Being A Blogger

Well, I am little excited posting this interview. I got replies to my follow up questions at 5 am in the morning today and I spent another 1 hour editing this interview and adding images. I guess the reason for enthusiasm this early in the morning is that it is b s angel’s interview. More so, as this is the first interview of a blogger at BaB who writes in same genre as me, that is, gaming. Here goes the interview with bs angel who blogs at Hawty McBloggy Invites You to Play and Halo 3 screenshots

Hey bs angel, would you like to introduce yourself to readers of BaB?
Hey! My blog and I happily reside in the (video) gaming world so I am known by my gamertag, bs angel. The “bs” doesn’t stand for what you think it does, but the irony of the pairing makes me laugh.

I have no idea what bs stands for. Can you please let us know? And whats your real name?
That is a tightly guarded secret, primarily because it is the most boring story ever. If I share, your readers just may fall asleep. In fact, I am yawning just thinking about it. It’s much more fun to guess anyways!

As far as real names go, I don’t share my personal information, not even something as harmless as a first name. My belief is that the internet is not the safest place to be. Thus, I closely hold back all my personal details. You will find a very distinct lack of personal information on my site, and that is just the way I like it. You just can’t be too safe these days unfortunately.

How did you get into blogging and gaming ?
I have been gaming since I was a wee little one. They were a staple in my childhood as my dad was a gaming and tech junkie (he is in his fifties and still games!). I grew up loving the Atari and helping him run a BBS out of our house. We always had the latest and greatest gadgets, and now that I am an adult it hasn’t changed one bit.

My blog covers anything and everything gaming related that strikes my fancy. Gaming is by far my most favorite hobby so there is never a shortage of things to write about. My articles tend to be extremely geeky, sarcastic, unique, and just fun. There are a plethora of video game news sites out there so when I decided to start my blog, I knew I had to make it original. I stay away from the “newsy” posts and instead focus on the more off the beaten path subjects. It’s a great little niche and I enjoy it more than I can tell you.

What games your dad used to play?
My dad simply loved whatever the most recent Atari title was. We played and loved all of those classic retro games. He never had a passion for RPGs (role playing games) thankfully so neither do I. That genre tends to be highly addictive so I avoid it like the plague!

What are your goals for your blog? What benefits do you see in sharing your experience at gaming (other than fun)?
The only goals I have ever had for my blog are to grow a little bit each day and enjoy the interactions with my readers. Getting to know people that stop by my blog has been the best thing about blogging thus far. The interactions that a blog allows is just amazing.

Your blog is quite popular amongst wordpress.com blogs? Do you keep track of your visitors? What are your basic sources of visitors and contacts in blogosphere?

I don’t keep track of my visitors too closely. It’s entirely too easy to get wrapped up in stats (especially as a gamer!) and lose sight of what is important. The only program I use is the basic stat offerings that WordPress gives you. So I can tell you how many people stop by each day, but beyond that I really have no idea.

My readers come from prominent video game sites that carry my stories (halo.bungie.org, Kotaku, and technabob)are my favorite sites to front-paged on) and then my readers that stop by on a daily basis whether it be by a bookmark, rss feed, or just wandering back. I am very much looking forward to my 1,000,000th visitor whenever that happens to roll around!

So you never use any social bookmarking or social media site (Digg, Stumbleupon) to draw readers to your blog? I guess people will love to stumble articles you write.
I do enjoy browsing Digg on rare occasions. I even had an account there for a short time period but ended up deleting it. The main issue I have with social sites such as Digg is the people that are active on them. The comments and interactions tend to be highly negative and inflammatory and as an adult, I have very little patience for the ignorance that is often displayed. So I will visit sometimes because I find the news worthy but I don’t participate. I don’t stumble either but I do enjoy seeing that other people do on my blog stats! I have found Digg visitors rush over in a two to three day period while StumbleUpon visitors are much more evenly spread out over a lengthy period of time.

You are a female gamer.. you must be getting many flaming comments from gamers who belong to not so fair sex?

I get my fair share of hate mail based on my gender alone. It seems to come in waves. Sometimes I get several a day, other times I don’t get any for a month. I try to not let it bother me too much, but gender discrimination is a nasty thing to be confronted with on a regular basis, especially in this day and age. If people simply don’t like my articles and criticize something related to that (whether it be my writing style, opinion on a specific subject, etc), that is one thing. But when I am insulted in a vulgar and offensive way because of my sex, that repulses me. I have learned to simply delete the horrible emails and not give them the time of day. Because ya know what? They aren’t worth it.

How is your real life like? Most of the people think of life of a gamer as “person who has no life”

My real life is quite busy! I am a married mother of three boys, so as you can imagine, there are always half a million things going on. Raising my children is the most important thing to me. I am fortunate enough to be able to stay at home with them and have that as my priority. The downtime of when they are in school or when they are asleep is the time that I blog and game. I am active in their schooling between serving on their PTG board and volunteering in their classrooms. And yes, we game together! I believe video games can have a positive impact on a child’s life as long as it is monitored closely and good decisions are made. It’s really no different than any other form of media. Moderation and supervision are key.

Do you read other blogs? What is the niche of those blogs? What attracts you most in a blog?
I read way more blogs than I can count! 99% of the blogs I frequent are video game or tech focused. The main thing that will keep me coming back to news blogs is humor. I love being entertained while I am catching up on the latest news. Another thing that will keep me coming back to personal blogs is interaction. Respond to my comments every once in a while! I don’t like talking to myself. If I leave a handful of comments that don’t get answered, I don’t go back.

Do you make use of some blogging tools?

Probably not nearly as much as I should. I poke my head into Technorati every once in a blue moon to check up on who is linking to me. I use Feedburner to offer my readers email subscriptions (yes, people still use that!) and that’s about it.

Any shoutouts or something you would like to share some success secrets with other bloggers?

I think there are a few main secrets to successful blogging.

First, posting on a regular schedule is paramount. Your readers need to know when they can expect a new post. Whether it be once a day or once a week, people appreciate knowing when they can enjoy your newest article. I post twice a day to offer a variety of content so hopefully there is something there on a daily basis that appeals to everybody. Find the schedule that works for you and stick with it.

Second, offer something original. The land of blogs is a vast and mighty place. You have to stand out to get attention and give your readers something they can’t get anywhere else.

The last piece of advice I have is the most important. Be passionate about what you blog about. If you care about your subject deeply, you are already knowledgeable enough to have some credibility and that passion that you have will come through in each and every word that you write. That draws people in and keeps them coming back. Plus, you will enjoy every second of it.