Interview with Thomas Sinfield, StandOutBlogger.com blogger

I’m privileged to have Tom being the first blogger to be featured on the new look AlreadyInspired.com. He is the initiator of the Blog Flip Challenge , where this blog is also participating and has also influenced the new look. Tom shares with us his journey into blogging and his plans for the future…

Briefly introduce yourself, age and where are you based?
Hi, my name is Thomas Sinfield . I am 24 years old and live on the Sunshine Coast, in QLD, Australia.

Tell us about your blog, what inspired it and how long have you been blogging?
I have multiple blog projects on the go at any one time and sell them off as I look to start new blogging projects. However, that being said, my main blogging site is http://www.standoutblogger.com (which is my blog about blogging) and I started it about 18months ago.

I had previously been blogging at ThomasSinfield.com , but decided to start fresh after I realised that I could never sell a blog that was based off my name.

What inspired the domain name?
I chose the name StandOutBlogger.com because I wanted something that would tell people exactly what the blog was about – even before they visited. I have a problem with mediocrity and have a personal mission to never have a blog that is average. So StandOutBlogger is about helping bloggers to find ways to differentiate their blogs from the other blogs in their niche.

Before blogging what were you doing?
Blogging has always been something that I have done aside from working full-time. So while I may be at a different job then when I started. I am still working.

Are you blogging full-time or part-time and how many hours per day do you spend on your blog?
I am a part-time blogger, but try to treat my blogs as a full-time business. This means spending a lot of late nights working on my blogs after coming home from working a 10 hour day. However, now that I have a wife (I’ve been married for 5 months now), I have had to set priorities and not let my blogging make me neglect my wife.

I would say that over all my blogs I would spend an average of 2-3 hours a day at the moment. While StandOutBlogger is my main blog, my focus has turned to http://www.franchisebuzz.com.au as I am using it for the “blog flip challenge”.

How is your blog monetized and how much do you make per month?
I actually made the decision to remove all advertisements from StandOutBlogger recently, as I wanted to focus on producing quality content and not to distract my readers with ads. However, I do have an email list of close to 500 people that I do not promote to as much as I should.
 
My main income from blogging comes from selling my blogs. I have sold a fair few blogs, with my biggest sale being US$750.

With FranchiseBuzz.com.au, my focus will be private ad sales, and I am aiming to be making $1,000 a month by the end of 2010 (If I haven’t sold it before then).

What is your best revenue stream?
Definitely blog sales. I do get a bit of revenue from adsense (and that is increasing) and a few affiliate sales, but I usually focus on getting a blog making a small amount per month and then put it up for sale.

What is your content generation strategy and do you keep to it?
With StandOutBlogger, my content comes from things I have experienced in life that relates to blogging and also things that I have come across with my other blogs. With my other blogs, they are all written based on terms that I believe I can get search engine traffic from. I use a fantastic program called Market Samurai for my search engine keyword research.

Since blogging, what is the biggest mistake you’ve ever made and what did you learn from it?
Definitely focusing on the blog about blogging niche. While StandOutBlogger has definitely been my most successful blog (with over 2000 subscribers), I have always had trouble monetizing it. Now I am focusing on local search engine driven niches and they seem to be going well.

What methods do you use to generate traffic for your blog?
A mixture of search engine traffic and social networking. I am loving Twitter as a traffic source at the moment.

Is your blog authored by yourself only or multiple bloggers and why?
All my blogs are authored by me, but that being said, I do get the odd guest post on StandOutBlogger and FranchiseBuzz .

Given an opportunity to sell your blog now, what would you charge for it?
Given the effort that I have put into StandOutBlogger I would definitely want to receive mid $xxxx, however considering the lack of income, I can’t see it getting offers in the range that I am looking for. I would not accept any offers for FranchiseBuzz at the moment as I believe that in 6-12 months I could have a blog worth early 5 figures.

What is your opinion on domain name and blog flipping, do you participate in that space?
I have sold quite a few domains and blogs in the last couple of years. With domains, it has always been a result of having too many ideas and not enough time -so I would sell my left over domains. I have never sold a doming for more than early $xx, but I have sold quite a few blogs and I believe that the way to make good money from flipping blogs is to create quality blogs.

I see a lot of people trying to flip blogs that are just a theme and 10 PLR articles, and there is no value for anyone buying something like this. Instead I would encourage people interested in creating a blog to flip, to focus on building something that they themselves would want to buy. Focus on building traffic, quality content and income.

Within the next 12 months, what are your goals for the blog?
For StandOutBlogger I really just expect to continue with how it is going. I will post every couple of days and use it as a networking source to keep contact with other bloggers.
 
For FranchiseBuzz my goals are a little more aggressive. By the end of 2010 I aim to have the most visited and respected blog in the Australian Franchising industry. Have over 15,000 unique visits a month, a twitter account with 5-10,000 followers and an income from private
ad sales of $1,000+ a month.

What have been the highlight(s) in your blogging career?
One of the things that continually make me feel successful as a blogger is when other bloggers come to me for help. I remember when I was first starting blogging, how I always looked up to those bloggers with 1000+ subscribers. Now that I am one of those bloggers I try to be as approachable as possible.

Another highlight that is more recent is the launch of my first ‘blog flip challenge ’. While we are still yet to see the results of this challenge, I am excited that I have been able to create a group of over 15 bloggers that are willing to work together and help each other succeed.

Tell us about your workstation, is it within your bedroom/dedicated home-office/office park?
I just recently bought a new computer after my old computer died. I now have a quad -core processor, and all that good stuff that makes your computer run fast, but the thing that I love more is my dual 22inch monitors that definitely help be a little more productive.
 
Currently my workstation is my bedroom, as I like to get up early and work while my wife is still sleeping and having it in our room allows me to know when she is waking up.

What gadget or software makes your blogging a pleasure?
WordPress! That is really the only thing you need to be successful at blogging. Other than that for the design aspect of my blogs I love Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Oh, and as I already mention, Market Samurai for keyword research.

Blogging is a lonely profession, how do you keep yourself motivated?
This is the main reason that I started the blog flip group, to help us keep each other accountable and motivated. I also frequent a couple of forums and network with fellow bloggers over msn. Plus my wife is always asking me how my blogs are going -so that is motivation too.
 
 Thanks for wanting to interview me Muzi! I love what you have done with AlreadyInspired.com and I hope that this interview has helped inspire your readers.
 
Tom