Talking all things motivational, entrepreneurial, blogging & travel. Pretty much anything other than "How to Make Money Online"! (Because when I blogged MMO I felt like a clone of the other 12 million people doing it)

Blogger Interview Series - Al Carlton

17 September, 2008 - Blogging, Interviews - 5 Comments

This is the seventh interview in my Blogger Interview Series. It comes from Al Carlton of Self Made Minds and Coolest Gadgets. Coolest Gadgets alone has over 65,000 subscribers and in December 2007 made Al over $61.5k.

Interview With Al Carlton.

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?
“Firstly would be to create a link bait article or tool that when fellow bloggers read they would feel the desire to share and link to. An example of this would be something like Which Blogs Have the Most Feed Subscribers? , it got noticed by the sites mentioned which led to exponential traffic.

Next method would be simply quality unique content. If you keep producing content like that it will achieve links organicly and you’ll build up your subscriber base.”

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?
“Depends what blog I was trying to promote, though it would have to be the one with the most reach (web, email and RSS) in the same niche. “

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?
“It takes time, work and commitment to write a successful blog. The first six months is the time of building the foundations which can be difficult but worth it in the long run.”

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.
“Good question. There are quite a few I like for different reasons. I have a few posts that have generated $xx,xxxx from affiliate commissions and others that have had 100s of comments and great discussions. But I reckon my favourite is one of my early ones: The Really Cool Portable GPS Tracker. It was a really cool product to write about (I was working at the time and remember taking an ‘extended’ lunch break to write it) and also had an affiliate scheme to pay a bit of commission. The post took off and became my first Digg front page sending about 30K visitors (which for me then was shed loads) and I sold around a 100 and it confirmed to me that I could make some money in this game.”

Thanks for taking the time to answer those questions, Al.

I hope you enjoyed the interview with Al. 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

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Posted on 17 September, 2008 by Jamie Harrop
Filed Under Blogging, Interviews |

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5 Comments»

Comment by Cath Lawson

2008-09-17 08:02:55

Hi Jamie and Al. Thanks for this - it was a great interview. I hadn’t heard of Al before and he seems to be doing brilliantly. I will definitely check out those two blogs and pick up a few tips.

Al - how long have you been blogging for? Is it just you, or do you have others blogging for you too?

Cath Lawsons last blog post..Grilled Frog On Toast Anyone?

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Comment by Al Carlton

2008-09-17 11:16:37

Hi Cath, pleased you enjoyed the interview. In answer to your questions, I started Coolest Gadgets 3 years ago, initially I was the only writer but now have a great team of 6 writers who do the majority of the blogging whilst I expand the business and look for other opportunities.

Thanks again for asking to interview me Jamie.

Al Carltons last blog post..A few more Friday links

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Comment by Cath Lawson

2008-09-17 18:49:43

Hi Al - that’s great. I’ve checked out your blog and I love it, so I’ve subscribed. It’s great that you’ve got people working for you so you can concentrate on growing your business. Well done and thanks for sharing the great tips.

Cath Lawsons last blog post..Grilled Frog On Toast Anyone?

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Comment by Zath

2008-09-18 23:00:10

Another great interview Jamie, please keep them coming as much as you can while you’re away over the next 12 months.

Some good advice there Al, particularly about building foundations of a good blog and your favourite post and the reasons for it.

Zaths last blog post..Funny TV Commercials for Microsoft?

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Pingback by Blogger Interview Series - Erica Douglass - Jamie Harrop - Young Entrepreneur

2008-10-15 09:04:25

[...] Biz. Erica is the third of my interviewees who I’ve actually met in person (Chris Garrett and Al Carlton been the others). We spoke briefly at HostingCon in 2007. Erica is a driven and determined women, [...]

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