Interview with Henri Junttila, WakeUpCloud.com founder

Can you educate us about WakeUpCloud.com  and the story behind the brand?

It’s an interesting story. For the whole of 2009, I felt compelled to start a blog on the topics that I love, which are spirituality and health. I planned for a long time, but it just didn’t feel right until just a few months ago when I began planning the launch of WakeUpCloud.com  seriously. I’ve deliberately followed my intuition and inspiration when starting WakeUpCloud.com. For example, when I started thinking about the domain name, I started seeing clouds everywhere.

And I mean everywhere. I saw 3-4 websites within a short amount of time that had a cloud theme or pictures and I just kept bumping into clouds, which is when it became obvious that I needed to have something with clouds. I was getting so many signs to just start the blog that I was practically forced by the universe or whatever you want to call it. I love sharing the experiences I have had and am experiences within spirituality and sharing the practical aspects of it.

You dabbled with odd jobs after finishing high school and settled with poker for 5 years… what got you hooked on it?

The jobs I worked weren’t really jobs. They were those kind of jobs you give to people that are still in school. The wage was ridiculous and working 8 hours a day wasn’t something I intended to be doing for the rest of my life. Luckily, during one of these jobs I heard that a friend of a friend was making money playing online poker. I immediately thought “If he can, then I can.”

That’s when I started studying the game. It wasn’t easy in the beginning. I failed a lot, but eventually I got the hang of it and everything started to fall into place. But as they say, poker is a tough way to make an easy living. It was fun, but I eventually got sick of it and taking steps towards what I love.

I discovered your blog through a guest blog post titled ‘6 Powerful Reasons Why Everyone Should Have Their Own Blog ’ that you did on Blogussion.com , has guest blogging been your major traffic generator for your blog?

Yes, guest posting has been one of the keys to the growth of my blog. WakeUpCloud.com is still very young and I am pleased to see that it has grown so well in such a short amount of time. Another thing I’ve worked hard on is connecting through e-mail, twitter and commenting. Just getting my face out there.I see that you’re also active on EzineArticles.com having already published 60 articles , where do you get the inspiration to generate varied niche content?

When I write about a topic I don’t know well, I usually do some research on Google and medical related sites. I also have a long background in natural health, which is one of my passions, so I usually can whip up a good article about how to improve your health naturally in a short amount of time. It always comes down to writing about things that you are passionate about, or at least somewhat passionate.

Aside from WakeUpCloud.com, you also own multiple websites, can you mention best amongst them that generates most passive income for you?

The website I started right after I stopped playing poker is called Colon Health Advice , which is a website through Site Build It!. I think Site Build It! is excellent for beginners who do not want to start a blog. There’s a lot of talk about it online and people are saying that it isn’t worth it, but all I can say to that is that you have to try and see. Most people smashing it haven’t tried it and are assuming a lot of different things.

I see that your blog is spotless without any private or affiliate banner advertisements, only an in-house eBook download, why have you taken this approach and how do you generate revenue from this blog?

My goal is to build an audience before I monetize. I’d rather avoid affiliate and any other monetization methods altogether and just make my own products so I can help my readers and provide value for them. It takes a bit longer, but I think it is a much better route to go than to slap up banner ads or affiliate links right away. I want my readers to know that if I make a recommendation, it’s going to be massively valuable for them. I am in no rush to monetize.

Going through your blog, you come across as a spiritually deep individual, at your age what influenced that lifestyle?

It happened because of several different factors. For one, I wasn’t really that happy as a teenager (who is?) and I had some health problems that the doctors didn’t know anything about, so I went the natural way and cured myself through a healthy lifestyle. I then bumped into lucid dreaming, which led me to start looking into meditation, expanding awareness and all those mind-expanding practices.

One of the key messages that I want to give to people is to follow their own heart, intuition, inspiration and passion. When you really do that, life will become so much easier. Now, I am not saying that I am a master at this. I am nowhere near that, which is why I look at myself just as someone sharing their experience and still learning from others (my readers and friends).

Facebook  or twitter , what works best in terms of generating traffic for your blog?

At the moment I have primarily been focusing on twitter, so I would have to say that twitter is generating more traffic, although the traffic is still small.

What is in store for WakeUpCloud.com in 2010?

I intend to keep guest posting, writing excellent content and increase the readership to over 2,000 subscribers. In 2010 I will have some very interesting and unique things come out that will benefit my readers in a huge way. These things are still classified, so keep your eyes open!

From Sweden your homeland to now Spain, was the move influenced by your girlfriend?

Moving from Sweden to Spain is a good example of following my intuition. One day I just felt like Spain was the place to go, so I started making it happen. I don’t really know if it is the best place, but it feels good to go there. We can never know what will happen, so we might as well enjoy the moment and follow our heart.