Tell me about your Blog?
My blog is “The Gospel According To Rhys” (http://www.gospelrhys.co.uk ). Officially it’s what you call a personal blog, but by and large I do have a healthy interest in SEO, social media & Blogging, so I often give my opinions about them. I also write my own WordPress Plugins, and run a free blogging newsletter, which is a culmination of a number of posts as well as a few extra titbits for subscribers.

What was your first blog?
My first blog was The Art of Rhysisms, a most definite personal blog. I ran it for a number of years, starting in early 2001 right through to the end of my university career in 2006. It was written when blogging was simply blogging, writing down your thoughts and opinions on your life. It has grown into a behemoth really, but once I finished university, I saw little point continuing, and wanted something a little more serious to work on.

What is the biggest tip you would give to a newbie blogger?
Biggest tip is not to monetize for six months, seriously. Only monetize if you grow so big that you cannot afford to pay for the hosting within that time, which probably won’t happen. Blogging will get tough, and if you don’t enjoy what you are doing, you’re effectively doing a job without getting paid. You need to enjoy blogging, so take the money out of it, and see how far you get.

What do advertisers do that you wish they wouldn’t?
Not speak to me enough!

What do bloggers do that you wish they wouldn’t?
Copy big bloggers. You are not giving me a reason to subscribe if you repeat what a blogger blogs about. A classic example was when Darren Rowse released his 31 Days to Build a Better Blog book. I am on GMT (Uk time), and as such a lot of Australian & South Asia bloggers had their blogs out for the day before I even woke. Surprise surprise most bloggers in the “Blogging/SEO/Make Money Blogging” niche wrote posts about it (which was fine), but by god did any of them read it (31 days people!)? The posts were similar, and I just ignored them.

In the end I finally bought the book through Sitepoint, as they gave it away as a gift to another book. It’s a great ebook!

Where do you see growth in the blogging field?
Local blogging will be the next big field I think. All bloggers live somewhere, and as traditional print media dies out, hubs based around towns will grow. Advertising will be done by small businesses, and who knows, maybe a few affiliate programs.

What is one thing about you that not many people know?
Not many of my friends know this, but I spend odd weekends here and there working as a professional wrestler manager. I’m not going to pull wool over people’s eyes by saying that I really hate the person I’m yelling at, and it’s a bit of a pantomime, but if I can’t make money blogging, I get paid to shout at little children telling them that they’re annoying, they are doomed to failure & their parents call them a mistake. It’s a great stress reliever! 🙂

What’s your favourite book?
Favourite ever is a wrestling book – “Have a Nice Day” by Mick Foley (if you know your late 90’s wrestling, he wrestled in the WWE as “Mankind”). He is a remarkably good writer, and it’s an autobiographical look at his life. He did inspire me to start writing.

What is on your iPod?
At the moment, I have a lot of an artist called Frank Turner on my iPod. He sings a heck of a lot of folk songs, and his songs are really reasonating with me at the moment.

What are your contact details?
On Twitter & Facebook I am rhyswynne. I do follow a “contribute, then i’ll follow back” on both of those accounts, Facebook I don’t appreciate an add unless I actually know you.

Who would you recommend, and why?
I’ll try and recommend people I read who are possibly not as well known as some. I really enjoy jemjabella.co.uk, who is stupidly knowledgable at PHP, and Nomadic Matt (nomadicmatt.com) is where I want to be this time next year!

What is one thing people can do for you?
Really? I’d love people to subscribe to my blog, check out my wordpress plugins, and subscribe to my blogging newsletter. I don’t send them out much, but I’ve had great feedback from them so far. So that’d be ideal. Cheers, and thank you!

http://www.gospelrhys.co.uk/  – My Blog
http://www.retrogarden.co.uk/  – Retro Garden

SEO, Social Media and Blogging with Rhys Wynne an interview