If you could own any blog past or present, which blog would you take ownership of, and why?

I have been thinking about this question a bit, as I look at the new additions to the 9rules group, and at first my response was Problogger.net, but how would I do as the owner of that site? In this scenario, would I have been the original owner, and if so, would the blog still have become popular? Or if I wasn’t the original owner, would the blog have remained popular if I took it over starting today?

It is a really fun question to ponder, and there is more to think about than just the money that the site makes, as some of the highest earning sites spend much of their money on writers, and others don’t always provide the secondary benefits that a high profile site might provide.

I would probably take over BloggingPro as it is the site that people knew me from the best. It was starting to provide some secondary benefits before I moved on to PicApp, and then to my current employment with College Crunch.

Let me know which blog you would pick and why.

Originally posted on September 15, 2008 @ 8:53 am

If you could have anyone post a guest post on your blog, who would you choose and why?

My first thought went right to Darren Rowse or Chris Garrett, as they are idols in my field, but I don’t know if they could easily provide the value that my readers would enjoy. I know both of them have incredible star power online and whatever they would write would probably bring in a fair bit of traffic if it was promoted well, but would they feel comfortable with the audience I have? Would they enjoy talking about the business of blogging and making money online?

They are both brand experts, and amazing at what they do, but I think finding someone closer in line with my niche would probably have an even better effect on this blog. (Though if either of them ever want to publish a post on here, I definitely wouldn’t say ‘no’!)

It is for that reason, I would probably pick my fellow Canadian, John Chow. When he isn’t writing about restaurants, affiliate programs, or his own advertising endeavors, he can have some really insightful and powerful information. I don’t always enjoy his blog or what he has to say, but you have to envy a guy that can find ways to make more than one thousand dollars a day off his blog.

The key though to the guest post would have to be transparency and honesty, which is something that I am not sure John could really do in a blog post, though I feel like if I talked to John a year ago and got a guest post from him, it would have had truth, value, and a great deal of interest from today’s social media promotion circuits.

So the question goes on to you, who would you have as a guest blog author if you could have anyone? Feel free to be as creative as you’d like.

Originally posted on July 16, 2008 @ 11:58 pm

Recently, my wife and I found out that she is pregnant. At first I was very excited, and didn’t care about anything else other than the fact that I was going to be a father. Now, I am starting to wonder how it is all going to work.

I am on my third year of working at home, and I still haven’t perfected focusing on what needs to be done, and doing a large block of work efficiently. I watch a television show here or there, play a round or two on the Xbox 360, or work my way through a novel.

I know that all of these things will go out the window once the baby is born, but what about work? My current office at home is right next to the room that will become the baby’s. Even with my wife home to take care of him or her, how will I find the focus to get everything done that needs doing?

I haven’t seen too many blog posts on how well working at home and a baby go, but from the responses I have received elsewhere, it looks like finding an office share outside of home might be a smart move. If you have experiences with this type of situation, or just have some advice, let me know in the comments below.

Originally posted on April 4, 2008 @ 6:05 pm