I am very excited about the start of a new series here on Tycoon Blogger. Every Saturday I will be featuring an outstanding blogger from the blog-o-sphere in a series called “Blogger Spotlight.” For the first installment I am delighted to interview an up and coming blogger name George Serradinho. I visit George’s blog daily as there is a great blend of blogging info, wordpress info as well as some personal stuff thrown in as well. If you have not been to his blog yet you have to check it out, in addition to great content, it is one of the most visually appealing blogs on the Internet.
Here is the interview…Enjoy!
Q. Please tell us who you are, where you are from and a little bit about your blog.
Well, my name is George Serradinho and I was born and raised in the beautiful country of South Africa. I come from a family of six with 2 brothers and only one sister, thank God for that, I currently work in the IT department for a huge telecommunications company as a contractor and just love it.
As some of you might know, my domain name Serradinho.com, which is actually my surname. When I initially started my blog, it was to be for personal blogging whereby I could express my thoughts and opinions like millions of others on the net. As my blog has evolved over time, I have branched out to try and help others as much as possible by supplying tips and tricks on different topics, but still posting on personal experiences.
Q. How long have you been blogging?
The domain Serradinho.com has been registered since January 2006, but I only started blogging in August of 2007.
Q. What was your first online project?
I had accumulated many hundreds of ebooks over the years and thought of selling them on the net to make some extra cash.
Me not having any website programming languages behind my name, I started to browse the internet for open source software. I eventually landed on osCommerce.com and this is where I started to learn MySQL, HTML, CSS and PHP. I eventually gave up on osCommerce as I had stumbled onto WordPress which would suit my needs more.
Q. What got you interested in blogging?
mmmmmm, I guess it comes down to sharing your thoughts, opinions, knowledge and getting to meet other wonderful bloggers. Since I started blogging, I have met many wonderful people who are like-minded and to be able to connect with others is amazing.
Q. Do you blog for money? If so, how is that working out for you?
When I started blogging, it was for absolute fun and pleasure as stated above in one of my previous answers. It was just something to keep me busy and to entertain my own ego, lol.
I have recently started to monetize my blog and the income is slowly growing on a monthly basis. I’m not making thousands like others, but I’m still learning what works for my site. Making money from one’s site is not as easy as most people think, it takes time and patience.
Q. Who do you think the top 3 bloggers are right now?
Me, myself and I, just kidding J There are so many around now days, but if I had to name 3 then it would be Jim Regan from TheNetFool.com, Alex from Blogussion.com and last but not least would be Darren Rowse from ProBlogger.net.
Q. What is the single best piece of advice you would give a new blogger starting out today?
Take your time and do things correct from the start. Know your short term and long term goals and strive to achieve them.
Q. What are your top three sources of traffic to your blog?
Currently it would be Google, referring sites and then direct traffic.
The referring sites traffic is from forums, blogs and other sites where I leave comments on. Some blogs have CommentLuv installed and that is a great resource of traffic as the user gets to see your last blog post title and he/she can then view it if they want.
Q. What is your best money maker for your blog?
That will have to be the Thesis affiliate program. I have just recently moved over to using the Thesis theme and it’s really not hard to promote it.
With the theme customizations that can be done and with the community support in place, I think it speaks for itself. The commission is great and all you need is to have a link on your site, they have reviews, video, articles and loads more.
Q. How many blogs do you own? What are your other blogs?
At this stage I only own one, and that’s Serradinho.com. Maybe in the near future I will broaden my arisen with a few more, you never know!
Q. How much time to spend on your blog each week? This includes writing and promoting.
Wow, this is a hard question for me to answer. If I have to put down a number, I would say it’s around 25 hours a week, give or take a few minutes. I use the word ‘around’ as I visit many sites and get great ideas or see great articles and go from there.
I spend 10 to 30 minutes per article that I publish, checking my grammar and making sure all is in order. There are some articles that require more time and research, but I guess that’s the case with all bloggers.
Q. Where do you see the future of blogging heading?
Blogging has been evolving for some time now and it will continue to evolve. They have made it so easy for both old and young to blog using different blogging platforms available today.
As we push the boundaries of technology, so we will continue to push the boundaries of blogging until it reaches its absolute limit. You always read about more and more people blogging every year and those numbers will continue to rise. Blogging will never die, it might change its appearance with time, but the basics of blogging will always be there.
Q. What else do you online besides blogging?
If I was a woman this would be easy to answer, SHOPPING of course (sarcasm). Sorry, I just had to say that. I shop around now and then for specials on electronics. I try my best to communicate with friends and family abroad and sometime play a few games although I’m not a big gamer.
Q. What social network are you most involved with? How can we connect with you there?
At this stage I use Twitter on and off, depending on my time and internet access. Users can get hold of me @gfserradinho; I would love to hear from some of your readers.
George, a very great interview! I loved the answer where you said to everyone that monetizing blog isn’t easy, it takes time and patience. Even your site which has a PR 4 is taking time. We all have to take time and start gradually enjoying the money it’s flowing from our site
Patience is important since it may take 1-2 years to start seeing thousands of dollars income.
Thanks to InkAPoint, Deneil and Nicholas for your kind words.
.-= George Serradinho´s last blog ..Funny: Yoga for Drunks =-.
I know George and his blog. He is very good in his writing style.
Good interview dude.
.-= Tech @ InkAPoint´s last blog ..Interview with the Author of Technotip =-.
Great interview. George is a great blogger and friend.
.-= Deneil Merritt´s last blog ..Learn How To Start Your Mailing List =-.
Great interview. I’m a subscriber to his blog and I’ve always enjoyed his updates. I’m looking forward to your weekly updates on this featured blogger segment.
.-= Nicholas Z. Cardot´s last blog ..5 Irrefutable Qualities of Successful Blogs =-.
Thanks to all who commented and a big thanks to Dan for interviewing me. It was an honor and Dan is definitely heading in the right direction.
.-= George Serradinho´s last blog ..Need to know more Twitter Lingo? =-.
Good of you to start this series of featuring blogger every saturday, hope this will be a permanent feature for your blog.
.-= Roseli A. Bakar´s last blog ..List of WordPress Thesis Theme Tutorials, Tips and Hacks =-.
George, great to see to see getting interviewed… it’s a different experience of seeing someone you know get interviewed
Tycoon blogger is going in the right direction Dankeller.
Keep up the good work!
Cheers
Sandeep
.-= Curious Little Person´s last blog ..Starting An Online Business Series: Researching and Finding our Market =-.
Man what an excellent idea and George is an excellent interview if I might say so myself.
Stumbled and Twittley
.-= Extreme John@Extreme John Blogging and Business´s last blog ..Sunday Smash: Twitter, WordPress, Pictures and Videos =-.
Nice idea, Dan.
Thanks for the interview!
.-= Toan Nguyen Minh´s last blog ..The Secrets To Write A Review Article =-.
great idea of blogger spotlight.you really believe in sharing is caring.
AND saw serradinho’s blog. it is good
.-= gautam hans´s last blog ..Entrecard Contest Update =-.