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Some time ago a friend or associate, I honestly do not remember which, said something like: “Phil, you are one of the most insightful “A” list bloggers out there.” I can remember thinking; “WTF does that mean?” though I vaguely understood that “A” was obviously better than “B” and the person meant it as a compliment. Today I looked at a few “definitive” articles in an effort to quantify the term and to see if my path to blogger paradise has been the same as others. The epiphany of my resultant discovery revealed that I have obviously been using Plan B.

Categorization Amid Chaos

I found an interesting description via Google search on the blog kineda which basically attempts to break down the various hierarchy of blogging. Ironically, the post has been closed to trackbacks (so the site says) because of the excessive linking to the post. Here is an abbreviated categorization of blog celebrity status from this site:

• The D List blogger – Is someone or some blog that 3-9 blogs have linked to in 6 months. Also, relative blog age and number of posts per month characterize this group.

• The C List blogger – Supposedly a blog of blogger needs 10-99 links and posting volume to attain this level of blogging celebrity.

• The B List blogger – Still more blog links (100-499) along with blog age, credibility, popularity and resilience appear to be the chief characteristics of the second tier of blogging.

• The A List blogger – Still more links on the order of 500 in 6 months and a lot more time blogging is what supposedly defines this highest order of blogging. According to kineda – these bloggers typically post twice a day and their sites often really represent larger professional enterprise.

Well, as you can see getting to the “A” list should effectively be a mathematical certainty based on a function of time/pressure. To an extent I suppose this is very true in many cases. I would add that actual skill, content, credibility and a feel for the blogosphere as a system is needed to be successful using this, Plan A to Internet notoriety.

I know from my association with Profy, Mashable and ultimately ReadWriteWeb (and others) that links, posting, time, Technorati, Techmeme and other associations also play a huge role. One aspect not mentioned by kineda and others is the absolute skill, passion and dedication of the people at the top of this blog food chain. So, many descriptions of the road to the “A” list are essentially just BS. Everyone knows about links and networking right?

Gulliver or Gullible

Once two of my track teammates and I played a joke on one of our more naïve teammates. We were running a 2.5 mile cross country circuit and stopped at the finish line after only one lap. This friend was about to run by (on lap one too) when we yelled at him: “Hey Al, you are done man!” – Al actually stopped and one of my teammates said: “Al you are so gullible” to which Al replied: “Uh Uh - he was a big guy.” This is sort of how I felt when that person called me that dubious “A” name. You see, I never realized at all that this was a race, but just wanted to provide people with information, some laughs and hopefully help the blogs I worked with achieve their goals.

Everyone at Profy essentially learned strategies and tactics for getting content to readers and in turn traffic to the site. However, I can honestly say that this was never a mechanical function but rather a belief that we all had something important to contribute. I guess the point it (and maybe the lesson too) is that I am Gulliver whether in Lilliput or Brobdingnag.

“A” List Tool Kit

Using plan “A”, which I will fully outline later, obviously requires either content/time or networking/content. Content is still actually “king” in the blogosphere without a doubt. Certainly the ability to make the front page of Digg can drive some traffic, but keeping traffic the way RWW or other popular blogs do requires superb content. In either plan A or plan B there are certain tools that any blogger should have and here is a short list.

1. Passion – Every A list blogger I know has this for at least the Internet or some aspect thereof.
2. Knowledge – As I said, your readers will know you. All these other aspects really reflect on your knowledge of your passion. However broad or narrow your focus niche is – know it.
3. Honesty – After a time your readers will know you; your credibility, opinions, desires, friends and essentially who you really are. For plan B this is probably the greatest asset. Even if you really want to just be pissed off at the world – be honest about it – many will identify with you.
4. Friends – This means real ones folks, other people help define us on the Web. The quality of the people you are associated with corresponds directly with your success as a writer or informer. This part of the tool kit involves adhering to and attracting like minded people. I cannot emphasize this enough – my associates (however naively or luckily derived) are so important to me – and I mean in a true intrinsic way not how useful they are. In the end you must really want to give more than you take.
5. RSS and Information Conduits – Feed readers are not as efficient as straight RSS from targeted sites and smart browsing via AdaptiveBlue will be helpful. Attention optimizers like AB and Particls are great as a compliment to straight RSS.
6. Knowledge of Wordpress (editing) – Regardless of which platform you use, this will eventually be your editor or at least the best one so far.
7. Adobe Photoshop CS3 – Pictures really are worth 1000 words, and a great number of my more popular articles expressed feelings or information via photos, mashups and other visuals.
8. Hosting and Domain Services – Blogger, TypePad and Wordpress are great places to start but eventually (probably sooner rather than later as in plan B) you will need your own brand and control over more variables. I am now using TopHostingCenter because of its flexibility and value. Their CEO sponsors my new blog as you will note, but I will make no disclaimers as anything a reader sees here is true and refined. THC is simply the best hosting deal there is, eventually you will need these services.

A and B Converge

My plan for becoming a popular blogger was that there was no plan. If you or anyone is true to yourself and other people, the other elements will converge into a valid presence on the Web. To be honest the terms do not really matter, A-B-C-D or any classification become obscure when you love what you do and other people see it.

Just so you know, if you plan to use my course you will need about 70 hours a week and accounts everywhere from Stumbleupon to Digg across the Web to Facebook and on to Zude, but it is important to not that plan B is about genuine contacts and interest not contrived necessity. I will make some helpful hints later on for those of you interested or please just ask and I will help any who need it. IN the final analysis there is no correct path, only you and those people that identify with you. Writing skill is helpful, but honesty and passion are the key elements. Let me hear from you all and perhaps we can formulate a plan for you and your goals.