Two people walked out to the parking lot after work and slipped into their cars. They inserted their keys into the ignition, fired up the engine, pushed the right pedal down with their foot and drove away. In case you missed it, do you see what happened here? Two different people with two different cars did the exact same thing and achieved the exact same result.
Sometimes it would be nice if the above kind of results happened in the world of blogging, but all too often it just fails to materialize this way.
People who want to get an edge with their blog will often seek advice from more experienced and successful bloggers. They search Google for tips on how to create a popular or money-making blog. And when they visit Problogger.net they intently study the steps that Darren Rowse took to create the immensely popular blog that he has today.
This same person who pored over the timeline of steps that Darren took decides to implement the same strategies for his own blog. He starts publishing the best content he can, tries his hand with monetization, and does everything possible to promote his blog through social media. Six months later, he’s worn out and frustrated with his lack of results.
Does this mean that Darren Rowse is full of crap? Absolutely not! And this doesn’t mean that the aspiring blogger did anything wrong either. What this really means is that the strategies used by one person worked out fantastically for him, and not so great for someone else.
Blogging can be a very dynamic and unpredictable, and what works for you may not work for someone else. There are too many variables that influence the ultimate success or failure of any one endeavor. You read about how somebody increased their visitor’s page views by inserting a list of related posts below each article, so you try the same thing and notice no change. Or maybe you are using a specific layout for Adsense ads on your blog that are enjoying a phenomenal click rate, so someone else tries the same pattern only to discover that their earnings dropped.
My point is not to discourage you from trying new things; it’s to stress the fact that just because something works great for one person doesn’t mean it will work out as good for you. Always keep this in mind if you are trying to mimic the success of others by following the steps they took.