The Best Of The Best – What Makes Them Unique?

What makes the best bloggers stand out? Let’s take a look at their best posts to find out.

I have taken the top 11 “make money online” blogs from 45n5’s Top 100 list, and have found the best post from each one – thus The Best Of The Best.

How did I decide on their best post, you ask? Simple – most of them had a “best posts” type list on their blog, so I just took what they chose as their best.

Why did I choose 11 as the number of blogs? Well, I had to include Mark at 45n5; it is his list, after all!

So let’s read the top 11 posts from the “make money online” niche, and see what we can learn from them.

(Note: These were the top 11 as of October 5, when I wrote this post. The rankings could have changed since then.)

11. 45n5

You Will NOT Make Money Online

This post is not on Mark’s list of “Popular Pages”, but it is my favorite of his posts. It typifies his energy, his not being afraid to try new and different things, and, by all the comments he got on the post, it shows how successful he has been at building a real community around his site.

10. Nate Whitehill

23 Things I’ve Learned After 7 Months and 500 RSS Subscribers

This is my favorite of these 11 Best Of The Best posts. Nate writes in an engaging style. Even though this is a long post, it is very easy to read. I really like the way he points out the benefits he has received from blogging, other than making money. His blog is easy on the eyes too. Definitely one to watch.

9. eMoms at Home

Top 10 Internet Home Business Ideas You Can Start and Run in Your Underwear

Wendy Piersall covers topics you don’t find in other “make money online” blogs. Some of the businesses in this post are not your typical make-money-from-a-blog ideas. Yet they are very viable and are great for her audience of stay-at-home moms and dads. She gives some good resources to get started – one of the things I like about her blog. I also like her attitude, as shown by this quote: All you have to do is work hard and be willing to learn.

8. Andy Beard

Why Blogs Suck

Andy doesn’t provide a “best posts” list, so being lazy, I just picked one off the front page. It has a controversial title and contains extensive analysis to back up his point. Not sure if this is a typical post for Andy because (I’m embarassed to say ) I’m not a regular reader. Certainly this blog will make you think.

7. Entrepreneur’s Journey

Do You Want to Run Your Own Business? Read this First!

Yaro tells us what it’s like to be an entrepreneur, and we listen, because he knows what he’s talking about. He has gone from being a struggling entrepreneur to a successful internet businessperson, and it’s all documented on his blog. He’s very personable and makes us feel like we know him.

6. Daily Blog Tips

43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid

Doing what Daily Blog Tips does best – giving us simple, practical, but often forgotten tips to make our blogs better. Of course there is a number in the title, because everyone loves a good list.

5. Dosh Dosh

Dosh Dosh’s Ultimate Technorati Favorites Exchange: An Interactive Experiment

Written in Dosh Dosh’s signature style, this article has everything: an interesting experiment, reader participation, complete analysis and explanation, a screen shot, benefits, pros and cons, steps to follow, and of course, the signature anime image at the top of the post.

4. Performancing

The Art of Linkbaiting

Performancing has their “best posts” divided by category. I chose this one from the Blog Promotion category. It shows Performancing’s strength: a well-written post containing a lot of great ideas.

3. John Chow

John Chow dot Com Income Report – September 2007

This is why John Chow is so famous. As he says in his own home page title, “I Make Money Online by Telling People How Much Money I Make Online.” This post is especially significant, as it marks John Chow’s one year anniversary of blogging for money. One year ago, his blog made $352.94 for the month. This month, his blog made $20,512.17.

2. Shoemoney

10k ppc experiment part2

The typical Shoemoney post – a bunch of information thrown together while he was sick, without regard to a lot of niceties. (Not that he’s typically sick – but he’s typically busy with his many business endeavors, so he does not have time to labor over the wording of his posts.) It just sounds like he is writing to a friend. Yet it is packed with useful information, and it’s full of $$ followed by lots of 000’s.

1. Darren Rowse of ProBlogger

How Bloggers Make Money from Blogs

This is why we all love Darren – he does wonderful comprehensive posts, with lots of examples and explanations, and he has a knack for figuring out what his readers want to know.

What We Can Learn From These Top Bloggers

Besides the content of these amazing posts, I hope you have seen that each blogger has his or her own style. It doesn’t matter that this niche has so many great bloggers, because each one is unique.

To be successful with your blog, you should also be true to yourself and take advantage of your own unique style. You’ll do a lot better by being uniquely yourself than by trying to imitate someone else.

Thanks to Skellie for the inspiration for this post.