I never intended for this blog to have a mass market. I was only interested in attracting motivated internet property owners, both large and small.

Before launching this blog I took a hard look at what I saw as elements of success in other blogs and attempted to replicate them. This meant posting under my real name, interviewing others in the industry, and spreading my comments liberally on other related blogs.

Stage one was a success. Its given me an online identity, allowed me to network with some incredible people, and somehow I am now scheduled to be on a panel with Shoemoney and Jon (who doesn’t use his last name) at Affiliate Summit in January.

Unfortunately, stage two is not looking so successful. Honestly, my blog isn’t very exciting. I’m not a regular poster. Most of my new readers are coming in through industry forum sigs. Good interviews have been lacking for many months (no one commented on the Ari Shohat interview, but that could have been my fault.)

The two “model” blogs which I am looking at now are seoblackhat and copyblogger. These two guys know what they are doing. They are pragmatic about results and not afraid of criticism.

When I launched Web Publishing Blog in September of 2005 I knew what direction I was headed in. This being post #350, perhaps I’ve learned a few more things.

The question is — am I ready to take it to the next step? So many projects demand attention. The apocolypse for hobbyist publishers may be near. As a latecomer to the field, I’m hustling to be ready.