I don’t believe that there is any official definition of the words AmBlog and AmBlogger, for that the verdict is still out. I registered the domain as inspired by Darren Rowse of problogger.net. Darren is a professional blogger (problogger) whose full-time profession is about blogging-related activities. So what was the inspiration?

Since Darren is a ProBlogger, I wanted to discover if there are AmBloggers (short for Amateur Bloggers) like me out there writing Blogs about their passions! Therefore an AmBlog is a Blog whereby the intent is first and foremost to share/start a passionate discussion about any subject. By contrast, the intention of a professional Blogger is to eventually be able to monitize the Blog for profit.

How about an example? Again, I’d like to use Darren because he is truly an ambassador for the blogging medium. Darren’s ProBlogger Blog is actually what I would consider an AmBlog. He has a diverse number of Blogs that touch on different subjects. Those other Blogs, in my opinion, are not AmBlogs. The differences are about the comparatively different treatment of the Blogs.

ProBlogger.net has a distinct personality, there is an obvious warmth and passion in the writing style that is not present in his other Blogs. The other Blogs resemble glorified product/news pages designed solely for attracting traffic and monetization. Most of Darren’s “for-profit” Blogs function as “visitor redirectors” or “content aggregators”. AmBlogs may also have advertising though most AmBlogs do not compromise or optimize their Blog design for the benefit of monetization.

I also do not count Blogs that are maintained by multiple bloggers to be an AmBlog. Blogs like Performancing who allow multiple authors require an organization and implies a need for professional collaboration.

Can an AmBlog/AmBlogger also be a ProBlog/ProBlogger? Definitely! It’s the same analogy as a professional and an amateur athelete. Though for certain purposes such as participating in the olympics, there are distinct rules of separation. But that doesn’t mean that an NBA player cannot enjoy a run of pick-up games on the play-ground courts.

The goal of AmBlogger is to bring more content regarding Amateur Blogs and Bloggers, to share experiences and perhaps to see more amateurs develop into professionals and also be able to enjoy working on their passion.

Here are a small sampling of AmBlogs that I currently enjoy reading!

ProBlogger
TechCrunch
BlogMaverick
XiaXue
Micro Persuasion