Posted: 17 Jul 2008 10:19 PM CDT  Welcome to Week #10 of the Pepperjam Network "Meet the Affiliates" Interview Series! This week I interview the one and only Darren Rowse of the famed blog Problogger.net. With over 50,000 RSS subscribers and tens of thousands of additional daily readers, Darren is considered THE authority on how to make money as a full-time blogger. An author, international speaker, husband, and father, Darren represents the true essence of success. For Darren it's not about "how much" he makes, but instead "how much" he can contribute. Read on to learn more about the amazingly successful yet humble Problogger himself - Darren Rowse. Here are the rules… The Pepperjam Network "Meet the Affiliates" Interview Series will feature an original up-close interview with an affiliate marketer every Friday. Priority will be given to Pepperjam Network affiliates, but that is not a requirement to share your story. If you'd be interested in being interviewed please submit your request here - please make sure to tell us why you think your story is especially entertaining or educational and worth sharing with our readers. As the series progresses we will do our best to ask questions that both entertain and educate! We encourage you to comment on each of the interviews, as well as ask follow-up questions of the interviewee. Lastly, if you are a blogger or just someone with a network of likeminded affiliate marketing friends, we encourage you to share our interviews series with anyone who you think may benefit. Also, since you won't want to miss an interview once it's published I encourage you to join the Feedburner Pepperjam Network RSS Feed, which is located at the top of this page or by clicking here. Well…let's get on to the interview! Meet the Affiliates: Interview #10  Darren Rowse VP Blogger Training http://www.b5media.com Blogging at http://www.problogger.net http://www.digital-photography-school.com/blog ProBlogger the Book http://www.probloggerbook.com Question #1 KRIS: Where do you live? Are you married? Any children? Animals? DARREN: I live in Melbourne Australia with my wife and two boys (aged 2 and 4 weeks). At this stage two children are handfuls enough - so no pets. Question #2 KRIS: Unlike most of the previous interviews we've done in the Pepperjam Network "Meet the Affiliates" series, you are not a traditional affiliate marketer. Instead, you are a professional blogger that uses a number of strategies to monetize your blog, including affiliate marketing, among other things. Can you share with us some of the various ways you make money as a blogger? DARREN: I tend to divide the way that I make my money from blogging into two areas: Direct Income - this is where the blog itself makes money through a variety of means including mainly Advertising (I've used everything from CPC to CPM ads and more recently have sold direct sponsorship to advertisers wanting to raise their profile in my niches) and Affiliate Marketing. Also in this 'direct income' category I'd include things like having a job board (a place for those looking to hire bloggers to advertise - http://jobs.problogger.net/). I've writen more on direct methods at http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/22/making-money-from-your-blog-direct-methods/ Indirect Income - this is where the profile that the blog brings you enables you to sell yourself in some way. For example I have landed many consulting jobs from my blog ProBlogger. My blogging has also enabled me to do paid speaking, write a book, launch a course on making money from blogging and much more. All of this would not have been possible without the profile that the blog brought. I've written more about indirect methods at http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/22/making-money-because-of-your-blog-indirect-methods/ Question #3 KRIS: Can you share with us (or provide a video) of what a "day-in-the-life" of Darren Rowse is like? DARREN: It really varies a lot from day to day but usually includes batches of time for writing content, answering emails and comments on posts, networking with other bloggers, moderating comment spam left on posts, monitoring stats, optimizing advertising and more. A couple of years back I described a typical day (http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/10/another-day-in-the-life-of-a-problogger/). While things have changed a little many of the same activities are still there. I also prioritize family time (or they prioritize it on my behalf). Working from home is a wonderful and challenging thing all wrapped into one but my wife and sons are my primary focus and so they feature pretty heavily in my day. Question #4 KRIS: You recently authored a book entitled "ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income." I've read your book and highly recommend it to bloggers and affiliate marketers alike! Anyway, can you tell us the purpose of the book and maybe share a brief summary of your favorite section of the book? DARREN: The book really arose as a result of the many questions that I get from people wanting to get into blogging as a way to make an income. While I write tips every day on my blog on that topic a lot of readers were overwhelmed by the thousands of posts on ProBlogger.net and wanted something more concise and logically presented. A book seemed like a logical medium and when Wiley approached me to write one it seemed right. My favorite part of the book is the chapter on 'blog writing' (chapter 4). It's actually one of the longest chapters in the book which I guess says a lot about how important Chris Garrett (my co-author) and I see it in the scheme of building a profitable blog. Without content that engages people and enhances their lives in some way you might as well give up as a blogger. In the chapter we ask the question of 'what is good content' and unpack this. Ultimately it's about being 'useful' to your readers and fulfilling some kind of need that they have whether it be a need for: • Entertainment • Education • Information • Debate • News • Community (etc) We then go on to unpack some principles of writing for the web and blog readers. NOTE FROM KRIS - You can learn more about Darren's best-selling book on Amazon HERE. In fact, the first three people to respond in the comments of this post will receive a copy of Darren's book on me! Question #5 KRIS: One of the things I really liked about your book is that you share your personal story, which is incredibly inspiring. One of your most successful and inspiring ventures as a "Pro Blogger" was the creation of b5media. Can you tell us more about b5media? What is it? Also, can you share a few sample blogs from the b5 Network and tell us why you like them? DARREN: b5media is a blog network that I co-founded with two other bloggers back in 2005. We started very small with a handful of blogs written by a small number of bloggers but today have over 350 blogs on a wide variety of subjects including entertainment, sport, technology, health and wellness, music and more. We took on $2M in funding in 2006 and now have a team of 17 full time staff (largely based out of Toronto) and hundreds of bloggers who write for us. The blogs that I read from the network mostly tend to revolve around my own personal interests and include Slacker Manager (http://www.slackermanager.com/), Six and Out (Cricket - http://www.sixandout.net/), The After Mac (http://www.theaftermac.com/) and Pimp Your Work (http://www.pimpyourwork.com/). My wife also wants me to start reading She Knows Best (http://www.sheknowsbest.com/) - a fashion advice blog for men written by a woman. Question #6 KRIS: If you were not a professional blogger and incredibly successful entrepreneur what do you think you would be doing with your life? DARREN: There are two things that get me excited and which I am drawn to doing in most ventures that I've undertaken: 1. Communication - I love it - particularly when it's around helping people enhance their lives in some way. 2. Community - I enjoy bringing people together who share similar interests and passions and then stepping back and watching them interact. I think that whatever I do I'd strive to build it around these two things. Question #7 KRIS: What are your top two (2) favorite books of all time and top three (3) favorite musical groups? DARREN: Books - I have a very eclectic taste and so to choose just two is a challenge (and could be embarrassing depending upon which section of my bookshelf I head). OK - so as I look at that bookshelf two books are leaping out at me - whether they are my favorites I'm not sure: Join Me by Danny Wallace - this true story is of a guy who placed an ad in a local newspaper that simply said 'join me' and asked people to send him a passport photo of themselves. He went from that to starting a worldwide movement of people. It's a funny story yet I also keep coming back to it as a story that informs and even inspires me a little as a blogger who sometimes feels a little similar. Each day I put something 'out there' for people to read and am amazed at what comes back to me. Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell - again, this was another book that I read before I got into blogging which I found inspiring. Gladwell and Seth Godin spoke of things in their books that I have later drawn on time and time again to grow online communities. I'm currently reading 'Made to Stick' by Chip and Dan Heath which extends some of Gladwell's ideas. In terms of music - again I have eclectic tastes but would quickly choose three as ColdPlay, Augie March (a great Aussie band) and for something a little different - Earth Wind and Fire. Question #8 KRIS: Tell us what you like to do in your free time? Any interesting hobbies or crazy fetishes? DARREN: Outside of family time and work I love photography. It's always been a hobby of mine since I was a teenager and spent a fortune on film with my SLR. These days I've gone digital. Unfortunately (and fortunately) I've collided this passion with my work as a blogger with Digital Photogrpahy School (http://www.digital-photography-school.com/blog) which is my biggest blog. The downside of this is that I have a lot less time for photography and sometimes it can feel a little like work to get out and do it as I'm always thinking about how I could teach what I do. Outside of this I'm a bit of a foodie. I don't cook as much as I used to but eating is a pleasure that I love! Question #9 KRIS: What is the best advice you have ever received regarding A. your personal life and B. your business life? DARREN: A. Focus upon others - not yourself. I find that I'm at my worst when I focus in on my own situation and needs but when I lift my eyes off 'me' and onto those around me and where they are at I find more meaning and happiness. B. Focus upon others - bizarrely enough the same advice rings true. When you do something in business that meets another person's needs (or a group of them) you put yourself in a very good business sense. Virtually every success I've had in business has been as a result of finding a need and positioning myself to fill it. Simple and obvious stuff really - but it's amazing how many businesses are based upon the needs of the business owner and not their customer. Question #10 KRIS: If there was one person you can trade shoes with for one full month who would it be and why? DARREN: I've struggled over this question for the last few days and you know what? I'm not sure I'd trade with anyone really - but if I had to I'd probably do something a bit different and spend a month walking in the shoes of someone in a less fortunate position than myself. I once spent a month living in a slum in Bangkok (in an Aids Hospice and Childcare program) and leaned so much about myself and life in that place - so perhaps one of the people that I met there. _____________________________________ Next on deck for Meet the Affiliates: Carsten Cumbrowski Carsten is an outspoken advocate for affiliate marketers around the world. Not afraid to say what's on his mind, Carsten is responsible for some of the most thorough and thoughtful posts ever made on Revenews.com and is one of the most admired affiliate marketers in the industry. This exclusive interview will be published here on the Pepperjam Network Blog next Friday, July 25, 2008. Make sure you don't miss it! Click Here to subscribe to the PJN Blog and have each interview delivered to your e-mail box. ___________________________________ Read Previous "Meet the Affiliates" Interviews: Week #1 - Sam Harrelson affiliate marketing Darren Rowse Meet the Affiliates Next Generation Affiliate Marketing pepperjam Pepperjam Network Problogger Transparencyaffiliate marketing Darren Rowse Meet the Affiliates Next Generation Affiliate Marketing pepperjam Pepperjam Network Problogger Transparencyaffiliate marketing, Darren Rowse, Meet the Affiliates, Next Generation Affiliate Marketing, pepperjam, Pepperjam Network, Problogger, TransparencyWeek #2 - Scott Hazard Week #3 - Rosalind Gardner Week #4 - Colin McDougal Week #5 - Zac Johnson Week #6 - Harrison Gevirtz Week #7 - "Uber Affiliate" Paul Bourque Week #8 - John Chow Week #9 - Scott Jangro |
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