“Blogging is not rocket science; it’s about being yourself and putting what you have into it. “
This is well accumulated by one the growing digital marketing bloggers of India – Deepak, who is a founder of the blogging site, digiTechnolog.com.
Who is Deepak?
Deepak is a multi-skilled guy who is a Blogger, Digital Marketer, and WordPress Expert. Even being a Mechanical Engineer by degree, he got fascinated with digital marketing so much that he decided to pursue his career as a Digital Marketing Blogger. Interesting, Right!
In DigiTalks By Digiperform, we decided to have a chit chat over a cup of coffee and ask him about his blogging journey. And, especially, how he is making money out of it.
Digiperform:- Hi Deepak! Briefly share about yourself, your hobbies, likes or dislikes, etc.
Deepak:- Hello Digiperform! First of all thanks a lot for giving me this opportunity.
To be honest, I’ve always loved computers & internet and wanted to become a programmer by pursuing a degree in Computer Science. But, somehow, I got into Mechanical Engineering. (Well, that’s another long story)
Later in 2014, during my 1st year of engineering, I discovered the term “Blogging” and started collecting information about it.
And, now, after 5+ years, I’m completely into online marketing – blogging and some other kinds of digital marketing.
Yes, you can clearly state me as an example who didn’t follow his career as per his degree.
Like, your campaign Skill Over Degree!
Also, I’m a workaholic person and love working on my websites. Most of the time you will find me with my laptop only. But, I do go out with my friends on weekends. Having fun is also very important.
During my early days, I had started many blogs, viral news sites and I was a part of the founding team of a rooms-for-rent searching startup called Hitbik, but nothing seemed to be working.
Later on, I got into affiliate marketing and earned my first few pennies promoting Clickbank products.
And, that’s how I got into digital marketing and made my passion, my profession!
Digiperform:- Please tell us about DigiTechnolog. How it got started?
Deepak:- digiTechnolog is a digital marketing blog where I share my understanding and findings related to various parameters like SEO, affiliate marketing, productivity hacks, and some other technical things.
Like I mentioned earlier, before starting digiTechnolog, I had started my very first affiliate website promoting a Clickbank product.
Luckily, with almost zero knowledge of SEO, I was able to rank that website on the first page of Google.
The site made me my very first $500 and, unfortunately, after 2 months, due to poor search engine optimization, the website got penalized.
Later, I decided to start a blog where I can share the real working ways of digital marketing, especially SEO, from my experience and help other people who are just getting started in the field as well.
So, whatever I have learned in digital marketing, share on my blog digiTechnolog regularly.
Digiperform:- As you have shared Why you decided to start blogging, we would like to know the “Best Moment” in your blogging journey.
Deepak:- To be honest, I have always been passionate about blogging.
I used to follow a famous Indian blogger Amit Agarwal and loved the way he used to share some really interesting and informative articles on his blog Labnol.org.
However, blogging was just my passion back then, but now, it has become my profession. After 3 back-to-back unsuccessful blogs, I started digiTechnolog which is still in the initial phase, but it’s growing fast.
The best moment in my blogging journey was when I earned my first $$$ online. It was a kind of motivation for me.
Digiperform:- As a blogger, how do you see digital marketing evolving in the future? What are the top three trends do you foresee for the coming year 2019?
Deepak:- Digital marketing evolves every day.
As we know, almost 50% of the world is not connected to the internet yet, so in the near future, digital marketing will keep maximizing its reach to the newly connected ones.
Big companies will focus on deep analytics and increased data mining (such as AI and Machine Learning) in order to serve relevant and personalized content to the users.
Those days are almost gone when marketers used to send irrelevant emails in bulk and expect sales from that.
Mobile-focused contents will rise.
Interactive and engaging content will be preferred over the normal blog posts. Video and audio content will attract more visitors and, in the few coming years, video contents will attract almost 80% of all web traffic.
Most of the online companies have already started to shift towards video and podcasts kinds of digital marketing.
According to me, the top 3 trends that will prevail in the coming years are:
-
Content Personalization
No one likes to go through the contents which are of no use or completely irrelevant to them. After a significant increase in data mining and deep analytics by online companies, consumers will get to see more personalized and highly relevant contents only.
Customers will even be able to customize the contents of their choice.
-
Voice Search
You must have seen the increasing trend of voice searches. According to a prediction, by the year 2020, 50% of all the searches will be conducted via voice search.
So, creating voice search friendly contents should be on the priority list of digital marketers.
-
Influencer Marketing
Consumers will trust other consumers more than brand advertisements and digital marketing campaigns will turn more like content-driven marketing campaigns.
Basically, influencer marketing is nothing but the improved version of celebrity endorsement which will keep rising significantly in the coming years.
Digiperform:- Some people feel blogging can be a very boring career. How you would like to answer that? Is it boring or people are lazy to think like that?
Deepak:- Blogging is boring; only if you are not passionate about it.
It takes 1-2 years before a blog may start making some money. You will need to have a lot of patience. In my opinion, people should start blogging in the niche they already know well about, because that would need lesser research while writing articles and it won’t feel boring either.
For example, I mainly write about topics which I know well about. And, I really enjoy writing blog posts related to SEO, productivity hacks, etc.
I always recommend beginners to start blogging part-time while pursuing a degree or doing a job, because in the first few years it would hardly get you any money.
And, later, when you want to do it for full time, put all your efforts to grow that site.
Digiperform:- What are do’s and don’ts one should follow if someone is looking for Blogging as a career?
Deepak:- According to me, the following are the do’s and don’ts that everyone should follow while starting up with blogging.
Do’s
- At first, start your blog side-by-side with your college or job.
- Create your blog with WordPress because it is easier to use and good for the SEO purpose.
- Blog something you already know about.
- Write detailed articles and do proper research while writing.
- Always try to use 5-10 images in your article.
- Link to external related sources which will make your content more credible.
Don’ts
- Don’t go for free domains or free hosting.
- Don’t keep your site’s design clustered. Keep it minimal and clean.
- Don’t make your blog a news site. Publish late but informative and detailed articles only.
- Don’t use random images from Google. Instead, use stock free images from Pixabay, Pexels, Unsplash, etc.
Digiperform:- You must be following blogs of influencers to keep you updated. Share which you admire the most?
Deepak:- Indeed!I follow a lot of influencers and digital marketers to keep myself updated with the latest information related to the digital marketing space.
I am a huge fan of Brian Dean’s blog backlinko.com where he shares really high-quality articles and guides on various digital marketing related topics.
And, I think every blogger and digital marketer should take inspiration from Brian Dean for the kind of quality contents that he creates.
Brian’s SEO Hub is an amazing place to master SEO skills for beginners as well as experts.
Digiperform:- You are experienced in blogging? Please share your experience of how a fresher can start his/her blogging career? And, what are the various ways to earn from blogging?
Deepak:- Blogging may seem like rocket science at first, but once you get into, it becomes easier.
So, my advice to the freshers is that go ahead, set up a website and start writing. Don’t wait for the perfect time and don’t expect your first few articles to be perfect – let it as it is.
Just write as you speak – in a conversational style, because blogging is all about the content you provide and remember “Content is the King”. Just make sure that your content is informative and provides a lot of value to the readers.
And, when it comes to earning money from blogging, below are the 3 best methods for beginners.
- By affiliate promotion
- Google Adsense or other ads network
- By selling your own products
For the people who are just starting up, I recommend going with affiliate promotion over other methods of monetization.
You can join various affiliate networks like Amazon Affiliate Program etc. depending upon your niche and topic of the contents of your blog.
You can recommend related products which are relevant for your readers in between the blog posts. The main reason why I like earning by promoting affiliate products is that you don’t need to put a lot of effort into creating your own products. You just earn promoting famous and established products through your blog.
A few affiliate networks even offer commissions of up to 50%. So, if there is a lot of valuable traffic on your blog then you can earn a great amount of money.
Joining Google Adsense program or some other ads network can also make you money but not as much as the affiliate promotion.
After getting some experience, you can also create some paid and premium content like online courses, eBooks etc. for your readers. If your content is of high quality and provides a lot of value to the customers then just sit back and watch your blog making money.
Digiperform:- Any suggestion you would like to give to our readers and students who want to make a career as a blogger?
Deepak:- Blogging tests your patience and determination.
Blogging is definitely not for the people who are looking to earn money online quickly. It may not make you money at first but blogging does teach you the way of life. Like earlier, successful people used to write diaries – blogging is nothing but an online diary.
Writing regularly can help you in
- Improving your writing skills,
- Improving your present ability,
- and Improving your storytelling skills
Read other people’s blogs, stay updated, take inspiration from them and produce contents that your readers will love to read to. So, with that being said, the interview has come to an end, and hope I was able to put my thoughts impactfully.
You can catch me on social media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theDeepakNess
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeepakNess
Email: deepak@digitechnolog.com
Digiperform:
Wow! Deepak. Thanks for sharing your personal and professional point of view. I hope our readers will get inspired by your journey and those who are looking for a career in blogging will get a good push to start.
And, we wish you great success in your blogging journey. Happy Blogging!
