Interview With DiTesco From iBlogzone.Com

An interview is always interesting because we can learn so many things from others. Learning from other experience makes we a better person, and from this interview I hope we can be a better blogger. This time I bring you my good friend, a nice person and helpful blogger from iBlogZone.com. A great blog that blogger should follow. Here another interview from my dear friend DiTesco, enjoy your reads and share your opinion.

1. Please introduce yourself. Where are you from, your daily activities, etc.

My real name is Francisco Perez (aka DiTesco). Proud father of two wonderful kids, I was born in the Philippines, raised in Brazil, lived in the USA and Portugal and now in between Europe and Brazil J. I had my share of travel (primarily on business) and I am fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish and a little bit of French too:)

I have a degree in Business Administration and have been a management consultant for the past 6 years. Aside from managing my own company of Business and Management Consulting, one of my daily activities which I started about a year and a half ago is blogging.

2. Please tell us a story behind your blog, how you choosed the blog name?

My blog, started as an online business adventure. I knew right there and there that the motivation for blogging was for online business purposes. Despite this, I did not want it to be purely business so I tried to find a way to balance it with some personal aspects. Bingo, online business by sharing my personal experiences and opinions. While this is the case, it is obviously easier said than done.

As for my blog name, that took way too much of trial and errors. I was not sure which to choose and after a long, long time, I finally settled with Home Based Business Resources.

3. What is your Blogging Goal?

It continues to be as what I have set in the beginning. To provide information and resources to anyone who wishes to embark on the journey to setting up a Home Based Business. I also would like to further increase my readers’ base and to continue on building relationships. These pretty much sums it up.

4. Did  you planned your blog? The articles, how many post a week? Something like that.

There were two things that I had in mind when I took my first steps towards blogging. First, was more of a challenge. I wanted to know and prove to myself if it was possible to make a difference and succeed online. Second, and this really did not take long to decide, was how to achieve the first goal I did what I constantly recommend in most of the ideas, tips and information I share with my readers, and that is, I acted on every single thing I learned.

As far as posting frequency and all that, no, I have not planned anything at all. When I had something in mind I will simply research that idea, research some more and with my own words, I would write a blog posts. I rather post fewer articles than can be useful than several that are nothing but sheer crap.

5. Do you believe Niche Blog is better? Why?

Depends on what your goal is. If you are in it for the business, then maybe you should be in a specific niche. There are however some bloggers who seem to manage not being in a specific niche and choose to be on a broader side. For example, my blog is “broad” in my opinion as I write about several topics that are related to building an online business and making money online. If I wanted it to be in a specific niche, maybe I would have just blogged about SEO and nothing else. I don’t think it is better nor worst, you just have to know what your objectives are.

6. Do you make money from your blog? Few felllow bloggers blogging for money and they get frustrated becuase they can’t make any money. Any advice?

Yes, I do earn a decent amount of income with affiliate marketing, AdSense, selling ads spaces and offering online services. You have to remember though that it is not easy and it takes a lot of time and effort to earn a decent amount of money. Some do not make any money because they do not focus on anything. They will slap their blogs with ads all over the place and will mix unrelated products or services. They don’t work on their SEO, they don’t write quality content, etc.

Only advice I can give at this time is to read blogs that have authority about the subject matter and take action on them. Build relationships and gain your readers trust. Without credibility you are not going to succeed. Be patient and do not quit so early. Try only a few monetization schemes and move on to the next once you are comfortable. Good luck!

7. Do you have an article on Google SERPs, its natural or with SEO? If its with SEO, what is the important factor that we must consider when created an article?

I have a lot of articles and keywords that are occupying the first page on Google’s SERPs. Among those articles I can say that two or three are probably “natural” and the others are definitely with SEO.

The most important factor that one should consider when writing an article is first and foremost for its users and then optimized for search engines. I would focus on “title tags”, “meta descriptions”, “alt” tags and some good related keywords within the body of the post. All in all, the most important ranking factor in my view is Keyword optimization.

8. Do you agree blogging is dead?

If it is dead then what in the world are millions and millions of people doing writing articles every day?  Of course if you are talking about the traditional blogging, then I pretty much that it is dead. No one wants to know about your personal ramblings, unless of course it is your family or friends. For that purpose you should set up a personal blog. For short, no, I don’t think that blogging is dead.

9. What do you think about SEO and Social Media, can they work together to help our blog? How?

SEO is a must for any blogger, period. What good is a blog with awesome articles if it is not found? SEO is extremely important especially for blog monetization or online business. Without it, I am of the opinion that you will not succeed in the long run. Obviously if you are an A-Lister, then you should not worry about SEO.

Now, if you are not into SEO, then another option is by using Social Media to promote your blog. Twitter, FaceBook and others are excellent sources for information, building relationship and if done properly, traffic sources.

The two combined is power and they definitely work together.

10. How blogger should dealing with Social Media? Few of my friends said Social Media just wasting time.

Let us put it this way. A blog is a communication platform and in a way is also a form of socializing. Getting your word out, providing your opinion, etc. Isn’t this also a Social Media? As I have said previously, you should build your reputation and gain credibility and socializing is one of the best forms to obtain this.

Now, I agree that if you are on all Social Media sites that it can be a waste of time. There is no way you can be active in every single one of them. You should only pick a couple and be active, by interacting, exchanging information, helping other people, etc.

11. How do you promote your blog? Are you created a promotion plan?

The only forms of promotion I have used up until today is by using the power of socializing (includes Twitter, FaceBook and BlogCatalog), commenting on other people’s blog, guest posting and SEO. No plan required for this. The only plan is that you do it J

12. What is your main traffic source?

Based on my latest analytics. It is something like this. Organic (search engines) – 57%, Direct Traffic – 22% and Referring Sites – 21%. For the referring sites, in this order: Twitter, MMOSocialNetwork, Hootsuite, StumbleUpon, BlogCatalog and BlogEngage.

13. Any blogging tips for beginner? The most important things beginners should consider about before start their blogging journey.

Determine upfront what you are going to blog about. Yes, you need a plan, i.e, topic or niche, especially if you are thinking on building a small online business. If you are thinking of blogging just for fun, do not worry too much about SEO and those other things. Build your readership by interacting, socializing and respecting other people’s views and opinions. If it is a small business you are looking for, aside from determining your niche upfront, provide good content and value for your potential audience. Learn the ropes on basic html, internet marketing, and SEO. And finally, TAKE ACTION. Act upon everything you learn and put it in motion. I will try, I will do are not actions, and they will take you nowhere, trust me. There is much information out there that teaches you how to do things. Everything else is up to you.

14. Any tips for making money online? With or with out blog?

You will have to visit my blog for this as this is what my blog is all about. There are tons of tips over there to make money online, with or without a blog, lol

15. Any SEO Tips for my beginners Friend?

The best way to get started on SEO is to read materials that are provided by a credible and reliable source. I will take advantage of this one and direct you straight to the best SEO Tips for beginners. Read and download the following: Google Releases Best SEO Tips Ever and Google’s SEO Starter Guide

16. Is it important for blogger being active in a community?

No doubt.

17. Any favorite blogger? How come?

Honestly, I have a lot of admiration for a lot of bloggers and I really do not feel comfortable naming only one as I think it is not fair to say that I have a favorite blogger. I have a community of friends that are awesome and would recommend them all without hesitation. Those are the P50 Allied Bloggers.

18. Any suggestion a blogger for interview?

I would recommend Hesham of FamousBloggers. I am not sure if he will have the time but I am sure that your readers will enjoy what he has to say. The man rocks

19. Any hobby or something not related with blog you want to share? Favorite Band, Movie or something?

Nothing in particular that I can think of right now. I do love to play Golf and spending quality time with my kids J

20. Can we find you on Facebook and Twitter?

It would be an irony if I said that you won’t right, lol. Just kidding. Yes, I am on Twitter and FaceBook and go by the name of DiTesco.

Thanks Latief for this opportunity. I hope that I can reciprocate your kindness one of these days.