Photo by Richard Giles

Duncan Riley is a blogging evangelist from Melbourne, Australia. In 2003, he launched The Blog Herald and eventually sold it in 2006 to BlogMedia Inc.

In 2005, he launched Weblog Empire, which later became part of the core of blogging network b5media. In November 2006, Duncan left b5media to pursue personal projects.

Duncan is now one of the formidable bloggers at TechCrunch.com and pursues a number of other activities via his company Nichenet Pty Ltd. Duncan maintains a podcast, On The Pod, on The Podcast Network.

Tell us something that we still do not know about yourself.

Unless you tell me everything you know, I don’t know what you do know and therefore can’t answer accurately. Oh, and I can be pedantic sometimes.

Why do you blog?

Because it’s better than working in a real job.

How did you get into blogging?

Luck. In 2001-2002 I started reading some of the early blogs and got hooked. I eventually decided that I should join in, which is how I ended up blogging about blogging, as I loved the medium.

How much time everyday do you spend blogging?

25 hours. Well it feels that way. Directly blogging would be probably less than 2 hours, but it’s the constant reading, research, and lead management (email + skype etc) that takes up a lot of time. The good stories don’t always easily identify themselves.

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

(If I was starting from scratch) The key is being part of the community. A blog that is an island is a blog that very few will ever find. Link out, link often. Participate on other sites. Email and network with other bloggers, even competitors. Besides being good karma you’ll find more and more people reading your blog if they know where it is. There’s also the SEO benefits as well of getting links from others.

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

Not strictly a blog, but I’m hooked on Techmeme, and it helps that Gabe’s a top bloke as well. I read most of the big blogs in the Web 2.0 space, as well as SEO and Second Life. My feed list is about 300 blogs, fairly low compared to people like Scoble, but I keep it tight and I run catch-alls for some of the spaces I want to cover.

Personal indulgences, I’ve always enjoyed The Register, and my current favorite site is http://www.f-ckingc-nts.com (language NSFW and it won’t appeal to everyone).

Other favs: Chris Pirillo, who is a machine with the amount of content he creates, Fake Steve Jobs + Fake Steve Ballmer, Tornadovideos.net, Ben Barren and the up and coming Paris Lemon.

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

My main income comes under contract from writing for another blog. I make less than $100k, but that money goes to my company, which strangely finds itself having to regularly purchase gadgets for review and work purposes in pre-tax money.

What common mistakes do you see other bloggers are doing?

Not being honest in an attempt to get ahead. Keeping it real is a cliched saying, but it’s a fair one for bloggers. If you’re selling your soul and pretending to be someone you’re not, blogging isn’t worth it, that and eventually people will work it out. Also I’m finding that quantity is starting to takeover quality as the lead driver behind blogs. There’s a sea of mediocrity out there at the moment with folks who are churning out the content but trying to not upset anyone along the way. It’s boring. Winners take risks, and that means knowing that opinion and editorial pieces add to the mix, and there’s nothing wrong with calling a dud a dud.

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

Do your research before you start. Know everything there is to know about the vertical before launching, read at least a dozen of your competitors (the better ones), and don’t be afraid to hire out work. Cheap templates = cheap credibility. If you can spend a little bit of money on making sure you’re site looks good as well. I’ve just switched from Scriptlance to oDesk and so far I can highly recommend oDesk.

Is the blogosphere crowded already?

Yes, but if you do research properly and identify the weakness of competitors and the opportunities available you can still succeed, it’s just that we’ve moved past the stage where that’s easy.

Are bloggers journalists?

Dictionary definition of journalist: someone who keeps a journal, so strictly speaking yes. Having said that I think it’s probably fairer to say that some bloggers are journalists in the way some journalists can be bloggers. Certainly at the top there is very little difference between a paid blogger and a journalist.

Mac or PC?

Mac, but still a relative N00b, I switched 12 months ago after 20 years of PC use.

Posted on March 2nd, 2008 by Dominic Rivera
Filed under: Blog, Interview