Last week, I told you that I wanted to share some sites with you that I think you should be reading, and today I’ve got another great interview with one of those bloggers. Hope you enjoy it.

I just really love reading Skelliewag.org. When Skellie’s posts arrive in my feedreader, I feel like I’m going to be looking at a topic through an artist’s eye. I wanted to know why I felt that way, so I decided to ask Skellie some questions.

Me: Skellie, there’s just something about your perspective that reminds me of the way an artist would describe a subject. Besides having a flair for words, would you consider yourself an artist? Where does your unique perspective come from?

Skellie: If I’m an artist, every blogger is an artist, and perhaps we are

I do try and provide a unique perspective, or at least, create something that does many of the same things a metablog does (explain how you might get more traffic, write better content, and so on) while not feeling like a meta-blog. My aim has always been to approach blog or website building philosophically, rather than saying: do this, do that, the emphasis is on *why* we might do those things.

Me: Your tag line is: Innovation. Ideas. Simplicity. For Bloggers, Webmasters, and Web Workers. Can you expand on that? What are the goals for the blog?

Skellie: The words innovation, ideas and simplicity are an attempt to reduce the core philosophy of the blog down to bite-size.

There is so much emphasis placed on ‘differentiating’ your blog or website but what this really means is innovating: doing something no one else is doing, (or at least, not in the same way), is necessary if you want to stand out. It’s also about taking advantage of all the possibilities web content has to offer.

‘Ideas’ links into this same theme. I encourage my readers to innovate but also like to regularly share my own ideas, particularly because I often don’t have the time or resources to implement them myself. I’ve been regularly amazed by some of the great things my readers have done with them, after putting their own individual twist on the idea.

Simplicity, to my mind, is an absolute virtue when it comes to the web. It’s about simplifying down to what is most important and leaving out the rest — this allows reader attention, rather than having to divide itself across a dozen different things, to focus on what is best about your site. The simplicity philosophy is something I’ve encouraged readers to develop in both their site design and their content.

I think the simplicity aspect also applies to bloggers and webmasters in terms of actions. We only have so much time available to work on our sites, so another area I cover is simplifying our actions down to those that have the greatest benefit, so we can get the absolute most out of the time we have.

The blog is not just for bloggers, but for webmasters and web workers too. I find that most of what I write can easily be transferred to other mediums, because it’s not often linked to the technology behind each system. Articles about design, web content, getting more traffic and so on easily apply to webmasters, also.

Me: Your blog is ad and affiliate-free. Are you crazy? No, seriously, why would you give so much to us, the readers, for free?

Skellie: I get repaid in other ways, rather than click-throughs or banners. I get the satisfaction of a clean, ad-free design, and so do readers. I get to recommend and link to things without readers wondering what my motivations are. The blog has also allowed me to open up some indirect income streams: I’m now a staff writer at Daily Blog Tips, and I do blog consulting for a few clients. Those gigs have well and truly covered hosting costs and that sort of thing.

I’m also working on an ebook expanding on some more ideas from the site, and I’d like to self-publish it as a paperback who’d like to own a copy. I doubt anyone will buy it, though .

Me: Finally, do you have any other sites we should know about?

Not at the moment. I have enough trouble keeping up with Skelliewag, let alone a web empire . I do have two tumblelogs though, because I’m a bit obsessed with them: one with links for Skelliewag readers, and a personal one.

Once again, I can’t thank Skellie enough. Great answers, and a great blog. Do check it out.