A WordPress enthusiast, developer, blogger from India, Mr. Devesh Sharma has shared with us his experiences from over a decade long stint with the platform.
Read on to find out more about how what started as a side hustle for him at 15, transformed into a full-time business, and a successful WordPress knowledge base – WPKube.
Over to you, Devesh!
#1 Tell us a little about yourself and how you started your WordPress journey.
I was 15 when I started building websites and also dabbled into other technical work. Eventually, I launched an online marketing blog to promote these services.
All of this helped me learn more about WordPress and that led to the launch of WPKube, where you can find detailed guides like What is WordPress and plugin comparisons like best WordPress landing page plugins.
#2 You have been successful in your business at such a young age. What advice would you give young minds who want to build a business like you?
Thank you. I’m very fortunate to have been able to start a business at the age that I did. Starting early has definitely paid off over the last few years.
I’d say focus on one thing and stick with it.
Things truly started to change when I decided to focus on growing one business, instead of venturing off into several others.
#3 Could you share any 1 great experience and 1 bad experience you have had in the industry?
One of the best experiences I remember having is from when I first started blogging.
I didn’t have the money to renew the domain & hosting, and a random guy on the Internet helped me with it.
Things would’ve been very different if he hadn’t helped me out that day.
I don’t think I’ve had many bad experiences except for maybe one. I hired a writer, only to realize that all of his posts were copied!
#4 What were the biggest turning points in your life, according to you, that you can attribute your success to?
The biggest turning point was when I hired people, instead of trying to do all the work myself. I hired writers who were better at creating content than I was.
Over the years I have learned that you need people to grow.
You can’t do everything yourself. Now I try to focus mostly on managing the sites and coming up with new ideas.
#5 How do you make decisions about what you want to blog about and what kind of relationships you want to build?
In the beginning, I was mostly scanning through twitter & other WordPress communities but over the last few years, I have started to take a bit more analytical approach to see what kind of posts are performing well and what kind of content our audience wants.
We also tend to focus more on long-tail keywords or the kind of articles that will attract links.
#6 What strategies do you find most effective when it comes to driving traffic to your blog?
The first thing you need to do is to make sure you have a proper content strategy in place. This will play a huge role in how quickly your blog grows.
Once you have a proper content strategy in place, start by building connections with influencers in your industry. The simplest way is to mention influencers in your blog posts and reach out to them via email / social media. Don’t ask them to share the content; if you have a really good article, most people will share them on social media automatically.
Another strategy is to focus on creating research guides or reports. This will require some money, as you’d need to collect your findings and put them together in a report. But if done properly, it can help you attract links from authority sites.
You can also drive traffic by creating free resources in your niche. For example, since I own a design blog, I am offering free icon sets where people can subscribe to download the icon set. This not only helps get more traffic but also helps get new subscribers.
If you are willing to pay, you can also try sites like Zest & Quuu Promote, both of which will help you get social media shares from experts in your niche. I used it for this post and ended up getting 200+ shares.
#7 I believe you work remotely. Could you share some tips for people who are working from home now due to the pandemic?
Yes, I’ve been working remotely and I am currently in Indonesia. Remote working can work out well if you’re disciplined.
It’s easy to get carried away if you are working remotely and don’t manage to focus on the important tasks.
One of the things I try to do now is to focus on important tasks in the morning and then emails and the rest of the work.
Another useful thing is setting up an office in another area of your house (or work from a co-working space or a café), instead of a bedroom.
Thanks, Devesh, for your wonderful words and candid insights into your WordPress journey. We certainly agree with you – the best way to grow is to grow with your team! For those of you who’d like to check out all the in-depth guides and amazing WordPress resources that Devesh and his team have created, you can head on over to WPKube or connect with Devesh on Twitter.
