My name is Justin Germino and I am an IT Security professional by day and a part time technology and entertainment blogger which I do as a hobby. I own or administrate about 7 Wordpress blogs at the moment on my spare time. 

Though your very famous blog needs no intro but let's have it from you! Tell us about your blog 'Dragon Blogger'. 

Dragon Blogger Technology and Entertainment was designed to be an online portal or magazine that not only features the latest technology news, reviews but also has movie reviews, game reviews for every console as well as blogging/SEO and social media information and tips. I didn't want to focus on 1 niche and wanted to basically include everything I enjoyed writing about and all of my hobbies into one massive site. I also wanted to have a specific section that would share my blogging journey and all the ways I tried to monetize the site from the ground up so that the information would benefit other bloggers who may want to carve out their own venture online.

 
























Why did you name it 'Dragon Blogger'? It is a great title but is there any specific reason behind it?

I was always a Dungeons and Dragons geek from way back in the day, but in 2008 I got a Dragon Tattoo on my right arm, and I decided when I wanted to become a blogger that I wanted something that stood out. Dragons were creatures of power and great wisdom, and I thought the "cool" factor of dragons combined with I was a blogger was a good fit. I also photographed my Tattoo and used Paint.net to touch it up and turn it into my site logo. Overall I did it because I was just brand new to blogging and wanted to stand out with an online "handle" or persona. In retrospect the DNS name "DragonBlogger" doesn't SEO very well for technology or any of the niches except blogging, but I am still very partial to my site name and my profile.


When and how did you start blogging? What inspired you to start your own blog?

I started my first blog DragonBlogger.com in August 2008 after experimenting with a poetry blog for a month on Blogspot previously. I had been looking for ways to augment my income without having to go out and get a second job. I have a very busy life with two kids and a wife, so I wanted to find a way I could bring in some more earnings without physically leaving my home. Something I can do maybe at night while the family was sleeping. I tend to throw 100% effort into anything I start, and within my first 90 days of starting DragonBlogger.com, I started 2 other blogs and I was already bringing in about $100 per month from the sites.


When you started your blog, did you ever think it would become as famous as it has become now?

I don't really consider my site nor my online profile famous, I am still amazed that some people will leave comments like "I can't believe DragonBlogger commented on my blog" because I remember thinking the same thing when Chris Brogan left a comment on my blog sometime in my first six months blogging. I couldn't believe I attracted the attention of someone so high profile in the online and social media industry. I don't consider myself famous and just think of myself as a part time blogger who is just thrilled that people like to come out and read what gets published. When I write articles I try to either achieve one of these 3 goals with each article: Inform, Entertain or Teach and if my article has achieved any one of those then it was a successful article.


Your blog has so many zealous fans! What do you think makes your blog stand out?

Part of the reason why I think so many repeat visitors come is the fact that I take the time to respond and engage almost every single comment left on my site and do it within a reasonable time frame. When I write, I write with the intention to prompt reaction from readers and to add my opinion instead of just rather report on a news story I share my own point of view and encourage readers to do the same. I also think the fact that my site covers so many area's of entertainment it keeps people coming back. Recently I have also brought on a writing staff and this allows us to publish more frequently and keep the articles diverse in the categories covered.


You write 3 blogs! How do you manage working on all of them? How many hours you do blogging per week?

I try to spend no more than 20-25 hours per week blogging, most of those hours are honestly spent keeping up with responding to emails, comments, social media conversations and such. I maybe find 5-8 hours per week to write articles lately. This is why I decided bring in a writing team to DragonBlogger.com so that I could make sure I constantly had high quality articles published. I didn't hire and purchase freelance articles because I wanted writers who would become "personalities" for the site, writers who would be proud to be part of DragonBlogger and also help expand its presence.


What is the key to be a successful blogger?

Keep things professional at all times, I don't mind candid bloggers speaking their mind but always be professional. Always make sure you are providing your own point of view and slant on any topic you write about. Remember there are thousands of other sites covering the same topic you need to make sure your articles stands out and what your article offers that others don't covering the same topic. If you can't provide more information or better information than be more entertaining is a great example to gain readers.

I think success lies in treating everyone like your customer, readers and other bloggers and remember to treat them all like they are special and unique. A celebrity wouldn't be one without fans and a blogger wouldn't be a success without readers. You need to cater to them and make sure you treat them as such, engage them and don't ever try to run sales pitches on your readers. It is fine to run single pages/micro-sites that sell products, but your blog should be a sharing and exchange of information with offering the ability for readers to learn more if they want to buy something.


Share the best incident that you've encountered on this journey of blogging.

My best incident is probably networking with my writers on our private Facebook group, when we all got together we started brainstorming for idea's on where we want the site to go and how to expand and provide more information for readers. I felt that these people who all had their own lives, jobs and were just part time writers had actually "invested" some of themselves into DragonBlogger.com. They didn't just contribute a guest article here or there, but they actually wanted to be part of the site and build profiles around the site. This was one of my best moments for DragonBlogger.com and confirmed the best decision I made was to become a staff site.

I could also point some other best moments like when I first crossed the $100 a month mark with AdSense earnings, or first hit 20k and then 50k unique Visits with DragonBlogger.com in a single month.


How has blogging benefited you both personally as well as professionally?

It has completely pushed out room for any other hobbies in my life, I used to be a gamer and now whenever I have free time I tend to put it toward my blogging instead of any other hobby lately. Personally it has allowed me to express myself in written form which is something I always enjoyed doing. My poetry is actually the most fun for me, and I do the Random Twitter poetry game where I write a poem every weekday including the random words submitted by Twitter followers. I do it for fun as a creative exercise and my poetry blog makes almost no money at all, but I just love doing it and writing poetry.

Professionally I have started seeing a lot more connections on LinkedIn, and I have been contacted by advertisers more frequently as my site grows. I don't really plan to expand blogging into anything more than a part time gig though as blogging is not my career path at this time. If anything I would say professionally blogging has made it somewhat challenging as I have had co-workers stumble across my sites and I have to be careful not to create conflict of interests between my blogging and day jobs. It is always a juggle and in my personal blog I never talk about work no matter if I wish I could vent about a bad day or talk about some amazing day I had, I keep quiet and don't share my work life on any of my blogs. This goes with another point that everyone should know. Everything you say online or in social media is for keeps and affects current and future employment potential. You need to make sure you keep things professional at all times.


What would you advise an aspiring or rising blogger?

I knew nothing about blogging when I started, so I made many mistakes over the first six months that I would undo or do differently. Here are my top recommendations.

Take the time to decide what you want to blog about and why.

Think about where you want your site to be in 3-5 years (blogging is an investment, you don't start to just stop 1 year later).

Set dedicated schedules and don't let it intrude upon your family life too much. (I have seen many bloggers quit because they lost time away from wife/kids and spent too much time trying to expand their sites).

Research a good domain name for the targeted keywords you want.

Spend the initial money and use self hosted Wordpress blog, all businesses require some investment and blogging is no exception. (Unless you really only want to use a blog as a way to share thoughts/vent with no intention of being a business/monetizing).


Justin, thanks for sharing your valuable thoughts with us. It was a great pleasure to have you on our blog. We wish you all the best for your future endeavors. 

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