Interview with SEO Web Designer Binh Nguyen

SEO Web Designer Binh Nguyen is the owner of Open Tips , an article website not yet promoted. His first blog is Binh dot Name(binh.name), later on renamed to “SEO Web Designer Binh Nguyen” mainly provides free SEO Web Design advices and tips for bloggers and webmasters. This blog later become too spread-out so he decided to divide his blog into smaller hybrid sites/blogs for well focused niche topics such as WordPress Resources, Web Design, Search Engine Optimization. He has many more ideas and plans haven’t been started.

WJ: What experiences prepared you for your current role as a webmaster/online publisher? What did you do prior to your current business?

I hold a Bachelor of Information Technologies majoring in Net-Technologies. After graduation I immediately bought an online course for $79 to learn how to make money online. Prior to my current business I was still an undergraduate student.

WJ: What do you think of Web 2.0 and how has it impacted your business? What is the next trend for user interactivity?

Web 2.0 is the next generation of WWW. I’m saying it’s “Next” because majority of the business world is still using static web pages. That’s not to mention the other majority of development countries are still taking Internet as a luxury service.

Next trend of user interactivity would be having forum-like site everywhere. People will always be able to respond to someone else message,rate, report spam, give reputation, etc. The web will be fully interactive, even online chat will be integrated into smallest site.

WJ: Should the Internet be regulated?  Are there any parts of the Net that could use regulation?  Please explain your position thoroughly.

Yes, the Internet sure need to be regulated. It’s not just an information medium anymore, it’s becoming a live that evolve and change. It must follow rules, just like anyone else in the world must follow. If not regulated, everyone will abuse the web as a tool for them to do unethical behaviours.

E-commerce part of the net is the first priority for regulation. Secondly would be forums. Spammers should be legally punished. Black-hat hackers certainly will have legal punishment equal to offline bank robbers.

WJ: What is the future of affiliate marketing?  Where do you see yourself in this future scenario?

Future of affiliate marketing? I’m afraid affiliate marketing is the future of the Internet, unquestionable. Nowadays everyone from hi-tech to non-tech, whoever have a chance to own a blog, start to know how to do affiliate sales already. With the hugh, unstoppable growing of money maker blogs, sooner or later 99% of people will know how to make money through affiliate marketing. And that’s the future.

I haven’t make a single affiliate sales. But that will be changed, when I open a company and hire people just to do this stuff. I will hire affiliates to sell my products, if I make. And will sell affiliate products, if I can’t make.  But certainly I will be choosing only the ETHICAL products. I hate scammers.

WJ: Please discuss your future plans for your web properties and other future developments.

This is a little bit of competitive advantage here. If I leak this information everyone else who appreciate it, will be using it for their own profit. But hey, that’s the cost for a link from PR5 blog isn’t it? I don’t even know if my link could get to 2nd-level page. Anyway I’m open person, so yes, I will tell you.

So here is my answer. I will be having an offline company having real staffs and assets. Fortunately for me I’m in Vietnam, and the market here is open. My weak part in the English market is that I can’t approach and make friends. I couldn’t make good enough sale letters. I don’t have enough time to make sales because I invest too much into technical development.

But all that is about to change. I’m going to open real company, provide real web services to the Vietnam market first. Here I have my advantages being graduated from Australia, of reading English articles, of knowing how to do things technically.

I will be making a few online market places for people to sell their products. I want something like eBay.com and Alibaba.com, for Vietnamese. After that, of course I will take into overseas market, targeting dollar spender. That’s a whole lot of revolution going on for years to come. I also will be making many information sites, to get revenue from advertisements.

Interview with Nation-x, well known webmaster in the online adult business community.

Nation-x is a well known webmaster in the community who started his adult career in 2001. He is a skilled PHP Developer and has worked for a variety of adult companies, including AEBN and Slick Cash. He has worked for AdultReviews.net for the last 3 years as TGP Network Manager and now enjoys his position doing in-house SEO, PHP Development and webmaster work. The AR TGP Network is made of over 100 tgps and soon AdultReviews.net will launch 3 new blog hosts managed by nation-x that will help expand the AdultReviews.net affiliate program.

WJ: What experiences prepared you for your current role as a webmaster/online publisher? What did you do prior to your current business?

I started my Information Services career in 1996 as a Software Quality Specialist for a mainstream software company. This was a great experience that gave me an opportunity to learn a lot. The company was purchased by another company in 1997 and I moved on to work as a Web Developer for a number of consulting firms. In late 1999 I accepted a position at Amway Corporation where I was the sole developer in a small team that developed the Amway Business Network (ABN) website. This was my first real taste of e-commerce but the site was doing around $1.6 million in sales per week. Shortly thereafter, Quixtar was released and they closed the ABN site and laid off 450 salaried employees (including me). I went on to start my own consulting firm and did well servicing office furniture manufacturers Herman Miller and Steelcase until the dot com bubble burst and 9/11 when most of these companies really started tightening their budgets and closing contracts. In a pure business sense this experience helped me to get where I am today.

WJ:  What do you think of Web 2.0 and how has it impacted your business? What is the next trend for user interactivity?

Most of the adult sites that tout the title “web 2.0” aren’t actually even web 2.0 companies/sites. This includes tube sites. The basic idea behind a web 2.0 website is not the look of it. It’s about user contributed content and conversation. Too many companies are trying to ruin the web 2.0 idea by turning it into their idea of marketing and I see it as a problem for the whole community because it’s the companies that are giving away all of the free content under the guise of web 2.0… it isn’t the users providing the content.  A “true” web 2.0 site would be like xpeeps.com or even alt.com. I think the impact of fake web 2.0 sites on the industry is negative as a whole and the companies that are pushing it are short sighted. There is a lot of profit to be made in user contributed content if the service the customers are provided allows them to maintain privacy while providing the means to interact with others that share their taste. I think that sexual expression is becoming much more mainstream with every year that passes and the companies that cater to that will profit in a big way. I see a huge trend of people getting their fill of professional content and gaining interest in truly amateur content.

WJ:  Should the Internet be regulated?  Are there any parts of the Net that could use regulation?  Please explain your position thoroughly.

I am totally 100% for free expression and I don’t want to see that inhibited in any way and I am totally against any government being in control of it. That said, I think that we do need user driven regulation in cooperation with government authority. It’s just like anything… people need to get involved and companies and governments need to start being more responsive to combat the evils. Spyware should be outlawed because it’s only valuable to the profiteer and not the surfer. There needs to be a more reasonable way to protect your copyrighted material as well as combat against trojans, viruses and phishing sites. It’s all being half assed at the moment and much too costly for copyright holders to defend their rights. I don’t know what the answer is… I just hope someone can come up with a solution.

WJ:  What is the future of affiliate marketing?  Where do you see yourself in this future scenario?

I think that too much money is being spent to combat affiliate fraud. I would like to see US and European programs tighten up their programs. I personally would like to see a total lockdown that would deny any new affiliates who are from a country that can’t purchase memberships. I know I will get a lot of hate for saying that… but when I see criminal organizations like the Russian Business Network, who have undoubtedly been payed millions in affiliate payouts, that are responsible for as much as 50% of phishing crimes and have installed trojans on millions of pcs worldwide… It seems like common sense to me. The adult industry needs to take this lesson from mainstream affiliate programs. There are a lot of mainstream programs out there (especially in the credit and banking industries) that have stringent standards for affiliate qualification. One suggestion is that programs limit the programs that new affiliates can promote until they prove themselves or unless they can provide reputable references. As far as my own role, I am confident that every program I promote can recognize that I am a good affiliate and that AdultReviews.net is an invaluable affiliate. We will continue to honor that tradition.

WJ:  Please discuss your future plans for your web properties and other future developments.

The keywords here are “maintenance” and “expansion”. I will continue to maintain our current sites and work toward their growth in addition to expanding. I think the key to adapting to the ever changing ecommerce environment is continuing expansion but I see a lot of webmasters spending time on expanding their networks with garbage sites and then they wonder why they get punished by search engines. In order to actually grow a valuable network you need to focus on quality. Stop copying everyone else and think outside of the box. These are my goals and the where the real work and reward can be found.

Interview with adult webmaster Alex from Adult Paysite Index

Since we work in adult business we make larger networks of adult sites. In the past we had 5000 domains and small adult sites optimized for Search Engine Traffic which made us able to gain about 700k traffic daily about 10 years ago, later we made several smaller networks. Our last network of about 150 TGP and MGP Sites was able to gain about 1M traffic daily. Now we work on a 500+ Sites Network containing of TGP, MGP and Text Sites which is noskim to fit the competition of Tube Sites.
Here are  the samples of our sites:

500 Traffic Trades/Link Exchanges  and  Adult Paysite Index  
 
 

 WJ:  What experiences prepared you for your current role as a webmaster/online publisher?  What did you do prior to your current business?

Nothing, when I begun I had zero experience, but common sense made me realize that there is money to be made in an easy way. Prior to online adult business i was a DJ for a long time and while still at school, right after finishing school i immediately got self-employed. Working for myself is my religion since then.
 

 WJ:  If you can only pick one, what is the SECRET ingredient to succeeding in online publishing/the webmaster business?

Common Sense and Logic are the most important things a successfull webmaster should have and use of course. Every other aspect is closely related to it and the product of thinking logicaly and using common sense to put the puzzle together, to forsee things, to understand your visitors and everything else related. Additionally i would say it’s very important to find good and qualified workers/employees if you have to expand your business which realy seems to be a probelm. Currently I’am very happy that i have 3 people working on my projects that I can trust and that give their best over several months now.

 WJ:  What do you think of Web 2.0 and how has it impacted your business? What is the next trend for user interactivity?

It hasn’t impact my business in anyway. We build Sites based on simple html since we are in business and we don’t see any reason to change this. The next trend for user interactivity? Honestly, no idea…

 WJ:  Should the Internet be regulated?  Are there any parts of the Net that could use regulation? Please explain your position thoroughly.

Only in some parts. Generally I’am all for freedom and free speech, but some worldwide regulations could be at least worth thinking about it. For example issues regarding and related to Spam, illegal Pornography, Guns and Drugs. It’s just obvious that the Internet as itself is “exposed”, due to it’s anonymity, to criminals and here I see place and need for some possible regulations to protect internet users.
 WJ:  What is the future of affiliate marketing?  Where do you see yourself in this future scenario?

Affilate Marketing will take a more and more important factor in my opinion. There is a huge competition in place, more and more affilate programs try to get a piece of the cake, so do new webmasters. Logically I prepare myself for my own affilate program in the long run, which again makes only sense if you have your own traffic resources. Other than that, I was and am still satisfied with being an affilliate.

 WJ:  Please discuss your future plans for your web properties and other future developments.

As I said earlier, currently we are working on a 500+ Site Network, about 200 Sites are finished but not yet released for public. Due to huge competition in the normal TGP business and the fast growing Tube Sites it was just logical to look for a new way to be able to compete with these. As a result I decided to make a very large network which covers every possible niche you can think about.  Additionally, it’s time to be as honest as possible to your visitors, the days of misleading them,forwarding and redirecting them against their will and similar practices are over in my opinion. Therefore, we decided to make our new network absolutly surfer-friendly which includes: very fast loading sites due absolute simplicity, no misleading links, and giving them exactly the content they are looking for. Future  developements may include raising the amount of sites for this network to 1000 to cover even every micro-niche and launch an affilate program.

Interview with adult webmaster Jscott, the owner of MyCashProgram.com

Jscott is the owner of MyCashProgram.com. MyCashProgram was created in 2007 kicking off with only 1 solo girl site of an asian teen NoiKanya , she is an 18 year old Thai girl who has been excited about her site since Day One. JscottCash is his resource site created for a guide for other webmasters and has been around for 2 years, but Jscott has been creating adult freesites, tgps, and blogs since 1998.

 WJ:  What experiences prepared you for your current role as a webmaster/online publisher?  What did you do prior to your current business?

My prior work experience was dealing with medical insurance claims in the midwest USA, nothing from that previous job helped at all in my current online business. I found the online marketing business from just being curious about the internet, I was fascinated by it, and one thing let to another.

 WJ:  If you can only pick one, what is the SECRET ingredient to succeeding in online publishing/the webmaster business?

The secret ingredient to succeeding in online marketing in my opinion is to find something you think the customers will like, create the website and stick with it, through thick and thin, so I’d say, you have to believe in the “product” you are selling, and also provide for it everything it needs, so there will have to be some investment, seems nowdays a lot of webmasters try to find another way around having to invest in their business.

 WJ:  What do you think of Web 2.0 and how has it impacted your business?  What is the next trend for user interactivity?

Personally I love web 2.0, I love the interaction between the surfers, I like how it opens them up and gets them to speak, rather than the site owners as it was before. I only wish web 2.0 was a bit more regulated when it comes to stolen content used on tube sites. Tube sites have definately impacted my business, sales and profits, I have no idea on how to track how much it’s impacted me but it has done some and I’ll assume it’s minus’d quite a bit of sales from my adult sites.

 WJ:  Should the Internet be regulated?  Are there any parts of the Net that could use regulation?  Please explain your position thoroughly.

Sure I think the internet should be regulated, I think mostly towards hate websites, spam, and illegal pornography, stolen content.

 WJ:  What is the future of affiliate marketing?  Where do you see yourself in this future scenario?

I think the future of affiliate marketing will be long and strong. The internet is still very new and has a long way to go before it is obsolete, if ever. My future of affiliate marketing will be to build my own sites to sell, so I’ll be owner and affiliate to bring in mostly all profits for myself rather than splitting with the site owners. Also I’ll be leaning towards more mainstream projects like surfer forums in many different topics, travel, food, clothing, etc.

 WJ:  Please discuss your future plans for your web properties and other future developments.

My future plans I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, plus add on new projects like I’ve mentioned above, new mainstream websites, blogs, and forums, and I’ll keep maintaining my current tgps, blogs, paysites etc, I plan on hiring more staff to help build my network of sites to a much larger scale.

Interview with Author and full-time freelance writer Donna Sundblad

Author and full-time freelance writer, Donna Sundblad, resides in Georgia with her husband, Rick. In her desire to help other writers, she started her Pumping Your Muse Prompts  blog in 2005 to not only challenge and inspire them, but also as an extension to her creative writing book Pumping Your Muse. In like manner, her Anthology News and Reviews blog provides anthology markets for a variety of genres as well as reviews of published anthologies. Donna is the author of a young adult fantasy novel titled Windwalker and has another YA fantasy novel due to be released in 2008 titled Beyond the Fifth Gate. She edits for several online publications and her wish is to assist other writers along the way to publication.

  WJ: How would you describe your profession?

I’m a full time freelance writer and author of three books with another two works in progress. I’m a regular content provider for LoveToKnow.com where I serve as the Business Editor and Diet Editor. I’m also the Fantasy Topic Editor for Inspired Author and the Sr. Non-fiction editor for epress-online. I guess you could say I edit as much as I write, but it’s all part of the same business. When I fill out my tax forms, I list my occupation as “writer” and I love it. All my work is done by telecommuting which is great with the current gas prices.

 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)?

Prior to taking the step to full time freelancing, I worked for 12 years on an island in SW Florida as a rental agent on the island of Boca Grande. When I started that job, the office had one computer. By the time I left, everyone had their own computer. That just goes to show you how fast things change in a short amount of time. While still working, I started taking online writing classes and developed my own website. It opened a whole new world of communication. Once my first book came out, I started looking for ways to help other writers that would also promote my books. It’s been a process as I learned the importance of social networking, promotion and marketing.

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

When I decided to seriously write in 2001, I was working full time in real estate rentals so I looked for online classes. I found them at Writer’s Village University where I’ve met people around the world. That online community is more than willing to share what they know with one another, and many of those contacts know much more than I do when it comes to the web. One of those contacts by the name of Shri Henkle led me through the maze of technology, online publishing and marketing with her advice and books. I’ve also learned a lot through my experience with Inspired Author, too, which is run by Suzanne James of Grace Publishing. She’s been the source that’s taken me to a new level, teaching me about things like Page Rank, how to use FeedBurner, Adsense and how to build a following and fans. That may sound like basics to many, but that’s how growth happens — from the foundation up. Information exchange and then putting what you learn into practice.

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

RSS advertising; this week I read that the internet has already exceeded television-based advertisements in the number of gross advertising impressions served. I know this isn’t real recent news for many, but I’m just learning about it and am looking into it because it’s another exciting opportunity to build my online presence.

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

Dedication, organization, a willingness to learn and of course the ability to communicate in written form or find others who can write for you. Dedication because you need to religiously update your content even when you don’t feel like it. Organization helps balance the different aspects needed to become successful including time to promote, time to write, and of course Social networking which opens the door to a host of experienced webmasters. You’d be surprised how willing people are to help you once they get to know you.

 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?

This is a good thing, but you’ve got to learn how to use it. In the past, I tried to be all things to all people. I wanted to help people lose weight, learn to edit, how to write, how to be organized and so on. I’ve learned to narrow my niche. I’m a writer. That scope broadens to help aspiring writers along the way while I continue to build my brand but my sites all have a writing theme.

 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?

I’m not one for more regulation. Giving the government power to apply restrictions and regulations can open a real can of worms for internet users. It would give government the power to apply levies and taxes to certain goods. Users of the Internet should control the content they look at and the applications they use. If some of the current legislation being considered right now gets passed, we may be looking at a whole different internet class system, because it promotes creating a two-tiered system. One for those who can pay and the other for those who can’t afford to pay as much.

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

Like I just said, if internet usage becomes regulated, our access to the information highway may be detoured. For those of us who make our living on the web, this can stifle creativity and research, curb originality and take away our free and open marketplace. Other than that, keeping up with the latest technology and tools is always a challenge. That’s why social networking is such a valuable asset. When someone mentions something I don’t know about, I start asking questions. Traveling in social circles on the web is like a treasure hunt. You never know what you’ll find to help you build your online presence.

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

Choose something your passionate about and establish yourself as a guru. You’ve got to care about your topic, or it will just become another job. But passion isn’t enough. You’ve got to get out there on the social networking sites. Talk yourself up. Stay current on what’s going on within your market. Read the news. Know what the hot topics are relevant to your business and what the latest tools are to help you build your online business.

Interview with 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.

Interview with Webmistress and Elementary school educator Dominique Goh

Dominique Goh, elementary school educator and mom to two active toddlers. She graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Commerce in 2000 and obtained her Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the National Institute of Education, Singapore in 2001. She has been a elementary school teacher ever since. She is currently  on a two-year hiatus from work to take care of  her two boys. She authors the site From Dominique’s Desk , a site where she pens her personal parenting tips, recommendations and reviews on childrens products and mentionable quirky conversations between herself and her elder boy. She also runs My Little Playgroup – a weekly playgroup session for toddlers which incorporates music & movement, arts & crafts based on monthly themes.
 
 WJ: How would you describe your profession?
 
My profession as a teacher is built on my passion for young children. Coming from a family of educators I know that importance of having a solid education. I am dedicated to educating and building up the characters of the youth of our society. I feel that it is important that we start education from birth to give a child the maximum opportunity to grow and mature into well balanced adults.
 
 
 
 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 decided to do online publishing/marketing when my 2nd son was born. I was looking for an alternative source of income to supplement the family as I wish to personally take care of them to be able to give them the best care and guidance. Knowing the importance of nuturing a child from birth I did not want my child to lose out and have the chance to become wayward like some of the students that I had encountered while I was teaching full-time. Writing comes quite easily for me as I have been actively involved in newsletter publications since I was studying in university.
 
 
 
 WJ: What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?
 
With the explosion of the internet and now the ease of building up your own website through blogging more and more people are looking towards the interent to market their products/services. More and more online marketers like Ewen Chia, Joel Christopher are making their marks are internet millionaires within a relatively short period of time. This has drawn a widespread interest in this field of online marketing and many, including me, wish to join in on this bandwagon.
 

 WJ:  In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing?
 
Viral marketing is the most exciting recent development. This concept has spread like wildfire through the explosion of social bookmarking sites and opt-in lists. Rebrandable books and softwares have made it easier for advertising to take place as people voluntarily advertise your product/service for you with minimal cost.
 

 WJ: What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster?
 
To be a sucessful webmaster one must be able to drive a substantcial amount of qualified traffic to your website. You must also know how the basics of html to be able to tweak your website templates when necessary. Also have a passion for learning and constantly updating yourself on the new features the Web has to offer.
 

 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?
 
It is good as you can concentrate on your forte and outsource the other techinical and time consuming bits. Focus on the money making parts and have a team to help you maintain your website. However the tricky part is finding suitable memebers for your team and working together as a group.
 
 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?
 
I feel that the industry is regulated enough however it is still quite grey to me on  copyrights and filing claims for being scammed. I feel that there should be more access to essential information on the different ruling governmental bodies and how a netizern can get redress if there is a dispute.
 

 WJ: What are the challenges the industry is facing today?
 
The online marketing community is growing rapidly together with the changes in the latest trends. The overload of information and sieving out the relevant parts is really very time consuming and back breaking. It is hard to cypher between the genuine marketers and scammers.
 
 
 
 WJ: What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in online business?
 
I would advice him/her to seriously consider the niche market of choice and to spend some time mapping out his marketing strategy. I am still working on marketing myself and trying to earn an online income. It hasn’t been that smooth saling and I haven’t had any recurrent sales or exploded my mailing list as yet. I am still constantly learning more and more about this industry and happy to help any newbie who is in need of pointers.

Interview with “SMB College Life Blog” publisher Shawn Borelli

My name is Shawn Borelli and I’m currently a college student studying engineering. I developed www.SMBCollegeLife.com because I had a hard time getting into, and paying for college myself.  I wanted to publish all the information that I found over the years that helped me with my college education.  I’ve also been able to collect a lot of information from my friends who were other college students’ going through similar struggles. Shortly after initial development I found myself researching as much information about the college planning process in order to publish the information to help a larger group of high school and college students.  My dedication quickly turned from making a few bucks and gaining credibility to helping people, which is when the real development of SMB College Life took place. The SMB College Life Blog was developed as an extension of the website, allowing me to quickly publish useful college news any time, anywhere. The SMB College Life site and blog are still in not-for-profit development phase, and only released to a small group of people.  The site will be launched to the general public in July 2008, when the first SMB College Life Student Pamphlet will be released in high schools around the country.

  WJ:  How would you describe your profession?

I am currently a full time student, studying Mechanical Engineering, and I also work for myself making small sales on EBay to get by and developing SMB College Life.  I’m hoping to spend the summer working within the digital media industry and continuing to prepare SMB College Life for its launch to the general public in July 2008.  I’m hoping that my profession will change from a full time student to full time developer of SMB College Life. The greatest success in life comes from helping other people and that is what I really want to do.

 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 got into online publishing last summer when I took a computer science course and need to find something fun to do that would help me learn computer programming.  Enter the World Wide Web!   I was hooked instantly and began spending a good amount of time learning programming through website development.  The website development turned into a passion for helping other students just like me, and SMB College Life was born. I soon started compiling pages of information that I collected myself and from college friends into reports which I later used as content on SMB College Life. 

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

There are many things that make online publishing a lucrative business.  The development of search engines was one of the most important things that helped online publishers reach their target audience.  Online advertising opened the doors to generating continuous revenue streams for established publishers and enabled bootstrapping for new publishers. It’s really not that difficult to implement a working business model online.  The hard part today is reaching your target customer.

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

In my opinion, one of the most exciting new developments to web publishing has been the availability and ease of integration of widgets.  With all of the current widgets available for free use it is easy for anyone to build a widget-based website without having to know much code.  Current technologies and consumer products are being built as widget-based systems and are a big hit on the mass market.  These systems will allow users to personalize their browsing experience, portable devices, media systems, and so much more.  The doors are opening to develop all new business models using widget- based systems. 

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

There are a combination of skills that makes one a successful webmaster.  Building a good reputation amongst your audience is one thing.  Content is another key to becoming a successful webmaster.  This is what people will be interested in, your content.  You can publish anything online but if it is not valid, useful, or interesting information than it will be hard to build an audience.  Marketing is the key to building an audience of readers.  If you can’t reach your target audience then they will never know about you and you’ll be writing to yourself.  You can build a credible reputation, publish hundreds of pages of content, successfully market directly to your target audience but if you don’t have some sort of business model in place then you will not profit from your efforts.  It takes time and money to publish online so you want to make enough to pay for your time and investment at the least.  Proper business models will generate streams of income that will help you to expand your skills and work on new things.  All these skills combined make a successful webmaster.  Programming is really secondary these days with all the resources available online.

 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 a good thing for my business.  I’m not the best coder in the world, nor am I the most artistic when it comes to creating images and graphics.  It’s taken me some time to get to the level I’m at today with coding and design, and I plan to enhance my skills as I continue to publish.  The things that I specialize in are helping people, producing quality work, and creating something out of nothing.  I’ve focused my efforts on these skills and received additional help along the way to develop SMB College Life.  This will one day create more career opportunities within my business and help me to focus on my individual skills.

 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?

I think that the regulations on the industry have gotten better over the years but there is always room for improvement.  I think that spam regulations have gotten significantly better over the last few years as we no longer have to worry about five pop-up screens coming up every time we use our web browsers.  I know I only see one, maybe two per month which is a great step forward.   Tighter regulations need to be developed when it comes to spamming, especially email spam.  I receive a lot of spam in my inbox daily and this really troubles me because people are abusing email lists.  This makes it hard for legitimate businesses to send informative emails to potential customers without being instantly labeled as spam and deleted.  Ideally, I could have the answer to everyone’s student loan debt but I wouldn’t be able to reach anyone with the message because people would see an unfamiliar email address in their inbox and automatically delete my email.  This is because everyone is so used to unfamiliar emails being spam today.  Very frustrating!

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

I think the challenges that the industry is facing today is seperating the legitimate websites from the one’s created by people who know how to cheat the system, fill a page with nothing but advertisements and take the search engine rankings away from the people who have good content and want to help others by reaching a target audience.  Search engines have gotten more refined over the years but more development needs to be done to improve the current system.  There are so many websites today, with the same exact content, that it is really hard to find the exact content you are searching for.  This only leaves room for niche search engines to take over and specialize in certain areas of the market.

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

If you are just starting out in the online business world be prepared to spend a lot of time learning new things.  There are some many little things that go into properly creating a website and publishing your content that it’s very hard to know them all when just starting out.  Be persistent yet flexible with your design and development as it will happen in stages.  Identify your target market early on and be prepared to work hard to try and reach this market.  If you are bootstrapping then be prepared to wait a lot longer.  The most important thing I’ve heard throughout my development of SMB College Life came from my grandfather.  He checked out the SMB College Life site one day and complimented me on the great job I had done on it.  The next thing that came out of his mouth was simple and effective.  He said, “How are people going to use your site if they don’t know about it?”.……………………..Thanks for reading my profile!

Interview with real-life college blogger, Jill Hamilton

Jill is a Journalism student in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada and has been blogging since 2001. She recently started a college blog Kill Jill Goes To College . She also is the creator of an online arts magazine Jill Pushed Jack  and maintains a directory for fictional blogs, Flogalicious .

Her official site can be found at http://www.jillianne-hamilton.com.
 
 WJ: How would you describe your profession?

The career that I’ll be entering after my program is Journalism. I especially want to be  involved in Entertainment Journalism. I think it would be a great experience, making a living by interviewing singers, actors, people involved in showbiz. I’d also like to work as a critic. I mean, who WOULDN’T want to get paid for giving their opinion on a movie, stage play, musical, concert or album? People are becoming increasingly interested in the lives of celebrities and riding that wave of interest is exactly what I plan to do.
 
 WJ: How did you get into New Media/Online publishing/Online communications?  Did you see yourself getting into this field early on?

Even before we had the internet, I thought it was such a neat idea: publishing your own work online for the whole world to see. As soon as my family got online, I started learning about websites, HTML and the many opportunities for self-publication that are available on the internet. I started making small websites, keeping an online blog and finally finding my place on the internet as a blogger and writer.
 
 WJ: What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?

I think one of the best things about online publishing is the fact that so many people are able to see what you’ve got to offer and read your words. Anybody on the planet with access to the web can read your thoughts and opinions and, for the most part, the reader doesn’t have to hand over a credit card to read those opinions.

Also, the production of websites like Wordpress and Blogger have helped a lot. People out there who aren’t that interested in learning HTML but want to get their articles and opinions published can do that very easily. In fact, with my own blogs, I prefer to use Wordpress just so I can focus on what I’m writing, instead of having to fiddle with HTML. I could if I wanted to, but I choose not to.
 
 WJ: In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing?

Although not really a NEW development in publishing, video blogging seems like an  interesting way of sharing your opinions. For those of us (i.e. not myself) who are better at speaking than writing, it’s a great way to share your thoughts about different topics. Although, I think there’s also a downside to this: the revolution of writers that the internet has spawned could be cancelled out by video bloggers who don’t want to take the effort to put their thoughts in writing.
 
 WJ: What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster?

Some of the basic things that a webmaster should know are:
1) The use of proper grammar, or at least acceptable grammar. There is nothing worse than reading an article on a website that includes statements like “Thiz CD was awsum and I give it 2 thums up!!!!!!”. Not only is it annoying to the reader, it makes the writer look like an idiot.

2) The ability to put together colors that compliment and are pleasing to the eye. Whether you are choosing a pre-made theme for your blog or designing a layout for your website, making your place of publication is half the battle.

3) The most important thing, probably, is having something significant to share. Although  writing a personal blog simply for the love of writing is fine by me (since I myself do that very thing), the thoughts you are sharing must be somewhat important to someone, or else what’s the point?
 
 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 the business of online publishing?

I think it’s a good thing because now each employee working for a website can focus on their job, whether it be writer or graphic designer. That way, each employee can become gradually better at their job.
 
 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?

The only opinion I have on this would be that of people getting fired for sharing their thoughts on a personal blog. Although, obviously, there are things that happen within a company that should not be shared, but if a personal blogs about their personal life and they happen to mention where they work, they shouldn’t be reprimanded for it. The blogger should be able to express their opinions freely without losing their job.
 
 WJ: What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in online business?

Have something important to say. Re-read what you’ve written before you post anything. Do link exchanges with websites like your own. Add your website to online directories. If somebody comments on your blog, be nice and comment back. Write articles for other people - but write for yourself first and foremost. That’s the most important person you should write for.

Interview with Ty Hurd - independent Pro Blogger from TysBlog.com

Ty Hurd has a background in both real-world and online marketing. He has had the pleasure to work as an independent project, market, and event manager for clients such as Philip Morris,  Microsoft, Monster Energy, L’Oreal, and Motorola to name a few. Ty recently decided to put his marketing experience and interest in internet business together and started TysBlog.com  - a pro blog for pro bloggers.  He offers plenty of tips and advice on content and technical development, promotion and marketing, monetization and more.  He also throws in a post or two here and there for fun too. Here’s today’s post about getting highly ranked blogs to link back to your blog (essential for your SEO efforts):  ”An Easy Way To Get PR5+ Backlinks! Boost Your SEO! “ .  This should give you an good idea of what you might find in one of his daily post…
 
 
 
 
 WJ:       How would you describe your profession?
 

“I’m a professional blogger (among other things), but it takes more than writing skills to be a “professional blogger”.  To be a blog pro you need to be a jack-of-all-trades. First and without question you need marketing skills, then a certain level of technical skills (graphic design, web design, HTML, and the list goes on…),  your writing skills really come into play last.  I know bloggers that are very successful, but are horrid writers – they blog, they teaches, they help the “readors” (and that’s exactly how they sound… it’s too funny).  In addition to blogging I’m also a freelance professional photographer – but that’s a whole  other questionarie ”
 
 
 
 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 worked as the lead technician and as a salesman for an telcom many years ago (circa 1994). One of the duties I volunteered for was to put together the new company website. I really had no idea what I was doing, but was I was fairly technically savvy, had leanred a bit in HTML, and figured I could, well, figure it out.  Several weeks later (more like a couple months), we had a  brand spankin’ new 50 plus page website. That was when I really started dabbling in web design and online marketing.  My next career was working in experiential and event marketing. I stayed in that field for years, learning about cross promotions, soliciting sponsors, marketing virally online ,and so on.  It eventually came to be the that the combination of my prior experiences led me into blogging professionally.”
 
 
 
 WJ: What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?
 
“Many would say it was the .com boom in the late nineties, otheres the advancements in the technology that drives the web, while still others might say the general public’s acceptance of the internet as a medium for sales.   I say — all of the above.  It would also not be possible without the ever increasing amounts of bandwidth available to anyone with a phone line or cable connection.  It’s like going from a corner store that had only one shelf, with room to hold one product, to a never ending plethora of anything and everything you might ever want.  All available on that same shelf, right there before you.
 
 
 

 WJ: In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing?
 
“Blogs.  I’m confident someday they’ll take over standard websites as the your primary source of news and information.  We may even see ecommerce go the way of the blog.  This medium would allow merchants ever changing store fronts, daily specials, and so on.”
 
 
 
 WJ: What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster?
 
“WebMASTER? The budget to hire many different experts, consults, and programers.”
 
 
 
 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?
 
“It isn’t an issue for me at this point.  That’s one of the benefits of being a  blogger.  I can keep it simple and still succeed. Not that there aren’t a lot of things I would like to add and do with my blog but can’t as the list of available technologies is beyond my limted expertise (.PHP, HTML, JAVA – WTF?).  Hopefully I’ll make a truck load of money with my blog, then I can refer to previous question about “successful webmaster skills.”
 
 
 

 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?
 
 
 
“NO!”
 
 
 
 WJ: What are the challenges the industry is facing today?
 
 
 
“With different technologies and new platforms coming out on practically a daily basis it can be hard to keep up.  A little standardization would be nice, but then again that might hinder progress and that’s something no one wants.  Another thing that may become a challenge is lack of net neutrality.  If the government and major telephone and cable companies (Comcast, Time Warner, ATT, and Verizon to be exact) start making the decisions on who gets access to the internet and how much each gig of bandwidth costs, the whole world is in for a different future online.  You can go to: http://savetheinternet.com/ to read more on the subject and sign an electronic petition that will automatically be sent to your congressman”
 
 
 
 WJ: What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in online business?
 
“Read, read, read, read, and read some more.  Unless your goal is to be a specialized programmer working on one platform, you need to learn a little bit about a lot of things. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different technologies. Learn a little HTML, get familiar with .PHP, try some Flash. It’s really not that difficult to learn just a little – you don’t need to be an expert. Most definitely read a book or twenty on internet marketing.  Just do all you can to learn a little about everything. But most importantly, and I can not stress this enough – YOU MUST TAKE ACTION!  You might say that you’re gonna do it someday, but you know what? Someday will never come…  Be proactive and take action now and you will find success.”

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