About Giles Dawe - Best Blogs Asia
I’m both a professional web producer and full time artist, more details about who is running Best Blogs!
I’ve been involved in all things web related full time since 2000. My progression has led me to learning web design, web programming, working for Media Agencies to Central Government, working for clients to then working for myself and specialising in niche web development areas.
Giles Dawe Background
My background is actually in Fine Art, but more on that later. I now work for myself producing websites in China through my registered company Misohoni, focusing on the specialist areas of SEO and link building. Best Blogs Asia is a great outlet to showcase my experience and provide advice. My career path is as follows:
- Learnt Web Design – Working for a Media Agency creating sites for Small/Mid Sized Customers.
- Developed Programming and Accessibility Skills – Working for Central Government.
- Worked freelance for a wide range of clients.
- Created my own sites, earning money from referrals, clicks and signups.
- Focused on SEO and link building.
Why working for others doesn’t help
If you have been working in the web field for a while, perhaps working on behalf of clients you know that they are potentially getting rich from the work you are doing. For example, It doesn’t make sense to be continually improving SEO results for a client if you can actually do it for your own site. I learnt this the hard way and am only now benefiting from the results of creating my own niche sites and making revenue from them.
I think the aim for anyone working on the internet would be to get a stable income from their own sites. It is fun working on behalf of clients, but at times can get frustrating with the number of changes that need to be made.
What your Site should focus on
If you want to create your own site, what should you do first?
Find a niche area, perhaps something you specialise in or have a great interest as it will help you to continue with the site’s creation if hits are low.
Add content, make the page layout simple and clean and take into account SEO criteria. In order to get clicks and people linking to you, you should really have something which is of interest to people. The process of creating a site from scratch and continually developing it is a long drawn out process but can reap rewards in the long term.
Then look at affiliate programs and see how they relate to your site. If there is a relevant program and there are alot of click throughs, try increasing the number of users looking at your pages by buying advertising.
For me, I like to create unique content, interesting sites which are interactive and different.
What sort of sites do you have?
I have over 50+ niche sites specialising in a variety of fields. All are not optimised, it’s a long process but I’m slowly making them automated and run themselves. I used to run popular forums, but the upkeep was too demanding. The types of sites I have are:
- Keyworded domains – These are long term investments
- eBay automated domains – Based on popular niche groups
- Regional domains – Again are long term investments
- Article based domains – Similar to this site, require alot of upkeep
Giles Dawe Artist
As well as being the founder of my company Misohoni, I’m also a full time artist (painter). Examples of my work can be found on my Giles Dawe website.
- 1977 — Born in Bristol, UK.
- 1995 — Distinguished Certifcate in Art and Design.
- 1999 — Got a degree in Fine Art, from Cardiff and Nantes, France.
- 2000 — Worked for Daily Mail Group producing Newspaper Websites.
- 2000 — Worked for Central UK Government as Head Web Designer.
- 2003 — Came to Hong Kong and start working freelance.
- 2003 — Created Misohoni, began developing personal websites.
- 2004 – Developed Best Blogs, a leading site on bloggers in Asia.
- 2007 — Purchased Sketchplanet, an interactive drawing site from Yongfook.
- 2008 — Moved to China.
- 2009 — Began to paint full time, with exhibitions in Hong Kong and Europe.
Personal
I live in a small city called Zhuhai in China. My art work centers around stereotypes and uses recurring themes throughout (bolar hats, moody colours, landscapes etc.,) which all have personal significance to my upbringing and tastes. My latest exhibition will be held at: Opening Sat, Jan 2, through Jan 16, 2010. State-of-the-Arts Gallery, 36 Pottinger St., Central, 2526-1133.
Contact
Feel free to contact me, whether it’s in regards to a web project, web related question or art in general.
One Reply:
50 sites – how do you manage all of ‘em? Are they all regularly updated or are some “finalised”