Blazing Minds » author interviews

Blazing Minds Interviews Francisco Perez (DiTesco)

Karen — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 10:02:57 +0000

Welcome to another interview in my new series, as mentioned before each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger who has kindly answered my blogging questions. This week I bring you an interview with DiTesco aka Francisco Perez, so let’s get on with it…

Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?

My real name is Francisco, also known as DiTesco, my online persona. I am a proud father of two wonderful kids, born in the Philippines, raised in Brazil, lived in a lot of places and now in between Europe and Brazil. I have a degree in Business Administration and mastered Finance at IMD (International Management Division – Switzerland). I have occupied several management roles in the past, such us, COO of American International Group in Europe, CEO of Sensormatic Sysytems, CFO of Banesto Group (banking), Auditor Supervisor of PriceWaterHouseCoopers, etc. Presently, I am an online business entrepreneur, while still managing (offline) my small Business and Management Consulting Company.

So tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?

I started to blog some three years ago because I had some friends who were doing it and said that there was money to be made, lol. I have to be honest that having the opportunity to make money online was the one that motivated me most and while this is so, over time, I found that it was also a great medium to build relationships, make friends, learn a lot of stuff, share my views and opinions, experience, and yes, identify some additional business opportunities. The domain name has no history behind it as at that time I was not so sure what I was doing. It was all new to me. I looked for available names and iblogzone.com was available That said, and since I mainly provide resources to help like minded individuals to build a successful online business, I call my website “Home Based Business Resources“. That’s right, its for people who are serious and prefer to work from the comfort of their homes, not the beach

Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?

YES, I devote a lot of time and effort “blogging”. Literally, I have built a small network of websites where I provide content to all those that are interested on the topics I talk about. Obviously my main focus is still iblogzone.com and today, it is mostly my online business that keeps me occupied, professionally speaking. One of the reasons that I spend too much time online is because, I manage way too much websites. As your online business takes off, the more time you should devote into it. You not only have to ensure that you are pumping in regular content, but there is also the matter of “everything” else attached to it. You need to build and maintain good relationships with fellow bloggers, you need to find good products, you need to promote, you have to socialize, and most importantly, build your reputation and gain credibility.There is no such thing as being in a pool and wait for the money to come in. You can even have a website that generates “passive” income but normally it does not stay that way for too long and you have to manage it somehow. So you have to work, and that takes time.

Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?

Fortunately, I have traffic coming from many different sources. According to my analytics my main sources are organic (search engines – 50%), followed by Twitter, SU, and from my awesome and great supporters

Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?

Let us put it this way. A blog is a communication platform and in a way is also a form of socializing. Getting your word out, providing your opinion, sharing other people’s stuff, interacting with commenters, etc. Isn’t that also part of the social web? As I have said previously, you should build your reputation and gain credibility and socializing is one of the best forms to achieve this. The “blogosphere” is no longer a single players game and you need to build your community of people, to help each other out, extend your reach and build credibility. It’s a “jungle” out there

Now, I agree that if you are on all Social Media sites that it can be a waste of time. There is no way you can be active in every single one of them. You should only pick a couple and be active, by interacting, exchanging information, helping other people, etc. My chosen networks for this purpose are Twitter, FaceBook, SU, BlogEngage and wordpress social network.

How do you promote your blog? Are you created a promotion plan?

verything I do, I plan ahead for it. Most of the time though, what I have is a “checklist” of things to do. For example, when I am writing a post, I research – check, write quality content – check, optimize for SEO – check, publish – check, and it goes on. The only forms of promotion I have used up until today and that have been proven effective for me is by using the power of socializing. This includes, communicating via my “websites”, Twitter, FaceBook, SU and WPJ, commenting on other people’s blog, guest posting and SEO. No major planning required for this. The only important thing is that you take action. Things don’t work on their own. At some point it needs a push, do it, that’s the plan .

If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?

There are quite a few actually , but here goes.

Determine upfront what you are going to blog about. Yes, you need to plan this right out, i.e, choosing the topic or niche, especially if you are thinking on building a small online business. If you are thinking of blogging just for fun, you don’t really have to worry about anything. SEO, quality content, blah, blah, are only important for business. If indeed, it is a small business you are looking for, aside from determining the topic or niche upfront, build a nice looking website, provide good content and value for your potential audience, build your readership by interacting, socializing and respecting other people’s views and opinions. Do not get lured by those “magic” systems that will make you rich overnight, they only work for those who actually sell them. Learn the ropes on basic html, internet marketing, and SEO. And finally, TAKE ACTION. Act upon everything you learn and put it in motion. I will try, I will do, are not actions, and they will take you nowhere, trust me. There is much information out there that teaches you how to do things. Everything else is up to you.

————

Many thanks for the interview Franciso.

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Cornell University Yahoo! Research Twittersphere Study: Who Tweets What to Whom on Twitter (growmap.com)

No related posts.

Blazing Minds Interviews Francisco Perez (DiTesco) is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Blazing Minds Interviews Devesh from Technshare

Karen — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:00:06 +0000

Welcome to another interview in my new series, as mentioned previously each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger who has kindly answered my blogging questions, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: Hey karen first of all thanks for the interview and it’s a pleasure to write something for your readers. I am Devesh, a 17 year old blogger from India. I started blogging back in 2010 just to make some money but later I found passion in this field. You can see my work on Technshare, WP Kube and Blokube.

Q: Hi Devesh, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: Technshare is a multi authored blog which i started back in 2010 and it was my first blog ever. I started it as a warez & nulled scripts blog and later changed the blog niche to blogging tips.

Actually I didn’t had that much knowledge about choosing a good domain name that time, so it was suggested by one of my friend.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: Search Engines is my top traffic source and second one is social networking sites like Blokube, Twitter, Facebook, Blogengage etc.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A: Blokube & Blogengage. These are 2 best social media networks to get traffic and build some relationship with other blogegrs

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: My advice for beginners is If you are looking to blog just to make some money then you probably shouldn’t but if you’re passionate about it then just go for it. Keep in mind, creating a successful blog takes a lot of hard work and patience.

Thanks Devesh.

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related Posts
Blazing Minds Interviews Karthikeyan from BlogrPro, Blazing Minds Interviews Gautam Hans from Blog Godown, Blazing Minds Interviews Lauren from Think Spin

Blazing Minds Interviews Devesh from Technshare is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Blazing Minds Interviews Lauren from Think Spin

Karen — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 09:52:48 +0000

Welcome to another interview in my new series, as mentioned previously each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger, Lauren from Think Spin who has kindly answered my blogging questions, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: I’ve been married for twenty-five years, accumulatively, to the same man, have a twenty-one year old son in college, as well as two dogs, and a cat (not in college but they are street smart). We live on the east coast of the U.S. in Ridgefield, Connecticut (about an hour from NYC) on top of a mountain with very few streetlights and no public sewage or water system. We have a well and a septic tank. Luckily, everything runs downhill.

My humorous essays have been published online and in several earthly publications, two of which have folded. I swear I had nothing to do with their demise. I also had a dark short story published in Shroud Magazine. Bottom line, I love to write.

Q: So tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: I started Think Spin in May 2009 several months after I was laid off. While looking for work, I found that blogging kept me somewhat sane but that’s still debatable. Writing humor made me feel great.

The name Think Spin is based on the way my mind works. It’s always spinning and never stops. The original tag line was “caught in the gravitational pull of the mind.” I’ve since changed it because I felt it didn’t provide readers with an overview of the blog’s content, which includes satirical posts on life, culture, and society.

When choosing a name for my blog, I felt two points were important.

1. It had to be a name that was easy to remember and
2. The domain had to be short and simple.

As soon as I created Think Spin on Blogspot, I registered the domain. I think that’s important. I should also mention that I first checked to see if the domain was available.

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?
A: Yes, blogging does take up a lot of my time, at least two hours plus a day when I’m not working. One hour a day when I am working. I am a freelance writer.

I also think blogging needs to be broken down into two sections.

1. Responding to comments, commenting at other blogging sites, and self-promotion.

2. Writing and guest posting.

Time spent on writing and commenting can be balanced somehow, although I haven’t figured it out yet. : )

It takes me several hours to write a blog post. After I’ve completed a draft, I let it sit for a while and then edit it.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: Most of the traffic comes from sites I comment on, Google, Sites that carry my blog on their blogroll, Bloggers.com, Sites where I Guest Post.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A: I use Networked Blogs on Facebook and Twitter automatically tweets a post every time I publish. I just started using Stumble and Digg.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: Never give up, get listed in blog directories, i.e., Bloggers.com, BlogCatalog.com, get a Feedburner account or other similar service, write guest posts, and make as many blog friends as possible by visiting their sites regularly (whenever you have time) and commenting. Also, try to pace yourself and manage your time online, as I’ve been unsuccessful at both.

Thanks Lauren.

You can check out Lauren at @thinkspin and her blog Think Spin..

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related articles

Shameless Self Promotion: Guest Post on Blogging at Blazing Minds. (thinkspin.blogspot.com)

Related Posts

No related posts.

Blazing Minds Interviews Lauren from Think Spin is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Blazing Minds Interviews Roy From The Struggling Blogger

Karen — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:35:48 +0000

Yes folks it’s time for another Blogger interview. This weeks interview is with The Struggling Blogger himself Roy, so sit back and please enjoy the Blogger interview and please don’t forget to pay a visit to his blog …

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: I am Roy, a 42 year-old blogger from the Philippines, and father to three wonderful children. I can call myself a lot of names – a self-proclaimed poet, an entrepreneur-wannabe, a frustrated writer, an aspiring songwriter, and a dreamer. It is through blogging that I am able satiate all those frustrations, as I shared my poetry, my business experiences, attempted short story writing, sang my original compositions, and tell of my other dreams and aspirations. After three years of active blogging, my passion never waned and I am still looking as to how far this so called “love for writing” will take me.

Q: Hi Roy, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: I started my first blog in 2004 when I first heard of Blogger.com on a local techie show on TV, it was my REFLECTION which was on online version of my notebook (a compilation of my original poems, and later would become a book). I was not really active then, usually my posts were either rants or my old poems from my notebook.

It was in 2008 that I became active in blogging. After my wife “went home,” I was left on my own, taking care of my kids, jobless and all. It was a difficult time to find a job as companies from our place are very much particular about age (I was already 40 then). I took to blogging – I tried to learn more about earning online, networked with other bloggers, and began to create more blogs.

It was during those communications with other bloggers that I came up with my blogging mother ship, The Struggling Blogger, which became my pseudonym, so to speak. At the time, I was really struggling. In real life, I’m struggling from the loss of my wife, finances, and my sanity. Online, I was really clueless about all those earnings online I’ve been hearing of, so I was struggling to know more about that, but on top of that, I was struggling to gain respect as a blogger.

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?
A: It was supposed to be. I mean, it was intentional on my part to put more time in blogging. Being all alone, blogging became a therapy for me. As I began to share myself and gain more friends online, everything that I was going through then eventually became easier to bear. And the more I blogged, the more I want to blog! So yes, blogging takes a lot of my time…. and I love it!

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: Traffics that matter – from friends. To be honest, I really do not have that much of a traffic nor a big number of readers. It’s my friends who are mostly “really” reading my blog posts and appreciate them. Sometimes, I do get a surprise visit from other bloggers, but it’s rare that some would come back for a second serving.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A: Yes, I do. Before I was a blogger, I used to be active in online forums (or fora for the “purists”), and that is where I used to promote my blogs. Lately though, it is in Facebook and Twitter where I promote my blogs. It is in FB though that I get the most exposure as most of my friends are there – bloggers and non-bloggers alike. And because of the “teasers” and one-liners that I posts on my wall, they got to know me better and some even get curious as to how I would be like on a full blown blog post.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: This is the part that I really do not like, giving advice. Why? Because they might actually believe them!

Seriously, when asked for advice, what I usually say is that, “Do not believe every advice that you get. Yes, including this one.”

It is always best to remember what your intention in blogging really was. If you blog because you just “love to write,” then do not be disheartened because you aren’t earning like those other bloggers who claim they do, do not get much traffic and readers, and is not as popular as some bloggers who make a lot of noise.

I am all that – I don’t earn through my blogs, do not get much traffic and readers, and is not really as popular and influential as some of my colleagues, but I am blogger… I am The Struggling Blogger.

Thanks Roy.

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related Posts
Blazing Minds Interviews Blogger, Benjamin Lang, Blazing Minds Interviews Blogger Brad Reason, Blazing Minds Interviews Justin Germino aka Dragon Blogger

Blazing Minds Interviews Roy From The Struggling Blogger is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Blazing Minds Interviews Mitch Mitchell

Karen — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:45:26 +0000

The Blazing Minds Blogger Interviews are now back, yes folks, some bloggers have kindly agreed to have themselves interviewed here on my blog, there are some great bloggers lined up on the next few weeks, to start I’m interviewing Mitch Mitchell, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: I am an independent businessman and consultant that’s been blogging for 6 years or so. I have 4 blogs, one of them brand new, one of them very successful, and I have a lot of fun with them all.

Q: Hi Mitch, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: I’ll talk about I’m Just Sharing, the one most of you know about. I started it in December 2007 after getting tired of sharing my thoughts on those vanity blog sites, only to have the sites either shut down or fall apart. I came up with the name because I’m always saying “I’m Just Saying”, but it was taken so I switched to the other word.

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?
A: Yes, blogging does take a lot of my time, but not for the reason you might think. When I have an idea I write pretty fast, even when I have to do research first. But I write for other blogs as well that I get paid for.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: Most of my traffic comes from referring sites, which probably means the blogging community at large.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A:I do use social sites. Every blog post shows up on Twitter, and I repost it directly usually 12 – 14 hours later. My business blog shows up on LinkedIn, and my IJS blog shows up on Facebook. All are automated in some fashion, which is pretty cool.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: You have to like writing in order to be able to sustain a blog. But you also have to be willing to spend at least a little bit of time trying to drive people to your blog in some fashion. If you don’t have at least an hour a week to write a blog or at least 30 minutes a week to visit other blogs, don’t even start.

Thanks Mitch.

You can check out Mitch on twitter @mitch_m and his website I’m Just Sharing.

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related articles

I’m Looking To Do More Blogger Interviews (bloggerluv.com)

Shameless Self Promotion: Guest Post on Blogging at Blazing Minds. (thinkspin.blogspot.com)

How I Use My BlackBerry To Write Draft Blog Posts (BasicBlogTips.com)

Related Posts

No related posts.

Blazing Minds Interviews Mitch Mitchell is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Blogger Interview with Jeevan Jacob John from Techpupil

Karen — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:00:20 +0000

Welcome to another interview in my new series, as mentioned previously each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger who has kindly answered my blogging questions, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: I am Jeevan Jacob John, 16 year Old, from India. Currently settled in US. I am a Tech Blogger who loves blogging on anything related to Technology. I Blog @ www.Techpupil.com

Q: Hi Jeevan, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: I started Blogging in 2005. Since I didn’t know what Blogging was, I began experimenting with my first Blog, Education. I started Tech Pupil in June 2009. Finding a domain name wasn’t easy. My Ideas for domain names included Tech student, student tech. Non of these were available. Then I came upon Tech Pupil. Pupil means student. So, I purchased the domain and setup a blog in Blogger.

Since its birth, Tech Pupil is striving to provide the user with Quality Content related to Technology, Internet, Blogging and Computers

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?
A: Yes, Blogging takes up a lot of time. The hardest part is thinking about an article to write on. I used to spent a lot of time in Blogging. That’s when I realized the importance of Promotion.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: Most of the traffic for my site comes from Google, Blog Engage and Twitter. Rest comes from Social Networking sites like Stumble Upon.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A: Yes. I believe that promotion goes hand in hand with Quality content. I would recommend Blog Engage, Twitter and Facebook.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: Be Patient, Blog Quality Content, Be Yourself, Reply to comments, interact with your reader. Don’t forget about Promotion. Posting 5 articles a day while not promoting is going to get you nowhere. Honesty is the best policy. Keep Blogging until you succeed. Determination earns you success. Remember to Be Patient. And Don’t Look at Your Numbers…Use Social Media. Social Media is the key to Blog Promotion. Don’t worry about making mistakes. Remember the Quote “Failures are stepping stones to success”.

Thanks Jeevan

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related Posts

No related posts.

Blogger Interview with Jeevan Jacob John from Techpupil is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Blazing Minds Interviews Matt Stratton From Good Old Rock

Karen — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:20:31 +0000

Welcome to another interview in my new series, as mentioned previously each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger who has kindly answered my blogging questions, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: My name is Matt Stratton, and I am the the Manager of Technical Operations for a major real estate classifieds website. Previously, I have designed and architected systems for some of the largest companies in the world, including GE and JPMorganChase. In my current position, I am responsible for strategic decisions for the design and implementation of system infrastructure, and researching emerging technologies such as cloud computing.

I’m also an avid photographer and former independent filmmaker, and live in the suburbs of Chicago with my wife, twin sons, and a Sheltie named Scout.

My main blog is Good Old Rock, but I also maintain a blog for updates on my new twin sons at http://strattonboys.com and I am a contributor to Today’s iPhone.

Q: Hi Matt, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: My blog technically started in 2001 as a LiveJournal. I don’t remember exactly what the catalyst for the initial startup was, but I wrote in that LiveJournal for about 7 years. Then, in late 2008, due to rumors of LiveJournal being shut down by Russians, I decided to migrate off of LJ to a self-hosted blog. I’ve had the domain name mattstratton.com for almost 13 years, but mostly used it on and off for website hosting and email. But I moved all of my old LiveJournal content to a WordPress installation on that domain, and the rest is history.

The name of my blog comes from a Simpsons episode:

Lisa: Look, there’s only one way to settle this. Rock-paper-scissors.
Lisa’s brain: Poor predictable Bart. Always takes `rock’.
Bart’s brain: Good ol’ “rock”. Nuthin’ beats that!
Bart: Rock!
Lisa: Paper.
Bart: D’oh!
– “The Front”

Unfortunately, there’s no actual reason for me to have named by blog after this episode, except for the fact that it always makes me laugh. And now…well, there’s just no turning back!

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?
A: It takes up about as much time as I allow it to. If I schedule myself well, I can usually write a week’s worth of posts in about 2 hours…but I am not as diligent about that as I should be, so I often find myself writing a post when I can squeeze in a few minutes here and there during the day. This month (Feb 2010) I have committed myself to the 28 Day Blogging Challenge, which has definitely added to the time I spent blogging each week. I also contribute to a major iPhone blog, which adds to the time that it takes.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: Up until last week, the majority of my traffic was organic Google traffic. However, last Monday I received over 25,000 visitors from Reddit, which really changed that game. Generally speaking, however, I’m all about organic traffic. The rest of my visitors either come from shared links on Facebook or Tweets.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A: I use both Facebook and Twitter heavily to promote my blog. Every blog post is tweeted,and I get a fair amount of traffic from those tweets (depends a LOT on the post, of course, and how well I structured the tweet!). I used to share every blog post as a link on my personal Facebook page, but I’ve recently switched to using a Fan page for my blog (even though I hate the term “Fan” page), so that the links were more “opt in”.

I recommend both Facebook and Twitter for any blogger looking to build traffic, but I caution them to make sure that they don’t SOLELY use those networks to promote. People will not be interested in following you on Twitter if all you tweet are links to your blog, for example. If you engage in those social networks, your followers/friends will be far more likely to click on your links and read what you have to say.

Personally, if someone just uses Twitter to spew out links to their blog, I will tend to unfollow them quickly.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: Write. Write great content. Write a lot. Write original content.

Don’t worry about traffic. If you great interesting content, the traffic will come. Forget about SEO and keywords when you start. Figure out what you are smart about, or what you have a voice about, and write about that.

Write well. Use spellcheck. Like it or not, your reputation and credibility will suffer if you look like a lazy writer.

And finally – network! Get to know other bloggers, but more than just for a link exchange. Engage other bloggers on Twitter or Facebook and build relationships.

Thanks Matt.

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related Posts

No related posts.

Blazing Minds Interviews Matt Stratton From Good Old Rock is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Blazing Minds Interviews Blogger Brad Reason

Karen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:23:17 +0000

Welcome one and all to another in my serious of [intlink id="536" type="category"]blogger interviews[/intlink], these interviews may bring you more about bloggers you may know and even bring to your attention to a blogger that you may of never heard off and will of discovered through Blazing Minds, so please read on and enjoy.

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: My name is Brad Reason. In the virtual world “Second Life” I am known as Doubledown Tandino. My hometown is Baltimore, Maryland. I am currently living in South New Jersey and also in Manhattan, New York. I am a professional music creator and DJ, Second Life specialist, and a new media marketing specialist. I combine performance and creative arts with technology and the internet.

Q: Hi Brad, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: My blog: http://djdoubledown.blogspot.com started in 2007. Originally, it was a niche blog that focused on the DJ, music, and nightlife scene within Second Life. As time went on, I expanded my blogging topics to include music technology, internet broadcasting, social media, viral and trending aspects of the web, while still also keeping up with Second Life and virtual world music, performance, art, and creativity.

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?
A: Blogging specifically does not take up a lot of my time, but being inside Second Life to find topics to blog about does. Using Second Life is a full-time job. Using social media and web 2.0 is also a full-time job. Blogging is an integral aspect to everything that I do. Getting people to read and follow my blog sometimes takes up more time than actually blogging.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: My traffic comes from a combination of utilizing Second Life, as well as using social media outlets such as twitter, facebook, friendfeed, linkedin, and many more. The combination of aggregation I have set up is the force that drives people to my blog.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A: I find myself testing generally all of the social networking and social media sites out there. Any new media site that comes along, I give it a try, and test it’s tools. Facebook, Twitter, and now Google Buzz seem to work best currently, but because the social media world is shifting constantly, I am adjusting on a daily basis.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: Just start! Do it! Stop thinking about it and just start! Now! immediately! There’s no reason to wait. There’s no reason to second guess. There’s no reason to put it off thinking that you may not gain readership or a following. Initially, a blog is about you and what you feel you can write about… so do it. Disregard thinking about what may or may not happen. Just get some blog posts posted. Claim your presence in the blog world by actually posting blog articles. Later in the blogging game is when you will want to consider how to gain readership. Consider the first weeks of blogging as a journal for yourself. Months down the road is when opportunities, connections, and possibilities open up.

Thanks Brad.

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related Posts

No related posts.

Blazing Minds Interviews Blogger Brad Reason is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Interview with Blogger Heather Kephart from Happymaking

Karen — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:46:26 +0000

Welcome to another interview in my new series, as mentioned before each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger who has kindly answered my blogging questions, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: My name is Heather Kephart. I just moved to the Dallas, Texas area a month ago. I am a native Californian and have lived all over the state – North Monterey County, Placerville, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Folsom, San Francisco, Palm Springs. There’s more, but I’d only just embarrass myself by revealing the amount of times I’ve moved of my own volition.

Q: Hi Heather, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: My blog Happymaking is the product of evolution. I started just over a year ago at Howtobeawoman.net, focusing on what I needed to learn in order to be a “real” woman, rather than an extended adolescent. I got myself a Twitter account and started to learn about branding, so I thought – well heck, I’m going about this all wrong. I changed my name on Twitter from womanintraining (never really worked for me, people seemed to assume I was in recruiting) to RetroHeather, purchased the domain of the same name, and promptly suffered a crisis of identity. Who was RetroHeather? What did she care about? I hadn’t the slightest clue. I accidentally deleted that blog (twice!) while trying to figure out Filezilla, so I moved over from WordPress self-hosted to Blogger where I felt reasonably sure that it wasn’t possible for me to delete my blog (again!).

That blog name was Happymaking, a play on words. It was initially supposed to be a crochet blog, and I was supposed to be happy making crocheted hats. I couldn’t stand writing about crochet all the time, and eventually a little bit of “me” seeped into that blog. Before I knew it I was writing about my life, my dreams, and my personal observations. During that time I realized that I had an interest not in simply blogging, but in writing as well. I became interested in the placement of words and their effect on me and my readers. So (sigh, I know) I immediately started a writing blog called Textual Medium at heatherkephart.com. Eventually I dropped the Blogger version of Happymaking, exported it to heatherkephart.com, changed the title of that blog to Happymaking and called it a day. Are you as exhausted as I am? Barring a complete mental breakdown, I am there to stay.

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?
A: The actual blogging, not so much. The blogging and social media “scene”, yes. I tend to be an all or nothing kind of person. Moderation remains an elusive, unattainable goal. I promise myself I’m only going to comment on five blogs today, then turn off my computer and take the kids for a walk. However, after I’ve commented on five blogs I find myself feeling guilty about the blogs I didn’t comment on. After all, don’t they deserve my attention as well? Of course they do. And what about my Twitter friends? And friends and family on Facebook? Don’t they deserve my attention? Next thing I know, the day is gone and there are bags under my eyes and I’m wondering how I let it happen again.

I’m currently working out a way to keep on blogging without having it be so all-consuming. I need to focus more on my family and on learning to write, and networking and learning from those in the writing community, so that I may learn from them. And then I need to turn my computer off. After all, what is one to write about if one is always on the computer? I’m simply going to have to get over my all-or-nothing and guilt issues, and do what is right for me and my family.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: I’d say most of my traffic comes from my friends and family on Facebook, and from my Power50 seo group. Most of my posts are of a personal nature, so I don’t get a whole lot of organic traffic.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A: I love Facebook. I find it to be more personal than Twitter. I recently sucked up my reservations and created a Facebook Fan Page, and most of my friends responded in a supportive manner. Nobody threw rotten tomatoes at me! (Yet!) At this point, I recommend a combination of a Facebook personal page and a Facebook fan page for blog promtion and social networking. Also, the Networked Blogs application on Facebook. There are so many fabulous bloggers who use the application. It’s not hard to find like-minded individuals that way.

I am also a member of Twitter Moms and Mom Blogger’s Club. I find them useful and entertaining, but I simply don’t have the time to utilize them as I should.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: Stay in one spot! Pick your web address and stay there. Don’t keep hopping all over the web. It’s awful for your seo, and it makes you look like a goofball. Also, figure out what kind of blogger you want to be. If you want to make money at it, you will have to create a niche blog, or a series of niche blogs, and stay very focused within. If you are not interested in making money from your blog, then you have more leeway.

Write with authenticity. Be yourself. Don’t give away too much, but do share bits of yourself. Comment on other blogs of interest to you, and try to develop relationships that way. Get yourself a Gravatar and a Twitter account. Join Facebook and Networked Blogs. Comment on other blogs, and check out other blogs’ sidebars for widgets or clubs that might be of use to you. Don’t be afraid to try things. Like me, you will certainly make some missteps, but you will learn as you go. And most of all, have fun with it!

Thanks Heather.

———————–

Enjoyed what you’ve read, then check out Heather on Happymaking and follow her on Twitter.

If you are interested in an [intlink id="536" type="category"]interview on Blazing Minds[/intlink] then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related Posts

No related posts.

Interview with Blogger Heather Kephart from Happymaking is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Blazing Minds Interviews Dr. Rus D. Jeffrey

Karen — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:16:24 +0000

Welcome to another interview in my new series, as mentioned previously each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger who has kindly answered my blogging questions, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: I’m Dr. Rus D. Jeffrey. My Doctorate is in Ministry. Aside from being a Pastor for a number of years, I’ve also been involved in broadcasting for the past 30 years. In 2005 my wife and I started reviewing movies. We are now official movie critics. Our first book of movie reviews was published in 2007. While there are plans for future yearly books, our reviews now appear on our website – Frame by Frame: A Family-Friendly Guide to the Movies – http://framebyframe.godlaughs.net – We also do weekly recorded movie reviews which currently air on three radio stations. We live in Upstate New York, just outside of Rochester, New York.

Q: Hi Rus, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: As mentioned above, our blog is Frame by Frame. It started as a direct outflow of our movie reviews. The name comes from the idea that we review movies “frame by frame” as we see them. The main branding point for us is our rating system. We call it the Lloyd system. We rate movies out of 5 Lloyds. Our main logo we have named Lloyd. It’s short for “celluloid” which is a spin on the celluloid, or film, that movies are made on. We have a number of different variations of Lloyd which you can find on the website.

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?
A: I’m the News Director at a local radio station – http://www.1420wack.com – As News Director I do the morning run which means I work Monday through Friday 4am to 12noon. Much of my blogging is done there. Aside from the movie reviews on the blog, I post weekly Box Office Results posts, as well a New In Theaters post every week. Aside from those set posts, I also blog about other movie and entertainment news on pretty much a daily basis. The posts are usually done in the morning.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: Traffic to the blog comes from a number of sources, but the main source at this point is probably StumbleUpon. I usually try to Stumble all of my posts. However, depending on what’s going on in the world of entertainment, Google searches can increase my hits a lot too. For example, when the story broke about Will Ferrell posing in the background of a couple’s engagement picture, my traffic saw a huge increase. I’ve written about Ferrell on a number of occasions so when people searched his name, the Frame by Frame blog came up in the search engine.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A: Yes, I’m very active on social media networks. Most of my time is spent on Twitter. However, also use FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Plaxo. But, I feed those networks via my Ping.fm account. As I’ve been building our Frame by Frame and Lloyd brand, it’s been via Twitter.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: Find your niche and work on your brand. It’s a sea of bloggers out there on the Internet and it can be a very busy place to try to get yourself established. But, with focus and the use of social media such as Twitter and then using some bookmarking avenues like StumbleUpon, Digg, etc., you will find your readership building. Nothing is an overnight success. Keep at it, and stay focused on your passion.
Thanks Vic.

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related Posts
Blazing Minds Interviews Justin Germino aka Dragon Blogger, Blazing Minds Interviews – William G. Bentrim, Blazing Minds Interviews TammyJo Eckhart from The Chocolate Cult

Blazing Minds Interviews Dr. Rus D. Jeffrey is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Blogger Interview with Quirky Jessi

Karen — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:04:12 +0000

Welcome to another interview in my new series, as mentioned previously each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger who has kindly answered my blogging questions, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?

A: I’m Quirky Jessi, of course. When profiles ask where I’m from, I always say “The Quirky World” or “A little hole online,” or something silly like that because I’ve moved around a lot. I’ve never lived in a place for more than 3 years, but unfortunately, the places weren’t very exciting either…Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri. I thrive online, though, and have kept in touch with people from everywhere I’ve been, so it’s really cool.

I love making people laugh and I’m easily entertained myself, so you’ll rarely find me complaining. “Bored” was considered a bad word in my house growing up and as an adult, I continued with that same principle. There are always things I could be doing or ways to have fun, so that’s one of my core philosophies. Who has time to be bored?

Q: Hi Quirky Jessi, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?

A: I started Quirky Jessi a little over 3 years ago. Technically it’s “The Quirky World of Jessi.” A couple years ago when I decided to move to my own domain, I couldn’t decide between using “quirkyjessi” or “quirkyworld,” so I let my readers decide. An overwhelming amount said I should go with Quirky Jessi because it was more personal, but really, the site isn’t about me at all. Ha!

I ‘am’ the writer behind it and I do have my fair share of quirks, though. The focus of QJ is really all the quirky, silly, odd things I find across the web or in day-to-day life. Over 3 years’ time, the content has shifted some so it’s less about stories from my actual life or retold humour bits, and more about the strangest sites or products I find online.

In that last month alone, the variety has ranged from maternity dresses that grow with your baby, to air freshener shaped trees to cover up your pet’s butt, to shapeable vases and origami tea bags. I posted about giant purple rocking hotdogs, Mr. E.T. (a composite image of Mr. T and E.T.), cats eating with chopsticks, funky bindis, and tree scarves. The month of November I dedicated entirely to crazy gaming stuff for NaBloPoMo. Really, you never know what’s going to show up next there, but it’ll always be something quirky, and that’s what makes it so fun.

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?

A: Yes and no. The actual writing portion doesn’t. I spend a huge amount of time reading feeds, hanging out on forums, keeping in touch with other bloggers, etc, though, which is all somehow connected to my blog. I love what I do and all the people I’m surrounded by, but as a whole package, I do spend way more time than I should admit doing it all, hehe.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?

A: Search engines, hands down. Although I’ve been at this for 3 years, I really only have about 700 posts (I cut back to posting every other day, and early on, I didn’t know what I even wanted out of it, so there were some breaks). Even so, that’s a lot of content. People are always looking for the wackiest stuff, and somehow end up on my site because of it.

Many times the post they land on is exactly what they’re looking for. For several months, I ranked #1 on Google for Snuggies and lots of Snuggies-related questions, so thousands of people showed up for that, and I still get a fair bit of traffic from it. Questions about Smooth Away and requests for knuckle tattoos are strangely high, too. Others show up on QJ because they worded their search requests wrong, and oops, got something quirky instead!

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?

A: This is another yes and no question. I do use several social networks, but I don’t go out of my way to promote my blog. I go with the more natural approach of making real connections, talking with real people, reading those real people’s blogs and commenting, and hey, if I get some traffic kicked back my way in the end, then all the better. Of course I could get a lot more traffic if I actively promoted, but I always have liked doing things backwards. :p

Recommendations depend on the people who want to use them. Twitter can be awesome, but it’s definitely not for everyone and can be a huge waste of time. Forums like Blog Engage and Bloggeries rock, but if you aren’t very social, don’t like posting, or are selfish, then enthusiasm at one won’t last long. I don’t use Facebook to its fullest potential, but I know it can be really good for traffic and networking if used regularly. I hear a lot of people say that they don’t want their family and friends knowing about their sites, but that’s when people should create a separate account just for their site or at the very least, create a fan page instead. StumbleUpon can bring a lot of traffic, but it comes in spikes and most times, those people don’t stay for more than a couple seconds and never come back, so think about if that’s what you really want.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?

A: If you’re writing about content you don’t enjoy, you’re going to burn out or constantly struggle. If you’re focused on making money, you may eventually make some, but it’s going to be a dull, lonely road, and you’ll probably be frustrated more often than happy, at least in the very beginning. Even if your focus is on keeping your readers happy and not on your site numbers, be sure to keep your offline life in check, too. If posting twice a day means sacrificing time with your family, nip that in the bud early on or it’s just not going to be worth it in the end.

Thanks Quirky Jessi.

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related Posts

No related posts.

Blogger Interview with Quirky Jessi is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Interview with Salman from Blogging Tips

Karen — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:01:59 +0000

Welcome to another interview in my new series, as mentioned before each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger who has kindly answered my blogging questions, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?

A: First of all thank you for the great and awesome opportunity to introduce myself to your readers. Hello everyone, my name is Salman. I am from Hyderabad – India. I am a student come part-time blogger. I love blogging, making money online, gaining and sharing knowledge. Take a look at my blog Blogging Tips.

Q: Hi Salman, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?

A: My blog is about Blogging Tips, Make Money Online, SEO, Traffic Generation……I used wet paint to create my first blog in June 2008 for fun. I created my professional blog in April 2009 by using blogger as my blogging platform. For first few months I used the co.cc free domain. Later in Oct 2009 I switched to co.in domain. I was lucky to get the domain www.bloggingtips.co.in because as you know Blogging Tips is a very competitive keyword.

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?

A: Yes blogging takes up lot of my time but the time is worth spending.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?

A: Most of the traffic which comes to my blog is from search engines. I also get traffic from social media and blog walking.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?

A: Yes, I use social networks to promote my blog. I recommend every reader of your blog to join Blog Engage social network.It is very beneficial. Just 10-15 votes are required for the article to be on home page.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?

A: I would like to advice new bloggers to continue blogging even if you do not get success. You usually start from scratch and you will learn from your mistakes.

Thanks Salman.

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related Posts
Blogger Interview with Jeevan Jacob John from Techpupil, Latest Blogger Interview with Ricky Shah from TechGenuine, Latest Blogger Interview with Ariette aka Arie Rich from KMP blog

Interview with Salman from Blogging Tips is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Interview with Mandy from A Passion To Understand

Karen — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:56:49 +0000

Welcome to another interview in my new series, as mentioned previously each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger who has kindly answered my blogging questions, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: This is a great idea Karen! I like reading your interviews because I always learn from your interviewees no matter how much I thought i already knew. Thank you for the opportunity. My name is Mandy and I come from South Africa originally. I moved over to London, England in 2007 with one husband, two cats and two dogs. I blog under the name “Emm” (as in “Emm” is for Mandy).

Q: Hi Mandy, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: I started my blog http://passiontounderstand.blogspot.com/ on 12 February 2009 although I imported some entries from my previous blog. My blog is called “A Passion to Understand” and the tagline is “a passionate view of world events and the desire to understand why”. I had been trying for a long time to make sense of the events in Zimbabwe, Rwanda and the Balkans and to understand how things such as genocide and crimes against humanity could happen. I had the idea that if I broke it down for myself in a way that I could understand it then perhaps other people would find that useful too.

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?
A: Blogging does take a lot of my time although that is mainly because I am a sucker for punishment and have decided to maintain three blogs. I would say that I spend at least 10 hours a week blogging, in addition to working full time as an Office Slave. It is not an excessive amount of time but still… it adds up.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: The primary source of traffic to all of my blogs comes from me actually posting. I spent so much time on social networks trying to drum up traffic for my blogs only to realise that I got huge peaks from Feedburner whenever I do post. Over time though, I have noticed more and more traffic coming from search engines too. That is always a great bonus – I read on a blog called The Blog Report the other day that readers are already interested in your content if they arrived on your blog through a search engine. That means half your work is done.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A: I use Entrecard and CMF to promote my blog as well as BlogCatalog. A lot of people are really against Entrecard but I find their systems of catagorizing blogs to be excellent and I really depend on them to find blogs in the areas I’m interested in. For example, Entrecard has an excellent and varied group of political bloggers which I like to read. CMF has an excellent community and really helpful maintainers. By really getting involved in both Entrecard and CMF and focusing on reading other blogs and leaving meaningful comments, I find that I make friends and obtain readers too. So many people leave rubbish comments on other blogs but that is just silly. Your comment is often the first thing another blogger sees about you; it is similar to the covering letter on your CV. If you write something intelligent and meaningful you are far more likely to make people interested in you and want to read more of what you have to say.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: So! Write decent comments and get involved with other people. Reply to comments too – it is so important to acknowledge people who have taken the time to interact with you. Always aim for quality not quantity in your blogs. “Experts” say you should blog four times a week but believe me, your readers would prefer two well written, original posts. Be patient (I think everyone says this). Write every post as if it is your most important post.

Thanks Mandy.

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related Posts

No related posts.

Interview with Mandy from A Passion To Understand is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Blazing Minds Interviews James from Zeitheist

Karen — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:58:30 +0000

Welcome to another interview in my new series, as mentioned before each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger who has kindly answered my blogging questions, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: I’m James, originally from San Francisco but transplanted to Seattle for many years; I’m an aspiring novelist.

Q: Hi James, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: The name “zeitheist” came out of a moment in time where I thought I was being clever, and ended up as the name of the blog for practical reasons, mainly for search engine optimization; it plays on the idea that blogging is “stealing time”, as this made-up word is a pun on the german word zeitgeist, which means “spirit of the age”.

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?
A: It doesn’t take up more time that I want it to (usually), and serves as a great break from “real” writing!

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: Entrecard, primarily, and from friends’ blogs and Facebook.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A: Facebook is a great marketing tool and has served me well, as I regularly mention new blog posts on the live feed and generate traffic that otherwise is disinclined to the blogosphere.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: Write about the things you love in your own inimicable style and don’t pander to the audience. The best, funnest and most inspiring blogs are those that present a unique perspective and treat readers to a real person’s reflections, insights, jokes, inventions, pet interests. And if you are reading and enjoying a blog, leave a comment and show the love!

Thanks James.

You can check out James at his website Zeitheist.

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related Posts
Blazing Minds Interviews Karthikeyan from BlogrPro, Blazing Minds Interviews Hesham from zebida.com, Blazing Minds Interviews Gautam Hans from Blog Godown

Blazing Minds Interviews James from Zeitheist is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Blazing Minds Interviews Blogger, Benjamin Lang

Karen — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 07:16:44 +0000

Welcome to the another interview in my new series, as mentioned before each week I will be interviewing a fellow blogger who has kindly answered my blogging questions, so let’s get on with it…

Q: Please tell my readers a little something about yourself?
A: My name is Benjamin Lang, I’m 16 from White Plains, New York. I’ve lived in California, France, Israel and New York, and I speak 3 languages.

Q: Hi Benjamin, so tell me about your blog, when and why you started it and how you came up with the name for it?
A: I run www.ben-lang.com a young entrepreneur blog where I share information on entrepreneurship, blogging and social media. I used my name for the blog when I started it about 5 months ago.

Q: Do you find blogging takes up a lot of your time?
A: Blogging does take a lot of time, and I know that the more time I take the more it will eventually pay off. I would say that spend about an average of an hour each day maintaining my blog, answering comments and preparing posts.

Q: Where would you say most of your traffic comes from for your blog?
A: According to my Google Analytics account around half of my traffic comes from referring sites. Twitter, Stumble Upon, RSS feeds and Blogengage are my biggest referrers. My search engine traffic from Google is slowly but surely rising.

Q: Do you use social networks to promote your blog and if so which ones would you recommend to other bloggers?
A: The social network I use the most and I think is the most important would be Twitter. Twitter is my leading traffic referrer, and truly helps considering that I have over 7,800 followers. Facebook is also great, but I don’t use it for blogging, I prefer to reserve it for my social life. Then there are other social media sites such as LinkedIn, Digg, Stumble Upon, Flickr and Youtube that could also be very beneficial.

Q: If you could give some useful advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
A: The advice that I would give to new bloggers is start slowly, concentrate on finding a great design, make plans before starting and bring unique content. After all of those steps you can start on the smaller tasks such as: backlinks, search engine optimization, commenting on other blogs and forums, networking with other bloggers, and ultimately making your blog the greatest in its category.

Thanks Benjamin

If you are interested in an interview on Blazing Minds then please use the Contact Me button at the top of the Blazing Minds blog..

Related Posts

No related posts.

Blazing Minds Interviews Blogger, Benjamin Lang is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter