Interview with Sarah Perez from Read Write Web

To be able to make a full time living from blogging is the dream of many bloggers and the position which many aspire to. Which is why I was very happy when Sarah Perez agreed to answer some questions for you all. Sarah has been blogging on her own blog Sarah In Tampa since 2004 however most of you will know her from her posts at the hugely popular Read Write Web. The journey from part time to full time blogger is rarely an easy one so I’m sure we can all learn a little something from Sarah.

* Questions are in Bold

For the benefit of readers, can you please introduce yourself and give a little background information about you, your blog and your experience?

My name is Sarah Perez and I’m from beautiful and sunny Tampa, Florida (hence the screen name “sarahintampa”). I’ve been blogging for many years, starting back in the early 2000’s on Blogger, although that blog has long since disappeared into the ether. I later moved onto TypePad and finally to WordPress, which I love. My personal blog www.sarahintampa.com, has been up and running since 2004. It gained me the attention of both Microsoft (on10.net) and Read Write Web and I now write professionally for both of those sites.

You have been blogging for around 4 years now but recently went from part time to a full time blogger. Was this a gradual process or did one big blogging gig have a snowball effect and lead onto a full time job?

Before becoming a pro blogger I worked in I.T. which is where my love for technology began. When Microsoft offered me the position as a blogger on their site for technology enthuisiasts on10.net, I kept my day job and blogged on the weekends for them. However, when the offer from Read Write Web was presented about six months later I realized I could actually quit my job and earn a living just from blogging. And that’s exactly what I did.

What advice would you give to bloggers who are just starting out and are looking to move into blogging full time?

They just need to keep at it. If you want to gain notierity in the tech blogosphere, you need to post consistently on your blog with quality information and participate in the community. Comment on other blogs and network with others, you never know where it might lead! However, to some extent, I was just in the right place and the right time though I wouldn’t have been there if I wasn’t participating.

Do you sometimes find it difficult to update your own blog and maintain your blogging schedule for your employers?

Of course! My number one priority is paying the bills now. Sarah In Tampa was the vehicle that got me there but it can’t be my top priority any more. It doesn’t keep a roof over my head. But I have not abandoned it! I still post a couple of times per week on average, sometimes I have things to say that just aren’t a good fit for either of the pro sites. Or maybe I just want to write a post with a more personal take on some technology and that’s what my blog is for these days.

You are one of the co-founders of Grand Effect. the network has been around for close to a year now. How do you feel the network has progressed in that time and what plans do you have for the network in the future?

Grand Effect has been fun! I have to give a lot of credit to David Peralty of xfep.com for dealing with most of the technicalities involved in getting it up and running. He has been amazing. The members represent some of the best bloggers in the tech blogosphere and they’re all conveniently linked to each other from the Grand Effect bar at the top of our blogs. The main goals of Grand Effect were to establish a community that supports each other, shares traffic and generates some ad deals. We’re doing well with all three of these things so far. Our members are great, they’ve offered each other support, advice, free tech support with WordPress/SEO and even free hosting space (just to name a few of the nice things they’ve done for each other). We’re also working with Performancing as an ad partner right now, but as with everything we offer our bloggers, it’s optional. The only requirement we have is that the members run the Grand Effect network bar.

Where do you find inspiration for your blog posts?

Oh, everywhere. RSS feeds, Twitter, FriendFeed, and even real-life experiences.

What are you looking to achieve from blogging in the next year. Do you have any new projects or jobs in the pipeline?

I think my plate’s pretty full right now.

If you would like to know more about Sarah, please visit her blog Sarah In Tampa.

Written by Kevin Muldoon from Blog Themes Club
Posted on September 8th, 2008 and filed under Interviews
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