Scribble Designs: Web Design in Northern Ireland.

My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers

By Gerard McGarry on 9th May 2007, filed in Blogging. You can leave a response below. Tags: , ,

Swiss Army KnifeI started blogging back in 2004, and during that time have come across a number of sites that helped me learn more about the process of blogging and how to build a successful blog. This post contains the top 5 websites that I consider indispensible resources for bloggers.

Hopefully this post reflects my goals from blogging – which are writing quality content, generating traffic and making money from my blogs.

This post is also a part of the ProBlogger group writing project.

  1. ProBlogger – Darren is the original problogger. He has covered all aspects of blogging over the last couple of years – from monetization of blogs through to search engine optimization and copywriting, he’s placed himself at the centre of the blogging industry. ProBlogger is an essential destination for anyone serious about blogging.
  2. Performancing – The first of two communities on my list, Performancing has been completely reinvigorated in recent months by the efforts of Ryan Caldwell and Raj Dash. Both write from direct experience and participate to a fantastic extend in the Performancing community. Because it’s geared toward bloggers (the motto is “Helping Bloggers Succeed”), it’s easy to get involved in discussions in the forum or share your expertise through a personal blog entry.
  3. John Chow – John will love this double-linkbaiting idea for evilness! Get a link from Darren’s writing project and a link from Chow! Seriously though, John Chow has some great ideas for how to make money online. From clever tricks with AdWords to affiliate marketing, there are loads of alternative methods of monetization for bloggers to explore. Also, if you do a review of his blog, he’ll link to it and send you a ton of traffic. Apparently.
  4. Copyblogger – I initially underestimated Brian Clarke’s blog, Copyblogger, because at one point all he seemed to write about was the importance of writing titles. While Brian has a unique talent for taking a topic and beating it to death, he also writes one of the most focused blogs on the importance of writing quality content. Brian’s posting frequency is easy to keep up with, and provides plenty of food for thought.
  5. SEOmoz – SEOmoz is a blog, an SEO company and an SEO community hub, all in one. Serious bloggers realise that to get traffic to your website organic SEO is crucial. SEOmoz is a fun place to participate in search engine discussions, and the bloggers (Rand and Rebecca mainly) make the topic fun and interesting with their comics and GoogleBot illustrations.

Those are my Top 5 blogging sites. If you can think of other resources, drop a link to them in the comments.

34 Responses to “My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers”

  1. Top 5 - Group Writing Project Day 3 said on May 10th, 2007 at 9:13 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  2. Group Writing Project - Day 3 said on May 10th, 2007 at 9:28 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  3. Karlo Licudine said on May 10th, 2007 at 10:14 am :

    I have been blogging for quite a time now. Sad to say that not even a single blog of mine managed to bring me not even a portion of the wide spotlight.

    Thanks to your links. I think I can finally have a guide on how to do better in what I love to do. They are very helpful

    BTW, I never knew John Chow before this Group Writing event. It seems that many people tend to label him as “evil”. I wonder why. ^_^

    Thanks for your post.

    If you have time, why don’t you drop by my post:
    http://mobileko.blogspot.com/2007/05/snatch-top-5-tips-on-how-to-be.html

    It’s also an entry for the problogger top 5- group writing project. ^^ Goodluck to us all!

  4. Teri Lussier said on May 10th, 2007 at 10:16 am :

    Thanks for the resources.

  5.   Top 5 of emails, free softwares, online apps and much more by The Four-eyed Journal said on May 10th, 2007 at 10:32 am :

    [...] in Bad Boys II. That movie certainly proved the power and suave smoothness of the Ferrari 550. My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry – This list is quite impressive and a worthy addition to your feed reader. Just [...]

  6. Top Five Group Writing Project: Day 3 said on May 10th, 2007 at 11:53 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  7. ear sucker » Blog Archive » Group Writing Project Day Three said on May 10th, 2007 at 1:39 pm :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  8. Links to Interesting Top 5 Posts : My 365 Day Google AdSense Experiment said on May 10th, 2007 at 2:55 pm :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers Gerard McGarry lists some of the same sites as Chris Sandberg, so I’ll definitely have to explore them for useful tips I can apply to my websites. [...]

  9. Group Writing Project - Top 5 Day 3 | Techie Buzz said on May 10th, 2007 at 3:50 pm :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  10. charlie turner said on May 10th, 2007 at 4:24 pm :

    I have been a fan coppyblogger and problogger for a while now. I’ll be checking the others on your list as well. I’m new at this and my blog isn’t typical to others I’ve seen in the contest. I enjoy yours.

  11. BpMonaco » Blog Archive » My Top Top 5 (Part 1) said on May 10th, 2007 at 6:14 pm :

    [...] Top 5 Essential Sites for Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  12. Andrew Boyd said on May 10th, 2007 at 6:50 pm :

    Great list :) I looked at my own top 5 blogging gurus list and saw that we only share one (Darren) – but you make the others look interesting – I’ll be checking them out soon.

    Best regards, Andrew

  13. Everyday Randomness » Group Writing Project Update said on May 10th, 2007 at 8:24 pm :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  14. Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy said on May 10th, 2007 at 8:50 pm :

    I was only missing one from your list but I was glad for the recommendation. Thanks!

  15. Travis Eneix » Some Pyramid Schemes are Nice said on May 10th, 2007 at 9:05 pm :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  16. Perfection Consulting » Blog Archive » The Power of Linking said on May 11th, 2007 at 6:30 pm :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  17. Perfection Consulting » Blog Archive » The Power of Linking said on May 11th, 2007 at 6:30 pm :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  18. Top 5 Group Writing Project: And the Lucky Winner Is? | aczafra.com [Librarianship with a dash of everything] said on May 12th, 2007 at 6:44 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  19. Top 5 Group Writing Project: And the Lucky Winner Is? | aczafra.com [Librarianship with a dash of everything] said on May 12th, 2007 at 6:44 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  20. Jestertunes » Group Writing Project Full List said on May 12th, 2007 at 10:44 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  21. justChris » Blog Archive » Problogger’s Top 5 Group Writing Project said on May 12th, 2007 at 4:07 pm :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  22. Two Dog Zoo Travel » Blog Archive » Group Project Brought in 800+ Entries! said on May 12th, 2007 at 6:13 pm :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  23. Randomness: 893 Top 5 Lists… | Photography and Art, Mostly… said on May 12th, 2007 at 11:45 pm :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  24. Runningmonkeys » Blog Archive said on May 13th, 2007 at 4:57 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  25. Some link love to fellow Group Writers | Blogging Notes said on May 13th, 2007 at 6:29 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  26. Madhur Kapoor’s Blog » Problogger’s Group Writing Project - All entries said on May 13th, 2007 at 3:42 pm :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  27. The ProBlogger Effect said on May 13th, 2007 at 8:40 pm :

    [...] decided to do some analysis on my Top 5 Essential Sites for Bloggers post. I received a small amount of comments (but an increase nonetheless). The most interesting [...]

  28. ProBlogger - Top 5 - Group Writing Project - Link Love » twentythree7 said on May 14th, 2007 at 12:43 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  29. Problogger.net Top 5 Writing Project Final List - Plus6 …a personal finance blog said on May 14th, 2007 at 2:20 pm :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  30. Juice on Celebrities, Celebrity Gossip, TV, Movies, & more… » Blog Archive » Top 5 Lists said on May 15th, 2007 at 2:54 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  31. Quais Waseeq Dot Com » Top 5 Group Writing Project - Recap said on May 16th, 2007 at 9:25 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  32. Top 5 Group Writing Project part 3 « fortyplustwo said on May 16th, 2007 at 7:36 pm :

    [...] Submission List”: Five essential skills for blogging success Five Things I Hate About Blogging My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers Top 5 Blogging Myths Top 5 Ways To Stop Being a Perfectionist Site Search Tags: blogs, writing, [...]

  33. Full List for Top 5 Contest — My Life With IT said on August 3rd, 2007 at 9:23 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

  34. Joseph Szymanski | Photographs | » Blog Archive » Randomness: 893 Top 5 Lists… said on August 18th, 2007 at 9:46 am :

    [...] My Blogging Swiss Army Knife: Top 5 Essential Sites For Bloggers by Gerard McGarry [...]

Leave a Reply