Hong Kiat – A Success Story

More than just your average ranting blog, hongkiat.com is one of the most talked-about blogs in town. Started back in 2007 by local mover and shaker Lim Hong Kiat, a famous Malaysian blogger, web designer also developer, hongkiat.com is more of an online-bible than a blog for readers with passion in design and tech. From content to tips, hongkiat.com is all about helping readers with useful design resources and tech tips.

It all started with his strong love for writing and the urge for keeping up with the start-blogging-already trend that was overpowering the cyberspace then. Being the generous lad that he is, he simply thought of sharing the abundant tips and knowledge that he has in designing and updating his peers with the latest technology updates – just for fun-reading. Somehow words about his useful blog content travelled across the blog community fast like fire, and what started off as a hobby has now turned into almost a full time profession. Since then, hongkiat.com has been growing rapidly, attracting millions of readers of all kinds in the world, and has even been dubbed as one of the most high-trafficked weblog on technology and design in Malaysia, and perhaps Asia.

Lim Hong Kiat having what looks like yummylicious hainan chicken rice!

Hard work coupled with determination, passions and belief have earned him the professional-blogger title, and his blog, hongkiat.com is reported to attract 67,000+ of pageviews on a given day of which the majority of traffic comes from search engines such as Google, and Yahoo. The fact that people know him through his blog and actually read his writings amazes him. He sees now how powerful having an online presence is and how he should be taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Then, came a blistering idea – advertising! Seeing how well his blog is performing, he started to provide a space for people to advertise in his blog – at a cost of course. He also takes full advantage of the social media outlets like StumbleUpon, Delicious, Digg, Facebook, Reddit and Twitter to build some of his traffic.  This squeezed-out brilliant thought has allowed him to earn a pretty decent living with steady line of income thru his blog.

Of course, life is not always a bed full of roses and like any other entrepreneurs, he too does not escape from challenges. The biggest challenge that he has to face as a blogger was to come up with new topics and articles every week. It may be a challenge quite demanding, but so far he has managed to sail through them all calmly with the support of his friends, peers and community. Setbacks and obstacles come once in a while too, especially during this recession time, although it has not made any dramatic impact on his revenue – thanks to the advantage of online business.

A peek inside hongkiat.com blog site.

Truth to be told, having an online presence has not only helped him in terms of business, but also in networking with other people and peers in a way that he has never expected before. In an interview with him, he mentioned that having an online presence is vital for everyone nowadays, especially when everyone is moving into the social media age these days. He quoted a simple example where people do not ask for A/S/L (Age/Sex/Location) anymore in chats, instead they ask, “do you facebook?”. He also mentioned it is important to have a good website because having a good or a bad website will affect the presentation and image of a business, especially if your revenue comes from the Internet.

When asked for his advice for new startups who dream to have their own business and yet find it hard to make the leap, he commented, “You’ll really have to believe that your idea will get big, and your contribution will not only make money but also benefit a community. Simply creating a startup with just making money as goal usually do not work for the long run, at least not for me,”

This story reveals how powerful the Internet is as a tool. A tool to help a community to stay connected and come together when it really counts.