It's interesting to see how Bloggers can make their sites literally start raining with visitors and it seems to come down to one thing - writing a great article that gets linked to by big name bloggers that get a ton of traffic. I would like to look at a few of the the top articles I have seen in the last year that have made "it rain" so we can try and figure out what they have in common.

Number 1 - Write something controversial
If you haven't heard of Kumiko Suzuki then your living under a rock - she knows all about controversy and she knows how to write an article. Check out..

AGLOCO Will Not Make Money Online! Ever!

What made it so interesting?

Well Kumiko wrote this article on February 11th 2007, I am not to up to the play on the whole Agloco timeline but I'm sure glad I haven't wasted any time on it, heres a few quotes from their blog to show what has happened since Kumiko's blog..these were all taken from the AGLOCO Company Blog

Algloco Motivated and Inspiring 21 February..

I wrote a comment other day that addressed exactly the type of question Members sometimes get in trying to recruit others to AGLOCO, namely: “AGLOCO sounds too good to be true. Why am I getting paid without putting anything into it?”

Well that sounds great where to from here though - was Kumiko right and will it never happen?

Dynamic and Invigorated still 26 February

f you have been reading the comments on the previous post to this blog, you have
seen there is a lively debate going on regarding the signup page, external links, and the length of time the system keeps your referral.

Whoops where's our viewbar March 1st

Viewbar release: A few weeks ago, I said on this blog, “The Viewbar is currently slated for a March release”, and March 1st is now upon us (a couple of you were optimistic and hoped for a release on the first of the month). I know that the Viewbar will not be released in the first half of March. Our tech lead flew to Shanghai this morning to work directly with our six engineers there. I’ll give you more of an update when I hear back from him.

Lets take the attention off the viewbar for a while 8 March

I have blogged a lot lately about Members being AGLOCO founders and how the ‘Members who stick their necks out’ will benefit from AGLOCO’s success. And we must recognize the importance of these efforts. But EVERY Member needs to be able to share in the advantages AGLOCO has to offer. Without delivering on that promise, AGLOCO would fail.

It is nearly here that damn Viewbar - really truely 21st March

Viewbar Update: The engineers have informed me that the Viewbar release is currently scheduled for between Monday April 2 and Monday, April 16 (between 12
and 26 days from now.) I will keep you posted as I continue to hear word from them on progress. As they continually remind me, this is all dependent on the results of QA testing.

Oh yes April is the month - the Viewbar is not far away... 3rd April

April is upon us, and as we have mentioned previously on this blog, the Viewbar is slated for release this month. We will be sending an email directly to each Member when their account is authorized for Viewbar download with more detailed
information regarding the software release. Here are a few initial details:

Oh damn maybe April is not quite gonna make it ... 11th April

I have just got word from our Shanghai based tech team with an update on the Viewbar status. Most of the QA tests are going well with the exception of the ad
servers. The team is currently integrating the Viewbar with the ad servers so that the Viewbar will have ads (and revenue) ready to go when it launches (it would not make too much sense to release a Viewbar that was not making any money). So, while the Viewbar is still on track for release this month, making the April 2nd to 16th window is getting more difficult – and, yes, the Shanghai team has been working seven days a week for quite a while now and will continue to do so until the Viewbar is released.

Damn Viewbar won't talk ... 16th April

Before I talk about Apple, let me give you today’s Viewbar update. As mentioned previously, our delaying item is getting our partners’ ad servers to ‘talk’ correctly to the Viewbar.

Viewbar is nearly here? ... 30th April

All Members should have received an update email (I have copied it at the bottom of this post). If you are a Member and did not get an email over the weekend you need to correct this, as it is the only way to get the Viewbar notice with downloading instructions. If you did not get it, try going into your account to make sure we have a current email address on file (if it is correct and you still did not get an email, check your junk/spam folders).

Viewbar not quite ready yet .. 7th May

Viewbar quality tests are still going on. As I mentioned in the comment area of my previous post, all tests of the Viewbar have passed except for the ad servers. We had expected our testing to be finished by now, but this advertising integration is not proving easy to solve. All of us on the development team are anxious to see the Viewbar distributed to our Members, as we are now two months behind our initially planned launch date.

Well does Kumiko have some kind of supernatural powers of vision into the future or was Agloco never going to make money? Lucky for us at the Million Dollar Experiment we didn't waste any time on it! So that is one way to make a post pay off, predict the future about a controversial subject.

Number 2 - Include a Celebrity in your Article
Now the best thing is that Kumiko then backs it up - proves it was no fluke and does it again this time with an article about 6 Lessons Britney Spears Can Teach You About Blogging. What a way to launch your blog into the stratosphere with 2 great articles that gets everyone a buzzing. She may not have Britney calling her up for friendly shopping trips (with her and her mother) however its a great way to score some traffic.

Number 3 - Interview someone important and/or well known
If you interview a famous blogger or internet marketer all the bloggers are going to come a running. Here is a prime example Bloggers Face-Off: Darren Rowse vs. Jeremy Shoemoney

There we have it, 3 tried and proven methods that can help create a great article that is read by thousands instead of just another "also ran" article that may lie gathering dust for eternity. Most people like a little scandal, a bit of celebrity and few laughs. If you can roll all that into one great article you may be the next person having to buy a new server.

Good Luck!

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