Welcome back to the Vancouver 2.0 Blogger Profile series. Today let's welcome Vancouverite Rajesh Taneja.

Q: Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Rajesh Taneja: I'm the CEO of a multi-national IT services firm that works with small to medium businesses in a very generalist manner. I also own three social clubs which operate primarily in Vancouver, the Social Empire, the Urban Mixer and the Executive Zone.

Q: How long have you been blogging and how did you get started?

Rajesh Taneja: I've been blogging since 1998. I got started as a result of being away from Canada a lot - wanted to keep the friends and family apprised of what's going on in my life.

Q: What topics do you cover in your blog?

Rajesh Taneja: I used to cover funny things that may have happened or my travels - sometimes I rant, now I find a lot of the blogging is in relation to experiences I have in day to day especially with food. I guess I'm an emerging restaurant reviewer.

Q: What tips would you give bloggers just starting out?

Rajesh Taneja: I'm pretty casual about blogging. I know that some people out there take it seriously. I use it as a platform for my thoughts - a freewheel, a soapbox. For people starting out - just do it - no need to go indepth - over time, you'll get the hang of it and you'll be able to get more content out in less time.

Q: Is there a downside to blogging for you?

Rajesh Taneja: The platform which we chose to work with is now antiquated - blogging can be time consuming.

Q: What, in your opinion, makes a blog worth reading?

Rajesh Taneja: It provides grassroots information that may not wind up in print. It provides a counter opinion to what the mainstream may be. It provides information faster to the masses. IE I'll review a restaurant over the course of several weeks from its opening date with regular updates. A newspaper may take months to catch on.

Q: Do you track the popularity of your blog? Do you know or care about your estimated audience? How do you establish a name for yourself in the blogsphere? How do you get your blog noticed?

Rajesh Taneja: We host my blog on our own equipment - we get statistical reports to visits, incoming links, keywords used to find us, etc. The 'blogosphere' as far as I'm concerned is not my real target and therefore not really
important. We get our blog noticed via Google and other search engines on relevant topics.

Q: Can you highlight your most popular/widely read blog story/stories in 2005?

Rajesh Taneja: Our company works closely with the entertainment industry. One item that got a lot of coverage was a posting of the only authorised clip of a song that is currently top of the charts. This was a couple months ago
and readership continues to grow daily. I estimate I was spending between $1500 and $2000 a month in bandwidth for this clip alone - we removed the link after a while due to abuse.

Q: Do you try to get your readers involved in your blog? How?

Rajesh Taneja: We allow anonymous posting. I sometimes reference other peoples blogs as well.

Q: Do you blog just for fun or do you try to earn an income from your blog?

Rajesh Taneja: Blogging mostly for business related reasons. I get a lot of press coverage for the work that I do - this gives me an opportunity to elaborate on certain press items and/or promote things I believe in. I do not try to earn direct income from readership - I think link sponsoring doesn't improve the quality of life of my readers - it might actually diminish it

Thank you Rajesh Taneja for taking time out for an interview in the Vancouver 2.0 Blogger Profile series.