A-List Bloggers Are Boring – 5 People Whose Blogs You Should Be Reading

Many up-and-coming bloggers have quite a destructive mindset – they think that the only way to boost a burgeoning blog’s popularity is to piggyback on the success of a-list bloggers. Thoughts such as, “If I could just get a guest post at ProBlogger” or “if only Pat Flynn would re-tweet my posts” are not uncommon, as if they somehow hold the golden ticket to relative fame and fortune.

Now don’t get me wrong – the support of a-list bloggers can do great things for your blog. But “support” comes in many different shapes and sizes. And the fact is, support from your peers if often far more valuable than the support of those you look up to.

I have personally gone to great lengths to develop positive relationships with bloggers who are on or around my level. Why?

1. I see myself in them, and I want to help them.
2. I love getting an insight into how they go about their business.
3. They are “in the trenches” with you, not giving out orders 30 miles behind the front line 😉
4. It’s a lot more rewarding to grow with someone and share the experience, than try to wedge yourself into an a-lister’s already saturated network.

There is a lot to gain from looking around you, rather than above. After all, the up-and-comers of today are the a-listers of tomorrow. So in this post, I want to share with you five bloggers who you should get to know better.

Deacon Bradley – Life Stoked

This guy doesn’t even teach people how to make money online! Shock horror! But Deacon does have boundless enthusiasm and a clear love for helping others. I couldn’t put it any better than his blog’s tagline: “Create a life you’re excited to live!”

As far as I am concerned, that is the most simple definition of what we should all be aiming for.

Tim Soulo – Blogger Jet

There’s a lot to like about Tim. He doesn’t let the fact that English isn’t his first language hold him back. He has one hell of an ambitious target for his blog. And he uses more smilies than anyone else I know 🙂

Tim is tying to grow a blog from 0 to 100,000 visits (per month) in just six months. Given that my blog is already five months old and I got only 1,900 unique visitors in the last 30 days, he certainly has the beating of me 😉 If nothing else, his blog is a fascinating case study that anyone interested in blog growth should be reading.

Steve Roy – Ending The Grind

I first came across Steve’s blog when I was looking for other blogs similar to mine. Leaving Work Behind and Ending The Grind don’t sound too dissimilar, do they? But recently, Steve’s blog has taken a sharp change in direction and is becoming something really special.

There is no doubting that Steve is working through a pretty tumultuous patch in his life, and he intends for his blog to essentially take his readers through that journey. For anyone who is interested in quitting their job, his blog is a must-read.

I should say that Steve already has an well-established blog with a sizable readership. But I’m sure he wouldn’t claim to be an a-lister, and I wanted him on this list!

Conni Biesalski – A Life Of Blue

Conni’s blog launched just last week, but she definitely hit the ground running! I have been following her progress for the past few weeks as she meticulously went about planning her launch. If you are looking to launch a blog in the near future, Conni’s your girl – she put a damn sight more thought into it than I did!

Besides that, you would struggle to find anyone more genuinely well-wishing – Conni is an extremely enthusiastic person. She also brings true value in not being afraid to tell you that what you’re doing is rubbish! In as nice a way as possible, of course…

Gregory Ciotti – Sparring Mind

Greg is last on the list, but by no means least. This guy has huge ambitions for his blog, produces awesome content, and to top it all off, is a genuinely nice guy. You may well have seen him in the comments section of my blog post. He is taking very deliberate steps to expose his blog to bigger and bigger platforms, for which I applaud him. He’s got a lot of drive and motivation and really seems to be executing his strategy very well.

You should follow Greg’s blog for two very good reasons:

1. He writes great posts that are invaluable for any internet marketer.
2. His blog doubles as a great case study of how to market your blog well.

Strength In Numbers

It was not deliberate, but I have picked five very different people, and five very different blogs. So you have an awful lot to gain from checking out each and every one of the bloggers above. What are you waiting for?

Creative commons image courtesy of s.alt