John Chow on Blogging...

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, JOHN CHOW...

The name John Chow has become synonymous with making serious money blogging. His blog, John Chow dot Com, is one of the first stops for anyone wanting to learn how to make money with their own blogs today. As such, it is my pleasure to present the following interview, which I had the pleasure of conducting with Mr. Chow via email.

The Writing Geek: What is the biggest mistake most beginner bloggers make?

John Chow: Thinking they’re going to get rich by blogging. Very few blogs make good money but they get all the attention so many people think blogging and money come easy. It doesn’t.

TWG: Aside from making money, what satisfaction do you get from blogging?

JC: The community that blogs create. It’s great to get feedback and talk to readers and other bloggers. That is better than money really. You can build some really good friendships by blogging.

TWG: If you had the chance to go back in time a year, what would you do differently/the same?

JC: I would have spun John Chow dot Com off as a separate blog about making money so I could keep it as a personal blog with no ads.

TWG: What is the best piece of advice you can offer a blogger?

JC: Have fun and enjoy the experience. The money will come later.

TWG: Aside from John Chow dot Com, what are your top three favorite blogs?

JC: Autoblog.com, Problogger.net and TechCrunch.com.

TWG: You've been elected president of the blogosphere. What is your first move?

JC: Ban Google.

TWG: What is/are your predictions for blogging over the next ten years?

JC: I can’t see 10 years into the future. Your guess is as good as mine.

My sincerest thanks to John for allowing me the honor of his presence on my blog! This is the start of a new feature here on The Writing Geek, and I will have quite a few more blogger interviews over the coming weeks. Will yours be next? Drop me a line if you would like to be interviewed!

IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, MOM...

As a youngster, I can remember getting in trouble quite a bit. I'm not sure whether I had a knack for finding it, or it had a knack for finding me. All I know is that I found myself being lectured quite a bit. Inevitably, those lectures would always seem to end with my Mom asking, "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Today, I'm all grown up (well, almost) and find myself deep in my career as a writer. I don't know that I would have ever gone down this path without Mom's dedication to that question. So, it is with a grateful smile that I dedicate today's post to you, Mom. Thanks for pointing me in the "write" direction.

Now, here is your challenge: Looking back on your own childhood, can you remember any influence your parents, grandparents or other role models may have had that caused you to become a writer? Take a moment to write about it, and post it on your blog if you have one. If you let me know about it, I will make a collection of links to other responses right here in a future post.

THE HELIUM.COM ARTICLES...

I was rather pleased to receive an email from Barbara W. at Helium yesterday, notifying me that my article on Company Blogs and their Value for Public Relations (currently rated #1 of 11 articles) was being featured on the Helium.com front page! I had hoped this would mean that the revenues generated by that article would jump somewhat, but alas, it has only served to generate a few extra pennies. On the other hand, I did get to see my byline displayed prominantly for the entire day, as many others would!

On the subject of Helium, my latest article, "8 Tips for Keeping Your Online Payments Safe" is now live, and ranked #4 of 6 articles. If past article performance is any indication, I expect this rating will improve fairly quickly. Of the 12 articles I have posted thus far, 7 are rated #1 of multiple articles. I take this to mean that either my articles are exceptionally good, or the ones they are going up against are exceptionally bad. I kind of doubt the latter, however, as I have watched my articles go up against some decent writing. There have been exceptions, but for the most part, Helium.com writers seem to take quite a bit of pride in their work.

My article postings this week have also had another effect. Last time I checked, they have once again landed me in the top three positions (currently 2nd place) in the writing contest this week, for the 'Computers & Technology' category. Here's to hoping I can make the #1 spot this week. Wish me luck!

It Makes You Talk Funny...

I recently joined this website, Helium.com, which I have been spending quite a bit of time on lately. I joined for a couple reasons. First, I wanted to see if, in fact, I could make money from my writing by writing for another site. I have written quite a few articles for free which have been picked up by various sites and published, but the only money I have ever made has been through selling articles to print magazines. With the current blog frenzy, I decided dammit, it's my turn to make some frickin cash.

Second, I joined to keep my writing skills sharp. After all, even if I didn't make any cash, I would still be seeing my stuff in print and it would force me to keep writing and to hopefully, with each article, improve my skills. Finally, I joined Helium because it gave me the opportunity to have my work put up against that of writers from around the world and have mine rated against theirs, a kind of hot or not type of deal.

Since joining on Oct. 1, 2007, I have written several articles. As of today, Oct. 9th, I haven't made a whole heck of a lot of money (I'll get more to that in a minute), but I have been writing my ass off. And yes, I do believe my skills have improved a little. If nothing else, I have been driving my girlfriend crazy with all the blogspeak and telling her about every little advance my articles make.

On to the money part. The way Helium works is like this: I post an article. That article gets read by millions of adoring fans from around the world. Hopefully something I write makes them want to click the Google ads on the side of the article. Helium.com gets cash for that click, and I get a small percentage. At the same time, my article is pitted against other articles and rated based on the content of the article. The higher my article rates, the more it is seen.

Now, here's the fun part of the rating system. In addition to getting higher ratings and being seen more often, Helium offers weekly contests in various categories. Each category has 25 topics you can write to. When you write an article in one of these categories, and it rates high, you receive points. At the end of the contest week, the writer with the most points gets 1st place, and $75. 2nd place gets $25, 3rd place receives $10 and 4th through 6th place receive $5.

During this last contest week, I wrote 5 or 6 articles in the Business category. Apparently, they were well written enough to garner 2nd place in that category's contest. Here's where it gets even better. Every week, ten or so different categories are featured, with 25 topics in each category. Being that my articles rated the way they did this first time around, I have decided to target more categories. Hopefully, my articles will become good enough to continue rating high, and I will win 1st or 2nd in several categories. At this point, all this writing becomes financially viable.

Oh, and the percentage of the Google ads clicked? I have made a whopping .07 cents thus far. Now, like I said, ultimately my goal is to keep writing and hopefully improve my skills by doing so. Any pocket change I make above that is perverbial icing on the cake. We'll see what happens. Until then, let me know what you think. Here are my articles:

A GUIDE TO DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING As of this writing, rated #1 out of 2 articles

A GUIDE TO PERSONAL INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET Currently rated #1 of 2 articles

EMPOWERING YOUR STAFF LEADS TO BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE Currently #6 of 15 articles

A STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE VOLUNTEER RECRUITMENT Currently #1 of 9 articles

COMPANY BLOGS AND THEIR VALUE FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS Currently #3 of 8 articles

TIPS FOR ORGANIZING A MEDIA EVENT Currently #2 of 5 articles

THE PROS AND CONS OF DESIGNING YOUR OWN SMALL BUSINESS WEB SITE Currently #7 of 8 articles

SHOULD LAWS BE PASSED TO LIMIT GUN OWNERSHIP FURTHER? Currently #1 of 3 articles

GETTING OVER YOURSELF: MAKING THE TRANSITION FROM THINKING TO WRITING Currently #11 of 58 articles

MANAGING DOWNTIME Currently #1 of 1 articles

As you can see, I ain't doing too bad in the whole rating game. But then, I knew I would fare well. That's why I write - because I can, and I can do it well.

As I continue down the Helium.com path, I will update you here. As always, your comments are welcome.