Lessons in Blogging Part 1: Say Something Idiotic

As a new blogger I'm still at the point where I am trying to get people to notice my blog. I recently was able to get my blog indexed by Google by following these steps.  However, before I can get a lot of search traffic I need to increase my page rank by getting links to my blog.  To date the second biggest jump in readers came after writing this post about prosper.com (the biggest is from stumbleupon when someone stumbled upon my beaver post).  Using Google analytics I found that these readers where being referred from a forum post titled idiot blogger .  Naturally I had to check it out.  Apparently I had used the word "default" incorrectly and also was mistaken for endorsing prosper because of two good months worth of profits.  (to clarify that was meant to be the first post in a series exploring the value of prosper.com).

This is how I learned that saying something idiotic can help get attention.  This I believe is just one manifestation of the larger blogging rule of writing about controversial issues.   Saying things such as "Radiohead is NOT the greatest band in the world" and "I actually like the new Microsoft ads and don't care if they where made on a Mac" can spark controversy and ultimately drive people to your blog.  Next time I use this method I hope it results in more of a conversation and less in everyone pointing and laughing.