Archive for Interviews
· May 15, 2008 at 5:55 am · Interviews
Tags: apps, feedmyapp, future, internet, links, matteo, Web-2.0
For a long time I visited TechCrunch to see a lot of the latest Web 2.0 apps out there, but not anymore. I’ve got a resource to share with you that is ten times better than that. FeedMyApp.com is my favorite resource when it comes to finding the coolest and the newest in Web 2.0.
The large database there is also handy if you want to search around and find an application for the job or tool you wish to make better. I recently had a chance to chat with the guy behind the magic there Matteo Alessani about the FeedMyApp.com web site and what it is they do there.
What was the reason for starting the FeedMyApp.com web site and what keeps you going with it?
Matteo: The main reason we started FeedMyApp was that there wasn’t anything similar on the web. There were lots of sites and directories listing web 2.0 apps, but we just wanted to create a simple, easy to use and up-to-date site with the latest and best web apps. Most web app directories, list entries with their respective logos. We thought that most users couldn’t gain much information from a single visual. So we focused on describing each web app with a title, a short tagline (sometimes written by us) and a screenshot. Moreover we are always surfing for new apps, so why not put gather and share them all with our readers?
Do you have a team of people behind the web site, or are you a one man team?
Matteo: I normally work on FeedMyApp on my own, even though my other two colleagues help me find and add new. When you surf the web you always come across interesting new apps. So as soon we find a new one, we add it to FeedMyApp!
When finding new Web 2.0 apps out there do most of them come to you or do you do most of the finding?
Matteo: We do most of the finding although a small portion (99% are pharm/spam apps) are authentic and not yet listed on other web sites. del.icio.us is another excellent source of new sites and web 2.0 apps.
In your opinion, what does it take to get a lot of people’s attention these days?
Matteo: Simple, updated, new content. I could grab people’s attention by adding some useful features to the web site. But I prefer to follow the “keep it simple” mantra: do less and do it better than anyone. However, we are planning some cool new features for our web 2.0 directory.
I know you can’t make use of them all but, out of the hundreds that you have reviewed, which Web 2.0 apps are you using in your day to day life?
Matteo: In my day to day life I mainly use Last.fm, Flickr, Gmail, del.icio.us, LinkedIn, Twitter, Basecamp, Feedburner, Digg and Facebook. At Extendi we always use Ruby-on-Rails, Prototype and script.aculo.us for our web 2.0 projects!
Remember to check out FeedMyApp.com and let him know I sent you there.
· April 11, 2008 at 10:43 am · Interviews
Tags: advice, blogging, blogs, cybernet, help, money, successful
One of the popular blogs out there that I really enjoy a lot is CyberNet. They always have fresh content, good reviews and reminds me of a younger and more influential Lockergnome.com. The minds behind the project - Ryan and Ashley are brilliant at what they do and have had a lot of success along the way. Then it came to me, who better to ask for advice about taking your blog to the next level than them? E-mails were sent, virtual handshakes were made and a conversation was had…
When did you know it was time to really put your all into CyberNet and try to do your best at making some money with it? Was it your goal from day one or was it something that you decided to do later on down the road?
Ryan: Our goal from day one wasn’t to make money; CyberNet was originally started as a hobby. Our goal was to do our best and put our all into it, and to write great content and tutorials that you wouldn’t find on many other sites out there. I guess you could say we were focused on quality and not quantity. We were actually surprised at the time it took to maintain a site with quality articles and we realized if we wanted to continue to provide the content, we had to find a way to make money with it. It wasn’t until about a year ago that Ashley and I both started working on CyberNet full-time.
Out of all of the money making methods out there today, which has been the most and least successful for you thus far?
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· March 31, 2008 at 5:19 am · Interviews
Tags: business, daryl kennedy, interview, marketing, search, SEO, techwyse, web
There is no doubt in my mind that Internet marketing and search engine optimization are playing a larger and larger role in a webmaster’s life. A few years back, you would put up a web site and hope for the best. These days though, you must really study and learn several aspects of the marketing game if you want to stand a chance.
Marketing in general has really always excited me, so I thought it might be a good idea to talk with somebody who does this as their day to day business. Daryl Kennedy is the VP of Operations over at TechWyse Internet Marketing. When approached about the interview - my first thoughts were “Whoo hoo! Now I can pick the brain of somebody who really understands this Internet marking stuff” and I have to say I was not disappointed.
How did you find yourself in the Internet marketing world? Most people on the web want to get to the top themselves in popularity. You guys specialize in helping other people make a name for themselves.
Daryl: Getting into the Internet marketing world for myself was quite by accident. I have always been a resourceful person. I have always enjoyed efficiency and understanding new technology. After being in the business of developing web sites, I decided it would be far more resourceful to learn and understand the newer search engine phenomena then hit the streets cold calling which was far more traditional.
After studying search engines for about 6 months, I quickly found that by following search engine principles I could get our own company on the first page of Google, Yahoo! and MSN rather easily. Ironically, many other companies across North America and especially Toronto, Canada began noticing themselves! Since this was clearly a way for companies to begin to generate revenue they began asking me to help them in the same way.
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· March 18, 2008 at 5:47 am · Hot Web Topics, Interviews
Tags: adam ostrow, gadgets, interview, mashable, networks, social, Web-2.0
I have been a big fan of Mashable since day one, and it continues to be a place I check into daily (as well as a regular RSS subscription too).
So when the chance came up to talk one on one with Adam Ostrow, the editor over there at the social web juggernaut I couldn’t let the chance to pick through a Mashabler’s brain.
Mashable got its start being more based around the social networks out there, and since then has spun off into covering anything that is tech-worthy or Web 2.0ish related. Why the change what I guess you could consider a bigger tent?
Adam: I can’t really speak to our editorial policy pre-early 2007 or so when I joined up with Mashable, but I have to imagine the shift was due to the fact that there is just simply so much more going on in the space than social networking now.
First you had the tools that plugged into social networks – widgets and things of that nature – from companies like Slide, RockYou, etc. This was one of the initial trends that Mashable picked up on. Then, there were applications that integrated on a deeper level with social networks – starting with Facebook and its application platform, and now, most of the other big social sites too. Finally, now we see social features being integrated into virtually every type of Web service – from search, to maps, to mobile. So, I do think there is still a little bit of “social” laced into most of our stories, though, perhaps not as singularly focused on social networking sites.
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· January 28, 2008 at 5:00 am · Interviews
Tags: clickfire, emory rowland, hosting, internet, interview, webmasters
Emory Rowland of Clickfire.com is one of the legitimate good guys out there in the web development and hosting world today. He has also been around as long if not longer than some of the other big names in our business.
How did you get your start on the Web?
Emory: My path into the web began in the mid 1990’s. I was a fairly uninspired surfer and email user until I discovered online multiplayer gaming. Meeting others and competing with them in a virtual world fascinated me. I spent a lot of time gaming back then when I should have been reserving domains like games.com. Looking back, I guess you could say that playing multiplayer games was my first online social networking experience. But, instead of the polite introductions we have with today’s social networking sites, you broke the ice by joining a game and chasing people around, taunting and blowing each other up.
Soon, I started building my own user maps. The next thing I knew I was learning to create graphics, then my first Web site which was a Duke Nukem fan site that had an address of something like someurl.com/~emory/dukenukem/, then writing PC game reviews for Gamezilla and UGO and just generally enjoying the whole Internet experience.
Who is the bigger star, Emory or Clickfire?
Emory: The best way to answer that question is by comparing the number of people who stop by my place to visit (friends, magazine salesmen, mailmen, etc) with the number of people who stop by Clickfire to visit. Emory might get one visitor per month. Clickfire gets many thousands. Clickfire can serve a lot more people than Emory ever could. It really makes you think about the leveraging power of the Internet. I could be standing on the street outside my home with a sign that said “Free 100 dollar bills” and I’d never get as many visitors, solve as many problems or meet as many cool people as Clickfire allows. Creating and maintaining my own Web site has has been one of the most enriching of life experiences.
Across Clickfire.com you cover lots of different web developer topics and discussions. What is your favorite area of the massive tent of web development and why?
Emory: I am still having a great time playing around with RSS/XML. Every major social site these days has a feed for the mashing. WordPress has individual category, post and comments feeds. I like to pull pieces of them from my own site and present them on a static page. Then, there is the mobile side, which I haven’t even begun to experiment with yet.
I would say you’re one of the longest running webmaster resources, with your roots going all the way back to 1997. What has made you want to stay in the game so long?
Emory: I enjoy it. Why I enjoy it is something I’ve thought about a great deal. I like having my own “place” online where I can do creative stuff like writing reviews and building free tools. Visitors read the reviews and use the tools and comment; that makes me like doing it more. I can earn revenue by adding affiliate marketing into the mix. So I enjoy it even more. I can increase that revenue with SEO. Now my career is in search marketing and I’m having fun and getting in even deeper. So, I meet even more interesting people like yourself who inspire me to be creative–the cycle starts again.
Are you afraid your going to wake up one day and have the sudden urge to quit and sell shoes at the mall?
Emory: I have no talent outside the Web, so I am sure that will never happen. Besides I can’t sell. I’d probably offer the customer an objective review of the shoes and then give him a pair for free. If I had to make money the brick and mortar way, I’d be broke. Being a webmaster is too much fun.
As far as web hosting goes, which two web hosts out there impress you the most and why?
Emory: You saved the toughest question for last 
. It seems that all the big shared hosts are offering more bandwidth than you can shake a pipe at. As I’m sure you are well aware, webmastering can be a lonely job and often keeps you up late into the night. If your site goes down at 3:00 AM, you can’t scream. Opening a support ticket online doesn’t seem to satisfy the human need to know that someone is listening and just might care. It’s probably no coincidence that the only two web hosts that have ever won 5 out of 5 Clickfire stars both have 24 hour phone support lines, BlueHost and HostGator. I will say that Lunarpages was the highest rated host we reviewed last year and I really like LP’s pro customer attitude. I am also hosting some sites on HostDime, which I like so far. And HostICan seems intriguing, which we are reviewing now. I think that’s more than two so I’ll stop and bid farewell before I get carried away.
Thanks, Mitch, for giving me the opportunity to share with your readers. And thanks for the free therapy because I have learned some new things about myself now. Keep up the great work with the Web Hosting Show and Mitchelaneous.
· January 13, 2008 at 5:00 am · Interviews, Web Hosting
A partner in the Pleth Networks high end web hosting and development company, Cotton Rohrscheib is more than just your interesting hosting personality.
He has his hand in a number of different cookie jars including Powersite, Pleth Networks and his own personal blog the Cotton Club.
I was lucky enough to get a few free moments of his time to ask him about the hosting world, alligator fights and everything in between.
What advice would you have for somebody who is just breaking into the web hosting or web development world and wants to get started with their own company or service?
Cotton: I would advise anyone wanting to get into the hosting business to first research out their infrastructure for a while before making a decision. Important factors to look at would be bandwidth, scalability, and backup solutions. With Pleth, we feel that we are positioned well with our hosting infrastructure, we utilize a private rack solution with a 5 day running backup interval. We also are taking advantage of newer technologies like virtualization, etc., which has allowed us to go after the growing VPS market that is starting to emerge stronger than ever.
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