A year ago we launched the Detailed Image Ask A Pro Blog with the intent of creating a resource for the most comprehensive catalog of detailing-related articles available. Since we published the first handful of articles, we’ve made some significant changes in how we present the work, how we organize it, and even how we write them. Over time we’ve also added more detailer / writers to help create an even greater amount of information.

Based on the feedback we’ve received, the comments that are made within the articles, and the continual growth of readers on a monthly basis, we’re quite confident that we’ve created a tremendous resource that both detailers and enthusiasts alike can benefit from.

I was very happy to have been involved in this project from the beginning (long before we actually published the first article), and have enjoyed watching it grow and develop over the past year.

The other day I was going through the back-end of the blog to look over the articles that have been published to help us plan what subjects we’d like to address for the future. As I did this, I realized that there were a few noteworthy milestones that were about to take place. First of all, the blog is just a few weeks away from producing its 200th article! That’s 200 detailing-specific articles in a 12 month period…or new, informative material for you every 1.8 days! When you consider that many of these articles can take quite a few hours to write, and that the blog team members have full-time jobs outside of writing, that’s a pretty impressive number.

When I broke it down even further, I realized that a couple of articles ago I eclipsed the 100 article mark all by myself! I had to look at it several times to make sure the number was correct because while I know that I’ve written a lot of material, it just didn’t seem like I had done 100 of them in the past year. I guess since I was enjoying the process so much, and interacting with so many people, I simply lost track of just how much material was being produced.

So in the end, I need to thank all of our regular readers for creating the demand for this kind of information. If you weren’t on the DI Blog, there would be no need for new material! THANK YOU…

I wanted to take a moment to look back at my articles from this past year and share some that really stand out in different categories. Who knows…there might be something in here that the newer readers have missed!

First Article:

How To Detail Your Engine Bay This article was actually part of a group of articles that were part of the initial release, but this one far surpassed the others in terms of popularity. Month in and month out, this one always ranks near the very top of the statistics in terms of how often it is read and searched. So if I were to put up a category on most read, this one would take that honor as well.

Most Successful:

Ferrari F40, 60-Hour Restorative Detail Everything about this article was big! The detail itself took a tremendous amount of time, the article took the longest to write, and I had the most photos to sort through. The reason that I list this one as the most successful however is because the facts that it was picked up by Autoblog.com, it had the second-most amount of comments, it generated the most traffic to my website, and it ended up on more blogs and forums than any other article I’ve ever done. This one went viral!

Most Important:

How to Properly Wash and Dry a Car Why do I consider this one to be my most important? Because if you’re not following this guide, nothing else you learn about detailing will matter! This article has been picked up as reference information by other automotive news blogs out there, and a similar article of mine is coming out in Forza Magazine in the next few weeks!

Most Comments:

Acura TL Detailing Guide This was a huge, 4-part article that covers every aspect of a full-detail. It’s perhaps the most comprehensive guide that I’ve written, and I continue to get regular questions and comments on it. Regardless of what kind of car that you have, there is a tremendous amount of useful information in this one. The total comments of all 4 parts far surpass even that of the F40 article!

Favorite Article:

Ferrari 355 GTS Mini-Restoration Detail This one means a lot to me for a variety of reasons. It really changed the way I was presenting my full-detail articles because of the sheer amount of information that I provided and the educational value it represented. It was also a very cool project to be involved with given the type of restorative work that we performed on the car. If you haven’t read through this one in its entirety, please be sure to do so and I hope that it becomes one of your favorites as well.

Most Linked-to from Forums:

Meguiar’s M105 / M205 Tutorial and Leatherique How-To Since both of these articles combine a product review along with a guide on how to use the products, they were very popular. Both of these articles are used as reference-guides for these products, and people continually link to them on forum posts when someone is asking about the products or how to use them (I automatically get notified every time one of our articles is linked to from outside forum posts).

So I’d like to thank Detailed Image for their industry-leading business sense and realizing the importance of providing top-level educational material to general enthusiasts and professional detailers alike. The Detailed Image Ask A Pro Blog is unlike anything else available to those interested in detailing, and I am very proud to be involved with it.

I’d also like to thank the rest of the Ask A Pro Detailing Team. Without their help, their willingness to share their knowledge (and time), and their desire to produce the best detailing content available, we wouldn’t be nearly as successful as we are. Thanks guys!

Finally and most importantly, I’d like to thank the tens of thousands of unique visitors to the Ask A Pro Blog every single month! Your support and desire for quality information pushes us to be the absolute best at what we do. Thank you for reading, thank you for participating with your comments and questions, and thank you for sharing our articles with others!