This is the 15th edition of powerful, successful and inspirational interviews in the series of Journey of a Professional Blogger, interviews on EASKME.com.
- Interview with Leticia Perez
- Interview with Jennifer Peaslee
- Interview with Kari
- Interview with Deborah
- Interview with David Leonhardt
- Interview with Marisa Sanfilippo
- Interview with Sasidhar Kareti
- Interview with Romano
- Interview with Steve Counsell
- Interview with Alex Young
- Interview with Paul Manwaring
- Interview with Sef
- Interview with Maxwell Ivey
- Interview with Sarah Taher
Today we are going to publish interview with a professional Blogger, Vinton Samms (Pro-Blogger and Writer) from Isureprofits.com.
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Please share about yourself and your story to enter in blogging?
I am an Internet Marketing Expert. I have been online for the last five years and have seen many instances of persons providing services that did not benefit anyone, that were just fluff. I immediately became aware that something had to be done particularly for the large numbers of new online entrepreneurs that were being led astray and so with this is mind I began a blog about services being offered by reputable companies as well as products that could genuinely help.To write on these, research had to be done and sometimes checks also had to be done to verify the information since information changes very often online. This resulted in interest being developed in the posts that were being shared just for help and not for reward. There developed a problem however. Spamming was being done on a wide scale by persons who were sharing links all over the place and in languages that were not immediately understood such as those from India, China and other parts of Europe. This led to some frustrations until I was able to find a plugin to take care of this and assisted me in clearing up the comments section of my blog. You see, the comments were nonsensical and did not provide and value to the blog nor the post to which the respondents were responding to. I also subsequently learned that most times these were being done by robots.
These did not prevent me from continuing but fortified my resolve to make a difference where quality was concerned.
How the idea to make your own blog came in your mind? How you found the right people to develop it and what big obstacles you faced?
As was said before the idea for starting a blog began with the need as I saw it, to provide quality information for persons who were online and needed information on many different topics including businesses. With my experience and knowledge of operating a business online it was easy to find the information to share that would have made a difference to those seeking the information. I developed the blog myself, although I had limited technical knowledge, this was because the platform I used required very little technical skills and was self-hosted. So all that was required was to create a space then customise it to suit my taste in terms of graphics, colors and layout.It was kind of difficult at first not having the experience of creating a blog before so trial and error was used until I got the hang of doing it . One of the obstacles faced was what do I write and how do I begin to write. Another was how do I get images to enhance the pages and how to get them. Again, since the platform did not come with tutorials, it was a matter of trial and error.Then once successful, it was a matter of just pressing the 'publish' button.
Can blogging really change someone`s life?
Blogging can change someone’s life. If you start a blog and it becomes successful, then you would have developed certain competencies that you would not have otherwise including the dedication to task, following a prescribed course of action, such as blogging often and not when you feel like it. Your readers and subscribers would come to depend on you to share certain information with them, for example.The other is that you can use the blog as a business promoting goods and services thereby earning an income. Income can also be generated from advertisements placed by Google Adsense as well as by some affiliate sites. If you have these going for you then you really can work for yourself, at your pace and from home. This will definitely change your life by proving you with the freedom to do what you like when and how and not being bogged down by a 9-5 job
What are your favorite Internet marketing tools?
The Internet marketing tools that I like to use are listed below:- Getrespose.com for email marketing service and to create landing pages
- Bitly.com to shorten long and ugly url links
- Landingpage Monkey.com for creating exciting landing pages
- PicMonkey.com for editing and designing images
- Bufferap.com for scheduling posts on social media
What is your daily schedule? and how do you maintain your tasks?
My daily schedule would be getting up at 6:00 a.m and engage with my social media accounts by posting, liking, sharing and commenting until 9:30 a.m. I would then take a break for an hour. At 10:30 a.m I would go on the blogs and read and approve comments and reply if necessary, update plugins if needed until 12 noon. I would then stop and go again at 3:00 p.m. repeating the activities above until 6:00 p.m. If I am working on a blog post I would use the time between 12 noon and 3:00 to gather information, write and rewrite, etc.Mainlining the tasks are never easy and comes with discipline. I have to discipline myself and keep my focus. One way of doing this is to keep out family, friends and other distractions.
Blogging have different definition for different person. What is it for you?
The origination of the term ‘ blog’ is interesting. It was initially called a ‘weblog’ which means a log or diary or a journal that helps you record your thoughts on a daily basis. For convenience, the term was later shortened to blog and this is when free blogging services such as Blogger and Wordpress became extremely popular.For me I see blogging as a platform where various kinds of people from all walks of life, whether they have the same ideologies or not, conflate, and discuss the matters they think are important to them. It has become an important advertising tool for marketers who wish to promote their products online, for persons interested in making money online and for others who wish to sell their ideologies and reach out to the masses.
Which are your favorite blogs?
My two favorite blogs are Smart Passive Income and Social Media Examiner.The reasons I have chosen these two are that they are both big sites with large readerships. They have somehow find a way to engage with the visitors to the sites and able to get them to leave comments, genuine comments. Their posts are interesting and relevant
How much time do you spend on social media promotion and SEO of your blog?
For social media I use facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and Pinterest. I spend most of the time on Facebook sometimes up to two hours since most of the traffic is on this platform. I have just started to use Instagram for promotions and so am still learning, but so far I would spend about 45 minutes sharing, liking and following persons who are of interest to what I am doing. On Linkedin I would spend about one hour sometimes posting quotes and sharing links. I would next upload and share exciting images. On Pinterest, it would be one and a half hours and here I would be searching for pins for my boards and following persons.SEO would be done at the same time that the post is created and published using YOAST. The variety and frequency of the social media interactions would also lend to search engine optimization
How much time do you spend for blogging daily?
do not blog daily as this is very time consuming and it takes time to research and put the material together. So typically I try to blog once per week. In putting the material together time is required to do research and write a first draft, then re-edit and find images to support the post. It would take at least one day to complete a post depending of course on the topic.Message for Readers:
when you have visited a blog and read a post, please leave a comment for the writer, and if you like the post share the information with someone else by using the share buttons. It is important that you do this so that the writer can know that someone has appreciated the work done or if you have a different perspective on the topic, let him or her know of this.There might also be an update to the information presented that the writer was not aware of and the post can be edited to include the update. The interaction is very necessary on many levels. If you just visit and leave no trace that you have visited then it makes no sense.
If you are a blogger, one of the advantages of this would be to have your blog visited by other readers because of the comments that you shared. Persons who use their blog for business would know that you visited because you acted on the call to action on the blog. Finally,
It was a great interview with Vinton Samms from Isureprofits.com. eAskme team wish him best of luck and bright future. His journey as a blogger is an inspiration. If you think that it is impossible, think again. You have the ability to do anything and be what you want to be. So if you still waiting to start a blog, I must say you should start it right now.
Don`t forget to share about Vinton Samms on your social profiles. If you want me to Publish your interview, feel free to contact me.
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