It seems as if Darren Rowse have finally found something he wants to do on the problogger.com domain, which he got to complement his ProBlogger brand. The result will be a community, and you can sign up for access already. It’ll be interesting to see what he’s got up his sleeve for this one. A simple forum, or more?
Bad News for Theme Designers (or is it?)
Darren Rowse has posted the results of a poll he ran on ProBlogger.net asking the readers who designed their blogs. The results are discouraging for theme designers focusing on doing custom work. Only 8% of the ProBlogger.net readers answering the poll (there was 2 513 of them by the way) had paid for a custom design, whereas 13% had paid for a premium theme. Most people run a free theme. Check out the full results.
So 8% of 2 513 people, that’s just over 200 potential clients for someone like me, although the poll doesn’t state how much these people actually paid for their custom theme. On the other hand, let’s say I do two themes per month, then I don’t need more than 24 clients each year, and some clients are recurring ones (obviously). It would be interesting to know what people who do buy custom themes are paying at an average, wouldn’t it?
What kind of theme are you running on your blog?
Darren Rowse Launches Personal Blog
When Darren Rowse does something, people tend to listen. Just recently he launched the @ProBloggerDeals Twitter account, as a spinoff to ProBlogger.net which he is most famous for. He details these two new products in a post on ProBlogger.net, but you can just as well read the DarrenRowse.com launch post, and check it out for yourself.
I’m not exactly sure what I’ll blog about or how often I’ll post – but whatever it ends up being it’ll be more of a glimpse into what I’m thinking and feeling passionate.
ProBlogger.net Branches Out, Launches Deal Account On Twitter
ProBlogger.net is launching a blog deals account on Twitter, to pass out coupon codes, discounts, special offers and more. Darren Rowse explains his decision to launch @ProBloggerDeals on Twitter like this:
I’d love to promote everything on ProBlogger but the reality is that ProBlogger.net is a blog that focuses more upon tips on how to blog rather than a blog about products or tools for bloggers.
It’s an account for promotional tweets only, and some of the links on it will be affiliate ones. Rowse is open about that, naturally, and you should be aware of it too. That being said, when he claims he’ll stick to promotions for good stuff, I tend to believe him. After all, Rowse has a great reputation.
Read more about the account, and follow it on Twitter if you’re into that sort of thing. Personally, I keep thinking how much more open and fair this sounds than Perez Hilton including promotional tweets in his ad campaigns. But maybe I’m biased.
Darren Rowse Hits 5,000
5,000 posts that is, on popular blogging blog ProBlogger.net. Impressive to say the least. He celebrates this by posting 13 things he learned about successful blogging:
- Anticipate Growing Trends
- Solve Problems and Meet Needs
- Write for YOU
- Blog over the Long Term and Blog Regularly
- Be Interactive
- Be Personal
- Go Where People Are Already Gathering
- Build Your Brand
- Spot and Follow Opportunities
- Develop Partnerships
- Know Your Goals and Stay Focused
- Work Hard
- Be Lucky
Naturally, he’s got explanations to them too, so you should head over to ProBlogger.net and pick his brain on this. Congratulations Darren!
