Making a great contribution to my “successful blogs” section of Andrew Pavelski dot com last week was a great analysis of Courtney Tuttle’s Internet Marketing School. Last week I discussed why Court’s website has drawn in such a large crowd and how he was able to reach success relatively quickly in the blogosphere. There is a lot to learn from Court’s experience and I’m truly glad he enjoyed reading my analysis! This week, I’ve decided to take a deeper look at a blog that is packed page-to-page with quality content. I think that the number one reason for this blog’s success is due to the sheer amount of value that the author Maki [a philosophy student from Toronto, Canada] shares with his readers. I discovered Dosh Dosh sometime in late 2007 and can fairly say that its content has stood out amongst other blogs and quickly captured my attention!

What has made Dosh Dosh so successful?

A unique theme and logo

A unique theme and website logo is great for everyone to have and will definitely help you boost your blogging success if you don’t already have one. Taking a look at the Dosh Dosh logo, you can see that the two bluish looking teardrop-shaped D’s really catch visitors’ eyes upon entering the site. Not only is the small logo in the upper left corner of Dosh Dosh simple and catchy, the little white “Pillsbury Doughboy-shaped” figure with devil horns makes first time visitors extremely interested to find out more about the website! Having a logo that catches the visitors attention and makes them interested to dive deeper into the site’s content is key. The theme is extremely simple looking, but the simplicity is a huge plus. Readers are able to navigate their way around the site with ease (without getting overstressed). Most blogs nowdays are full of spam and are trying to add more widgets than the next guy. The Dosh Dosh theme proves that your site will most likely be more successful if viewers enjoy your simple layout. Whether you realize it or not, the color scheme of the theme is awesome and Maki really did an exceptional job with the theme. The lite blue links, combined with the lite pink post titles, and a lite green Feedburner box looks awesome on the white background and is very easy on the eyes.  The bird favicon that Dosh Dosh displays also helps brand this website.  The overall look of Dosh Dosh’s theme is extremely attractive to readers. What you should learn from Dosh Dosh is that a simple layout definitely works out well and goes to show you that being creative with a miscellaneous logo will make first time visitors highly interested to find out more about your website!

The little anime graphics

Seeing little anime graphics on each post gives visitors an awkward impression. My first visit to Dosh Dosh, I didn’t understand why there would be small, unique little anime graphics on each blog post. After reading more about Maki’s interests in the “about section” of Dosh Dosh, I discovered that he really enjoys anime. Whether you knew it or not, these little anime pics are great for establishing Dosh Dosh’s own unique brand. Ever see a make money online blog filled with anime graphics? No… but in my opinion, having the anime graphics stand out much more than throwing up random pictures of dollar symbols and coins. Maki definitely doesn’t hide his interest in anime and isn’t afraid to spice up his blog with a touch of personality. What is also cool is the fact that there is a different anime face included in each post. Not only does the content keep the reader inclined, but looking forward to a new anime face is another special feature that Dosh Dosh provides. I personally enjoy all of the graphics at Dosh Dosh because they bridge the connection between Maki’s personal interests, online presence, and really make a huge difference in branding.

Sheer amounts of value

After reading a few posts on Maki’s blog, you’ll quickly get the impression that the author could write a New York Times best seller about internet marketing. There aren’t many bloggers in the make money online niche that try to pack each post with as much value as possible. Each post of Maki’s engages the reader through his writing, images, and easy to read writing style. Though it may take awhile to read each one of Maki’s posts, you will walk away with plenty of knowledge to make your blog a success story. The value that Maki has packed for his readers within each one of his articles is awesome. To learn more about why Dosh Dosh provides free content, check out this post. It is extremely important that when giving away free content, you still give your best effort and work hard to build up a great online reputation. Just because you are offering readers free content doesn’t mean that you should put in a half-hearted effort! One thing to learn from Maki is that when you consistently provide quality content and “give your all” for each article, you can quickly build a large reader base and understand that good money can be made online.

Maki’s personal insight

After reading through articles and other blogging creations written by Maki, you’ll quickly realize that he is a very bright individual. Many topics that Maki touches on are not covered on other blogs, and if they are, more advice and insight is provided on Dosh Dosh than most of those other blogs. Sharing intelligence with his readers is something that Maki does particularly well. Maki comes across as being a polite, well-intentioned individual that genuinely wants to set up a win-win situation online for his readers and himself. Sure Maki is making money from Dosh Dosh, but he also is respecting his readers by not overcrowding his website with ads. His posts provide great instructions if you are able to take the time to read through them.

Why you will return to Dosh Dosh:

• A friendly punchline - The friendly punchline “Helping You Make Money Online” really makes the reader realize that Maki cares about his readers and gives the impression that his primary goal is to help others succeed and make money online. When reading Maki’s posts you will get find the help you were searching for. If you spent all day digging through and reading the archives of this blog, you would learn a lot of useful internet marketing information and website tips.

• Quality, unique content - The content over at Dosh Dosh is really on another level when compared to most other blogs. Dosh Dosh is a prime example of a blog that uses long posts to gain credibility. After looking through a few of Maki’s posts, their length may scare you, but once you do start reading a little bit, you will be hooked from start to finish. There is really no filler inside the posts to make them longer than needed. Maki will pack as much knowledge into each one of his posts as he can. Though many bloggers think it is best to separate 2 ideas about a certain topic into multiple posts, Dosh Dosh could clearly change their opinion. Most of the posts touch on one topic and cover that topic in its entirety. Having unique content is another great part of Dosh Dosh: the content is not the same ole recycled adsense tips that you will find on most make money online blogs.

• It’s one of a kind - Dosh Dosh is clearly one-of-a-kind and is a memorable blog. Once you visit, you will definitely want to peek back for a second visit, then a third visit, and voila… Maki has successfully gained another RSS subscriber if you hadn’t already subscribed!  The overall uniqueness of the blog makes people return.  It is difficult for me to determine whether Maki indended for his blog layout to be completely different and easily distinguishable from all other blogs, but it is… And because of its one-of-a-kind look, building traffic and getting people to return is relatively easy.

• The 13,000+ RSS subscriber count - Anyone that has over 13,000 subscribers obviously knows what they’re doing in the blogosphere. Huge amounts of RSS subscribers always captures my attention and really makes others want to find out more. Seeing a blog that teaches you how to make money online and has such a large subscriber count, will get you to click subscribe and add that feed to your reader. Like I have mentioned before: most people don’t particularly enjoy and participating in a bunch of blogs with low RSS counts. When you see a large RSS subscriber numbers in Dosh Dosh’s feedburner chicklet, you know that it is probably a blog worth subscribing to. Many bloggers have the mentality: large feedburner numbers = a must subscribe. While large subscriber numbers are not always an indication of a great blog, they do draw plenty of attention. Dosh Dosh is an example of a blog whose RSS count draws the much deserved attention!

• An extremely active community - An active community is something that most successful bloggers strive for. If you take a look at some of Dosh Dosh’s posts it isn’t uncommon to see a long list of great comments.  The comments section over at Dosh Dosh is truly blessed with participation and great information.  The comments section serves almost as a mini-forum for each post.  What is cool about Dosh Dosh is the fact that most commenters don’t just drop by to leave a “nice post” or “interesting” as a remark.  Maki has established his own comment policy, and makes it clear that all comment spam and irrelevant comments will be moderated and removed.  Though there are many subscribers at Dosh Dosh, having a community to enrich the comments section is great.  If you take a look at a few of the posts, many readers leave lengthy, multiple paragraph comments.  Seeing a blog with an extremely active community is definitely a great sign!

• Short, unique, & catchy name (”Dosh Dosh”) - The name “Dosh Dosh” has absolutely no meaning to me (maybe it relates to anime…), yet is easy to remember and will stick inside your head for a long time. In fact, getting the URL “Dosh Dosh dot com” out of your head is extremely difficult (probably impossible) to do. Whether or not Maki knew that the URL would be memorable: it is. Having a simple, catchy, and memorable URL is something that all bloggers should strive for.  Especially if you aren’t going to use your first and last name to determine your URL.  Dosh Dosh is a prime example of what a little bit of creativity can do to boost your personal brand and make your URL highly memorable.

• It isn’t congested with ads - One thing that Dosh Dosh really has going for it is the fact that it isn’t overcrowded with advertisements. Maki could definitely make more money off of his blog by slapping some google adsense into each post, preaching to his readers to buy a new product through his affiliate link, and saturating his content writing website reviews. What separates Dosh Dosh from the crowd of other successful blogs is the fact that it doesn’t stray from the website’s primary purpose:  to “help you make money online.” Writng reviews of other websites, and putting up ads in each post would sure make Dosh Dos some extra money. Why wouldn’t Maki do it?  It could be slighltly due to the fact that ads can take away from content and don’t usually attract readers. I have always believed that it is better to place the priority of trust with readers before putting up advertisements.  I currently don’t fill Andrew Pavelski dot com with tons of advertisements because I feel that it would look somewhat intrusive and unappealing to my readers.  I think that it’s important to focus more on proving your credibility to a large audience before monetizing your website.

My final opinions about Dosh Dosh

If you haven’t yet heard of Dosh Dosh, I sincerely recommend and encourage that you check it out.  This blog is a prime example of a successful blog that discusses internet marketing and making money online. The reason that Dosh Dosh has been so successful is due to a combination of factors, but can be most heavily linked to the quality content. Without writing articles that can be considered timeless, readers have absolutely zero motivation to return. I personally enjoy reading Dosh Dosh and Maki’s anime-laden website has taught me a lot about internet marketing, blogging, and the core of making money online: providing value.

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