In light of some of the concerned emails I’ve been receiving, I thought it worth stating that all is very well with me. I’m not sick, or disenchanted, or uninspired — just a full-time final year university student with three big papers due in as many weeks.

I’m almost over the hill and will do my best to make it up to you with some extra goodies when I can sit down and blog again — probably over the next few days, after I finish my last paper. Wish me luck :).

(Trust me, I’d rather be blogging!)

Photo by guano

Subscribers are widely regarded as the most valuable indicators of a blog or website’s success. When it comes to selling a blog, some pundits have valued 1 subscriber at around $35. That’s incredible. Whether they’re truly worth that much is a mystery, but it holds true that most of us look to our subscriber count as the primary yardstick of our progression.

The question I want to ask today is: should we be doing this? Much has been written by various bloggers — including myself — about trying to gather more subscribers. A lot less time has been dedicated to examining why we should be pursuing this goal. It’s assumed that subscribers are worth their weight in gold, but are they really?

I’m not setting out to prove or disprove the assumption. I want to test it, weigh up the pros and cons, and see what happens. As I write these words, I’m not sure what the outcome will be. I like subscribers. I hope they come out on top. But I can’t make any guarantees.

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Skelliewag.org is among the five finalists for the Best Australian or New Zealand Weblog at the 2008 Bloggies. It’s the second category from the top, so there’s not too much scrolling required to take a look. The other nominees have about a billion raving fans, so a vote from you will really help me out :-).

I don’t ask for things often, but the Bloggies are kinda special.

On the 21st of December I shared five hard questions to ask yourself before starting a new project. Since then, I have been answering those very same questions myself (for a project different to the one discussed in the article).

After a few weeks of deliberation and work, I have good answer to all five questions. I’m ready to launch blog #2, Anywired — a blog about working and earning an income through the web.

This is another topic I’m passionate about and, until now, I haven’t been able to find an outlet to write about that passion. Skelliewag will still be given the love and attention it deserves — sort of like when you welcome a new child or pet into the family, it doesn’t mean you love the one you already have any less ;-).

If you’re trying to earn an income through your blog or website, or are interested in working online in other ways, I think you’ll like Anywired!

In this post I’ll be announcing the most valuable commenter from last week’s discussion thread. I’ll also be announcing the overall winner of the Ask the Readers competition.

Lastly, I’d like your input on what to do now the discussions have finished.

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