I have been reading and guest posting on a blog called Guide and News for about a month now and the guy behind the scenes, Ehsan Ullah, has been very friendly with me. I decided to interview him and he happily agreed to answer a few questions.
1. What inspired you to become a blogger and where did you learn about web hosting, WordPress, SEO, and other blogging information to have a successful website?
My domain is 2 years old, I registered it in June 2010, but it has been only 5 months since I’ve got serious into blogging and started working on my blog. I learned about blogging, WordPress, hosting, and SEO, etc in Karachi, Pakistan for almost two years. YES! I was in Karachi and I spent most of my life there than we moved to Kunduz, Afghanistan which is my homeland.
2. Being a teenager living in Afghanistan, do you feel you have any kind of advantage in the online world over other people your age?
I don’t think the place matters in online world, but being a teenager living in Afghanistan I think I have a lot of advantages over other people in online world. As of now I’m the top #1 blogger in Afghanistan and I hope one day I will be the top blogger of the world. Place doesn’t matter, anyone can do anything online from all around the world.
3. Describe the ideal GuideAndNews.com reader.
As I have a complete series on “Starting a Blog” for newbies in my blog and I have also written many guidance articles about SEO, WordPress, and affiliate marketing, etc, So the ideal readers of GuideAndNews.com are those who are new in industry and seeking information on how to start a blog or how to blog better, to improve their knowledge on SEO, Internet marketing and blogging and to improve their writing because writing for a blog is totally different than writing an essay.
4. What is your most effective way in profiting from your blog? Do you feel you should be making more money for the amount of work you put into writing?
For now my most effective way of profiting from my blog is Google Adsense, but soon I am planning to stop Adsense and start affiliate marketing when I complete some pending works on my blog like building an email list, completing the series of “Starting a Blog” which I’m running now and the step by step SEO series which I’m going to start soon.
5. What are some of the blogs you visit on a daily basis?
- Daily Blog Tips
- Social Triggers
- Basic Blog Tips
- The Sales Lion
- ITechcode (I have posted there once)
- Learn Blog Tips (I have posted there once)
- My Blogger Tricks
- ProBlogger
6. If you could choose one blogging tool that has greatly increased the success of Guide And News, what would it be?
If I could choose just one blogging tool, it would be CommentLuv plugin because it really increased the popularity, success and comments of my blog.
7. Please share some final tips on secret blogging techniques, tools, or websites that we may not know about.
I’m not sure if there’s still any blogging secret, just pieces of tired advice.
Don’t expect to get results overnight and don’t expect to get rich quick. Blogging is a long time process and needs time to grow. Don’t quit blogging after publishing 10 or 15 posts, stick with it in all cases than you will see amazing results.
Never hesitate to invest in your blog. If you want to run a serious blog start with necessary things and also invest in them if needed.
The knowledge of SEO and niche market is a must in blogging. Use social media as number one tool to promote your blog posts. Write for people and not for search engines. Try to build relationships with other bloggers in your niche by commenting on thier posts and also share it on your social profiles. Don’t care about money, just try to give value to your audience and share useful information with them.
Check out more from Ehsan at GuideAndNews.com!
Hi Ian,
One of my favorite blog is GuideAndNews. And I learned many things in this Interview.
Guide and News is great. He recently wrote an eBook too, so go check that out.
Already I have downloaded that eBook 🙂
nice interview. Ehsan is a good blogger and friend too. It;s good to read his interview. You are doing good in blogging you will soon get success
Thanks for stopping by, Guppu.
ehsan is a great blogger and he always help me everytime .i am thankful to him! and i love his blog
I’m glad Ehsan can help you!
I have met ehsan since a week and all i know about him is, he is a fantastic blogger. He has helped me with various stuff many a times and i am thankful to him! Keep up the good work
Ehsan is a great blogger. He’s also very helpful if you have any questions… He answers email fairly quickly.
Hi Ian Eberle,
Really inspirational interview. I Liked that and it would be inspirational for fellow bloggers.
Thanks for sharing this interview!
You’re welcome! Make sure you go and check out Ehsan’s site!
Hi Ian, am very much impressed to see this post such a nice informative post. And that tips information on daily assignment blog i.e :
Daily Blog Tips
Social Triggers
Basic Blog Tips
The Sales Lion
ITechcode (I have posted there once)
Learn Blog Tips (I have posted there once)
My Blogger Tricks
ProBlogger
Really all the above blogs are very executable things. Every one should know this. Am thankful to share this information.
Yeah, thanks for adding a few more good blogs to my list!
I have been following ehsan for quite some time.He achieved quite a success in short span of time.He is one of my inspiration.Thanks for the interview Ian.
I do agree that he has gotten a lot of success in just a short period of time. I think a lot of his advantages have to do with living in Afghanistan. He doesn’t have a lot of local competition, so he stands out in the blogging world.
Well Ian, I don’t know much about the whole country, but in Kunduz city there are few bloggers, but they don’t have much knowledge on blogging. I’m going to start a blogging course here soon.
Well yes, writing for a blog is different than writing an essay and agreed knowledge of SEO and niche market is must in blogging. Thanks Ian for this awesome and inspiring interview and best wishes to Ehsan 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and reading Ehsan’s interview. If he keeps it up, he could be a famous pro blogger.
Glade you agreed with my point, Thanks for your support Nizam. You’ve always been top commentator of my blog.
You are most welcome Bro 🙂
Thanks for the appreciation Shalu, I’ve also been reading your blog and improving knowledge on traveling to India from long time.
Yeah, As of now I’m the top blogger of Afghanistan.
Great interview of Ehsan. I have been frequenting his blog and he always has great advice about blogging, seo and other stuff. I am also glad that he comes to read mine as well which I am honoured (perhaps not on a daily basis). He must be the only blogger from Afghanistan, he’s a celebrity in his own right.
Yes, if Ehsan keeps up blogging, he could potentially be one of those people that makes close to $50,000 a month doing this.
Hey Ian,
I’ve never heard of Ehsan Ullah before, but he seems to know what he’s talking about. =D
==
Nah, Just kidding.
This insight into how your mind works is really great. I do particularly like the “Don’t expect to get results overnight and don’t expect to get rich quick.” this is a hard pill to swallow for bloggers but so important at the same time. I wish you many more interviews.
The only successful bloggers are ones who accept that rule and keep trying. Those who expect instant success never achieve it.
Hello Simmeon,
Thanks for your comment here bro. Those were old but gold tips which I’ve given there. There are a lot of people expecting results overnight, but It’s not good.
Hello Ehsan,
Quite interesting interview. I liked that you mentioned never hesitate to invest in your blog because if we want fruits then we have to invest our efforts and money to grow the tree more healthier. Same goes for blogging. 🙂
All the best.. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by! I try not invest money into my blog if I won’t make money back from the investment, but sometimes you don’t have a choice.
That was the message I was trying to explain there. We should not hesitate to invest on our blog even if you don’t make money from it.
Thanks for stopping by Romy.
Nice interface with Ehsan. I have seen his face a couple of times on some influential blogs. Hope to connect with him soon
He’s very friendly and easy to connect with… Give it a shot!
Hey Anstine,
I’m glade you enjoyed the interview. I would love to connect with you buddy. 🙂
Awesome interview Ian. I wonder if I can use your set of questions 😀 Im planning of doing this on my blog 😀 (kidding)
The same set of questions to ask Ehsan? I don’t think that will work very well 😛
Just kidding 🙂 My blog has been reviewed before but its not like this one 🙂
Hey Ehsan Thanks for Mentioning my Blog Name. Am really Glad that you liked it.
Thanks Ian for Hosting this Interview on your Blog.
I must Say Ehsan is a rising Star From Afganistan.
I want to share some advice here, If you want to start Email Marketting then you should start Building Email List from Day 1 Of Blog Launching.
Conversion is really to tough in blogging.
First Traffic to Subsriber then Subscriber to Sales.
So it will take time. Hope you all know PAT from SmartPassiveIncome. He did same mistake 🙂
Here is the Article Link : http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/email-list-strategies/
Thanks.
I have been wanting to start an email list, but I’m afraid that email is becoming obsolete and people may not care… What’s your advice?
Ian If you are thinking to start building email list then my suggestion will be stop thinking and start right now.
It will help you to grow your business and you can see the affect within 1 weeks.
Its really useful.
Thanks.
What WordPress plugins do you recommend? What’s the best way to go about making an email list?
Hey Amit,
Thank you very much for your suggestion and tips. You’re right everyone who wants to blog for long time and are serious in blogging, they should start building an email list from day one.
Yeah, I know Pat mentioned in his blog that building email list from day one is important, however I have read many articles from John Chow’s blog also where he was trying to clear the importance of email marketing.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment.
You Welcome Ehsan. Best Of Luck.
It’s really nice to read my blog’s giveaway winner’s interview here.
It’s also really nice to have such a nice community of bloggers in the comments… Thanks for stopping by!
Hey Irfan, thanks for stopping by and reading the interview here.
Hey Ian, Thanks for the interview.
That was nice to answer your questions here.
You’re very welcome… I wish you the best of luck in your blogging adventure!
Great interview and i love what ehsan shares with us , really love to go back to his blog to refer 😉
Cheers!
Yes, Ehsan does share some amazing content with us!