Remarkable Blogging

How can a 22-year old semi-retired Internet marketer who never blogged before get 11,030 unique visitors,
and receive 1,300 comments in its first month blogging?

What does he know that you don’t?

This is shocking, yet it’s not some magic formula. Almost anybody could copy his strategy.

Click here to download the PDF version of this interview, or read the text version below:

1. Would you mind sharing a few things about

yourself and your background for our readers?

I’m a 22 year old semi-retired internet marketer who recently became a father and I have been marketing online since 1999 (I was 13). I have never had to apply for a job, write a resume or go to a job interview. A lot of people tell me my story is unique and interesting and if you want to learn a lot more about my background you can see it on my blog http://www.reedfloren.com/who-is-reed-floren/

2. When did you get started blogging, and why?

I had dabbled in blogging before but was never really passionate about it so I don’t think that counts.

On my http://www.reedfloren.com blog my first post was September 2^nd 2008 and the time of this interview it is October 5^th 2008 so I’ve been blogging about one month.

My blog’s PageRank is 4 and my Alexa 1 week ranking average is currently 75,667. For the month of September I had 11,030 unique visitors and 58,454 pages views, my blog also has over 1,300 comments on it.

I did spend some money outsourcing my blog design, I have writers who write for me and I did spend money on a press release but have NOT spent any money on advertising this site.

I reluctantly started blogging because my JV partners, friends, and customers wanted to see what I could come up with. So far I have enjoyed it a lot.

3. What’s the biggest mistake you

made getting started with this?

My biggest mistake was not starting blogging earlier. I have gotten new JV partners, new clients, recognition and a lot of testimonials that I otherwise wouldn’t have in the past month plus I have been building a deeper relationship with my list and creating content which I can use in other ways such as the basis for future products.

4. How did you come up with the

idea of launching your blog?

My customers and JV partners were asking for it. I reluctantly did what they asked.

5. How often do you publish and

how do you get content ideas?

I publish at least once per day, I have a team of writers who I give them a few ideas for articles and then they write and I approve or disapprove of what they wrote for me.

Each article costs around $5 and I’m not just using them for my blog so it is very cost effective and allows me to spend more time with my family.

I am turning the articles into PowerPoint slides and then recording them with Camtasia as:

1. Individual videos to give away

2. Putting them into a product to sell

My ideas come from seeing other articles, products and what my customers ask for.

6. How do you mainly receive (or generate)

traffic to your blog?

Since my blog is new 99% of my traffic comes from my email marketing list. I tell my subscribers every time I put up a new blog post. This has helped get this blog off the ground and has made an excellent community for my subscribers to go to and learn/share their thoughts on internet marketing.

7. What is your most closely-guarded

secret about blogging for money?

You don’t have to write the content yourself; my blog readers LOVE what my writers are doing and it’s really not very expensive to have someone do that for you while you spend time with your family. For instance it costs me around $5 to have each article written if you were to do the same and have one written per day it would cost you only $150 per month plus you can use this content for other things such as a product.

The site I use to find these writers is http://need-an-article.net/

8. What differentiates your blog among

all the others in your niche field?

Anyone who has studied internet marketing enough or can outsource could compete with my blog. The difference that I have is:

1. My story (22 year old semi-retired marketer)

2. My email list sends a lot of my traffic

If I can do this you can do this; blogging is about as difficult as using Microsoft Word or sending an email.

9. If you had to get a boost in comments

from your blog readers, how would you do it?

I would write something interesting or highly controversial. Currently my top post is on the birth of my son Zachary Thomas Iacono-Floren and that has nearly 200 comments on it.

Check it out here: http://www.reedfloren.com/marissa-parents/

10. Which are the blogs you visit frequently and why?

If I somehow get on a blog that has something that grabs my attention I will read it but I do not go out of my way looking for blogs to read or follow.

11. Which are your favorite bloggers and why?

None, I don’t specifically follow any bloggers at the moment.

12. Which plugins you can’t live without and why?

These all seem to help my blog quite a bit.

Add to Any: Subscribe – this helps boost RSS readers

All in One SEO Pack – helps improve your search engine rankings

BredCrumb Navigation XT – improves navigation

Commentluv – if they have a blog and comment on mine it will show their last post under their comment

Comment Relish – sends a thank you email and reminds them to subscribe

FeedBurner – boosts and tracks RSS readers

Dean’s Permalkinks – I changed my permalinks and this redirects them

Get Recent Comments – show’s the people who comment the must, boost their ego

Google Analytics - tracks how visitors view my site

Most Comments – shows the posts with the most comments

Google XML Sitemaps – improve search engine rankings

NoFollowFREE – gives my readers another reason to comment because it boost their search engine rankings

Odiogo Listen Button (my readers LOVE this one) a computerized voice which sounds very human reads my posts and saves them as an MP3 for convenient download

Popularity Contest – displays the most popular items

Pyschic Search – tracks what people search for on my blog

SEO Post Link – makes my post link SEO friendly

Sociable – helps add my posts to social bookmarking sites

Subscribe Me – boosts RSS readership

Tweet My Blog! (updates everyone on my twitter and facebook that I posted something to my blog)

13. What is the most important thing you learned about blogging that you could share with your best friend?

It’s really easy to blog; directly making money from the blog has been harder than I thought though but I’ve only been doing it a month.

However indirectly it’s been very nice; lots of testimonials, new clients, content for future products and a bigger presence.

14. What plans do you have for

the future with your blog?

My blog at http://www.reedfloren.com will have more guest bloggers.

Currently when I see someone has put a lot of time and effort into their comments on my blog and I agree with what they are saying I invite them to write for me (this costs me nothing as they do it on a volunteer basis).

I typically will invite them and if they are interested I will share a few more details on how it works and benefits them and then they will write for me for free. It’s win/win.

I want to switch more and more to a publisher role in my business as opposed to a marketer and once that step is completed just as an owner who has someone else manage it all.

We wish Reed success in the future and thank you very much for sharing your BLOGGING tips, tricks & secrets with us all!

If you want to get further into blogging, check out these resources:

WordPress Profit Maximizer – The BEST WordPress Plugins sent to you weekly via e-mail.

Lazy Blogging dot Com – Everything I learned about blogging!

Thank you,

Codrut Turcanu.

http://www.CodrutTurcanu.com