Beginner Blogger

This is my third guest post interview with a well known blogger with a great online presence – Mike CJ from mikeslife.org

I am really grateful Mike took the time to take this interview. He’s one of the bigger, well-known bloggers out there that I really look up to. What impresses me the most is the amount of time he gives to people. He spends a lot of time on social media sites interacting with his readers and followers which is something that some people tend to ignore these days.

A true honest guy that I could really see myself enjoying a bbq, drink and watching sports with. Oh and he’s also really into blogging too!

Here’s the interview:

Firstly could you give a little background information about yourself?

I’m Mike CJ, I’m 47 and I live on an island called Lanzarote, one of The Canary Islands. We’re just off the Saharan coast of Africa and we’re Spanish owned. I’m a full time professional blogger.

How did you get into blogging, Mike?

I was pulling back from day to day involvement in my offline business, and needed something to fill that gap, and to earn me some substantial money. I’ve always really enjoyed writing, and have been doing so for years, so it made perfect sense to start a blog or two!

Is mikeslife.org your first blog? What would you say the purpose/niche of your blog is?

Mike’s Life wasn’t my first blog. That was www.lanzaroteinformation.com a travel and news blog about the island we live on. We started that just before Mike’s Life, and my wife continues to run that one on a full time basis. Mike’s Life followed very soon, as I wanted to help other people with a passion for writing learn how to blog and earn a long term sustainable income from blogging.

What made you select the niche that you blog about?

I chose the Mike’s Life niche, because there seemed to be lots of blogs out there to help people who were already blogging learn how to earn money from it. Mike’s life is aimed more at people who can and want to write, earn a living from blogs. It’s a subtle but important difference.

You obviously did a lot of prior research before launching your blog? How much planning and time did you spend before launching?

I spent six months, researching and understanding how the market works, reading other people’s blogs, and getting to know the industry and the market. That gave me enough information to write some sound objectives for our blogs.

Do you make a living online? Would you say a comfortable living? How long did it take you until you reached that ‘I can now earn enough to quit my day job’?

I quit my day job so I could blog full time, which I know is really unusual. That did give me an added incentive! You need to factor in that my wife is full time in this job with me. We were earning what I would describe as one full time income in four months, and we were making enough for both of us at around seven months into blogging.

You seem to have a great presence online, very approachable, very friendly and easy going. Do you attribute this to your online success? Is there anyone you look up to?

The thing with blogging is that it is a relaxed, easy going place, and yes I always want to be approachable. To be honest, I really don’t like the way some people suddenly become “too important” to stay in touch with new and learning bloggers once they’ve “made it”. I’ve always promised to remain in contact with readers, and never to resort to that.  I look up to anyone who reads my blog! But also Chris Brogan who shows how to stay approachable when you’re at the top, my friend Nathan Hangen, with whom I’m writing the book Beyond Blogging and Darren Rowse, who is simply the most helpful blogger there is!

How well has your blog done? (Stats wise)

Mike’s Life is now 10 months old and is getting just over 1,000 visitors a day, viewing around 3,500 pages.

What is your main source of traffic?

My biggest source is Google, then Twitter, then Digg.

What are your main strategies for your blog? (maybe top 5)

I simply want to grow and grow the Mike’s Life community until there are 10’s and then 100¡s of thousands of people who are passionate about writing and earning a living from doing so.

What are typical tasks you perform for your blog, both content and marketing wise? Are you organised with lists or you just take action on what you feel needs to be done?

I focus on writing 5 or 6 posts every week, I read and comment a lot on other blogs and I’m very active on Twitter. I have done some article marketing, a couple of guest posts and a little work on Facebook, but focus on the first three as that seems to be what I’m good at.

Are you making money with your blog/Plan to make money with your blog in the future? If so – how?

I make money on Mike’s Life via a few well chosen affiliate programs, and mainly from selling my own products in the Mike’s Life shop. The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter and The Beginner’s Guide to Blogging. On the travel blog, we use Adsense, affiliate programs, a lot of direct advertising and we also sell the book I completed last year Living in Lanzarote.

If you could start your blog over again, what are 3 things you would do differently?

1/ Start an email subscription list earlier

2/ Make some strategic alliances with other bloggers sooner

3/ Focus more on community in the early days, rather than thinking about what I could sell to people!

What advice would you give to beginner bloggers?

Forget stats, forget themes, forget widgets, forget everything at first, other than writing really good, really useful content. If you do that, you’ll build audience and authority quickly, and then you can start worrying about all the other things.

What are future plans for your blog?

I just want to continue to grow it, keep writing good stuff and develop a good reputation as a helpful person.

………………………………………

So there we have it! My third Guest Blog Interview with successful blogger Mike CJ!

As I stated before I absolutely love the dedication Mike has for his audience. I think that’s something that’s really missing today, especially in big businesses, they really forget to listen.

Mike is a great example that you don’t need to have all the technical skills in the world to create a successful blog that makes money. In Mike’s case he makes a full time income with his blog and online activities. It’s all about listening to your target audience and providing them with what they want.

I really applaud Mike for taking the punt to quit his day job and go into blogging. I personally would love to dedicate more time to this blog and other online ventures.

If you haven’t already checked out Mike’s blog check it out at www.mikeslife.org.

You can also follow Mike on twitter @mikecj.

Let me know what you think of this interview and Mike’s blog in the comments section below.

If you liked this post you may also like the following…

1. Guest Post Interview with Jay Bailey

1. Guest Post Interview with Zeeshan Siddiqui

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