Tamara Gielen blogs at BeRelevant, #3 on the September 2007 M20 list. She is currently an email marketing manager at eBay in Belgium and blogs about email marketing best practices.
Here's more on Tamara:
* How long have you been blogging?
Since February 2005
* How did you first hear about blogs?
Don't remember exactly but it must have been 2003-2004
* Why did you decide to start blogging?
I had to do a project for a course that I attended in 2005 and one of the options was to set up a blog. I choose the topic of email marketing because I was already gathering a lot of information on the topic and I thought that a blog could be a great way to share my passion for email marketing with the world. I wasn't very successful at monetizing the blog at the time, but I couldn't stop blogging after the course finished ;)
* What process, if any, did you work through from a corporate perspective?
None. I just included a disclaimer in my about page saying that whatever I post on the blog is my own view, and they don't represent the views of my employer. To avoid getting into trouble, I've always avoided talking about my employers.
* What are your most and least favorite aspects of blogging?
- Most favorite aspect: it is great for networking and personal branding. It helped to establish myself as an expert in my field. My current and future employer (I'm about to change jobs) both hired me on account of my blog.
- Least favorite aspect: it's time-consuming. I spend at least one-two hours per day reading articles and surfing the internet to find topics to blog about. When I don't post for a couple of days, I feel guilty...
* What would you change with 20/20 hindsight?
nothing really :)
* What three blogs have you gained the most insight from in the past month?
No man is an iland
Email Experience Blog
Email Insider
[If you're a client-side marketer and would like to be profiled - even if you're not in the top 20 - send in your story! See this post for details.]
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