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Another interview with another professional Blogger. Last time I was lucky to interview Blogger Noob. Now it's time to interview another pro. You've probably been to the site many times and you may even be a part time reader or even a full time subscriber. What site am I talking about? Rockfuse. That's right. I got the lucky chance to interview the owner of Rockfuse.
Today, Video Blogging Tips will be asking Nadeesha (the owner of Rockfuse) how he came up with the design he did, some questions about the traffic he receives, the subscribers, the amount of money he makes online, and finally, any final advice he may have to help us learn more about the actions we should take to become a successful Blogger.
Rockfuse General Information
Site Birthday - August 23rd, 2007
Site Page Rank - 3/10
Sites Alexa Rank - 81,386
Rockfuse Blog Design Questions
VideoBloggingTips
Your blogs design is truly unique to any other design that I have ever seen mainly because of your banner. With that being said, how did you come up with the Rockfuse design, and what programs did you use to create it?
RockFuse
Thank You. The design evolved from humble beginnings so to speak. I do professional web/graphic design so I guess this is one instance where it really came in handy. Basically, everything was done with Photoshop as I find it as the ultimate tool to produce web graphics and optimize them.VideoBloggingTips
I love the design of Rockfuse and I wouldn't have it any other way. I believe that a lot of teens and young adults likely find your blog very appealing. However, the blog design you've chosen to use may serve as a distraction to the older generation of Bloggers. Are you trying to target a younger audience at Rockfuse?
RockFuse
Well, I am not trying to target an age group necessarily. But most of the people interested in my niche are young adults so I guess it serves them well. I heavily rely on Web 2.0 element in my designs and in the ROCKFUSE design, I wanted to do a flashy header - being as convincing as I could about the blog's authenticity. And I would understand if a couple of people who value simplicity get put off by the design. Then again, you can't satisfy everyone, can you?SEO and Keyword Questions
VideoBloggingTips
What do you find to be the biggest player in ranking highly in terms of SERP's? Do you believe that content is king, or do you believe that links are king? Do you find them equally important?
RockFuse
Speaking from my experience, and strictly speaking only about ranking for a keyword, links are the most important thing. Why would I say that? Let's just say that there are "ways" you can make any poorly content-constructed page rank really well in SEs if you can get enough links back.VideoBloggingTips
What keywords do you rank highly for in terms of being found the most for in Google SERP's? Do you have a sitewide keyword or keyword phrase you rank highly for, or do only get views from search engines deeper within your site?
RockFuse
I am ever-experimenting with SE rankings for my blogs. It's like playing chess. Since you asked, I will give you a couple of keywords that I rank high for. "Blog Headers" and "Free Blog Headers". I have been working on these for sometime. There are half a dozen of other keywords that I'm targeting, but I'd be more comfortable if I keep them to myself :)VideoBloggingTips
According to Yahoo, your site only has about 630 inlinks. This is kind of a surprise to me. With your Alexa rating and page rank being as high as they are, I though that you would've had more inlinks. Why do you think that your inlinks are relatively low? Have you been trying to increase the number of links to your site, or do you simply let people link to you on their own?
RockFuse
Well, this is because some people link to me with the address http://www.rockfuse.com and some do with http://www.rockfuse.com/blog. If you check the inlinks for http://www.rockfuse.com/blog, you'll find that there are more than 4300 inlinks.Traffic Questions
VideoBloggingTips
Rockfuse has a pretty high alexa rating. I mean, it's under 100,000 and that is pretty good. With that being said, how many unique page views and total impressions does your site have everyday?
RockFuse
I now average with more than 300 uniques and 400-500 Page Views per day. Nevertheless, I should say that Alexa Rank is a bit out there. And if I'm correct, with my latest SEO efforts, it should double at the end of the next month.
VideoBloggingTips
Like I said before, your sites design is unique to any other blog on the web. Do you think that this plays a factor in the amount of returning visitors you have and maybe even the overall bounce rate of your site? PS: How many returning visitors do you have daily and what is your bounce rate?
RockFuse
Well, certainly. It must have helped in some way. But not in a very large way. I haven't seen my bounce rate go down because of a site redesign. My bounce rate is pretty high - 80%+ usually. And I get around 83% new visitors daily. Which means I have 17% of returning visitors. My main objective is to convert new visitors into subscribers so I'm pretty happy with just 17% of 300.Money Making Questions
VideoBloggingTips
How much money do you make online each month and where does the majority of this income come from? Paid Plugs, paid reviews, private sponsorships, or affiliate programs?
Rockfuse
Well, from ROCKFUSE only, it's usually about $300-$500 per month. Majority of these earnings come from affiliate programs. As a policy, I do not promote a product as an affiliate if I haven't tried it myself. And I'm surprised at the number of bloggers who do not use affiliate programs to make money from their blogs effectively. Of course, my favorite affiliate network is Pepperjam.VideoBloggingTips
Is their a program in particular that you have great success with when it comes to consistently and successfully bringing in a consistent income?
RockFuse
As I said, it's Pepperjam from affiliate networks. And in my niche blogs, AdSense does a pretty good job too.Any Advice?
VideoBloggingTips
Do you have anything else that you would like to add to this interview when it comes to people who are pursuing a blogging dream? What do you think is the number one thing that professional blog dreamers can do to be successful?
RockFuse
If you have already started a blog, then the two most important things I can tell you are -
1. Never give up! As a great man once quoted "Brick walls are there to keep other people out. The people who do not want the success that you yearn for".
2. Treat your readers like your own family. Build relationships and engage with them. Overtime, you will not regret that.
If you are going to start a blog, the two most important things I can tell you are -
1. There's no money in the Make Money Online niche. The market is really really competitive that it's really hard to make a buck for the beginner.
2. Don't blog about something unless you are passionate about it. If you can't find something that you're passionate about, blog about your life. You can make money, blogging from any niche that you desire, as long as you enjoy it.
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