When 25-year-old Tan Hui Ling started a blog with a friend nearly six years ago, she never dreamed that it would turn out to be her dream job. This petite, light-haired lass is best known as Cheesie, and her blog Cheeserland.com, receives up to 8,000  visitors in a day as they read all about her life and take in all her beauty secrets. Malaysian Today talks to her about what it takes to be a true blogger.

By Pauline Wong

Malaysian Today: Tell us about Cheeserland.com. Most of us would have read it, but share with us what is awesome about it!
Cheesie: If you are a girl, and vain, there are a lot of things you might be interested in! I have this specialty called the 'Cheat One' tutorials. Basically tips to help you become prettier while saving money. Then again, don't take it seriously because it is, well, cheat one. The origin of my nickname Cheesie is actually a long story... which you can read on my blog!

Q: How did Cheeserland.com begin?
A: My best friend and I started a blog in 2004 so that we could lament about college life, compare each other's writing (we were studying Journalism, so that makes sense) and laugh about it. It really helped us to let loose on the stress of college. And it just grew from there - still full of nonsense, but attracting 8,000 unique visitors a day.

Q:  As a full-time blogger, what's the greatest part about your job?
A: The freedom! I can work from home or anywhere in the world as long as there's internet. Blogging is practically my life now, because whatever happens in my life goes into my blog. Of course, there is also the money, the freebies, and attention from the world. More than that though, is that it is nice to know that people agree with things that you write about, or can relate to your experiences. I also love reading comments from my readers and I normally reply all of them if I have the time. My readers will say how they appreciate my tutorials, and when I reply their queries they are really grateful about it. And some even thank me because they participated in contest they hear about from my blog, and won some prizes. It really makes me feel good. Like I am actually doing something great and meaningful! I have really wonderful readers and without them I won't be so motivated to blog as often as I do now.

Q: Spill the details: how much do you make?
A: It all depends on my advertisements! But it is anywhere from three, to as much as five, figures a month.

Q: What's the worst part about being a blogger?
A: Inconsiderate and rude people on the internet. They hide behind the screens and attack you out of pure malice. They can say all sorts of stupid things. Once, I blogged about my dog getting sick and how worried I was for her. And someone just dropped a comment that said: You shouldn't have gotten a dog in the first place. Or they think my dog is ugly and so forth. Still, I am getting used to them and they don't bother me like they used to.

Q: How do you decide what goes into your blog?
A: Anything that excites me or may excite my readers. I think about my readers a lot, so it is no longer a personal blog, but something I use to interact with my readers. Lately, I've been blogging about fashion, travel, beauty and my new dog the most. My readers seem to like blog posts about my dog the most! 

Q: What is the biggest misconception that people have about bloggers?
A: I guess the meaning of the term 'blogger' is just too vague and too vast. Whoever has a blog is a blogger - but if you mean 'full time blogger', then, in this sense, I think the misconception is that blogging is really easy and that you can earn easy money without a lot of effort. But they have no idea that a popular blog has to go a long way to reach that success, and is not established overnight.

Q:  And last, what does it take to be a good blogger?
A: It takes real commitment. I am really passionate about blogging and I really enjoy doing it. Readers will know if you are sincere or if you are just blogging for money.  If I happen to be struck with inspiration for a beauty post, I will wake up extra early, spend hours putting on make-up, take loads of pictures, maybe record a video, then remove all my make up and go back to bed. And of course, update regularly with good content. Also, if time allows, interact with your readers, and reply to their comments. Everyone loves a personal touch.