Blogging is fun but what happens when it turns into a profession. Is it still fun or does content creation for a niche pose a challenge? The questions are endless and if you ask a passionate blogger, he/she would probably say that focus on the objective and the rest will follow. So to hear more on thoughts related to blogging and social media, I invited Raju PP, Founder and Chief Editor at TechPP for the latest episode of Conversations, an online video series with people who are changing the world of social media in India.
Raju has been an influential blogger in the tech space and has been blogging professionally since 2009. He was featured amongst the 151 top tech Indians by Exhibit Magazine in 2011. Recently, he was listed as one of the influential Indians in the field of technology on social media by HT Brunch Magazine.
Our talks touched upon quite a few areas involving blogging and social media. The video conversation shared below focuses on areas like:
Is content a challenge?
Once the introduction round was over, my first question was – Is content a challenge when you are blogging for a niche which is already crowded? Raju shares that their blog keeps away from news and they only share those news items that are going to be really useful for their readers. 75% of the content is non-news and provides scope for inputs to a lot of stories in the form of app reviews, editorials, etc.
How blogging has evolved?
Blogging has evolved with discussions more or less happening on social media channels rather than on the blog. Raju thinks it is kind of an issue but with the help of apps, he can track what all is being talked about his blog. So as long as he can monitor and keep a track on what is being talked about, he doesn’t see it as a big issue end of day.
How bloggers should treat social media?
Raju believes that social media is very much a give and take platform, one can try spamming links but it won’t help. He further adds that bloggers should give a reason why people should click a link and at the same time bloggers should give enough opportunity to converse with readers.
Talking more about how he uses social media, Raju says that along with tech, he also shares many other things such as current happenings in India and the world. Apart with sharing, creating a dialogue and helping people is a great way of building trust on social media.
How to deal with plagiarism?
A problem that every blogger must have faced more than once in his/her life time. Raju thinks that there is very little you can do about it and he personally is not very worried till the time the SEO of his blog is not affected. Getting in touch with the admin of the blog, filing a DMCA are some of the known and only way out for issues like plagiarism.
Blogging for only making money
Raju felt that he is not a person to advice someone but blogging only for making money is not an easy job. If one keeps the focus only on money then eventually it frustrates him as making money from blogging is tough. He also highlighted that blogging should not be considered as Internet Marketing since both are two different things. Having an objective of making only money is a very short term way of looking at it, Raju adds.
Things that he has learnt the hard way
Being lethargic is something Raju has learnt the hard way. He shares how some time back his focus had moved from blogging to social media and he was investing more time on social rather than his blog. But thankfully he realized it pretty soon that his readers want him to create amazing content. So, the message he has for all the bloggers is to be consistent and provide value to their reader’s time.
I had a few takeaways while conversing with Raju PP, hope you would also have some from the conversation. Do let us know your thoughts.
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