“Sometimes the only thing we need is inspiration.”
In 2006 I started a Tech blog in the DIY (Do it Yourself) computer niche with some good friends and that developed into something MASSIVE. Something I didn’t think it would change my life and the things I do.
At that moment, I was on High School and little I knew about a blog and this exciting world of blogging. I had great times working on the stuff I loved, but also hard times.
Sometimes I just wanted to quit. Sometimes I wanted to kick someone’s ass because I was overloaded with pressure and other things.
But I didn’t.
Well, actually I did, but it took me 4 years (2010) until I finally decided I needed some vacations and stop doing what I loved the most to concentrate on new things. At that time I was about to finish my career, so it was a great time to move into something else and put all my attention on college.
I won’t explain that story today, because in fact I’ve written my story on a guest post at Famous Bloggers (you really should check it out!). But there’s one thing I want to share with you: I would have never started a blog, and I wouldn’t have written more than 50 pillar articles (2,000-5,000 words each) if it wasn’t because of inspiration.
What’s inspiration?
Inspiration is that hurt-less bitch that arrives on the most inappropriate moments of our lives and fails to impress when we’re ready to start something. Or at least, that happens to a lot of us (bloggers).
Back on the old days, my number 1 source for inspiration was actually my competition. In a crowded market where everyone offers great reviews on tech products and electronic devices, I had to take all my inspiration from my competitors to create a better article for my readers.
Right now, however, I don’t see that as competition anymore. I actually call it “connections“. Connections are friends that help you achieve your targets without being alone. Sometimes they don’t even know you exist. But they help you indirectly by creating content, and that’s the reason I’m finally blogging again.
To be honest, even when I took a rest on 2010, I never stopped blogging.
Blogging is one of these things that you can’t ever stop. Unless you suddenly decide to give your life a 360 degree change, there are high probabilities that you’ll blog again. And I like that.
But even after I took vacations for more than a year, I still need some inspiration and I’ve changed my niche on to new things I love: gadgets and electronics (mostly smartphones and tablets), blogs and everything related (SEO, content, marketing, etc.) and finally I’m also looking forward to get some inspiration from myself by achieving a higher efficiency level on my life. And I’m doing all this by… you guessed right: Blogging.
So here are 5 great and cool bloggers that helped me start my blog by providing great content and updates every once in a while. Most of them don’t know me. But they have helped me in the past by creating inspirational content so that I could finally decide I wanted to start a new blog and follow my passion.
If you’re starting your blog like me, and want to get some inspiration from the best. Make sure you follow them too. I guarantee you’re going to spend your time on good hands. 
Disclaimer: I know there are a lot of great bloggers out there. And there are plenty of horrible bloggers too. This is not a top list and I’m not saying they’re the best of the best. I just want you to know the reason they have marked my life, and what can you get from them too.
Since this is an ever evolving scenario I’ll probably find more great bloggers to follow and I’m sure I’ll learn a lot from them. That’s it. Of course, if I decide someone has helped me out a lot in the future I’ll just add him/her to the list.
1. Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income
Pat is that kind of guy that helps you out on a friendly way. He started hist first blog a few years ago when he was studying and trying to learn as much as possible for an exam. He decided to create a blog to write the most important things and have some kind of guide to study from.
Later he started working and then he was laid off. Instead of getting a job in a difficult world on crisis, he started blogging. When he first installed his Google Analytics Code we went nuts because so many people was visiting his blog and he didn’t know that.
At this moment, his main blog is Smart Passive Income and he’s doing almost $50,000 per month with different income streams. I bet he wouldn’t do nearly as much in his old job, even after being ascended.
What did I get from Pat?
The reason I’m putting Pat Flynn on the top of this list is because he was my best inspiration to start a blog. I heard his story once on a podcast and it just got me in. It’s been more than 1 year since I started following Pat and I can’t miss any post he publishes today.
The whole story about how he started and after 1-2 years he started monetizing his green exam academy guide was just the inspiration I needed to start again. But not only that. One of the most valuable posts I’ve read on my life are his niche site duel series. Basically, he wanted to create a niche site and see how things go while documenting all in the process.
It’s a case study I just love, because the first post talks about how he’s been challenged, and then he starts doing keyword research, installing a blog and creating content, back-links, etc.
It just makes you feel that if you follow the same steps, you’ll find success too. And that’s the most important part of it. Sometimes we read great things on the internet and we think those things are just out of our limits. It’s like seeing the movie of Steve Jobs or any other great visionary. You just feel you can’t repeat that again.
But then Pat comes with this kind of posts and you read everything and you’re somehow linked to it. Because most of us are trying to do the same thing, and what could be better than doing it at the same time someone we admire does it?
What can you learn from Smart Passive Income?
Well, there are lots of things you can learn from Pat’s blog. I definitely recommend to grab your iPhone or any other smartphone and download all his Podcasts so you can learn from Pat even when you’re not in front of the computer reading. Pat publishes all his income reports every month and he’s completely transparent about what he’s doing wrong and what’s working for him.
You can read everything about how to start a niche site on his niche site duel here and I guess you can get some inspiration from his story too. There are a lot of things Pat’s doing that I can’t just post here, but if you follow him you’ll learn a lot. Just try to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the quantity of information you’ll read and you’ll be good to go.
2. Michael Dunlop from Income Diary
When I was starting my new blogs, I was very intrigued on how to start making money online. And that’s where Income Diary comes to the rescue. In the past, I had not monetized my blog other than having paid banners on my front page and forums (that made me and my team a few hundred bucks per month). Nothing especial though.
I just love reading case studies and stories of how someone went from being a 9-5 employee to a full time blogger by doing what he does best: his passion.
The first time I landed to Income Diary I was looking for tips to monetize my blog and get more traffic (Isn’t that what we all want?), however I was very impressed when I read Michael Dunlop was the same person who created Retire@21. And after reading his story about how he was on the lobby of an Hotel after a seminar and he and his friends helped out some people to create a website and he earned around $200 in a few minutes I just couldn’t stop reading all his articles published at Income Diary.
What did I get from Michael?
The most important thing I learned from Michael Dunlop is that there’s no age to start being an entrepreneur. I would have loved to find Michael’s articles in 2006, so I could have built a better blog back in the days. When I was on college I had much more time to work on different projects (and I did) and I had 1-2 months vacations every 6 months. Now that I have a full time job I have to struggle between my blogs, my family and friends and all the rest of the stuff.
I can handle it, but I so much wish I would have started back on college.
I’m still very impressed to see some Videos from Michael just to notice how young is he and he’s still doing so much better than me. It used to drive me nuts, but nowadays I know anyone can achieve great things as long as you follow your passion. It doesn’t matter if you’re graduated or not. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t study something or not (not saying that’s Michael’s case). As long as you love something, you’ll be able to outrun the competition.
What can you get from Income Diary?
Of course there’s a lot more to read at Income Diary. Michael and his team are experts on how to drive massive traffic by creating top lists and long pillar articles. I feel like most of their posts are just legendary. Michael also created a Pop-Up plugin to increase your list building speed, and while I’m not a big fan of pop ups, I just need to admit that he’s been doing well with that.
Make sure you sign up to his list, especially if you’re just starting a blog. They haven’t been as active as they were some months ago, and Michael has been working on alternative projects, but his writers create great content too.
3. Jonathan Morrow from Boost Blog Traffic
Jon is one of those guys that you can’t forget after you read his posts. Jon Morrow is a great writer and the owner of Boost Blog Traffic and Guest Blogging. More important, Jon is Associate Editor at Coppyblogger.
However, Jon has muscular dystrophy (read his story) and he has been loosing the ability to move his body except from his face. Which makes everything more interesting because Jonathan is the living example of a person who can be successful on anything we wants, as long as he wants it. No physical limits are going to stop Jon from conquering his dreams, and that’s the best thing you can learn from someone.
What did I get from Jonathan Morrow?
You can put things in perspective and think: “I’m healthy and I have a good family. I even have money and a beautiful girlfriend. But am I able to conquer my dreams?”
Well, it turns out that you can. As long as you really want it and fight for it. Sometimes we just forget there are a lot of things we can do on our limited lives and we get stuck into something we don’t want. Hopefully, it won’t be too late to change your life.
I respect Jon a lot. Not because of his disease, but because of his power of will. And even that, he shows us that no one is superman and you’re prone to fail if you don’t get help sometimes.
What can you get from Boost Blog Traffic?
Jon created Boost Blog Traffic because there are many bloggers out there that create great content and work hard to achieve their targets but fail to accomplish something very important for success: connections.
You get connections via Guest Blogging, and you need to market your content to achieve the traffic you want. Otherwise, you’ll feel tired of creating great content that on ones read.
Aside from that, Jon takes a “small quantity” of people to a very complete course, which is great is you really want to leverage your blog in any niche.
4. Joey Kissimmee from Income Press
Joey might not be a super famous blogger and as he stated on his “about” page, he has no success/great story behind his blog. He didn’t struggle to make money and he wasn’t laid off his job. But he’s been online since 2000 and in 2010 he decided to dedicate full time online. You can read more about Joey at Incomepress.
What did I get from Joey?
Back on 2011, I started blogging again and finally decided to sell that website and create a new one. I took fast decisions without thinking that much, and so I had to start over again. I bought my Stream SEO domain on November 2011 even though I didn’t create the blog and started publishing until February.
Then I found IncomePress. It was brand new and it had a pair of posts. When Joey posted his Income Reports with a lovely $0 result I almost felt off my chair. I was like “why the hell would someone post his Income Reports when he’s not earning a dollar?“. It turns out it’s a great strategy to follow up actions and push yourself to actually do something. Obviously, because he had a following before, he started earning money fast and he’s been doing quite well after a year.
But the important lesson here is that you need to take action (read more about my blogger mistakes on 2012). He did, and he started earning a lot more than me in just a few months. And the reason I felt linked to Joey is because he started his new blog pretty much at the same time as me. But I took so long on my design and all the rest of the stuff and lost the “race“.
It wasn’t until August 2012 (my birthday) that I bought a new Macbook Air, and decided I was going to use it only for blogging purposes (yeah, tech savvy people like me have as many devices as they can. I personally have 5 computers on my bedroom, and a bunch of mobile devices nowadays too). I started posting content and traffic started growing. Now I know why everyone keeps saying “content is king“. I knew this from before (on my tech blog), but I had forgotten it and Joey helped me indirectly to remember that. Thanks man.
What can you get from Income Press?
Joey has been writing great content and I especially enjoy his earning reports where he explains what he did and tested the last month to achieve his targets. However, Joey also has a podcast show, so make sure you subscribe there too. Again, Joey might not be a super blogger with thousands of visits per month and a PR of 4-10, but he’s a great friend and a father who’s doing well online. Many bloggers can’t even do half as he does, and it helps us remember that things aren’t impossible to reach.
5. Ana Hoffman from Traffic Generation Cafe
Traffic Generation Cafe is a website where you can find tips and case studies on how to get more traffic to your blog. Ana is the man woman behind the scene and I’ve found great content there. The reason I’m adding Ana to the list, is because I’ve been following her blog for almost a year now, and there’s just something that keeps me coming back every week.
What did I get from Ana Hoffman?
Many people post great guides and case studies from different angles and point of views, and sometimes you don’t need anything that elaborated to win your audience. I’ve tried many of the tips from TGC and the important thing is that I can spend 5-10 minutes doing what Ana says and have a real impact on my traffic/engagement/whatever.
Also, it’s important to establish your own voice when writing, and Ana has a very unique voice to say things. Sometimes it seems like she’s so happy to post things that her inner voice comes out to speak. But there are times when she’s also mad and cold about the things she’s analyzing, and that’s something most people don’t have. Most people can’t be rude, unique and happy at the same time.
I personally don’t like Traffic Generation Cafe design that much (sorry Ana), but I love her content. So I’m willing to check all the updates on Social Networks and her blog just because of her great content. In this case “Content is Queen“.
What can you get from Traffic Generation Cafe?
Well, Ana might not post an article every day or sometimes not even one per week, but I still love the content. She’s been strong enough to start posting Income Reports and while she has a great quantity of visitors per month, she admits she’s not doing a fortune from it.
Make sure to follow her on Social Networks and subscribe to her list, because there’s a lot of engagement you won’t find on her blog. Again, the most important reason for me to follow Ana is because I feel I can test and learn tips that can be put on practice on a few minutes without any tech skills (even though I’m a tech savvy guy with an electronics engineering degree) and watch results very soon.
Thank you everybody
Thank you for being such great bloggers to follow. I expect a lot more on 2013 of course. 
The reason you’ve been listed here is because there was something I didn’t know or something I had forgotten after many years of being a blogger that you helped me remember.
Sometimes we just need some inspiration to stay on the right track because we are all humans and we commit mistakes. It’s easy to get lost in such a wonderful but complex world. There are many variables and things we all need to learn and it can be overwhelming for any person no matter how intelligent or strong he/she is.
You’ve been my inspiration for the last 12 months (2012) and I owe you many things even though you might not even know how you helped me. But that’s how blogging works, and we all need to keep going.
If there’s anything you need on the future, I’ll be there to support (with a comment, a suggestion or feedback). I’m always trying to get something from your affiliate links in return, and that’s how I like to think I help you keep posting great content.
I don’t promise I’ll follow you until the end, because there’s a big world on the internet to learn from, and many cool bloggers out there to know that I can’t really follow everyone, but you’ve helped me the last year. Please know that you have changed my life in a moment I really needed it.
Thank you!
To your success!
Servando S.
Below are some additional articles that you might find helpful:
- How to start a blog and fail after 6 months – The truth behind pro bloggers
- Start a Blog! 30 Days Blog Challenge
- My first guest post at Famous Bloggers is a Success!
- Get 25-50% discount on everything you need to start a blog NOW!
About Servando Silva
It’s funny how many think that blogging is a magic bullet or “end all” in online marketing when it’s just one of many channels to work with for content marketing, i.e. just one very small piece of the overall marketing mix/strategy.
Hi Silva,
Am now inspired by you, a great post, good connection on the benefits from the bloggers and the initiative you have taken to appreciate them.
For me, have followed Ana of traffic-generation for sometime now, and benefited a lot from her.
That’s good. ow that you’re inspired do what you can with it!
I am impressed on how you put together this post, Servando – such a detailed write-up on each blogger; truly goes to show how much you mean it and didn’t just throw this post together to get some attention.
But above all, I am honored and flattered indeed.
Now about my blog design…
What don’t you like about it again?
Ana Hoffman invites you to read…The Ultimate Blueprint to More Profitable Website Traffic
I guess every one deserves it. At least from my POV. I can’t say without you guys I wouldn’t have gotten the inspiration needed (I had a big tech blog from 2006-2010 with 150K monthly visitors and then I quit), but who knows?
About your blog’s design, don’t take it personal. I guess you can see I’m the guy who loves simple and sleek by my blog’s design.
But let me try really hard, because identifying what I really like (or don’t) is really difficult. My brain tells me something, but not exactly until I deeply think about it:
1. The Sidebar at the left simply doesn’t fit on my head. Don’t know why (???)
2. The Content Column feels a little tight. In comparison to my blog, mine is wider and means more content and less scrolling. I think the one you’re using follows the 1024×768 monitor guide, but mine fits quite well even at 1280x720p, which is the standard nowadays (and if it doesn’t, it’s mobile responsive).
3. Load Time is around 5-6 seconds. From a loyal reader like me, it means I’ll have to wait more to read your awesome content. But for other people arriving the first time or coming from search engines, it could mean a bounced visitor.
I think that’s pretty much what I can identify on my own. Again, it’s nothing personal, and your content is what keeps me in.
However, trying to be constructive too, here’s what I like the most (that I haven’t been able to figure out how to do, yet):
1. Those lovely coffee cups behind your quotes.
2. The way you send a notification on a very lovely way when you’ve answered a comment or acquired a new follower. I bet this one helps a lot.
3. The signature at the end. Is it just an image you add every time or a plugin/code?
But again, nothing beats the content and your interesting sense of humor for every post
Thanks for coming by.
Servando Silva invites you to read…How many Backlinks do I need to rank on the first page of Google?
I’m really happy you’ve bounced back to blogging. Pat Flynn also motivated to go into blogging. His story is unbelievable and this tells us that with the right mindset we can achieve whatever we want to.
I guess many of us share the inspiration from different great bloggers.
I don’t think his story is unbelievable. It’s 100% possible and that’s why it inspired me to get back!
Servando Silva invites you to read…Clima Riviera Maya, Guía para viajar en la mejor época!