A man that needs no introduction… it’s Dean Hunt!!

Firstly, could you please talk about yourself? (Who are you, where do you live, what do you do etc.)

Sure thing, and thanks for having me. My name is Dean Hunt, I am 26 years old, from the UK, and am best known as the leader in the world of buzz marketing.

I got into the Internet as a form of income back in 2002, I had previously been training to play golf for a living, but a knee injury put an end to that. So I turned to the Internet instead. (note: my knee is fine now)

How, and why, did you start Buzz Marketing and blogging about it?

I got into it kinda by accident. I just wrote what amused, entertained or interested me, and other people seemed to also get excited by it.
I got into it just by trying to stand out from the crowd and getting noticed.

Who, or what, was your inspiration?

It sounds strange, but I don’t think I have one. I have always just done what has entertained me… so I suppose I am my own inspiration

How do you keep yourself motivated?

It has been tough, but for me, I try and outsource all the boring stuff. If you remove all the boring things, you are just left with the fun things. Sounds simplistic, but it can be done.

Also, be wary of working from home… it might sound good, but you are always at work, it is hard to differentiate between work and personal life.

You are a marketing genius – you have killer bunnies, 1 million dollar reviews and Adolf Hitler hates you! – How did you become so creative? Do you believe it is in your blood or can it be taught?

I am 100% confident that creativity is a skill. I see it like a muscle, the more you train it the better it becomes. I study creative thinking, and I know a few tricks and secrets to appear like a creative genius I teach them at www.buzzprofits.com.

On your sidebar there is a video, are they the rabbits from Rayman Raving Rabbits?

Initially they were… I found a video from Rayman Rabbits, and it made me laugh… at the time, I was editing my blog, and I put it on the blog as a joke. I intended to remove it the next day… however, people started emailing me and saying they loved “my video”.

So I stuck with it… I also had a designer create some new bunnies.

I, as well as I expect the majority of readers on here, am very interested in “spicing up” my online identity however I do not think Success Circuit would work so well if it had bright pink dragons with rainbow coloured chickens riding them. Do you believe any site can be marketed the way you teach on your blog and at Buzz Profits, if so how would one go about it?

It is not about killer bunnies… it is about being different from the norm. Most people use sports cars and dollar bills in their marketing sites, so I wanted to be different. If you do not stand out from the crowd, you will not get noticed.

Here is a quick secret to instantly appear like a creative genius:

Do the opposite of the norm.

So for example, if you are designing a website, you could write down all the things that would normally be true. e.g header is at the top, it is a certain shape, a certain size, it loads automatically, looks professional… etc… then, ask yourself, “what if I do the opposite?”

This is a great way to appear like a genius.

You say you have 6 billion RSS readers, would you be prepared to tell us how many you REALLY have?

Haha, I honestly don’t know. I messed up my feedburner feed, so I no longer track the details. My guess is that it is between 5,000-8,000

What were your goals when you started? Have you achieved them yet? If so, how did you manage this?

I don’t think I had any goals when I started.. I just tried to amuse myself and my friends and family. I have vastly exceeded anything I could have ever expected.

At any point have you thought yourself or blog as a “failure” or had any major problems? If so how did you manage to get through this and what did you learn?

I had issues with hackers, but managed to fix them. I have never seen it as a failure, mainly because it has opened so many doors for me. For example:   I was recently paid $1 million from the team behind www.ConstructZero.com to have my personal brand sponsored. Basically, I wear their website logo on my clothing at all public appearances, photos, videos etc… this shows the value of a powerful personal brand on a blog.

If you could tell yourself one thing when you started this unique career of yours, what would it be?

Outsource where possible, focus on the things that make money, find a mentor, be yourself, everyone else is already taken… oh, and, you have to value your time before anyone else will.

What plans do you have for the future?

I am writing a book later this year, I am in talks with a leading book publishers at the moment. Also, to continue to make www.buzzprofits.com the leading site for people who want to create buzz and escape the average.

Is there anything you would like to add?

I would like to thank you and your readers for reading this… I hope it was helpful. Feel free to grab my free tips at http://www.buzzprofits.com/maxtraffic/index.cfm

Thank you Dean.

I found that to be a very interesting interview, and I am sure you all did too. Please comment with any questions, I am sure Dean would be willing to answer!

Shane