Today we’re featuring Maria Reyes-McDavis from WebSuccessDiva.com. Maria offers a variety of services to help online entrepreneurs achieve greater success with their business. Her site of course covers all of the details about her services, plus she also posts to her blog. Some noteworthy posts that you should check out: Blog Design and Layout – Keep it Simple! (video post), Is Your Blog Ready for Your Social Media Marketing Strategies?, and Your Social Media Marketing Audience is Different, Treat Them Accordingly.

Now you can get to know more about Maria through this mini interview.

1. You provide consulting services to clients, including social media marketing. Can you tell us a little bit about what you do as a consultant and how you’re able to help website owners?

My clients typically come to me burned out from what I call the “chase-the-gurus-tail” syndrome. They’ve typically spent a ton of money on the latest “it” thing in online marketing, they’ve likely been to all the seminars, they’ve read a ton of blogs, and now they are just exhausted from chaos of it all. My job, in a nut shell, is to help my clients learn to navigate and leverage what works for their business objectives and market. Every social media tactic has a purpose and we set them out on a plan that gets them results. From online business automation (auto-responders, etc) to branding and visibility, to the bigger goal of increased ROI and revenues. Social media is a huge chunk of what we integrate into each custom plan for our clients. We either manage the entire process, it’s like outsourcing your entire online marketing department, because we do it all — or, we provide training and mentoring for the ambitious do-it-yourself’er.

We use social media (including social networking, viral marketing, blogging, social media optimization, micro-blogging, and anything else you can find in this category), as leverage – because it brings benefits across all other areas of marketing. Social media, when used appropriately, has a tremendous power to increase the ROI on all major marketing areas (it benefits SEO, SEM, online branding, etc) and ultimately increase revenues (for too many reasons to list). At the end of the day, our job is to make our clients money, social media has been a huge part of our success.

2. How have you been able to use social media to promote yourself?

As far as marketing my company, social media is the only tool we use online, and we currently have a standing wait list of clients. Social media has enabled my team to manage every aspect of our online reputation; build strategic relationships across the world; research and draw information directly from our audience to better serve them; and a host of other benefits — which ultimately benefit our bottom line.

We’ve been able to auto-communicate and synchronize a ton of technical tasks by simply getting creative with the technology. Connecting our Twitter to the blog, to the Facebook, and with a little custom scripting to our entire network of websites, has allowed us to blast out content/marketing across a much bigger potential audience than before. We’ve been able to use social media for search engine optimization – like using Squidoo, our Twitter tweets, and more – to get excellent rankings we couldn’t have reached before. We’ve been able to create systems, that over time have given us huge jumps in rankings, traffic, and profits.

And most importantly, we’ve been able to really connect with our market – at their level, in their comfort zone – socially. This gives us valuable marketing information, preferences knowledge, and ease into sales opportunities. Simply engaging in social media, at a meaningful, consistent level – has helped us grow faster in 3 years than ever before.

3. You have links in your sidebar to your profile on many different social media sites. Which ones do you use most actively and which ones do you enjoy the most?

Facebook and Twitter are our key tools used for branding, visibility, and networking. Twitter, in particular, is great. Twitter tweets come up in search engines, you can use it to “feed” content to various places, and it’s a great way to build a good rapport with my market. Recently, I’ve found another use for Twitter is to get instant feedback – once you tweet a question you can get a tremendous response.

We also love social media sites like Squidoo and HubPages. Both are great avenues for pushing optimized content in the search engines. For our purposes, search engines are still one of the largest sources of traffic we target. We’re also big on using sites like Flickr, YouTube, and Udderz for pushing optimized multimedia into the search engine mix.

Today I’m happy to feature Vinh Le of Blog Design Blog. Vinh has been an active commenter recently and he’s been posting some very popular content on his own blog. In case you can’t tell by the title, Vinh is a designer and he writes about various aspects of blog design. If you haven’t come across his blog before, I recommend you take a moment and see what it has to offer.

Some of his most popular posts include 30 Must See Comment Designs for Web Designers, 25 Must Buy, Borrow, or Steal Books for Web Designers, and 17 Resources for Creating a Blog Design.

Now, on to the interview.

1. Your blog serves primarily to promote yourself rather than directly monetizing the blog. What results have you seen so far from the visibility that the blog has given you?

First, let me say that when I initially started blogging to promote myself, I put together a plan where I told myself not to expect much in terms of results until I was six months in. Six months of hard work at blogging, marketing, and learning was the price I figured I would have to pay in order to establish myself in my niche of blog design.

Secondly I measure my results by the number of subscribers, amount of buzz about my blog, and the amount of comments I get. While subscribers and comments fluctuate all the time, they are still a good indicator of the general success of how I am doing. The amount of buzz is harder to measure, but when bigger blogs talk about my articles is a good indicator of generating a good amount of buzz.

Finally, the results of my blog after being up for five weeks has done wonders for my visibility. People who I have been following in web design and blogging have finally taken notice of me. This is a really good indicator that I am starting to make a name for myself in my niche. One of my goals is make my name synonymous with the word blog design. I think one of the best things that happened recently that showed me that my visibility was really starting to take off was when Maki from doshdosh.com tweeted one of my articles. For someone that big, busy, and important to take notice of what I wrote was a great milestone to reach so early.

2. What social media sites do you use the most, and what have you learned about promoting your blog through social media?

I have been using stumbleupon, designfloat, and upon your recommendation I have been using dzone as well in order to target del.ici.ous users. I have read and learned so much about promoting my blog through social media in the past few weeks that I am starting to build a ritual I go through after writing an article. With each article I submit, my ritual becomes more refined and better at utilizing social media sites in order to effectively promote my articles.

I think one of my favorite parts about blogging is marketing the article afterwards and then watching the results of your work. It is just really fun to see which social media sites it succeeds on and which one it doesn’t. It really helps to observe this and make changes to your marketing strategy based on the results you obtained or else you will keep doing the same thing over and over with the same results.

One of the things I learned was to stop submitting to digg myself, because it would just get buried soon afterwards. Now I just let others submit it and I have seen my articles do a lot better on digg.

3. As a designer, you obviously realize the need for a blog to have a unique and attractive look. What would you say is the biggest advantage that a well-designed blog has over a typical free theme?

The biggest advantage that a well-designed blog has over a typical free theme is being memorable. It makes the blog easier to recall in memory, which makes it more likely that a person will think about your blog when they are thinking about a subject you write about on your blog. It is important that you get people to make a mental connection of your blog and your niche. A good design really helps in achieving this.

If you haven’t already visited Blog Design Blog, please take a moment to see Vinh’s work and support him.

This week we are featuring Mark Hayward from MyTropicalEscape. If you’re not familiar with MyTropicalEscape, Mark covers a pretty wide range of topics, but as you will read in the interview, he is now focusing primarily on subjects like pursuing personal freedom and escaping from the typical 9 to 5 job. You may want to check out his recent post, Top Ten Signs that You are Ready to Divorce Your Job. Those of you who are bloggers should also read Mark’s interview with Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.

1. Your blog covers a very wide range of topics. What is your approach to covering a broad base of topics and keeping subscribers tuned in?

What a fantastic question to begin with. Recently, I went through a period of major blogging frustration because I think I “out niched” myself and I was having trouble finding a core group of subscribers.

When I originally started mytropicalescape.com it was with the intention of documenting my experience of trying to pursue my dream of living in the Caribbean and owning a small business. I think many people feel trapped in their job or daily existence and I wanted to show people that you can move beyond fear, take a leap of faith, and successfully move toward whatever your particular goal might be.

Somehow along the way I started getting very interested in online entrepreneurship, blogging [about blogging], and pursuing personal freedom all at the same time, so the site became sort of a mixture of all different topics. However, I have learned a valuable lesson. Unless you are an extremely talented writer, or master marketer, it is very difficult to find an audience that will follow your site if its content is all over the map.

So, after a little hiatus from blogging (and coming VERY close to selling the site) I have decided to regain my focus and write about lifestyle design, pursuing personal freedom and trying to assist others who would like to “escape the cube.”

2. What are your goals with your blog?

My number one goal would be to help and possibly motivate people take the initial steps toward pursuing personal freedom or their goals by using my experiences, and the experiences of others, as examples of people who have done it.

I am “everyman” and I do not come from money or a privileged background so if I can somehow show people that I did it, I left the corporate world and followed my dream. Well, maybe some other folks who would like to attempt to pursue a lifestyle that they envision will bring them personal happiness, but have been either too afraid to, or are holding back for some reason, will take those initial steps.

Really I would like to reach that person who absolutely dreads heading to work everyday (because I have been there!) and thinks to him or herself, you know I want to work from home, start my own business, travel the globe, or whatever…

Unfortunately, lately I feel like I have been preaching to the already converted so I would like to improve my reach. [If you have any ideas?] The name “mytropicalescape” is synonymous with my journey, but really it is meant to be symbolic of anyone who is looking to create a life outside of the 9 to 5 norm.

I guess one other goal would be to try and network with creative people and hopefully collaborate on some fulfilling entrepreneurial projects. When I started writing online I was AMAZED at the amount of talented and creative people who are blogging, tremendous individuals really. So, I am always interested in meeting and working with new people.

3. Of the tropical places that you have lived, does any one of them stand out as your favorite?

I grew up in the Northeastern U.S. so anyplace that I have been to that does not have snow stands out as special

Seriously though, I was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in the Lakekamu Basin rainforest in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and fifteen to twenty years prior they were still practicing cannibalism in the village where I served. That sense of remoteness with no roads, no running water, no electricity, not a single luxury…I don’t think I will ever get to experience that again on such a grand scale, so PNG is special.

4. What would it take to get you to go back to work in a cubicle dealing with things like TPS reports?

Actually, I was thinking about this question while I was out running today and I would NEVER say that I would not go back to a standard office environment. However, it would have to be a forward thinking company that encourages creativity, allows you to work during the hours when you are most productive, and encouraged telecommuting. If that company exists, and if you are reading this, PLEASE email me.

As far as TPS reports go, as long as I could have the red swingline stapler and if I could have Lumberg’s parking spot then count me in!

Thank you for the opportunity to be profiled today Steven. If people are interested they can sign up for my feed and I am always happy to answer questions, or assist people who are trying to remove themselves from the office.

Thanks Mark for answering my questions, and of course for being a reader.

This week’s profile (sorry it is a few days late) features Graham Smith of ImJustCreative. Graham is a freelance graphic designer and a blogger. There’s a lot about his background and experience in this interview, so I won’t get into many details here.

1. From getting to know you a little bit recently and finding out a little bit more about some of your projects, it seems like some of your priorities are different from many of our readers. Can you tell us a little bit about your motivations for blogging and what you hope to accomplish?

How much space have you got Steven? Frankly I find summarizing questions quite hard, it’s always been a issue with me. Whenever answering, I have to go into infinite detail, more often than not digressing in the process. I’m not sure what that says about me, something I ought to look into at some point. As you probably noticed, I’m not one of the ‘one sentence’ commenter, instead usually waffling on about stuff, but in my own head I am trying to add some value to the conversation rather than do the norm which is to just ‘flash’ a ‘hello, nice post’.

So back to your question then. I do feel that it can be a hard business to be ‘heard’ in the Blogosphere, even if you have something extraordinarily valuable to say, it may not always reach the people you want it to. How far should one go in promoting your Blog, concentrating on Google friendly tactics, spending vast amounts of time on social networks and the list goes on. For me I have seen the Blogosphere change into a very competitive and cut throat business. But maybe that’s just because the last few months I have been spending vast amounts of time reading some of the most read Blogs. And it’s hard to make any substantial inroads unless you are incredibly dedicated which I think is a shame for the many Bloggers who set out with the best intentions but find it’s just too darn time consuming and therefore less fun to keep at. It’s all very competitive, and I think that’s not really a good thing for Blogging in the long run.

I think the phrase, ‘only the strong will survive’ is quite apt.

I started several years ago with I guess could be called a personal Blog. But it started as a very personal journey, describing my experiences with having a breakdown and being diagnosed with BiPolar 2. The Blog sort of evolved into one ‘dark, unique, humorous and deadly personal’ diary. It was a mish mash of Categories, but that really was a reflection of how I would be feeling at any one time.

Over a period of time though, it took on quite a high profile status. I think in part to my ability to be very descriptive and forthright about what was going on in my head. I had many comments saying what a wonderful Blog it was, insightful, useful, personal and pretty much everything else. I was rubbing shoulders with the more prominent Bloggers on Depression and Mental Health which was quite a turnaround for me. It was not what I was planning at all, but it just evolved that way. I certainly had a voice. Taking about my vast experience with medication, trials, side affects, legal issues allowed many other sufferers to really connect to what I had to say. I was fortunate that at the time I had some of the best private health care going, so I had some insights that many people just don’t get with a ‘regular’ health system. So I had stuff to give and share which I knew would be of use to some people.

My priorities were very much different to the many Blogs I have been actively reading and participating in recently, totally different in every way. It was for me, and anyone else who had or was suffering. Sadly my Father passed away early last year whilst my Blog was really gaining traction and this for me cut short the whole Blogging pastime.

It stopped very suddenly.

And I didn’t return to it till very late last year. A bereavement like that can totally derail you, all of a sudden your priorities change.

In my mind I was very keen to get back into Blogging of some kind, but felt that going back to my personal Blog would be a mistake of sorts. I had changed over that period of inactivity, my passion for anything Mental Health was dying, frankly I had had enough of it and wanted to move onto more positive subjects.

Hence ImJustCreative. My motivation for this is based on my need to return to my roots, as a Graphic Designer. Starting my own Freelance business, I felt creating a new Blog based on my creativity was the way forward. Still keeping my personality and soul but minus the whole Depression and Bipolar aspect. After all, it would be serving as a Blog but also a front end for potential clients, so there are just some things you need to keep below the surface, and certainly not shout from the rooftops about.

So returning to Blogging after this period proved to be quite daunting. Starting again really from scratch. Getting the momentum can be hard. So hence why I started taking such an interest in sites like yours Steven. Sites that would help me pick up the pieces and direct me in the right way. Relearning the SEO tricks, getting back into the fold as such.

My background being a senior Designer and IT Manager for a Commercial Print, Design, Advertising and marketing company ideally lends it self to applying these valuable real life skills to the Blogosphere. So adapting what I know from my years in this area to Blogging just needed some realignment in thinking. But the concepts are pretty much the same, I mean the results we strive for are the same. Be it printed advertising to digital media advertising.

But just prior to Christmas, I re created my girlfriends site for her. BEing a legal consultant, and specializing in Flexible Working for individuals and companies, creating a Blog although relatively straightforward, would be hard to make an impact in the general Blogospehre. I think we really are talking Niche here in every respect. She is one of a handful of English legal consultants who deal with this aspect of working. So there is still a massive educational gap that needs to be bridged. It certainly isn’t something that people are frequently Googling for or Stumbling about. But it’s there, it provides a unique service and unique skillset, it just will not be a popular Blog any time soon.

So as long as you know this and keep your expectations realistic, you can just muddle on. This was my first attempt at using a self hosted WordPress solution, so for me was a huge learning curve coming from the TypePad family with GrahamsBlog.com.

A whole new skillset and knowledge base had to be learned and applied. But I think given my lack of experience with CSS and PHP, modifying the Modicus theme as my first project worked out all right. It’s by no means perfect, in fact its far from what I want, but it’s a start.

So applying this to ImJustCreative, I launched my own WordPress site. Initially using a modified version of K2, i left this for a premium theme from GraphPaperPress just this weekend actually. A theme that wold really allow me to express and show to the world all my little set of skills. It’s now a much more visually rich site, rather than a standard Blog theme which K2 really was. It was hard to really push the envelope with a theme like this, with the limited skills I have. So my new site is much more how I envisaged it. Pretty happy with it at the moment, much to do in personalising it, but that’s all in time.

At the end of the day, I need to find my own voice. It’s not about big time. It’s about being ‘true’ to your self and sending messages that are important to you. If other people find those messages important then that’s really great.

I think I started to make the usual mistake. Trying to imitate the Big boys and force yourself to talk about the things that everyone else seems to be talking about. Namely Google and other Google things. With some WordPress, PHP, SEO, Social Marketing etc. I tried but realised that it was not me, I don’ have the experience to talk about it. So over the last month, my Blog has really just started leveling out.

This is true for my other ‘side project’ that has been going since early last year. Not going into too much detail, which you can get by visiting the site. It doesn’t score any points for design or anything like that, but this again is quite a niche site. It’s about the injustice of the English Legal System with respects to the Prejudice against parents who suffer from a Mental Health problem but have their children taken away by the courts. The site is bases on Anna’s own experience. Herself suffering from mild Bipolar, she had her 3 kids taken away by the English High Court system last year in a very high profile case. during a very bitter divorce and child custody battle.

Against all the professional advice of top medical experts stating quite clearly that Anna was probably a better mum than most, and certainly not a risk, the Judge was allowed to make her own mind up and decide that the father should have the children even though he himself would require a full time nanny to look after the children due to his work commitments. It’s a very sad state of affairs, so this Blog is really about getting this very particular message about Mental Health discrimination in the British Legal System. The feedback we have had is quite extraordinary, and its certainly a global problem.

So this Blog, although has to be Anonymous, due to the sensitive nature of the Children’s Act, we are still able to campaign and lobby against a very real problem.

The motivation for that Blog should be apparent. This is only based on the Free WordPress Blog, but it is the next project to move to a hosted solution with new custom theme

The other project whilst I remember, again is one that is quite niche in terms of existing Blog frequency. Type One diabetes in children. Anna’s 6 year old son has had this since birth. So we are planning on releasing a Blog specifically aimed at children with or who know a friend with this medical problem. But i feel this could make a big splash if we get it right. As there really is little out their, thats child friendly. As a means to encourage Conall, he will play a active role in it’s content and structure, as will his two sisters and of course Anna’s exceptional experience as a Mother having to deal with the daily trauma of injections and hypo’s, shock and mood swings. It’s a tough job man.

This is only in planning stage, but the problem is that it has potential to be quite big, my skillset is lacking. So we are looking around for someone to create a site for us, I think I will leave this one to the professionals.

I realise that all that is quite considerable answers, but trying to make it any less and you dilute the meaning. Blogging is a big part of my life again, and there are different motivations at play, different reasons to accomplish different results. Some main stream, others not so mainstream.

I do feel out of my depth at times, but I now look at my site and smile because it’s finally coming together and will be a accurate representation of who I am, but my skills are growing rapidly, and again, with sites like yours and the many many other out there giving all this amazing advice on how to market, promote your Blog etc you should not have an excuse to fail.

But we all know that information overload can also cause it’s own issues. That;w hat i refer to at the beginning. I do get so overwhelmed with the selection of advice, must do’s must have’s that you can wonder around all day surfing the net in a total daze. Trying to filter it, take what you need rather that what you want can prove quite challenging.

2. How has blogging served as an outlet for you?

Simply, it been invaluable to me. Being someone thats very expressive in every way, but who suffers from real world lack of confidence, expressing these thoughts and feelings can be extremely hard in day to day life. So much so that I often just want to explode with the pressure of not having the confidence to get it all out.

The blog’s have really helped me express myself in a way that I can control. I can go hell for leather, from design, to photography, to art, to writing, to music… it’s all made possible by having a website or Blog.

For me it’s a very personal thing, it’s not about money really. Yes, ImJustCreative is close to that, but it’s still primarily a portfolio of me and what I can do. I can sell myself and my abilities without having to do the hard conversational sell. Which is what makes Blogging so invaluable for people like me. If IJC works in generating income then great, but if not, its still serving a very valuable service, one that no number of therapists or counsellors could ever manage.

3. How do you see your blog as an asset and resource for your freelancing business?

Ultimately, like many people, my goal is to be able to provide custom websites based on my own visions, rather than having to use other peoples. It’s way off on the horison, but I’m working at it. So the website has to be a true reflection of your own abilities and your personality.So I have to use and show what I have right now, and hopefully also show my enthusiasm and ability to improvise to start gaining a foot hold in an already crowded industry. So being able to adequately customise a popular theme is a good place to start, especially if you are looking to gain work in your local town.

My ultimate aim though is to move to ExpressionEngine, this is my real career goal. WordPress is short to medium term plan you could say. I just like being different and the challenge of learning something that is less mainstream. That’s just me all over.

This week’s profile features Tom Beaton of Technogumption. Tom created Technogumption to target beginners in the world of internet business and marketing. Whilst there are many websites dedicated to these topics, very few actually target complete beginners. The sheer amount of jargon and assumptions you already know certain things make it quite hard to get started.

Some people are simply not comfortable or are unaware of the technologies many bloggers take for granted. RSS is a great example of this. Very few people actually know what it is, what it is used for and how it could help them. Explaining these simple terms and showing them how to get started is important.

A few recent posts that may be of interest to you are Do You Know What People Are Saying About Your Brand?, Image is Everything – Sort Out Your Landing Pages, and What is SEO?

How long have you been blogging and what was your inspiration for getting started?

Well, Technogumption has only been around for a month. I have other blogs that are to do with my kiteboarding hobby. I felt I needed to branch out and talk about something else. I found myself reading a lot of blogs in the field internet marketing and it has always been an interest of mine.

I enjoy projects I can work on and see results. Knowing people read what I write is very rewarding, and so far I have enjoyed it immensely. I don’t know if any specific blogs were my inspiration but a combination of them all has changed the way I feel about blogging as a whole.

What methods have you been using to market your blog?

So far I have been focusing more time on promoting than writing. I have signed up to a number of communities such as Technorati, MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog, but I do not feel I am really making the most of these. EntreCard is doing alright, and as I understand it more, it is becoming more and more useful.

A lot of my marketing is done by commenting on blogs I enjoy. I have done my best to become a part of the blogging community, and already made some valuable connections. In the near future I plan to start guest posting on a few blogs, in order to up my profile to the next level.

What social media sites do you use the most and what specifically do you like about them?

Without any shadow of a doubt StumbleUpon has been my favourite and best performer. SU is so simple to use with the Firefox toolbar, and it allows you to stumble across some of the webs hidden gems. I have yet to really work on any of the other big sites. This is one of the big areas that really need to be developed over the next months.

Tom’s Profiles:

Technorati
MyBlogLog
Blog Catalog
LinkedIn

This week’s profile features Ruchir Chawdhry from TechnoMoney.net. Ruchir is a teenager from India that is living in Eritrea. On his blog he writes about technology, blogging, and making money online. I chose to feature Ruchir this week because he is an active reader of both of my blogs, and because I thought it would be interesting to talk to him about his experience as a teen blogger.

If you’re not familiar with Ruchir’s blog you may want to check out some of his best work. If you do any affiliate marketing, read Use .htaccess to cloak affiliate URLs in a matter of seconds! For a good article about commenting, read Comment Smart!

1. What challenges and unique opportunities do you face as a teenaged blogger?

Being a teenaged blogger is nothing short of exhilarating. You have many opportunities just waiting for you when you’re this young. Plus, time is on your side so you don’t really have to worry about that. You can learn at your own pace and blog at your own pace too. You also don’t have many of the worries that adults seem to have. Life is almost carefree.

For example, I don’t have to worry about getting enough money through my blog to pay off my bills each month; my parents do that. And that’s why I can reinvest most of the money I earn through my blog.

In my opinion, being an entrepreneur this early has many significant advantages. It gives you an edge over the other people out there due to the age difference and enables you to know much more than them.

The only thing I hate about being a teenaged entrepreneur is that I can’t really do business in my name. Most accounts I have that deal with money are either my mother’s or father. What can I say, governments have stupid laws. Another sad thing about being a teenaged entrepreneur/blogger is that sometimes people don’t take you seriously. Other than that, it’s all great…

2. What do you hope to accomplish over the next several years online?

I’ve embarked on my dream only in 2007. So I expect a couple years before I can truly live it. In the coming years I basically want to become a super affiliate and a problogger as I like both affiliate marketing and blogging. As for side projects I’ll be opening a couple teaching sites like Blog Mastermind (not in the blogging niche though) and also develop one or two quality ebooks to sell…

I also want to start a tech review site, but I don’t think I’m going to start it anytime soon…

Currently my main goal is to generate enough profits through my online ventures is to pay off my college. After that I’ll focus on automation, so I don’t have to spend a whole lot of time maintaining my online business while I’m in college.

3. During your time as a blogger, what marketing methods and traffic sources have been the best for you?

As we all know, marketing (or the lack of it) can make or break a site. That’s why I’ve been heavily marketing my blog since quite a while. Still, I can’t employ many of the marketing methods used by bloggers (like forums) due to me living in a fourth world country with slow dial-up internet…

I mainly market TechnoMoney through social media, blog commenting and guest posting. I use social media for traffic purposes and commenting and guest posting mainly for increasing my readership and networking purposes. I think that everyone who’s serious about blogging should guest posting, it’s the best form of advertising, be it free or paid.

My blog’s biggest traffic source is StumbleUpon, hands down. Thank God I was an active stumbler much before I actually started TechnoMoney.

And yeah, don’t listen to people who say don’t submit your own content. When your site is new, you’re the only one who’s going to submit it. I do it all the time on StumbleUpon. Just submit only your best posts though.

Thanks for selecting my blog, Steven. I wish you all the best for the future

Visit Ruchir on StumbleUpon.

I first met Tay back in the summer when I wrote a guest post for her blog, Super Blogging. Since that time we have become friends and I always enjoy her thoughts at Super Blogging.

One of Tay’s most popular posts was 75 Ways to Increase Your Site’s Traffic, which is definitely worth checking out. Another one of my favorites is 10 Ways to Create Exposure for Your Blog. For all bloggers and potential bloggers out there, I highly recommend subscribing to her feed.

1. Your subscriber count seems to be increasing pretty steadily in the past few months. What do you think has been the key to that growth?

I believe the subscriber count is one of the most important attributes to determining the success of a blog, so therefore I have been working on some ways to increase mine lately. The biggest thing I have focused on is getting my blog and my writing in front of a new audience. No blog can grow without expanding their reach and being seen by new
people. To do this, I believe guest posting is probably one of the best methods. I’ve been making an effort to guest write on other blogs more often, and it’s already really made a difference and increased my exposure on other sites. Doing other things to get solid recommendations from others and have your work be seen, such as achieving links from more popular blogs, is a good method as well to increase subscribers and readership.

2. What are your top traffic sources, and what do you think sends you the highest quality traffic?

My top sources of traffic are StumbleUpon, Google, forums, and other blogs. I think acquiring links from other blogs is the best source of traffic because it’s a solid recommendation, which is likely to send their visitors to your own blog – and those visitors are more than likely to be targeted and interested in your content so they’ll probably stick around more than other types of visitors would. That kind of traffic is the kind that will grow your blog the most. Social media and search engine traffic can be great for increasing pageviews, bringing in steady amounts of visitors, and making money, but overall traffic sent from fellow bloggers and webmasters is of the highest quality to me.

3. What advice do you have for new bloggers that are looking to be in your position?

I don’t think there’s just one piece of advice or line that could sum it all up. However, I would say that you need to really be determined and serious about what you’re doing. If you don’t have passion for it and get enjoyment out of it, then most of the time you won’t do as well. Bloggers that are going to be successful should work hard on writing quality content and sticking to a schedule with it, and then work on promoting their content, increasing their traffic and exposure, and networking with others. To grow a blog you can’t just sit around and hope for something to happen, you have to work on it. Also, don’t be afraid to try something new, and don’t give up! If a problem or obstacle stands in your way, then instead of letting it defeat you figure out a way to solve it and then come back better than before. Hopefully all of that made sense.

You may also be interested in a unique contest that Tay is running. She is taking guest posts from other bloggers and whoever gets the most traffic will win some free advertising at Super Blogging.

Because of the benefits of those posts, I would like to continue the trend here, but I also want to do something a bit different. As a result, I decided that instead of having a typical links post I will publish a profile of an individual reader each week. The profile will include some brief information about a particular reader and their own work online (if applicable), and a mini interview. So, this is the first one in the series.

I met Pearl through social networking a few months ago and we have been reading each other’s blogs ever since. Her blog, Interesting Observations, covers a variety of topics that include blogging, social media, as well as some posts that aren’t focused on internet-related topics.

Pearl’s post Best 101 Lists had massive success with social media, including a stay at the front page of Digg and del.icio.us. That post was a collection of almost 50 blog posts that were 101 list posts. One of her other big hits was Male – Female ratio of 50 Most-Influential Blogs, which got some of its attention as a result of a link from ProBlogger.

What are your goals for your blog?

Blogging started out as a hobby for me as I simply wanted an outlet for my ideas and feelings and wanted to know what others thought. But as time passed, I made many friends and gained some readership, I started to enjoy writing about other topics as well. Blogosphere is filled with success stories around us and sometimes its easy to start feeling that the road to riches might just be around the corner, but it takes a lot of hard work and dedication and even then its not a sure shot that blogging will pay the living expenses for many. So as much as I want to, I know I cannot quit my day job. With that said, I want to say that I want to keep blogging as a part time hobby for the time being and enjoy my original purpose of making friends and building relationships. I do think about building some niche sites for some passive income but before jumping in that arena, I am taking my time to learn as much as I can.

I know you use social media quite regularly, what are you favorite social media sites, and why?

You are right, I find that social media networking aspect is the best part of blogging. I haven’t used many of the sites I’ve signed up with, but I do use Digg, Mixx, and Stumble Upon the most. I recently also used Twitter for some time (made some 200+ tweets) and I loved it. The short and sweet messages of only 140 characters, facility of Direct Messaging with your friends (also in 140 characters) forces you to learn to be concise and to the point. You learn all kinds of things there – but a lot of noise too… people say good mornings and good nights and what they are feeling or thinking – and its easy to fall in the trap. I also heard some of the happiest and saddest of news on twitter and I don’t think that kind of thing happens on any other network. Twitter is tricky in that whatever you are ‘shouting’, you have to realize that the whole world can see your message of ‘what are you doing’, so I think it is of utmost importance to pay attention to what you say on Twitter. I recently started using Propeller and am still figuring it out.

Choosing one site over the other would be difficult because they all have their own unique pluses and minuses. I love Digg because of the vast range of news it gives, funny, political as well as tech news. Stumble Upon is great and I love it because of the ease of use due to its toolbar and when you are just lazing around, SU can be the easiest to deal with. When I am at Mixx, I feel I know many of the bloggers there but for some reason, I have not gotten used to its navigation system. I obviously don’t have the patience to stay too long at Mixx because of this reason. I love del.icio.us but I’ve only used it as a bookmarking service. Recently I have started to look at its networking feature and have also added some of the people I have gotten to know (and added you too).

Your Best 101 Lists posts got a ton of traffic for Digg, del.icio.us, and others. Has that experience and exposure had any long-term effects on your blog, and what did you learn through that time?

Getting on the front page of Digg was a thrilling experience for me. I am still getting most traffic for that one post. The biggest lesson from that experience was that helping someone else never goes wasted. I had my best 101 list post submitted to Digg, Mixx, SU and Reddit by the bloggers who I had already become good friends with and who have a strong profiles on these sites. So, as long as we use these sites for networking, the best content will be passed around from one person to another.

Since then, I have not spent much of the time writing lists but obviously thats the way to go if you want your posts to be popular on the social media sites. But as easy it is to say, I feel that writing original list posts is also very time consuming and difficult. It takes a lot of planning and thinking through. My subscriber count definitely increased from that single post being exposed to so many people.

Getting on the front pages of Digg or Delicious isn’t as easy as I want to. So, to get more exposure to the blog, I regularly started participating in Blog Carnivals and Group Writing Projects. A lot of the people ignore Blog Carnivals but I consider them as an unofficial social networking media. I think they can drive good amount of traffic and also build regular readership easily.

Thank you for letting me talk on your blog Steven. I wish you the best with this site. I hope you get tons of traffic to Traffikd.

For those of you who blog on the subject of social media, Pearl is hosting a group writing project that you may want to check out.