Ben Popken
Ben Popken is one of the editor of one of the world’s largest blogs, The Consumerist. The blog talks about company’s customer service policies and is where “shoppers bite back”. The blog is one of the Top 25 Blogs in the World according to Technorati and is part of the Gawker Network.
1. What are your main roles as Editor of one of the biggest if not the biggest blog on the Internet?
Oh, we’re hardly the biggest blog on the internet, but we’re among the upper crusty. I have to write my 12 posts a day, respond or dispatch all my emails, go to interviews, help my writers out if they need it (they usually don’t), make sure the blog looks okay and is running well, and interface with upper management and tech to keep things running smooth.
2. What advice do you have for a blogger who is just beginning to work with a team of writers?
Make sure to talk to them and get a good channel of two-way feedback going. Since blogging is often a solitary art, it can be easy to silo but then the quality of everyone’s work will suffer.
3. When did you get started blogging and do you do any other blogging besides your work at The Consumerist?
I started blogging in 2005. Consumerist is my only blog, though sometimes I take pictures on the street with my cameraphone and upload them on the spot to Flickr, it’s sort of like “blogging lite.”
4. Your blog has had some content that has truly spread virally across the Internet. What advice do you have for a blogger in regards to viral marketing?
Quality is the best viral marketing tool.
5. The Consumerist seems to post dozens of articles on a daily basis, where do you find all this content?
Our readers send us lots of tips. They’re our main resource. After that, it’s RSS feeds and just things we see and hear and think about in the world.
6. What have your experiences working for a with a large blog network like Gawker been like?
A rat in a Skinner box. A happy rat, that is.
7. What are the best ways to monetize blogs in your opinion?
Blogads and Google AdSense are the best ways to go for most bloggers.
8. What is the number one piece of advice you have for a blogger starting out?
Spellcheck.
