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Aug52010

Zubin Kutar Professional SEO Blogger Interview

Tags: affiliate marketer, Blogger, pro blogger

I have recently had the opportunity to do an interview on Zubin Kutar founder of WebtrafficROI, who is very well known in the blogger world and was voted top internet marketer and blogger in 2009.

I hope that by doing this interview my readers will gain some insight in the industry and perhaps get a few tips along the way.

(DL) Could you share with my readers your background, where you were brought up and how long you have been involved with affiliate marketing and SEO and how long it has been since you have been running your own personal blog.

(ZK) I grew up in India where I did my education and them moved to Canada, I presently live in Toronto, Canada.

I’ve been involved with the internet and SEO since 2000. I was working with a start up travel portal at that time. I started the blog in 2008 to sharing my experiences and knowledge on internet marketing. I got involved in affiliate marketing once I started the blog. Since then blogging has been a passion, today the blog broadly covers all the topics related to Internet Marketing and Making Money Online.

(DL) They call you the top commentator in the blogosphere, what would you say that is the best part about commenting, and what motivates you to be a top commentator?

(KT) Ahh, I did not know I had a name in the blogosphere , I started commenting as an experiment to see if I could get any traffic to my blog as I did not know of any other way that you get targeted visitors at zero cost. The biggest cost involved in commenting is your time. The traffic that you get on the blog by commenting is as valuable as the traffic that comes from search engines and through paid ads.

(DL) I see you are very fortunate enough to be living in Canada and not too far from John Chow, furthermore I see you have been networking at affiliate events with Pros such as Shoemoney, can you tell me about your experiences and what you have picked up from being involved with these guys.

(ZK) I have been blessed to be living in a beautiful country, if I would have not been here I would have not had a blog. I happened to read about John Chow in Entrepreneur, a magazine I picked up from the public library. I was amazed when I read that he was making $40,000 from a blog. I started following his blog and then had a chance to meet him in Toronto, he has been a good friend ever since. I was also fortunate to meet Yaro in Toronto last year. These guys are just amazing, its a different experience talking to them and being around them. They are full of positive vibes. I hope some of it has rubbed off on me

(DL) You always seem to be up to date with what is going on in the affiliate community and therefore seem as though you never run out of ideas to blog about on a daily basis, what kind of tips could you recommend for other bloggers or affiliate marketers out there that struggle in finding fresh topics to post about daily?

(ZK) As a blogger you need to be updated on the latest trends, topics and the strategies that work online , else you wont be able to write and educate you audience about it. I can only recommend you to read a lot of books, blogs and sites related to your niche, it will help you get lots of ideas for your blog.

(DL) I see you have a huge fan group in Facebook, how have you achieved getting such a high amount of fans? Have they become fans naturally from your blog, or have you been using social marketing techniques to gather fans from other sources?

(ZK) I am surprised at that too, Ive never done any activity to increase my fans , in fact its been only 2 month since I added the FB widget..I sent out a newsletter to my email base when I added the widget, I am yet to write a blog post telling user to join my fan page.

(DL) What would be the best advice you would give to any new blogger getting started, or someone that has some experience but has not yet achieved their personal goals. Are there any useful tips you could suggest to get them more motivated and ramp up their sales?

(ZK) Money is a by product of any entrepreneurial venture, it will follow. Have a bit of fun with your venture. Dream, Build a Dream and Sell the dream.

(DL) I see you are very passionate about SEO along with affiliate marketing of course. What are some examples of real traffic building you have accomplished in the past for your own site? Have you done any successful campaigns that are worth mentioning through forms of internet marketing?

(ZK) I spend a lot of time on building traffic through search engines, that drives majority of my visits. I recommend users to work hard on quality building links for your blog posts. Once you write a post market it across your network and across search engines to drive traffic.

(DL) How long has it taken you to make a good income, and would you mind sharing how much roughly you make from blogging and how much time each day you spend on blogging and how far would you like to take it in order to be totally satisfied?

(ZK) I made my first dollar from the blog after almost six months of blogging, if you are willing to wait for 6 – 8 months of continuous blogging and marketing yourself then consider it. I spend about 4 -5 hours a day blogging and marketing my blog.

(DL) Would you be willing enough to share with my readers your most memorable moment both online or offline and related to affiliate marketing or SEO?
(ZK) The moment is yet to come when I cross a five figure income from the blog each month.

Note: As you can see from this interview being a top blogger is possible if you follow your dreams and are passionate about what you post. Zubin is a good role model for those who wish to have someone to look up to.

Other Interviews I have done in the past are:
Interview With Professional Blogger: Yaro Starak
Interview with Copywriter / Internet Marketing Guru: Gavriel Shaw

Jun102010

Interview with Copywriter / Internet Marketing Guru – Gavriel Shaw

Tags: internet marketing

Gavriel Shaw is a good friend of mine who has been involved in the internet and making money online through professional copywriting since the very early stages from when the internet was born.

I hope that by putting this interview together, my readers can be inspired and believe that they too can do it if they put the dedication and passion into it.

1. I know that you have been making money on the internet since the late 90′s what can you tell us has changed over years, and has this helped you get better?

The fundamentals are the same. First: Understand the fears, frustrations and desires of a particular target market. Second: Create a high value product and an offer that strikes a strong chord with that market. Third: Get traffic to your offer.

What’s different is short-lived tools and emergent innovations that come from new programming. First there was simple html. Then css and php. Now ajax, widgets, and hooks.

SEO for example is essentially the same. Build a clean easy loading website with lots of high-value content that people like to spend time reading and link to. But how people read (e.g. smartphones) and how people link (e.g. WordPress plugins) is ever changing.

2. You are a great Copywriter, probably the best I have personally met, what kind of work is involved and what kind of advice do you have for anyone who would like to get into copywriting?

Be intensely curious and passionate. Explore the human experience. Learn how to truly listen to your target audience. Understand your prospects. Read lots of good quality sales letters. Write often. Ask for feedback from other copywriters. Measure your success based on how well your sales letters and opt-in pages convert. Measure everything. Test.

3. I really like your matrix marketing and internet marketing strategies. What would you consider to be most effective when doing business on the internet, Affiliate Marketing, Internet Marketing, Copywriting or SEO?

Well, as above, first understand your target audience, get or create a product that is high-value, then focus on building traffic and the conversion rate of your traffic into leads and customers.

I really can’t say that any one component is more important than another. If you have lots of traffic but can’t convert, you don’t make sales. If you have a high-converting sales offer but have no traffic, you don’t make sales. The trick is balancing your time and energy on both sides of that equation. It takes a lot of dedication.

4. Would you say that to target a niche area would be a good idea to start off with like something that is a small but steady market?

Concentrate on your passions, your curiosities. Start by making a personal blog (use WordPress). Find affiliate programs related to your products and promote those products on your blog. Make some sales.

If there are no affiliate products in your niche, then capture traffic that comes to your site on rss or email subscription, then contact companies that sell products in your field of interest and do a deal with them (e.g. they can create a sales page on their site that only you send traffic to, thus any sales they make from that page are attributed to you, and you get a commission). That might seem complicated to you, but it might be quite straightforward to them. And they might welcome the added source of traffic to their business.

5. When I met you in Thailand in 2006, you had some great ideas, and making money while traveling was easy for you. I remember you used creative strategies like “Inviting your readers to an Island with you” how effective was that for you are you still using these kind of strategies today?

Gimmicks can be fun. They can work. But only if the underlying value is in place first. Any marketer must cut out all of the gimmicks and begin with the basic high-value offer. Only then can you embellish your work with more creative ideas.

Headlines need to be high-impact. In copywriting we call it ‘the big idea’. Something that helps to capture attention, perhaps that’s a very simple idea, or perhaps a little wild, strange, or unique.

For example, we could build a headline for your own success story, something like:

What Insider SEO Secrets Can This Traveling Aussie Teach You About SEO From Experience Running A Successful 12-Person SEO Company.

That’s just a quick brainstorm. It might be too long, but certainly shows an interesting story, something special and unique, and promises high-value information.

So first, make sure you’ve got the goods. A strong offer. Good product. Then you can embellish it with creative strategies that grab attention and make you stand out from the crowd.

Thanks for the interview Dan. Onwards and upwards.

Nov172009

Interview With Professional Blogger Yaro Starak

Tags: Blogger, internet marketing, Interview, Make Money Online

yaro-starak

It’s been a pleasure to be able do an interview with professional Blogger and Internet Marketer Yaro Starak. I put together useful questions in order to get useful answers that I hope everyone can learn and benefit from;

Daniel Lew: You have been able to successfully live the internet marketers dream earning a good living from automated income from a few hours of work each day. How long did it take you to get to the stage of being able to work from home, and how much longer after that did it take you to start earning a 6 figure income.

Yaro Starak: I’ve been running websites since 1999, and made my first significant
income stream in 2002 (about $500 a month from banner advertising on a
hobby site I built from scratch). Before that I was playing with eBay
and learning how the Internet worked. I started a proofreading
business in 2001, which eventually brought in enough to live off, so I
quit the part time job I had at the time (I’ve never had a full time
job). In 2004 I began blogging and within 12 months I was making about
$2,000 a month. Eventually I sold off the proofreading business and
focused 100% on blogging, and by 2007 I made over $100,000. I made
$250,000+ the year after and over half a million the year after that.

I suggest people plan to spend 12 months learning, followed by 12
months to get themselves up to a full time income and the next 12
months to reach six figures. That’s a realistic timeline anyone can
shoot for, though of course it can be done quicker or slower,
depending on what you do.

Daniel Lew: One of your most successful sites is http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/ how successful has this made you up until today and how much further would you like to take it?

Yaro Starak: Entrepreneurs-Journey.com is my main blog and the center point of my
business. At the moment I don’t have any plans to make any major
changes, all I have ever wanted to do is help people with my writing,
which is what I intend to keep doing at the blog. If I can help even
just one person reach financial freedom via the Internet, or make them
a better person in any way, then I’m happy.

Daniel Lew: What advice could you give anyone that is starting out as a blogger or affiliate marketer?

Yaro Starak: I suggest you do two things -

1. Find a hungry market who really want what you have to offer
2. Give them so much value that they come to respect and trust you

The key here is giving lots of free content, so when it comes to make
money, you have lots of attention and trust built up. Oh, and make
sure you build an email list too

Daniel Lew: What forms of promotion have you done in the past to get your site maximum traffic?

Yaro Starak: My best forms of marketing so far have been the following -

1. Giving away an amazing free report from my blog that reveals a
detailed picture of how to do something from A-to-Z
2. Doing podcast interviews with well known and/or successful people
in my industry
3. Writing guest articles for other popular blogs

And as always, the best traffic technique you can ever use is to give
people lots of value for free. Powerful content is the key to maximum
traffic.

Daniel Lew: One of your latest products is Blog Mastermind. It seems like there is alot very good information there. Can you elaborate a bit more on this product and what made you decide to offer offer this learning secrets and product to others. (I would also like the affiliate referral link to this please)

Yaro Starak: Blog Mastermind is a very special course because it was created at a
special time in my life. I had just reached a major milestone,
generating at least $5,000 per month from my blog. I decided I wanted
to write down a step-by-step process while it was fresh in my mind
regarding what it takes to grow a blog to this point, so that’s what I
did within Blog Mastermind.

The course is made up of 27 weekly lessons, designed to be completed
over 6 months, although you can do it at your own pace, slower or
quicker if you prefer. I also interviewed 5 professional bloggers, did
live blog case study videos, and include lots of extra audios and
resources. The program also includes direct access to me via live
coaching calls held each month, so you can ask me for specific advice
regarding your blog.

You can find out more about the program here:
Blog Master Mind