ZOMG We’re One Year Old !

Blog news

by Clinton Jeff | on June 17th, 2009 | 28 comments

Heh, how about that eh ?

Cue the Violin Music.

A year ago I sat down and thought “Hmmm…I think I want to start a blog“. A couple minutes later I had signed up on Blogspot and couldnt think of a decent enough name. A friend walked into my room and said “Heeey it’s Cj!” and that’s basically how ZOMGitsCj got its wacky, silly sounding and completely unprofessional name that we try to live with today. Seriously, try going up to a Nokia Official and saying “Hey I’m Cj from ZOMGitsCj.com” and watch their expression turn to utter confusion lol.

ZCJ began as my personal blog. I’d always wanted to start a “Tech” blog (definitely Nokia-related since that was what I was best at). But I just didnt think I was good enough. Sure, my friends all called me “Mr Nokia” because I was always able to help fix a Phone-related problem or give Phone-related advice. But I just wasnt confident that I could actually write anything that anyone would want to read.

(Note: This is where the Name-Dropping begins)

One of my first posts was on the my Nokia Backup feature which I found tucked away in a corner of the My Nokia Site. I was the first one to find this, and hence my good friend, Darla from Darlamack.com linked over and before I knew it, I was getting a whole bunch of visitors coming over and reading what I wrote. Darla is like a mentor to me. Her blog has been running for years now (I think since 2004?) and I’ve been reading it for years too, before she offered me to join the site as the “N-Gage Guy“. Shes one of the smartest people I know but her articles broke everything down into simple non-geek terms that anyone could understand. I have so much respect for her, its crazy. So, for her to link to something I wrote made me go “Heh. Maybe I am good enough to do this“.

Following that, Matthew Bennett over at NseriesUS.com discovered my little blog and starting linking over in his (at that time) daily video podcast “The Nokia Daily News“. Suddenly I was getting more and more visitors, and I found myself trying to write Nokia-related Articles worthy of being mentioned on the Nokia Daily News.

It was then, that my whole thought-process began to change. Suddenly I realised “Hey maybe someone at Nokia might read this, maybe I’m good enough after all”. I restructured ZOMGitsCj as a Nokia and Symbian related website, stopped posting my random personal blog posts and focused on only covering that topic.

It was tough, but I actually liked doing it. Most bloggers start “blogs” with an intent to make some side money along the way by posting ads around their website. Me ? I was just in it for the fun of it (Infact, incase you havent noticed, ZCJ still doesnt run any ads.) It wasnt that I didnt want cash on the side, it was just that my priority was that I wanted to get more eyeballs infront of my content. And more importantly, I wanted someone at Nokia to read my posts and hoped that it would help them make better decisions in their product portfolio. As we turn one year old, I cant believe how I managed to keep the site updated, Daily, single handedly. I so totally need to get more writers lol.

The more posts I wrote, the more confident I got in my articles. I went up to friends and asked if I could borrow their phones to review them, or photograph them for the blog, which led to our earlier reviews.

Eventually I got in touch with WomWorld and mustered up enough of that aforementioned confidence, to ask for a Trial Handset. Somehow they ended up sending me a Nokia N82 to trial, even though I told them I already had one hehe. But hey, it was a trial handset, so I reviewed it anyway. That was the starting of our beautiful relationship with the guys at Womworld lol.

Earlier this year, in January 2009, I decided to make the move to a dot.com. I always had “big” plans for the site and this was definitely on the charts. But it was fun to see the direction I ended up taking it in, because it covered a topic that I was always adamant about. When it was time to choose my domain I figured “Y’know, ZOMGitsCj has been working well for me so far. And its now my “brand”. Lets stick with it“, and ZOMGitsCj.com launched. I pruned the site of all personal posts (and moved them to ClintonJeff.com) and restructed the blog again, to look more professional and User Friendly.

The Nokia Blogosphere definitely helped the site, and me, grow. Steve Litchfield and Tzer (dude I still dont know your real name) linked over from AllAboutSymbian tons of times. Ricky from Symbian-Guru and Mark from TheNokiaBlog linked over. Phat^Trance (Still not know his real name either!) from DailyMobile linked over. Before I knew it hundreds of people were visiting the site to read what I said. I have major respect for these guys, some of their sites I’ve been reading for well over a year, so again, for them to link to my “little” blog at the time just blew my mind. Then there was the other Indian Nokia Bloggers like Vaibhav from TheSymbianBlog, Ani from S60Blog, Varun from FoneArena, Arjun Parsi from Abhista and Aditya from AdityaSinghvisPhones that were always around to share in our rants and ramblings about what Nokia was or wasnt doing right in the Subcontinent. ZCJ was then also being added to BlogRolls across the internets, like Dan Carter‘s awesome WorldOfNokia blog (which also turned 1 year old a couple days ago) and RenegadeFanboy.com.

The Blogosphere also allowed me to meet a lot of other really cool people thanks to sites like Jaiku and now Twitter. Awesome people like Rita from Symbian-Guru, Micky Fin from NokiaUsers, Matthew Miller from NokiaExperts, Mark from Mobile-Review, Kevin Neely, Mike Macias from TheN82blog, GerryMoth from NokiaAddict, Jeb Brilliant from aBrilliantBlog, James Whatley from WhatleyDude.com (although I’m not quite sure if he has any idea who I am), Sloan Bowman from SloanBowman’s Blog, Adonis from AdonisMobile, Andrew Currie from AndrewCurrie’s Blog, rkhigham, Vlad Bobleanta, Micheal Hell, Matthew Stevens from Techti.me, Jonathan Greene from AtmasphericEndeavours and the extra awesomeness that is Ms Jen from BlackPhoebe. Special Mentions go out to Raj Unny, Kristina and the Team from The S60 Ambassador Program, Dons and the Team from Womworld, Charlie, Ray and the Team from Nokia Conversations.

Egads, I know I’ve forgotten some people. I just cant remember who. In any case if you’ve ever linked to ZOMGitsCj, added us in your blogroll, mispelt our name (I’ve seen ZOOMGitsCG, ZMOCGJ, ZGOMOCJ, etc haha), heck even talked about us, Thank you. We’re now pushing about 400 Rss subscribers, almost 900 posts,over 2000 comments with almost 50,000 Visitors a month and a little more than 90,000 page views a month. The site would not be where it is, without you. Here, have a slice of Cake !

We’ve had a really nice run in one year. We have:

Had a Nokia E75 reviewed before it was released.
Had a bunch of exclusives and the first site to break a lot of news (well not a lot, but some).
Attended the Nokia N97 Bloggers Event in Bangalore, India.
Was picked to Beta Test the Nokia Vine Application way before it was released (whatever happened to that app anyway?)
Appeared in an Internet-Only Nokia N97 Ad (Yes I’m going to brag about this forever. Deal with it)
Reviewed most of the Latest S60 Symbian Devices in the last year.
Still have our Hair.
The first Website to Photograph the Taj Mahal with a Nokia Symbian Device. Yeah it doesnt mean much but hey it makes this list look bigger.
Been selected to visit the Carl Zeiss factory in Germany later this month, along with other Bloggers, and check out how the lens are made for Nokia Devices. Of course my Visa didnt work out and I wont be able to go. Still, we were selected, it counts !
Been able to keep you guessing Wtf is up with our name.
Gotten so many people to buy N82s, that Nokia should consider paying us commision.
Reviewed some of the best S60 Applications out there, thanks to Developers who provided us with review copies.

Here’s to another year of Nokia and Symbian News, Reviews and More !

- Clinton Jeff

ZOMGitsCj.com

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Author Description

Clinton Jeff

Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile and mobile-related accessories. Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus or on Facebook or Twitter: Follow @clintonjeff