Interview with Brian Hawkins founder of Extreme Ezine – Famous Bloggers Club
Brian D. Hawkins is one of the earlier Bloggers Friends of mine, and a good commenter on my personal blog Zebida World, I was impressed by his posts on the Extreme Ezine the electronic newsletter that normally delivered directly to my inbox, there is so many tips, suggestions, resources, contests, the occasional free download, quotes and even jokes that you can enjoy. So.. let’s see what Brian will say about Extreme Ezine in out interview together.
Q. Tell the world something about your self and what you do in life?
Brian: Well, I live in Michigan (USA) with my wife of 26 years. We have four children, all grown, and three and a half grandchildren. I drive a truck locally and spend far too much time online building sites and connecting with friends. We just bought a ranch style home outside of town that is both mine and my wife’s dream home. We feel very fortunate at this stage of our lives and are very happy.
Follow Brian on Twitter @ExtremeEzine.
Q. What was the story behind your Blog? (how you start Blogging – since when – how did you named your Blog).
Brian: It wasn’t that long ago when I asked a friend of mine, what’s a blog? I had a couple sites, forums, safe lists and ad boards and I wanted to see what the blog thing was about. A few minutes on Google and I quickly found my new passion.
Brian: My main blog, Extreme Ezine, was a spin off from an earlier blog (began as an HTML site) on site promotions. I had started a newsletter called Extreme Ezine and I eventually gave it it’s own URL. The site quickly took off and earned a page rank of 5 with Google. My list grew in the thousands before I realized it was very unresponsive and basically useless. Time for a change. When I switched to blog format the traffic disappeared and the page rank dropped but it became a lot more fun to run. No regrets, the list is cleaner and the blog is active when
I find the time to post and promote.
Q. Have you earned any money from been a Blogger? (How you did it – add links to useful websites for making money online – If NOT then tell us why you blog)
Brian: Most of the online money I make comes from other sources. My ad tracking membership site earns the most and more than covers any expenses including my dedicated server, home and mobile internet access and various promotions.
I do earn a little from Blogging but it’s a slow process and truthfully I don’t try that hard. At Blogging for money that is. I have a philosophy that one needs to build a loyal following and steady traffic before tossing in a bunch of ads. I am not there yet. I also need to personally believe in a product before pushing it on my blogs. I feel those that visit and comment on my blog are friends and I don’t want to deceive them to make a little money.
As a marketer I love to promote online but I take Blogging a little more personally – just a little.
Q. Would you tell us about ONE of your famous posts? (Why you think it’s famous.. it could be because of “content – traffic – comments – search engines”)
Brian: It’s funny, the posts I’ve been most proud of didn’t seem to impress very many people. I tend to go too long in my writing and that could be the problem. As for the most famous I guess I would have to go with Ten Steps To A Responsive Email List because it started a nice conversation. Only 42 comments so far but they are quality comments interacting with each other. To me, it’s the comments that make a blog post great.
Q. If I asked you to suggest ONE Blogger friend to send him/her a Famous Blogger Club invitation, who you will suggest?
Brian: Only one? Most of my Blogger friends are much more famous; than I am. I just now realized that. Dozens of Bloggers come to mind instantly but I’m going to recommend my good friend Yan from ThouShallBlog.com because he has always taken the time to help others – including myself on many occasions.
Brian D. Hawkins
Extreme Ezine
Read also
Who is behind NMB?
Hello! .. My name is Hesham Zebida and I’m a Blogger and used to be a Web Designer, I make living from building websites for my clients, I have created NMB to be a healthy community for Bloggers, so join me if you want to share tips and ideasI am also managing the Famous Bloggers Club, FBC is NOT a secret society, but it is exclusive and membership is only by invitation and limited to 100.
FBC has been created for the sole purpose of unifying bloggers that are proactive, dedicated and committed in helping each other to prosper on the blogosphere.
Check My Personal Blog to get to know me better.
good adm,n
Brian , i like your idea about that “seven things you don’t know about me ” concept. I remember how you made bunch of blogger telling some untold truth about them. Good to see you here brain.
-Shanker Bakshi
Make Money Online with a blog´s last blog ..Concentrate On What You Like And Then Go For It
It’s a honor to be a member of your 100 Famous Bloggers Club Hesham. I love the concept and think you are well into yet another fine blog. I’m certainly not famous at blogging, or anything else for that matter, but I love being part of the group. Thank you for making that possible.
Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Just Ask – Article Marketing And Site Promotion
admin Reply:
July 21st, 2009 at 9:21 pm
It’s really great to have this interview with you Brian @Brian, I think it’s not about been famous on blogging, but it’s to join a group of people that you can learn from them!
admin´s last blog ..How To Compete Limited Godaddy File Manager Archiving Tool
Hey Brian,
I have known you for ever and didn’t know all that stuff about you, Just kidding!
Been reading Extreme Ezine for what seems like forever, you put allot of work into that and have for a very long time. I have to thank you for your efforts.
Famous blog post? I can think of one off hand “Free Online ‘Do Follow’ Blog Search Engine”
I won’t try a link in a comment but the last i knew the search worked on your site.
Great interview.
Thanks
Brad West ~ onomoney
Brad West´s last blog ..Google Analytics Help
Brian D. Hawkins Reply:
July 21st, 2009 at 7:46 pm
@Brad West, Thanks Brad, I can always count on you. It really has been a long time, back when I had a couple forums myself which ended in disaster lol Thanks for the kind words.
Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Just Ask – Article Marketing And Site Promotion