Natespost

   One of the fastest growing blogs on the internet is TheRatingBlog. Created by Alan Johnson, it has become a benchmark for fast, steady growth and has been an inspiration not only for me, but many others. Known as a tireless commenter, Alan’s success can be traced to a no-nonsense approach to building traffic, a willingness to share his thoughts and ideas, and a relentless drive to promote. These qualities attribute to a 950% increase in traffic over the last 3 months according to Alexa. More than willing to do an interview, I asked Alan a few questions that if taken to heart, can help you take your blog to the next level -

Nate :  Do you consider yourself more of a teacher, or a motivator?

Allan :  As a blogger, you have to be a little bit of both and that’s exactly 
what I am doing with TheRatingBlog.com. One the one hand, the results 
I am experiencing are definitely motivating and help me prove that it can be done… while, on the other hand, with my articles and podcasts, 
I am constantly answering the “how can it be done?” question.

Nate :  What goals did you set for your blog on day one?

Alan :  Building a community around my blog has been the most important one and I have to say that it’s great to see that things are on the right track. Aside from that, here are a few other important goals for 2008:
   - crossing the 100k unique monthly visits mark, crossing the 10k RSS  
      subscribers mark, and having my ebook read by at least 50k people.

Nate :  How have your goals changed at this point?

Alan :  Since my blog is only about 3 months old, they haven’t changed    yet. But since it seems that I will be able to reach my goals for 2008 way 
before December, setting higher ones will be in order.

Nate:  You get a fair amount of criticism. How do you deal with it?

Alan :  Receiving criticism is perfectly natural, it comes with the territory 
as a blogger. I always appreciate constructive criticism while, on the
other hand, when a person says something just for the sake of it and 
has no intention of contributing with something constructive, taking 
him or her seriously would simply be foolish.

Nate :  What is your biggest weakness as a blogger, and how do you overcome it?

Alan :  I have to admit that I used to be a notorious perfectionist, but since
such an attitude can keep you from maximizing results as far as 
productivity is concerned, it had to go.

Nate :  In ONE sentence, tell my readers how to make more money from their blogs.

Alan :  There’s no need for an entire sentence, one word will suffice: “value”

   He hit the nail on the head…..provide value for your readers and you will become an asset to them. I would love to hear your feedback on what he had to say…