Being A Blogger

Today’s guest on BaB is Ashish. This 18-year old started his blog when he was 16! He is also the guy who created the first version of BaB logo (yes, it is evolving). Now, before you accuse us, BaB team, of committing child labour, let me assure you it was both voluntary and legal.

Hi Ashish, Welcome to Being A Blogger!

Thank you. Do I get my formal introduction as His Imperially Geeked Up Mightiness, the [future] Emperor of the World, the Geek Wrestler? No? Darn. Okay on with it.

Tell us about yourself. What made you choose this name, Act of War: Warfare Redefined for your blog?

I am just your normal everyday guy – Introverted, running a business and loving food. lol. My blog is a means of connecting with people. Sort of like how people use Facebook, but with more zing.

The name Act of War: Warfare Re-defined was like a sort of “flash in the mind” thing. I am a history buff, the Age of Empires series of games just adding to that, so I always like to name my things in sort of old names. I had read about Sun Tzu’s book The Art of War and then suddenly this flashed into my mind as the subject matter was a call to war against adults who thought young people couldn’t do anything. Silly I know, but I love the name.

Right now it stands as a motto to my alter-ego writing on the blog – The Geek Wrestler who I created to do things that I used to but stopped and now don’t feel comfortable doing. Sort of like superman, only trying to conquer the world and be evil type of superman. Act of War is a base of operations.

How and when did you start blogging?

I started blogging back in 2005. I hear people saying they started blogs to let their voice out etc. For me it was different. I started a blog to earn some extra cash. Blogs were catching on and everyone was going on about how you could earn money, so I signed up on Blogger. After a religiously kept blog for about 6 months with no REAL comments coming in partly because the subject was Network Marketing. Then one day I was searching around for Lord of the Rings related posts, found Dabido’s blog and liked it. I thought I needed a sort of personal blog too so I jumped to wordpress.com and started Act of War: Warfare Re-defined.

How has your blogging journey been for you?

It has been one hell of a ride. I regard Act as my first blog despite blogging quite a while before that. I have learnt much. I’d say that my blog has made me a better person. It has been truly a memorable experience.

What was the turning point of your blog when you got traffic in your blog?

There have been three really. The first was a month after I started Act. The only regular reader was Dabido, who I mentioned earlier. Then I did the tag of the Five Questions Meme and people started coming to my blog. The days when 10 hits a day were a days of rejoicing. The next came in Oktober where my hits trebled then the usual. And now again this year it was Oktober with the same effect as last year. I guess it has something to do with my daily posting!

You have been a lot writing about how-to (technical stuff) and music. How do these posts work for you?

At first these were just filler when I had nothing to blog. Then slowly I started getting emails from people asking me to write more as it helped them [the how-tos]. Now its mostly because I think they might help people a bit. Looking at the sort of search engine queries that land people on the blog, I think I am doing that.

As for the music, I am a really new convert. I didn’t like any at first. I started listening last year, around the same time as I started the blog. At first it was to ask recommendations, now its filler or when I really want to tell people how much I adore a band(s).

You have a self-hosted blog, (for the benefit of newbie bloggers and non-techie people like me) how difficult is that?

I’d say a self-hosted blog gives you much room for customization. Most bloggers see Self-hosted blogs as a means to only change themes, trust me that gets boring after a while. I’d say self-hosted blogs add more to the ego of “I’m running my own website” more than anything else. But yeah, control is what is the biggest advantage. No need to tone down anything just so that somebody flags your blog as Mature!

The disadvantage would be the regular updating. It isn’t fun. Plus nobody’s to watch your back. If something goes wrong, you have to solve it. You are responsible, always. As for the difficulty of it, there’s nothing really. As far as I know, human kind adapts quite well.

Have you ever guest-blogged? How did that work for you blog?

I have never allowed other people to “contribute” a post on my blog, nor have I contributed somewhere else. I regard my blog as something personal and am a bit of selfish to that. I had two team blogs, one with almost the same goal as It’s A Free World where I was founder, while the other was called Anti-Socials. Both were discontinued because of lack of time. I can only update one blog. lol

Do you think themes not important for a successful blog? Any favorite themes you have?

50-50. A good theme is err.. good. However I am pro-content. Content is king always. I think that for a successful blog, the blogger in question must have or develop that special something to hook the readers interest. A good theme contributes to that [especially clean navigation] but content is the main thing.

My favourite themes would be Regulus, PressRow, Sushi and my current one – Copyblogger. I’d recommend Chris Pearson’s themes – clean designs and great formatting.

There are hardly any images on your blog other than those taken from your camera or your own personal images. Was that a conscious decision?

Well that was a decision my ISP took, not me. lol. I am on dial-up and find it strenuous to upload images, especially larger ones. I am not an avid photographer [though I am interested in photography] and take photos rarely. So its easy to be motivated to upload them in say once a month?

Are you part of any blogging groups and communities? How do blog communities help?

I am not good at interacting with people. Even if I do signup, I forget to follow through. I have an attention span of 5 minutes, the thing should keep me interested or it goes. So sorry, can’t help you there.

Were there any embarrassing or sad moments during your blogging journey?

The only time when I deleted a post. I wrote a Pro-DaVinci Code review of the book jokingly saying what not and forgot to put in the last line that said it was a “work”. My blog friend [and the only commentator then] Dabido read it and wrote me a long comment telling me his side of the view. I got scared and deleted it just so I wouldn’t lose the one friend I had made. lol. I take that as a reminder and don’t delete my posts or anything I say now.

What keeps you motivated to blog regularly? No writer’s block?

Personal ethic that a blog should be updated daily. Also I love comments, and if there are no new posts there will be no new comments. It’s not like I’ve been blogging everyday since day one. There was a stretch of months when I hated to blog. It felt like a chore and I really was not in the mood to blog. It’s just recently in September that I got back to regular blogging. I’d say that the refresher freshened me up a bit.

Have you ever faced abusive comments in your blog? How do you handle them?

Well they do come when you’re least expecting them, often in pop-culture posts. I still laugh at the way I responded to that first guy, telling him I wouldn’t tolerate language etc. Now, I just destroy them, like the other day somebody said “Your taste in music is pathetic”, I just replied “I am happy that you have informed me it is way better than yours.” They never comment back anyway. I go an extra mile and email them if they provide one. You rub it in my face, I rub it back with extra chilli powder.

How do you manage time for blogging?

I don’t know actually. I am mostly always online. But I keep thinking of topics I might do and keep writing short starters. When I find time, the post just “blooms” from all the thinking I did for it.

Ever thought of earning money through your blog?

That was the reason I took up blogging!!! lol. In fact I did earn from my defunct blogger blog AFTER 6 months of closing it down. I was contemplating putting up advertising when I switched to self-hosting, but the long stay on Wordpress.com taught me the importance of an ad-less blog. I mean its my blog, I should pay for my hosting. And I hate adsense, people hate banners, so what ads could I put up?

Do you read other blogs? What interests you in other blogs?

Sure I do. The best way to connect is to go out. I have many interests, and like to be well informed in most things so even if you’re debating whether Aphrodite’s body was golden or showing off linux love, chances are I would comment. One thing that puts me off is people not replying to comments. That’s happens quite a while.

What are the things that may cause you to delete a blog from your reader?

Um, changing my reader? lol. Not any really, because I rarely delete a blog from my reader or blogroll. That’s because I only add blogs that I would be keen on reading. Once you’re in, you don’t go out unless you piss me in some way!

What are your top 5 blogging tools?

1. Wordpress – THE BEST blogging platform to ever grace the internet.

2. ScribeFire – Because I’m lazy to go all the way to the Dashboard to post new entries.

3. Flock – I use the in-built RSS reader.

4. My Phone – For those electricity void or no PC access days.

5. My Brain?

Any blogging tips you have that you want to share with newbie bloggers?

Content is King, there’s no “and” to that. Hits should never be your target, it should be more “useful” comments. You have to really connect with your reader. Oh and despite everything heaped on you, just don’t forget that its your blog. Write what you want, even if it pisses people off. Seriously.

Ways to get hits? Add me to your blogroll! ROFL.

What are your 5 take aways from your blogging journey?

The better man resides inside you, you just need to coax him out.

Friends that stay with you no matter what.

Finding myself, even when you decide it, those hits get to you. Twice I’ve found my path back again after that phase of “Won’t blog as people won’t like it.”

Connecting with people from different parts of the world.

Finding Geek Wrestler rawks everyone’s socks?

Any favorite blogs? (You can not name yours)

Dabido’s blog, Dead End, Cat’s Blog, Dreaming the Dream, Visceral Observations, Man of Roma, Michael Sync’s Blog, Time and Again…. and in effect my whole blogroll. Can’t be partial can I? They’d be after my blood! lol.