I'm Not A Famous Blogger

My Interview with Edcel from Solo Flighted

BenSpark — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:56:08 +0000

BenSpark

Today I sit down with Edcel of, well, so many blogs. I’ll let him tell you more about himself.

Edcel

My name is Edcel; I’m 23 years old and I’m from the Philippines. I work in a call center and I also have other jobs outside which makes me a busy person all throughout. So far, I’m able to juggle my different jobs but eventually I’ll give up one in order to focus more on the another.

I love to travel especially when I don’t have to pay for the expenses — who doesn’t? and I also like taking pictures.

BenSpark

Looking at all your blogs I can tell you are just so busy. Why don’t you tell the us about your blogs?

Edcel

Soloflighted.com – this is my travel and food blog.
Edcel.net – this is a more personal one where I just talk about random stuff.
Edearns.com – my accounting book on how I make money online.
Edsnaps.com – a photoblog which seldom gets updated.
Edstudyante.com – my life as a student when I was one.

– can you tell that I have a multiple personality disorder? I have so many blogs that I have a hard time keeping content fresh.

BenSpark

You certainly have gotten some great blogs going. Why did you start blogging?

Edcel

To express my thoughts as I didn’t have any outlet for talking and I didn’t really get to connect with people around me at that time.

I started blogging September of 2003. I just entered college and I was in a new environment which took me some time to adapt. I only had the internet as a place to talk — lame as it might sound. Eventually, it grew more of having a community to connect with people who would share a tip or two whenever they feel like commenting.

BenSpark

Why do you monetize your blog? What are some companies besides IZEA that you work with?

Edcel

It’s either I monetize my blog to continue blogging or not blog at all. Really, at the time, I was desperately looking for a way to earn some extra income and earning while blogging helped me with other financial obligations (rent, bills etc.). I could see the potential that this sideline could make me work full-time wherever I may be.

I was able to buy a DSLR camera, my laptop and some other gadgets because of blogging — so if I guess that’s already a good reason enough to keep on monetizing them.

I have Blogsvertise, PayPerPost, Blogitive and Odesk.

BenSpark

So, it sounds like you have earned a decent amount through your blogs. What is your stance on Disclosure?

Edcel

It usually depends, some people don’t like reading sponsored posts, some people do and some people are fine either way. I’m neutral.

BenSpark

What is your favorite feature of SocialSpark?

Edcel

SocialSpark is more interactive as you get to connect with other bloggers and advertisers – plus it doesn’t hurt that the opportunities have high price values.

BenSpark

What should be improved on SocialSpark?

Edcel

There are a couple of bugs that are being fixed by the staff when it comes to the opportunities that are being submitted.

BenSpark

What Advertisers do you want to see on SocialSpark?

Edcel

More on Web Technologies and Internet Updates or anything that’s relevant to the niche of my blogs.

BenSpark

What is the Ultimate Goal for a blogger, in your opinion?

Edcel

To share your voice to the world and connect with other people. I’d like to have my blog as a source of good information on events, traveling and what’s going on in my place. The reporter instincts in me are coming out whenever I am able to publish a good entry.

BenSpark

Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?

Edcel

Akismet! I hate SPAM.

BenSpark

What is the first thing you do when you fire up your browser?

Edcel

Open my email and check my blogs. Then I check my work mails.

BenSpark

If you could spend one year blogging about a particular thing what would it be and why? How would you keep it fresh?

Edcel

Traveling — I believe when you travel, there’s always something fresh about it. Also, I like to keep a documentary of the places I’ve been to so it’s a great way to let other people see what you’ve been rather than store it in some photo album. Blogging about the places I’ve been to is a great way to spread information.

BenSpark

What is your best blog post ever?

Edcel

My ‘How we got to Caramoan‘ post — it’s the first of a series of posts about a trip to the Caramoan peninsula where I got to visit beautiful islands as well as try wakeboarding. It’s basically a DIY guide which generated a number of traffic because of the detailed information posted.

We were looking for blog posts about the place which also helped us on our trip as opposed to hiring a travel agency to create our itinerary. I felt the need to share the information for those who are tight on a budget. Because of that post, a lot of backpackers were able to get useful information from it. I plan to create more entries like these when I visit other places.

BenSpark

What are some odd keywords people use to find your blog?

Edcel

‘crazy babysitter twins’ for edcel.net

BenSpark

Outside of blogging what are your other interests?

Edcel

Photography, traveling, media and communication.

BenSpark

What is amazing about you?

Edcel

I have numerous jobs that I don’t get sleep at all. I only sleep an average of 6 hours a day and it’s not even straight.

BenSpark

Ipod or other music player?

Edcel

Ipod but I don’t own one.

BenSpark

Favorite Movie? TV Show? Book?

Edcel

Movie: Forrest Gump, Catch Me if You Can
TV Show: 3rd Rock From the Sun
Book: Rich Dad Poor Dad – opened my mind to work with whatever resource I have and bank on them.

BenSpark

Do you play Facebook games?

Edcel

I played Texas Hold Em’ Poker once, also the Typing test. But I’m too preoccupied to play games.

BenSpark

What is the most motivational advice you can give other bloggers?

Edcel

Blog first, earn money later.

I always tell readers who are interested to earn money thru blogging to have the passion first. Because they might get frustrated if they won’t earn soemthing out of their efforts. At least when you love what you’re doing, you won’t feel like working at all.

BenSpark

Favorite Blogs?

Edcel

I must say that although I spend most of my time online, I don’t really get to read through other blogs as much as I can.

BenSpark

Favorite Podcasts?

Edcel

I have none.

BenSpark

How does someone connect with you online?

Edcel

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/edblogs
Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/edblogs
Plurk - http://www.plurk.com/edblogs

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It’s Not About The Money

BrandyEllen — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:01:04 +0000

When I first signed up with Social Spark I admit after placing the code in my blog I didn’t touch the service for a little while. A few months ago I was talking to another member of I’m Not A Famous Blogger, who is my best friend forever, and she told me I should join this team because it’s a supportive team on Social Spark and very active. Little did I know I would be here writing on this blog telling you how I have grown to love Social Spark and all the friends I have made.

What I love best about Social Spark is the money, can I say that?! Ha ha! In all reality every one loves money, but it’s how you make the money that often sparks an interest or discourages me from participating. I personally love the community support, the friendships made, the new products and websites I have been introduced to as well as the option to donate your revenue to your choice of charity (termed causes on Social Spark website).

Overall I have had a positive experience from Social Spark after a rocky start. When I first decided to be an active Social Spark member I had a hard time getting an open slot for paid post opportunities, but that soon became an issue of the past. I have now been able to take many open blog post opportunities and have seen how fast the auto approval system works and how fast payment clears. Social Spark doesn’t issue payment right away, after all they want to ensure the post you write stays an active link on your site. I must say I am impressed with the timely approval of posts and finance updates, and the fact that I’m Not A Famous Blogger has really been a supportive community of bloggers.

Social Spark has really figured out how to create a community platform and combined it with positive, ethical promotion of brands! I am proud to be an active member of I’m Not A Famous Blogger!

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Interview with Christian of c-hammer.com

BenSpark — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:29:21 +0000

BenSpark

Hi Christian thanks for sending me your answers to my long list of questions. There is some great info in here so to start off why don’t you tell the readers about yourself.

Christian

I am a serial entrepreneur, an artist and a wannabe inventor. I played some college Baseball, was a professional paintball player, have started many companies and have a short attention span. I’ve been in the web world for 15+ years as a jack of all trades and now help start-ups and businesses get mass exposure online. I am the prototypical jack of all trades. Most of my friends consider me an enigma, because I am really good at a wide variety of things, what most don’t know is that I am an Expert in very few.

BenSpark

Wow, you’ve got to me fascinating to hang with, so many diverse focuses. Could you tell us about your blogs

Christian

My blogs are like me, wide in content. I currently have too many, but the ones of significance are Mindzle.com and c-hammer.com.

Mindzle is where I and other writers talk about sustainable living. This in itself is a broad topic, it is meant to house the documentation of transforming my own home into a self sufficient abode, however it has become a wider resource as I and my various writers added articles on other projects etc. It has come to be a fairly useful resource for “green” topics.

c-hammer.com is my sketchbook and to some degree, portfolio site. I post everything I draw, even if it is on a napkin. Full disclosure in its purest form. From the feedback I’ve received, people like that aspect. For me it has forced me to sit down and draw more often. It has also given me several really good opportunities in freelance illustration.

BenSpark

Again some very cool diverse subjects. The posting of sketches is something I really like. With all these projects why did you take on even more and start blogging?

Christian

In 1995 I was working on several projects for the university I was attending, and I got tired of answering the same question. At first it took the form of a forum with questions and answers. Eventually I just started writing daily about what I was working on. In 1999 I was running an incubator for dot coms that was at the epicenter for Portland Oregon. Our blog just talked about starting businesses and the trials and success of the local “scene”. Then by 2002 I was asked by one of my paintball sponsors to write about the pro scene and product reviews etc. So why? I guess the short answer is, it fell into my lap. I do not consider myself a good writer, but people keep reading… Go figure.

BenSpark

So many factors lead to your blogging and from many different angles. That is very inspiring. Why do you monetize your blog? What are some companies besides IZEA that you work with?

Christian

I would say that I don’t for the most part regarding my current blogs. I have in the past, and am on the path to do so with my current blogs. Most of the companies I have worked with in the past were direct sponsors or clients for other companies. I am currently starting a new biz where all of my blogs and other sites bringing in revenue will be helpful, but the new blogs coming online will be where I put into effect all of the knowledge gained from the experimentation on Mindzle and C-Hammer.

BenSpark

So there is still a monetization factor because let’s face it as Chris Brogan says, “Baby’s got to eat.” What is your stance on Disclosure?

Christian

Full disclosure all the time. It is important to build trust, I try not to hide anything. Most artists only post their best work, but everyone knows they create crap too. I show everything, the shocking part is how much visibility this has gained me. One of my most popular posts on c-hammer.com is a wretched page of sketches. Other artists have been sharing it as interesting ideas for alien heads and such… Cool, I guess, I wish they liked a better page of sketches, but you never know what bit of content is going to catch people’s attention.

BenSpark

That is very true. One of my most popular posts is about Fry Sauce, very obscure thing that I work on all the time. What is your favorite feature of SocialSpark?

Christian

Honestly it is the whole package. The combination of Social Network with affiliate network was a brilliant combo and makes it far more useful than a service that focuses on only one or the other.

BenSpark

What should be improved on SocialSpark?

Christian

I’d like my rss feeds posted to my SocialSpark profile.

BenSpark

What Advertisers do you want to see on SocialSpark?

Christian

Nike, Keen, Columbia Sportswear, and Patagonia.

BenSpark

What is the Ultimate Goal for a blogger, in your opinion?

Christian

Find your Success in life, whether that is to comfortably work from home or change the world a little for the better.

BenSpark

Good Advice. Which one plug-in would you suggest all bloggers to have?

Christian

There are 10 must haves for Wordpress, but the one I would recommend that is not well known is Zemanta. Look it up, you’ll love it.

BenSpark

That is one I don’t have much knowledge of but I want to learn more. What is the first thing you do when you fire up your browser?

Christian

Go to popurls.com and see what has happened since I last went online. Make sure I didn’t miss any major event in the world.

BenSpark

Another site that I am not familiar with you’re giving me some great information. If you could spend one year blogging about a particular thing what would it be and why? How would you keep it fresh?

Christian

Being a professional entrepreneur. It is such an important topic right now with the economic downturn and so many people out of work, it is also something I have been doing for the past 10 years. Last night I was talking a friend through his first start-up idea, and he was making the same mistakes everyone does, the same ones I made. And when you know the mistakes it is easy to avoid them. I’d want readers to ask questions to keep topics new and interesting.

BenSpark

What is your best blog post ever?

Christian

http://www.c-hammer.com/2009/05/killer-wabbit-painting/ In that I like the painting. After all what isn’t funny about a 20 foot tall fuzzy rabbit attacking a chick in leather on a custom Harley with a skull headlight? I wish I could track down some of my articles from back in the paintball buzz days, some of them were nuts.

BenSpark

What are some odd keywords people use to find your blog?

Christian

Vril… I don’t even know what it means but it is regularly the top keyword people find c-hammer.com with.

BenSpark

Outside of blogging what are your other interests?

Christian

Starting companies, hiking, biking, sports, drawing, painting, SCUBA diving, web design, and green technologies.

BenSpark

Not sure if you can nail it down because it sounds liek there is so much that is amazing about you but what is amazing about you?

Christian

I learn really fast, and I dig deep into a topic, which makes me an expert relatively fast. I also have no fear of failure or ego regarding my work. You like it cool, you hate it… cool. Am really good at everything I do, people think that means I am a natural at it, truth is I just don’t waste time. When something interests me I focus on it until I know it. I don’t watch TV and I work for myself so I have the freedom to act as selfishly with my interests as I want.

BenSpark

IPod or other music player?

Christian

Samsung mp3 player.

BenSpark

Pirates or Ninjas

Christian

NINJAS! They’ll kill you without even being noticed, pirates are all bluster and show.

BenSpark

Favorite Movie? TV Show? Book?

Christian

Favorite movie, pretty much anything by Focus entertainment. All are high quality, independent movies. Regarding a book, it changes regularly but I was fascinated with “Being Dead” by Jim Crace. I don’t really watch TV, but still a show I talk about is “Twitch City” it was a Canadian show about an agoraphobic who was addicted to TV and the schemes he ran to not ever have to leave the sofa. It was brilliant in this tiny little world of a sofa and a small apartment. Also I enjoyed Farscape.

BenSpark

Do you play Facebook games?

Christian

Hell no, I cannot even imagine the purpose.

BenSpark

What is the most motivational advice you can give other bloggers?

Christian

Focus on what you actually care about and you’ll never run out of ideas.

BenSpark

Favorite Blogs?

Christian

BenSpark

Favorite Podcasts?

Christian

I don’t really follow any podcasts. They tend to be too distracting for me.

BenSpark

How does someone connect with you online?

Christian

I am chammer and artisthammer on twitter but the best place is to follow me at http://www.c-hammer.com

BenSpark

Christian, What an interesting interview. I am very happy that you took me up on the offer to be interviewed, you have provided me and everyone else with some great information.

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Interview with DigTek of The Current Page

BenSpark — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:35:56 +0000

BenSpark

Today I am interviewing Don Janusz who goes by DigTek. I’ll address him as such through this interview. So DigTek, tell the readers about yourself.

DigTek

Starting off with the hardest question huh… I am not one for spending a lot of time talking about my personal life. I am a 44 y/o husband and father of two boys (13 and 16) who works as a Manager and Electronic Technician. Born and raised in Wisconsin, I moved to Florida after I was married and lived in Tampa and Panama City before moving to Cape Coral (Fort Myers) about 5 years ago.

BenSpark

Must be a big difference in your winters now. That is also a big move. Can you please tell us about your blogs?

DigTek

I run 2 blogs and 2 websites (all 4 using wordpress), one of those websites being the company website and the other a side project I am working on with my oldest son, called South Florida Business Technology. The blogs I run are The Current Page, which is a humor based blog, but includes posts on a wide variety of topics. The list of general categories would include: Blog Talk, Cool Stuff, Food & Drink, Leisure Time, Local Interest, Music Related, Outer Space and, of course, a few humor categories. The Current Page is my main blog and has the most time devoted to it. This may also be a good time to mention that The Current Page will be starting Monthly Prize Giveaways on January 1st 2010.

My other blog is a Weather Site and Blog called South Florida StormWatch, this blog has a focus on Tropical and Severe Weather, mostly as it relates to Florida, but certainly including the Atlantic Hurricane Basin and the United States as well. Like The Current Page, I try to include some humor in what might otherwise be fairly boring information, and use the slogan ‘Weather With Attitude’. South Florida StormWatch is also my longest running blog, having originated on Weather Underground as a ‘WunderBlog’, where I still repost all the articles. It might be worth stating that I am not a weatherman at all, but have always had an interest in Tropical Weather and learned a great deal over time, seems enough that my information is usually as accurate as any other forecasts, and likely easier to understand than what might be posted by weather experts.

BenSpark

I don’t think anyone can fault you for predicting the weather and I would guess that you would be as accurate as the weathermen on TV. I bet my mom would love to read your blog, she is obsessed with the weather, or maybe just the temperature i the house, who knows. So, why did you start blogging?

DigTek

Let me answer by summarizing how I got to the point I am at… I have always enjoyed computers and programming (though I am far from a programming guru) and made my entry to the website world over 10 years ago when I decided to make a website for the company I work for. While mostly a simple company information and contact point site, it gave me a new hobby and soon after I started to work on personal website projects. The first of these was a Forum called ‘Gamerz Forumz’, once I opened the hood and started making adjustments to the code, I was hooked, and though I modified it into a Game Clan site with some success, I had more fun coding it to my liking than anything else. As time went on I had less time for gaming and converted the site to be used by my oldest son for his gaming interests. Like many kids though, his interests changed on a regular basis and for a time the site operated on auto-pilot before I decided to recode the whole works.

My plan was to continue to modify the existing forum code (yabb) and add in some CMS packages to include my weather site and posts of local interest along with a much needed update to the company website. What I ended up with was a mess really… I used ModX to run my weather site, TikiWiki for local information, Flog and CuteNews for announcements, Wordpress was also added at this time with the intention of starting a blog (though it sat idle since I was coding and not posting). All of this was tied together using the forum software, which also ran the company website (by this time the forum software had become so heavily modified I actually found it easier to use another forum software (smf) to offer a forum for the company website). On top of that mess I still operated the original forum, but had renamed it to The Current Page Forum. Almost as soon as I had completed this project I realized what a navigation nightmare I had created and took a closer look at the individual CMS packages, since I had now learned that using one software that was easy to update and modify would probably work better than the monster I had created.

It was at this time that I made a few other decisions. The first was to separate the individual sites since they had no real relationship with each other, besides all being run by me. I also decided to concentrate on my weather site and abandon the forum in place of a blog where I could incorporate everything else I was interested in (actually the forum still works since I link to a couple of articles there, but is no longer being maintained). This was when I made the switch to running all my sites with wordpress. Over the next year or so I again spent most of my time coding the sites to my liking but now also started to enjoy the actual blogging part of it, mostly on the weather site at first but eventually I started to work more and more on The Current Page, which is now my main project since the weather site is somewhat seasonal. I guess a quick answer here would have been that I started blogging because I enjoy building, modifying and running websites.

BenSpark

That is a great story. I too tinkered with things early on and modify most everything I work with. Why do you monetize your blog? What are some companies besides IZEA that you work with?

DigTek

Monetize might not be the right word in my case since it makes it sound like money is being made. I do of course run ads on my sites and the idea is that they would generate revenue, and to some extent they do. Like most blog operators, I would love it if I could make enough from my efforts to live off of, but the reality of the moment is making enough to cover expenses so I do not have to pay for what is essentially a hobby. Since my traffic levels are not conducive to making money using conventional ad networks, I am using several Affiliate Networks as my main source of revenue, with a few select ad networks to back them up and cover the ad slots once my offers have been displayed. I must admit I am new to the Paid Post thing and have yet to apply for one, though I think it is a great opportunity and am mostly waiting for the right offer to come along before I test the waters myself.

BenSpark

A measured stance. From what we’ve talked about so far it looks like you don’t leap without doing sufficient looking first. All SocialSpark opps require disclosure and that doesnt’ sit well with some. What is your stance on Disclosure?

DigTek

That is a pretty general question and my answer would depend on the context in which it is being asked… Also, are we talking my disclosure or someone else’s? (smile) Making the assumption we are talking about disclosing information regarding how a website user’s private details are protected and other things that go on behind the scenes at a website, I think all websites should have a Privacy Policy that clearly states how a users details are going to be treated. If it is a websites intention to sell or otherwise distribute user emails or other details for profit, that should be disclosed up front and not hidden away in the fine print of some unreasonably long Terms of Use page. Financial disclosure on the other hand should be able to be kept private for the most part. Obviously if we are talking about a publicly traded company things might be different, but for the average person or small company that privately operates a website, I see no need for earnings to be public information.

BenSpark

I mean disclosure policies for doing paid posts but I should have made that clearer. What is your favorite feature of SocialSpark?

DigTek

I am rather new to SocialSpark and have yet to fully explore everything that is offered. What I am finding is that SocialSpark is a unique site that seems more geared to the ‘average blogger’, in contrast to most sites of this type that (at least in my opinion, and understandably I guess), are more designed for high traffic sites. For me, the primary things of interest are the chance to network with other bloggers, and of course, the opportunity to make some money posting articles about products I like.

BenSpark

What should be improved on SocialSpark?

DigTek

I am hardly an expert on how to improve a website, and being new to SocialSpark, probably not best suited to recognize weak spots. One idea to consider, in light of the fact that many bloggers who enjoy what they are doing but simply do not get 1000’s of visitors a day have a hard time creating a realistic revenue stream, would be to offer additional options to generate revenue. Ad/post sharing is something that comes to mind, perhaps in the form of a RSS feed or a rotating code ‘ad slot’. A program that groups of bloggers could work on together and share the revenue generated.

BenSpark

That is an interesting idea something that you shoudl suggest. What is the Ultimate Goal for a blogger, in your opinion?

DigTek

To be the most popular blog of course… Really, if that was achieved, any other goal would also have been met, right? Realistically though, as with any venture, one should have both short and long term goals. Keeping short term goals feasible and attainable will help to keep your confidence up while working toward your long term goal, which I feel in most cases would be the ability to generate enough income from blogging that you can make a comfortable living off of it.

BenSpark

Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?

DigTek

Wow, another tough one… In general terms, everyone should have something to help them with SEO, and a widget like AddThis (or similar) that allows users to bookmark and share your site would seem to be obvious answers to the question. On my sites the vast majority of plugins deal with backend functionality actually, my opinion is that your sidebar is of secondary importance to your main content anyway. That said, a menu would be the most important feature to offer, don’t you think? (smile) I also think that the proper plugins for a blog would depend heavily on the type of content being presented, something that is great for a ‘deal of the day’ site may be useless for ‘nose pickers anonymous’. While not an actual plugin, any site that runs ads would benefit from the use of Google Ad Manager, so I will have to go with that as my final answer. On a side note, I offer a tutorial on the use of Google Ad Manager on The Current Page, you might want to take a peek at it if you are considering using GAM. While worth the effort, at first glance the program may seem a bit overwhelming and my tutorial gives a you good idea how it works and shows how to create a generic setup that should work well on many blogs.

BenSpark

What is the first thing you do when you fire up your browser?

DigTek

I never really close my browser, in most cases it is parked at one of my sites. However, I generally check the dashboard of my blogs and my email to see if anything needs to be done. The most popular item would seem to be wordpress upgrades sadly enough, but every so often there is actual user interaction J

I am always adjusting code, checking something or thinking of ways to improve my sites, so I am at the controls of one dashboard or another whenever I have a chance. Still looking for the magic button that causes hordes of people to flock to one of them, but am pretty sure I have covered everything else.

BenSpark

What is your best blog post ever?

DigTek

I don’t know that I have had one yet… Many of what I feel are my best ideas are still in draft status and what I have published apparently did not answer life’s crucial questions or I would have a lot more readers. My most popular post by far was one I did on the H1N1 outbreak, and while it did include my own summary updates, it was mostly a collection of information from other places, not my own work.

BenSpark

I thought that this post of yours was pretty decent: Do Aliens Exist? / Have Aliens Visited Earth? Outside of blogging what are your other interests?

DigTek

I am not sure I understand the question, what else is there besides work and blogging? (smile) Being the parent of two teenage boys the question should really be “what are your children’s interests”, since that is what you will be doing (another smile). My youngest son is active in baseball and we attend all the games and practices as a family so we have that. Vacation time is another favorite, along with the decisions and planning that go along with it. We also enjoy camping, trips to the beach, theme parks and visiting local events as a family. I also like to sleep and eat J

BenSpark

Ipod or other music player?

DigTek

Yes, it is called a stereo…

BenSpark

Pirates or Ninjas

DigTek

Um… Neither?

BenSpark

Favorite Movie? TV Show? Book?

DigTek

How about favorite band: Pink Floyd

BenSpark

Do you play Facebook games?

DigTek

Nope, don’t play any reindeer games either…

BenSpark

Favorite Blogs?

DigTek

I would have to say I am more of a surfer when it comes to visiting other blogs, my bookmarks include sites that are somehow connected to my websites, computer parts, vacation info, that sort of stuff. Sure, I visit a lot of blogs, but don’t really have them as favorites. I am far more likely to stumble or search for interesting stuff than I am to bookmark any particular blog. If I had to list some favorites though, the list would include several ‘wunderblogs’ at weather underground, failblog, ‘there, I fixed it’, ‘now that nifty’ and perhaps moonbuggy.

BenSpark

Favorite Podcasts?

DigTek

Am I the only one who is not subscribed to any Podcasts?

BenSpark

How does someone connect with you online?

DigTek

The best way to get in touch with me is through the Contact Form on my websites (Email). While I am subscribed to several of the social networking sites, I have to admit that I rarely visit them, and must be missing something because I do not find them all that appealing.

BenSpark

Thank you for the great interview. I appreciate you takign the time to talk with me.

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My Interview with Hesham Zebida

BenSpark — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:56:18 +0000

BenSpark

Hi Hesham. You sought me out and asked me to do an interview with you and through our conversation you joined up with the I’m Not A Famous Blogger Crew. The funny thing is that you have a group called Famous Bloggers. Could you please tell the readers about yourself?

Hesham

I am simple Egyptian guy who moved to the United States recently in a try to discover his chances. It’s kind of weird that I have a bachelor in accountant and I hate dealing with numbers, I have a programmer mind and a designer soul, and this is why I toke the bath of web design at the first chance, and turned to be a full time blogger who spend at least 20 hours a day behind his laptop, you can call me a night creature as well, I make my living creating websites and online communities for my clients depending on great CMS applications, and I have a dream to build a social network for Making Money Online niche, so wish me good luck with this one.

BenSpark

Wow, taking a chance like that is amazing. I want to know more could you please tell us about your blogs?

Hesham

I am running 4 active blogs at the mean time, I didn’t know what to blog about at the beginning of my blogging life, so I decided to have a general blog so I can write about anything on my mind with our limiting myself, I call it My Life Thinking blog which opened all the doors for me to learn about blogging and think a head about my future as a blogger, after two years of blogging I came up with an awesome idea to introduce myself to others and create a solid community for my blogs, and this leads me to establish a new blog where I do interviews with the New Media Bloggers who are interested in Making Money Online, and created a fan club I call it Famous Bloggers Club, the club transformed into exactly what I wanted to be, a new cooperation blog came to life through this idea, it’s the Famous Bloggers blog which it’s basically all about tips of money making from personal experiences of its contributors team that I have succeeded to gather them under it’s umbrella!

BenSpark

That is a lot of work that you are doing. I am impressed. Why did you start blogging?

Hesham

In this world we have to fine more opportunities and sources of living, and I actually have a few offline projects as a source of income, but I don’t run them by myself I am only a partner, and I was having a full time job in Cairo – Egypt before I moved to the States and had to leave my work, I knew since time back that this could happen one day, so I started blogging before this happen to add another source of income to myself. You don’t know what could happen tomorrow, and I never put all my eggs in one basket!

BenSpark

Fascinating. You are now on SocialSpark, can you tell me what is your favorite feature of SocialSpark?

Hesham

What I like about SocialSpark is their ability to perform the concept of social networking and getting benefit from it for all parts of the community, I love the user interface and member profile page, it’s awesome and looks great as they even care of the small details in the design in a way better than most of social networks that I have visited before.

BenSpark

What should be improved on SocialSpark?

Hesham

SocialSpark has great features no doubts, and I am still discovering it, till now it’s perfect to me, and I didn’t find something that bothers me yet or need to be changed or anything from that yet, it’s actually amazing.

BenSpark

Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?

Hesham

I would suggest the CommentLuv plugin, I am a fan of this plugin and the idea of Andy the creator of it which simple let’s your blog visitors leave a link to their latest posts on your blog while they add a comment, it’s a benefit to both sides.

BenSpark

Comment Luv is a great one. What is the first thing you do when you fire up your browser?

Hesham

Actually I never close or turn off my browser because my laptop is always ON all the time, if I shut it down is because I am moving it from here to there or because I need to restart it, so… let’s say that I never fire up my browser, it’s always on fire, and the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is to hit the F5 and refresh my email page as I don’t like to miss anything from people who are contacting me, and I am always waiting for something new in my in-box, then I take a ride all over my blogs to see what’s going on there, then I move to the next level to check other blogs and what they have for me today!

BenSpark

If you could spend one year blogging about a particular thing what would it be and why? How would you keep it fresh?

Hesham

I would blog about news stories, it’s wide open topic and has lots of audiences from all different ages, and this is what makes it fresh everyday by nature.

BenSpark

What is your best blog post ever?

Hesham

My best post ever is the one I had for my wife’s birthday, let’s say it was an online birthday, we was not together at the same country at that time and failed on buying her flower because a problem on my visa card, so I was getting crazy trying to find a way to bring the smile to her day, so I wrote that post to tell her that I couldn’t bring you any flowers today, and I emailed the family and friends about it, and this worked for me and made my day before hers!

BenSpark

Outside of blogging what are your other interests?

Hesham

If I am not blogging that means one of two things, I am driving my car over the city, or playing some note on my keyboard, I like to write music of my own and sometimes I sing because the feeling of being a way from home.

BenSpark

Favorite Movie? TV Show? Book?

Hesham

I have two favorite movies that I like most; both are so different from each other, Transformers and Gladiator, I love action, technology and historical war movies, so… imagine what could happen when you compile all this together! I have watched these two moves so many times and never felt bored.

BenSpark

The first Transformers movie was decent, #2 was not and I being a longtime Transformers Fan (back from 1984 and such) I was embarrassed by #2. Okay, moving on what are you favorite blogs?

Hesham

IBlogZone.com by Francisco Perez, AKA diTesco. It’s all about making money from the internet, SEO and blogging tips, I love the read of useful posts from diTesco, I can that I have learned lots from his blog.

Social and Blogging Tracker, a social media addict & enthusiastic blogger. Determined to dissect the ideas and apps related to social networking, and present them with illustrations and easy How-To’s, Ching Ya is a very active and social person that I like to read her blog and connect with her.

Blogussion.com is one of my favorite blogs; it’s about blogging that provides outstanding tips for excelling your blog in a variety of topics.

BenSpark

Do you have any favorite Podcasts?

Hesham

Managing more than one blog and working long times makes it too much hard for me to listen to any podcasts at the mean time, I am focusing on other video content and materials to learn from them, I usually go for YouTube when I try to find something that I need to know about.

BenSpark

Being that interested and building communities makes me see that you are accessible so how does someone connect with you online?

Hesham

I am very active on several social networks and online communities; you can find so many ways to contact me just by searching my name on Google, or by following me on Twitter @hishaman and Facebook.

BenSpark

Hesham, thank you so much for taking the time to interview with me.

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