An Interview with Alan Johnson (theratingblog.com)

About a month back I mailed some questions to Alan Johnson from The Rating Blog. The reply was prompt but we were not able to publish the interview because  gawky schedules made follow up posts nearly impossible. I suppose with this post we are going to put BaB again in full throttle mode. Hope you will enjoy this interview.

Q. Alan, please tell us our readers about yourself as a person and blogger. and as a blogger.. And we are actually interested in knowing about you (reference to your about page)

First of all, I’d say that raising two wonderful children and having a wife I would do anything for, is definitely my most important accomplishment. I am a person who, throughout his existence, has worked hard for everything. I never wanted to win the lottery, I never wanted to win money I knew I didn’t deserve. Mand my better half always felt the same way. With this attitude, I have managed to secure the lifestyle my family deserves and, if I were to start over, I wouldn’t even think about changing it.

Q. When did you get into blogging? and when did u get into making money through blogging Can you provide links to your projects so that we can trace evolution on Alan as a entrepreneur, investor, blogger, writer, webmaster.

I earned a living by running a brick & mortar business and I will still be doing it until my children are ready to take over. I always believed in being my own boss and it has been quite a long time since I had a regular job. I have had a lot to learn from my experience and my attitude towards being an online entrepreneur has reflected that right from day one.

As far as online activities are concerned, I have developed my share of websites and have sold all of them prior to launching TheRatingBlog.com, so that I can give it 110% in order to maximize results with what represents a solid business model with huge potential.
Q. How does it feel when you make your first income from your online efforts online?

It always feels great when you start out and receiving receive my first online paycheck. I felt just as good as seeing my brick&mortar business become profitable.

Q. At what point, you realized that you know enough and now you are ready to share your knowledge and experience with on blogosphere?

Basically, I knew that my experience as an offline entrepreneur as well as my online experience as an online one was worth sharing and, as such, blogging was a natural next step.

Q. What was your aim with “the rating blog”? The name surely doesn’t sound like just any another money making guru’s blog.

TheRatingBlog.com also represents a reaction to all of the self-proclaimed gurus out there. I always hate seeing all sorts of clowns putting together a website and promising instant riches to anyone who buys their overpriced and over-hyped product. I and have decided to do something about it.

In most cases, they seriously over-charge for an ebook which that only contains a few pages of useless information. As such, I have written “The Online Business Handbook“, a 200-page moneymaking guide which puts any guru-style product to shame. and I am offering it at a price they can’t beat: $0

The same way, I strongly believe in providing value on a regular basis through my articles and podcasts. And in helping I like to help my readers understand that looking for  shortcuts is not the way to go and that working hard is simply a must if you are serious about long-term success.

Q. It is seen that you comment very aggressively on many blogs. What motivates you for regular socialization?

A word of advice: “When doing something, do it in style and stand out.”
I could have limited myself to simply commenting here and there, but going by unnoticed is not an option. As such, I have maximized results with blog commenting by being the ‘top commentator’ on over 40 blogs.

I was an active member of each and every blog? community. and I have always done my best in order to help others. Results? Traffic, brand awareness and, of course, the fact that I made more than a few good contacts.

As such, I was then able to move on to phase two, guest blogging and you’ve guessed it: By being a guest blogger on over 10 great resources, I am, as always, doing it in a way which makes me stand out.

Q. You recently had a break through in your feed subscriber. How do you feel about it?

Seeing the results of your hard work is indeed great, but letting yourself become blinded by success is not an option, always giving it 110% is the way to go.

I’ve managed to gain over 1k RSS subscribers in as little as 4 weeks. That is definitely impressive, but, on the other hand, let’s just say that this is only the beginning.

Q. Alan, Tell tell us how you got your first feed subscriber.

I got my first feed subscribers as a result of hitting the Digg frontpagefront-page on the very day of the launch. Oand, of course, that which made it clear that TheRatingBlog.com has huge potential.

Q. Do you think if other bloggers will follow you step by step, they can achieve the same goal? If yes then how many feed do u expectsubscribers to read :O..

As long as you are able to provide value and as long as you have the determination do keep giving it 110%, no matter how out of reach your goals may seem, then you are indeed on the right track. In the end, it’s all up to you: it won’t be easy but it definitely isn’t impossible.

Q. Tell us about the blogs you read.. and tell us? do you have some favorite readers of the rating blog.

If you, as a blogger, manage to convince me that going through what your resource has to offer in terms of information is time well spent on my part, then I will definitely consider following your blog on a regular basis. As always, it all boils down to providing value.

Q. Any shout outs or guru mantras for other bloggers?

I’d like to end this interview with a few words of advice:

Never make the mistake of believing all sorts of self-proclaimed gurus who would like to trick you into thinking that making money online is a piece of cake. You can be certain that each and every one of them has a hidden agenda. and, As such, you can either understand that, whenever something seems too good to be true, it most likely is or you can find out the hard way.

Every day, entrepreneurs who think that they have found the easy path to success try their luck, and then you can rest assured that their results will not exactly be worth bragging about.

Always be willing to work hard, never give up. And, as I previously stated:

“When doing something, do it in style and stand out.”

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