Michael B Kitson famously said “Surround yourself with people who are better than you and you will become better yourself”.
This is something I believe in strongly. We only get better by working with people who are smarter than us. Which is why I plan on setting up a lot of interesting interviews for you guys with bloggers, entrepreneurs, social media, marketing and WordPress experts.
I’m pleased to welcome John Paul Aguiar as my first guest. I first got to know John a few years ago when he released the fantastic Twitter guide Twitter Dummy. With over 120,000 Twitter followers, it’s safe to say that John Paul knows a thing or two about Twitter.
He’s wrote lot of great articles on the subject such as 10 Things I Learned On My Twitter Journey To 100,000 Followers, Top 15 Ways Twitter Can Make You A Blogging Pro and 8 Golden Rules To Attract Twitter Traffic.
Not content with being a social media expert, John Paul has also wrote a lot of fantastic articles on building a blog, growing your email list and marketing your blog.
How did you get started in blogging and social media?
I was making money online for a few years with MLM, affiliate marketing and Ebay. The blog started as a way for me to share what I was doing to market and make money online in a simple way that anyone could follow.
How do you manage your time between tweeting, blogging, video blogging and creating new products?
I’m not the best at managing haha I always have to many projects going at once. Somehow I still manage to get things done. For me, I start my day by getting my social sharing set up for a few hours. That way all I have to do for the next few hours is pop into social sites and reply to any questions or comments or shares that come in.
As I do all that, I will either be working on a new post or new product or tweaks to existing sites. I don’t have a set schedule, I just put some time into each project each day, some days some projects get more attention than others, just depends on where my head is at that day.
I’m a procrastinator lol So I fight with that daily. Some days I win, some days laziness wins :)
You trebled your Twitter following in your second year to over 110,000 followers. What did you do differently in your second year of Tweeting?
It took me a full 2 years to get it to 110,000. First year I had about 35,000 followers and it grew rapidly from there. The only real difference was the content I was sharing was getting read and shared more than in my first year.
How has a large Twitter following helped you and your blog succeed online?
My Twitter following has helped me and my blog in many ways, some I can see and some I can’t.
First, having a strong following let me compile what I knew into my Twitter Dummy guide that made me and my affiliates money. From there I was pushed to offering social media management services that began because people were coming to me after seeing my success on Twitter.
As far as the blog, Twitter is always in my top 3 traffic sources each month. Because of that attention I have been able to spread my brand and message much farther than if I had no Twitter following.
Then you have the things I cant track, like all the people I have helped or answered a question or have enjoyed the tweets I share. I can track all that, but those relationships benefit me and my business daily even if I can’t “see it”.
What would be your number 1 tip to anyone who is wants to become a blogger?
Have a stronger why then “just to make money” Chasing the money is a fast way to fail.
Blogging is a simple task that takes a lot of real work. It’s not enough to be a great writer, you have to be good at writing, marketing, connecting and building relationships.
So focus on what you like already, maybe a hobby. Something that will make it a little easier for you to be able to write new content weekly.
Something you like so much that you enjoy the process with or without the money coming in.
A big thank you to John Paul for taking part in this interview. You can find out more about John on his blog or on Twitter @JohnAguiar. I also recommend subscribing to his newsletter as he gives away a fantastic social media blogging course free to subscribers :)