Please tell us something that we still do not know about yourself (other than what you’ve written about yourself in your blog).

That I am currently researching a buyer to purchase a set of vintage 1964 Colonel Sanders Salt and Pepper Shakers that are still sealed in the package.

Why do you blog?

Read, observe, absorb and respond

How did you get into blogging?

I stumbled into it. Haha. I owned the domain name of http://jessicadoyle.ca since 2004. It was my portfolio site but was becoming unbelievably hard to keep current and updated with new illustrative works. After I became sick in 2005 I was home a lot while in outpatient treatment for anxiety and addiction and began researching what I could do with my site. I knew what a content management system was and began testing platforms on http://opencms.org. I liked Drupal however their back end was confusing. I fell in love with Wordpress immediately after testing it, contacted my Web host and the rest is history.

How much time everyday do you spend blogging?

0 to 3 hours blogging
2 to 3 hours flickr/etsy
3 to 6 hours drawing/painting/creating offline

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

Search engines bring me the most readers.

Be honest. Be genuine. And don’t lie as readers will spot it a mile away and not return. The people that I am friends with in the blogosphere are the same ones I met within the first three to six months of blogging. We all grew together.

I help out new bloggers in the Etsy Forums when someone asks a question that I can answer. I also post my new blog posts there. This brings new readers to my blog.

I link to my blog, shop and gallery at the end of each email I send out.

I link from every flickr image and Etsy listing to my blog.

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

http://angryaussie.wordpress.com
http://knifegunpen.com
http://blogherald.com
http://wagonized.typepad.com
http://raincoaster.com

…and the ones in my blog’s sidebar
…and my contacts on flickr as I do NOT use a feed reader.

Do you make money from blogging? Or is blogging just a venue for self expression for you?

I used to make money directly from blogging through Google and TextLinkAds advertising and through writing on paid blogging sites such as TheBloggingTimes and the BlogHerald.

Now that I have migrated to Wordpress.com I can no longer place ads of any kind on my blog although I am being contacted by various private parties weekly to do so. I want to keep my blog completely ad free. I do wish I could link to my shop directly within posts but Wordpress.com would BAN me. I found a workaround recently thru linking to my about page from relevant posts where their is in existence a link to my Etsy shop that IS allowed per Wordpress.com rules.

What common mistakes do you see other bloggers are doing?

FLASHing ads plastered all over their blog.
ADS. ADS. ADS.
Obtuse colour schemes. I’ll click once and only once and never again.
Allowing spam comments to go through without moderating them.
No space break between paragraphs.
Spelling mistakes.

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

Use Wordpress.com if you are programmatically challenged
Write and post often.
Comment on other’s blogs only if you want to and feel you connect with the other person(s).
Link to other blogs.

Is the blogosphere crowded already?

No and yes. Each blog is a voice no different than those voices in real life. Is the earth crowded?

What do you think of Etsy?

I love it! Best decision I’ve made in a long time. I decided to open a shop in 2006. Life got in the way and I opened in late 2007 rather than late 2006. These are the addresses of my two Etsy Shops: http://JessicaDoyle.etsy.com and http://OLDisNEW.com.

OK, now go and buy my art so I don’t need to place obtuse flashing ads on my blog.

Posted on March 10th, 2008 by Dominic Rivera
Filed under: Blogging, Interview