As announced, the first 5 question in-depth interview is kicked of by Darren Rowse of Problogger. Though Darren is well known and probably doesn’t need to be introduced to most readers, here’s a little info anyway on who this Australian blogger is.

Darren Rowse is a blogger who has turned a hobby into his profession, to be more clear, he has swapped his day time job for a blogging career.

One of the fruits of his online endeavors is the popular blog called ProBlogger. Having around 40.000 RSS subscribers, ProBlogger is one of the most popular blogs in the niche of helping people use their blog for making money online.

The growth of ProBlogger over the last years, the popularity of blogs in general and the large amount of people trying to earn some extra income by blogging obviously made Darren an important target for this 5 in-depth question interview.

His answers should be helpful and interesting to bloggers aspiring to someday go pro, or to just whomever is seeking to improve their blogging skills.

So, for those curious about Darren’s answers, the complete interview can be found under the read more link …

5 In-Depth Questions for Darren Rowse of Problogger :

Comparing the blogosphere to a few years ago (when you started ProBlogger) to how it is today : things naturally have changed somewhat. There are different social media sites, other reader expectations, attitude changes and a much bigger number of blogs to only mention a few. Keeping these changes in mind and what their effect is,

1. If you place yourself in the shoes of a starting blogger, who’s goal is to build a blog (no specific niche) with a decent amount of traffic, popularity and sticky reader-base, then where would you start ? Also, what would you do differently now, compared to what you did in the past ?

Things have changed a lot over the last few years - yet they are also remarkably similar. Let me explain.

Things are different now in that there is a lot more competition in the blogosphere (and from outside the blogosphere). This can be incredibly daunting for bloggers - yet at the same time it’s also a real opportunity as there are so many other sites in any niche that could potentially drive traffic to your new blog.

There’s also a lot more people reading blogs these days than when I got into it 5 years ago which is a real opportunity also.

How would I start today ?

I’d probably spend some considerable time in research mode before starting a blog - looking at what others were doing, finding gaps in their approaches and understanding what types of content seems to drive traffic. Also in this ‘research’ I’d participate in as many other blogs and online communities as possible in the niche that I wanted to target. The more networking you do the more you’ll understand about your niche but the more chance you’ll have of having relationships and contacts that you can leverage when you do launch.

When launching a new blog I’d generally want to have 10 or so high quality posts already up on a blog or ready to roll out before launching. These posts need to be your best work, link worthy and content that makes people realize that they can’t live without the kind of content that is appearing on your blog.

A strong start is essential.

If I were starting today I would attempt to write at least 2-3 guest posts on other people’s blogs in my niche every week. Again - this content needs to be of a very high standard - the aim is to show people your best stuff and then invite them to check out more of your work.

Network as much as you can in your niche and in related fields. Help improve other people’s sites as much as you can - this will help you in the long run. In a sense these suggestions are the same as what I did 5 years ago - ie. interact with others and build a blog that people will want to read. While there’s a lot more noise and competition at the moment the things that have not changed are that people seek places to ‘belong’ and ‘connect’ and that people seek quality content that enhances their lives.

After starting problogger in 2004 and aside from beginning other projects such as B5 media, up until now you’ve been able to establish ProBlogger as a popular blog with a large following. Nonetheless, even a successful blog needs attention, dedication and work (updating content, marketing, branding, networking and so forth …)

2. Which combination of factors do you feel are the main ‘drivers’ that keep Problogger’s popularity and traffic levels up at the moment ?

This is probably a question that is better asked of my readers - however I can tell you what I’m trying to do with ProBlogger :

• Community - my hope is to build a place that people feel a sense of belonging.
• Inspiration - I’m trying to build a site that people find a little inspiration and motivation to keep blogging.
• Realism - I try to present readers with a realistic understanding of the topic rather than hype.
• Expertise - I attempt to prove readers with advice and practical tips on how they can do what I do.
• Participation - I’m attempting to build a blog that doesn’t completely revolve around me but which has. participation and wisdom contributed by readers and other key voices in the field.

Making a living from blogging means you’ll have to treat your blog(s) as a business. With time, you’ve probably found a combination of factors (as mentioned earlier: marketing, branding, networking, creativity, discipline, timing and so on ..) that works well for specifically ProBlogger.

3. Which of the factors in this combination of many do you feel you ‘wouldn’t be able to do without’ ? And why ?

Tough question - to be honest I don’t put heaps of strategy into my blogging and it’s a fairly intuitive process for me. All of the factors that you mention are essential but each has a different priority for me each day that I develop the site.

For example ‘discipline’ is something that I have to be very intentional about some days when the temptation is to slack off - yet on other days it comes naturally. Then I’ll go through a period where I need to work more on branding or marketing for a time but will then barely consider it for weeks while I focus upon building more networking type relationships.

I guess what I’m saying is that I’ve developed a bit of an internal radar which tells me what I need to focus upon at any point in time. This is connected to what I see others in my niche doing and the feedback that readers give - but it’s definitely not something that I give a lot of thought to on a big picture level.

Looking into the future, taking into account the changes that are undoubtedly going to occur in the blogosphere (new and different social media sites, advertising & marketing possibilities, different reader expectations and attitudes …) ,

4. In regard of your blog(s), on which one of these factors do you think the emphasis will be over let’s say the next 5 years ?

Again - it’s not something that I think much about that far in advance. I think my blogs (and those of others) will continue to evolve.

We’re seeing more and more blogs add other elements to them (forums, chat, new ways of commenting, social networking etc.). This will happen more and more and we’ll see bloggers continue to realize that they’re not just bloggers but web publishers.

Finally,

5. Is there any area (for instance branding, marketing, design) in which you feel problogger needs improvement ?

For sure. Every element of ProBlogger could be improved and it’s a daily challenge to do it.

I need to continue to work upon the design to make it more usable, adding features to make it more useful, expand into new potential audience spaces.

There’s no one area that I’m prioritizing over others (as per my answers above) but instead it’s a daily cycle of experimenting, listening and watching to how things go, tweaking and listening watching….