A couple of years ago when I started really getting into blogging I reached a fork in the road.  My blog writings were starting to really get out there and bring a lot of traffic to my blog (back then Joeuser.com was just my site).

The Alexa rankings help speak to that:

So at its height, JoeUser.com which was just my site was nearing the top 10,000 blog sites total.  I got a lot of traffic because I was blogging every day on political issues of all kind. That is the key to becoming a popular blogger - you have to do it every day and you have to do what you can to make sure your blogs are well sindicated out there so others know about them. Most bloggers on JU really aren't trying to get their stuff read outside of JU which is okay. My goal was to write stuff that was read by as many people as I could.

But that's when I realized I was just too thin-skinned and too snobby to put up with the constant trashings I would take. 

One of my favorite bloggers, someone who has the talent and has put in the hard work has seen her blog become immensely popular:

By writing every single day, making interesting commentary, she has gotten a huge following, become a Fox news contributor, written a book, etc.  I really admire her.  But I don't envy her.  This week she's been the victim of photoshopping scum. People who take pictures of her face and put them onto bodies of other people doings things she doesn't approve of.  It's just plain old smear tactics from people who disagree with her political views.  And this is no isolated incident. She takes all kinds of crap all the time that would drive me nuts. 

I'm putting a link below to her blog. If you've never read it, it's a great read. She's insightful, interesting and intelligent.