By Tiara Rea

For our customer interview this month, I decided to choose someone relatively new to Lunarpages, though someone we have worked very close with and are enjoying watching the success of his online empire as it grows and flourishes.

I actually first heard from Alan Johnson because he was interested in the Lunarpages Affiliate Program. As I helped cater the program to his needs, we found that he needed a reliable web host to use for a launch he was about to promote – TheRatingBlog.com. I had never heard of it, but as we worked together on getting his hosting up, I really learned about him and his ideals and thought he would make a great subject for a newsletter interview. This is a great one for you bloggers, moneymakers, and those who hope to create worthwhile businesses online!

Hey Alan, thanks so much for answering my questions.  Here’s a silly one: what site do you host with Lunarpages?

TheRatingBlog.com

How long have you hosted theratingblog.com with Lunarpages?

Lunarpages has been my host of choice right from day one (about 14 weeks ago) and that has definitely proven to be a wise decision on my part.

Even though you haven’t been a customer for very long, you’re hosted on the Lunarpages Dedicated Servers, which is a big deal. How has your experience been with us so far?

My experience has been excellent. I have worked with my share of hosts up until this point and I have to say that Lunarpages puts all of them to shame.

Tell us a bit about The Rating Blog and what you do there.

Basically, TheRatingBlog.com represents my down-to-earth, common sense and cards-on-the-table approach to making money online. Providing value to my readers has been my business model right from day one and my hard work has indeed paid off.

I have launched my blog as a response to all of the self-proclaimed “gurus” out there who are lurking around every corner trying to trick people into buying their over-hyped, overpriced as well as useless product and have decided to offer everything they charge for at a price they will never be able to beat, $0.

For example, I have written “The Online Business Handbook”, a 200-page moneymaking guide which puts any product the ‘gurus’ ever came up with to shame and I am, of course, offering it absolutely free of charge.

Providing value through my posts as well as through my ebook has been my business model right from the start and the results are definitely more than worthwhile.

Your website ranks incredibly well in Google and has risen up there in a very short time frame. Can you tell us a little about how you used SEO (search engine optimization) in getting ranked?

First of all, with a little tweaking here and there (internal linking, a title plugin and one for avoiding duplicate content at the very least), WordPress represents a great platform as far as on-page SEO is concerned.

Leaving that aside, it all boils down to providing value and building authority. I have received my share of links from just about every great resource as far as my niche is concerned and the search engines have, of course, rewarded me accordingly.

You have two podcasts currently. Can you tell us a bit about each one and what users can expect from listening to them?

My two podcasts (MoneyMakerMonday and AskingAlan) definitely complement each other. While, with MoneyMakerMonday, I cover all sorts of topics or events related to the theme of my blog, with AskingAlan it’s all up to my readers: they suggest questions in the comments section of a certain blog post and I gladly cover them the following week.

Are you an SEO expert?

As far as TheRatingBlog.com, SEO is not the most important part of my business model but, on the other hand, I have achieved some more than worthwhile results with my share of projects as far as SEO is concerned.

What is the best advice you can give to someone who needs to rank well in Google for really competitive keywords?

Don’t just limit yourself to copying what your competitors are doing because, with such a way of thinking, you will always be one step behind and that is simply not an option. Always try your best in order to develop an edge over the competition.

You operate under several affiliate programs, and are not shy in hiding that fact on your blog, something that’s quite unique actually. How much importance do you place on affiliate marketing and why not hide the links from your audience?

It’s all a part of my down-to-earth, common sense and cards-on-the-table approach to blogging. I have always been against lying to my readers and, by hiding affiliate links, I would be doing just that, no matter what angle you choose to view the situation from.

As a result, I’ve even received my share of feedback from readers saying that they appreciate my approach and have even joined a certain program using my affiliate link due to the fact that they enjoy the content I am providing on a regular basis.

What do you find most helpful in working with affiliate programs?

Having the right attitude and promoting products you believe in. As a blogger, such a way of thinking can and will pay off in the long run.

You work with Lunarpages Affiliate Program – how has that experience been and how does the LP program differ from other web hosting affiliate programs you were comparing?

Let’s just say that, as far as support is concerned, Lunarpages wins hands-down. In the end, working with a company which is glad to help you generate win-win situations is always recommended. LP is doing just that and, even more so, they are doing it far better than any other company I have ever worked with or considered working with.

You just reached a couple very important milestones on your blog. Can you tell us a bit about them and why they’re so important to your success?

I always practice what I preach, I always use the tips I provide myself and the results are definitely more than worthwhile.

TheRatingBlog.com is only 14 weeks months old, yet I’ve managed to reach more than a few important milestones:

-hitting the Digg frontpage on the very day of the launch (Lunarpages definitely deserves credit for handling the Digg effect perfectly)
- gaining over 1000 RSS subscribers in as little as 4 weeks
- gaining over 2000 RSS subscribers, 2000 newsletter subscribers and having over 2000 comments (with an impressive average of around 20 comments per blog post) in just 7 weeks -crossing the 50k unique monthly visits mark and the 200k monthly impressions one in only 3 months

For other entrepreneurs out there, what is the key to success in the online world?

One word: value. In the end, no matter how hard you try to look for shortcuts you will, without a doubt, end up understanding that a project built on a shaky foundation doesn’t stand a chance at lasting in the long run.

Fill in the blank: I could never survive in promoting my blog without ______.

Passion. If you are not passionate about what you’re doing, promoting something you don’t enjoy working on will prove to be quite a challenge and, as a result, maximizing results is out of the question.

Since you have to have a personal life somewhere in the mix, what do you do offline? Do you have a job or does your income come solely from marketing ventures?

I am also running my brick&mortar business and will continue to do that until my children are ready to take over. Afterwards, the only projects I will be spending time on will be the online ones.

Do you own and operate any other websites?

I have sold most of them prior to launching TheRatingBlog.com, since I have put together a long-term approach with this project as a solid foundation, and let’s juts say that, as impressive as my achievements with TheRatingBlog.com may be, this is only the beginning.

One of our authors, Mitch Keeler, wrote a great article this month about how to write content online. How important is good content and can you give us some content-writing tips of your own?

Don’t treat writing as a chore. If you don’t enjoy writing each and every word, you can rest assured that readers can and will pick up on that and the results won’t exactly be worth bragging about.

Now, let’s have a bit of fun. What is your favorite color?

Green

Are you left or right-handed?

Right-handed

If you could star in any movie, which movie would it be and why?

Actually, I wouldn’t want to star in a movie since I’d feel bad about the people who waste their time by watching it on TV later on (I always feel that there are far better ways to spend your time than watching TV)

Aww I pegged you for a Law & Order fan.

If scientists could build a time machine, would it be a good or bad idea and why?

Why travel to the future when you can enjoy the present?

If that time machine was available to you, where would you go and why?

I’d probably sell it since I wouldn’t trade the present in for anything

OMG you are a businessman, aren’t you?

Do you prefer Italian or Mexican food?

Italian

What’s better, Joomla or WordPress?

As far as I’m concerned, WordPress

And finally, what’s the best web hosting company in the world?

Hmm, what was the answer again?

Hehe, thanks again Alan. We really appreciate your time, and wish you great success with the Rating Blog and all your future endeavors too!