog in the game, it nevertheless
promises irreverently, 'If there is a sex scandal in
England, we'll be stuck in the middle of it. If a
player is traded for 1,000lb of beef in Romania,
we'll cook the steak. And if something interesting
happens in Major League Soccer, we'll be just as
surprised as you.'
Least likely to post 'Check out Ronaldo's bubble
butt'
theoffside.com
36. Peteite Anglaise
The tagline of a new book hitting British shelves
reads 'In Paris, in love, in trouble', but if it were
telling the whole story, perhaps it should read 'In
public' too. Bored at work one day in 2004, expat
secretary Catherine Sanderson happened upon the
concept of blogging. With a few clicks and an
impulse she created her own blog, and quickly
gathered fans who followed her life in Paris, the
strained relationship with her partner and
adventures with her toddler. And there was plenty
of drama to watch: within a year her relationship
had broken up, and she'd met a new man who
wooed her online. Readers were mesmerised by
her unflinching dedication to telling the whole
story, no matter how she would be judged. Soon
afterwards, however, Sanderson's employers
found out about the blog and promptly fired her.
Defeat turned into victory, however, with the press
attention she gathered from the dismissal not
only securing victory in an industrial tribunal, but
also helping her score a lucrative two-book deal
with Penguin.
Least likely to post 'J'ai assez parle de moi,
qu'est-ce que vous pensez?'
petiteanglaise.com
37. Crooks and liars
Founded in 2004 by John Amato (a professional
saxophonist and flautist), Crooks and Liars is a
progressive/liberal-leaning political blog, with over
200m visitors to date, which is illustrated by
video and audio clips of politicians and
commentators on podiums, radio and TV. Readers
post a variety of comments on political talking
points of the day, although 9/11 conspiracy
theories are often deleted, and there is a daily
round-up of notable stories on other political
blogs.
Least likely to post 'So just what is a caucus?'
crooksandliars.com
38. Chocolate and Zucchini
For Clothilde Dusoulier, a young woman working
in computing and living in the Paris district of
Montmartre, starting a blog was a way of venting
her boundless enthusiasm for food without
worrying she might be boring her friends with it.
Five years later Chocolate and Zucchini, one of
the most popular cooking blogs, has moved from
being a hobby to a full-time career. The mixture
of an insider's view on gastronomic Paris,
conversational, bilingual writing and the sheer
irresistibility of her recipes pull in thousands of
readers every day. This, in turn, has led to
multiple books and the ability to forge a dream
career as a food writer.The name of the blog is,
she says, a good metaphor for her cooking style:
'The zucchini illustrates my focus on healthy and
natural eating... and the chocolate represents my
decidedly marked taste for anything sweet.'
Least likely to post 'Just add instant mash'
chocolateandzucchini.com
39. Samizdata
Samizdata is one of Britain's oldest blogs. Written
by a bunch of anarcho-libertarians, tax rebels,
Eurosceptics and Wildean individualists, it has a
special niche in the political blogosphere: like a
dive bar, on the rational side of the border
between fringe opinion and foam-flecked paranoid
ranting. Samizdata serves its opinions up strong
and neat, but still recognisable as politics. On the
other side of the border, in the wilderness, the real
nutters start.
Least likely to post 'I'd say it's six of one, half a
dozen of the other'
samizdata.net
40. The daily dish
Andrew Sullivan is an expat Brit, blogging pioneer
and defier-in-chief of American political
stereotypes. He is an economic conservative
(anti-tax), a social liberal (soft on drugs) and a
foreign policy hawk (pro-war). He endorsed
George Bush in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004.
Barack Obama is his preferred Democrat
candidate in 2008. So he is either confused, a
hypocrite or a champion of honest non-
partisanship – depending on your point of view.
He is also gay, a practising Roman Catholic and
HIV-positive, a set of credentials he routinely
deploys in arguments to confuse atheist liberals
and evangelical conservatives.
Least likely to post 'Sorry, I can't think of
anything to say'
andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com
41. The F word
Founded in 2001, the UK's first feminist webzine
is responsible for reviving debates around
feminism in Britain. Edited by Jess McCabe, the
site, which receives around 3,000 hits a day, is
dedicated to providing a forum for contemporary
feminist voices, with a daily news blog, features
on stereotypes and censorship, podcasts on
pornography and regular feminist film reviews.
Least likely to post 'What's the difference
between a woman and a condom?'
thefword.org.uk
42. Jonny B's private secret diary
Growing in popularity since its debut in 2003,
Jonny B's diary – which is clearly neither private
nor terribly secret – catalogues the rock and
bowls lifestyle of one man in the depths of rural
Norfolk. With the mocking self-awareness of a
modern Diary of a Nobody, the author tells tales
of wild nights at the village pub and the fortunes
of the local bowls team. As a slow, gentle satire
on modern village life, it is often held up as an
example of blog as sitcom, and has not only
attracted a loyal band of readers, but a dedicated
fan club on Facebook desperate to work out the
real identity of the wit behind the site. Previous
guesses have included Chris Evans and Johnny
Vaughan, though both have been strenuously
denied.
Least likely to post 'OMG, I saw Jessica Simpson
in Lidl and she signed my bum!'
privatesecretdiary.com
43. Popjustice
When Smash Hits! died, Popjustice became the
new home of pop music. Founded in 2000 by
Peter Robinson, it combines fandom with music
news and raw critique, all hilarious, and all
blindingly correct. Recent features include a
review of Eurovision failure Daz Sampson's new
single 'Do A Little Dance' ('The listener is invited
to muse on the sad inevitability of their own
death') and a furious debate about the future of
Girls Aloud.
Least likely to post 'I prefer Pierre Boulez's
interpretation of Mahler's third'
popjustice.com
44. Waiter rant
Rant isn't quite the right word for this collection
of carefully crafted stories from the sharp end of
the service industry in a busy New York
restaurant. 'The Waiter', as the author is known,
has been blogging his experiences with fussy
customers and bad tippers since 2004, winning a
gong at blogging's biggest awards, the Bloggies,
in 2007. It's representative – but by no means
the first – of the so-called 'job-blogs', with
people from all walks of life, from ambulance
drivers ( randomactsofreality.net ) and policemen
( coppersblog.blogspot.com ) to the greatly loved
but now defunct Call Centre Confidential.
Between them they chronicle life in their trade,
and usually from behind a veil of anonymity.
Something about the everyday nature of The
Waiter – a person we like to pretend is invisible
or treat with servile disdain – deconstructing the
event later with a subtle, erudite typestroke, has
captured the public imagination and (hopefully)
made some people behave better in restaurants
than they otherwise might.
Least likely to post 'The customer is always
right'
waiterrant.net
45. Hecklerspray
The internet's not exactly short of gossip
websites providing scurrilous rumours of who did
what to whom, but some stand out from the rest.
Sharply written and often laugh-out-loud funny,
Hecklerspray has been called the British
alternative to Perez Hilton, but it's different in
important ways: the emphasis here is on style
and wit, with a stated aim to 'chronicle the ups
and downs of all that is populist and niche within
the murky world of entertainment'. Basically, it's
gossip for grown-ups.
Least likely to post 'If you can't say anything
nice…'
hecklerspray.com
46. WoWinsider
WoWinsider is a blog about the World of Warcraft,
which is the most popular online role-playing
game in the world, one for which over 10m pay
subscriptions each month in order to control an
avatar (a character, chosen from 10 races) and
have it explore landscapes, perform quests, build
skills, fight monsters to the death and interact
with others' avatars. WoWinsider reports on
what's happening within WoW ('Sun's Reach
Harbor has been captured'). It also reports on
outside developments and rumours ('A future
patch will bring a new feature: threat meters').
Supporters of US presidential candidate Ron Paul
promoted on WoWInsider their recent virtual mass
march through the WoW. And the blog recently
reported that America's Homeland Security are –
seriously – looking for a terrorist operating within
WoW.
Least likely to post 'Who fancies a game of
space invaders?'
WoWinsider.com
47. Angry black bitch
Angry Black Bitch, which has the tagline,
'Practising the Fine Art of Bitchitude', is the four-
year-old blog of Shark Fu of St Louis, Missouri.
She has never posted a photo of herself and this
'anonymity' has led recently to her having to fend
off claims she's really a white man, even a drag
queen. But taken as read, Shark Fu is a much-
discussed, 35-year-old black woman, tired of the
'brutal weight' of her 'invisibility'.
Least likely to post 'I'm off to anger-
management'
angryblackbitch.blogspot.com
48. Stylebubble
Fashion blogger Susie Lau says Stylebubble is
just a diary of what she wears and why. But few
diaries are read by 10,000 people a day. Lau, 23,
admits to spending up to 60 per cent of her pay
from her day job in advertising on clothes, but
now she's viewed as a fashion opinion former,
she's being paid in kind. Her influence is such
that fashion editors namecheck her blog, Chanel
invites her to product launches and advertisers
have come calling.
Least likely to post 'I even wear my Ugg boots in
bed'
stylebubble.typepad.com
49. AfterEllen
Afterellen takes an irreverent look at how the
lesbian community is represented in the media.
Started by lesbian pop-culture guru Sarah Warn
in 2002, the name of the site gives a nod to the
groundbreaking moment Ellen DeGeneres came
out on her hit TV show, Ellen, in 1997. Since then,
lesbian and bisexual women have moved from the
margins on to primetime TV, and this blog
analyses the good, the bad and the ugly of how
they're portrayed. It's now the biggest website
for LGBT women, with half a million hits a month.
Least likely to post 'George Clooney – I wouldn't
kick him out of bed'
afterellen.com
50. Copyblogger
It's dry, real, and deafeningly practical, but for an
online writing-for-the-internet blog, Copyblogger,
founded in 2006, is remarkably interesting.
Swelling with advice on online writing, it's an
essential tool for anyone trying to make
themselves heard online, whether commenting on
a discussion board or putting together a
corporate website.

Passive Income के ज़रिये कमाएं पैसे!

आपका money making mindset कैसा है ?Money
Making Mindset से मेरा मतलब आपकी पैसा
कमाने की सोच से है .
Ok, just a moment…आगे बढ़ने से पहले मैं चाहता हूँ कि
आप इस point पर थोडा सा सोचें …आप सोचें कि life में आप
किस तरह से cash inflow देखना चाहते हैं …, I mean
आपकी कमाई का मुख्य जरिया क्या होने वाला है …
just visualize कि आप future में किस तरह से पैसा कमा
रहे हैं .
.
.
.
Done
क्या सोचा आपने ?
I bet maximum लोगों ने Job या Business के through
पैसा कमाने का सोचा होगा , हो सकता है कुछ smart लोगों ने दोनों
तरीकों से पैसा कमाने के बारे में सोचा हो …like…job तो
करेंगे ही और network marketing से
भी अच्छा पैसा कमाएंगे …good, I sincerely
appreciate this approach.
आपने जो भी सोचा हो पर हर किसी
की सोच में probably एक चीज
common रही होगी …” मुझे पैसा
कमाने के लिए कुछ काम करना होगा। ”
पर आज मैं आपसे एक नए approach के बारे में बात करना
चाहता हूँ … “बिना काम किये पैसा कमाना !”
शायद सुनने में अजीब लग रहा हो पर क्यों न हम
बिना काम किये पैसा कमाने के बारे में सोचें .. active income के
mindset को बदल कर passive income के बारे में सोचें .
क्या है Passive Income ?
Passive income का मतलब है इस तरह की
income जिसमे आपको actively involve नहीं
होना पड़ता . For Ex. मकान या दुकान के किराए से आने
वाली income, आपकी किसी
copyrighted चीज की sales से होने
वाली कमाई , आपके bank deposit से मिलने वाला
interest, shares से आने वाला dividend…आपके
किसी business से आने वाली income
जिसे आपके द्वारा appoint किया manager संभालता हो.
मैं passive income को एक ऐसी income के रूप
में देखता हूँ जो आपको active रख सके . उन चीजों
में active रख सके जिसमे आप active रहना चाहते हैं …
यानि आप सिर्फ तभी काम करें और वही
काम करें जो सच में करना चाहते हैं . अपने बच्चे के annual
function में जाना चाहते हैं तो जा सकें , माता -पिता को
तीर्थ पे ले जाना चाहते हैं तो ले जा सकें …. घर बैठ
कर मैच देखना चाहते हैं तो देख सकें …आपको
छुट्टी के लिए न अपने boss पर depend रहे न
customer की दया पर.
Passive income से मेरा मतलब हर महीने 4-5
हज़ार extra income से नहीं है , मैं इसे
आपकी main income की तरह देखता
हूँ … ये 40-50 हज़ार भी हो सकती
है और 4-5 लाख भी …लेकिन ये इतनी
कम नहीं हो सकती कि आपको school
function में जाने से , तीर्थ पे ले जाने से और
match देखने से रोक सके .
और मुझे लगता है कि आज ज्यादातर log जो एक financially
abundant life जी रहे हैं उनकी एक
important source of income passive या semi-
passive ही है …. For example आज
Chetan Bhagat अपने novels की royalty से
करोड़ों कमा रहे हैं …बड़े -बड़े movie stars की
मेजर income उनकी acting fees से ना होकर
उनके द्वारा तरह –तरह के businesses, hotels,
restaurants में investment से होती है ।और
उन्हें इन businesses को देखने भी
नहीं जाना पड़ता …even सचिन तेंदुलकर और कपिल
देव के रेस्टोरेंट्स और होटल्स के बारे में तो आपने सुना
ही होगा , और अगर हम बड़े -बड़े
businessmen की भी बात करें तो उनके
बहुत से businesses ऐसे होते हैं जिनमे वे actively
involve नहीं होते , बल्की
किसी CEO को appoint कर देते हैं और खुद
कहीं और focus करते हैं .In fact अगर life में
अधिक पैसा कमाना है तो passive income के बारे में ज़रूर
सोचना चाहिए .
कहाँ से लाएं Passive Income ?
Active कहाँ से ला रहे हैं ? Friends, आज आप active
income इसलिए generate कर पा रहे हैं या कर पायेंगे क्योंकि
आपने इस बारे में सोचा है , एक बार -दो बार नहीं
सैकड़ों -हज़ारों बार …ये पढाई कर लें तो ऐसी जॉब
मिलेगी , PO निकाल लें तो bank manager बन
सकते हैं …internet cafe खोल दें तो अच्छा चल जायेगा …
wholesaler बन जाएं तो काफी फायदा होगा …. इसमे
कोई शक नहीं कि आज आप जो भी कर
रहे हैं वो आपके पहले की सोच का परिणाम है …
आज आप किसी job या business से पैसा इसलिए
कमा रहे हैं क्योंकि आपने इसी तरीके से
कमाने के बारे में सोचा था , और आपने ऐसा शायद इसलिए सोचा था
क्योंकि हम बचपन से अपने माँ -बाप …नाते -रिश्तेदारों
सभी को इसी तरह से
ज़िन्दगी जीते देखते हैं …काम करो – पैसा
कमाओ …काम करो – पैसा कमाओ …और हमारे दिमाग में
कभी आता ही नहीं कि काम
करो पैसा कमाओ और उस पैसे को ऐसे लगाओ कि वो इतना पैसा
कमाए कि हमें मजबूरी में काम ना करना पड़े .….तो
क्या अगर हमारे बाप-दादा साठ में रिटायर हुए…क्यों न हम इसके
बारे में अभी से सोचें ; साठ की बजाये
चालीस में ही रिटायर हो जाएं, और
बाकी की ज़िन्दगी बिना पैसों
की चिंता करते हुए जीयें!
आज इस post को लिखने का मेरा यही मकसद है
कि आप at least passive income के बारे में सोचना शुरू
कीजिये , क्योंकि अगर आप सोचना शुरू करेंगे तो law
of attraction आपके सामने ऐसे avenues और
opportunities खड़ी कर देगा जहाँ से आप
passive income generate कर पायेंगे …ऐसा करने के लिए
ज़रूरी नहीं की हमारे पास
करोड़ों रूपये का surplus हो, हम अपने छोटे -छोटे
investments से भी इस दिशा में कदम बढ़ा सकते
हैं … मैंने भी इस बारे में बहुत देर में सोचना शुरू किया
अगर 10 साल पहले सोचा होता तो शायद आज पैसिव इनकम
ही मेरा major source of income
होती …but anyways ..better late than
never
Friends अंत में मैं ये clear करना चाहूँगा कि passive
income mindset develop करने के बारे में बता कर मैं
आपको काम से भागने या उसे ना करने का idea नहीं
देना चाहता , मैं बस आपको एक ऐसी स्थिति में
पहुँचने के लिए inspire करना चाहता हूँ जहाँ आप बस वो करें
जो करना चाहते हैं , और जब आप ऐसा करने में कामयाब हो
जायेंगे तब आप अपने , अपने परिवार और इस समाज के लिए
कहीं ज्यादा उपयोगी साबित हो पायेंगे .
All the best.

Hindi Bloggers के लिए सबसे बड़ी ख़बर

े मैं आपके
साथ एक बहुत बड़ी खबर share कर रहा हूँ .
हो सकता है कुछ लोग पहले से इसके बारे में जानते हों , पर जो
नहीं जानते उन्हें इस खबर से ज़रूर
ख़ुशी मिलेगी।
5 Dec, Friday को मैं एक
web page check कर
रहा था , इस पेज को मैं
पिछले चार सालों से कई बार
देख चुका था ….कई बार
इसलिए क्योंकि मुझे इसपर
एक ख़ास ‘शब्द’ के लिखे
जाने का बेसब्री
से इंतज़ार था , हर बार मैं
देखता और हर बार वो शब्द वहां नहीं होता , मैं
थोड़ा उदास होता पर फिर अपने काम पर लग जाता कि एक दिन ये
इंतज़ार ज़रूर ख़त्म होगा … और Friday को यही
हुआ …. मेरा और मेरी तरह के हज़ारों Hindi
Bloggers का इंतज़ार पूरा हो गया …..
इस बार जब मैंने चेक किया तो वहां वह ख़ास शब्द लिखा हुआ
था, वो ख़ास शब्द है “हिंदी” , और वो वेब पेज है
Languages AdSense supports
जी हाँ , Google Adsense अब Hindi
language को भी support करने लगा है .
और ये सचमुच एक बहुत बड़ी
खबर है . आप सभी को बधाई !
Below is the page जहाँ supported languages में
Hindi भी शामिल हो गयी है :
Adsense Now Supports Hindi
I am sure जो लोग blogging या websites से related काम
करते हैं वे Google Adsense के बारे में ज़रूर जानते होंगे ,
but for the sake of those who don’t know , मैं इसके
बारे में थोड़ा सा बता देता हूँ .
क्या है गूगल एडसेंस ?
Google Adsense , Google का Advertising Program
है जिसमे register होकर कोई website या Blog owner
अपनी web property (यानि blogs एंड
websites) पर ads show कर सकता है .
सीधे -सीधे कहें तो Google Adsense
Online Money Making के सबसे आसान और अच्छे
तरीकों में से एक है . एक बार आपको Adsense
approval मिल जाता है तो Google आपकी साइट
पर ads शो करने लगता है और जब भी वो ad
click होता है तो आप per click के हिसाब से पैसे earn करते
हैं .
ये खबर इतनी बड़ी क्यों है ?
क्योंकि ये खबर सीधे पैसों से जुडी है
और पैसा बड़ी चीज है .
आज Online Hindi content के कम होने
का शायद सबसे बड़ा कारण यही है कि Hindi
blogging में उतना पैसा नहीं है , इसलिए बहुत से
लोग इसके तरफ attract ही नहीं होते
और जो होते वे पैसों के बिना कुछ ही दिनों में
demotivate हो जाते . पर अब Google Adsense के
Hindi support करने के बाद सम्भवतः ऐसा नहीं
होगा , अब हर छोटे -बड़े blogger (in terms of page
views) के पास अपनी Hindi Site Monetize
करने का एक सुनहरा मौका होगा and I am optimistic आने
वाले कुछ सालों में आप कई बेहतरीन Hindi sites
और blogs देख पाएंगे .
Google Adsense से कोई कितना earn कर सकता है ?
English language की sites की बात
करें तो कुछ Indian bloggers अपनी sites से
हर महीने लाखों में कमाते हैं . इस list में सबसे
बड़ा नाम है Amit Agarwal का , जिन्होंने IIT से पढ़ाई
की , मल्टीनेशनल फर्म्स में
नौकरी की और अपनी जॉब
छोड़ कर पिछले 10 सालों से full time blogging कर रहे हैं .
उनकी site है labnol.org , और वे हर
महीने 30-40k USD (* Estimated income,
real income may be more or less) यानि 18 लाख से 24
लाख रुपये कमाते हैं . और इस income का एक बड़ा हिस्सा
Adsense से आता है .
अब Hindi sites कितना earn कर पाती हैं ये बताने
में थोड़ा वक़्त लगेगा , पर एक बात निश्चित है की ये
मौजूदा options की तुलना में कहीं
अच्छा होगा .
वैसे Adsense से होने वाली income कई बातों पर
depend करती है ,जैसे कि
आपकी साइट का traffic कितना है
किस देश से कितना traffic है , USA के traffic से सबसे
अधिक कमाई होती है
किस category की site है , for ex:
Finance, Smart Phones, Personal Development,
टेक्नोलॉजी, एजुकेशन etc, आम तौर पे फाइनेंस
site की earning ज्यादा रहती है
.
etc
इस बड़ी खबर का मैं क्या करूँ ?
अगर आप एक Hindi Blogger हैं तो obvious है आप
Google Adsense के लिए apply कर सकते हैं . पर apply
करने में जल्दबाजी ना दिखाएँ , मुझे last to last
Friday ही adsense द्वारा Hindi support किये
जाने का पता लग चुका था , पर मैंने एक हफ्ते तक wait किया
और last Thursday को apply किया …and Thanks GOD,
I got approved.
Apply करने से पहले इन बातों पर ध्यान दें :
आपकी साइट या ब्लॉग कम से कम 6
महीने पुराना होना चाहिए
उसमे आपने regularly कुछ न कुछ post किया हो , at
least हर वीक में 1-2 posts
आपकी साइट पे किसी तरह का
copyrighted content नहीं होना चाहिए ,
for example किसी की copy
की हुई post
आपकी साइट पर कोई ऐसी
सामग्री नहीं है जो Google
Adsense policy allow नहीं
करती , for example Adult/ Porn Content
आपने Google Adsense की terms and
conditions पढ़ ली हों (ये हिंदी में
भी उपलब्ध हैं ), खासतौर से वो चीजें
जो आपके approve हो जाने के बाद भी आपका
account ban करा सकती हैं , for example
अपने ही साइट्स के ads पर click करना ,
जितना permitted हों उससे अधिक ad units लगाना ; etc;
चूँकि Legal Language आम लोगों के समझ में कम
आती हैं इसलिए आप Adsense से related
blogs को भी पढ़ कर इसकी
बारीकियां समझ सकते हैं .
Apply करते वक़्त Payee Name का ध्यान दें : गूगल
ऐडसेंस से होने वाली income taxable है ,
इसलिए जब आप Payee Name डालें तो सजग रहे , आप
यहाँ जिसका नाम देंगे उसी के नाम से income
आएगी और उसी को tax देना होगा .
ये भी ध्यान दें की आप जो
भी नाम डालें ठीक उसी
नाम से bank account भी हो , spelling में
अंतर भारी पड़ सकता है .
Blog पे daily कुछ page views होने चाहिए , कितने ये
कहना मुश्किल है , पर मेरा मानना है कि कम से कम रोज के
2-3 हज़ार page views तो होने ही चाहिए .
आपकी साइट पर बहुत अधिक broken links ना
हों , ब्रोकन लिंक्स चेक करने के लिए यहाँ देखें ।
आपकी साइट पर Privacy Policy, Contact
Us, Disclosure page, etc होने चाहिएं
etc
पर मैं तो Hindi में blogging नहीं करता , मैं क्या
करूँ ?
AKC पर मैंने एक बार “Passive Income के ज़रिये कमाएं
पैसे! ” post share की थी . इसमें मैंने
बिना actively involve हुए पैसे कमाने के बारे में लिखा था .
Blogging passive income generate करने का एक बहुत
अच्छा तरीका हो सकता है. इसलिए आप चाहें तो
Hindi में एक नया blog शुरू कर सकते हैं और धीरे
-धीरे इससे अच्छी income generate
कर सकते हैं .
पर ऐसे तो मैं पहले भी English में blog शुरू कर
के कर सकता था ?
हो सकता है ये question आपके मन में आये … दोस्तों
English में आप अभी भी blog शुरू
कर सकते हैं पर in all probability आप English में जो
कुछ भी करने का सोचेंगे उससे related हज़ारों
साइट्स पहले से ही मौजूद होंगी इसलिए
आप चाह कर भी उतनी value add
नहीं कर पाएंगे पर Hindi के मामले में ऐसा
नहीं है . In fact मैं भी AKC
की शुरुआत करने से पहले English में एक blog
शुरू किया था , पर जल्द ही मुझे realize हुआ कि
मैं जो कर रहा हूँ वो पहले भी और इससे अच्छे से
किया जा चुका है , इसलिए मैंने Hindi में काम करने का निश्चय
किया . इसका मुझे बहुत फायदा भी मिला , आज AKC
Motivatinal Hindi Stories और Quotes की
सबसे बड़ी साइट है जिसे हर मैहीने
22 lacs से अधिक page views मिलते हैं. अगर मैंने
English में यही काम किया होता तो हो सकता है
मेरी earning ज्यादा होती पर
definitely मैं इतने लोगों को serve नहीं कर रहा
होता ….
Hindi blogging space अभी
शुरूआती दौर में है , बहुत से हिंदी
ब्लॉग्स जो हैं भी वे शौकिया तौर पर लिखे जाते हैं …
आप चाहें तो Hindi में एक professional blog शुरू करके
Hindi readers के लिए कुछ valuable create कर सकते
हैं एंड in turn आप अपने लिए एक alternate या primary
source of income create कर सकते हैं . और future में
India में Net से जुड़ने वाले ज्यादातर लोग ऐसे होंगे जो English
से अधिक Hindi या अन्य regional languages में
comfortable होंगे , ऐसे लोगों को अगर उनकी
ही भाषा में content मिलेगा तो definitely वे
ऐसी sites पर बार -बार आना पसंद करेंगे .
यदि आप Hindi में एक High Traffic blog बनाने
की सोच रहे हैं तो ये पोस्ट ज़रूर पढ़ें :
How To Make High Traffic Hindi Website or Blog
एडसेंस अप्रूवल मिल जाने के बाद क्या सावधानियां बरतें ?
चूँकि adsense आपके monetization पोर्टफोलियो का एक
ज़रूरी हिस्सा होगा इसलिए आप पुरे precautions
लें की कहीं गूगल ऐडसेंस आपका
अकाउंट बैन न कर दे . कुछ बातें जो आप ध्यान में रख सकते हैं
:
कभी भी अपने आप ads न click
करें , कुछ चेक करने के लिए भी
नहीं .
अपने friends या किसी से भी ad
click करने के लिए न कहें .
किसी और एडवरटाइजिंग नेटवर्क का ऐसा ad न
लगाएं जिसे adsense approve न करता हो
जितने permitted हों उससे अधिक ads न लगाएं
किसी ऐसी site से न link करें जो
allowed न हों , जैसे कि gambling sites
Ads को ऐसे न place करें कि लोगों से वो अनजाने में click
हो जाएं .
अपना ad code किसी ऐसी site पे ना
लगाएं जो Adsense के लिहाज से approve होने के लायक
न हो
Click Bombing से बचें , यानि किसी visitor के
जानबूझ के आपकी site पर कई बार ad click
करने से बचें . अगर आप WordPress पे हैं तो इसके लिए
इस plugin का use कर सकते हैं .
etc
अंत में सबसे सबसे ज़रूरी TIP : Google
adsense से related कुछ भी करने से पहले
उसके बारे में internet पे अच्छी तरह से पढ़ लें ,
अंदाजे पर या assume कर के कुछ भी ना करें , याद
रखें अगर आपकी गलती से account
ban हो जाता है तो दुबारा इसे activate करा पाना बहुत मुश्किल
है .
फ्रेंड्स, उम्मीद करता हूँ यहाँ दी
गयीं जानकारियां आपके काम की
होंगी। एक बार फिर आप सभी को गूगल
एडसेंस द्वारा हिंदी को सपोर्ट करने की
ढेरों बधाइयाँ ! चलिए हम इस अवसर का लाभ उठाएं और
अपनी मातृभाषा को इंटरनेट पर भी समृद्ध
बनाने में जुट जाएं।