10 common questions I get asked as a blogger

Hello everyone. To commemorate hitting 10,000 comments on my blog, I am going do a piece that my friend and fellow blogger Jeraldine Phneah has recently done on her blog. Obviously, I won't be answering the same question given that our blogs are very different in nature but I like the format of her article. In light of the fact that I had a huge spike since the 23rd of March, I have attracted a lot of new readers to my blog of late - some of whom asked me some rather odd questions which took me by surprise. I don't mind answering questions, in fact I rather like the interaction I have with my readers. So here are some common themes that get raised in the questions that I have been asked.

1. Who is your target audience? 

Well it depends on the post: if I write a post about fashion, then my target audience would be people interested in fashion. If I write a post about travel, then my target audience would be people interested in travel. I don't like to confine myself to one target demographic group with my writing and I cover a wide range of issues on my blog. I write about issues that I am interested in and sometimes these may be topical issues making the headlines, other times they are my pet topics like learning foreign languages or further education. Actually I don't even think about the target audience when I craft an article: I can only produce a good piece of writing on topics I feel passionate about, so I am driven by my passion more than anything else. Perhaps that's not the best approach to blogging, but that's what I do.

2. How do you deal with the haters? 

I am quite philosophical when it comes to dealing with my haters - when you put yourself out there on social media, you cannot expect to please everyone and you are bound to get some people who will hate what you are doing. Take putting a video on Youtube for example - you can't expect everyone who watches it to like the video, the only way you can totally prevent anyone hating the video is only sharing it privately with friends and family. I don't mind people disagreeing with the points i have made in my blog/vlog or even hating my blog/vlog, but when they stoop to personal attacks and name-calling, then it is beneath me to engage with people who are just looking for a fight. I have better things to do than to engage with people like that as nothing can be gained from that kind of interaction. Those who come here looking for a fight will eventually go elsewhere when they realize I won't give them what they're after. 

I don't let the haters get me down.

3. Why are you so long-winded, why are you articles so long? 

LOL, I get this all the time. Fortunately, there is something for everyone on the internet - there are people who only have the patience to read a Tweet that is under 140 characters. There are some people who will only watch a Vine video that is under 6 seconds.And then there are people who are happy to read a good book and watch a full length feature film over two hours long. Clearly, my blog is catering for those who are after more in-depth analysis on the topics I write about - if you think that my blog posts are too long, then you're barking up the wrong tree: you should be on Twitter or Vine instead looking for instant gratification within seconds, if you're not prepared to spend 10 minutes reading one of my longer pieces. Is it my fault that you're barking up the wrong tree? No, evidently not.

4. You seem to talk about Singaporean politics a lot, are you trying to change things in Singapore? 

No, clearly not. Let's get real. If I wanted to change things in Singapore, I would not have left Singapore and given up my citizenship. I even had one reader claiming that I was fighting for freedom of speech in Singapore and I was like, whaaaaat? Seriously? No, I am just a blogger - I am not a politician, I am exercising the right to voice my opinion on Singaporean politics. I don't ever want to become a politician - it means having to appeal to the masses to convince people to like you enough to vote for you. That is way too tiresome a process for me, I want to retain the right to speak my mind and be blatantly honest without giving a shit whom I offend. In any case, Singaporeans will vote for change when they are ready for it and want it. Clearly, they have not done so yet and people like Roy Ngerng and Amos Yee will simply achieve nothing by trying to start a revolution when there is just no appetite for one in Singapore now.

I enjoy challenging people to think.

However, I do believe that having lived in many different countries and experienced different kind of political systems over the years, thus I am able to offer a brand new perspective on Singaporean politics: I am able to compare and contrast the situation in Singapore with what I have seen in other countries. This has made me appreciate some aspects of Singapore a lot more and it has also made me shake my head in utter disgust at other aspects of Singapore. Some Singaporeans feel that I really shouldn't have the right to say anything about Singaporean politics after I have given up my pink IC and they are just probably jealous of the fact that I am getting so many readers on my blog. I guess that makes me want to blog about Singaporean politics even more because if I was not writing anything interesting then I would be simply ignored (loads of blogs out there barely get 100 hits a month) but if someone is threatened enough by you to want to silence or censor you, then you know you are really onto something!

5. How do your family feel about your blogging - do they read your blog? 

My sisters read my blog from time to time, I know I have some cousins who read my blog as well and they know me well enough to not try to censor me. My dad doesn't speak English and doesn't use the internet, my mother speaks English but doesn't know how to use the internet either. My sister recently read a piece where I was very critical of my mother and she didn't try to tell me to take that piece offline, she just talked to me about letting the past go and not holding on to the anger after so many years. Like I have said many times, my regular readers will know me a lot better than my own parents who virtually take no interest in what the hell I get up to these days. I can't force them to like me or be interested in what I do. Yes my mother would be mortified if she had read my blog - but then again, that's not relevant since she's completely uninterested in what I do these days anyway, she has lost interest a long time ago.

My sisters and cousins in Singapore do read my blog.

6. Is there a commercial element to your blog? 

Only a little. I use Google Adsense and usually manage to get a some money from it every month - it does vary and sometimes it is quite random as it depends on my readers (accidentally) clicking on the ads when they are reading my blog. I have also ran an AirBNB discount voucher campaign on my blog which has proven to be quite successful (it has paid for my AirBNB stays in Romania and Sweden) as it is a slow-burner that keeps going - each time someone takes advantage of that voucher, I get a bit of credit to spend in my AirBNB account. I certainly hope to do more tie-ups with Alvinology to try to do more travel writing review-type pieces for him. But compared to other bloggers like Xiaxue, then no, I am far less commercial compared to her. Anyone who wishes to sponsor me or get me to do a product review, please gimme a shout! I am certainly open to the idea of some kind of commercial collaboration.

7. Are you afraid you may get into trouble with the Singaporean authorities? 

Not at all. I neither live in Singapore nor am I a Singaporean citizen. I am a British citizen who lives in London, so I really don't give a shit whom I offend in Singapore. Amos Yee only got into a lot of trouble because he crossed the line - he has certainly done himself no favours with his epic rant on Youtube. I would get no credibility whatsoever if I lashed out that the PAP or any other local politicians in that way. I believe that people would take me a lot more seriously if I remain far more objective about the issues rather than get involved in personal attacks. I am dealing with. I really only lost my temper once and went for the jugular, but even then, I don't regret it having spoken my mind.

8. What are some of your motivations to blog? 

Firstly, I enjoy blogging a lot. Yeah, it's great fun! Secondly, I have established a good relationship with my core readers who have been following my blog for a long time.  Furthermore, I remember as a young teenager in Singapore, I was frustrated by the lack of interesting people I could talk to. My parents were primary school teachers who knew very little about the big bad world beyond the school gates and my interactions with other working adults with more interesting lives were limited to the parents of my friends from school and gymnastics. I remember meeting the mother of one of my friends at gymnastics - she had a great job and spoke French fluently having lived in Switzerland, I was very impressed with her and we would have very short conversations when she came to pick up her son from gymnastics. I remember thinking, I wish I had more time to sit down with her and talk at length about the working world for I had so many questions. But no, I never got that chance - thus I am now trying to offer that opportunity to other young people in Singapore who just wanna ask me some questions about the working world.

9. Do you ever meet your readers? 

Yes I do though, not very often. I have actually met quite a few of them. Sometimes I can have very long discussions with some of my readers in the comments section of my blog and I feel like I have established some kind of relationship or connection with them that way. So when they pass through London or when I visit Singapore, then I do try to catch up with them. It is usually quite fun for me to meet them because they know a lot about me via my blog but I usually don't know as much about them. Having said that, I want people to read my blog because they like my writing, rather than because they like me or that they are impressed by my CV. Ideally, I want my writing to speak for itself. I will only meet readers whom I have gotten to know through my interactions with them on the comments section - so if someone just messages me out of the blue and asks me to meet, I will usually say no thanks because I don't know them at all. I'm sorry if that sounds somewhat unfriendly but I find meeting a total stranger kinda weird. #blinddate

I want to be judged by the quality of my writing.

10. Are there any plans for Limpeh to have a presence on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook?

No, not really. I am already on Blogger and Youtube (do check out my vlog!) and that's plenty enough for me as it is. This all takes a lot of time you realize? I have a Twitter account but I don't use it much as the 140 character limit frustrates the hell out of me. I don't use Instagram at all. I am certainly on Facebook but that's for my personal use, though sometimes I may post links to my article on various Facebook pages. I like the format that Blogger offers me here and it suits my writing style just fine. I don't believe that blogging should be a popularity contest, I write what I write and when a piece goes viral, then I am thrilled (but often surprised at the same time) but I am not prepared to go to great lengths just to get more hits on my blog or on my Youtube channel. If you have any other suggestions with regards to what kind of social media output I should have, then by all means let me know and we can talk about it.

I hope that gives you a better understanding of my blogging activities and if you wish to blog as well, then I do encourage you to try it. Please let me know if you have any other questions about blogging, many thanks for reading!