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.