Davinder Singh did his B.C.A. and later M.B.A. in Finance. A tech blogger from the lovely city of Mohali, which is mostly known for the cricket matches being played. He has been into blogging since his college days. He blogs at Techno Life @ tothepc – http://www.tothepc.com.
He says “After 2 years of fun, learning and working on job, it was time to say goodbye to fixed working routine and HELLO to world of blogging. It is still difficult to make people understand “Who is a blogger?” Anyway, I am one!!!”
Read on the interesting interview Speakbindas had with him.
Speakbindas: Hello Davinder, welcome to Speakbindas.com. Tell us more about you, where you from, how old you are and since when you’re into blogging?
Davinder: I was born and brought up in Chandigarh. Currently, I live in Mohali, Punjab (Mohali to Chandigarh – 10 mins drive). I am 26yrs old and have been into blogging for long time (maybe 5-6 yrs). I am blogging since my college days which has now become profession from hobby. Besides blogging, I love playing around in Photoshop and designing logos, themes etc.
Speakbindas: Tell us about the blog you run, tothepc.com. When was it initiated and where it stands today? Which topics you cover at tothepc.com?
Davinder: Technically, tothepc is about 3 yrs old but I started serious blogging only 1.5yrs back. It has good ranking with PR4 and 37800 Alexa rank. It covers tech news, software reviews, online tools and juice from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft (list is never ending!).
Speakbindas: From the ‘About’ page on your blog, we understand that you have said ‘goodbye to fixed working routine’, which is in other words, you have quit a 10 to 6 job. Was it easy for you take this decision, as you also said that, in India, yet the awareness is to come about a blogger as a full time profession?
Davinder: Yeah, I worked as Technical Expert at MNC for 2+ yrs and then said goodbye. It was real easy as my parents were behind me (love them), even though they and others around me still don’t understand what I do – fellow bloggers will second me on that!
Speakbindas: Is it you alone or have associated writers too who write for tothepc.com?
Davinder: As of now. Tothepc is a single author blog.
Speakbindas: What made you chose this catchy domain, tothepc.com?
Davinder: Yeah… tothepc for sure is catchy domain name. I was searching for a cool name for few months trying again and again at different domain name suggestion tools. Finally, stuck gold (diamond?) with tothepc. FYI, I used domain suggestion tool at manashosting.info and domainsbot.com for this gold rush.
Speakbindas: How much hard work it takes for you to run tothepc.com with regularly updated resources, tips and tricks articles?
Davinder: There are so many people who think sitting in front of computer and typing some stuff is easy. Mind you this is NOT easy. I follow strict schedule for writing articles, when its time to work then it has to be work. Initially it was hard to get topics to write on but now its easy (experience counts!).
Speakbindas: Now that we know, you are a full time blogger, would you like to share with us how much revenue the blog is generating for you?
Davinder: Ummm… that’s a googly! Anyway, I make enough to be a full time blogger and live life in style. Google Adsense rocks and I am also exploring other ways to earn beside advertisements.
Speakbindas: What are the prime traffic driving forces to tothepc.com?
Davinder: I prefer organic traffic from search engines. 86% of traffic comes from search engines with Google leading the way with over 90% of total search traffic. Frankly, traffic from social sites like Stumble, Digg is useless (sorry, if that hurts!) if you aim to earn from Adsense. More indirect traffic = low Adsense ecpm = Low earnings!
Speakbindas: What do you do when you are not blogging?
Davinder: Photoshop and web designing is my playground if I am working on computer and not blogging. There are lot of other things as well, keep guessing!
Speakbindas: Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who has no awareness about a full time blogger, by explaining him / her about the same? Succeeded or failed?!!
Davinder: HAHA, explaining terms like blogging, blogger, to a person who knows how to surf internet, google etc is a HUGE task. Forget about explaining this to a person who doesn’t know internet.
I try a lot and end up saying “I make websites, I design them”. Yeah, that makes sense –atleast to some people if not all. Saying ‘Your are a full time blogger’ results in overhead transmission for 90% people making NO sense at all – this is life, move on!
Speakbindas: Are you a movie buff? Which are your favorites?
Davinder: Yeah, last movie I watched was Fast and Furious 4 – it was cool!
Speakbindas: Which dishes make your tongue lusty? Any dislikes?
Davinder: I am foodie and eat any veg / non-veg dish. Bring them on, as such I love Curry and roasted chicken (yum, yum)!
Speakbindas: Would you like to share some suggestions, advises and tips to those bloggers who are new to blogging?
Davinder: Many people enter blogging to earn money. This is NOT bad but you need to keep perspective intact. For example, don’t expect to earn on first day, week, fortnight and month. If you are serious and writing good stuff, expect money follow in 5-6 months. Have patience guys!
Besides the money aspect, blog about things you like. If you like gadgets write about them, don’t follow the trend of tech aka google, Microsoft, tech news type blogging – so. choose blog topic wisely. For starters, blogger platform is awesome (even I started with Blogger). If you have some money to invest say (2k-5k), get a self hosted WordPress blog.
Speakbindas: Any special message you would like to share with tothepc.com fans and readers?
Davinder: Thanks for appreciating stuff I write on tothepc – kickbacks are also welcomed 😀 – I tweet @ www.twitter.com/tothepc
Great interview… Keep rocking with your awesome blog!
Davinder is a very nice guy who is always their to help. I bug him a lot with silly doubts..
He is talented and a good inspiration. One thing I like in Davinder is that he is a Smart Worker
Nice interview…
Davinder is good friend of mine. His articles are creative and once you read it. Definitely, you will visit tothepc again. He is also good Logo Maker 🙂
Have seen his blog and it looks pretty solid. Good luck Davinder and have a great blogging future..
@ technoi, PC, Shodan, Rockstar Sid
Guys many thanks for nice words 😀
I came to know about Davinder Singh few months before. One of my friend told me about him. I love your blog Davinder. All the best for the future.