I meet Tim Jones in New York at Affiliate Summit East. http://therealtimjones.com

Tell me about your Blog?
My blog is The “Real” Tim Jones and that’s what you get, the real “me.” I talk about affiliate marketing, social media, blogging, personal development, travel, and entrepreneurship. I am an internet entrepreneur and have been involved in all these things for over 10 years.

What was your first blog?
My first blog was either a Disney travel blog or a blog about my family — really don’t remember which was first — kind of a chicken-egg scenario. 🙂

What is the biggest tip you would give to a newbie blogger?
Biggest tip: Start writing about something you love. As a blogger, you produce a TON of content. Whatever you’re writing about better be something that you could write about for literally thousands of posts. If not, you’re wasting your time.

What do advertisers do that you wish they wouldn’t?
I don’t really have any complaints about advertisers. The great thing about affiliate marketing and blogging is that if someone (or some company) does something you disagree with or just don’t like, there’s a hundred other companies or advertisers (especially in affiliate marketing) that look just like the old advertiser. I think advertisers realize this and do their best to make affiliates/bloggers happy. On the same note, there’s 400 other bloggers out there for every one of you, so you need to conduct yourself and your blog with the utmost integrity and honesty.

Where do you see growth in the blogging field?
Blogging is clearly growing in the “micro-blogging” space. Not the most brilliant insight ever, but it’s the truth. People’s attention span continues to decrease and their need for instant gratification continues to increase. As long as this trend continues, you’ll see sites like Twitter and Posterous flourish.

What new ideas are advertisers coming up with to take advantage of new trends?
I hate to see advertisers waste money, so I love advertisers that get creative and come up with new ways to promote their product or service. You’re seeing more advertisers work in a collaborative manner with bloggers, rather than just paying to be part of the “game.”

What do you do to improve the world?
I’m a big supporter of small businesses and the small business community. I love to help other people succeed. I know how challenging and frightening being “on your own” can be and I do everything I can to help people in that situation.

What do you do that is green?
I use Simply Green, does that count?

What is one thing about you that not many people know?
I was on the construction team for Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure. I had the amazing opportunity, right out of school to be a project engineer on a theme park!

What’s your favorite book?
That’s way too hard. I could never narrow it down to one. I love reading and find great books, all the time. There are a couple that I recently refer to over and over, though. Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Gold Book of Yes! and Keith Ferrazzi’s Never Eat Alone

What is on your iPod?
Mostly podcasts and audiobooks. I listen to everything from classical to country to rave music. However, I find that my free time diminishes more and more each year, so I love to use podcasts and audiobooks to maximize the time I spend in the car or wherever I catch a free moment to listen to something that enriches me and helps me learn and grow.

What are your contact details (email, company, blog, facebook, myspace, forums, etc)?
http://therealtimjones.com
tim @ therealtimjones.com
@Timothy_Jones
Facebook.com/TheRealTimJones

What events do you go to?
Affiliate Summit
IZEAFest
BlogWorld Expo (featured speaker)
Travel conferences (too many to list)

How do you prefer to communicate?
Email, no question. Not a big fan of the phone — spent too much time on it as a construction project manager. I love face to face communication — there’s too little of that, especially among the web communities.

Who would you recommend, and why?
Murry Newlands, obviously. 🙂
Andrew Bennett of BenSpark.com — Drew is an interesting and creative guy. He’s also amazingly persistent.
Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net
Brian Clark of CopyBlogger.com — I learn more from Darren and Brian than from any 10 people.
Tim Ferriss — Tim inspires me to think in new and different ways.
David Risley — David always seems to have a new post that gives me a new idea or new way of looking at things in the online world. I read his blog, daily.
Zen Habits — I need to learn to relax and live more simply. This site helps me do that.
Jason Sadler — IWearYourShirt.com — Jason is a friend and a very creative marketer.
Jake and Amir — a little comic relief — always need some of that when you’re an entrepreneur. 🙂