Should we Imitate Successful Blogs?

The most imitated blog that i have come across thus far is johnchow dot com. Some to the extent of imitating his entire layout, many used the same the same theme as him before he personalized it, most imitated his style of blogging by posting about their incomes and so on and so forth. While I think it is good to imitate an idea that worked, I still have my reservations about total imitation to the extent that there is no more originality.

Take the Japanese for example. When they started their great industrialization plans, they imitated almost all their technological products. At that time the mention of goods that were made in Japan will sent confidence down the drain, but they were cheaper than the originals and it worked just as well, so many people were willing to give it a shot. The Japanese were smart people. They don’t have the technology, so they took what was available, copied it and changed it to suit their style and eventually the made it to be better than the originals. Their success was due to their willingness to adapt and change what was already good and made it even better. Today, good that has the labels, Made in Japan, stands amongst the best in the world.

Presently, the most notorious imitators are the Chinese. Goods made in China are suffering the same fate as those from Japan many decades ago. People shudder with goods with the Made in China tags. The Chinese as unscrupulous and not as ethical as the Japanese when it comes to imitation. They have the tendency to imitate goods down to the most minute detail even including the “Made in” label with the sole intention of misleading unknowing customers to believe that they are originals. However due to their lower than low quality, people are quick to find out and all that leaves them is a tattered reputation.

Blog imitators, in my opinion has something to learn from the Japanese. When we start out without a clue on how and what is the best way to blog successfully, it actually is not too bad an idea to imitate what successful bloggers are doing in that starting phase. However, when we have somewhat of a foothold and feel we are strong enough to walk on our own, we should discard our imitating ways and try to carve out a future of our own.

The greatest blog imitator and one that is not shy to admit it is johncow dot com. This blog imitated the original one almost to the hilt, but what made this blog to be what it is today is he is willing to adapt and made the imitation suit him. Though I personally don’t have any grudges with his imitating ways, I did feel a bit pissed off by his misleading ways of getting traffic. Once was he purportedly put up the blog for sale and the other was saying the blog is being sued and will be taken down. That was the time I felt he was just like the imitators from China, luring people with misleading information just to get them to his blog.

However, credit must be given to john cow for adapting. The blog now has it’s own unique layout and contents are getting better by the day. He is like Japan now, having and increasing his own readership base daily. Of course he hasn’t given up totally on his evil ways. The latest is the Million Euro Wiki, an idea torn blatantly from the very successful Million Dollar Wiki and by my aching gout infected big foot, I think he will be pulling this one off too.