I found an interesting article on problogger.net which was written by a woman named Tina Su who is the author of thinksimplenow.com.  The article basically describes how she went from 0 to 2135 in 3 months.  Here's the quote...

Hi, my name is Tina. I started a little blog called Think Simple Now on September 27th, 2007 with zero experience in blogging, internet marketing or writing. By the time Christmas came, 3 months later, I had 2135 subscribers.

...

I often get asked how I did it, and I decided to compile this article as a record of my experience with hope that others might benefit from what I’ve learned. I want to show you that it is possible to achieve your blogging goals starting from scratch, using my case as a live example. I’ve learned that there are no real secrets to blogging success, all it really takes is a deep desire to do so, along with an urge to action.

Now, my blog has only been public for about a month and a half but unless my 2nd month is much more successful than my first (e.g. 2110 readers somehow pop out of the woodwork) I'm not going to do as well as she did.  That said, I just can't bring myself to follow a lot of her advice.

Basically she suggests a very focused approach to blogging.  Have goals, create content with your audience in mind, etc...  It isn't bad advice.

But for me, that is where the line is.  I'm not saying either philosophy is bad but there are two types of bloggers, the entertainers and the sharers.  The entertainers are trying to cultivate an audience the sharers are just trying to connect with whoever might be interested in the same things they are.  Mrs Su is an entertainer, I'm most definitely not.

Beyond that some of the stuff she suggests just feels dishonest to me (even though I know it really isn't).  Stuff like commenting on other people's blogs to get their attention feels wrong to me.  If I comment on your blog I think I owe it to you to be focused on what you said and not be trying to get you to read my blog (she makes a specific point of saying you shouldn't spam just for the record).

In fact, I've found that my commenting policy is just the opposite.  To take two examples off my link blog there is virtually no chance Matthew Ingram will ever subscribe to this blog because (based on his link blog) he doesn't bother reading anyone who disagrees with him.  But I do often times disagree with him so he's probably who I comment on the most.  On the other end of the spectrum I know for a fact that Aaron Stannard does subscribe to this blog but I rarely comment on his blog because I agree with him so darn much.

Anyway, even though it wasn't for me it is a good read and I'd suggest everyone head over there and take a look.  If it matches up with your goals as a blogger you'd be a fool not to take her advice to heart.  But it just doesn't fit me.  What I want from this blog is to get smart people reading it so I can say something and they'll be there to say "your completely right" or "your being an idiot and here's why".  Every indication I have says I'm on the road to that so I'm happy.  If that means never getting 2000 readers so be it.

I'll happily leave the mass audiences to the Robert Scoble's and Tina Su's of the world if I get the intelligent ones.