Chris Brogan - at the top of his game

Chris has been in the business of creating digital relationships out of social media now for over 10 years. He speaks, writes and blogs about it all with such a passion that he is in demand to speak at marketing and social media events. As busy as he is already, he manges to find time to be on the advisory board for Utterz, The Conversation Group and for Hubspot. Chris also serves as VP Strategy & Technology at CrossTech Media and was the co-founder of the PodCamp new media conference series. Being so busy I was thrilled when Chris agreed to the 5Q interview and amazed at how quickly he responded.

Chris can be found here:

www.chrisbrogan.com

1. Who is Chris Brogan and what is www.chrisbrogan.com all about?

Chris Brogan is this guy who used to be a software engineering type, who blogged and made media as a hobby, but then one day in late 2005, it clicked just how important this type of communication was going to be to other people, and so he stepped up his game to try and bring what he was learning to other people. chrisbrogan.com is where that gets put out there for the world to see.

2. When and why did you start blogging?

I started blogging in 1998 back when it was called journaling, back when there weren’t comments or blog software, and we had to edit things by hand all the time. I did it initially as a place to share my fiction and also as a place to get my thoughts and feelings out into the larger web world. I just found that it was so cool to have a voice. I could say what I wanted to say and it was up there on the web, just like other online magazines.

3. Is your blog also your day job?

Yes and no. I don’t make money directly off my blog, but my blog is where people get the idea to hire me for speaking and education. It’s a way to show what I know, and what I’m capable of, and how people can figure out what’s on my mind before hiring me. Technically, I make my money the old fashioned way. I earn it.

4. What challenges did you face and overcome when you set up chrisbrogan.com?

It’s strange to think of any of it as challenges. Setting up my site was a learning experience. I spent a lot of time viewing the source code of other people’s pages to backwards engineer how they were doing this or that. When I started getting under the hood and editing little pieces of my site, I would break it all the time. But hey, we learn as we explore, right?

5. What is your one killer piece of advice for a new blogger?

Write the blog for other people. Yes, this runs counter to what people say about blogging, that it’s personal, that it’s all about finding your voice. I say this: your voice is much more powerful when it’s actually heard and absorbed by others. Why not learn from the start how to do it in a way that gives you a community?