Name: Mark Fulton
Title: Web Developer, Domainer, Entrepreneur, Blogger
Website/Blog: DotSauce Magazine
Location: Jacksonville, NC

Mark with sister Rachel Fulton

Tell us about your educational/professional background.
My strongest passion has always been online business, being an entrepreneur and writing my own destiny (no pun intended). I started a web hosting and design company in 1998 while a freshman in high school. It was a life-changing initiative for me. I was 15 and taking on clients like the local country club, Chamber of Commerce, musicians, small business, organizations, and more. I would later learn that tech support and updating websites for people was not so rewarding. I got into developing advertiser-supported community websites of my own — some reached thousands of members.

My second passion is writing! I wandered the campuses of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington for three years, absorbing some of the various offerings that piqued my interests. I soon found that business school wasn’t for me (turns out my anti-passion is calculus), so I pursued a study of professional writing and creative writing. I had always loved writing stories, poetry, and blogging.

I nearly finished at UNCW, less than a year of credits to graduation, but a culmination of events such as failing Computer Science 201 (which I could have taught in my sleep, but did not succeed at taking the final exam in my sleep) and other misfortunes led me to take an extended hiatus to pursue my own online business interests. I have looked at going back to finish, but I’m waiting for the right time as it would only distract from my current business growth.

Tell us about your current job.
I founded DotSauce Magazine in early 2007 as a destination for those interested in domain names. Domaining is the business of buying, selling, and otherwise making money with .COM addresses. I also cater to front-end web developers (not programmers), WordPress enthusiasts, online marketers, bloggers, and online entrepreneurs.

Some of my other active projects are focused on Twitter. I’ve created a Twitter Forum and Twitter app for creating lists of friends.

I also sell domain names occasionally at AQDN.com – Affordable Quality Domain Names.

What does a typical day look like for you?
I’m a night-owl. I like to stay up late and work on projects or write articles. There is something about being alone, with the world at my fingertips, that puts me into a creative mindset. So, you won’t see me all chipper at 9 a.m. and my Twitter stream won’t budge until around noon. I like to browse the latest, most popular, and useful articles and share the most relevant ones with my followers.

Ideally, I would publish an article on DotSauce every day, but it usually works out to about every other day. I’ve also found that publishing articles on weekends is not quite as rewarding as you will not get as many readers.

When I’m not writing, I’m working on website projects, researching domain names, contacting potential advertisers, selling domain names, and networking. Every couple days I will do some marketing to promote the previous day’s and week’s worth of work across social networks and niche communities. This practice helps build up consistent traffic to my website.

All in all, my typical day is very atypical. I do get a lot of free time to game and watch nearly every sci-fi, action, drama, and thriller film that comes out.

What kinds of documents do you produce?

• Editorial articles
• News articles
• Technical guides
• Website reviews
• Resource compilations
• Available domain name research
• 140 character tweets

What communication skills are needed for your job?
Familiarity with blogger, geek, domainer, and social media lingo. Professional email correspondence and Twitter etiquette are a major bonus for any blogger or web developer.

How did you prepare for your job?
I taught myself the basics of HTML, using CSS to make things pretty and basic graphic design skills. These are really the foundations of the web. I’ve tried to learn as much as possible daily about the ins and outs of business online, usually through trial and error. Identify and follow the leaders in your niche.

List three of your favorite professional resources/references/tools and tell us why they’re your favorite.
Copyblogger by Brian Clark is a phenomenal resource on writing for bloggers.

I am a huge fan of WordPress.org content management system for its simplicity and flexibility. I use it for virtually all of my own and the occasional client website projects.

I know I’m sounding like a broken record, but I’ve found Twitter to be a phenomenal resource for many aspects of my online business. Actively follow those who are of similar interests and you will see great results.

How do you stay up to date in your field?
I follow every single blog that regularly writes about domain names. I also network with a lot of people in my industries (Web Dev, Domains, Design) via Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. I keep tabs on popular articles via Delicious tags and I subscribe to Google News alerts for various keywords. I also like to browse web-based versions of popular print magazines like Wired, Website Magazine, .NET Mag, INC., etc.

How would you define professional writing?
Conveying your message to the best of your ability while accounting for the context of its publication and the mindset of the reader.

Do you have any tips to share with other professional writers/editors/designers?
Start blogging! Once you get a blog set up, start publishing as much as you can. Start building up your personal or business brand through social media and industry community websites.

Give much more than you take. Some people are afraid to link out to external resources, competitors’ websites, or worried to share their secrets with readers. Sharing is much more rewarding than advertising your own work over and over. Your readers will appreciate your efforts to educate and inform them. They will also pass these resources on to their friends, extending your reach and brand exposure. Over time, your following will be glad to get involved when it comes to promoting yourself.

Tags: blogging, domains, entrepreneur, In the Workplace, web developer

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9, 2009 at 5:51 am and is filed under Career, Design, Web, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.