An inspiration to those hoping to make a living out of their blog, Liew Cheon Fong of LiewCF.com is Malaysia’s first and possibly only full-time professional blogger. He was also kind enough to take time off his busy schedule to do a quick email interview with me.
You are seen as an icon to anyone in Malaysia who hopes to make a living off blogging. While success is definitely possible, the failure rate is extremely high. Is full time blogging something you would encourage others to do? and why?
Everyone has his/her own talent. Not everyone is suitable to become a full-time blogger. I strongly encourage everyone have some real working experience first. Before you jump into full-time blogging, I would suggest you to do part-time blogging first. Make sure you are able to make money from your part-time blogging. When the income of part-time blogging has become double of your full-time job salary, then you can start consider to become a full-time blogger. You should have a backup plan or enough saving before you decide to be a full-time blogger.
You are now enjoying a good measure of success. Can you elaborate on any difficulties you faced early on?
For a blogger, site traffic is very important. It is not easy to attract new visitors and keeps them returning to your blog. It takes effort to learn what your visitors want and satisfy them. English is not my mother tongue. Therefore, I spend more time than others to publish an entry but it is still full of mistakes. I am still learning in these areas :)
Some have critisised your command of English. Others are fond of the ‘Malaysianised’ style of writing you have. Do you think your current language skills hurt or helped you? and why?
Yes, this is a big problem which I am still trying to improve. Currently, I have a proofreader to help me correct some of the mistakes in my published posts. I’m not aware of anyone fond of my “style of writing” Haha! I don’t think my current poor language skills have helped me. I might even get more local press publicity if I had a better command of English.
Is LiewCF.com your first blog? How & why did you get started?
No, my first blog was LcFwebsite.com, but I dumped the domain name few years ago. My initial idea was to share my computing knowledge with friends, and to write an online diary.
What do you hope to accomplish with LiewCF.com in the long run?
I hope “LiewCF.com” will be mentioned when people are talking about Malaysian blogs. :)
Can you tell me what revenue programs have worked for you and what have not?
Can I put my referral links in this interview in this post? Just kidding. :P .These work for me: Google AdSense, Text Link Ads, Tribal Fusion, BlogAds, Chitika, FeedBurner Ad Network. These don’t work well enough for me: All kind of affiliate programs.
Can you give a rough indication as to how much of your traffic comes from Organic (search engines) vs Referral (website links)?
Search engines make up a large amount of traffic at LiewCF.com, and accounts for around 65% of total traffic. Referral traffic is around 15%. Thanks to my loyal readers, I get quite amount of direct/bookmark traffic (which make up the remainder of the traffic).
You have embarked on other projects as well like the Malaysia Bloggers Forum. Can you tell me how succesful that has been in terms of users/traffic and are you happy with them?
Malaysia Bloggers Forum is quite successful. I believe it is the biggest forum for Malaysian bloggers. Currently, we have 1,685 registered members and hundreds visitors per day.
What other projects are you planning to embark on in the coming future?
I plan to create my own blogging network and help bloggers to make money.
Any last bits of advice you have for any bloggers out there?
Be responsible about your content and to your readers. Do not get yourself into trouble because of your blogs. If you want to make money by blogging, please take note that it takes time and effort. Be patient, and you will get what you want. Good Luck!
Liew Cheon Fong is a professional blogger based in Johor, Malaysia. His main project LiewCF.com is an extremely popular tech blog with more than 1500 feed subscribers and thousands of daily visitors. His other web projects include:
- Ideal Gadget
- Mac Switcher
- Malaysia Bloggers Forum
- Bear The Pooh (owner but not the editor)
- Yummy Malaysia (owner but not the editor)
[...] Interview with Malaysia’s first full time blogger [...]
[...] just put up a few posts & call myself a full time blogger. I followed Liew’s advice: Do part time blogging before jumping on the bandwagon of make money online. 2 years have passed & I am ready to take the challenge. By quitting my studies and focus [...]