I think initially, blog started as personal online journal nature but as it expands in quality , number and popularity, business people realized it is too big of a market size to ignore, that is when it started getting commercial.

Yes, I believe in niche. I am very sure within the gambling and porn niche market, only the ones that the provide the quality for that niche market will be the top 10 of that niche market. I am sure not all gambling blogs get into the top 10 spots.

Yes, for every niche market, there are a few blogs that will stand tall, regardless if it is celebrity gossips, political, tech, offic ranting, personal hobby, personal journals and etc… I think at the end of the day within a particular niche market, the ones that come to the top spot are the ones that deliver better content, better service for that niche market.

I am sure after the cat blog, there will be a number of similar nature blogs spring off on the blogosphere but eventually who will take the majority shares of the market will be those ones that can provide better content within the cat blogs market.

Readers are also very flicker minded, in order to maintain a certain rank and readership, professional bloggers have to constantly provide quality content. It does not mean the rank and subscription rate will maintain if the readership goes down.

I think everyone of us start blogging with a different motive and objective.

I personally will not stick around too long if I don’t enjoy what I do. If making money is the only reason I blog, I think I can find easier mean and ones with shorter learning curve. There are many means to make money and I knew I am pretty good at it, ha ha ha. I don’t think I need to elaborate but my portfolio in gold and tax lien investment speak for itself :).But I enjoy blogging and if I make $ out of it, why not ?

Like I said, there are ppl who like that kind of content. Ok, we might have disagree on what “quality” means! Porn sites have a large following, does that mean quality? Personally, I feel that there is a niche for that kind of content, and quality has little to do with it.

For a long time my blogs were almost readerless, and it didn’t bother me at all because I don’t write diaries and the blogs became my diaries.
But ever since I started putting ads in my blogs, of course I want a little more traffic to my site, but if I continue to write what I am writing now I don’t expect it to be as popular as John Chow’s site or perez hilton’s!

We known it as “the 6 months Wall”.
It’s the kind of myth of blogger to believe that if they could pass the 6 months wall, life’s would easier. and things will get better.

Well, myth remain myth. The reason why the myth exist may because of some studies said “95% of bloggers will give up in the first 2 months and more 4% of them will collapse before breaking the 6 months wall.

Only 1% of blogger who survive from the obstacles and rockery road, will get what they want depend on the approaches to their dreams.

Depend on your perspective, it may be true and may be a mistake opinion.

I love your answers.

This bring me back to my BRICK AND MORTAR business experiences.

One of my maternal uncles was a HR director for one of the local bank back then in the 90’s. He’s extremely ganho about excellent customer service. He was a public speaker and an author of several books mainly on topic such as how to deliver excellent customer service.

He is a hardcore believer of ‘no more than 3 rings’, that is, any front line service people (receptionist, secretary, PA etc) will not let the company phones ring more than 3 rings. It is a big SIN as far as he’s concerned

I think with the e-age now, this principal can be appled to email and now with blogosphere it is readers’ comments.

I think to a certain extend many concepts in brick and mortar business model can be applied to the blogosphere :).

But of course, blogosphere is even more sophisticated than convention 3 or 4-years degree. With conventional degree, you have a curriculum and a set period of time to complete that curriculum but with blogosphere, it is you who set up your own curriculum and time frame. Though there is hardly any barrier of entry, anyone can set up a blog within 2 minutes. However to set apart from the statistic that in every 2 seconds there is a birth of a blog, it require more commitment than a 3 or 4-years degree.

Of course these are purely my observation in my blogging journey and only worth less than 2 cents :).

No need to worry. I love negative as much as positive thinking. They both help us to grow.

the context of “ASAP” will not become a disaster for blogger. The key is to be “flexible” in the way we approach to it.

In my cases, I will make a limit for myself to reply comments and questions in no longer than 24 hours. Because longer than this limit will annoy my reader and they’ll likely won’t communicate with me anymore.

24 hours is a reasonable limit for everyone.

You won’t be able to reply when you are sleeping, right?
and won’t be able to reply when you are shopping at mall too!

Just set up a special time to reply each day, and your reader will happy with your hard work.