It took me 2 weeks to get back to Jon Gales about that interview he agreed to, and he responded in 2 hours. Now that's what separates the professional bloggers from the amateurs.
So, if you haven't Googled him already, Jon is creator of MobileTracker.net and a professional blogger. The ad revenue generated by this cell phone blog today is somewhere around $10,000 a month -- twice what Jon was making when he was interviewed by Fortune magazine one year ago. (Aside: the title of the Fortune article was Is Google Worth $165 a Share? Ah, remember those days?)
It wouldn't be an interview with Jon Gales until someone mentioned not only how much money he makes but also his age. So let's just say he's young... you-couldn't-buy-him-a-beer-in-return-for-his-insights young.
Even though it was both sensationalistic and gauche of me to highlight those two points (just like everyone else does), that shouldn't distract from the fact that he's successful in running a profitable online business - an accomplishment by any measure. Any of you would-be bloggers out there are going to have to hussle hard to catch up with him.
Jon, when you created MobileTracker, was it your intention to make a profit with it?
Somewhat, but not in the manner it turned out. Back when I started it (Feb 2003) there was no AdSense program or even a contextual advertising program of any kind. The main revenue stream at the launch was through referrals to Amazon.com. While that did make some money, AdSense obviously trounced it after it launched later that summer.
Do you consider blogging to be your job (as in "I can't hang out at the beach today because I have to work")?
Absolutely, but most of the time it's not that cut and dry. There are a few days that I have to be at the computer at given times (usually for conferences that I didn't go to but there are still going to be announcements at). Reviews and what not can be taken care of at any hour, so it's not a 9-5 thing. I tend to be a night owl, so my hours are different anyway.
My friends all work anyway, so they don't ask to go to the beach during the week (which would be tempting!) I'm usually able to meet people for lunch which is nice.
What's the secret of your success? (Or at least, what's the #1 piece of advice to someone looking to make money by publishing online?)
Keep at it. Not many people like old content. Too many sites with great concepts have gone stale. MobileTracker didn't start out reaching hundreds of thousands of people a month; it started one visitor at a time.
But how do you keep things fresh? How can you tell you've gone stale and how do you go about getting inspired again?
My vertical makes it pretty easy to see when you're slacking -- there are new products being announced all of the time. Since 2003 I've been able to cover about every mobile phone launch for North America.
Some topics aren't as cut and dry so you just have to set goals (x amount a week, month, etc).
What's the biggest mistake you see made by aspiring bloggers?
I'm sort of a design snob (perhaps it's because I'm a Mac user) so I would say using default templates. I can't say I read a site that's using a default template. Well, commercial sites at least. If you don't have the design chops, pay someone that does. It's well worth it.
If the Web as we now know it never existed, what do you think you'd be doing right now?
That's hard to say, I've been working online for a long time! I've been building websites for over seven years, and got my first paid writing job online over six years ago. It's my way of life. I've always like doing my own thing though, so probably own a small business.
What, in your opinion, is going to turn out to be the next big thing to truly revolutionize (for lack of a better word) the Web?
I'm waiting for TV distribution. I have a 15 megabit fiber optic internet connection just begging to be able to download TV programs, but the big networks are all stuck in an ad obsessed broadcast paradigm. The internet allows for instant global distribution and it would even be cheap with technology like BitTorrent. The day when all my media (TV shows, movies, music, photos, etc) can be accessed from anywhere will be a *great* day.
"Great" in the revolutionary sense? Disrupting the way things work and opening doors to entirely new innovation? On par with the introduction of a graphical browser? Of contextual ads?
I think video in general is just a large untapped resource online. From where I stand, TV ads are pathetic right now because they can't really be modified for an audience (not contextual) and results can't be measured. But yet TV spending way outpaces online ad spending.
Right now video advertising online is pretty scant, but I can definitely see a day when not only TV content is available online with contextual ads, but original video content from the web joins it. Sort of like how blogging has made publishing a more equal field. Right now you can make video and post it, but you're not going to be making anything from it. That's exactly what's stopping a lot of people from doing so.
I've had great responses to the videos I have made for MobileTracker. So I would love to be able to expand.
Google stock: $400+ a share. Overpriced?
Well I don't own any shares and I don't think I would buy right now. I'm as big of a Google user as anyone (been using it since it had the beta label on web search), but I would wait to see what they do with their war chest of cash before plunking down for some shares. Too many companies have gotten to this stage and screwed it up - with big money comes big responsibility.
Is Google the next Microsoft?
I hope not! From my view (again, pesky Mac user) Microsoft is a black hole that doesn't allow any innovation or originality escape. It's hard to scale creativity which is exactly what Google needs to do.
Looking at it the other way, Google can definitely overtake Microsoft in terms of importance. More and more people are using Windows to simply use web based apps like Google and Gmail. Those apps are OS agnostic. Might as well use Linux or a cell phone.
What, if anything, can Yahoo and MSN do to be part of the conversation again, to be relevant to search?
Yahoo is definitely a part of the conversation since they have been buying up Web 2.0 companies, but I think both Y and MSN could actually start these sites on their own. MS is trying with Start.com, but I wasn't too impressed. Google's done a good job with Google Maps and Gmail.
Finally, what's something you always wished people would ask when interviewing you but don't?
Well I don't get interviewed enough to lay awake at night and grouse over missed questions, but it would be nice to be able to rant about some of the crazy email I get. I once got a message from someone in India looking to find their phone that was left on a bus. He didn't give the phone number, but did let me know the model and city (New Delhi I believe). I had to explain what Mobile "Tracker" was... Sure made me laugh.
Posted by Melanie Phung
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Interview with Blogger Jon Gales
It took me 2 weeks to get back to Jon Gales about that interview he agreed to, and he responded in 2 hours. Now that's what separates the professional bloggers from the amateurs.
So, if you haven't Googled him already, Jon is creator of MobileTracker.net and a professional blogger. The ad revenue generated by this cell phone blog today is somewhere around $10,000 a month -- twice what Jon was making when he was interviewed by Fortune magazine one year ago. (Aside: the title of the Fortune article was Is Google Worth $165 a Share? Ah, remember those days?)
It wouldn't be an interview with Jon Gales until someone mentioned not only how much money he makes but also his age. So let's just say he's young... you-couldn't-buy-him-a-beer-in-return-for-his-insights young.
Even though it was both sensationalistic and gauche of me to highlight those two points (just like everyone else does), that shouldn't distract from the fact that he's successful in running a profitable online business - an accomplishment by any measure. Any of you would-be bloggers out there are going to have to hussle hard to catch up with him.
Jon, when you created MobileTracker, was it your intention to make a profit with it?
Somewhat, but not in the manner it turned out. Back when I started it (Feb 2003) there was no AdSense program or even a contextual advertising program of any kind. The main revenue stream at the launch was through referrals to Amazon.com. While that did make some money, AdSense obviously trounced it after it launched later that summer.
Do you consider blogging to be your job (as in "I can't hang out at the beach today because I have to work")?
Absolutely, but most of the time it's not that cut and dry. There are a few days that I have to be at the computer at given times (usually for conferences that I didn't go to but there are still going to be announcements at). Reviews and what not can be taken care of at any hour, so it's not a 9-5 thing. I tend to be a night owl, so my hours are different anyway.
My friends all work anyway, so they don't ask to go to the beach during the week (which would be tempting!) I'm usually able to meet people for lunch which is nice.
What's the secret of your success? (Or at least, what's the #1 piece of advice to someone looking to make money by publishing online?)
Keep at it. Not many people like old content. Too many sites with great concepts have gone stale. MobileTracker didn't start out reaching hundreds of thousands of people a month; it started one visitor at a time.
But how do you keep things fresh? How can you tell you've gone stale and how do you go about getting inspired again?
My vertical makes it pretty easy to see when you're slacking -- there are new products being announced all of the time. Since 2003 I've been able to cover about every mobile phone launch for North America.
Some topics aren't as cut and dry so you just have to set goals (x amount a week, month, etc).
What's the biggest mistake you see made by aspiring bloggers?
I'm sort of a design snob (perhaps it's because I'm a Mac user) so I would say using default templates. I can't say I read a site that's using a default template. Well, commercial sites at least. If you don't have the design chops, pay someone that does. It's well worth it.
If the Web as we now know it never existed, what do you think you'd be doing right now?
That's hard to say, I've been working online for a long time! I've been building websites for over seven years, and got my first paid writing job online over six years ago. It's my way of life. I've always like doing my own thing though, so probably own a small business.
What, in your opinion, is going to turn out to be the next big thing to truly revolutionize (for lack of a better word) the Web?
I'm waiting for TV distribution. I have a 15 megabit fiber optic internet connection just begging to be able to download TV programs, but the big networks are all stuck in an ad obsessed broadcast paradigm. The internet allows for instant global distribution and it would even be cheap with technology like BitTorrent. The day when all my media (TV shows, movies, music, photos, etc) can be accessed from anywhere will be a *great* day.
"Great" in the revolutionary sense? Disrupting the way things work and opening doors to entirely new innovation? On par with the introduction of a graphical browser? Of contextual ads?
I think video in general is just a large untapped resource online. From where I stand, TV ads are pathetic right now because they can't really be modified for an audience (not contextual) and results can't be measured. But yet TV spending way outpaces online ad spending.
Right now video advertising online is pretty scant, but I can definitely see a day when not only TV content is available online with contextual ads, but original video content from the web joins it. Sort of like how blogging has made publishing a more equal field. Right now you can make video and post it, but you're not going to be making anything from it. That's exactly what's stopping a lot of people from doing so.
I've had great responses to the videos I have made for MobileTracker. So I would love to be able to expand.
Google stock: $400+ a share. Overpriced?
Well I don't own any shares and I don't think I would buy right now. I'm as big of a Google user as anyone (been using it since it had the beta label on web search), but I would wait to see what they do with their war chest of cash before plunking down for some shares. Too many companies have gotten to this stage and screwed it up - with big money comes big responsibility.
Is Google the next Microsoft?
I hope not! From my view (again, pesky Mac user) Microsoft is a black hole that doesn't allow any innovation or originality escape. It's hard to scale creativity which is exactly what Google needs to do.
Looking at it the other way, Google can definitely overtake Microsoft in terms of importance. More and more people are using Windows to simply use web based apps like Google and Gmail. Those apps are OS agnostic. Might as well use Linux or a cell phone.
What, if anything, can Yahoo and MSN do to be part of the conversation again, to be relevant to search?
Yahoo is definitely a part of the conversation since they have been buying up Web 2.0 companies, but I think both Y and MSN could actually start these sites on their own. MS is trying with Start.com, but I wasn't too impressed. Google's done a good job with Google Maps and Gmail.
Finally, what's something you always wished people would ask when interviewing you but don't?
Well I don't get interviewed enough to lay awake at night and grouse over missed questions, but it would be nice to be able to rant about some of the crazy email I get. I once got a message from someone in India looking to find their phone that was left on a bus. He didn't give the phone number, but did let me know the model and city (New Delhi I believe). I had to explain what Mobile "Tracker" was... Sure made me laugh.
Posted by Melanie Phung