Blogger Interview Saturday: How to Make My Own Blog

Posted April 6, 2013 by Lola in Blogger Interview / 2 Comments

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Every first Saturday of the month I Interview a blogger. This month I interview Marko from the blog How to Make My Blog. This is the first time I interview a blog that isn’t about books, so I hope you all enjoy the interview!

Hello Marko!
Welcome to Lola’s Reviews! I am so excited to have you on my blog today. I think it’s awesome to interview a blog that isn’t about books for a change! Can you tell us about what you blog?

Thanks for having me Lolita! I blog about blogging and I blog at http://www.howtomakemyblog.com

-Why did you decide to start blogging? And why did you choose to blog about blogging?
I started creating content websites back in late 1990’s. My first site was about my favourite band Metallica. Later around mid-2000’s I switched that site to a blog as blogging seemed like a better option with easier publishing, editing, no need for tech etc. Eventually I ended up spending a lot of time learning about blogging that I decide also to share my knowledge and experience with newbie bloggers.

-How did you come up with the name for your blog, How to Make My Blog?
I wanted to have a descriptive name that explained to visitors what my blog is about just by looking at the URL or at the title. So I spent some time thinking and brainstorming and How To Make My Blog seemed to be the one that I liked the most.

-How old is your blog now?
I started it in November 2008 so it’s already turned 4 years 🙂

-What do you enjoy most about blogging?
I just love creating some content that people come and spend their time on reading/watching and that eventually leaves them with some advice or tips or motivation to improve their own blogging situation.

-What do you enjoy the least about blogging?
It is a difficult “job”, it takes a lot of time and effort to build something that actually looks good and that people want to come and visit. It’s not that I dislike the hard part of blogging but it is a hard job sometimes keeping it all up and running.

-How did you decide on this design for your blog?

I started with some generic design I found on WordPress.org, but few months after I wanted to have something that was more unique and that could differentiate my blog from all the others. So I got a friend to create the blog header for me and selected a theme that I saw some of my favourite blogs were using.

-As most of my followers are all blogger themselves, can you give us some advice on what makes an awesome blog?
For me it is all about content. Creating great content that people enjoy to read or watch, or that educates them, and creating it regularly over a longer period of time, is what makes an awesome blog for me.

-Not too long ago google decided to stop with google reader, what is your opinion on this? And which reader would you recommend bloggers should use now?
I am not a fan of this decision. Neither are most of the bloggers, I collected some thoughts about this from Twitter at http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/promotion/google-reader-shut-down/
Now, if RSS and feed readers will die out, it will become harder for bloggers to distribute their content and it places more important on using social media to network and grow your audience. I personally started using Twitter lists now to follow my favourite blogs.

-What is in your opinion the best way to make money with a blog without being annoying?
I’m not a big fan of banner ads and pop-ups and all the other ‘annoying’ ways bloggers make money with. I am a fan of affiliate marketing and especially creating great content that helps people. For a book blog for example it is a review of a book which has an affiliate link for people to buy the book. It is useful and relevant service for readers and not annoying. I’ve actually written about steps bloggers can take to earn first $500 from their blogs at http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/monetize/how-to-earn-first-500-from-your-blog/

-What can you do to encourage conversation on a blog?

Good content gets a conversation going. On top of good content make sure to ask people questions, make sure to state your own opinion and simply ask people to tell you their opinion.

Questions from my followers:
-Kimba: does it really matter whether I am on blogger or a WP self-hosted website?
For me personally the big difference is in the control and flexibility. Using self-hosted WP you own and control your blog 100%. The look and feel, the way you present the content, what content you want to publish, if and how you want to monetize it. Using a service like Blogger you basically rent your blog space from Google and they have the full control, while you have to work within their restrictions. I have a detailed comparison between the two at http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/blogger/blogspot-blogger-wordpress-blogging-platform/

Thanks Marko for the interview!
Anytime!

You can find Marko and his blog here:
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2 responses to “Blogger Interview Saturday: How to Make My Own Blog

    • I agree I learned a lot of this interview with Marko! And it was fun to interview a blog that isn’t about books, but us book bloggers can still learn a lot from this :).

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