Marco is a successful blogger and programmer from the Netherlands.
For those who don’t know your website/ blog, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hi! My name is Marco Kuiper. I was born on 07-01-1989 in Arnhem (The Netherlands) and I still live there. I’m a programmer specialized in several programming languages. Although developing is what I do most of the time, I really like to throw in some design/UI/UX as well.
On my website – marcofolio.net – I mostly share cool web experiments. Using the latest technologies like HTML5 and CSS3, I play around and place the results on my website for others to see. I explain what I did while creating the experiment, so others will learn and hopefully create more/better things. Some experiments are created with the popular jQuery framework as well.
Occasionally, I tweet some useful articles on Twitter as well.
You are a very young web-designer and computer specialist. What inspired you to start your own blog and share it with the world?
I first started Marcofolio.net as a personal portfolio (Marco’s portfolio), since I wanted to become a freelance web-designer and did some of that work already when I was on high school. But since I was learning so much, and picking up so much information, I needed a place for myself to store the information. That’s when I combined my portfolio with a blog. Later on, I removed the portfolio, and the blog was the only thing left.
Now, I use my blog to keep my skills on a high level, and love to teach the world stuff they might need some day.
What in your opinion are the key issues for running a successful blog?
Always be original, try to find inspiration in other things around you and build something from there. Try to be informal but informational at the same time. Know your reader, place yourself in them and try to think what they want to see. But most importantly: Be yourself. Reply to comments, be kind etc. Those are the most important factors of a great blog.
Do you know your audience, your user, who read your blog?
Like I said in my previous answer, I try to know my audience. I think they’re on Marcofolio.net to find new and interesting tutorials about the latest web development/-design techniques explained in a complete, yet informal matter. That’s what I try to achieve with my blog.
What kind of posts in your opinion are most popular?
When I started my blog, I posted the more popular kind of articles; List posts, roundups and even topics that currently aren’t posted on Marcofolio.net (like image dumps, games and other fun stuff). Those are the kind of posts that’ll give you a huge hit count, but there’s one problem with that: The reader will not return to your site (most of these posts are found through social media).
I really started to hate those kind of posts on other websites, so I stopped creating them myself as well. Now, only high quality tutorials will be placed; although they won’t give you that much of a huge page hit count, more important things will happen. Users will subscribe to your RSS feed easier, follow you on Twitter and – very important – leave valuable comments on your posts. This way, you can improve yourself as well.
What has been the most enjoyable project you recently completed?
I’m not a freelancer, so I don’t really have any projects I’ve been working on. However, the latest article I created where I was really pleased with the result, was the Animated CSS3 helix using 3d transforms. I had an idea in my mind, and I was pretty impressed myself with the end result. It always feels good when an idea turns out as great as that!
Do you have any new projects that you are working on?
I’m always working on new experiments/tutorials/articles. Sadly, some will never see the daylight since my idea doesn’t work, don’t have the time to finish it, or I think the end result just isn’t as impressive as I initially thought. Simply keep an eye on my website for my latest stuff!
Do you have websites which you use every day and can`t live without?
Don’t really have a valuable answer to this question, other than Google. I mostly use Twitter to get updates from people that tweet interesting stuff from several websites that I find most important, do I get the most information about updates/releases/new posts etc. there. It’s pretty important to follow the right people though! I personally don’t follow many people, only those who tweet interesting stuff that I want to read.
One design-related book or magazine you highly recommend to read.
Actually, I’m not subscribed to a magazine, or have I read any book about (web)development/design. I personally think the most interesting/refreshing information can be found online, or can be found in the inspiration of your mind. I know it sounds strange, since many people tend to read books/magazines for this kind of stuff, but I’m managing without so far!
Can you please give our trainees some advice on making their sites a success like yours?
Love what you do. Just be yourself, and try to be innovative. There isn’t that much to it, but the first steps can be hard. So keep on trying, and I’m pretty sure your website could be the next big thing on the web. Also, a good visual design can help you a lot as well. Don’t give up!
A Big Thank You
To Marco and we hope you will take a look at this blog over at http://www.marcofolio.net
