In this interview with Navin Rao, we will learn many things. Navin Rao is the man behind Question Cage, a blog dedicated to Technology, SEO, WordPress to make your blogging journey easy and successful.

Let’s read this interview with Navin Rao and know new stuff.

1. Can you tell our readers about yourself and your blog?

Hi Vivek, first of all, 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 enjoying the journey and came a long way from nowhere to somewhere. QuestionCage 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.

2. Describe how did you first get into blogging?

As said, 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 about 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. 

I came to know that apart from putting banners into your websites, there are more earning streams which can be activated as the blog grows and more footsteps come in. I am talking about Affiliate Marketing, Product Reviews and more.

3. Can you tell me some of your strengths that really helped you in blogging?

Yeah, while being strong in the technology front. That geeky aspect helped me understand the technical aspects quite easily. And setting up, playing with the code, modifying things weren’t getting too difficult for me even initially.

Because of that maintaining a website was easier and keeping them error free was not a too daunting task for me. Thus, I always wanted to start a blog which is niche specific and could be public, that let me start a new blog on WordPress recently navinrao.com. I am publishing articles on it which are only related to WordPress. 

Apart from being techy, I love to write as well. And that too has been an asset for me starting a blog right away. Though I haven’t started writing right away, I dedicated some time to learn SEO and all.

4. What type of networking do you think is better to enhance your traffic to the 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 of the 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.

In a certain scenario, there are plenty of ways to drive traffic to your blog.

• Visit other blogs, read their articles and comment on it. 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. I try to comment daily on at-least 5 blog posts.
• 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, QA sites. User Quora, it’s awesome. Solve problems there and add your links naturally along with other websites. Idea is to make it look natural.

The Bottom Line, Be Social And Help Others. If one is not sure where to find people. Let me help with some Awesome Facebook Groups,

• Sumit Sao’s Blogging Lift VIP Group
• Santanu Debnath’s The Bloggers’ Team [Let’s Grow Together]
• Anil Agarwal’s Bloggers Passion VIP Group

These groups are engaging and people are very helpful there, those will surely help people connecting with fellow bloggers and eventually will get exposure.

I am very active in those groups too.

5. How do you manage time to run your blog efficiently?

Time will run out, it won’t stop from 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 on a single day. I structure the blog post and write on it in the 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. 

This makes me connected with people and keeps focused, what achieves what I want from blogging.

“I don’t try to overstress, but I always try to keep my brain working”.

6. What do you think is the best strategy that worked well for you to get more traffic to your blog?

Connect with people and help them and eventually get help. Don’t be shy. Just go for it. Engage with others content. Share them. Keep doing it and that makes you connect with many bloggers. And they will share yours too. Make new friends and keep doing so.

Do Guest Posting. Make the blog post better, write the way you write on your own blog. This will get you more exposure. Their readers will connect with you. You will be known. More exposure and branding.

Comment on many blogs regularly and keep doing it. Provide value on them, traffic comes. Do SEO along with that, Search engine traffic is best, but don’t rely on one.

7. Who has impacted you most in blogging and how?

One fine day I was browsing something really technical. And that landed me on a blog called labnol.org of Amit Agarwal’s which I came to know later.

It was a blessed day, I am glad I landed on that blog and the way his article solved the problem was interesting and motivated me to start my own blog as well.

As after that, I dug a lot about blogging somehow passing by one link to another. As said, it was really a blessed day.

8. What was the most challenging moment in your blogging journey so far?

Starting Making money was the challenging part for me. It never just started like that. In my initial days almost for 10 months, I haven’t earned any money.

That was too depressing as I was not getting paid despite working so hard. And in such a scenario, researching, writing and publishing was 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 when I met Saurabh Tiwari. This guy is really grounded and awesome and in this industry from some time. We worked on many projects together and finally, he came with a plan to form an SEO firm AllDigiTrends. I liked the idea, and as we are very like-minded and nodded my head with the acceptance. 

Finally, that collaboration started and kept on rolling in many ways. Fortunately, it went well.

9. What inspired you to start your blog?

Though, There are a lot of inspirations, I love reading articles from many authors. I work full time in a Company and I love the job.

But, I always wanted to do something on my own. Something which is mine. Something on which I don’t have to rely on others. Something which gives me the freedom to work when I want. I realized blogging is something to start with and spread my wings later to another level.

How do you motivate yourself to keep the blog up and running?

I am a self-charged guy. I set my priorities in this busy world and deal with those. In my initial days, it was difficult to motivate myself as there was very less money coming in and I started freelancing writing too. I started getting paid but it was too stressful.

As time passes I learned new monetization methods, and that grown income has. When enough money comes in what you work for, that itself is motivation and keeps you charged. 

11. How much time do you spend blogging?

I spend at least 2 hours on my blogs and dedicate full time on weekends after looking out for my personal things. 

One needs to be more productive in less time with the same perfection. This time management is something which one could learn gradually.

One needs to set the priorities and make all things working. Life is all about it.

12. Would you encourage other people to make their blogs?

Absolutely, blogging is awesome. It can make you learn and earn a lot if you really wanna do it strategically.

It lets you connect with new people and create your brand. It will improve you as a professional. If one is good on any particular topic and can write about it, then why not, they should start a blog.

13. Can you name some of your favorite bloggers and explain why they are your favorites?

I love to read many articles. If I have to say few of the favorite ones, then Brian Dean Backlinko.com is first in the list. His blog is an ocean, you can also find in-depth SEO related articles there.

PatFlynn, second in the list. His Affiliate Marketing skills are just amazing. One could learn a lot from his articles on smartpassiveincome.com. I love to listen to his podcasts.

John Morrow from SmartBlogger.com. I like his writing style. Reading his articles can make anyone write better. An interesting article can do magic.

14. Cool tips for a newbie?

Have patience, don’t rush for money. It will come as the time passes on from your blog. Meanwhile, your blog grows, starts doing some freelancing works as well and invests that back on your blog. Your blog can be successful if you feed it according to its needs. 

So this was all about the interview with Navin Rao. Frankly, I enjoyed interviewing him and asking him questions and hope you’ll too like his points of view. There’s so much to learn from him.

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