Interview with Justin Germino – Dragon Blogger

As an effort to spotlight those great bloggers who are part of the “I’m Not A Famous Blogger” IZEA Insider Crew I’ve decide to interview each member to gain a better perspective on who they are and to introduce you to my crew.

BenSpark

Justin, could you please tell the readers about yourself?

DragonBlogger

My name is Justin Germino, my online persona is Dragonblogger, I am an IT Security expert who is a passionate blogger and poet on my spare time. My interests are in all things technology and specifically focused on internet and web related technologies. I enjoy sharing everything I learn related to blogging with my readers so others looking to blog know what they are getting themselves into and how they can potentially avoid some of the mistakes and pitfalls I have made.

BenSpark

Technology and Poetry that is pretty diverse, how about you tell us about your blogs.

DragonBlogger

My dragonblogger.com site is less than a year old and is focused as a Technology and Entertainment portal, I mix up the latest technology news with blogging tutorials, how-to guides, reviews of freeware, twitter tools and include movie reviews to mix it up. This site is by far my most popular and gets most of my traffic.

My poetry blog is my pride and joy WandererThoughts.com and I write at least 1 unique poem every day, this blog doesn’t earn much money but it quickly became my 2nd most popular blog getting over 200 unique visits per day, I am rapidly gaining fame for running a daily twitter poetry game, where I call for 1 random word per person on twitter, and I craft a unique poem including all words submitted that day. Anyone can play, just follow @dragonblogger and look for my call for words.

My personal blog is all about life as a Father and living in Arizona, I focus on local AZ news, or parenting news and tips, as well as what is going on in my personal life. Anything that doesn’t really go in Dragonblogger.com or WandererThoughts.com gets posted to my personal blog.

I am also a co-blog owner/admin of RockAlongProductions.com which is a Local AZ Music company that puts together local music events, but the blog posts industry news from all over the world. You can always read about the latest news or musician information on this blog.

BenSpark

The poetry is really what is hooking me right now. I wrote a little poetry in college and put together a book of poems and sold it on campus and donated half the money to charity. I should probably post a few of my poems and see what people think. Okay, back to the interview and let’s see… Oh okay, why did you start blogging?

DragonBlogger

I started blogging in August 2008 officially with DragonBlogger.com and added 3 more blogs in September 2008.

BenSpark

Keeping current on three blogs can be tough, especially being a dad and spending time with the kids. But this is more than just a hobby this is also a bit of a business right? Do you monetize your blog? What are some companies besides IZEA that you work with?

DragonBlogger

I originally started blogging to try and find a 2nd source of income, lets face it everyone, times are tough and everyone could use some extra money. Once I started blogging I realized how much I enjoyed it and would do it even if it earned me nothing at all, this is because I have always been an amateur writer and poet, and blogging is a great creative outlet for me. I have tried 20 different earning programs out there online and there are only a handful of ones that work for me, SocialSpark is one of my most profitable and one of the highest quality, by being able to accept specific opps you choose what you want to promote, so you can only promote products you believe in. PayPerPost V4 is another really good tool that is shaping up nicely, I did use the original PayPerPost but found most of the opps on there are lower quality ones, but hey if you are desperate you grab what you can.

PayU2Blog earns more money than any other blog site, but you cannot run SocialSpark and PayU2Blog on the same blog, PayU2Blog is actually not friendly about IZEA and denies any blogs that mention IZEA or have any ITK installed. I have one of my blogs dedicated to PayU2Blog and the other 2 dedicated to IZEA. My PayU2Blog earns me between 60 and 100 per month on average, while my IZEA blogs earn about the same amount, so if I were to stop using one I would cut my blog earnings in half.

BlogsVertise, BlogToProfit have also made me some money over the months, but much less than the above ones mentioned. SponsoredReviews and BuyBlogReviews and ReviewMe have not earned my anything at all, this is because these blogs require you have a PR2 or higher to even really qualify and DragonBlogger.com was a PR0 until just recently.

One thing to note fellow bloggers is that PageRank = amount you can earn, the higher your PR the more advertisers are willing to accept your blog for sponsorship, SocialSpark is the only other blog that allows you to earn pretty well without having a high PR, this is by using their RealRank which measures Pageviews, and you can qualify for some good opportunities if you have a high viewership but a low pagerank.

One other note, you will lose your PageRank by doing paid opps, the more paid opps you do, the more likely your PageRank will start diminishing. Google penalizes blogs for disclosure policies, and backlinks out of your blog to unrelated sites, which will all hurt your blog PR.

BenSpark

My blog Benspark.com had a Page Rank for 5 for about a month. I was able to do a ton of high paying PayPerPost opps and then it got smacked. It is back up to PR3 but still. IZEA is a big proponent to Disclosure some people like it, others don’t. What is your stance on Disclosure?

DragonBlogger

I am one of the few people who support disclosure policies and also support not having them in certain cases. When using CPC or Keyword related tagging, like PayU2Blog does you are not supposed to disclose, but let the link be hidden inside a regular post, but SocialSpark and PPPv4 require sponsored disclosures. The bad thing is that Google penalizes blogs with disclosure clauses, so your blog PR will likely drop, but telling your customers it is a sponsored post is a good way to show readers you are getting sponsors, it could have the side effect of people thinking you are a sell out or will promote anything, but this is where integrity and reputation come in.

Bloggers must not just promote anything, remember that your blog is your reputation to the world, you should only promote something you feel comfortable in promoting and would either use yourself, or have used yourself. This simple way of thinking should be referred to every time you use a disclosure. If you are not using a disclosure, then you can be more free to promote things via keyword linking, but remember that your reputation is still on the line.

BenSpark

You are like the SocialSpark Maven, you are everywhere. Tell me, what is your favorite feature of SocialSpark?

DragonBlogger

SocialSpark CPC is rapidly becoming one of my favorite features, I have recently made over $40 in the last 2 months just by sending a few sponsored tweets on twitter. This is actually earning me more money and for a lot less time than writing sponsored posts in some cases. I also enjoy SocialSpark email notification when you qualify for a new opportunity and the fact that every paid link is “nofollow” which doesn’t cause your PR juice to leak out of your blog. SocialSpark is also a great blogging network and I have met some good people who come to me. I have more friends in my SocialSpark network than anyone except the founder of SocialSpark and I will talk and help anybody who comes to me for assistance. I think SocialSpark analytics are pretty good for showing your blog information and rankings as well.

BenSpark

Sure there are a lot of great features but in your opinion what should be improved on SocialSpark?

DragonBlogger

SocialSpark should modify the qualified so that it only shows which category you want to see you are qualified for, too often there are so many CPC opps, that you just want to see what paid posts you qualify for and are open. SocialSpark also should try to allow more communicative flow between users. SocialSpark should have a way to disable the auto email you get when people accept your friend request, I often have to delete 100 emails every few days on SocialSpark of the same generic auto response.

BenSpark

I’ve been a lot more social on SocialSpark and I totally agree with the overdose of e-mails, for some reason they point to twitter and not with a quick link back to my message center. Enough about that advertising is what SocialSpark is about as well so what Advertisers do you want to see on SocialSpark?

DragonBlogger

I would like to see more Technology and Software related advertisers as my blog is all about technology, but I am also very happy to see BLOCKBUSTER and Fandago promoting Star Trek movie, as I use BLOCKBUSTER myself and I made about $35 just supporting a product I already use (so it basically paid for 1 1/2 months of the service I use), I also earned about $12 just by promoting the Star Trek movie which I loved and saw anyway, so that was very nice for me.

BenSpark

I loved those opps as well, they were awesome and paid great. So, other than money what is the Ultimate Goal for a blogger, in your opinion?

DragonBlogger

The ultimate goal for a blogger is to carve out your niche, with the millions of blogs online you have to give readers a reason to visit your blog and keep coming back. What makes your blog stand out, you need to write quality articles and keep your readers engaged. But you also need to find a topic and area you specialize and enjoy. Enjoy what you do, or else your readers will know and won’t come back. Nothing is more proof of this than my poetry blog, which had such low visitors for six months and then rapidly skyrocketed as my twitter network grew and poetry fans started flocking to my unique poetry game. Find a “Schtick” and stick with it, be original, creative and take chances. Also, you have to be social, blogging is about social communication, if you just blog without going around and socializing with other bloggers, you will remain unnoticed, we are all part of this collective and we all contribute and get to know each other.

BenSpark

Which one plugin would you suggest all bloggers to have?

DragonBlogger

Google Analytics, because knowing where your traffic is coming from, what search terms and how your blogs are doing is incredibly important to marketing your blog more effectively. /

BenSpark

Keeping tabs on how people are finding you and what they are searching is key. What is the first thing you do when you fire up your browser?

DragonBlogger

Respond to blog comments and messages, make sure you keep up often on replying back to commenter’s on your blog. If you don’t respond to comments, people won’t be inclined to leave more comments. I also log into Twitter every morning and do my call for random words between 7am and 8am every weekday.

The next thing I do is check for any paid blog assignments or opps waiting for me, with SocialSpark, and PayPerPost there are a limited number of open slots and when a new opp becomes available you have to jump quickly.

BenSpark

I am a huge proponent to responding to comments, I make it a point to respond to each and every one I receive. I like your ethic in that way. So lets dream big with this next question. If you could spend one year blogging about a particular thing what would it be and why? How would you keep it fresh?

DragonBlogger

Technology, because it changes so often and so frequently there can always be something new to talk about.

BenSpark

Technology is a great one because it is so different all the time. You’ve been blogging a while so what do you think is your best blog post ever?

DragonBlogger

Tough one, would have to be my Beginner Twitter guide on DragonBlogger.com, it was a detailed tutorial and a basic how-to for Twitter.

BenSpark

What are some odd keywords people use to find your blog?

DragonBlogger

Shiny Search, I am the #2 blog listed on Google behind the Shiny Search company, I have over 3500 page views for this search term alone in the last few months. I did an article about the Shiny Search website (not a paid article) and for some reason it became a really popular one.

Wushi Finger Hold, I did a movie review of Kung Fu Panda and its funny how I mentioned the Wushi Finger Hold from the movie and this search term gets me about 80 visits per month.

BenSpark

Outside of blogging what are your other interests?

DragonBlogger

Playing with my 2 kids who are ages five and two, vacations with my wife and family (we have a Disney Cruise coming up in August), and playing some Nintendo Wii or my new latest craze which is Runes of Magic MMO on the PC/

BenSpark

Okay, here is your moment to shine. What is amazing about you?

DragonBlogger

I don’t hold grudges and even people who have slighted me in the past don’t hold any anger or strong negative will from me any longer. I also have always had the gift and ability to learn just about anything and fairly rapidly, I can learn things by reading, watching and doing. I am also an encyclopedia of knowledge, I actually read dictionaries and entire encyclopedia Brittanica as a child, and much of that knowledge is retained, I am like a walking human wiki.

BenSpark

I’m digging this interview how about a few off the cuff questions. Favorite pizza topping?

DragonBlogger

Hawaiian, can’t help it the combo of Canadian Bacon and Pineapple is too good to resist (though that is two toppings)

BenSpark

Pirates or Ninjas?

DragonBlogger

Ninja’s, though everybody loves a good looting Pirate, a single Ninja would wipe out a ship of pirates without even being noticed.

BenSpark

What one thing would be improved by adding Bacon to it?

DragonBlogger

Salad, bacon bits go so well in salads, especially with some hard boiled eggs too. Cobb Salads are one of my favorite.

BenSpark

Favorite Blogs?

DragonBlogger

blognetawards.com – Because it is a good blog for listing some really high quality blogs and categories, one of the best that categorizes blogs, and you can win from commenting and voting, I have won over $300 from leaving comments.
postcardsfromthefunnyfarm.com – Damien Riley I met through SocialSpark last year and he was the first blogger who helped me start blogging, a great guy who runs several blogs including this one which has great inspirational and philosophical posts.

chrisbrogan.com – very successful and relevant in the blogging community, I follow him if only to learn and try to emulate his success

I visit hundreds of blogs a week while doing SocialSpark networking, Twitter networking, and Entrecard visits and drops, there are many great blogs out there and I read tons of articles, but I don’t have the time to read a single blog each and every day, so often I just catch about 50 – 100 posts per week on various blogs.

BenSpark

Favorite Podcasts?

DragonBlogger

Ironically, one thing I don’t do is listen to podcasts, I don’t have the time for it. I know it is very popular, but I am not a good audible learner, I am a visual learner. I am so distracted and multitask so much that I can’t pay attention to listen to a podcast, the words would be white noise, I have to read or watch something to be engaged. The only exception to this is audio books and even then it is only while I am driving or doing something that doesn’t distract me from paying attention to the audio book.

BenSpark

Justin, thanks so much for that awesome interview. I do think that you have to check out Geekbrief.tv, you’ll love that podcast because of the technology aspect. I’m following you and will help contribute to future poems as well. I’m so glad to have you on my IZEA Insider Crew!

I encourage everyone to visit Justin’s blog and also take a look at him on SocialSpark, if he hasn’t friended you yet then you must’ve joined 4 seconds ago. See his SocialSpark profile at http://socialspark.com/bloggers/dragon-blogger.

Tagged as: "I'm Not A Famous Blogger" Crew, Blogging Poet, Dragon Blogger, DragonBlogger, Entertainment Blog, Interview, Interview with Dragon Blogger, Interview with Justin Germino, Interview with Justin Germino - Dragon Blogger, Technology Blog, Technology Blogger