Blogger Interview: Rickey Yaneza

This is supposed to be my interview on professional blogging for Rickey but since he claims he is not a problogger, I changed the title of the entry.

Given that, half of the questions here might not be appropriate for him. However, since Rickey’s blog has been consistently on top of Pinoy Top Blogs and he monetizes his blogs with Adsense/YPN, Amazon and BlogAds, I’d still consider him to be a professional blogger (see my official definition here).

Let’s move on with the interview…

How do you define problogging?
Blogging for the sole purpose of making money. This of course disqualifies me since this is not what I do. I just happen to have ONE popular website (which happens to be a blog) with Google Ads that a tiny percentage of my readers click on — this doesn’t make me a “professional” blogger. I had Google Ads on my blog for two years earning nothing and then one day, I earn $10, and then all of a sudden I’m a pro. That doesn’t make sense.
When did you start blogging? When did you get into problogging and how did you realize that there’s some money to be had from it?
I started using Blogger.com in 2001, but I was making online journals since 1996. I have never gotten into problogging, but I realized that I could leverage my blog traffic when sometime in 2004, I got 15,000 visitors and earned $3 from one Google Ad.
Which blogs are you writing for and which blog networks are you affiliated?
rickey.org
pinoy.rickey.org
live.usa.ph (Basang Sisiw Show)

I am affiliated with the rickey.org blog empire network (evil laugh)
Are you problogging part time or full time? Do you see this career as a part time gig or you are looking into going problogging?

Again, non-problogger here. I only blog part-time like everybody else and keep a job during the day. Recently however I have been possessed by the entrepreneurial spirit and would like to start a new website.
How do you monetize your blog? Which ones bring in the most revenues? How long did it took you to significantly earn from your own blog/s?
Adsense, YPN, BlogAds, Amazon Associates … and the most lucrative, selling t-shirts. However, since I have no new t-shirts to sell this year (yet), I get the most from Adsense. My blog started to pay for part of my rent early 2005 when I added a Google leaderboard at the top of my home page.
How long before you got significant revenue from your blogs? How consistent are the revenues and what affects it?
I don’t remember when, it just happened. Weekends are slow. Website traffic is a major contributor to AdSense earnings. I think it is more stable to go for direct advertising, which requires a lot more work in marketing (and has nothing to do with the act of blogging).
How much time do you spend on blogging? (in est. hours/day or hours/week)
I think I blog 24/7 — at least it seems like it.
What other benefits do you get from problogging?
Rickey is not a problogger! Gifts from my Amazon wishlist. Friends. Fame.
What’s the most significant event/moment you had in your entire problogging career?
I don’t have a problogging career. I don’t do SEO, buy links, link-bait, etc. and all these tips and tricks supposed probloggers do. The only SEO I do are use relevant titles in my blog posts and link to a site high on a search term I want to move up on — do these little tidbits of information make me a “professional?” I’m just a lowly blogger that found my audience. Technically, I’m just running a website.

My blogging life however from the past two years has been good. The most significant moment I’ve had as a blogger was identifying myself as a Filipino after years of obscurity.
What personal tips can you share with bloggers who want to try out problogging?
I am not a problogger! I cannot give any tips on the subject. Just go to Darren Rowse’s site and help cement his position as the #1 problogger on Google forever.

However, some tips for general blogging success:
1. Write clear, value-laden posts everyday. To establish identity, narrow your topics considerably.
2. Establish a meaningful and lasting friendship with Marc Macalua.
3. When your blog reaches critical mass, seize the moment and don’t let go.

It would seem that Marc’s SEO advocacy has greatly influenced how Rickey defines a problogger, thus the angle of the response.

I would like to clarify though that SEO and problogging are not exclusive to each other. You may not know anything about SEO and still be a problogger like our previous examples with Gloria, Ruth, Stef and Jayvee.

Most of the independent probloggers I featured here did not actually expect they could successfully monetize their blogs. It just happened. And these are their personal blogging stories.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

8 Comments

Xexilia says:

11 years ago

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11 years ago

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Mary says:

13 years ago

Oh, a great text! No idea how you came up with this article..itâ€™d take me weeks. Well worth it though, Iâ€™d assume. Have you considered selling ads on your blog?
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13 years ago

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13 years ago

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Joel says:

14 years ago

Once you earn high enough from your blog, does that make you a problogger right away?
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14 years ago

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Kudlit says:

16 years ago

Interesting how a problogger denies that he is one. That’s humility right there. Is it possible that he is looking down on those who want to make money off of their blogs? Gasp!
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