Deep Jive Interests

So Google Blogoscoped asked some of the most well known bloggers what their most popular post was, garnering answers from Mike Arrington, Om Malik, Chris Pirillo, Nick Denton and Darren Rowse.

There were a few things that made their most popular posts stand out — and I think its worth recognizing for all of us in the z-list jonsing for some blog traffic / recognition / validation.

1) Breaking real news (or rumours that become news): From Om Malik’s breaking of the Six Apart acquisition, Nial Kennedy’s cracking of the Google reader API, to Mike Arrington covering the rumour that would become the Google acquisition fact, the unfortunate fact is that many of their best posts are ones where they are covering real news. I saw “unfortunate” because not many of us are in the position, or have the contacts, within an industry to scoop news before major outlets. Nor do many of us have the technical expertise to discover something new like Mr. Kennedy.

Not sure if there’s much to add here, really.

If you’ve got contacts, milk’em talk to them — take advantage of what they know.  If you don’t — start making them in the part of the blogosphere that you currently inhabit.   I’ll admit though — this one’s tough; there’s a reason why A-listers are A-list … and its not just because of the quality of their blog. its because of who and what they know, so they’re able to break real news quicker than the rest.
2) Providing unique analysis and commentary: So you can’t be the 1% which finds or creates news — you can certainly be part of the 10% which enrich the news with analysis and commentary (which is what I aspire, and sometimes fail, to do). Look at Dave Winer on his 9/11 coverage, or Chris Pirillo with his Vista feedback. The news had already broke, but they rubbed their brain cells together to find something new, different, interesting and/or insightful to bring to the table.

Is there a side of the story no one has thought of? Is there a connection no one has yet made? Is there a better way to do things that everyone’s missing? Is the current opinion flat out wrong — and can you prove it?

Blogging rewards people with original and thoughtful posts — make your brain pay for the real estate its taking up, and bring the lash if you’ve got to get it to work!

3) Posting on something topical and sympathetic: While many A-lister’s can get away with this because they already have an audience to link into, its still something worthwhile, because you never know who is going to notice your post, link to it, and perhaps digg it.  Thomas Hawk on PriceRitePhoto giving him the bum’s rush; Darren Rowse discussing what he’s learned about blogging.  In and of themselves, not really noteworthy; but with Darren’s post around Christmas and perhaps people feeling nostalgic about how the year went, it may have struck a chord in that vein.  With Thomas Hawk, the post was playing up to the every-man card — everyone’s got a screw-job story to tell, and here’s someone moderately famous in the blogging world getting it in a way that resonated with everyone.

What holidays are coming up for where you live?  Is there anything topical about them within the scope of what you write that you can blog about?   How about recent news and events?  Local stories?  Personal events — successes or tragedies?

For me personally, I have had the most successes when I’ve actually tried #2 – trying to offer something unique and creative.  My most popular post is probably the one on a “Brief History of Digg Controversy“.  People started quoting it around September when there was an algorithm change that resulted in a pretty big to-do, since no one else had bothered to keep track of the goings on, and Digg’s own history is limited in what you can search anyway.

So now I’m opening up the floor to you guys:  What has been your most successful post?  Why?  Anything similar to what these A-lister’s have done — or are we missing a category entirely?