Necole Bitchie is a much loved urban media maven who came onto the blogging scene in 2007, and has remained a major player in the field ever since. Her eponymous blog, NecoleBitchie.com is one of the most popular Web destinations for discussing celebrity dish, offering a fresh voice and unique perspective on African American stars. How did Necole Bitchie make such a profound impact in such a short time in a crowded field? She shares the amazing business insights -- and a few celebrity finance secrets -- that have contributed to her stellar success. Here's what Necole told BV on Money:



What is your name and what do you do?
My name is Necole Bitchie and I am the voice behind the celebrity entertainment blogsite NecoleBitchie.com.

What are some of the misperceptions people have about celebrities and their money?
That they spend money frivolously and are irresponsible with their finances... which some are, don't get me wrong, however a lot of people want to live that lifestyle that they see some of these celebs (especially rappers) living which is a facade. People go out to the clubs and spend thousands (that they really don't have) on bottles and making it rain when some of those very rappers they are trying to be like are just spending a portion of their interest money from their huge bank accounts in those clubs. Focus on what those celebs are doing outside of the clubs. For example 50 Cent invested in vitamin water and made 400 million dollars, he just signed a $200 million dollar deal to produce 10 films. Diddy will probably make over 100 million dollars popping bottles of Ciroc in the club, a brand he reportedly has 50% ownership in. Swizz Beatz recently teamed up with the luxury sports car brand Aston Martin. These guys are going out and finding investment opportunities and partnerships that they can incorporate into their extravagant lifestyles which is sort of genius

What surprised you the most about the financial side of your industry?
Because blogging has made such a huge impact online over the last few years, some blog sites' numbers rival readership in popular magazines, radio stations and television channels. So in a sense, blog owners are able to request just as much in advertising dollars as those outlets when they start comparing numbers and audience engagement. I remember I went on a particular pop culture blog site in 2007 and at the time, the going rate for a sidebar ad was $10,000. That blew me away. Today a sidebar ad on that same site is $25,000. Granted, it's one of the biggest blog sites out there with numbers that rival those of VH1, MTV and E! News.

Unfortunately a lot of blogs don't know their worth or know that what they offer is comparable to some outlets that demand almost 10 times in advertising dollars than we do. A lot of us didn't know how to put together an advertising proposal, create custom campaigns, pitch to different agencies/brands or even know we needed a media kit. I'm going into my third year as a blogger and it took me almost two years to put my advertising strategy in place and solicit my own ads instead of letting advertising agencies do all the work while taking a huge chunk of my earnings.

How has Twitter helped you in building your brand and running your business?
I've been on Twitter since 2007. I knew that it would eventually evolve into a huge social networking site and a better way for brands to reach their consumers in a way that myspace couldn't but it took a while for people to see the value in it. I was very instrumental in encouraging my friends, business owners and bloggers that I knew to join because I saw the potential. I would tweet live from events or during major award shows and my readers and followers loved it. My follower count didn't really increase in huge numbers until 2009 when Twitter started booming, so it didn't make my brand but it definitely helped build it.

Twitter is now one of the top four traffic drivers to NecoleBitchie.com. I believe it has a bigger impact than rss feed subscriptions because it allows me to share the link to our content every time a new blog is posted. That's over 178,000 additional people I can potentially reach every time I post a link and if they retweet and share that link, that number can double or triple.

Companies can also use those engagement numbers when marketing themselves to potential advertisers because tweet campaigns are now as beneficial as placing advertising on a website.

Do you have any financial and professional advice for aspiring celebs out there?
Branding is everything. I remember in 2005-6 I was listening to a podcast of Angie Martinez interviewing Keyshia Cole and Keyshia really hadn't "got on" yet. She was new on the scene and Angie Martinez told her that the reason her audience hadn't really become familiar with her was that she kept changing her hairstyle and with her being a new artist, she was making it hard for her audience to identify who she was. That was really my first introduction to what "branding" really was in a physical sense and I really started taking notes of how artists were branding themselves. (Michael Jackson and the glitter glove, Nicki Minaj with the crazy voices and wigs, Justin Bieber and the bowl cut, Trey Songz and his use of "yuuup" in his records. It could be 6 other people on that record but if you heard that "yuuup" in there, you knew that he was a part of that song. Those are all examples of how artists have chosen to brand themselves.)

Also build your fan base and create your own buzz. Labels nowadays want to see how much work you put in on your own first before they put money behind you as an artist. Take someone like Drake. He went on a national tour, he had this massive fanbase, put out successful mixtapes, and created such a huge buzz that he had his choice of what label to sign to. He also walked away with a crazy deal because he proved to them what he was able to do with no label deal.

As far as financial advice, get a business manager early in your career. Before you even sign that first big contract, so that they can help you plan out your future and make wise decisions when it comes to your money.

What upcoming projects do you have in store for us?
We most recently moved our headquarters to New York because we wanted to develop more of a personal relationship with our advertisers and marketers whose clients are looking for an engaging minority audience. We are also launching Born Bitchie Clothing very soon which is a woman's street wear clothing brand and a mobile phone application in the new year. Right now, we are focused on re-launching Bitchie TV which will feature more event coverage and original webisodes.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with our AOL Black Voices audience?
Imagine yourself driving in the fast lane, driving as fast as you can to reach your destination. If you take your eyes off of the road, you will put yourself in jeopardy of crashing and may never reach your destination. I tell my friends all the time, the fastest way to reach your goals is to turn on your tunnel vision, keep focused on what's straight ahead and avoid looking in your rear view. In other words, while you are trying to reach greatness, there will be a lot of criticism, a lot of naysayers but you can't focus on that. You have to stay focused on the prize and what you feel is right in your heart. Make sure you always know the top people in your particular industry and research their story. How did they become so successful? What obstacles did they face?, etc. Most importantly, it's okay to listen to feedback and criticism but make sure you seek out advice from those who have already proven to be successful in their particular fields. They have more authority to tell you what's best.

Last but not least, if you haven't already, check out NecoleBitchie.com and follow us on twitter at Twitter.com/NecoleBitchie

A Major thanks to everyone who has supported the brand and our growth. It means the world to me.