Mario Lavandeira has made millions as the blogger behind PerezHilton.com. Perez Hilton celebrity gossip blog is read by millions every day and he is one of the most visible and popular bloggers online.
The blog now averages 260 million page views a month, hit a record day with 13.9 million page views this week and has a very loyal readership.
Perez Hilton must be doing something right!
Here are the 8 things every blogger can learn from PerezHilton.com:
- Find a topic there is an audience for. People love reading about celebrities and gossip. Do not restrict your blog to a too narrow niche as you will have a hard time growing it into a major blog.
- Find a topic you have passion for. Topic that you can and would love to write about daily. Perez focused on celebrities “because it was something I was inherently curious about, fascinated with.”
- Be consistent. Post on a regular blogging schedule. Perez Hilton posts new articles to his blog an average of 40 times a day. He constantly checks his e-mail and scours the web for the latest gossip.
- Be unique. Celebrity-focused websites are nothing new, but Perez Hilton created his own oversize persona to stand out from the crowd. He differentiated his blog with an unique writing style and handwritten captions scrawled on top of pictures of celebrities.
- Do not censor yourself. Perez Hilton writes what he thinks, he does not care if celebrities or fans like it or not. This attitude has gotten him in trouble several times, but on the other hand his outspoken persona has earned him a huge following.
- Be provocative. Perez often makes harsh and derogatory comments about celebrities. This results in a ton of publicity as celebrities respond back, media reports it and readers share it with their friends.
- Experiment with the blog monetization. Perez tested everything from banner ads, text ads, wallpaper ads behind the blog posts, sponsored posts… he obviously perfected it as now advertisers pay up to $54,000 to run short-term ad packages on his blog.
- Expand your blog. Perez has used his blog success to expand into other media and has built an entire empire around his persona. TV shows, radio shows, clothing line, book deal…
Incorporating these 8 steps into your daily blogging will make sure that your blog gets more attention, gets an increased readership, gets forwarded and shared virally and will ensure that you build your profile, your brand and increase blog traffic.
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{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
He’s a smart guy. He picked a good niche and learnt how to generate publicity for himself. And, he’s passionate about what he blogs about. As much as I dislike a lot of what he writes about, I respect him for what he’s achieved.
I have a problem remaining on focus. It kills me. I want to write about so many different things, and don’t have time to start multiple blogs. So I’ve picked a few of them, and try to have a good site map and index. As far as the other eight things, I am getting better. The more I write, the better i get, so I write a lot!
Nice Marko,
Thumbs up!
Yep, he’s a celebrity blogger. Not too many people can do that. But many bloggers can do that in a small way, become a celebrity blogger within their niche. Good overview.
I agree with Allen, I do admire what PerezHilton has made of his blog. Number 4, do not censor yourself, is a lesson I need to take to heart. My natural inclination is to try to write in a way that won’t hurt anyone’s feelings, but my biggest success comes when I let it fly.
Thanks for another excellent post, Marko!
I do believe the most important is consistent, never give up with your idea, spread it up. Thanks for the post, good job.
Love him or hate him, he has made profited immensely from blogging and is an excellent case study. He went from obscure to mainstream in record time. It seems like just yesterday I was reading about how he had to change his site from pagesixsixsix.com.
Great post!
40 times a day huh? I suppose when your blog is your job that you can afford to spend that much time on it. I’ve never read his blog, but then gossip doesn’t interest me. The other thing is that 40 times a day seems a little over the top, but then if it works for him who am I to argue with his technique. I reckon my RSS feed would have a heart attack if I added his feed
Thanks for all comments! As seen even in comments here, if you can make people have an opinion about you (good or bad) it will help your blog grow, as the more people talk about you (again good or bad), the more buzz you will build, more links you will get and more visitors you will get.
Not all topics are such that we can post daily 10+ articles. It depends on how you want to grow your blog as.
Celebrity blog is something which we can write anything. Pick something from here, you hear something new, you read something amazing, or just drive in the past.
Anyways, you like it or not but surely Celebrity Blogs with really great number of posts per day are something which are talked about. Damn i think i should be more consistent with my blog posting. Though I am not a full time blogger, but I am damn sure I can do much better.
Some tips of these 8 are indeed interesting. Thanks for sharing some good points.
Some good tips here. I really need to work on the regularity with my blogs. I’ve been spending a bit too much time getting the social networking aspect down lately and need to start a schedule for the blogs.
I also need to learn more options and experiment with the monetization. Need more traffic before I can see what works first.
Someday I’ll have to check out PerezHilton, but like Sire says above, gossip doesn’t really interest me that much. Still, it would be worth seeing what is working for a blog.
I think if I started a celeb blog, I’d have the likes of Tom Cruise hunting me with a shotgun.
Maybe it isn’t such a bad idea…
That is awesome. That is unbelievable that he gets millions of visitors to his site each and everyday. I guess this just shows the power of a log once again.
This was an excellent post! Love or hate the guy, he’s certainly built an enormously successful blogging business. And you can tell he loves what he does – this enthusiasm shines through in his posts.
I think many of us are afraid to be a little “out there”, simply because we’re afraid of offending *some* readers. Thing is, for every visitor who becomes offended, there are likely a dozen more who appreciate your transparency.
@Lee, Blogger’s Workshop – Definitely! Also by trying not to offend anyone, you will censor yourself too much and make your content very bland and boring. And there is enough bland stuff online already, people want something different.
Impossible to read the PerezHilton site in work with the glaring pink it is so obviously not work related
This all points back to the old “content is king” lesson. When the content we create comes from our passion mixed with a unique perspective, “personality” we sometimes succeed. Great job Mario……
For me I think being consistent is the hardest thing to achieve , having fresh new content on a regular basis can do wonders for your blog and your search engine rankings.
Hi bro
Definitely these tips works a lot and after doing R&D several weeks i got conclusion that the things you have marked is worthy indeed, there’s no other way to be popularize on blog and earn like pro cuz mostly people get obsessed with their narrow concept and most of the times it’s really hard to maintain that but if you have a wise area of interest and you love to put it on your blog regularly then you are none other than NO.1
Anyway thanks a lot for your invaluable tips & tricks
Ravishanker
Thanks for the great tips, clearly outlined.
Where are the Ads on your Blog? I don’t see any at all, actually!
I’m a student designer and have never tried ads on my Blog yet. Using Twitter is great to get more views, though, and I’ve been promoting through Social Networks. However there’s no financial gain.
The same is try for the Blogs my non-profit organization run. As a non-profit, should we be taking ads to bring in revenue? I’m hesitant about this one.
Please email me to chat more!
I try to limit number of ads on my blog. I monetize by selling my own Twitter e-book and also recommending Thesis theme via their affiliate program. See for example:
Why using banner ads limits your blog’s income potential
How I monetize my blog with Thesis Theme affiliate program
My interests are a bit widespread, but I try and keep it restricted to music fandoms and my work as a teacher in Korea. I can only imagine what an average person looking at my blog must think >_<
Perez Hilton definitely is an inspiration.
An overweight, creepy, openly gay guy becoming a millionaire from blogging. Shows anyone with major drive can pull it off.
I try not to have ads on my blog. I monetize it by selling my Twitter Book and also by recommending Thesis Theme that I use on my blog. I have already written several articles on why and how. See for example: Why using banner ads limits your blog’s income potential
How I monetize my blog with Thesis Theme affiliate program
Thanks for these great things. It inspires me in some ways.
Thanks for the info on Perez! I plan to do some more research and try to incorporate it into my page…
Perez has done a great job of following the hate me or love me just talk about me theory on Buzz. He seems to have used it to become a celebrity himself.
Rick
I do believe the most important is consistent, never give up with your idea, spread it up. Thanks for the post, good job.
The last time I read something related to him, it was revealed that his sister is actually the one that updates the site now. The issue then arose about whether he can be held accountable or not for something said by someoneelse on his blog.
. In the end they made up.
I was kinda pissed when he tore into Britney Spears during her all time low and was very pleased when her record company sued his ass
I envy the guy. From blogger to celebrity status. Christina Aguilera even sang happy birthday to him. Now that’s how big he is.
In a few months time I’ll be launching a new “themeless” blog to see well I do in the search engines. Themeless in the sense that I’ll blog about practically everything that comes to my head but not without doing some hardcore keyword research.
Yeah, I have heard about that as well… interesting project you are doing, good luck!
Very “Simple and Effective Tips” that most of us tend to overlook considering them to be trivial, yet they are not. I think I need to go to basics once more! Thanks, Marco!
And now you stand stand out of the crowd by posting an article on a celebrity in your style. But your detailed study of his success serves to be tips for our beginners.
Thanks a bunch !!!!
His success is very motivating and shows what a well thought out blog can do. Hilton’s move into TV, radio, book and music publishing is impressive. Great summary of points to work on.
Never thought there was anything to learn from him.
Guess I was wrong…