Pradeep Chopra, CEO at Digital Vidya: Blogging has totally transformed itself since its first appearance in the late 1990s. Today, blogging has become one of the most important factors to improve your website’s SEO. Blogging is an influential tool that builds your brand authority and enables your readers and customers to have faith in you as an expert in your particular field. In this interview, I spoke up with Anil Agarwal to know his views and significant approach towards Blogging.
Anil Agarwal is a full-time blogger and SEO expert who blogs at Bloggers Passion. The blog mainly covers topics like blogging, SEO, affiliate marketing and making money online.
Apart from Bloggers Passion, he recently started a side project at Hosting Monks, focused around web hosting solutions.
How did you come to know about starting a blog & how has your journey been so far?
Anil Agarwal: I first started free blogs on Blogger platform way back in 2004 after finishing my MCA. Then, I mostly depended upon AdSense to earn a couple of hundred dollars. In 2008, I seriously started working on a blog (which I later sold for someone for $35,000) and once I realised the importance of blogging, I always spent the time to launch more blogs.
In 2010, I started Bloggers Passion which is now generating me over $10,000 in income every single month. In the previous year i.e 2018, I made over $100,000 from Bloggers Passion.
The blogging journey so far has been fantastic. The more money you make from blogging, the more work you put in and it also always motivates you to spend more time on blogging.
What do you do in order to keep yourself updated with the latest blogging trends?
Anil Agarwal: I often read other blogs in my industry including;
(i) Neil Patel
(ii) Backlinko
(iii) Smart Passive Income
The above-mentioned blogs are great for learning SEO, driving more traffic and increasing my blog’s affiliate sales. If you’re following the RIGHT advice from the right people, you’ll definitely get better results. To keep a check on the latest SEO and Google search related trends, I happen to be on SERoundTable and SearchEngineLand kind of websites.
What are the biggest challenges you faced as a Blogger? How did you overcome them?
Anil Agarwal: So far, here are few of the biggest challenges I faced as a blogger.
(i) Creating content (I then had to find a content marketing strategist who takes care of my content and SEO related stuff)
(ii) Increasing traffic (I focused on spending more time on finding great keywords to increase my website traffic)
(iii) Finding more time to blog (I quit my job last year and now I’m able to spend enough time to take my blog to the next level)
(iv) I was not doing any kind of keyword research when I started working on Bloggers Passion blog. So contents that I created here in the first two years were written without any keyword research and that could be the reason they were not able to drive much traffic from Google search.
(v) For the last few years, none of our content goes live without proper keyword research. And this is one of important reason due to which we end up getting lots of targeted and converting traffic from Google search.
(vi) We were not building an email list for a long time. But for the last two years, we started taking it seriously.
What are the dos and don’ts you would want to share as a Blogger?
Anil Agarwal: Here are some of the do’s of blogging.
(i) Do create exceptional content. Don’t think that you can get better results with average content. Your content should be 10 times better than your competitors.
(ii) Do build your email list from day 1 as it can be helpful in building a loyal audience and customers around your blog.
(iii) Do focus on SEO and learn as much as you can. If you can, invest in the right SEO tools like SEMrush as they can help you find great keywords that drive traffic and sales.
Here are some of the don’ts of blogging.
(i) Don’t focus on too many topics as you can’t become an expert in any of them. Instead, focus on one niche, create great content and become the go-to guy in that niche.
(ii) Don’t copy paste others stuff, enough said!
What are some of the Digital channels or methods that you use to promote your content?
Anil Agarwal: I personally use the following channels to promote my blog’s content.
(i) Social Media (especially Facebook)
(ii) Email List
(iii) Quora (I write regularly and also link to my blog posts)
(iv) YouTube (I recently started making videos)
(v) Guest Posts and Blog Comments
Can you describe the three most critical mistakes made by bloggers?
Anil Agarwal:
(i) Not building an email list (you’ll lose a ton of sales and traffic on the table if you’re not building it)
(ii) Not focusing on SEO (especially keyword research and link building, if you want to get better results, learn SEO)
(iii) Not doing competitor research (competitor analysis is the best way to build a profitable online business, you can come up with great topics, ideas to monetize your blog, products to promote and what not?)
What are your views about the future of blogging? Do you believe blogging to be profitable in the long run?
Anil Agarwal: Blogging is evolving. The long form of content is ruling the blogging world. Video blogging is also growing rapidly. And yes, blogging is definitely going to be profitable even in the long run.
Just makes sure to stand out from the crowd and offer as much value as possible to build a money making blog.
How important is the knowledge of Digital Marketing for a successful stint at blogging?
Anil Agarwal: Blogging involves in a lot of tasks ranging from content creation to SEO to promotion to making sales. So yes, having the knowledge of digital marketing can help you a long way.
What are the major mistakes that learners of Digital Marketing make in the beginning?
Anil Agarwal:
(i) Not having the right mentor
(ii) Not targeting the RIGHT market
(iii) Not building an online presence
What is your advice for newbies, who are looking at building a career in the Digital Marketing industry?
Anil Agarwal: If you want to succeed at digital marketing, work super hard and be consistent. There’s no other way around it. Make sure to spend quality time in learning the aspects of digital marketing and implement whatever you learn.
How do you see Digital Media evolving in the future? What are the top 3 trends do you foresee for 2019?
Anil Agarwal: Here are a few trends in digital marketing I think will grow rapidly in 2019 and beyond.
(i) Voice Search
(ii) Local SEO
(iii) Video Marketing
Would you like to share a few words about the work we are doing at Digital Vidya?
Anil Agarwal: If you are someone who is willing to learn digital marketing from an industry-leading platform, Digital Vidya is definitely worth checking out. They not only have certified professional courses but they often share exceptional content around digital marketing.
Are you inspired by the opportunity of Digital Marketing? Start your journey by attending our upcoming orientation session on Digital Marketing for Career & Business Growth. It’s online and Free :).
Among the pioneers of Digital Marketing, Pradeep has been part of the Internet Industry since 2000. He has been a serial entrepreneur for the last 22+ years. A graduate of IIT Delhi, Pradeep is one of the most sought-after international speakers on Digital Marketing, Online Education, and Entrepreneurship.
Thanks for the wonderful review.