Interview with Debajyoti Das | snaphow.com

Debajyoti Das, from Kolkata is a tech blogger and a B.Tech student and he runs snaphow.com which focuses on publishing user friendly PC guides and tutorials which appeals to regular internet users and non-geeks. Debajyoti Das was very kindfull to give an interview to dotgiri.com.

Question : How you first got involved in with blogging and when?

I got my internet connection in my 1st yr at college. I joined orkut. After few months I became excited with the various communities esp. the help groups and started participating into tech discussions etc. After sometime I was getting a bit bored with answering the same questions over and over again. So I decided to write it down somewhere. I saw people using blogspot as their medium so I started with that… Then by the end of 2008 I started my own blogspot blog at “realtrix” and then shifted to wordpress on May 2009 with a new domain www.snaphow.com

Question : Are you a full time blogger? How did you get into blogging ?

I am still a student. I am not sure whether I want to pursue it as a career. But It will always be my primary objective to write daily for my site.

Question : Are you involved in social networking , if so which are the important networks which you think that should not be missed by any other bloggers.

I have joined facebook in the last year and since then I have noticed that facebook is exactly the platform bloggers, writers etc need to stay aware as well as connect with “like minded” people. One can surely find lot of friends on facebook and easily connect, share ideas and collaborate there which I don’t think is possible in any other SNS platform.

Question : What blog(s) do you own? , can you give a simple description for those (if it is not kept secret).

My site is www.snaphow.com , I have always tried NOT to make it into a tech site and fill it up with software reviews and rehashed content for building traffic. I am trying my best to provide useful tips to those who are not very well versed in computing, but should be because there are so many useful uses of internet apps, desktop tools to enhance a pc user’s productivity. The main focus will always be to promote awareness about these wonderful applications and tools, hacks which many users esp. in our country don’t know about.

Question : Are there any other blogs you regularly contribute to?

No

Question : What blogs or individuals inspired you most when you were first starting out – did you have any role models? Any blogger heroes?

Obviously, Amit Agarwal of Labnol. I am inspired to see his quality of articles he publishes on Di. I am also deeply motivated by Shah Rukh Khan’s ideas and philosophies about life.

Question : Do you use any tools (free or paid) for link building activities, if so which one do you suggest?

No, I am really weak in SEO knowledge.

Question : What do you find most challenging about blogging?

Coming up with posts ideas esp. when you have a urge to only write useful, cool tips as well as simple so that people can understand it. then it becomes hard. So sometimes I have to resort to rehashing some well written post from a popular blog.

Question : How do you keep coming up with material/content for your blog?

Back in blogspot when I first got my adsense account I tried to to target keywords to get more traffic. But after my blog host crashed, i had to start from scratch. I realised then, that providing value and quality to visitor should be the main objective of any website. Now, I focus on tips, tutorials which people ask in comments or on facebook or I think can be useful to my friends or readers.

Question : Follow up question # If you are a makeuseof.com visitor do you wonder how they get these much of free tools to review and what is the source ?

Makeuseof has more than 30 writers and huge traffic + readership. App. developers themselves come forward to submit their free tools, tips etc to get featured, reviewed by popular sites like MakeUseOf, TechCrunch, Lifehacker. Also these sites have huge pool of talented writers working for them, who also gather resources, information 24×7.

Question : What are your monetising methods (like adsense, inlinks, private advertisement,sponsored reviews)

I use Adsense and Infolinks.

Question : If you are starting a new blog which would be your next niche ?

No, I will stick to publishing articles on my current site.

Question : Do you think Pagerank plays a vital role in a blog’s life, what is your PR?

No. Google’s algorithms ranks content based on quality content and the how visible it is in terms of links, no. of times it has been shared on social networks etc. Domain Page rank doesn’t play any role at all in the ranking of a new page/post.

Question : What is your take on sponsored reviews?

After watching lot of videos from the Google Webmasters I have learned that paid links in content can be easily be detected. I am not sure how they do that. But I try hard and avoid the temptation of a sponsored post.

Question : Any tips for new bloggers ?

I am not an expert at my field. Neither do I have the list of achievements. But I will be happy to share experiences and knowledge I have gathered in the past year if someone asks of it.

Tags: blogging, Blogging Tips, interview