So as promised here is the interview with Brian Belfitt the founder of Blog Engage, a brilliant social network for bloggers.
I’m sure Brian will be more than happy to answer any of your extra questions if you have them in the comments section below
Q1. What was your inspiration for Blog Engage?
When I first started blog engage I wanted to create a community that not only allowed self promotion but infact encouraged it. There was so many communities to meet new people but if you shared your content they called you a spammer. In my opinion as a marketer this was unacceptable and a self prompting community was desperately needed for bloggers.
Q2. If the internet didn’t exist, what do you think you’d be doing?
Sitting behind a desk making cold calls and doing sales. It’s obvious I was meant to be in sales as I have the ability to easily sell anything. I love to interact with people and enjoy the entire sales process.
Q3. Do you blog/work online for a living?
Yes, I work full time with Blog Engage now and have successfully brought it to the level where I can make a living from it. Everyday since I’ve been full time we have gotten new members and new RSS customers. Business is amazing and the community is buzzing.
Q4. When you were younger what was your dream job?
Oh jezz, I hope when you say younger you mean when I was a kid. I remember wanting to be like every other kid, I wanted to be a fireman, than a policeman, and then a teacher. We all have dreams when we are younger but as we grow older our interests’ change along with what we want to do for a living.
Q5. Do you ever just want to give up working online?
When I was working full time in sales and part time on Blog Engage yes, there was many instances where I thought about just selling the site and letting someone else develop it. Now that I’m full time building the community I don’t have any intentions on selling it.
Q6. Could you go a week without internet access?
In reality yes, would I want to? Never! Even when I don’t have my pc I have my smart phone which is pretty much like a computer. You may say I’m a little obsessive but I plan on working hard now and relaxing later.
Q7. You’ve started up your own social network, would people say that you’re a social network addict?
Everything I do during my day has been motivated by helping my members. All my tweets, diggs, stumbles it’s all my members content, so if anything perhaps I have become addicted to social networking for others… It’s a hard question to answer seeing it’s my actual job now.
Q8. If you were stranded on a desert Island what could you not do without? (apart from food and water)
I would have to say music. I have 4 guitars and I love sitting back and playing the guitar. So If I had food and water the next best thing would be a camp fire and guitar. There’s something about playing guitar that brings me back down to earth and makes me relaxed. I have a few you tube videos of songs I’ve written if you want to check them out.
Q9. If you were to choose one word to describe yourself what would it be and why?
Taurus (Astrology)
Q10. If there was a blogging genie that could grant you 3 wishes, what would they be?
Unlimited ideas for amazing blog content, a new custom and unique wordpress design every year, and a following that would make every article I write go viral. This is what I would pack and I think all three would be a nice combo.
Q11. Where do you see yourself and blog engage in 5 years time?
I’ll be very honest here, Blog Engage is going to be huge. We have an amazing following of bloggers, all great friends of mine and the relationships I have built are strong enough to last a life time. I’m marketing full time right now, guest blogging and doing everything I can to bring new members to blog engage. I’ll be doing this for the foreseeable future and unless something drastically changes I see blog engage becoming one of the largest most interactive blogging communities on the internet.
Q12. Have you ever surprised yourself?
When I first started the blog engage RSS services I didn’t think it would blow up so big. I knew we would get a few customers but now I’m sitting at over 150 customers and the most amazing thing is they are all happy. The SEO and backlinking benefits are amazing, the services provide traffic and overtime develops new blog readers and most importantly comments and social engagement.
