About, Me…

I was recently interviewed by WebmasterJournal.com about being a blogger and online entrepreneur and after taking what felt like nine point five hours completing it, I thought I would also use it as my about me page.  It’s descriptive, shares a little about me, plus I did spend a long time filling it out and felt the need to get some real use out of it. (Note: I mixed this up a bit from the original interview to avoid a duplicate content penalty from Google)

So with out further adieu…

Please write a little background about yourself and your sites

Well, it all started a little shy of 34 years ago. It was a tumultuous time in our world. The country was at war, the hippie movement was strong, and we were a divided country. All that would change on May the 28^th, 1974. It was a glorious day for this, our US of A. Things were about to change, the world was soon to become a better place, a happier place, just a little better off than it had been just the day before. Yes, that was the day I was born! I ousted Dick, put an end to the Vietnam war, and inspired the technology called TCP, letter known as the internet. Alright, maybe I had nothing to do with most of that stuff, but I’m pretty sure I was born then.

To make a long story short, and prevent this from turning into the next, slightly less well worded, War And Peace I’ll get to the point.

NOTE: I have to say, I actually cut that crap above out of the questionnaire. I though you might enjoy it though , now on with what was really submitted…

I have a background in online and real-world marketing and have worked as an independent event, project, and market manager for clients such as Microsoft, Philip Morris, and Monster Energy to name a few. As I’ve always had my digits in some sort of net venture, I decided to put my marketing experience and interest in internet business together and I started http://www.TysBlog.com. A blog for bloggers. It offers tips and advice on marketing & promotion, technical & content development, monetization and more. You can read a little more about me on my about me page at: http://www.TysBlog.com/about-2. (NOTE: if you’re reading this, you’re already at that link. Clicking it will do nothing but refresh the page… but if you really want to, go ahead and click it, you’ll see…)

1. How would you describe your profession?

“Hmm, that’s a tough one. I’m a pro blogger, but it takes a lot more that writing skills to be a “pro blogger”. To be a professional blogger you really need to be a jack-of-all-trades. First and foremost you need marketing skills, then comes the technical aspects (web design, graphic design, etc. – it’s a long list), then comes the writing. I know bloggers that do good, they write, they make a lot of the money (and that’s exactly how they sound… it’s too funny). I’m also a freelance professional photographer – but that’s a whole other questionarie “

2. How did you get into New Media/Online publishing/Online communications? Did you see yourself getting into this field early on? What did you used to do “in an earlier life” (prior career, if any)?

“I worked as a salesman and technician for an interconnect company years ago (circa 1994). One of the duties I took on was to put together the company website. I had no idea what I was doing, but was technically pretty savvy, knew the web, and figured I could, well, figure it out. A few months later, we had a shiny new 50+ page company website and I started dabbling in web design and online marketing. My next career (job) was working in experiential marketing. I stayed in that field for years and it was eventually the combination of my prior experiences that led me into blogging professionally.”

3. What do you think are the turning points that helped make webmastering/online publishing/online marketing a lucrative business field?

“Some might say it was the dot-com boom of the late nineties, some would say the advancements in the technology that powers the web, others would say the general public’s acceptance of the net as a vehicle for sales. I would say all of the above, and would absolutely have to include the ever increasing amounts of bandwidth available to the average Joe. It’s like going from a store that only had the shelf room to hold one or two products, to a never ending plethora of anything and everything you could ever want. All available on that same shelf, right there in front of you.

4. In your opinion, what is the most exciting recent development in online publishing?

“Blogs. They will someday take over standard websites as the primary resource for information.”

5. What do you think are the essential skills to become a successful webmaster?

“Um, webMASTER? The ability to hire a lot of different experts.”

6. Being a webmaster has gone from being a one-person job to a field that allows specialization. Is that a good thing or a bad thing for your business?

“For me, it’s alright at this point. That’s one of the good things about blogging. I can keep it simple and still succeed. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of things I would like to do with my blog that I simply can’t as the gamut of available platforms is beyond my scope of expertise (.PHP, HTML, JAVA – WTF?). Hopefully I’ll make a lot of money with my blog and then I can refer to question five.”

7. Do you think the industry is regulated enough? Have the authorities or the Net’s relevant governing bodies become too restrictive? Which areas of online activity do you think NEED further regulation?

“NONE!”

8. What are the challenges the industry is facing today?

“Well, there are a lot of different technologies, and there’s always some new platform coming out. A little standardization would be nice, but then again it might hinder progress. I also think we need to protect net neutrality. If the government and mega tel/cable companies (ATT, Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner to be specific) start deciding who has access to the internet and how much bandwidth costs we’re all in for a whole different future online. Craig Newmark of ‘craigslist.org’ has a lot to say about this, I suggest you go check out his site and write a letter to your congressmen. Keep the internet a free and open resource or the whole world will suffer”

9. What would your advice be to someone who is just getting his or her feet wet in online business?

“Learn all you can about as much as you can. Unless you want to be a programmer working as a specialist, you need to learn a little about a lot. Don’t be afraid to experiment, get a copy of Dreamweaver and see what you can do with it, read a book or ten on online marketing, put together a Wordpress blog and see how that turns out, try whatever you can get your hands on just to learn it. But most importantly, and I cant stress this enough – TAKE ACTION! You might say you wanna do this or that someday, but guess what? Someday will never come… Take action and do it now and you will find success.”