Dear Reader, Who Are You?

by Daniel in 225 Comments — Updated Reading Time: < 1

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Daily Blog Tips will be three years old soon, but that is far too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable bloggers (you). I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

You probably chuckled with the line above (if you haven’t, go buy The Lord of the Rings and read it asap), but it does capture the spirit of this post.

Blogging is about conversations, communities and relationships, right? I was thinking about that concept this morning, and I realized that I don’t know most of my readers. Sure I know some of you, the ones who have been commenting frequently or exchanging emails with me, but that is the vast minority.

I would like to know more about you, to know where you live, what you do for a living and the like. That is what this post is all about. It is simply an invitation for you to write a comment sharing a bit of your background.

I will do my best to answer to all comments, and possibly to visit your blog or website to check it out. Don’t be shy and come join the conversation!

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225 thoughts on “Dear Reader, Who Are You?”

  1. i am a 19 year old engineering female undergraduate. i am a nigerian. i just started blogging for about a month now. i am definitely enjoying it but am having lot of difficulties cos i dont really know the ins and outs well yet. hope to make some good income to support me in school. but have not even made a cent yet. have bin doing a lot of fiddling with the blog that i am almost destroying it! help me please.

    Reply
  2. I write from a country you probably have heard of: Brazil.

    Seriously, I got a big surprise when I found out you live here too. A brazilian version of DBT would do really well by the way, despite the fact we dont have that many monetization options.

    On my side, I have around 2000 daily visitors and things are going ok (3 figures monthly income from Adsense, good feedback from readers etc.) Some areas can and must be improved, of course, but as long as I can come up with unique content, the numbers will go up.

    Keep up the good work. You provide real value to us, our readers and should be an example to most brazilians. I dont comment here, but rest assured I read you via Google Reader.

    Congratulations.

    Reply
  3. @J. Money, yeah I always try to write as succinctly as possible. I am an impatient guy, so that helps. As for the Bloggers Face-Off, anytime! Let’s just find a match for you. Please drop me an email about it.

    @Eric C., thanks for being a loyal reader, I sure remember many of your comments. I will try to do more rankings posts in the future.

    @abby, thanks for the nice words.

    @Malini, looking forward to seeing your blogs growing a lot.

    @Leahsandra, self publishing is an interesting topic. And I am sure it will only grow in popularity in the coming years, as more and more people will follow that route instead of trying to work with old school press.

    @Crankberry, thanks for stopping by.

    Reply
  4. Jerry here from the north (Canada), just a web developer at a small software company. Just started blogging and find your blog to have the most relevant tips. Cheers!

    Reply
  5. Hi Daniel,
    Happy blog Birthday! I am Malini from Michigan, started blogging December last year when I got laid off and just kept going. I work as an IT auditor but my passion is writing and classical Indian dancing.

    Daniel has been a real inspiration and DBT is a great resource. Now I have my own domain where I write about life and am working on getting a couple of sites up on Indian music and dance.

    Great site Daniel – keep it up!

    Ciao!

    Reply
  6. Hi Daniel!

    I follow your blog since past 8 months. i am a business analyst by profession and a blogger by passion.. keep up the good work.. i really love reading your posts

    Reply
  7. Daniel If any your readers need some extra online visibility. They are most welcome to email me a original post with one outgoing link.

    Thanks

    Reply
  8. Hey Daniel,

    My name is Eric C and I’ve been a loyal reader and commentator since about March of this year. I think this site is one of the three best of its kind and I read most every non-technical post. I’m working on a guest post if it ever gets up to my standards.

    I read in the above comments you used to live in Italy. I just moved back from there, so thats crazy.

    About my blogging, my brother and I run a blog on military and foreign affairs, art and philosophy called On Violence. In the next year we hope to launch a blog on art.

    Anyways, love the blog. My favorite post was when you ranked “blogs about blogging” It definitely winnowed down a crowded field for me when I first went out in search of tips.

    peace, Eric

    Reply
  9. My name is J. Money, and I’m addicted to personal finance. and blogging. and coffee. I came across this site through the “blogger face-off” series and have been enjoying the site ever since!

    your posts make sense, aren’t terribly long, and get me to think. much more than i can say for some others out there. don’t people realize we all have A.D.D.? 😉

    ps: If you were to ever ask me to play in a Blogger Face-Off, my answer would be yes. In case you were wondering…

    Reply
  10. @Daniel Scocco,
    Thanks for your suggestion Dani. I will change it soon with some innovative designs for the category block in the sidebar.

    Reply
  11. @Chris, thanks for stopping by. A webcomic with LEGO bricks? Amazing 🙂

    @Zhu, I seem to remember coming across your comments in the past. Keep up the good work on your blog.

    @Jeri, I had never heard about an organizer, but it makes sense. If you can’t get organized minimally you won’t be able to produce much, both professionally and personally.

    @Craig, glad you find the content useful. If you make even $10 monthly with your sites, you are already ahead of 90% of the population. Just keep working on them and have fun along the way!

    @Mike, bueno saber que tengo lectores en Espana tambien!

    Reply
  12. Congratulations on 3 years. I blog about personal finance and entrepreneurship in Spanish at dineroycredito.com (which means money and credit in spanish). I enjoy scanning your daily updates via RSS and usually take the time to read a few of your posts a week. Most of my audience is in the U.S., but a growing part is from Latin America (mainly Mexico).
    Thanks,
    Mike.

    Reply
  13. Hi Daniel and others.
    I don’t know how I found this blog. I signed up for the emails one day and look forward to every one. I know I have had this one for a couple of days..but hey what do you do. I got around to posting at least.

    I am in New Zealand. I am not really a blogger or even a webmaster. I have 3 websites though that I have had for about 3 years. I make enough to pay for them and that is about it. I have had no training what so ever for the internet and just browse the web for things to do/add.(maybe that is how I found BlogTips)

    I am here to one day get that email from you that will change my arcade/forums in to something it may never be.

    I wouldn’t know the first thing aboout monetising or advertising or most webmaster stuff.
    I save each email.
    Cheers for all the info I have had over the last however long it has been.

    Reply
  14. Hi – I’m Jeri, a professional organizer; I help people whose clutter is driving them crazy. I live in Half Moon Bay, California – just a bit south of San Francisco. I’ve been blogging since October 27, 2006.

    Your blog is one I follow regularly, through RSS.

    Reply
  15. Hi there!

    I’m Zhu and I’m French/ Canadian. 🙂

    I started following your blog a long time ago because I found myself suddenly addicted to blogging, but with little skills other than writing and photography. I learned quite a lot thanks to your informative articles!

    I enjoyed designing my blog and tweaking it but overall, I love writing and photography best and blogging is a great medium for me.

    Happy bloganiversary and keep on the good work!

    Reply
  16. Hey Daniel, I’ve been following your blog for several months now, thoroughly enjoying it and trying to implement your suggestions. I hail from Greenville, SC and the main blog I run at present is a WordPress-run webcomic that I build out of LEGO bricks. 🙂

    Reply
  17. @Tony, People are busy, and few have time to click on links (let alone to write a comment!). This, however, does not mean that they are not reading your posts or that they are bots in my opinion.

    @Lisa, thanks for the comment. I will check your blogs out, and glad to know you like working online.

    @Gaby, nice to meet you. I believe a comic series in a blog format could work well. If I ever decide to write a fiction book I am sure I will publish it online as I write it.

    @sbunting, thanks for sharing your background.

    Reply
  18. Hi im a young blogger/twitterer/digger/stumbleuponer who loves to play most sports(football,tennis,fives)yes your probably wondering what fives is (google it), politics, news,technology. I love to read lots of magazines and debate (have a argument). I also love to discuss and debate just about any topics apart from the insides of a ping pong ball. Im also a young very keen photographer who is very interested in photography. I would love some help and support to improve my photography and any help is much appreciated.

    My Photography Blog

    Reply
  19. Hi Daniel,

    My name is Gaby and I’m a 21-year-old Computer Science student in the UK.

    I used to blog when I was younger, but they were always personal blogs. I decided near the beginning of this year that I have a lot of opinions and some knowledge that other people may be interested, and so I started working on Arteki, which I “launched” around May.

    I came across DBT while researching blogging and found your tips incredibly useful. DBT influenced how I shaped my blog a lot and I’m incredibly grateful for all the knowledge you have imparted here.

    At the moment I’m not making any money off my blog and I have no plans to monetise it in the near future.

    I’m in the process of organising a 2nd “blog”. It’s going to be a comic series, although the individual comics probably won’t be linked in a plot. I suppose it will be more like XKCD is, or Chris Wilson’s works. I’ll be using wordpress for it though, because wordpress is awesome and is surprisingly flexible, especially if you get to know the API.

    Anyhoo, I just wanted to say hi and introduce myself like many others have. I’ve been reading DBT for nearly a year and so I also wanted to say happy 3rd birthday!

    Reply
  20. Hi Daniel! My name is Lisa, and I think I’ve commented a couple times around here before.

    I’m a blogger at LisaMorosky.com, and the soon-to-be SpendLessOnLife.com. I’m also a virtual assistant to other bloggers and Internet entrepreneurs, via VAforBloggers.com. I’m kind of immersed in the whole blogging world. I love what I do. 🙂

    I live in the Chicago area with my husband, who’s also a blogger (and a chiropractic school student).

    I enjoy reading your blog and your many tips! Take care!

    Reply
  21. By the way, I am trying the same thing at my site. I did a post asking my supposed 2,000 RSS subscribers to leave a comment – even just a “Hiya!”.

    My bet is that I get less than 20 responses. Yes, I understand that some people are shy and some people just don’t care, but I suspect that an awful lot of RSS “subscribers” are ‘bots or just old, long ignored signups.

    We’ll see…

    Reply
  22. Congratulations on this great achievement , also saw the post on the site value. THIS IS AWESOME.

    I have several sites my first was in 2001 and as of today we manage 5 sites.

    Thanks for all tips

    Reply
  23. Hi there, I’m Kate. I have a four month old blog called Framed — photographs and narrative centered around recipes and cooking for time-pressed home cooks. I have gotten a ton of valuable information from your blog, and I read it very faithfully and pass it along to fellow bloggers. So thanks, and keep it coming! (and if you ever need a recipe for pumpkin pie bars, make sure to stop by. It’s my most popular post ever. )

    🙂

    Reply
  24. I’m Tony Lawrence, a self employed ‘puter guy in Massachusetts.

    My website is about Unixish/Linuxish/OS Xish things, self employment, blogging.. not very tightly focused, but neither am I.

    I’m PMR (Pretty Much Retired) – that is, I still work, but not so much that it interferes with my life. Part of what lets me do that is advertising income from my website, so I write about that sometimes also.

    You’ve been in my Google Reader for some time. I can’t say I’ve read every thing you’ve ever posted, but I read enough to recognize you and enough that I felt I ought to take a minute and respond.

    It might be interesting to see how many of your readers DO respond. I recently wrote a post questioning how many of my supposed RSS readers are really reading – an experiment like this might give some more data.

    Reply
  25. @Anand, that is a tough step to take, but I am sure it will work all right for you. Plus, the sooner you make the switch, the better.

    @Sarah, thanks for your comment. I will check your website out, as I am always interested in copywriting.

    @Steve, I am a sports fan as well. Depending on the niche you pick a sports blog could become a nice asset. For example, soccer and tennis seem to be very popular online.

    Reply
  26. wow..congrats Daniel..

    Well myself from India…I worked with a popular dot-com in India and wanted to start my own ventures in the future. But then feared if commitments and liabilities as a family guy would get to me later in life..

    So as of now, quit my job (even though I don’t make much online) and working from home on my websites..Let’s see how it goes..

    Reply
  27. @Lee, congrats on your success, generating enough money with your blogs to pay the university fees is terrific. Have you ever considered working full time on the Internet once you graduate?

    @Jaydip, yeah we have talked a lot in the past. I am sure you are on the right track to working full time on the Internet. It is a matter of time.

    @Andrew, thanks for stopping by. You are the third person already mentioning a passion for movies. You guys could create a group blog on the topic 🙂 .

    @excITingIP, haha I remember that questions. Glad that you have stick with us ever since. Good luck with the new technical blog.

    Reply
  28. The first time I asked you a question (as Destination Infinity), it was about how to link a few words to a URL. I didn’t know that before one and a half years, and didn’t know whom to ask – Thankfully, you answered my question in the weekly Q&A session that you had back then and I have been following your blog since then. I have a personal blog for fun, and have recently started a technical blog on the networking technologies used by companies to build their LAN (I work in this field, in India). I have taken a break for 6 months, and now I am about to join back in a job and wait for the site to become popular enough with good hits, while I continue to write on it. I am not sure if I would do blogging full time, but I think it has the potential to become a good secondary source of income.

    excITingIP.com

    Reply
  29. Hi Daniel,

    Andrew from the UK.

    I’m new to blogging, but have learned a lot from your site and now read your feed daily.

    I work for a big corporation, testing systems by day, but my real passion is movies.

    Reply
  30. @Raju, nice blog. Just keep working on the content and networking (which most people neglect) and in no time your blog and yourself will be considered authorities in the niche.

    @Lisa, gotcha.

    @George, thanks for the nice words and good luck with the blog.

    @Lena, thanks for the comment. Glad to know we also have readers in Russia too.

    @Genevieve, keep working on the blogs if you like web publishing. It certainly takes time to make them grow and become profitable, but it is totally possible. Plus, the Internet will only grow, and those who start these days will have an edge in the future.

    Reply
  31. Hi, Daniel. I usually read your blog via RSS. I’m 58 years old, and Kentucky has been my home for the past 20 years. My blogs are my favorite hobby, and the small income they generate goes into my son’s college fund. In my real life, I have a boring job that has absolutely nothing to do with computers or the internet; however, I do have an antique degree in computer programming (before the mouse had been invented.)

    Reply
  32. Hi,

    you’ve got quite a number of responses here 🙂
    I am subscribed to your site for quite a few months already and regulary read it though hardly have time to drop a comment.

    But now, since you asked, here is a bit indroduction. My name is Lena and I am from Russia. Running an online Magazine, featuring articles about daily life, relationships, travelling, as well as fiction and poetry. It comes as a hobby though since I do have a regular 9 to 6 job.

    You do a great job, but I guess you know this 🙂
    Thanks 🙂

    Reply
  33. Hi Daniel,

    I love your blog. Learned a lot from you, which I am implementing in my christian wordpress blog. Thanks a ton and all the best.

    Georgy N Joseph

    Reply
  34. @Munawar, yes I heard about the earthquakes. Really a tragedy. I hope all your friends and relatives are OK, and that the affected countries will be able to recover soon.

    @Jade, yeah once you start blogging it is hard to stop. I will check yours out.

    @Bariles, glad you like the content. And sure thing for replicating this idea on your own blog on its birthday.

    @Lori, thanks for the compliment. If you love words and writing you should check DailyWritingTips.com (my blog as well). Ever been there?

    @Nate, congrats on your success with the food blog. Plateaus are inevitable, the important thing is to keep pushing.

    Reply
  35. Hi Daniel,

    My name is Nathan and I and my wife write a food blog called House of Annie. She does most of the cooking while I do most of the photography and backend stuff. This month also marks our 3rd year bloggerversary!

    We got serious with blogging only a year and a half ago and grew our blog from 6K views per month to 45K views, in 6 months. Thanks to a lot of hard work and good advice from sites like yours. We seem to have plateaued, though, but want to take it even higher.

    Reply
  36. Hi Daniel! My friends say I’m a wordsmith. I like the term wordmonger, personally. I am a consultant, site administrator and social-media specialist, teaching artists and small businesses Web2.0 strategy– but mostly, I like to write stuff.

    I love reading your blog tips for ideas on improving what I teach and to get a different pov. Plus, your writing style is engaging and entertaining.

    Bless!
    ~Mrs. Z

    Reply
  37. Mabuhay!

    I am known by the name Bariles, which is Tagalog for Tuna, my hometown General Santos City, most famous export since it hosts 6 of the Philippines’ 8 tuna canneries.

    Your regular feeds have been helpful to me since I started subscribing way back in November 2007, the same time that I started blogging about my city. No day would be complete without it. Thanks so much.

    I will be celebrating my blog’s 2nd birthday next month and if you may allow me, I’d like to replicate what you did to celebrate your milestone.

    Again, happy 3rd birthday and as we say here, Magandang GenSan!

    Reply
  38. Hi Daniel,

    Congrats on your impending 3rd year anniversary!

    I am Jade, I am a stay home expat wife. I am from the Philippines but currently living in Singapore due to my husbands job. I started blogging 1 1/2 years ago out of boredome and lonelines being in a new country and I got hooked. Now blogging has been a part of my daily life.

    I learn from blog like yours! Keep up the great work because you are helping a lot of people!

    Cheers!
    Jade

    Reply
  39. They call me Kang Nawar. Now I live in Indonesia, the country was hit by the earthquake since last week. Maybe you heard and read this news. This earthquake destroyed thousands of homes and thousands of people died. We are really in deep sorrow

    Reply
  40. @Man Overboard, hey Jack. I certainly would never have guessed that we have nuclear engineers on the audience. Feels kinda flattering.

    @Bill, thanks for dropping by.

    @Hesham, Salam Aleikum. Were you hired by a company from Texas, or did you move there alone? Either way congrats on your success.

    @Sarge, awesome domain. Keep pumping good content there and I am sure it will become a good resource for beginner bloggers.

    @Cherran, yes I have seen your comments around. Interesting concept on that new website.

    Reply
  41. Here is Hesham, as Egyptian guy who has moved recently from Cairo to Houston Texas, and I do web design and I love to work with WordPress and Joomla as a good open source CMS applications, i also have my own blogs that help me to manage my living since 2 years back! I love your blog and i really really like this post idea.. congratulations for reaching the third year blogging!

    Reply
  42. @Steph, thanks for stopping by. Nice that you are going to travel the world next year. I am considering to do it in the future too (though I have been around quite a bit already).

    @Mark, nice agency you have there. Glad you find the content on the blog useful.

    @Nima, drop shipping is a solid business model. I never did it directly, but I have many friends who make a good living with it (we had a case study on it for Online Profits).

    @Katie, love Australia, and will certainly pay a visit there some day. I am also sure you will be able to make a living online. If I were you I would focus on a blog/website on the fitness/weight-loss niche. It is very profitable, and with your experience you should be able to compete successfully on it.

    @Bang Del, thanks for your comment, and good luck with the blog. Yes I do have a Facebook account, facebook.com/danielscocco

    Also, I think we have many readers on Indonesia. Two of you commented on this post already.

    @Ramiro, abraços pra Porugal, and thanks for the links.

    Reply
  43. Hi Daniel..
    My name is Bang Del from Indonesia and I’ve been reading your blog post since I’ve start blogging 4 month ago via email readers and I really enjoy all of your blog posts. You have helped me a lot, from zero up to now. I like all your articles in the DailyBlogTips. Thank you for helping me Daniel. Oh by the way, you don’t have any Facebook account, don’t you 🙂 God bless you Daniel ..

    Reply
  44. I am a multimedia marketer. I have a website at Tracedesign.com and we do branding across web, print and video. Your site has been very helpful to how I explain best practices to blogging to our clients and others.

    Congrats on the three year milestone.

    Reply

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