Interview with LaTease - professional blogger and photographer

April 11, 2008

LaTease Professional Blogger and Photographer LaTease is a 47 year old divorced mother of two adult children who taught her everything she knows about the internet. Her eldest son would have been 26 years old this month (April 6), however he succumbed to complications from Juvenile Diabetes in 2005. LaTease holds a Journalism degree from Wayne State University (Detroit 1991) and has written/freelanced for a variety of newspapers including the Oakland Press and the Michigan Chronicle. She’s held a variety of jobs like production assistant for a local TV station in which she produced, directed, videographed, ran sound boards, graphics generators and more. She’s have definitely done the television thing. In addition, She’salso served as the local public relations director for the gospel group “the Clark Sisters”. Everything She’s done in life has centered around media, so online integration was a natural step for her. Currently, she authors 3 blogs: Celebrity News Dot Com , Teasa’s Blog Marketing Tips & Funny Offbeat News And Videos . She currently resides in the Metro Detroit Area, while her 24 year old daughter lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

WJ: How would you describe your profession?

I am a professional blogger, and photographer, one who gets paid to blog and take pictures.

WJ: How did you get into New Media/Online publishing/Online communications? Did you see yourself getting into this field early on? What did you used to do “in an earlier life” (prior career, if any)?

I have been marketing online since 1999 starting off with a product first promoted on the Oprah Winfrey show called “Viacreme.” Prior to that as well as addition to that I have been a marketing consultant, a sales rep, a 9-1-1- operator, all in corporate america, cutting my teeth.

WJ: What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?

When Google came to town. Before then, we publicized our links in newsgroups, similar to forums. Google helped legitimize websites that earned it, while also sending worthwhile traffic and longtime friends.

WJ: In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing?

Social Media Networking. It borrows from the newsgroups and forums and creates an online coffee shop experience for the user. In the right group, looking for the right info, these are valuable tools.

WJ: What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster?

Patience, willing to learn new things, willing to unlearn what you learned yesterday, ask for help. Don’t worry about the cheese moving, because while you were worrying, it moved 3 maybe 4 times. I live, eat, sleep, and dream of my online business. It used to be quite disturbing for my partner, until the money started coming in.

WJ: Being a webmaster has gone from being a one-person job to a field that allows specialization. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for your business?

Specialization is always good because it allows for niche markets. You can cater totally to people who are really interested in your products and services.

WJ: Do you think the industry is regulated enough? Have the authorities or the Net’s relevant governing bodies become too restrictive? Which areas of online activity do you think NEED further regulation?

Regulation is not good for online activitiy. Here’s why: on the internet it is the ultimate case of cloak and dagger. You can create identities, photos, etc. and never get to the real person. As Shrek would say, you can create “layers” of deceit. However, as far as CP, etc is concerned, the authorities have let the child kiddie preyers get too big of a head start on them. They have allowed the criminals to be smarter than them. Right now, the authoritites are like dogs chasing their tails. It would be great if they could just set up sting operations inside MySpace and catch all the predators that frequent there, but it takes two to tangle and unfortunately some of the kids getting caught up are willing participants until something goes wrong. It is quite sad.

WJ: What are the challenges the industry is facing today?

From a blogger/writer/photographer perspective, it is merely the trust factor. You see on the internet you can pretend to be whomever you want, and people know this. Consumers are smarter than we give them credit for. So, you spend lots of time, building true relationships, lasting ones that you must be willing to do in order to be successful.

WJ: What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in online business?

Read first, act second. Don’t just sign up for the first affiliate marketing offer you get. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

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