I know it’s been a while since I posted any social or community spotlights.
This is why I wanted to take this opportunity and see if I could get one out to you.
Today’s spotlight is with a young blogger out of Denmark. He goes by the name of Dane Blogger and is known as Mikkel Juhl.
Mikkel has been a member of the blog engage community now since October of 2009. I have enjoyed his company and his writings.
I have watched a few of his live shows and thought they were really great. If interested you can check out Mikkel over at ustream he’s always putting on great shows.
Without further waiting I would like to welcome Mikkel from Dane Blogger.com
Brian:Hi Dane and welcome to our social spotlight. Please take a moment and introduce yourself to our community members.
Mikkel:Hello every single Blog Engage member (who reads this blog) – My name is Mikkel Juhl, I’m from Denmark (yes the tiny country just above Germany.) I’m 14 years old and enjoy blogging. I’m still in primary school, so lots of homework to be done, while blogging.
In Denmark I’m in top 5 of Internet marketing bloggers – and I’m highly ranked on “make money online” (just the Danish phrase) I am at least in top 5 on that keyword. So in Denmark I’m a well known blogger, now I’m blogging in English (just started 4-5 months ago) but have been blogging for over 2 years.
My English “build a better blog”-blog is called DaneBlogger, you can find it on DaneBlogger.com – I’m not only writing “build better blog” stuff on it – also general Internet marketing. I also have a live show – which is online frequently – next show is the 11th December (just watch my blog.)
Brian:Tell me Dane; what got you into blogging and what level of dedication do you have towards blogging?
Mikkel:Well, it started with me browsing the web about 3 years ago and I thought these webpages was so nice and I wanted to have my own. So I read on a Danish site called “HTML.dk” and then I started to create webpages. Finally in August 2007 I bought my own domain (http://mikkeljuhl.com still in use), where I tested homepages (mainly html). Then I got onto PHP – and suddenly I found myself writing my first blog post.
Remember this is 2 years ago – now my blogging really has been improved throughout these years. I got involved with blogging, when I was just 12 years old. Then I was playing around – in the start it wasn’t my purpose to start making money blogging. But then I initially added some Google Ads and that it actually is possible to make money online.
This lead to a new blog called “BlogMarketing.dk” again a Danish blog, where I write about blog marketing and Internet marketing in general. I made more money on that, by doing affiliate marketing. Then I figured out that I want to reach out to a much bigger market. The whole English speaking market. This really gave me a rush. I love my blog daneblogger.com – more than any other of my blogs (mainly because I’m able to reach a much bigger market.)
I will not say that I have had failures. I have had 3 blogs, all well read, my first was a “I’m just blogging – no goals”-blog. I didn’t want to earn money from it, I will admit that I didn’t earn that many money from
it. I think I earned around $3 per day, on AdSense.I know lots of you would not call that success at all – but it was my first blog I blogged on that blog for over a year and it was a blog that just talked about me and programming, some of my passions.
Brian:Dane, let’s say I’m a new blogger. I just heard about you today in this interview. Tell me and our readers what you offer on your blog that would make us want to visit you.
Mikkel:Well I guess I deliver some great content. I have been told that my
content is inspiring and motivational also it’s not what everybody else writes about (at least, that’s what I’ve been told.) I don’t care that much about the grammar – everybody isn’t perfect.What I think is special/unique is that I do Live shows – I know some bloggers do some live shows but far from every blogger does this. I just like to appear live and just talk about marketing. Last time I went live,
I talked about personal branding. This is not something you only can use in blogging. It’s something that every company/website and blog can use. I like that my “blogging”-tips isn’t only for blogs.As well I try to reach out a quite huge market, not only teens – everybody in general who wants to make money. Mostly by blogs but also for other people – regular people with a business who might want to increase list subscriptions.
Brian:Dane, tell our members where you currently market your blogs.
Mikkel:Hello Mostly Twitter – well that’s where I market my new blog posts at most.
Then I enjoy BlogEngage – I know that I don’t use BlogEngage that much, but I think it’s far more powerful than Digg. The # of users are just much lower than Digg – and you actually know who made BlogEngage I have no idea who made Digg? That’s what make BlogEngage so much more powerful!
So I use Twitter mostly, then some social bookmarking sites, forums comments, blog carnivals and just relationships. I love networking with other bloggers (feel free to contact me and chat, using Twitter (@DaneBlogger) or my blog contact form.
I’m think it’s easy to market a blog – it takes more time when a blog is in the developing stages (early, because a blog is always developing
) I normally use the small marketing streams (blog comments, forum comments etc.). Every now and then I post some guest posts – In the future I’ll try
to go for the more known blogs (let’s see how that works)
Brian:If you had to make a decision and say what social communities were your favorite what would you pick?
Mikkel:The all-time favorite is Twitter. I am really starting to feel the power of Twitter after I began interacting more with my followers. I get a quite good response rate for my links when I tweet some links.
Then I don’t use Facebook that much for communicating with my audience – that’s more for my friends and family, but it definitely is one of my favorites though.
Forums – I love forums. They are easy and you can help lots of users there I especially enjoy the ProBlogger forums they are lovely. It easy to get help and easy to help – there is always some people online to help you.
I don’t know if you want to call ustream.tv a social community, but that’s really a place I enjoy.
Brian:From your learning’s what would you suggest to the average or beginner blogger?
Mikkel:Don’t stop. I know lots of people who quit blogging after they have blogged for a month because “they don’t make $300 bucks every day” – you should neither blog for money, because somehow that does the opposite of motivating you.
Keep going. The start of a blog’s life is the hardest. In the start just don’t worry about traffic. Your focus should be on the content. The key to blogging success is: Content+Marketing.
A thing that I have found really good to do is to write two blog posts one day. Then use the next day for pure marketing. So you write on forums, write comments to other blogs and so on. This will give you much more energy to do the blog posts on and the marketing on.
The last thing is: INTERACT! Interact with others it is so important that you can talk to other. Listen to other than yourself. Help them, if you need any help!
That was my wise words. Hope you enjoyed them! Connect with me @DaneBlogger,
I’d love to hear from you!
Socially Connect With Mikkel
Thanks for being such a great member to our community Dane Blogger.
If you have any questions regarding this community spotlight simply post them below and I will answer them.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Be sure to add me as a friend, bbrian017
Subscribe to my blog as well
Twitter, bbrian017
Thanks,
Brian
New to the blogosphere and blogengage I welcome Brad Edgar from unconventional growth dot com into our community spotlight. Make sure to vote up his latest article, Stanford University’s Top 10 Ways to Improve the Credibility of Your Website | Unconventional Growth
Brad Edgar has a wealth of experience and knowledge when it comes to both small- and large-scale businesses. He has worked with clients across North America and has experience in consulting and supporting enterprise resource planning, warehouse logistics and e-commerce software within industries ranging from apparel wholesale distribution, right through to mining product distribution.
He serves as business consultant, providing advice and solutions for both organizations and individuals seeking sustainable economic and corporate growth and development.
Brad is new to our community and you can add him as a friend! Please do so I’m real friends with Brad we work for the same company. Make sure to read his latest articles they are all full of great content,
Socially Engage with Brad on multiple networks.
Also add Brad on blogengage
Be sure to add me as a friend, bbrian017
Subscribe to my blog as well
Twitter, bbrian017
Thanks,
Brian
I must admit when I started the social spotlights I didn’t think I would get such a huge response.
I’m sitting here with an in box of over 35 plus social spotlight interviews.
None the less I am working on releasing them all so be patient yours will come soon.
I also wanted to say thank you to everyone that took the time to answer our social spotlight questions.
Brian: Hi Melvin and welcome to our social spotlight. Sorry for taking so long but it’s been a pretty busy month here at blogengage with our contests and promotions but I have managed to find sometime to day so we can entertain our interview. Please take a moment and introduce yourself to our community of bloggers.
Melvin: Hello everyone, I am Melvin Dichoso, 19 year old computer science student and resides in the Philippines. I have been into this whole Internet business for 2+ years mostly making money through affiliate marketing, managing several community-oriented websites and blogs and yea just plain being everywhere online.
A lot of people who read my main flagship blog @ MelvinBlog.com really don’t realize I’m under 20 and they just get surprised when they read my about page. Btw, MelvinBlog is a marketing tips blog designed for bloggers which aims to *hopefully* send out good information generally about Internet marketing and the online business thing. Fortunately for me it renders good traffic and a very nice overall community.
Brian: It seems many bloggers are starting your. I think the youngest bloggers so far we have interviewed was Corey Freeman. What I like about this is it really goes to show that anyone can blog no matter of your age. Please take a moment and explain to our readers why you started blogging.
Melvin: As stated in my about page, I started blogging because I learned that I can earn from it. My first blog was a basketball blog and like most newbies I failed miserably and learned my lessons. Luckily basketball was really a passion for me so, with money or not I decided to just continue. After a year it paid off and eventually made some good money. More than the money its the experience that helped me the most..
Brian: Melvin I must admit I’m very impressed by our honestly. Not many bloggers would admit to failure and here you are openly advertising that you failed. I want to stress to our readers right now that even though Melvin has failed in the past true success comes when you don’t give up and you try again. Melvin if there’s something unique you offer your readers or a specific reason why anyone should even visit your site what would you say that reason is?
Melvin: I really don’t know. Maybe I just speak out on a personal stand point. Most of my readers like me and my blog because they think I’m funny and my persona is spontaneous. I guess most people in the Internet just got tired of over professional blogs with super duper perfect grammar and fortunately in that case my blog is neither
Brian: Interesting concept. So when we visit your blog I’m assuming we can expect to visit a nice relaxing environment filled with information regaridng the web and everyday web usage. I like that idea you are right to many blogs are too serious these days it’s nice to have a change in pace. So tell us Melvin where do you enjoy marketing your blog?
Melvin: I enjoy mostly on forums where most people are just interactive. Any place which is easy to connect to people is enjoyable for me. Also by doing guest posts as it’s like telling the big blog’s subscribers to “subscribe to my blog too”.
Brian: Judging form your last two answers Melvin it’s clear to me you like non stressful relaxing environments to market your blogs in. Seems with both agree on that. I like to avoid anything that seems to busy or confusing. I do my best in forums and social networks personally. Tell us what are your favorite social communities currently?
Melvin: Uhm, Blogengage? Heheh, seriously I’m a social junkie guy and I get to every social community as possible. I enjoy stumbleupon and reddit for the massive traffic they send. And yea Blogcatalog for discussions (I know you hate them).
Brian: You know Melvin I actually want to clear something up. It’s not that I hate Blog Catalog but they are a greedy community. They are NO FOLLOW and share no page rank juice. They will out rank you for you keywords and take all your organic traffic. Hate is such a strong word. Let’s say I don’t agree with their practices. But surely I don’t hate them. Tell us Melvin if you were to give advice to our young and aspiring bloggers what would it be?
Melvin: Hmm, let me think. Well my piece of advice is, think first if blogging is really for you. If it’s not then don’t do it, don’t start one as you’d probably just waste your time. Most bloggers really DON’T get compensated that much for the effort they exert. But because they love blogging, they are in the blogosphere. If you’re just in the game for money then forget about it.
Brian: Melvin I wish I had your advice prior to when I started blogging. I feel under appreciated all the time. It’s frustrating and sometimes it gets me upset but I grow with it. What I have learned is to find appreciation in your own work and it helps fill that void. Things are better now but at one point I definitely felt along out here.
Melvin: I don’t know but even if I compile the best blogging and marketing tips here and the guy reading here isn’t serious or dedicated with blogging then its useless. In the end it’s like assessing what you’re goals are, if you can provide all the startup hardwork, and spend initial costs. If not, then maybe you’re better off doing other things. Things that you really like.
Brian: Melvin this was a great interview. Like I said above ‘m sorry it took so long I’ve been busy managing blogengage and my blog so it’s been a hectic week to say the least. Well that’s it for today everyone. If you have any questions for Melvin leave them below.
Thanks Melvin
Socially Connect With Melvin
Thanks for being such a great member to our community Melvin .
If you have any questions regarding this community spotlight simply post them below and I will answer them.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Be sure to add me as a friend, bbrian017 and if interested you can join my social group.
Twitter, bbrian017
Thanks,
Brian
