This series of posts on Cash Quests count down the top 5 essential sites that new bloggers should visit in order to maximize their chances for making money online. Each site in the top 5 provides valuable lessons and techniques that need to be studied and considered in-depth in order to increase your earning potential.

#5 Problogger

While it is no surprise to see Problogger in a list related to blogging, many would be shocked and surprised to find that it only comes in at number five.Problogger is run by Darren Rowse who has been blogging since 2002 and maintains a number of extremely popular and well monetized blogs. He is also one of the founders of b5media, a blog network written by hundreds of bloggers from around the world. He is one of the world’s few professional bloggers and generates a six figure salary through his various blogs.

Why new bloggers should visit Problogger:

Problogger is without a doubt the college textbook when it comes to blogging. Chances are that if you’ve got a question about blogging, Darren has covered the answer in-depth in one of his articles or has provided a link to where to find the answer. He covers everything from Adsense, affiliate marketing and search engine optimization down to general blog design and tips on how to write interesting content. The advice given in a new post on the site is often seen repeated around the world the next day.But the site is not just a mass of content - it’s good, well-written content on Problogger. Darren has a unique writing style that is very level-headed and he provides well reasoned and supported opinions on what he covers. It is rare to read a post on Problogger that may be considered extreme or controversial, which gives the tone of his site a very professional feel. He is “pro” after all!

For new bloggers, you won’t find a more helpful person than Darren either. Despite my site being new, I’ve e-mailed him on occasion with queries or comments about his site and he has always replied politely and promptly. The same can not be said about other A-list bloggers.

Problogger is definitely the definitive guide to blogging professionally.

Why Problogger isn’t number 1:

At times, the sheer mass of content can be quite overwhelming. When there is a lot of activity in the blogosphere, Problogger can at times have three posts or more a day which requires a fair amount of reading time to get through. On the other hand, this make it a great source of breaking information.The amount of content can also make it difficult to find the answer you are looking for. Problogger doesn’t have a dedicated search engine for the site but provides the Google search feature. Simply searching for “adsense placement” through this search engine resulted in more than 20 relevant posts for me to search through. Looking under the Adsense category on Problogger also provided more than 30 pages of articles. For a new blogger it can be quite difficult to find a reading starting point on the site.

Similarly, a lot of the topics on the site are not suited for new bloggers. This is not just limited to terminology, but topics such as “How to Make Your RSS Pop” are not completely relevant to a blogger who has nobody reading their RSS feed or a blogger just starting who doesn’t even know what RSS is! Similarly, SEO advice such as “buy links to your site” are more suited to the professional blogger than the beginner. That is by no means a fault on the site’s part as it is not designed for the beginner.

There has also been some argument that the site is not a leader in the blogosphere but a follower. It has been said that Problogger simply writes about what is already happening in the blogosphere and does not lead or create new ideas. While there is some merit to this, Problogger does manage to bring all the relevant information in to one convenient place

Lessons to learn from Problogger:

• Content is Queen. Darren continually provides quality content in every article he writes. This is the cornerstone of the site’s success.

• Be a part of the community. Darren Rowse’s approachability and humbleness are partly the reasons for his success. Despite being a six figure blogger, you still get the feeling he is working to gain just one more reader every day. The fact that he is also on good terms with other A-listers gives a great sense of authority to his blog as well

• What you do before you post is more important than your post. Each of Problogger’s articles appear to be well thought out and well researched. If only every blog could achieve that (including my own), the blogosphere would be a better place!

In conclusion:

As I said, Problogger is the college textbook to blogging. While that means that it contains a wealth of great information and ideas, it is not entirely suited to the beginner. But it’s not designed to be either. Once you’ve learned a little about the internet and blogging, you should definitely be subscribed to Problogger if you serious about making money online.Next in the series: Who will be number 4? A site that’s only four months old….

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