Blogger Interview Series - Cath Lawson
8 October, 2008 - Blogging, Interviews - 11 Comments
This is the ninth interview in my Blogger Interview Series. It comes from Cath Lawson of Cath Lawson Dot Com. Cath is a women who has gone through plenty of ups and downs in business. In Spring 2007 she set out to share with the world her successes and mistakes and since then has built up a solid reputation as the go-to female entrepreneur blogger.
Interview With Cath Lawson.
Q. If, while running a new blog, you were allowed to promote your blog using just two methods, what would those two methods be and why?
“Joining in the communities of readers and SEO. I don’t like to over optimize my posts but some SEO is essential. And joining in the communities of your readers at their blogs helps you to get to know them better - which is vital.”
Q. If you could write a guest post for any blog but were only allowed to write one guest post in your entire life, which blog would you write for and why?
“Tough choice - there’s so many. I think I would have to say Guy Kawasaki’s blog: How To Change The World“.
Q. At the end of every talk I do, I include a “Random Trick to Tip” slide. This is one sentence of advice, usually entirely unrelated to the rest of the presentation. If you could give one sentence of advice to bloggers, what would that be?
“Keep writing great stuff, even when you think nobody is listening and never ever give up.
Q. Please give us a link to your favourite post on your blog. This doesn’t have to be your most popular post. Just the post which is your own favourite.
“I like this one best, as it gives people hope when they’re struggling in business: 6 Things You Can Learn From the Man Who Had No Shoes“
Thanks for taking the time to answer those questions, Cath.
Never Give Up
Such strong words from Cath. Even the big guns like ProBlogger know what it’s like to write when nobody is commenting or emailing you and the only visitors Google Analytics is tracking is yourself. However, once you start going to the readers (that is, joining communities by writing comments on other blogs), readers will start coming to you. Never give up. New readers are just a blog comment away.
I hope you enjoyed the interview with Cath. Please let us hear your thoughts in the comments.
Past Blogger Interviews
Self Interview - Interview with Jamie Harrop
Chris Garrett - Professional blogger and co-author of the ProBlogger book
Jeremy Schoemaker - Blogging “high-earner” and Internet marketer
Liz Strauss - Authority on relational blogging and life motivation
Darren Rowse (ProBlogger) - The absolute authority on blogging, with approximately 50,000 subscribers
Ben Barden - An up and coming blogger with his own unique perspective
Al Carlton - Influential blogger with a 50,000+ subscriber base
Hunter Nuttall - Recent 500 subscriber achiever and convert to professional blogger
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed!
Del.icio.us - Technorati - Digg This! - StumbleUpon
Posted on 8 October, 2008 by Jamie Harrop
Filed Under Blogging, Interviews |
11 Comments»
Popular Posts
Top Commentators
- Nick (7)
- Jeremy Day (4)
- Mitchell Allen (4)
- Andrew Mason (3)
- Cath Lawson (3)
Jamie kayaking the River Rothay in January 08
Latest Musings
- 5 Ways to Maintain Your Business Passion
- Charging Per Hour Is Stupid!
- 5 Ways to Lose Passion for Your Business
- New About Page - Including Video
- A Customer is for Life: Not Just for Christmas
Categories
- Blogging (50)
- Ebook (1)
- Events (4)
- General Business (44)
- Guest Posts (1)
- Interviews (14)
- Misc (31)
- Motivation (28)
- Motivational Media (5)
- Polls (3)
- Quick Questions (3)
- Quick Tips (2)
- RSS Only (4)
- Social Media (4)
- Video Blogs (3)
- Web Design (6)
- Your Feedback (11)
Twitter... Follow Me
- Balls! Clip on Blackberry case has snapped. 2nd case that has happened to. Cheap rubbish! 1 hr ago
- Wow! Talk about fast turn-around! Just heard from the agency. The guys want me back for a 2nd interview/hands on task :-) 20 hrs ago
- @dannymcc Cheeky bugger! lol in reply to dannymcc 22 hrs ago
- More updates...
Great interview, and a great series you’ve got going here.
I especially like her one tip for writers/bloggers. Virtually everybody I read now that has a huge following wrote in obscurity for months - and then “suddenly” they became successful.
They were successful long before that - we (the masses) just hadn’t noticed
Hey Sid,
“They were successful long before that - we (the masses) just hadn’t noticed”
That is so true. I often find myself wondering what their blogs were like before the masses found them.
Jamie
Even worse than nobody listening is when everybody is telling you to give up! Cath has gone through setbacks just like anyone else, but she persisted, and now she’s an authority on how to run a business.
Hunter Nuttalls last blog post..MBTI Trial Week 1: Extraversion
Hey Hunter,
I’ll be honest, I can’t say I’ve ever had anybody tell me to give up, although there have been times when I’ve told myself to do so. Tough times, for sure.
Jamie
Hi Sid. Thank you - it is so true. I can understand why bloggers do give up. If only they realised it was the same for all of us, they might keep going.
Hi Hunter - Thanks. Folk telling you to give up would be bloody annoying too - but ignoring them would give you a lot of satisfaction. I sometimes think, people were praying I’d disappear and when I didn’t, they resigned themselves to the fact that they were stuck with me.
Cath Lawsons last blog post..How To Get 150,000 Web Page Views A Month
Jamie -sorry, I pressed send too soon. Thank you very much for inviting me to do the interview. I loved the whole series.
Cath Lawsons last blog post..How To Get 150,000 Web Page Views A Month
Not a problem, Cath. Glad you’re enjoying the interviews.
There’s still one more interview to come (from Erica Douglass). I’m hoping to find a few more bloggers to interview too. Maybe John Chow will respond this time.
Hi Jamie - John Chow won’t respond to a request for something. He reckons it wastes his time reading it. You’d be more likely to get a response if you just email him the questions.
I’m looking forward to reading Erica’s interview. I’ve just visited her blog and it’s inspiring.
Cath Lawsons last blog post..Be A Business Success Story, No Matter What Your Age
Oh, yeah, I was just gonna email him the questions.
But I did that when I first sent out all these interviews and he never responded. He was at a conference at the time though, so I gathered I’ll try again.
Yep, Erica and I go way back from the time when we were both in the Web hosting industry. She’s an inspiring women.
I enjoy reading Cath’s blog. She shares many useful tips and advice. Thanks for doing this interview!
Evelyn Lims last blog post..Heroes Of Healing: Neale Donald Walsch
Hey Evelyn,
That she does. Cath’s a fantastic blogger.