Interview with Christopher Knight (EzineArticles.com)
Posted on : 03-10-2006 | By : Lynn | In : Uncategorized
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I was recently invited to participate in an interview with Christopher Knight of EzineArticles.com fame. I wanted to find out from Chris what had inspired him to become a writer/editor in the first place and then what his purpose and intent is for EzineArticles (and later on the world!!)
Here’s the interview.
1.) Would love to hear more about how you came into being a writer/editor–what motivated you to write?
Have you ever felt bottled up and needed self-expression? Writing gives me an outlet to share what I know and in doing so, not only do I help and impact others, but I learn more about myself in the process.
I always wanted to be a rock-star to perform in front of millions of fans, but the singing talent just wasn’t in the cards for me. With article writing and marketing, I’m able to provide value and impact millions of people. How cool is that?!
2.) I’m so grateful for what you’ve created through EzineArticles and how it has opened my world of writing. How/when were you inspired to create “Ezinearticles.com”?
Truth be known, I didn’t originate the concept. Kate Schultz was the original founder of EzineArticles.com in 1999, and we purchased the site from her during the first Internet boom…right before the bust. The site was abandoned from 2001-2004 as other projects took priority.
In 2004, we wiped the site and concept clean and started all over with the current site concept as you see it today.
3.) How EzineArticles.com “helps” writers get their word out and all of your helpful tips, seem like you are performing a form of “service” for us. Do you see what you are doing as “service” to others?
To us, it’s all about creating value.
We have numerous stakeholders in this project and our focus is on creating value for our authors and publishers by being the catalyst that brings both parties to the table (one looking to provide content and one looking for content to publish). We also focus on providing a high quality site experience that makes the search engines look good when they refer their users to us. Lastly, we want to continue to earn the long-term respect of our many contextual advertising partners that look to us to provide a high volume of quality leads.
It’s a highly complex set of partners, authors/publishers, servers, and a skilled team that brings it all together, but the one thing every component has in common: It’s all about providing value to others…hopefully more than they expected to receive in return.
4.) Looking to the future, how do you envision the tool of writing on the net being utilized by others? What is your big vision?
While I obsessively read to keep up on future trends, I know that it’s more important that we keep our attention on the present moment rather than a future that isn’t here yet.
One of the big quests we have that will take many years to realize is how to help the 85% of our members to overcome their own article writing inertia. 15% of our members have produced more than 10 articles, but that leaves a greater majority stuck in low article volume land. Can you imagine how many visitors we would have if we only approved 10 articles a day instead of the 1,000+ we process now manually? When we motivate and train our members in the benefits of article marketing, I know we’ll be able to unlock an enormous amount of value for everyone involved in this project.
5.) Building on the last question, do you see EzineArticles.com morphing and if so, in what way?
Web 2.0, baby – here we come! Seriously, we already have many web 2.0 basics and you can expect to see more innovations that reduce the amount of time needed to produce & submit quality original articles.
Most of our 30k+ members produce their articles outside of our system and then log in to submit their articles. I can see a future when we give our authors more tools and reasons to actually produce new articles via our system that gives them real-time market feedback that will allow our authors to become more effective. It’s all about unlocking value.
There is also a high chance we’ll be introducing a premium fee-based membership system for authors and publishers in the near future. Everything is free today, but many members want more than we are currently providing them and it’s my intention to make sure we meet or exceed their needs.
6.) It seems in most every newsletter we receive from you, there is an energy and passion that ignites me to want to read what you have to say. I always find something good. What “feeds” this energy and passion for you? What is your sustenance?
I love what I do and I know I’m doing exactly what I’m suppose to be doing here on this planet. It’s easy to ooze energy and passion when the greater majority of my daily experience is doing exactly what I want to be doing with my time – and sharing some of that excitement or enthusiasm with others.
7.) Often times when Coaching a visionary such as yourself, we are encouraged to ask you to look beyond your day-to-day visions and ask you if you have a BIG vision, located somewhere in your future, that almost makes you dizzy when you think about it. If I was to pose this question to you, what is your BIG vision?
To serve more than a million people per day, every day. My team and I are 15% of the way to realizing that vision. Can you imagine the enormity of responsibility that comes with being the host of a million or more people per day, every day? Sounds like fun to me!
8.) Because EzineArticles.com is world-wide accessible, how do you see this service changing the face of the world?
Our authors/members solve tens of thousands of problems every single day with their articles. In fact, I don’t even think the majority of our expert authors have any idea how much they really impact others with their articles.
One type of author that I didn’t expect to be attracted to our website was the non-profit seeking author who writes to change the world with his or her ideas. To them, we are a platform that they use to spread their creativity.
In the coming years, another billion humans are going to find their way online and you can be assured that our authors will be given an opportunity to impact their target readers on a scale that they can’t even imagine today. Article content is often timeless and value is provided decades long after the content was written.
9.) It is often said that, “if we can envision it, we can create it”. Is there any form of technology that is at the tip of your brain that you see in the writing future and where do you see yourself in this new form?
This is why I love our development team. They are tasked with the challenge to make happen whatever crazy requests that I, their coworkers or our members have on a daily basis.
You can expect to see more innovations in the area of helping authors to write more efficiently and effectively. The day of writing only what you want to write about is over – now the time has come to write what the market wants to read as it relates to what you want to write about. See the subtle distinction?
For more on this, I recommend that your readers research what the “Long Tail” is and how they can apply it to writing articles.
10.) What does it feel like to wake up every morning as YOU and get going on your day?! Are you energized? Are you passionate about what you do?
I’m energized and alive within about 2 minutes of waking up … because I know that my life has a purpose and that millions of people (most of whom will never know who I am) count on me.
As an entrepreneur, I’m motivated to build and nurture our management team so that I can invest more of my time on creating new products and relationships that will yield an even higher return for every stakeholder connected to this website project. Luckily, I’m surrounded by people smarter than I am who make me look good. J
Christopher M. Knight invites you to submit your best articles for massive exposure to the high-traffic http://EzineArticles.com/ directory. When you submit your articles to EzineArticles.com, your articles will be picked up by ezine publishers who will reprint your articles with your content and links in tact giving you traffic surges to help you increase your sales. To submit your article, setup a free membership account today: http://EzineArticles.com/submit/
One reason I like EzineArticles is that it is such an eclectic work in progress; constantly evolving. I particularly noted in Chris’ interview his reply to what feeds his energy and passion. He said: “I love what I do and I know I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing here on this planet.”
Larry King was interviewing Donald Trump the other night. Larry asked Trump how he picks and chooses the people who work for him. He said words to this effect: “Sure they have to be smart. But most of all they have to, absolutlely have to love what they are doing.”
I think that’s pretty clear vis-a-vis how this ezine is run and who’s running it. I’m not the most prolific, but I’m happy to be part of it.