The year 2007 is coming to a close and I would like to share with you my annual list of the top five bloggers who have impacted my life this year. 2007 seemed to be the year of the blog, with many great new blogs popping up in March and April.
I think that the blogging tools finally matured enough this year that you didn’t need to be a web guru (or know one) to create a powerful blog presence. With the addition of Widgets to WordPress, and a proliferation of wider blog templates, the average blog grew from 800 pixels wide to over a 1000. This made for a much more compelling experience as the number of new interactive elements increased.
Someone who took full advantage of the new technology with a complete blog redesign as well as a whole new blogging genre is our top award winner this year. Congratulations to…
Top Five Bloggers
1. Brian Clark of Copyblogger
Brian is an amazing guy. He has taken the science of copywriting and applied it to blogging. His traffic truly soared this year with his subscriber base now over 28,000 people. He also teamed up with Blogger Tony Clark of Success From The Nest and created TeachingSells, an online learning site for creating Interactive Learning web experiences.
What I personally like about Copyblogger is the friendly atmosphere and the great tips. Brian speaks to you like a friend and offers some incredible insight from his many years in the print publishing copywriting business.
Some of his top posts include…
5 Simple Ways to Open Your Blog Post With a Bang
Do You Make These Mistakes When You Write?
Ten Timeless Persuasive Writing Techniques
Be sure to sign up as a subscriber. I’m sure he would like to hit 30,000 subscribers in 2008.
2. Liz Strauss of Successful-Blog
Liz is a repeat winner this year. She teamed up with master relationship blogger, Phil Gerbyshak and other popular bloggers from around the Chicago area and put together SOBCON 2007. This was one of the best blogging meet-ups of the year with attendees from all over the world.
If you blog, Liz is one person you want to meet. She is one of the most helpful people on the net and she will make you right at home on her Tuesday night interactive comment sessions.
Be sure to get on her subscriber/e-mail list and she’ll notify you each week of the upcoming topic. It’s not uncommon for her to have over 300 comments on her blog in one night.
3. Leo Babauta of ZenHabits
In an amazing rise to prominence this year, Leo has taken the personal development community by storm. His blog grew from a few hundred subscribers in February 2007 to over 26,000 as of this writing. This is an amazing feat and his blog currently ranks almost as high as Personal development guru Steve Pavlina on the Alexa charts.
What makes Leo different, is that he is an achiever (ran a marathon, quit smoking, got organized) yet he writes like a coach and good friend. Leo is a regular guy, a father of 6 kids, and he works as a freelance writer. He writes about his successes and his failures which makes his writing come to life.
He just changed over to a new and wider blog template and has organized his content by subject in his interactive footer. Be sure to subscribe to keep up with this amazing writer!
4. Yaro Starak of Entrepreneurs Journey
Like winner Brian Clark above, Yaro has been busy this year creating an interactive online learning community. His Blog Mastermind program really took off this year with hundreds of people signing up for the inaugural launch. Yaro is a true rarity in the blog optimization business as he speaks from a true insiders perspective to the outside world.
Yaro has personally helped me in many different ways from blog optimization tips to search engine strategies. He also added video previews and interactive learning clips to help all blogger’s improve their sites.
He is currently working on a new blog template and has a current post to help you improve your blogs visibility so that your readers will stay longer. Be sure to sign up for his helpful newsletter.
5. Tim Ferriss of The Four Hour Workweek
As a follow up to his insightful book, The Four Hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss always has unbelieveable things on his blog. At 30 years old, this world traveling entrepreneur has amassed quite a portfolio of accomplishments.
They Include….
- First American in history to hold a Guinness World Record in tango
- National Chinese kickboxing champion
- MTV breakdancer in Taiwan
- Hurling competitor in Ireland
- Actor on hit TV series in mainland China and Hong Kong
What I like about Tim’s blog is that he gives detailed instructions how he managed these incredible feats of human accomplishment. He includes pictures, timelines, and step by step guidance for anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps.
If you want to escape from the 9 to 5, travel the world, and experience amazing things, this is the blog for you. Be sure to subscribe to his blog so you’ll be onboard for his next amazing adventure.
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There are so many other incredible blogs it would be hard to list them. Want to learn something new in 2007? Be sure to check out Joyful, Jubilant Learning, Genuine Curiosity, and Managing with Aloha, for some of the best educational sites on the net.
This has been a great year for blogging. Hundreds of unique new blogs came on the scene in 2007. Here at Fire Up Today, we have a lot of new things in store for 2008 including some exciting new productivity tools. Be sure to subscribe to our feed and sign up for our newsletter so you’ll be among the first to download them.
Thank you to all of you who visited here in 2007. Have a great New Year!
Question: Who are your favorite top five bloggers?