An Interview with Abhishek Kumar from abhisays.com

Abhisek Kumar is a computer Science Graduate and a passionate Blogger.Abhisek Blogs at  abhisays.com where he talks  on Blogging, Internet Marketing, SEO, Open Source Softwares, How to make money on internet, movies etc.Abhisek Started his Online Experiments back in 2006 and now earns a decent money from online sources. Here he shares Some of his experiences with Us.

1. When did you started blogging? What made you do so?

A-Way back in 2006, one of my friends at NIT Bhopal came to me and asked me to help him in making a website. At that time I was in third year of my engineering. I told him that I would need some time to develop the website. Frankly speaking, I didn’t have any idea how to create a website. Then that guy who was from non-computer background got the clue that I was not interested. Finally after 2-3 months I got to know that he launched a very nice and user-friendly portal. That news changed my life. I decided to learn the techniques of web-designing. Within 3-4 months, I learned php, apache tools, mysql etc. Even, I myself developed some static and dynamic web-pages. Then I came across the world of open source CMS and started playing with Drupal, Joomla, Wordpres, VBulletin, phpBB etc. Meanwhile, I got the website renovation project of my college (NIT Bhopal. www.manit.ac.in). I suggested my professors to use joomla for the site. My suggestion was approved and we launched the new website of our college. That was a big achievement for me. Meanwhile, I also launched couple of portals like 100rupees.com, dreamplacement.com, themithila.com. By that time, I experienced many ups and downs as a webmaster. Then I launched my blog abhisays.com. The idea was very simple. Just the aim of the blog was “Listen what abhishek says i.e abhi says”.  Initially I just wanted to share my experiments with latest web technologies and web development tools. But as time progressed, it became a full masala blog with news and articles form almost every field.

2. Apart from abhisays, do you have any other blog?

A- Right now, I am running only abhisays.com.

3. How much time you spend in blogging everyday ? Do you think that’s sufficient or you need to spend more time on it?

A-Now a days, I spend around 2-3 hours everyday on my blog. I don’t think it is sufficient. Actually I want to become a full time blogger like Amit Agarwal. For writing 5 good articles daily, it takes around 10 hours.

4.You have Amit Singh and Raj Kumar Sahu as your other Co-Authors in your site. Please let us know something about them. What role do they play?

A- Both Amit and Raj are from my college. Actually, Amit is responsible for reincarnation of abhisays. After completing my graduation from Bhopal, I shifted to bangalore in a multinational software company. There during 3 months of training period, I completely forgot my blog. You can see the number of aricles from Aug 2007 to Nov 2007. They are very less as compared to other months. One day, I got a phone call from Amit. He offered me a deal. The deal was about paid and sponsored articles. He told that he would write the articles and share half of the money with me. I agreed as it was a very good option for a dying blogger. Then, after Dec 2007, he started posting both sponsored and non-sponsored articles. His dedication towards blogging also inspired me. So Amit saved the life of a dying blogger. Similarly Raj also contributed to abhisays with some excellent articles. Today, they are busy in their careers and I am all alone on abhisays.

5.There are so many blogging sites related to blogging tips,intenet and current news in the web. What do you do to keep your blog competitive among the other biggies?

A- See I don’t care about competition. I write whatever I feel I should write. Earlier I used to write only technical articles, now I am writing gossips, movies, current affairs, politics also. Blogging is all about interests. I have good number of users. The alexa ranking of abhisays is around 85k. Inspite of my hectic schedule, I am able to maintain good traffic on abhisays.

6.Your blog covers various topics starting from the latest happenings around the world to tips for internet and blogging.Which of them do you think draw the attraction of your visitors the most?

A- It depends on region. In India, people prefer movies, gossips, job news, political news. They dont’ bother about technology, gadgets and blogging tips. The latter types of articles generally attracts users from US, Europe and Australia.

7.After becoming a member of this whole blogging world and staying here for such a long time,do you find any change undergoing among the mindset of the bloggers after checking the new blogs coming up every now and then?

A-Earlier money was not the prime target of any blog. Now bloggers are running their blogs just for the sake of money. Also now a days there are many new tools and technologies which have made blogging quite easier.

8.Apart from blogging what do you like doing the most?

A-I love watching hindi movies both old and new. I am also a big fan of old hindi songs. I have dedicated music edition of abhisays.com to old hindi songs. The url is http://abhisays.com/music/. I have also interest in History and literature. During free time, I also read non-fiction books.

9.You are getting so many comments on your post daily. The advices must be coming your way too along with them to improve your site. what is the best advice you think you received till date?

A-This is very difficult question. I have to browse more than 5000 comments to answer the question. But there is one comment which I will never forget. It suggested me to use adsense codes above the articles. Believe me, this change increased the revenue of abhisays by 3 times. I think, this is the best advice I have received till date.

10.If you dont mind us knowing, what is the revenue you generate out of your site? what role does it play in motivating you to improve your site day by day?

A-Money blogging has never been my target. I write articles just to share my thoughts and ideas with millions of people.

11. What advice would you like to give to all those young bloggers who has just opened their blog?

A-Success in blogging is generally measured in terms of page rank, alexa rank, yahoo backlinks, how much you get on writing reviews, rank in google for some relevant keywords. Just follow these 5 advices, they will definitely work for you.

1.Always write articles about topics of your interest and try to give your ideas, opinions and thoughts in your articles.

2.Use WordPress

3.Write at least 1-2 posts per day. 10-15 posts per week is a good idea for maintaining consistency. Almost all the top bloggers are very consistent in this respect.

4.Follow basics of SEO on your blog, use social networking sites to attract traffic in initial day. Gather as many as backlinks as possible.

5.Read blogging tips of John Chow, ProBlogger, CopyBlogger etc. They are pioneers in the field of blogging. I have learned a lot from them. Last but not the least, try to avoid paid or sponsored articles. It was my mistake to go for such articles. Google page rank algorithm does not like it. Even today I am paying the price.

12. Do you have any role models who you look up to and wish to be like him/her one day?

A-Amit Agarwal (www.labnol.org) is my ideal. He is also known as the first professional blogger of India. Today, Amit is great source of inspiration for bloggers like me.

13.What do you like the most about internet?

A-Internet has changed the meaning of social interaction. It has made possible entirely new forms of social interaction, activities and organizing. I like the widespread usability and access of internet. Social networking websites such as Orkut, Facebook and MySpace have created a new form of socialization and interaction. Users of these sites are able to add a wide variety of items to their personal pages, to indicate common interests, and to connect with others. This new form of social gathering is one of the most important inventions of 21st century.

14.What are your future plans for abhisays? Where do you want to see your site 1 yr. from now?

A-I just want to be a regular or better say consistent with my blogging. Right now abhisays is around 85k in alexa. After one year I would love to see it crossing the magic figure of 50k.

15. And finally, What according to you is the most important factor in making a blog successful ?

A-Consistency, Consistency, Consistency and nothing else.