Shannon Lilly - InfectedByBugs.com : Blogger Interviews

 Brief Intro about yourself?

My name is Shannon Lilly and I love to blog, make money on line, learn and teach others to do the same that I do! I run several blogs including my favorites InfectedByBugs and ShannonLilly.com.

How did you get started?

This is actually a funny story… See I had been reading the big name blogs for some time. However I was getting tired of the virtually endless amounts of posts that they did on useless topics that were not about MMO or the Blogger themselves.

I know BlueVerse agrees with me in this regard and thats one of the reasons I continue to read BlueVerse daily! BlueVerse was really my inspiration for starting, I have known Gnet for some time via forums and msn chat and when I found out he had a blog I was like “Dude, Link me Now”. After reading a couple of posts on here I decided I would like to take my hand at teaching others to make money on line.

It has taken time to build up my blogs but I am now at around 650 to 710 rss readers on a daily basis. I have reached the orig goal I set for this whole year of 2008. I wanted to reach 500 + and I still have a few months to spare.

Do you run your blog under any “Media” type site? Like I run mine under the control of Gurilla.net

Currently I do own many websites but I do not have them conected under one entity for the simple reason that I don’t see the need yet. Maybe someday I will who knows.

How long have you been blogging?

Since the start of this year.

Whats your strategy with your blog in general?

Well as I said I don’t like blogs that get to off topic so I stick mainly with make money on line, seo, blogging tips and then I have a personal section as well as chit chat but I try my best not to ever post more then one post of that nature per week. Although I am finding it more and more difficult to post solely about these topics so I also introduced a general marketing section for general techniques such as social bookmarking and all that jazz.

I also give updates as to how my blog is performing throughout the net.

How do you get rss readers?

Thats like asking a dentist how he pulls teeth… You commit to it, work hard and they will come.

Do you give out freebies?

Sometimes but not much, I have never found giving out anything to get me anything more then a quick boost of traffic and a couple of rss readers. To much work for the payoff IMO but I do give out my word press themes after my site is done with them for a while.

Whats your opinion about the importance of PR in a blogs life?

The only reason I suggest anyone ever to get a decent pr of 4 - 6 is because advertisers think it means something. It doesn’t mean squat but they think it does so its best to work for it at least.

Do you consider the top100 list at 45n5.com as authoritative?

I believe its a great list and I am ranked on it in the top 100. I don’t keep track of it much though to be honest.

Any thoughts on my post on Blogs are not the authority, the Bloggers are?

Its true… IBB is doing great because its been up for over 6 months now but I just started my ShannonLilly blog about a month ago and its already got 50 rss readers. I believe true followers will follow the blogger not the blog itself.

Would you sell out your blog at some point?

Money Talks :)

Do you think people should sponsor word press themes?

I have dabbled in the practice before, I have found that they build great links for technorati rank as well as extra traffic. So yeah if they are not to expensive then yeah I would say go for it!

What’s your take on sponsored reviews?

If you want one done then hire me to post it on my blog, you won’t be disappointed :)

What’s the best thing a blogger can give to his readers?

A message of hope, a good blogger will encourage his readers to become better and a great teacher teaches until the student is better then they are. Its how we progress not how we start! - Shannon Lilly (Yes I just made that up off the cuff!)

Did Aweber play a vital role in your growth?

What is Aweber? Did I miss a BlueVerse post about it?

Do you think Pagerank plays a vital role in a blogs life?

Did I not already answer that above?

Did you ever consider selling links to those underground link sellers, you know, the ones that mail you and ask you to sell in-content links and pay per year.

No way, buying and selling links is against the Google tos! For my blogs I never buy or sell links because I want the search engines to trust my site. I leave the links to my customers sites who actually need them.

Did you ever get an offer of selling your blog out of the blue, if so how did you react to it?

I got offered around 1.5k for my blog when it hit 200 rss readers, I told the guy I was not interested. Was not really surprised either, I have had several offers over this last couple of months.

What are your thoughts on my free word press themes here, be as blunt as you can.

All I can say about that is… Gnet you know how to win someone over, who doesn’t have another blog they need a good theme for that you are providing? I bet you get rss readers just for giving them out for free!

Overall what do you think of BlueVerse, once again be as blunt as offensive as you can.

I love BlueVerse and the blogger behind it, but I have not liked any of the skins since the nice orig BlueVerse I remember.

Any tips for my readers?

Stay focused, stay on topic and be sure to mingle with like minded Bloggers. Get to know the person not the blog. Link someone give them a boost today, teach them to link build and you have made a search engine optimizationist that can’t be stopped! (Oh, There is another one alright! RIGHT OFF THE CUFF!)

You can track all the blogging reviews under the Bloggers category or the Blogger Interviews tag.