Indiblogger Mumbai Meet

Pro-bloggers are a seriously crazy lot. They think about blogging all the bloody time. This includes me, to an extent and I try to keep my eyes and years open for the “next blog post on SatishHasGoneBonkers dot Com”. I never really imagined what went on when a bunch of such post-pests met together. I presumed everyone might be having a dead serious look, with conversations about traffic, SEO and all that abnormal nonsense we would like to keep to our computers. I mean, we go digging enough brain cells on how to get more traffic to our sites to talk about it whilst chilling out.

But I was dead wrong. The IndiBlogger team are a bunch of crazy people hell bent on having fun in the name of a Bloggers meet. “We were overloaded with Old Monks one certain night and the next morning we discovered IndiBlogger was up and running. I mean, Who f***ing did this?!?” is their story behind the creation of IndiBlogger. Now you know what I mean.

The turnout was decent but was a lot lesser than expected and no sooner I entered and settled down I found myself shaking hands with the entire IndiBlogger team in the rather decent hall they booked for the place. Microsoft sponsored the entire meet, so there were a load of drinks and munchies to while time away.

Everyone had their one minute of fame introducing themselves and telling everybody what their blogs were about. One thing I did not like, was that, everybody seemed to have personal blogs. Unless you are a big celebrity or have a very good way of putting things across, people are not going to read your blog. So what if you danced naked at some swish pub and got published in the Pg3 of that exercise in uselessness called ‘Bombay Times‘. (Hey, thats not a bad idea!).

Jokes apart, I know I am no one to tell you what you should be writing in your blogs, but the world would be a better place if you offered some useful and/or entertaining stuff. This was something I myself had realised after 6 months into blogging.

I met some great people, like some guys from Rediff, Webaroo and a chap who’d just shifted into Bombay from London. Its always a good feeling to meet like-minded people, who, for the life of me, would not want to talk about abnormal nonsense all the time.

Since the meet was sponsored by Microsoft, they had something to sell to the bloggers. I mean, all bloggers might not exactly think that Microsoft are cool(Bloggers know, they just). So they’ve come up with Windows Live Writer, a blogging software, which I shall be reviewing shortly.

P.S To my readers, there are tonnes of reviews of supercool gadgets and software in the offing, so stay tuned!! I shall post them ASAP.  Exams beck-on and mom’s like shriek-on.

Tags: blog, meeting

Pro-blogger interview : Jim Karter

Today, we chat up with Jim Karter a.k.a Karamveer from JimKarter.com, a six-figure blogger from Pune. Today he shall tell us more about himself, his online activities and also dole out some tips to budding bloggers as well.

How did blogging happen for you?

Blogging happened rather by chance. I was paragliding in Pune and one fine day, I had a not so fine fall from the air. I broke some 30 bones and was holed up in the hospital for 4 months. It was then that I decided to start blogging and tell the world my ways to make money online. Since I was already into online businesses since 3 years, this topic was natural.

You have over 200 websites. How many of these are blogs?

Only 20% of these are blogs which range from a wide variety of topics like health, auto etc. I manage only 2 out of these and the rest are managed by bloggers from various parts of the country.

Why do you call your money making blog JimKarter.com?

Ah, good question. Some years ago, while registering on a forum, I couldn’t get my name, Karamveer, as the username. So I registered as Jim Karter. Then the saga continued and I registered at a lot of forums using my nick name. After a while, when I became popular as Jim Karter, I registered the domain name.

Your website states that you earned nearly $61000 in the month of March. How much time did it take to get to this figure?

JimKarter.com went online in June last year and since then the income has been steadily rising. Initially I used to work about 13-14 hrs a day, but now its just a few hours daily, doing some optimization and writing the odd blog post. It has now become a form of residual income for me. Even if I don’t do much work on it, it will steadily bring home the cash.

What are the ways in which you monetize your websites?

Google AdSense accounts for a major chunk of my earnings. Apart from that I use Kontera, Text Link Ads and affiliate networks such as Commission Junction, ClickBank and Casale Media to name a few. I also have website directories, for which there is a small fee for registration.

What methods do you use to drive traffic to your blog?

It is a mixture of SEO and getting backlinks to the blog. We try to have as many people linking to us as possible, so that we rank high on search engines. Search engines account for 80% of our traffic.

So, is it possible to quit the 9 to 5 rut and take a plunge into full time blogging?

If you have a passion for writing and can churn out useful content,regularly, you should be having no difficulty in touching revenues of up to $1000 in a year’s time, which could easily enable you to quit your day job.

Tips for budding bloggers who want to strike some cash on the net?

See, there are 2 types of bloggers, one who thinks making money online is easy and the other who thinks that it’s very difficult. It’s not really difficult, but then it’s not easy either. You should constantly optimize your website for the search engines and have the ability to produce good and useful content.

One more thing, On JimKarter.com, I see a Porsche 911. When are you going to get it? And when you do, you HAVE to give me a ride in it. I love Porsche!

Ha, ha. Even I am a big lover of the Porsche 911. I shall be filing my income tax in October and then think about it. Yes, I’ll most certainly give you a ride in it.

10 Blogs every blogger should read

You’ve got your own blog, a proper domain name and everything. Now you’re looking to grow, spread out your wings and soar over the multitude of useless blogs that surround the Blog-o-sphere. What is the benchmark, what is my final goal? Any blogger will have these questions, when they start. And to find the answers, just look up. Look up to those bloggers who make a difference and whose voices echo across the blog-o-sphere.

I have compiled a list of 10 blogs across 3 categories, Blogging and Marketing, SEO and Blog Design. I have learnt a lot from these blogs and you can too, because, remember, no matter how big or small you are, the learning never stops.

Source

Blogging and Marketing

1) John Chow dot Com

I found about John through an internet controversy, the “John Chow effect”.(He doesn’t rank number 1 for his own name on Google!!) But put that aside and John is a really clever blogger. And the fact that there are so many John Chow clones out there just proves the point.

A prime example of the fact that any normal blog can make a good amount of cash through clever marketing. He has always given good blogging tips, documented his earnings, given out prizes for his readers regularly and every once in a while whips up a John Chow dinner post which adds his personal touch. (Inspiration, Elevate yourself to the status where people would love to know what YOU had for dinner)

2) ShoeMoney

The next big-guy-blogger I stumbled upon after John Chow. Turns out, Jeremy Schoemaker is an important dude in the Search Engine Marketing and an expert on Pay Per Click advertising. He also recently won the award for the Best Internet Affiliate marketeer.

He has branded his blog well and regularly doles out blogging advice. He also talks about his internet failures unabashedly as well, not something everyone can do!

3) Problogger

One look at the name and you know what it is all about. The front page looks like Darren Rowse means business. He serves up some really nifty blogging tips and goodies for the blogger masses. If you are a serious blogger, you can just not miss this one. Period

He won the award for being the most Influential Blogger from Performancing.com

4) Skellie

Skellie never fails to provide something refreshingly different. Sure, she talks about blogging, but very much unlike others. You can always feel her (yeah, the only lady blogger on this list) personal touch and the articles always have a positive feel about them. Do check this one out.

5) Zen Habits

Zen Habits is Leo Babauta’s page who talks upon a multitude of topics but all of them have one single goal. Getting your job done in the most productive manner and inculcate better habits. Thats why the name, Zen Habits.

If you think he’s just another blogger, Performancing.com named Zen Habits the Best Overall Blog of 2007. Reason enough for you to go and take a peek.

6) Seth Godin

Seth is an MBA from Stanford and a really smart one at that. One of his initial marketing companies was brought up by none other than Yahoo! themselves. His books almost always reach the best selling spots and he is considered as a marketing guru across the net.

His tips are always insightful and leave you with a trail of thoughts about how you could apply them in your own world. His posts might not always be long marketing epilogues like some would expect, but then, keeping it short and simple is the key.

Search Engine Optimization Blogs

7) SEOMoz

There are so many SEO blogs out there that you’d probably faint just reading the list of names. But Rand Fishkin and Co’s blog offers so vast a range of articles on SEO, that you wont need any more. The articles are well punctuated with such simple illustrations that even a Grade 7 kid wont take too long to become a SEO dude/ette.

His blog has been ranked the best SEO blog on the planet by Performancing.com and is truly valuable to anyone owning a big-ass website to a small blogger looking to grow in the search rankings.

8 ) Matt Cutts

I just said that you don’t need to read any more SEO blogs, but you do need to read what a prominent Google Engineer has to say. One of the few Google chaps to talk openly about Google and SEO-ing amongst a host of other stuff.

The whole world of webmasters and ‘SEO experts’ hang on to every word of whatever he has to say on Google and SEO-ing. And more often than not his posts are analyzed to the last letter. Thats why he put up a disclaimer on his site “This is my personal blog. The views expressed on these pages are mine alone and not those of my employer.” Chuckle.

Design and Development

9) Pro Blog Design

If you want to make sure your blog looks good and you are not committing a web-design faux pas, read Michael Martins blog. He talks on topics such as readability, general design, advertising and everything else to do with the look and feel of your blog. The site even reviews interesting blogs around the net and tries to analyze their highlights.

10) Smashing Magazine

This is another extremely popular design and development blog. They dish out lists of designs, themes, tips, tricks and what have you… The content on their site is sure to satiate most web developers and designers alike. Their lists are huge, informative and almost always get to the front pages of sites like Digg.

Think of some more bloggers who could have been on this list? Do post it in the comments section.

Also do tell me how this list has helped you. I’d be delighted to know.

Tags: blogging, blogs