Hey Guys, Welcome To This LB Interview Series, Where I am going to invite pro bloggers and influencers and ask them about their online journey and question that helps you to grow in this online world.
So today I introduce you to Navin Rao a blogger and Freelancer and also the founder of Question Cage
I asked him many questions about blogging and his online world journey, and I hope all these questions will help you a lot to grow your blog.
He is the person who motivated me to work continuously, and I think he will motivate you as well through this interview.
Guys, are you excited to read this amazing interview???
Okay, let’s dive into it…
Interview With Navin Rao Founder Of OuestionCage.com
Question 1: Please introduce yourself and your blog to Lit Blogging Readers!
Hi Akash, thanks for having me on your blog. It would be a pleasure to talk to your readers out there and introduce myself. I am Navin Rao, blog at questioncage.com.
I started the blog in late Nov 2016 and really enjoyed the journey and came a long way from nowhere to somewhere. Question Cage was basically started as a Technology blog. As time passed on, I learned a lot. Now I also share some exciting topics like SEO and WordPress. And I was fortunate that my domain name also allowed me to do so.
Question 2: When and How did you come into this blogging field?
It got started in 2016 while browsing over the internet, looking for a solution. That landed me on a technology blog, which was maintained by a single person. That forced me to dig into blogging more. I always wanted to create a platform where I could write about my learnings.
Hold down a second, I didn’t know till that time, that one could even earn through blogging. What could be better than that? You share what you know and can even earn out of it.
Encouraging right?
I started going through more and reading articles every day apart from being in a full-time job. The idea was making me too curious those days. Hence, I took action and rooted QuestionCage.com to start the journey.
Question 3: As I know you are a part-time blogger So tell us about your other job or business.
You are right Akash. I have been working since 2015 for IT firms. Earlier I had an opportunity to work with an e-learning organization, later I had worked for a GPS navigation system as well. And currently, this is my third organization and we develop products for Virtual Reality Systems.
As you know apart from all this. I design and develop websites as well for my clients in my spare time along with blogging.
I want to keep my earning sources open, a full-time job, web designing(freelancing), and blogging.
Question 4: When did you get your first income from your blog and How much that income was?
It wasn’t easier!
It took me 7-8 months to start making money. Meanwhile, I was continuously writing. Can you assume it is 7-8 months? That’s a huge amount of time. although, the income was not that big, still after receiving it made me happy. That tiny amount pushed me even further.
I try to be focused on whatever I do, in fact, I have shared the journey with my Facebook Group friends as well.
Titled – My patience level. I highly recommend reading that out. A small story of my blogging journey.
Question 5: How many blogs are you running now?
I started my first blog in 2016 questioncage.com and it was a great success in my first attempt, now have 300+ blog posts.
Later as web-designing became a part of my life, I started one more blog in 2019, with my name navinrao.com. I basically share all the WordPress resources and tips here to create and manage the WordPress website with ease. Be it recommending the best WordPress Hosting, How-To Tricks, Plugin recommendations, and what not.
Anything which makes blogging or managing websites easier with WordPress. I am sure your audience will like it, as a lot of useful WordPress is still yet to come.
Question 6: How much time do you give to your blogs in a day and how you can manage multiple blogs at the same time?
Time will run out, it won’t stop for anyone.
I have to find the time and spend it on my blog. Excuses never work in blogging.
I spend a few hours daily on my blogs. If it is a blog post, I don’t try to wind it up in a single day. I structure the blog post and write on it in intervals. Ultimately at the end of the week, I have a blog post ready to publish.
That keeps me sorted. There are several scenarios when I answer people’s questions on the go as well on social media.
This makes me connected with people and keeps me focused, on what I want from blogging.
“I don’t try to overstress, but I always try to keep my brain working”.
Question 7: Consistency is one of the major problems among newbies Please share some tips to maintain consistency?
That’s correct Akash.
It’s quite easy to get distracted in the initial days of blogging, as you want to try everything. And that is not the correct idea to do.
You need to focus on one thing in the initial days and make sure you can put the content at regular intervals.
As said the best ways to structure the blog post at a time and if you want to create a massive post around 3000 words or something, make sure that you are contributing towards it every day and that is not that impossible at all.
Everyone can make it if they could avoid distractions. I see many bloggers, often get distracted
- looking at other blogs,
- spending more time on the design.
- Looking at other income reports
- Consuming non-required content on the internet.
All can be done gradually.
Having a learning attitude is good. But, learning and execution are what makes us the winner.
I would highly recommend any new bloggers to plan their day and focus on it.
Question 8: How do you perform keyword research and which tools are you using to do that?
Honestly, I don’t stress in keyword research a lot these days. I have a few competitors and that makes it easy to work on those keywords by competitor analysis.
I use SEMrush to do so, putting their website in search and grabbing all the low competition keywords. This saves my time, as I don’t have to do it all from scratch, at least keyword research. This is one of the smarter ways, if you have a paid tool.
But, I work more on structuring the posts using Google search. If we cover all the topics which are covered by the top tens results, that means we have sprinkled all the relevant long tail keywords automatically.
My Tools are,
- SEMrush,
- Google Search(manually)
- AnswerThePublic
Keep it simple, and make the most of your time.
Question 9: Traffic is the biggest concern among newbies share some tips to get initial traffic on a new blog?
This is one brutal fact, not getting enough Traffic while starting out for anyone. Everyone can learn how to write a blog post, but what about traffic. How can you maximize and provide exposure to your blog?
Here is the big deal, most bloggers just write and think someone will land on their blog automatically. I too did so. SEO works like charm but takes time. And initially, when your website is not that authoritative, Google is not going to send any traffic to your blog. Moreover, these days Google algo gone even smarter.
In a certain scenario, there are plenty of ways to drive traffic to your blog.
- Visit other blogs, read their articles, and comment on them. Make it Genuine and reasonably long to add value to their blog. The blog owner and their readers will be curious to know about your blog if you add value there. You will get new visitors and probably loyal subscribers as well.
- Email the bloggers, to connect with them without expecting anything to buy.
- Solve people’s problems in Social Media.
- Engage in Forums. In other words, Q and A sites. Use Quora, it’s awesome. Solve problems there and add your links naturally along with other websites. The idea is to make it look natural.
The Bottom Line, Be Social And Help Others. Facebook Groups are a great way to connect and work with real bloggers.
Question 10: What are your blog Monetization methods and which one you suggest to newbies?
There are many earning streams that can be activated as the blog grows and more footsteps come in. I am talking about,
- Affiliate Marketing,
- Paid Product Reviews,
- Sponsored Articles
- Offering Paid Services and more, the list could go endless.
Blogging has immense scope for those who are serious. Although, it’s not an overnight scheme to get rich. Initially, it could get difficult to make money, but as the blog grows new doors will open and you will meet new opportunities.
Question 11: Share some learning from your whole blogging journey?
On an honest note, start making money was the challenging part for me while I started. It took me 7-8 months together to taste the sweetness of blogging.
That was too depressing as I was not getting paid despite working so hard. And in such a scenario, researching, writing and publishing were too difficult. But, I am always self-motivated. I haven’t started to stop at all.
I have kept on going, and my first income was for a product review article. So, if I have to suggest a few things based on my journey that would be. Be patient and keep working.
“Crawling in the right direction is better than running towards the wrong one”.
Question 12: Last Tip or anything that every newbie should know about blogging
Have patience, don’t rush for money. It will come as time passes on from your blog. Focus on helping people through your blog posts.
Meanwhile, your blog grows, start doing some freelancing as well, and invest that back in your blog.
Your blog can be successful if you feed it according to its needs.
Happy Blogging!
Our last interview was with Tushar Dey, where we talk a lot about LinkedIn. So if you directly landed on this interview post, then also check out Interview with Tushar Dey.
Final Word
First of all, I would like to thank Navin Rao for being part of our interview series and also for sharing such amazing valuable information.
Guys, I hope you got some amazing information from this interview with Navin Rao.
Now it’s your turn to share your feedback in comments and tell me how you like this interview.