Aaron Brazell is the blogger behind Technosailor. He also serves as Director of Technology at b5media, aside from being a social media consultant. His blog covers social media without all the hype and sizzle that is often heard on the Internet, taking a common sense look at how this stuff applies in real life. Aaron resides in Baltimore, Maryland.

Please tell us something about yourself that we still do not know.

Hmmm, right out of the gate, eh? No first date? No dinner and a movie?

Well if you insist…

I’m a hardcore introvert. I fool people because, in social and professional environments, I have trained myself not to be. However, I value my quiet time and insist that my wife go to bed before me so I can have it. Surprise you at all?

Why do you blog?

Blogging, to me, is all about connecting with people. Over the four years that I’ve been blogging, I’ve taken a lot of different tacts and done it for a lot of different reasons. Early on, I just wanted to get noticed. At one point, I wanted to make money. Another time, I saw it as an opportunity to build personal brand. Through all that stuff, my blogging has evolved in terms of its purpose and focus.

Today, there is a lot of people blogging about a lot of the same things. If you look at Techmeme, though, you’ll see that the pool of “thought leaders” is small. There’s probably a dozen regular headliners, and everyone else listed is simply participating in the continuation of the conversation. While there is value in continuing the conversation, I want to be the thought leader. To that end, my blogging is very much oriented around provoking thought on the topics I write about.

How did you get into blogging?

Early on, I was actually joining the Navy and hoped to communicate the experiences from that. That’s where the “sailor” part of the name came from. To me, it was an opportunity to share my thoughts with the world.

How much time everyday do you spend blogging?

I don’t actually blog everyday. I don’t believe in the proverbial “quota”. My thoughts are that if you blog well, and use the tools available effectively, such as Twitter, you can do just fine in building traffic and brand. Ironically, since I stopped worrying about daily self-imposed requirements, my traffic and quality has increased exponentially.

When I do blog, it’s typically because I’ve already developed the thought in my head over a period of time. When I actually sit down to write, it’s effectively a brain dump of what is already there. So, I may spend only 15-30 minutes on a 500-750 word entry. I’ve already done all the “show prep” in my mind.

How do you attract readers? Any tips on getting the word out about your blog and driving users to your site?

Twitter is the most effective one on one marketing tool at my disposal. I still get lots of traffic from StumbleUpon, but that is not the result of active marketing, as much as quality writing in conjunction with viral tools like Twitter. A word about Twitter, and I think this is very important to highlight, Twitter becomes ineffective when it is used as a “low hanging fruit” method of marketing. While Twitter is easy to use, the use of it is not something that should be used trivially. There are too many plugins and tools that “automate” Twitter use, and doing this actually dilutes the effectiveness of your communications and marketing.

You’re with b5media, what do you do there?

I’m the Director of Technology at b5media which simply means that all the tech that’s involved with an internet company (there’s a lot right?) is under my control. We build the platform and infrastructure, participate in the open source community by not only using and extending WordPress, but also contributing directly back to the WordPress community and we try to anticipate scaling opportunities and ways to empower our bloggers to be more effective at what they do.

What blogs do you read? Can you share with us some URLs of your favorites?

I’m a huge fan of Chris Brogan who is the reluctant king of community. Here is a guy who is a rock star without claiming to be one. He has a natural magnetism that attracts community to him. In a lot of ways, I am trying to model my interaction with the local Washington, D.C. community in much the samer way as he has in Boston and in the podcamp, social media communities.

In addition, I’m a big fan of Loren Feldman at 1938media.com. As amazingly blunt as Feldman is, his brand is consistent and transparent. People trust and can relate to someone who is willing to say what everyone else is thinking. And as much of a jackass as Feldman is, he’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet.

Can you give us a ballpark figure as to how much you earn from blogging? How do you monetize your blog?

Currently, my advertising is handled through b5media. As such, I’m not at liberty to talk about exact figures. I’ve declined a variety of formats of advertising on the blog, though, and so the money I am able to make is not as large as it could be, but that is mainly a result of my choices for the blog.

What common mistakes do you see other bloggers are doing?

I find it unconscionable for bloggers to use Blogger. Everyone knows me as a WordPress fanboi, but the truth of the matter is that Blogger moves bloggers who may not know any better into a corner. When they do hit a moderate degree of success and realize the options available to them, they face the dire consequences of losing pagerank or indexed links.

A second, potentially more problematic decision young bloggers make, is in regards to paid content, such as PayPerPost. I had the chance to talk at length with Ted Murphy at IZEA (PayPerPost) at SXSW and he expressed that his company was all about giving bloggers the choice in how to make money. I agree in principle with this concept, however blind choice is never good. Educated decisions are always better. If you wave $100 in front of my face and tell me I can have it, I might just take it. But if you leave out the fact that by doing it, I have to give up a certain control of my destiny, I may not make that decision. The choice bloggers have to make needs to be in the context of what the ramifications might be. Making easy money (and potentially a lot of it) vs. losing credibility with readers, search juice at Google or damaging reputation and business potential for years to come.

(As of posting time, Aaron Brazell posts on his thoughts about PayPerPost)

What advice can you give to someone who’s starting a blog?

Have an idea what you want to write about before you start. It’s more than okay to adjust later on, but write yourself a mission statement and stick to it. You will become an authority quicker than if you jump around a lot, a mistake I made early on. Consider a personal blog and a professional blog, if you’re so inclined, so you have an outlet to do whatever it is you want to do and a professional blog that stays on topic.

Is the blogosphere crowded already?

Yes, but it’s not a bad thing. We just need more effective ways of distilling the information into relevant nuggets that apply directly to us. Search feeds, Alltop, and social networks like Twitter can provide effective means of doing that, but are not the all encompassing solutions either.

Photo by Tris Hussey

Posted on March 24th, 2008 by Dominic Rivera
Filed under: Blogging, Interview