My site is a general general blog which focuses on my daily life. My posts vary from what I am doing throughout the day to current events, politics, religion, humor and advertisements.
In real life I run three 24 restaurants, which means that the times that I blog vary wildly. Luckily this is also basically a part time job for me as well. Finding a hobby that we enjoy is hard at times, and being able to make money from it makes things even better.
Up until about five years ago my site was mainly about Windows Customization, Home Automation and Online Bulletin Board systems (Fidonet, etc…)
I was looking for a decent CMS so that I could post my news easier than having to hand edit html in notepad. Once I started using Movabletype I started posting a bit more regularly and it was much more personal than before. Eventually it moved away from the original topics, although I do have another site that deals with them on a regular basis.
Officially since June 2003, although I have had a web presence since 1998.
According to Sitemeter I average about 350 hits per day but that goes up and down according to what is currently in the news and if I am blogging about it.
Yes. I tried for years with affiliate programs and never made a dime. I started using Google AdSense as well last year and it was pretty much a pittance. Obviously that is based on my traffic, which has increased tenfold over the last seven months.
I blog for money through several different companies included PayPerPost and have made a little over $6k in the last six months. It’s not enough to call it a full time job but it certainly helps to finance my other hobbies.
For the most part my audience as well as that of the other sites that I visit daily consists of other bloggers. The folks that visit my site come from a variety of backgrounds but there are also a few non-bloggers that visit as well.
That really depends on if I am working my real job or not. Generally I will blog from 5AM to 6AM and then spend 3-6 hours in the evening. On my off days I will normally spend 8-10 hours working. This of course includes web surfing, research, working on new ideas, etc…
Because you are nosy…
I will occasionally post about making money online as well as talk about the ways in which I do it. Other topics vary and it really depends on your interests. I also occasionally discuss Movabletype as well as different ways to customize it and how I am doing it.
What is success anyway? If you are happy with what you are doing, that makes you successful. Up until seven months ago I generally got around 30 hits a day and they were usually the same folks that I visited daily as well.
Write regularly.
Write about what interests you. If your interests vary as wildly as mine do, that’s OK as long as you are comfortable doing it.
Visit other blogs and participate in their online communities both in the comments as well as through track-backs from your blog.
This blog can be visited at http://www.shadowscope.com