Samuel Ryan, an authority in freelancing, is the blogger behind WakeUpLater.com and developer of solosnap. He lives in the United States and has admitted to experiencing a dozen mid-life crises which have nearly resulted in him becoming a teacher, med student, breakdancer, clarinetist, monk, or nomad. Obviously, he ended being attracted to the web. When not building websites or writing articles about websites, he can be found sleeping, pacing nervously, or reconsidering a career in breakdancing.

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

I’m currently on a mission to read every CS Lewis book ever written. I also enjoy burnt bologna.

Why do you blog?

I enjoy it. I think any other reason would fall short in motivating me…

How did you get into blogging?

Back when blogging first hit the scene years ago, I think many people had the narcissistic notion that others would care to read their writings. I was one such person and blogged at a personal level for a few years. This past year, I realized that my professional knowledge was probably more valuable, so I began blogging about that instead.

How much time everyday do you spend blogging?

It depends on other stuff going on in life. Early on, I was spending a couple hours daily as I was learning and trying to build a sizable readership and community. That’s tapered off a little, and nowadays, I spend less time on promoting and more time on just content writing.

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

Nowadays, I am fortunate enough to have a reader base that lets me ease off the “marketing and promoting” aspect of my blog. But back when I was promoting more, I would first sure my articles were somewhat unique and contained content that I myself would find interesting as a blogger or web worker. Then I just stayed involved in the blogs of others and in social communities like StumbleUpon, Digg, etc. Most methods don’t return a lot of visitors but with persistence and with content worth reading, you’ll eventually get there…

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

I’m always discovering new ones out there. I’ve posted 40 that I think are a good starting point: www.wakeuplater.com/online-business/start-reading-blogs-40-feeds-to-read.aspx

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

Because I’m primarily a web designer/programmer and then a blogger, monetizing is not really a priority in my blogging. I only use direct ad sales and the (very) occasional affiliate offer. All said, it comes out to a few hundred a month. Considering the hours involved, it’s not a great return by any means, but I enjoy blogging and it covers my car payment.

What common mistakes do you see other bloggers are doing?

Successful blogging, like successful writing, is no easy task. You must continue to persevere, learn, and work even when no one cares about your writing. Don’t think that you can throw a few blog posts out there and begin to make money. If you’re not blogging because you enjoy it (and would do it for free anyways), there’s a good chance you won’t be blogging for long. Also, don’t rehash a topic that’s been covered innumerable times in the same way (i.e., use Google to research the subject first). And oh yeah, always be reading and learning more…

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

(See above). Also, concentrate on what you know or can learn thoroughly.

Is the blogosphere crowded already?

Certainly, but the internet is still a big place. But as long as you enjoy blogging and don’t care about visitor levels, this fact shouldn’t matter.

What do you think of JohnChow.com?

Well, the site has over 20K visitors and makes good money, so I can safely assume that the site works quite well. In my opinion, you don’t get those kind of stats without providing value to readers.

Barack or Hillary?

I stay out of politics and only have the simple hope that the government will let me live peaceably amongst friends and family.

Posted on March 18th, 2008 by Dominic Rivera
Filed under: Blogging, Interview