Expert Interview: David Doolin – Wanna Be A Web Hero?

Reading time: Approximately 7 minutes

Today I have an interview with my friend and WordPress aficionado David Doolin of Website In A Weekend.

Dave started Website In A Weekend just over a year ago as a way to learn about WordPress and post his findings.

His site is already picking up lots of visitors and he’s built a really active community of contributing authors (ahem, yes, I’m one of them) and active commenters. This really gives his site a buzz!

When I approached Dave for an interview I was a bit nervous actually. Dave and I have been talking for nearly over 6 months now and we’ve exchanges lots of ideas, so it’s no surprise to me that his site is successful.

I was nervous because I’ve always wanted to know how he seems to get people to gather around him and pay attention. That is a hardcore skill that not many people have.

I don’t want to keep him from you any longer! Here’s the interview:

Thanks for agreeing to the interview Dave! We’ve been website buddies for a little while now and having posted on your site a couple of times it’s nice to finally repay the favour!

Your site Website In A Weekend is packed full of tips for starting and maintaining a website, but what I (and a lot of others) like about your site most is the active community. What are the main things you do to get people involved and talking to each other?

Two effective ways I’ve found to build community are 1. reply to every comment possible, 2. leave a lot of comments on other people’s blogs. This is time consuming to be sure, but it’s very effective.

I have to agree, comments that I leave seem to provide a lot of the traffic I get on my site as well. Truth be told I kind of swiped this strategy from watching you!

You started your website with the moniker “Dr. WordPress“, but interestingly, you’re a real post grad Dr. as well.

Can you tell us a bit about your doctorate studies and keeping your online and offline lives separate?

As it turns out, the firewall between myself offline work and Website In A Weekend is pretty thin. It’s mostly what I’m doing right now. “Dr WordPress,” however, is retired. As it turns out I am a world authority in implicit discrete element methodology (market is very tiny), but not in WordPress. Since the firewall is so thin, I don’t want to imply that I have any more knowledge of WordPress than I what I post on Website In A Weekend. Basically, if you want to know what I know about WordPress, you can read it. I post it all. This means that if I haven’t written about it, I probably know nothing about it.

Has having the docotorate helped your blogging in any way?

I don’t think so. Blogging has zero accountability. People can say whatever they want (almost), be whoever they want, and no one will call them out. If I had to do it over, I believe I would remove references to having the post-graduate degree. Don’t be surprised if you see that disappear everywhere on Website In A Weekend in fact. It really is irrelevant, so it shouldn’t be mentioned.

Update: Dave has started removing all references to Dr. WordPress – I, on the other hand, will remember him (R.I.P. Dr. WordPress! *sob*)

It seems like Website In A Weekend is really starting to pick up steam now after a long year of content creation. I’ve seen it mentioned in a few places around the web.

With all the extra traffic what are you doing to monetize your site?

I sell small, very specialized pdf reports. I like writing these. They aren’t making the rent yet, but they just might in the future.

What’s do you think has been the most effective thing you do that’s contributed to the success of your business with Website In A Weekend?

Taking it slowly so I keep a tight grip on all the moving parts. The current meme is “outsource everything,” but it’s been my experience that outsourcing is most effective when you can basically do the job yourself. That way, you know what needs to be outsourced, you know how to spec the job, and you can run effective due diligence on the deliverables.

That’s true, I think it was Bill Gates that said:

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

… I guess that applies doubly for outsourcing.

Let’s talk about collecting emails, I know that you manage a very responsive list of subscribers to your newsletter.

Being in the dark ages myself and not having subscription options to a newsletter or anything, I’m curious to know about the success of your newsletter.

How long has it been going and what sort of response rate do you get from promotions there?

I’m building my list very slowly. There is no bribe, there’s no reward for joining. I keep the newsletters fairly short, and I keep the sales pitches even shorter. No BS. This has resulted in a small list of responsive readers (average 30% open rate, often much higher), and 10-15% click through.

For people with smaller websites, like myself, do you think it’s still worth gathering email addresseses with a newsletter?

Yep. It’s yet another arrow in your quiver. Email isn’t going away anytime soon, and people are comfortable with email.

As we touched on earlier, one of your more visible traffic strategies, commenting, is a bit of a favourite. How effective is it at bringing visitors to your site?

Commenting is very effective at bringing in traffic!

Well, now that you’ve been nicely peppered with questions I have just one last one.

What’s your next big thing? Care to link drop anything? (Fine, that was two)

I have a couple of interesting things up my sleeve at the moment. I prefer to keep these to myself, though, until they’re ready. I execute methodically. Once I release, you can expect accurate and precise material. This violates a core principle of business and marketing which is to be the first out of the gate. And I *hate* getting scooped. So, watch and see. Other than that, more of the same community building, concentrating on providing measurable value (that is, giving you stuff you can plug into your spreadsheet and get a number for).

David’s website Website In A Weekend helps people create and manage blogs and sites for personal and business. It’s brimming with hundred of thousands of words on how to get the most out of WordPress – the most popular content management system on the internet.

Check out his newsletter for insider news and gossip.

Thanks for the interview Dave!