merkal2005: Hi Alex, please tell us about yourself

freesecrets: At the current time I'm an IT engineer and work as SysAdmin for a large corporation. That cover my 9 to 6 grind but when it's over I work on developing my online business and simply enjoy life with my beautiful wife and 2 sons.


merkal2005: When did you start blogging?

freesecrets: My first experience with blogs was a few years ago with Drupal, nothing against that platform but I personally hated it and pretty much left it off and worked with other CMS. I have tried WordPress in April of 2007 and results I was able to achieve were simply astonishing, comparing to anything else.

I don't consider myself a purist blogger but rather look at my blogging as a part of online business which combines traditional internet marketing, blogging, social marketing, SEO and a few other aspects required to succeed.

Blogging is simply best way to reach my target audience and share freely what I know and establish myself as someone who has a rights to speak on the subject.


merkal2005: Why Web 2.0?

freesecrets: There are many ways to get attention of your audience and to get the traffic to your site or blog - but NOTHING compares to Web 2.0 methods. Social networks are the cheapest and most effective way to get right people to see what you have to say.

And I don't mean it as manipulation of the social networks but rather getting attention of the people within it. Because if what you have to say is not worth these people's time - they will let you know and sometimes in a very brutal way.

I think of Web 2.0 and social marketing like a huge party where you are given a short time to make a toast and everyone's attention upon you - make sure what you have to say is worth that short attention span or you will not get that chance again. But if you "toast" was well delivered - you gain new friends and in in terms of you blog - new visitors and readers.


merkal2005: When did you launch your blog ? How is it going?

freesecrets: My WordPress Web 2.0 Spo-Er blog was launched in April of 2007 as an experiment. The results I got from it were beyond my expectations and made me committed to continue developing it and later build my product based on what I learned.

It continues to grow in terms of traffic, loyal readers and income it produces but with less then year old - it still has a ways to go. I think of that blog as my place to share my technical knowledge, provide help and simply share. Based on readers feedback I have recently started "WordPress Guide" series of articles which became a hit with my readers and in addition to my "living" WordPress Web 2.0 Guide and video tutorials it delivers content people need to make their blogging efforts easier. I try to make my tutorials visual and simple and my readers seem to love which makes it more rewarding for me.

After all - blogging is NOT only about the profits but also about giving back to the community.


merkal2005: Which areas should we focus in 2008 in terms of Web 2.0 blogging?

freesecrets: I personally see video continue to grow and take even bigger part in Web 2.0 networks. Those of us who can figure out how to use effectively video with our blogs will receive the most in terms of readership to the blogs and growth.

So for me - this will be the next challenge and if you didn't consider it yet, perhaps it is worth consideration.