Welcome to the first in an ongoing series of interviews with bloggers of all types from around the world.  In this interview Darren Rowse of Problogger kindly takes the time to answer some questions about his blogging career.

Tell us a little bit about your blog.

ProBlogger is a blog about blogging. How much sadder could you get eh?!?

I started blogging back in 2002 on a personal blog but a year later started to experiment with making a little money from blogging.

As my income from blogging grew I began to search the web for information on how to make money blogging – the problem was that nobody else was writing on how to do it. I started ProBlogger because it was the blog I wanted to read about how to blog better and make a living from the medium. I’ve been developing it ever since!

How long have you been blogging for? What made you want to start blogging?

I started blogging in 2002 because I stumbled across a blogger writing on a bit of an obscure topic that I had an interest in. As I looked at his blog I observed the way that his blog had giving this guy a voice that carried across the globe – it also enabled him to build community around that voice.

I’ve always been fascinated in ‘voice/communication’ and ‘community’. Blogging seemed to just fit with those interests so I started my own on that very day.

What were some of your biggest challenges when you first started blogging?

I started my first blog on the day I first heard of the idea of blogging. I’d never had a website before and had no idea what I was doing. I remember having to ask another blogger in my first week how to make words bold (back then you had to do it in html).

I guess for me the tech side of things was pretty challenging – particularly because so much of it back then was very raw and to do anything tricky you needed to know a bit of code.

I taught myself slowly and improved each day.

One of the other challenges in the early days was that I live in Australia while most of the bloggers in my niches and my readers were in other parts of the world – particularly in the USA. At times it felt a little lonely and I felt quite isolated (I still do at times).

How did you overcome these challenges?

The tech stuff – I overcame this in a couple of ways:

1. I learned as much as I could.

2. I came to the realization that I’m just not a techy kind of guy and wouldn’t ever be an expert in that side of things

3. I outsourced. Even in my early days I found ways to get others involved in the areas I had no skills in (doing things for others in return for their services… and then paying for help).

Feeling isolated was a little harder to overcome in some ways. I’ve managed to do some travel to conferences to meet people face to face but at times it just means staying up late to connect with people on Skype. In time relationships grow and the distance doesn’t seem to matter as much.

What is a recent milestone that you have accomplished with your blog? How were you able to achieve this milestone?

Releasing my first e-books was a real milestone for me on my two main blogs (ProBlogger and DPS). I’d been wanting to do it for a long time but had always put it off.

In the end I just bit the bullet and pulled some content together and sent it off to a designer. It was a lot of work but a really worthwhile experience both profit wise but also in terms of what I learned.

What is your next goal that you want to achieve with your blog?

2010 is a year that I’m going to consolidate some of what I do.

I look at my business and it has evolved in many directions over the last 6 years. Much of what I do seems to be working, but I’ve been working so hard to grow things that I’ve not had a lot of time to sit down and think it all through.

The next year is about growing things further – but also taking some time to refine what I’ve built so far.

What is your best tip for other people out there who might be new or struggling with their blogging?

There is so much to say – but for me the recurring word in much of my teaching on ProBlogger is about building a blog that is ‘useful’ in some way. Work your butt off on building the most useful blog you can – something that solves problems and enhances the lives of people.

If you do this you’re likely to grab attention and make those who visit your blog loyal readers.

The other element is to get out there and spend time on other sites – the type of sites where your potential readers gather. Build a presence on other sites (where you’re being as useful as you can) and in time people will begin to check out your blog.

Lastly – keep at it! Blogs take time to grow – a lot of time!

Thanks again Darren for taking the time to do this interview.

Darren Rowse lives in Melbourne Australia where he lives with his wife and two boys. He works out of the front room of his house as a full time blogger on sites like ProBlogger, Digital Photography School and TwiTip. Follow @problogger on Twitter.

Tagged as: Blogging, Interviews