Blogging plays a significant role in my life: Robert Barry

My name is Robert Barry and I run the Successful Affiliate Marketing blog. I was born on February 14^th 1946 and yes, I’m one of the original baby boomers. I currently reside in a very small town in Florida but I’ve lived all over the United States. Due to my previous careers in sales, marketing and advertising, it was necessary for me to move all over the country.

All the cities I’ve lived in are to numerous to list here. I never completed my college education because I had to enter the work force to help my family financially. I feel the experience I gained by doing that was invaluable. A few years ago I had to take an early retirement due to a serious accident which left me partially disabled. I think sales and marketing is in my blood and that’s why I decided to take my experience online.

Interview

Q: Welcome to Speakbindas. Tell us since when blogging has been a part of your life? Was there any motive or inspiration as a backbone of it?

* Ans.: I began blogging just over a year ago. As I previously mentioned, I took an early retirement several years ago. I felt something was missing in my life and that’s when I decided to take my sales and marketing experience to the “net”. I’ve always been very successful in the sales, marketing and advertising industry and worked for some major corporations in the cable TV and automotive businesses. I’ve always been someone who enjoys a challenge and I must admit that blogging has been and still is, a great challenge.

Q: What is your blog all about? Which topics you cover there? Is that you alone running/maintaining the blog, or have a team?

* Ans.: My blog is about affiliate marketing. I do my best to post useful and informative topics related to the affiliate marketing industry. My team consists of three very well known characters; me, myself and I. This industry is constantly evolving and I try to keep abreast of all the latest strategies so I can keep my readers informed and up to date on the latest trends.

Q.: How important is it for the blogger to interact with their readers? Do you respond to all the comments that you receive?

* Ans.: I’m glad you asked that. When I first started my blog, I had it on Blogger.com and really didn’t understand how a blog worked. For me, it was a great way to start and learn about blogging. At the time, I didn’t understand the importance of interacting with my readers. I got very excited when someone posted a comment but I never responded. After about three months on Blogger, I felt I had learned quite a bit and moved on to a WordPress blog. I now know the importance of interacting with my readers and respond to everyone who comments. I feel that building relationships and trust with my readers is a top priority and a major factor to achieving any level of success.

Q: What are the present statistics for your blog, i.e. number of daily visitors, visitors geographical status etc.?

* Ans.: As of last month, December 2009, I had just over 2,000 unique visitors and over 9,000 visits. I realize those aren’t earth shattering stats but my blog has been consistantly experiencing about 10-15% growth every month. Of course I get visitors from all over the world and the top 5 countries are: United States, Great Britain, China, India and the Philippines. I might add that so far this month, it looks like I’m on pace to have my best month ever.

Q: Is blogging for you just a passion or a medium for earning too? Does it help you to earn enough cash to quit a 9 to 5 day job?

* Ans.: Blogging for me is a passion and any money earned is a welcome bonus. I’m very fortunate that I do not have to rely on the income from my blogging efforts. Yes, I do earn a little money from some of the products I promote and Adsense but it would not be enough to quit my job if I were still working a 9-5 job. My greatest pleasure comes from helping others and seeing them achieve some level of success. As long as I find blogging enjoyable and challenging, I will continue doing it.

Q: Who are your favorite bloggers, whom you read frequently?

* Ans.: There are so many blogs that I visit on a regular basis. Some of my favorites are Entrepreneurs Journey by Yaro Starak, John Chow.com, Mashable.com, PlugIM.com, Business-Opportunities.biz, and of course I also enjoy visiting the blogs of all the readers who comment on my own blog. Guess I’ll be coming here often as well.

Q: From the secret bucket of your blogging experiences, what tips you would like to share with the fellow bloggers?

* Ans.: There really are no secrets and when I come across something that I feel will benefit my readers, I do share the information. If I keep everything to myself, how will others become successful? However, I will share this; I have found that utilizing some of the social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have been significant sources for getting new visitors to my blog. Just as it’s important to build relationships with your blog readers, the same applies to social networks. The worst thing you can do on social networks is continually slam those people with sales pitches. Always take it slow and easy and build relationships first!

Q: Do you believe that blogging completes you? If yes, tell us how?

* Ans.: Blogging plays a significant role in my life but I wouldn’t say it completes me. There are several other things I want to do in the near future and once I experience those things, I might be able to say my life is now complete.

Q: What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?

* Ans.: I would have to say the happiest moment of my life was the birth of my only son. I think he’s now older than most of you who are reading this. The gloomiest moment for me was when I had my accident and found out I was no longer able to work. I had just received a big promotion and a substantial increase in pay. I loved my job and looked forward to going to work every day. That was a life changing event for me.

Q: Say you are sponsored to travel to 3 world destinations, where you need not to worry about costs for food, hotel or anything. Which destinations would you pick up, and why? Would you like to take someone along with you? If yes, whom?

* Ans.: I’ve traveled extensively throughout the United States and visited all but 2 states. I’ve also been to the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. One of my dreams is to tour all of Europe, Australia and Africa. It’s not much fun traveling alone so I would take my S.O. with me.

Q: Are you into watching movies? If yes, which fills your list of favorite ones?

* Ans.: I love to watch movies on the weekends and I’m an avid fan of Netflix. Some of my favorite movies are the old epic blockbusters like Ben Hur. I also like a good comedy, sci fi or action/adventure. Seems like many of today’s movies don’t hold a candle to the oldies.

Q: How has blogging helped you other than money?

* Ans.: It keeps my mind active and creative and keeps me out of trouble. I enjoy interacting with like minded people and I’ve made dozens of friends through my blogging efforts. You’ve probably heard the saying; “I love my computer because all my friends live inside it”.

Q: What would be the one thing you’d change about yourself?

* Ans.: I can’t change the past and what happened so I keep a positive attitude and look for the good things in life. I don’t think I would want to change anything at this point. At this point, I’m very content with everything in my life.

Q: What will you do without internet?

* Ans.: I think I would commit hari-kari…just kidding. I would probably use all that free time traveling, spending some more time with my family who all live long distances from me. At some point I would like to write a book but can’t seem to find the time right now.

Q: What is your deepest fear?

* Ans.: Big Brother watching us and World War III.

Q: If you could meet one person, dead or alive, who would it be?

* Ans.: I would love to meet my father. He passed away from a brain tumor at 26 years of age and I was 1 year old. He was an aeronautical engineer who designed some of the first jet aircraft and was instrumental in developing the wind tunnel. I often wonder what life would have been like.

Q: Which is your favorite television show? Favorite songs?

* Ans.: I don’t watch a lot of TV except for news and sports but my current favorite show is “24″. I Watched the season premier last night and I’m hooked. As for music, I love all the oldies from the 50’s and 60’s and I like anything the Black Eyed Peas do. I really love all kinds of music from classical to hip-hop.

Q: How much money do you have in your purse/wallet right now (including change)?

* Ans.: About 9 bucks and zero change. Thank goodness for Mastercard and Visa

Q: What is your favorite food? Any particular dislikes?

* Ans.: I love to eat and my favorite foods are Italian and Mexican. I do not like sushi!

Q: What’s your take on the technological advancement these days? Does it make people’s life simple or complicated?

* Ans.: I think that overall, the technological advancements particularly over the last 20 years is amazing and definitely simplifies and perhaps improves our lives. The only problem with the new technology is figuring out how some of the new “stuff works”. I usually need to find a 12 year old kid to show me how to operate some of the new gadgets.

Q: What do you think of “blogging is the next BIG thing”?

* Ans.: I think blogging as the next big thing has already happened and millions of people are riding the wave. I’m curious to see what is going to replace sites such as Twitter, FaceBook and MySpace. What will the next major platform be?

Q: Any special message you would like to share with your blog readers as well with everyone else?

* Ans.: First, I want to thank you for the opportunity to do this interview and a special thanks to all those who read it. I wish everyone only the greatest success no matter what the endeavor may be. One of my favorite quotes: “Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic.” ~ Anonymous