Hey everyone, today I have an awesome interview with a friend of mine Rhys Wynne a blogging guru with over 7 years of experience. Me and Rhys met down at the Problogger community and after seeing what great information he had to offer, I wanted to let it be shared with my readers here at Rosbswebtips!

Rhys blogs on his Social media and networking blog, so be sure to check out his blog to find some valuable information!

Let’s start this great interview

Interview transcript

Rob: Hey Rhys, glad to be doing this interview with you today. To start off this interview can we get a little bio about what you do, and what motivated you to start blogging?

Rhys:

Hi, glad to be here. Well to begin with outside of blogging, I am a 25-year-old Internet Marketing manager & web developer for a small web design company based in North Wales. Blogging wise I am a 7 year blogger, originally starting on Blogger, before moving onto WordPress. My two main blogs are The Gospel According To Rhys (a personal web blog, with discussions about social media, technology & wordpress tutorials – as well as Sport & Travel posts), and Retro Garden – a retro gaming blog.

I started blogging purely to suppress my ego. I was reading a magazine article about blogging, on how it was a self-indulgent activity, and many bloggers are not that interesting (this was when the main reason to blog was to write personal posts, rather than tutorials or niched posts), I did think at the time “I’ll show you!”, and began writing my first blog, a personal blog which has since grown through a number of manifestations into the Gospel. However, one thing I learned very quickly was that magazine was right – I wasn’t going to be that “interesting personal blogger”. I kept going, and here I am, 7 years later, still going strong.

Rob: 7 years of blogging is nice bro, I’m sure the blogosphere has really changed for you since then. What advice would you have to offer to bloggers starting out in the world of blogging?

Rhys:

Definitely! It’s changed a lot. The most important thing you can do is bring something to the table. There are millions of blogs out there, so to stand out you should do something different. The easiest way to do something different is by offering your own opinions. There is a lot of repetition in the blogosphere, particularly around newsworthy items, so by offering your own opinion, you’re being unique.

I would also say be honest. Your readers can make or break you. So if you’re honest and tell the truth with things, then you are more likely to succeed. It’s also easier to be honest as lies have to maintained, so don’t do it!

Finally, I would say technically, the two things I’d recommend doing would be go for a hosted solution such as WordPress or Joomla, so that you are in control & learning from day 1, and also begin building a list of contacts from the start – man I wished I did this!

Rob: Yea it’s important to stand out from the other bloggers, if you don’t how are you ever going to be noticed as a “good blogger” right? Do you think it’s important for a blogger to focus on their readers, more than making money from their blog?

Rhys:

Absolutely, to begin with you shouldn’t focus on making money, by all means stick an advertising page up there (as it’ll help prepare your readers for the influx of ads), maybe stick up adsense in those boxed, however you shouldn’t look to monetize your audience straight away. These will become your fans and your customers, but it takes time. If you shill to your customers straight away, they will go somewhere else for their information. Be useful first, and then sell.

As an example, when I started blogging, there was only one way to make money – a book deal. Now there are millions of ways to make money, however there are now a millions of ways to annoy your readers. I never made a single penny on my blog for 3 years, and even some purists will say it’s not the best way to make money online, you need to do it for the love, for the readers, as those who do it for this will probably make the most money.

Rob: OK awesome bro. Is there anyone you ever modeled yourself or look to as inspiration in your career?

Rhys:

To be honest, when I started blogging, I loved the writing styles of professional wrestler Mick Foley, who had just released an autobiography. I liked his self depreciating humour which was relatively juvenile, yet intelligent. So I borrowed a lot from his writing style. As time went on and I grew up so to speak I never really found an inspiration. I have had a lot of help from various bloggers, both small and large, along the way which has helped me immensely. There are bloggers I like and I am probably subconsciously inspired by now, but honestly I couldn’t put a name to them.

Rob: That’s great to hear man. Do you think bloggers should be “unique” in their writing and show personality or should they stick to a certain writing style?

Rhys:

I believe they should show personality, that’s a writing style isn’t it?

In all honesty, personality in blog posts are vital. Some of the best bloggers out there, no matter the subject, interject their own personality into their writing. It helps people connect. By following somebody else’s writing style, you are simply copying them.

I’d even go so far as to say don’t worry too much about grammar and spelling. By all means make sense, but there’s a saying in football (as in soccer) – “Referees know the rules but they don’t know the game” – the same can be said for a number of bloggers, sure their posts are perfectly formatted and grammatically accurate, but sometimes they come across dry and forced.

An example I use all the time is The Fonz from TV’s Happy Days. A person who strictly follows the rules associated with grammar and spelling would say his catchphrase is “Hey!”. Whereas those who don’t would probably say his catchphrase is “Eyyyyyy!”.

By all means make sure your post is readable, but don’t worry too much about writing perfectly, nobody else does.

Rob: Yea I think bloggers would eventually run into a struggle if they copied someone else’s writing style because it’s not theirs, so how could they really do their best at it. What do you think the difference is between bloggers who succeed, compared to the bloggers who do not succeed?

Rhys:

One word: passion.

There are many different ways of defining success in my eyes, you can be authoritative, rich or even longevity (trust me, some of the longest & most authoritative bloggers in some niches don’t make a penny), but as long as you have a passion, you will succeed. You will succeed to yourself, and to your peers. You may not be a rich man, but in your eyes at least, you’ll be a success.

Rob: I have to agree with you bro, passion is a big thing when it comes to success. What do you like most about blogging? And what do you like least about it?

Rhys:

I guess the good thing and the bad thing about blogging is the same – that anybody can have a blog.

I’ve met some wonderful people through blogging, people I would never have dreamt meeting. It’s taken me on some wonderful journeys and career paths, put me on the radio & allowed me to make a decent second income.

Then again, there are some people who fill the web with rubbish content, as well as hateful content. I’ve been targeted with some of it, and it does hurt. Thankfully though these spammers, scammers & charlatans die quite quickly. The community on the whole is great

Rob: Glad to see blogging has really been a positive in your life. A lot of bloggers are really starting to get into video blogging. Do you think video blogging is going to be the next generation of blogging?

Rhys:

Possibly. The relationship between business and video blogging is a lot the relationship between adolescents & sex. They want to do it, but they’re not entirely sure how. The only way for something to become popular is for a real, provable way of monetizing it, Gary Vaynerchuk is probably the closest at the moment. We’ll probably see Vaynerchuk do-alikes, similar to when we saw Chow do-alikes a few years ago. So yes, for a while, we’ll see a rise in video blogging at least (whether that’s a good thing or not, I’m not sure!). As far as it being the next generation of blogging? I’m not sure.

Rob: Great insight on that one. Before we tie up this interview, is there any future plans, business/personal you would like to share with us?

Rhys:

Well I’ve just released my first ebook on The Gospel According To Rhys – Value Added ReTweets, and plan on promoting it for a month or so.I’m slowly introducing other revenue streams, some blogging, some completely not related – one of which is Retro Garden, my Retro Gaming blog. Personal life I’m still working with professional wrestling companies, in the small off-chance that any of your readers are in the North West England/Wales area, and fancy a night out, come and watch a Britannia Wrestling Promotions, just be sure to boo the hell out of me please, it means I’m doing my job properly!

Rob: Haha that’s awesome bro if I ever fly down to England, I’ll be sure to stop and visit. Had a great time doing this interview with you Rhys, you really shared some great information for us to look upon. Is their anything you would like to add before we finish this interview?

Rhys:

No I think I’m pretty much happy. Thanks for conducting this interview with me, and to all your readers reading it. If you have any questions for me that I haven’t answered but want to, let me know in the comments!

Article discussion

Another big thanks to Rhys for taking the time to share his awesome knowledge with us.

Be sure to keep up with Rhys by connecting with him online:

Websites – http://www.gospelrhys.co.uk/ – Blog
http://www.retrogarden.co.uk/ – Retro Garden

Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/rhyswynne

Be sure to include your thoughts about this awesome interview, and if you have any questions for Rhys be sure to leave a comment and he will respond!