Wasn't blogging all about the "personal" revolution? Wasn't the point that now you were allowed to just be yourself? If you have a blog, write whatever you want to write. If you happen to be bright and learned enough to have things people want to read, you'll be successful. That's the big secret.
As far as branding, I went ahead and made it slightly above ugly but recognizable such that repeat visitors might recognize that they've come frequently, and subscribe.
My main difference from him is how I actually go about marketing it. That part is much easier, in my estimation. I write about the union of the stuff that I know and the stuff that I find interesting. I then submit it to the appropriate social news sites. Since, for me, that is pretty much covered by hacker news and reddit (proggit), that's all I've done. I haven't been "greedy" and have tried to be really sensitive to the predilections of the respective communities, and so far it's worked out great. If I post it in the place that I'd expect to find it, the people who think and enjoy the same things I do might find it interesting. So far they have.
It seems like a pretty simple two step process. Find a niche you like and write some content, then post it in the social news sites that dominate that niche.
The only piece of advice of his I haven't done but I'd consider is directly emailing other bloggers who might enjoy reading and/or responding to what I've written. Maybe I'll give that a try.
j/k, these tips are good, but only about 5% of the overall picture. 95% = must love blogging. There's a pretty easy test, just ask yourself if (honestly) you'd rather write a blog post or watch TV.
Did he skip this step when he titled his blog Influential Marketing Blog?
