- Hugh McLeod says "[his] main regret is spending so much time cranking out 'generic' posts, when the energy would’ve been better spent just on 'unique' posts,'" which he defines as "[t]he kind of blog post that could only have been written by yourself. Your own, unique, twisted inner voice shining through."
- Theron Parlin says she "would pick a blog and stick with it for the duration" rather than starting and stopping and starting "a bunch of them."
- Seth Godin says that if he "had to pick something, it would be directing to a domain I own (sethgodin.com) instead of sethgodin.typepad.com."
- Gina Trapani (of Scribbling.net and Lifehacker fame) provides quite a list, most of which are versions of think before you post: Trapani wishes she had " … thought more about what the consequences of my boss, Mom, other half, buddies, old girlfriends, long lost high school friends, co-workers and past teachers reading it would be." She lists a few others, too; my favorite is "…more actively developed my writing skills. (Writing well is writing well, blog or not.)" Amen, Gina.
- Merlin Mann (of 43 Folders fame) says he regrets not having thought more about "how to make it easy for people to navigate around their interests, rather than having to undertake a backwards death march through [date-and-time-arrange posts]. It’s like having arranged your library of books by cover color." He further advises that "it really pays to watch stats and search traffic, listen to comments, and then try to evolve around the way fans _and_ strangers are trying to use your site."
- Duncan Riley says he'd "use WordPress," "learn more about search engine optimization," "pay for a professional design," "provide [m]ore original content," and "have spent more time building [contact / reader] relationships into something more solid."
- Guy Kawasaki says he'd "start[] to blog sooner."
- Mark Frauenfelder, Robert Scoble, and John Battelle wouldn't, for the most part, change anything, citing blogging's malleability as an opportunity to change anything they don't like. Of these responses, Darren Rowse says "[g]ood bloggers have a knack at letting their blog take them where it will take them but also knowing when to kick the heels in and drive it forward under their own steam. . . ."
- Kathy Sierra says she'd "[u]se her own domain name instead of a Typepad domain," she "would never--not for a moment--change/filter/censor what [she] write[s] simply to keep the harshest detractors at bay," and "[i]f [she] had to start over, [she] would not hesitate."
- Andy Wibbels (of SixFigureBlogging and BlogWild fame) says he'd "have been keen on keywords from the get-go," be sure to initiate "an email newsletter," and have been less nuts about wanting to be the first to blog on a topic."
- Mike Rundle (of BusinessLogs and 9Rules fame) shares his blogging history and then offers this piece of advice: "write great blog content, and then make sure to get on and stay on the radar of those that matter. Befriend those who are your idols, study what they’ve done in the past and learn from their mistakes, and then take all that knowledge with you as you make your path."
- Wendy Boswell (of LifeHacker, SnarkyGossip, and StewiesPlayground fame) says she'd "lighten up."
- Jerry Schoemaker (of ShoeMoney and Webmaster Radio fame) says he'd have "redone [his] url structure" to something shorter.
- Hugh Hewitt says he "can’t really complain about anything"--although he does provide a revealing list of things he would have done earlier, like set his "[p]raise/critique ratio at 7:1."
Upon learning about his 1-Question Interview project, 83 of Rowse's readers offered their own advice (or links to others' advice)--all of which he's helpfully indexed at "Habits of High Effective Bloggers--Reader Submissions."
His is an amazing website offering an amazing variety of very helpful stuff, like 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog and 31 Days to Building a Better Blog - Central Page and How to Choose a Blog Platform. Much of his stuff is aimed at professional bloggers, but it's helpful information for educators, too.
Rowse, Darren. "1 Question Interview--Index Page." ProBlogger. 16 July 2006. 27 Dec. 2007 <http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/07/16/1-question-interview-index-page/>.
