5 Blogger gurus you should know, and why you should follow them



Since I started dealing with blogger (about 5 months ago), I was able to experience a lot of good stuff, learn and share knowledge with many great people from this networl/niche. Everyday I surf around the web looking for inspiration and also new stuff that come up for blogging. Blogger is a pretty old (10 years old) tool, so since its creation people were able to make guides, tutorials, templates, etc, and that makes internet full of all kinds of things blogger related.


The problem is that when you get too much stuff, you can't really tell whether all of them are trustable or not. You got to have good eyes to see if a template, tweak or tutorial is really worth to implement on your blog, because if not, you can simply ruin months/years of work.

So thinking of that, I made a little list of people I call "Blogger Gurus" and want to share with you. Those are the Blogger people I follow daily and trust every thing that comes from them. I don't mean that they are the best people around, neither that they are the ONLY "Blogger Gurus". Please understand that this is a personal list and you may agree or not with it. If you don't please don't hesitate to leave a comment, so we can let the conversation begin.

Amanda Fazani

This girl is fantastic, I learned almost everything I know reading her blog, It has a very useful list of essential blogger tutorials for beginners. Everything that comes from her is professional, including her templates. That makes her one of the best template author when it comes to selling blogger templates on ThemeForest marketplace.
Follow Amanda on twitter.

Klodian

He is my best friend on Blogger niche. Klodian has a great mind when it comes to good taste and choosing the best templates to convert. He is also very clever and a real good internet strategist. I trust him to death and his advices are the way to go.
Follow Klodian on twitter.

Claudia Contreras

Co-hoster of BTemplates.com, She does a great work designing templates, giving support, writing about bloggersphere. For me what she does best is to classify template submission in order to keep a great list of templates over at BTemplates (the best template collection in my opinion).
Follow Claudia on twitter.

Francisco Oliveros

BTemplates founder, He is a great blogger and lover of webdesign. Pioner developer of blogger templates, He also writes on his personal site about blogging and web development.
Follow Francisco on twitter.

Vin

He is one of the pioneers in blogger learning. Vin is very succesful on Google Blogger Help Group, he also maintains a kind of old blog with so many content, and so many people have been helped by him, that he must surely be considered a Blogger guru.
Follow Vin on twitter.

No, the list is not complete, I will wait for your feedback in order to make it bigger. Please help me building this article, Send me your opinion, tell me what you think, who you think should be included on the list? Who do you consider a "Blogger Guru" and why? Let's start the conversation!

45 comments:

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Daisy

Hi Dante,

I got to your blog from the credit in my template (found on BTemplates.com). I am currently using "Showoff" and I love it! However, I noticed the color for links (both visited & not visited) is purple. This usually happens when I put a link in my post. Do you know how I can solve this so the colors will be restored to the default?

Also, I get an HTML "tag"error whenever I make a post. Are you familiar with this? and how do you solve it?

Thanks!
http://adrookie.blogspot.com

Amanda Kennedy

Wow, Dante I am honoured by this mention. Thank you so much! And I will certainly follow all on Twitter :)

Unknown

Thank you so much for the mention on your blog, Dante! ...Even though, the word "guru" is still big for me :)

Dante Araújo

@Daisy, I think your problem is already solved?

@Amanda, Thanks for commenting here Amanda! You deserve it.

@Claudia, I feel happy with you here, You deserve this and much more!

Klodian

Thank you, my friend. Those words are too much for me, really.

TeknoMobi

People who absolutely must be followed. I started with Blogger themes for translation. I was following a long time already AMANDA ve CLAUDIA CONTRERAS.

FRANCISCO OLIVEROS btemplates site because I knew. I recently discovered and immediately following the KLODIAN'ı got to.

Isaias Arredondo

Excellent recommendations and I would add that:

Claudia Contreras:
I appreciate the tips and patience has always answered my questions politely:)

Francisco Oliveros:
I just added to Twitter, however, for some time I have visited and squeezed btemplates :)

Klodian:
I knew the site and will now add it to twitter ^ ^

Amanda Fazani:
He had no taste and is good to have this recommendation, added to twitter :D


Dante Araujo:
I suppose that modesty does not include you on the list, right? Finally, I thank the templates, I welcome much your work:)

Note: an apology for my English, I'm not very good, so use a translator:)

Anonymous

Well, I think the list is pretty much incomplete and unfair. The word "Guru" means really appreciable people who've contributed big to the Blogger community. I think Klodian shouldn't be a part of this list! Is it a big thing to convert already made WordPress templates to Blogger? Should I call a person "Guru" if he has copied the best tutorials from the Blogger community and pasted it to his "Tips & Tricks" section?

For me these are the real "Gurus":

Amanda Fazani
->You know why!

Gosu (http://gosublogger.com/)
-> Original tutorials and one of the pioneers of Blogger templates conversion.

Jacky Supit (http://www.jackbook.com/)
-> How can you forget the guy who made it real easy to implement "Related Posts" on Blogger.

Claudia & Francisco
->You know why!

Vin (http://www.blogdoctor.me/)
-> I've not seen a person with such a massive knowledge of Blogger platform.

Ramani (http://hackosphere.blogspot.com/)
-> Absolutely original hacks and tutorials.

Hoctro (http://hoctro.blogspot.com/)
-> Original hacks and very respected Blogger star.

phydeaux3 (http://phydeaux3.blogspot.com/)
-> He originally developed the labels cloud widget for Blogger way back.

Annie (http://www.bloggeruniversity.blogspot.com/)
-> A great person loved by thousands of people for her support regarding Blogger.

Dante Araujo
-> Developer of really beautiful and original Blogger templates.

Well, I don't want to hurt anyone but please don't just include people who are your friends. Only those people deserve the "Guru" rank who have done something original so please remove "Klodian" from your list or at least gimme one genuine reason to include him, thanks!

Dante Araújo

Well this was such a great comment, I love when users participate on discussions, I just think that is unfair that you have posted it Anonymous, why is that? If you say things about people (good or bad), you should let them who you are, that's simple.

I will check the people you recommended me and add them as soon as I get to know who you are, please comment back here without being Anonymous.

Best Regards,

Dante Araujo

Unknown

I would suggest Hans of http://beautifulbeta.blogspot.com

Some of the tricks on his blog may not work(problems with the script hosts) as he doesn't update the blog these days ..

But he surely has contributed some great widgets for blogger.

Unknown
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Unknown
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Klodian

First thanks to Dante for accepting the anonymous this comment, I personally like criticism, but not from anonymous.

Anyway let explain something to Anonymous.

To be "Guru" is a big word, I accept that Im not Guru and never will be, because I do blogger for hobby this is not my profession. Also I think all Guru Bloggers on list do this for hobby, they don't care to be or not Guru.

I do convert templates, but also I have developed some, I love minimal styles but I am sure that not all bloggers will like my style, and for this reason I convert different templates. This gives more template options to blogger users so that they can choose what they like. If I show only my template and not convert anyone, what blogger will get from this?, nothing. So if I convert template [better to say I code, not clone] I do this absolutely only for Bloggers [for you] but you won't understand this.

About tutorials, some of them is true that I found around, but remember my blog is not a source for tutorials. Im sure no one from my hundred thousand visitors come to my blog for tutorials, but for templates. I'm totally sure that Dante didn't put me here because of those tutorials, lol. [remember Dante talks for templates, all related to designs, he is designer]

I think why Dante put me in this list is because he thinks that I'm doing good work, first for blogger users, that finally they can find some converted templates[not clones] without bugs and easy to install for all kind of users and newbies, because one thing is true there are many templates around that are hard to install, or need to have good knowledge in coding to make them work [most of such templates are from list u showed above]

In just some months i got many visitors, comments and greetings, and Dante think that this is success, you don't, this up to you.

Ok, why you are Anonymous, hehe because Im sure that you are using one of my templates :)
--
Klodian

Abu Farhan

yes everyone in the Anonymous list is the best guru of blogger, you have to put in your list. I like phydeaux3, ramani and beautifulbeta. They provide very difficult hack for blogger.
And one more Mohamed Rias (http://techieblogger.com ) nobody can think like him to make page navigation for blogger.

Josy

Hi, you may add Max AllBlogTools.com Founder,
allblogtools.com is now posting blogger templates, tricks and tutorials every day, the site is well categorized, easy to browse, and updated 3 or 4 times daily.
i'm his friend and i think he deserves to be listed here,
oh by the way, please check out allblogtools.com v 2.1.

thanks

Dante Araújo

Thanks to everyone to the great discussion created here, I will take some time to analyse each sugestion and add new people to the list tomorow!

please use twitter to spread this post.

Beste Regards,

Dante Araujo

Abu Farhan

I just read this from your post :
"Please understand that this is a personal list and you may agree or not with it. If you don't please don't hesitate to leave a comment, so we can let the conversation begin."

so remember this is dante's personal list.

I like this discussion, bilal only want to remembering All blogger if we want to make tutorial or tricks for blogger have to put link or name to the original source, to appreciate the author. Because the author made some effort to make the hacks.

Dante Araújo

I personaly support any way of showing respect to the author of any kind of work, specially web related work as I do. It is very important for me and for any person who does this kind of thing to get respect and feedback from their users.

TeknoMobi

I passed the new design, We track the configuration process is not finished, but I would like to hear your opinions. http://www.teknomobi.net/

In addition, the themes for Blogger turn would publish at http://www.bloggergallery.com/. Gallery style best suits your theme, you have created the template Showcase.This also would like to thank you for the template you created.

Dante Araújo

Hi, I have read the suggestions and added Vin to the list. Please understand that this list is about people who, in my point of view, have contributed to the Blogger.com community to grow, and also to improve its potential.

Bilal, I included Klodian because I don't know any person who have got so much success in so few time. He does everything his users need, and he is always thinking about blogger newbies and people who are starting now in blogger, that's why I consider him a guru, because you don't find many people with this way of thinking out there.

Francisco

Hola Dante,

Muchas gracias por la mención en tu lista, yo también creo que me queda grande el adjetivo de "Guru".

Sin duda hay mucha gente que dedica mucho tiempo a la plataforma de Google y que vale mencionarla, en español te propongo a Gema (http://gemablog-.blogspot.com/) y Rosa (http://elescaparatederosa.blogspot.com/)

Un saludo :)

Unknown
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Klodian

@Bilal

I wrote many things, but deleted them, because I dont want make others, to feel bad.

Dante when created this list, he never thought that someone will wrote such things like u did, its not ethical how you write your comments, and in this point have no importance to talk with you about templates and so on.

Im really sorry for you Bilal, I know how someone feel when write such comments, like you did.
Just relax and take it easy.

Anonymous

I absoulutely like these gurus! and that fact that they`ve been at the top of fruit chain and will be there no matter. They`ve helped and inspired millions of bloggers worldwide!

Dante Araújo

@Bilal,

I am sorry but I just got to see your website: http://www.betatemplates.com/

How can you be capable of saying anything about Klodian when you are actually copying his website and his work?

I will not give any credit to you anymore. This is a joke. Come on...

Unknown

@Bilal
I do agree with Dante.. you were unnecesarily making a big debate over this topic and now you trying to imitate Klodian.I too agree that Klodian has a good reputation in the blogger community. The template,the logo,the styles and almost everything on that site is a lil imitation of klodian's blog..

Unknown
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Jorge

Hi Dante:

I would like to suggest another great, excellent, friendly blogger guru. @Vagabundia. (http://vagabundia.blogspot.com/) You can ask any spanish speaking blogger and you will see how JMiur is always the first source.

Thanks, I hope you take into consideration my suggestion :)

Dante Araújo

@Bilal, What you are saying is not what it seems to be, It actually seems to be a lie. You used to redirect (not anymore... anyone can guess why?) all the traffic from your templates to Betatemplates.com. There you comment and reply to comments speaking like the site owner.

Google Cache just got you, here is the proof: http://bit.ly/XmKLb

So what I have to say is: Please understand that you are a joke, and stop trying to trick us, you won't success because you are dealing with a team of smart people.

This conversation is finished now.

I am sorry for my other users that had to go trough this... but sometimes we can't stand some people.

Best Regards,

Dante Araujo

Dante Araújo

@Jorge, thanks for the recommendation!

Unknown

@Bilal its your opinion and you surely have the freedom to express what you like.. But i too think that that site was(or is) yours and that the design of that was surely inspired by Klodian..and in that case i don't think that you should have made those comments..

Google cache tells that the site blogger faqs was redirecting to the new domain betatemplates and at that time it used the klodian like design..

Lets stop this guys..put an end to it.

and i do agree to you with in regard of Ramani & Phydeaux3

Unknown
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Dante Araújo

I will not accept anymore comments on that conversation. This is not bringing an good to any of us, so it must not go on. Let's talk about better things.

Unknown
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Dante Araújo

Please understand that what you have done is a wrong thing and it is not even close to be appreciated from any kind of person. We did not like it at all, you shouldn't come here or to any website saying bad things about anyone with no reason, so grow up.

I will wait for more comments in order to update the list again.

Abu Farhan

Ok lets we start again :
Dante's post : I will wait for your feedback in order to make it bigger.

Now my opinion aboout other expert blogger:
Ramani (http://hackosphere.blogspot.com/) :
He is the best : He can make many difficult hacks for blogger and one famous hack is Neo Template (AJAX in blogger).Other is Peekaboo posts and many others.
actualy some hack not publish yet maybe like recent post with ajax, comment page numbering (I think this hack nobody make)

http://phydeaux3.blogspot.com/ :
This one more blogger hacker, he can make Post Calendar for blogger and Tag Cloud before blogger have in label.
And one more think nobody in this world can make template like he used now, if you check his template using very quick jquery ajax.

Kranthi (bloggertricks.com) :
His Blog have complete resource for blogger Template and trick and he make forum.bloggertricks.com.
The best think if he launch template with PSD logo, many people ask him to make logo for them and he can make for them.
and until now his blog still exist

http://bloggerstop.net :
This blog complete resource for blogger too and Until now he still exist.

Hans http://beautifulbeta.blogspot.com/
His expert for JSON trick I follow him to make his Famous TOC
blog not active anymore but inside his blog still have many trick for blogger

Annie (blog u)
she have complete blogger hack inside

Peter from Malaysia (Official Blog*Star) http://www.bloggertipsandtricks.com/
He help many blogger in official blogger group
His blog active until now.

And other is http://www.singpolyma.net
I Have difficulty to read his post because bg color but actually he have many hack

But this is my opinion as blogger hacker not designer maybe Dante have to make one more post only Blogger Hacker Gurus :)

Kelvin Duong

thanks

mashrafia

very nice! please let the discussion going on.

FRANCESCO

a little italian blogger guru for me is PARSIFAL32

http://parsifal32.blogspot.com

Unknown

Thanks

JorgitoTeran

nice! these truly are gurus

Guilherme

Para mim você é o maior de todos gurus :D

* eu fico te chamando de guru e nem sabia q vc tinha usado essa expressão aqui ^^

Daisy

yup, solved =)

Balaji

Well that Dante
I know you from your First template release my friend even you contacted me from my blog
http://guidetoech.com (I have now sold that and it was in WP now)

You're growing great
Any way you requested me my modified version of arthemia i will release with you soon :)

Bye

admin

i don’t speak english. i am sorry. my problem:
Settings > Publishing > Show 35 posts on the main page.
But click categories only 9 posts.
http://www.rahmetcocuk.org/search/label/Cennet%20Ku%C5%9Flar%C4%B1?&max-results=9

i want 35 posts for category and other page 35+

What can I do?

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