The Day I Was Number One

Snipe

All the blog books tell you to snipe. Simple Dude is a proponent of it.

No, I'm not talking about the woodland / marshland / "moorland" bird of this name.

Also not talking about the popular teenage game of "Snipe Hunt" where you take first time "hunters" out to the woods and then abandon them... did I mention you do this in the dark? Everyone wants to take a stroll out in the "moors" after dark, right? Who didn't just have a Werewolves of London moment? (and I don't mean Warren Zevon's song)

Bloggers are often
behind rifles...?

I'm actually referring more of the act of taking a shot. Like a sniper waiting for the right moment to strike. In the case of the guys behind the rifle, there is no luck involved as far as I can tell, it is 100% skill. There is A LOT of waiting involved. FYI, if you want some reading on said guys, I recommend One Shot, One Kill and Marine Sniper (about Carlos Hathcock).

People who "snipe" eBay auctions are looked down upon with much disdain. Just when you thought you had that Mystery Machine lunchbox with matching Scooby Doo thermos, your auction explodes in the last 20 seconds and your "winning bid" of $17.37 is completely obliterated and the final price settles in at $43.38 plus shipping and handling. You feel bewildered at what just happened. You were "unlucky" and feel that your bidding opponent was lucky this time. Again, no luck was involved as they likely employed a third party like justsnipe.com or auctionsnipe.com to deny you in the closing seconds.

Wow, killing people and being an eBay jerkoff has what to do with my sniping you ask? Well, beyond being an excellent marksman as well as being handy with the interwebs thing, I have achieved blog sniping luck.

So, the theory is that if you are able to comment on another popular blog within the top 10, it increases traffic to your own site. This is provided that you remember to include a link to your blog. Now many sites include the CommentLuv plugin which polls your feed to grab a link to your latest blog offering.

There are unofficial rules in play, an etiquette if you will.You want to find a blog that is similar to your own. You want to post a comment that is semi-worthy of being posted. Basically, it can't be a lame "first!" with a URL.

Everyone is familiar with The Bloggess, and if not Google her now, we'll wait. Her blog went a bit viral, what with posts about giant metal chickens aptly named Beyonce. Well, normally within a few moments of her posting, she has a multitude of comments and it isn't unremarkable for her to have 200 within the first 2-3 hours.

Imagine my surprise when I found a post last month that had literally posted within the last 2 minutes. I read the article, got my chuckle and left a snarky response. Imagine my surprise when my comment turned out to be then first to respond? I have reaped this traffic boost over and over again on my page.

 

Now, sniping on my posts doesn't require tons of luck or skill, heck some of my posts are SO DEEP that people are stumped as to what to say.

What is the best snipe story in your blogging career?