Seth Godin is a marketing genius who is well-known among the Blogger community. He released a free eBook, Everyone Is An Expert (about something), late last year that is the subject of today’s AmBlog.

The eBook is written for Bloggers familiar with the craft who are looking to drive more sales, traffic and other monetary benefits through blogging. Seth promotes that one can achieve more by doing less.

What I’ve taken out from this book is the idea that the old internet (aka Web 1.0) was a place where Search Engine results mattered. SEO mastery, meta tags were all very essential in organizing and delivering information. People invest time to sift through search results/content to bring meaning to one’s information quest.

Seth clarifies that the new internet (aka Web 2.0) is about people helping each other to bring meaning and help an information quest to make sense. Blogs are a resulting phenonmonon of people wishing to hear from the experts, be directed by experts and have information organized by experts (Seth gave an analogy using a librarian).

I firmly believe that sharing your expertise/your perspective is what has taken place. Social networking is (more…)

It’s funny to see ProBlogger Darren Rowse get just a little bit tickled by Eric’s post at Subnixus titled The Infomercial Blogs. Eric called out Darren’s blog, his own and Blogs like Jensense, comparing them to the annoying diet of informercials that proliferate late night and weekend television.

At one point, Eric writes:

‘And finally, don’t put any faith in Problogger, Jensense, Subnixus, the list goes on… in the end, we just want you for your clicks. Take us with a grain of salt.’

My favourite part of Darren’s post when he responds simply to that assertion with:

Speak for yourself Eric.

My reaction to that was immediately that Darren spoke like a true AmBlogger! Someone who values his work with more passion than simply a source of income. My previous assertion was that ironically ProBlogger should really be categorized as an AmBlog about Darren’s ProBlogging ventures with his other Blogs. (Try saying that 3 times fast!)

I feel there really is a need for a clearer distinction between Blogs for Passion and Blogs for Profit. I will not comment on how I feel about Jensense or Eric’s own Blog because I am not a regular reader of their material. However, I feel compelled to back up Darren’s defense with my own perspective of the AmBlog genre!

ProBlogger Darren Rowse recently invited Dave from PSP Culture to guestblog about what bloggers are trying to achieve with their blog design. You can read the post here. Dave summarized 3 common points that most bloggers would like to achieve with their designs.

1. Income from Advertising Streams
2. Reader Loyalty
3. Personal Satisfaction

From an amateur blogger’s perspective, I have to say that adverstising income streams would rank as the lowest priority for most AmBloggers. AmBlogs seek to build a voice and carve a Blog personality for themselves; wishing to differentiate themselves amongst the many blogs out there. Some of the most beautiful and functional blog designs have been done by amateur bloggers. Honestly, there’s only so many Chitika eMiniMalls ad that a reader can tolerate.

One of the best quality that I’ve seen Amateur Bloggers make excellent use of whitespace or blank space. Many AmBlogs have advertisting that blend visually into the Blog design. Let’s take a look at a few examples!
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Nobody has asked me this question yet. But I can imagine the readers who visit AmBlogger will have this on their mind? I loafe the idea that others will judge AmBlogger by how much I make, but it’s a valid concern. After all, who wants to listen to a blogger talk about blogging for money when he/she doesn’t make money from blogging?

The question then is whether I’m blogging for money? The answer is a resounding NO! If I can offset my server costs with some measley ad revenue. I’d already be quite content. Everyday, I read feeds and articles about blogging and I certainly have thoughts and perspectives of my own. Blogging is the ultimate in open and free expression and I’d like to have my say in the matter.

AmBlogger will be my outreach to Pro and Am Bloggers alike to share their experience, network and enrich each others’ goals and passions. But since you really want to know, I have participated in many different advertising and affiliate link opportunities. I have yet to receive a single pay check. My Adsense earnings have steadily been increasing in pace since I signed up in August, 2004. My goal is to receive my first minimum payment of $100 by the end of this year!

There you have it, the secret is out! I’m truly an amateur blogger! Nice to meet you!

I don’t believe that there is any official definition of the words AmBlog and AmBlogger, for that the verdict is still out. I registered the domain as inspired by Darren Rowse of problogger.net. Darren is a professional blogger (problogger) whose full-time profession is about blogging-related activities. So what was the inspiration?

Since Darren is a ProBlogger, I wanted to discover if there are AmBloggers (short for Amateur Bloggers) like me out there writing Blogs about their passions! Therefore an AmBlog is a Blog whereby the intent is first and foremost to share/start a passionate discussion about any subject. By contrast, the intention of a professional Blogger is to eventually be able to monitize the Blog for profit.

How about an example? Again, I’d like to use Darren because he is truly an ambassador for the blogging medium. Darren’s ProBlogger Blog is actually what I would consider an AmBlog. He has a diverse number of Blogs that touch on different subjects. Those other Blogs, in my opinion, are not AmBlogs. The differences are about the (more…)

My name is Vince Chan and I’m the person behind AmBlogger. You can read more about my blogging history prior to AmBlogger on the About AmBlogger post. Here, allow me to reveal little bit about who I am.

As of this post’s writing, I’m a 27 year old Canadian living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The GTA has many wonderful bloggers that you should really check out! I am currently single and living at the edge of the suburban part of the city in Scarborough.

I was originally born in Singapore and grew up there until my family immigrated to Canada in the spring of 1990. Growing up with a Chinese heritage in the east and west has allowed me to bear different perspectives on a variety of subjects. I’ve also enjoyed being involved in creative projects am an a self-admitted media junkie. Growing up in a (more…)

Welcome to AmBlogger - the Blog that is proud to be amateur and to help amateur bloggers squeeze every ounce of fun from blogging about their passion!

My name is Vince Chan and I’m not a full-time blogger. Some of my other blogs include VinceChan.net and Investorial

Late in 2003, I discovered a website by the name of BlogMaverick. The content was written by celebrity billionaire Mark Cuban. I was intrigued by the topics and his writing style and became a regular reader. Later, I realized that this form of media communication was called “blogs”, short for “weblogs”.

I did not start my own blog right away, but the more I read, the more I discovered the usefulness of such mediums. Admist the discussions and comments hid a style of information that you cannot find in traditional media. Communities were being built; blog networks started up. I could not resist the temptation and started vince-chan.com with my first blog post on August 03, 2004.

Since then, I’ve started 2 other blogs, and AmBlooger will be my fourth blog. The entire experience has been carthatic, creative, spiritual and exciting! Here’s a brief history:

• VinceChan.net - A first attempt at blogging. My first blogging website Vince-Chan.com was meant to be a journal capable of touching any topics, I have since transferred the posts to VinceChan.net. The site had recently undergone a design makeover prior to AmBlogger’s launch.
• BabeTheory.com - An uninspired attempt to blog about a topic that I knew would attract visitors. I attempted a classy spin on the website, but failed to keep up blogging because my passion wasn’t there. Many lessons learned here. BabeTheory still garners decent traffic despite the update stoppage.
• Investorial.com - A blog of my editorials covering investment and financial media. I constantly scour the media for financial news and information. This was a personal passion that I have thoroughly enjoyed blogging about.

I am also a member of Blogcritics.org where I enjoyed writing reviews to improve my blogging (though the editors are probably rolling on the floor laughing right now). I had stumbled upon Blogcritics because I was wondering if anybody was doing a review of other bloggers (if not, I wouldn’t have mind attempting it!)

As my blogging continued, I found myself drawn to ProBloggers (a term coined by Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net fame whom this site pays homage) who helped me tremendously with their insight into blogging. A professional blogger derives income from his/her full-time blogging. Darren wrote from the heart about blogs and blogging. But I was wondering, if blogging was an activity analgous to sports, we already know who the pros are, but where are the amateurs? The people who blog not necessarily for compensation; those who do it out of their passion?

This site is dedicated to finding, recognizing and helping other amateur bloggers learn the skills, share their experiences and promote the blogging medium. I am no expert by any means, but I am willing to share whatever I’ve found out through my experiences with you! It will work best if you participate as well, by contributing your experiences, tips and questions either by

1. commenting in the comments section of each post
2. submitting your own AmBlog news and tips to be published as a main post (with links black to your blog)
3. nominating a blog for review to be published as a main post
4. contacting me to get involved with AmBlogger

If you’d like to support what I do, I would like to ask that you consider helping AmBlogger spread the word through your own blogs as a post or in your blogrolls. Together, we can learn to help ourselves and fellow amateur bloggers find their voice and passion!