I’m sure many of you will know Blogging Tips Forum member Suzzane Franco (forum username wahmsuzanne), who has been blogging since February 2008. Her blog covers a wide range of topics including affiliate marketing, social networking, search engine optimisation and more.
Suzanne is taking part in Daily Blog Tips blogging contest Blogging Idol 2 and is currently sitting in a respectable 11th place.
With so many blogs taking part in Blogging Idol, participants need to come up with new and inventive ways to get ahead of the competition and Suzanne has done just that. She sent personal videos to several Gurus asking for support in her quest to win Blogging Idol 2.
She sent videos to the following people :
Here is the video Suzanne did especially for John Chow.
John was very impressed with Suzannes creative and original idea to personalise videos and a day later he gave his full support to Suzanne in the competition. Getting exposure on a blog with around 40,000 subscribers can give your blog a huge boost so I contacted Suzanne to ask her a few questions about her blog and her progress in the Blogging Idol 2 competition.
Suzanne has answered my questions via email and via video. Enjoy 
The Interview
Video Interview
Email Interview
First off, for those who don’t know you, can you tell everyone a little about yourself and how you first got into blogging.
I’m originally from Southern California (Orange County and San Diego) and relocated to the Texas Hill Country about 7 years ago. I’m work at home mom to Austin 13, Nathan 11 and Emily 9 … and soon-to-be stepmom to Alyssa 8 and Cobey 6 so as you can imagine we have a very busy household with sports and homework … not to mention meals! LOL
I got into blogging by accident really. I was hoping to find a creative way to market products through the eBay affiliate program so I started my Review Mama site. I quickly realized that I knew nothing about blogging or Wordpress and I actually started hanging around the forum here on Blogging Tips. Kevin, you probably remember that I was there uncomfortably asking all of the newbie questions and you were all so patient with me … so thank you for that. I had the suzannefranco.com domain for many years but there was nothing there. I decided to load WP there so I can try to learn how to use it without messing up my new review blog. I posted about my life and my kids and eventually I started posting about how I was making money online. I found quickly that I enjoyed it more than the other things I was doing online so I set out to learn all I could about blogging.
Your blog has been online for about three quarters of a year now. Have you experienced a lot of highs and lows during this time?
Well, I’m embarrassed to say that I back-dated some posts so that IF anyone actually showed up it wouldn’t look like I just started … so my posts started some time in May of this year.
My lows with anything internet related (and this is no exception) most always evolve around something techie going wrong. I’ve never had any training at all and everything I do is self-taught through research online. I would get frustrated by any type of coding, or file transfer … and I’ve had to learn the hard way to backup before I touch anything on my sites. *sigh*
The highs have honestly been in the great people I’ve met and the fun I’m having. I love “working” now and will challenge myself to know and understand more about blogging each and every day. My most recent highs have been related to the Blogging Idol contest and all I can say it’s been really fun!
I was very impressed with your idea to film personal videos for several high profile bloggers. Was something you had been thinking about for a while or was it more of a ‘quick flash’ of inspiration?
Well, the rules for Blogging Idol changed last minute so it wasn’t something I thought about for very long, no. We stayed with friends for the Halloween weekend and I was running ideas by everyone there and I got a lot of blank stares. They are not from the blogging world so they just didn’t “get” what I was trying to accomplish.
The strategies for the video invites were two-fold. I was hoping that at least one of these guys would show up to my blog and surprise all of us. But, honestly, I knew there was a chance that none of them would. The idea was to be a bit bold, to get my readers involved, and hope they’d subscribe to keep up on what was going on with it … and to hopefully take it viral with everyone else tracking these guys down to try to get them to come over to the blog. John responded very quickly after I emailed him … and I was floored (still am). The invites have paid off and, in fact, Bob The Teacher and I are planning to get together and do a teleconference of some sort so watch for that too.
There’s around 2 weeks left in Blogging Idol 2. Do you have something big planned for the next 2 weeks to encourage more people to subscribe to your blog?
Yes, I am putting together a contest that should launch as soon as Daniel opens up the voting. I am still looking for prize donations so I’d encourage anyone interested in some great promotion to contact me about that. I am also still offering to reserve a free spot in my upcoming Blogging for Bucks BootCamp just for subscribing to my feed.
What do you have in store for SuzanneFranco.com readers, after the Blogging Idol 2 competition has finished?
I will continue to stretch myself to learn and share everything I can about blogging with others. One of my favorite quotes is by Zig Ziglar, “If you help enough people get what they want … you’ll get what you want.” If I make my job helping others … I will be rewarded for that.
* End of Interview *
A big thank you to Suzanne Franco for taking part in this interview. I’m sure you all enjoyed it and I encourage all BloggingTips readers to support Suzanne and subscribe to her blog
Blog Link : Suzanne Franco, RSS Link : http://feeds.feedburner.com/MoneyMakingIdeasSuzanne
Coming Soon
Suzanne is one of many Blogging Tips readers who are taking part in Blogging Idol 2. In the next week I will bring you a report which shows how all readers are doing in the contest. If you would like your blog included in this list please leave a comment with the URL of the blog which you have entered. Thanks guys
Shannon Lilly | November 18th, 2008 at 11:46 am #
I love Suzanne’s blog, its a great resource and I can see her going far in this industry!
TechZoomIn | November 18th, 2008 at 12:18 pm #
Hey Kevin,
Am also active participant at Blogging idol2 and i am standing at 22nd place now. Suzanne done great job by asking gurus to help. That is fine but i think is all those people will surely visit her site, but i don’t think many of them subscribe.
RSS count will give only 1 point at the competition, I feel Suzanne would have used this opportunity at the time of voting session. Because people will feel more comport in voting rather than subscribing.
This is just my opinion
Am trying too hard with my blog too. But since it is only 2months old now, i can’t expect more from it right
Rarst has cool feed | November 18th, 2008 at 12:19 pm #
I am taking part but can’t boast about good… ehm… decent… ehm… any results.
Still extra link won’t hurt.
Suzanne Franco ~ Next Blogging Idol? | November 18th, 2008 at 6:35 pm #
@shannon ~ hey dude! Thanks for coming by … check out the site and come to the forum while you’re here.
@techzoomin ~ Thanks for your feedback. As you know, the voting was to start yesterday, Nov. 17th (it has been moved to the 24th) and we had to get our strategy summary in by the 15th … so I felt I had to use my “clever” idea within the first two weeks to present and show the voters and judges my idea. I have a contest starting that will encourage voting and subscribing so hopefully that will help too. Good luck to you and just keep working on it.
@rarst ~ LOL … too funny!
Valeria | TimelessLessons | November 18th, 2008 at 6:39 pm #
Congratulations Suzanne! I think you did an amazing job with those videos.
I’m also participating in the Blogging Idol competition and I already feel like a winner regardless of the ending results.
For almost a YEAR I’ve been thinking of starting this blog and I was
procrastinating a lot. I had the domain name and even purchased a nice looking
theme, but I still couldn’t find the time to make the final tweaks and start
blogging.
But Daniel with his “Blogging Idol” motivated me to get going, and here I am, with 60 subscribers 2 weeks after launching the blog.
Good luck everybody!
Monty - Sensonize.com | November 18th, 2008 at 7:39 pm #
Suzanne has been building fast!
I’m an active reader of her blog and Ive already subscribed to her RSS 4 times lol
Good luck Suzanne! Even if you don’t come 1st, you were atleast in the participants list.. (I ain’t even there, lol)
Angel Cuala | November 19th, 2008 at 1:24 am #
Kevin - I must say that you are indeed a good man by interviewing Suzanne. This is a big help for her. I accepted her invitation weeks ago to subscribe to her blog, and I find her posts really useful. She has been working so hard to win, and if she will win I know she deserves it. Thanks!
Suzanne - I left a comment on your recent post, and I hope you like it. Good luck!
Open Innovation | November 19th, 2008 at 7:55 am #
Thank you. I learned a lot from you about blogging.
Dennis Edell | November 20th, 2008 at 8:42 am #
Awesome interview you two!
Kevin - On her recommendation you have a new subscriber.
I’m also a member of the forum, but just haven’t found the time yet!
Kevin Muldoon (Post Author) | November 20th, 2008 at 8:47 am #
Angel - no problem
Dennis - Good to have you here
Ashish Lohorung Rai | November 29th, 2008 at 12:28 pm #
Being a super mom she is really a great blogger….hats off to her..but i m little disappointed about the design of her blog…..i hope if it could be better than now..i wish her success at the competition.
Suzanne Franco ~ Next Blogging Idol? | November 29th, 2008 at 4:04 pm #
Ashish ~ I love constructive criticism … and it would be great if you’d comment back with what you feel my blog design is lacking. I’m more than willing to listen … maybe Kevin will consider my blog for an upcoming review. LOL
*SmiLes* Suzanne
Paul Bye | November 29th, 2008 at 6:37 pm #
Hi Suzanne
Another thank you, I really appreciate your blog, it has become my required reading, apart from perhaps Bill Bryson.
Thanks
Paul
Ashish Lohorung Rai | November 30th, 2008 at 11:13 pm #
Hi Suzanne , nice to hear from you ..I would like to post a blog about how can your design of the website can be improved….just give me somedays to compile it and i will inform you about this….btw i m a designer but not a pro one…i know some rules which i will point out in that posting….so if you like this idea …i will go ahead…thanks…
Suzanne Franco ~ Next Blogging Idol? | November 30th, 2008 at 11:16 pm #
Ashish ~ Sounds good to me … I am always open to ideas and improvement … let me know what you come up with
*SmiLes* Suzanne
Ashish Lohorung Rai | November 30th, 2008 at 11:18 pm #
too fast!…….great let’s do it…
Ashish Lohorung Rai | December 3rd, 2008 at 12:20 am #
@Suzanne..I have uploaded the new posting commenting in your design of the site..hope u guys like it…
Ashish Lohorung Rai | December 3rd, 2008 at 12:23 am #
sorry….i have uploaded my posting in Link..sorry for another url…