I recently interviewed Mr. Santanu Debnath from BloggingJoy.com,
one of the brilliant names in the field of blogging. Whenever I am in need of some tips regarding WordPress or blogging, I always visit his blog or the Facebook Group on which he is super active.

On BloggingJoy.com he shares WordPress tutorials and other blogging related useful guides to help co-Bloggers and newbies in the blogging world.

Below are some questions which I asked Santanu for which he answered very beautifully.

So here the interview goes:

1. First of all, please share a bit about yourself.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell a few words about myself. I am Santanu Debnath, a passionate blogger. Blogging is the best way I found to spread the love with others.
I share useful guides & WordPress tutorials to help bloggers to build a better blog on my blog BloggingJOY.com. I also run a small Facebook group with the help of a few good friends to help & motivate bloggers to stick to blogging.
I have seen only a few bloggers ride the ladder of success when the majority of people get disappeared in the first 6 months. So, I am always trying to encourage bloggers to be consistent and continue the blogging journey.

2. When were you first introduced to the blogging and idea of making money online and how?

I started exploring money making opportunities back in 2007. At that time I was not aware of blogging. I was simply trying different methods like data entry jobs, paid to click emails, etc. But I ended up getting into scams.
During this process somehow I came to know about Google AdSense. And from that, I have started reading more & more. At that time I came across MBT or MyBloggerTricks and created my first blog on blogger.com. Back in 2009, I & Manidipa started a recipe website on Google Blogger platform. We started loving sharing new recipes on that website. But that didn’t work for long. Gradually we learned many things and launched our first website on WordPress, MyDailyLifeTips.com on 2012.

3. How would you compare making money through blogging with conventional ways of having a job?

Well, making money completely depends upon your skill-set. Whether you are in a job or doing physical business or online business, you have to know what are the skills you need to make a good amount of money.
Anyway, you can’t compare which one is best. If you find it enjoyable, it is the best way for you to make money.
Many people think that online business is good as you will get enough freedom to control life. But I have seen people got frustrated working alone or working from home.
Similarly, there are people who can’t even stick to home or in a shop. As they love to do the moving job or something different to make money. But my theory of online money making is that you must explore the options if you have passion towards this. As this can be a very good passive income way for you besides your regular job.

4. What was the mistake you made in your initial days which you would suggest newcomers shouldn’t do?

I would say, I did many mistakes as a beginner and even after continuing for years. As a beginner, it is very natural. But if you want to learn from mistakes, then here are a few of them I would like to stress on.
• I have not invested in paid tools or themes for a long time. There are free themes available which are good. But the problem with the free theme is that you will not be able to stick to your design. And changing the theme will cost your website SEO.
• I did never network with other fellow bloggers and didn’t try to help them in any form. Networking is not only for building backlink, but to get a good surrounding of like-minded people to keep the motivation for blogging intact.
• I never tried to understand what the audience is looking to read from my blog. For me, it was simply finding keywords and publishing content.
The most important thing is that people think blogging is very easy. But they never realize that you have to build the necessary skill-set to run your blog.

5. When did you make your first dollar online and how? How long did it take?

Like most bloggers, I made my first dollar using Google AdSense only. But it took 1-2 years of time to reach the $100. AdSense need enough traffic, and I wasn’t knowing much about how to get traffic to my blog.
I learned them gradually and then I was able to make $300-$400 every month for a few years. I think this is a very good amount as an extra income. But later on, I have realized the power of affiliate marketing. One can do wonders in affiliate marketing even with very low traffic.

6. What are all the tools that you use regularly to write and/or promote content and your online businesses?

I am using a lot of free tools to do everyday research. E.g. Ubersuggest, SmallSEOTools and many such free tools. But I also use premium tools to give my blog the necessary look and features.
• I have designed my blog pages using Thrive Architect
• For email leads, I use Thrive Leads
• For social sharing buttons, I use SocialSnap Pro (best Social Warfare alternative)
• My blog is designed on GeneratePress Premium
For promotion purpose, I also run Facebook Ads. Although I am learning by doing some experiments.

7. What are the websites/people you follow to keep yourself updated?

I am a regular reader of many top SEO blogs. Besides that, I keep a track of my competitors and upcoming bloggers & marketers in this niche to stay updated with the latest trends.

8. You are quite the established name in the industry now which is awesome. Could you please share a bit about your journey from the ground to such stardom?

Ha ha, thanks a lot for this recognition. I am glad that you are finding me popular. But this industry is huge and I am just trying to build my small community. And stardom is a very heavy word to define that, but thanks.
As I said, I did never network with people or tried to reach people to ask whether they need any help or not. That’s what I am doing after starting my Facebook Group.
With time, people have started noticing my efforts and helping nature. And gradually they have started supporting me and together we are now a very good community of awesome bloggers who are ready to help anyone.
I am happy that finally, I am able to be a part of such an awesome cause. Helping someone is the toughest thing in the world, as we always think that we are not yet ready to help others. But that’s where I was wrong for so many years. I never realized that people will be interested to know about my silent passive blogging career and find many inspirational & motivational moments. I am happy that my life & experiences are worth motivating someone.

9. What is your favorite link building strategy?

Without any doubt, it’s blog commenting. I love to comment on different blogs and it is one thing that I always enjoy. This way you can also connect with the blogger.
Besides that, guest posting in relevant blogs works best so far. But from last few months, some wonders are happening with me.
• I have started getting mentions form different blogs.
• People like you are inviting me to feature in their interview columns
• I got invitations to be a part of Expert Round-ups
• I contributed testimonials and got a backlink from that website

10. Like every business, blogging career can also face a downtime. What kept you motivated when things weren’t right for you?

Yes, you are right. As I am a part-time blogger I have experimented a lot. I have created many websites without any plan & focus and I have lost them with time.
There were also such phases in life when I was not able to blog for months and at the same time no money came from blogging. But this didn’t impact on my life as I am not living on my blogging income.
But my passion and continuous hunger for doing something in blogging kept me on this hunt. I always read the stories of successful bloggers, their income reports to stay motivated. I always knew that I have to plan something solid and then execute this. But due to a part-time blogger mentality, I was never able to make it happen. But as soon as I started my Facebook group back in December 2018, I found my motive and so far able to work consistently on that.

11. Please share any advice/tip/lesson with our readers who wants to get online and make money.

This is the age when everyone has a blog. If not, then they will create a blog for sure. But this is not enough. If you don’t know why you have the blog, what is the true potential of blogging then you are going to quit blogging in near future.
Majority of the bloggers, mainly young people fail in their first 6-9 months. Even though they make quick money, they are not able to continue this as blogging needs huge patience, consistency to create value for readers. And one has to do it continuously. My only tip would be to focus on helping readers by producing useful content or answer though blog post. There are various ways to make money from a blog. You can easily capitalize them as soon as your blog is established.

Ending Words

I hope the readers will find my answers helpful and learn a few things from my experiences. If you have further questions or want to connect with me, then please Join my FB group and ask me whatever is in your mind. I am always ready to help you out to become a better blogger.

I hope you guys learn allot from these words by Santanu.

For further details about him and his career you can visit his website Blogging Joy.

You will also like this post: Interview with Janice Wald from MostlyBlogging

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