Who is Max?
Max is a Korean immigrant from Korea when he was 9 years old, now he’s officially Korean-American and some of his friends call him the “Asian RedNeck” or the “Crazy Korean Guy”. I used to get so drunk in college and grab every chic’s booties in the bar. I usually did get kicked out but sometimes I scored.

I live in San Francisco, California and love it here. I have a lot of friends in different fields of life. In fact, most of my friends are a funky mix of white, black, and asian people, from completely different backgrounds and up-bringing. I really enjoy the diversity and freedom of speech in America. That’s why I live in San Francisco. If they can accept gay people, they must be oblivious to all the other stuff.

Why Sitehoppin?
Well, SiteHopping.com was taken so I had to go without the g. It’s a character shorter too. But yes, I did like to go bar hopping and club hopping. I used to go to every club every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday while working full time as an IT manager.

What other sites do you run?
My main blog and the blog that got me started with all my sites was Zedomax.com. It’s a name I made when I was 9 years old. I had a sign of Zedomax logo on my bedroom door and called myself “President”. My mom and dad had to call me, “Sir”, for awhile there…

You also blog, tell us a bit about your blogs.
I blog on Zedomax.com mostly, but I did start blogs like Bedzine.com, Keetsa.com, Sleepzine.com, Mattresszine.com for another company. Now I simply manage the writers and do the backend technical work so they all run smoothly.

Zedomax.com is a blog I started when I used to work for Cubloc.com, a company that sells micro-computers. Heck, I only started the site because my boss wouldn’t pay for a dedicated server. So I made my own domain and paid for the server fees. After that, I kept blogging and blogging…

My personal blogs include Zedomax.com, ProGolferDigest.com, SFBlogg.com, and some others but I won’t bore you with all of them.

Your always cooking. Ever though of doing a drunken cooking blog?
Well, that’s really what SiteHoppin is about. It’s all about cooking new food, I feel that’s the future of Web2.0+. SiteHoppin is really a “web” version of my food.

Has Sitehoppin become more popular than you expected?
Well, my expectations are always higher than the results. It’s still in the works so one day it will get there for sheezy.

Do you think it will get bigger?
Oh for sure, we just got started. We haven’t even released the SiteHoppin Toolbar.

Any ideas on expanding the site?
The SiteHoppin Toolbar will change everything. As far as technical stuff, it runs on MediaWiki, software that powered Wikipedia, it’s built on mass collaboration and massive growth.

What marketing strategies do you use for Sitehoppin?
Well, I’ve been trying to network with bigger bloggers and internet marketers by attending shows like AdTech and Web2.0 Expo. Since I live in San Francisco, all the shows come to me, I simply gotta go to them and meet more people that can help grow the site bigger. It’s who knows you, not who you know, my dad always told me.

What are the future plans for Beer Stocks?
Beer Stocks will eventually be split into Beer Shares (way down the road), where Beer Stock owners can sell a “share” of their Beer Stock web traffic. (This is top-secret and you can’t tell anybody!)

How’s the toolbar coming?
Well, I am still stuck on Beer Bottles, at least I am drinking them too. Once the Beer Bottle rating system is done, everything else is pretty much piece of cake. It’s just taking me a long time because I am trying to code everything from scratch. By keeping the code completely proprietary, the Toolbar will allow you to surf much faster.

A lot of people find the site confusing, any plans to fix that?
Yes, eventually, but my initial idea was too keep things a little confusing to get people’s interst. People will invest in complex systems, not simple systems that everybody can understand.

Reverse psychology I think it’s called. It might be working but maybe I will change it to be more simpler in the future if more users start complaining.

Where do you see Sitehoppin in 2 years?
Well, my goal is to make SiteHoppin one of the biggest social networking sites like Digg.com or StumbleUpon.com, where users can rate sites and also find new interesting sites. Plus, if we do get that big, we will open-source everything so anyone can make site like SiteHoppin.com.

How many hours a day do you work on the site?
I work on the site pretty much all day long, about 12 hours when I am working full time on it. I try keep things going a little slower because sometimes I do get “burned” out from working too much. Anytime I am not working on SiteHoppin, I blog on Zedomax.com and my other various blogs. I also do some web consulting for other companies, so it’s a pretty hectic day whether it’s Monday or Sunday, I feel no difference between the two. I haven’t taken a real vacation in about 3-4 years so
yes, I do work like a slave.

Have any secrets for our users to maximize the Sitehoppin experiance?
Well, start using SiteHoppin Toolbar! Yes, it’s still in development, that’s all I can tell you.

Any other big projects in mind after Sitehoppin?
On the side, I do run a network of blogs. I am trying to grow a network of about 200 to 300 blogs over at Zedomax.Net. I think blogs are still big and there’s way too much money to be made from it then people realize.

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Interview with Max Lee from SiteHoppin

What is your blog/blogs url?
http://www.TysBlog.com

What made you start blogging?
I was interested in blogging for sometime but didn’t really take the plunge until I read an article about John Chow in Inc. Magazine. Once I read that piece I decided to jump in with both feet.

What do you like to blog about the most?
I usually stick to stuff that is of a benefit to my readers. Being that the majority of my readers are bloggers themselves I like to blog about SEO tips, marketing ideas, content development, and so on. I also like to throw in some funny things here-and-there to keep things entertaining.

What is your motivation?
My family. I know my blog has the potential to find a high level of success. This success will be just one more element to help provide the best life I can for them. And of course, I wouldn’t mind making a healthy income doing something I love to do too.

Where do you get the ideas for your posts?
All over the place. Other blogs, newspapers, TV, everywhere. It’s odd what will inspire me to do a particular post. I could be watching a TV news bit about some virus and I think of a viral marketing idea and post about it. You never know when/where/why inspiration will hit.

What marketing strategies do you use to get your blog noticed?
I network a lot at places like Entrecard, MyBlogLog, and blogcatalog. I also use social networks like StumbleUpon, Digg, and the like a bit too. Additionally, I’m very quick to go out of my way to help anyone who asks for it. I think this is a very beneficial way to get your name out there via word of mouth. 1 happy reader leads to 100 – 100 leads to 1000 – and so on… Over time word of mouth can be huge!

What one blogger do you look up to the most and why?
I don’t look up to one the most. There are several that have things to teach you and look up to them all for different reasons. I like John Chow (johnchow.com) because he’s a master of self promotion, Darren Rowse (ProBlogger.com) because he has really, really good content and understands the importance of communicating with his readers (chow is pretty good at this too). I’m a fan of Arianna Huffington (huffingtonpost.com) and Michael Arrington (techcrunch.com) not only for creating world class blogs, but for bringing blogging to attention of the world. If it wasn’t for people like them I think blogs would still be considdered nothing more than a vehicle for hippies/teenagers/emo’s/what have you, to blow off steam and rant.

What is your best months income?
My blogs business model doesn’t include making money until after the third month. The 14th of April was only it’s 2nd, so monetization will come in the next month or two.

What did you do that month that was different than previous months?
When I do implement my monetization plan it will consist of selling private ad space and doing select paid reviews.

Do you have another job or are you a full/partime blogger?
I’m also a professional photographer! See: http://www.tyhurd.com if you’re in Denver and wanna book a shoot!

Where do you see yourself/blog in 2 years?
Eating an $88 burger with John Chow… No really, I hope to see it at a level of steady growth, and have plans to introduce another website helping people raise money for their online business ventures. My income goal for after 12 months is at LEAST $10k/month, so after two years… $25k a month?…

What do you do when you are not blogging?
I’m hanging out with my kids, working on my photography, and thinking about what I can do to make my blog even better!

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Interview with Ty Hurd

Today we have an interview with Josh Whitford over at joshwhitford.com. Josh talks about marketing and other useful tips and tricks for you reading pleasure. I am an advid reader of Josh’s blog and read it daily. When you have time go over and check it out, there are some great post.

What is your blog/blogs url?
I run the Unconventional Marketing Blog at www.joshwhitford.com and help market and promote my girlfriend’s blog at wwww.thatmutt.com.

What made you start blogging?
I started blogging to fully emerge myself in the Internet and build up networks of friendships, partners and customers. Blogging is an excellent way for people of like mind and experience to meet and work together. It is also a great way to share your experiences with others who are learning your trade or curious about your trade (niche).

What do you like to blog about the most?

I love sharing new and different marketing ideas online and offline. I like looking at the things that people (marketeers) are both doing right and wrong. I feel that I can stay pretty neutral focusing on the topic of marketing. Otherwise, I would probably talk about politics or money. I do interject some personal development and experiences from time to time.

What is your motivation?
I like encouraging people who are starting out online to pursue their passions and let them know that it is possible to make money and drive traffic to their site for free. I just started blogging about two months ago and have achieved way more than I thought possible, even blowing away my own goals.

Where do you get the ideas for your posts?
I have mentioned in a couple blog posts that I love using Google Alerts for the keywords I have chosen to get a pulse and feel for my niche. I subscribe to about 40 blogs through Google Reader and use some of the concepts I pick up there. Also, reading books is a great way to gather ideas for blogging. I rarely run out of blogging ideas.

What marketing strategies do you use to get your blog noticed?
I love StumbleUpon, Sitehoppin, Entrecard, Digg and other social networking sites. I never pay for traffic directly but have found that a couple hit articles on StumbleUpon will bring in over 30K visitors in one month. I focus on one link, one ad, one subscriber at a time.

Do you have another job or are you a full/partime blogger?
Currently, I am a full-time blogger. I guess you can say I am a professional blogger, because I am able to make my living from the Internet. I am also working on two other projects that will be released in the next month in order to diversify my income.

Where do you see yourself/blog in 2 years?
I see myself blogging for fun like I am now. I have never intended to make all my money from blogging. I want to share my successes and failures in marketing on and offline. I hope that readers will be able to learn and laugh at my mistakes as well as successes.

What do you do when you are not blogging?
When I am not blogging, I enjoy getting a cup of coffee or throwing darts at the local pub. I really love to backpack and enjoy the outdoors a lot. Rugby is one of my favorite sports to both watch and play. I am the assistant rugby coach of the men’s rugby team at Concordia College, in Moorhead, MN. You might not be able to tell from my bulky exterior, but I do enjoy working out and lifting weights at out local club.

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Interview with Josh Whitford