About

Welcome to Bloggermode!

Hello,

My name is Yudhistra Verma aka Yudi and I run this blog.

Bloggermode covers three topics:

• WordPress
• Blogging
• Content Marketing

This blog started in July 2016.

Yes, you didn’t find much content given the time it has been up.

It’s because I am a master procrastinator.

But in the process of change.

Before I get to what I have planned, for now, let me tell you what I have been doing online in the past years.

In 2013, after I graduated, I started looking for jobs.

While searching, I got to know about internet marketing.

And started reading the blogs of Neil Patel, SourceWave, Viperchill, and Affilorama.

I got hooked on these blogs.

It was fascinating to know how people were making money online.

Then in Jan 2014, I got a job in an IT company but my interest grew in SEO and affiliate marketing.

Following that interest I bought my first domain name, scitechweb.com in April 2014.

I had an interest in science, new technologies, and web applications so I landed up with that name.

I bought it from GoDaddy Auctions for $200 because I read that starting with an older domain was good for SEO as it ranks fast.

And I am a witness to this fact.

It did rank fast and even above big news sites.

Note: It is also needed for an expired domain to have a good profile of backlinks, high domain authority, and no spam. But I did not check these metrics. Later when I got to know and checked my domain, it was a relief to know that I didn’t waste money and got a good deal.

Even with all its great metrics, this site was a failure.

Because I didn’t know what I was doing.

I copied other websites’ content word to word even the images but I did give credit (as if it was all good).

Once, I remember, I copied a blog post from computerworld.com and ranked above for the same.

I even got a comment addressing me as the author and complementing for the great blog post.

It was then I realized what I was doing was wrong.

And deleted all the blog posts.

I still have the domain but never built anything after that.

Takeaway:

I bought this domain in excitement for the passion I have for science, technology, and the web.

But that doesn’t translate to actually building a website, typing blog posts (in this case, I needed to hire at least 5 content writers who knew their respective subject matter as this was kind of a news site), promoting them, etc.

If you are starting out and want to have a blog that makes you money, keep in mind you would need to wear a lot of caps or you need to invest at least $500 each month for content and its marketing.

Because it is a business and a business requires investment to grow.

In June 2014, I bought another domain, qazxy.com.

I read that short domain names had higher resale value so I researched a few names and bought this one.

In October 2014, after reading a blog post on SourceWave, I bought a domain, perdergordura.org (Portuguese for “lose fat”).

I read that starting a blog in a non-English speaking country was great for first page rankings as only a few people were doing SEO.

So I targeted Brazil and the language was Portuguese.

This time again, I didn’t type my own blog posts or hire a native writer.

I took articles from other websites and translated them with the help of Google Translate.

No surprise it didn’t work.

The only thing that worked was the Instagram account I made for this website.

I didn’t renew the domain name after the first year.

Takeaway:

Though the idea was good, my execution was not.

I was still surfing the web to know how different websites are built and make money and stumbled across a website explaining how to create a wallpaper download website.

In May 2015, I bought wallpaperlive.in and built it.

I did SEO (not much) and promoted it on Pinterest.

The website started getting some traffic and didn’t succeed.

I wanted to see money trickle in fast and had no patience.

I gave up working on it and didn’t renew the domain after its second year.

Takeaway:

Have a plan with resources to finish what you start.

In June 2015, I started a company in a partnership that manufactured non-woven shopping bags.

After factory hours, I searched for passive income methods.

In that year, I started logographix.com after I read a blog post about how Corey Ferreira got client work from Craigslist, outsourced the actual work, and kept the profits.

It was a service arbitrage model.

I built the site, contacted people on Craigslist, and got 4 sales.

At this moment, I was feeling great and thought I have finally got an online business running.

But after delivering the logo files, I didn’t receive the payment.

The mistake I made was of not collecting half-payment at the time of order as was mentioned by Corey.

I didn’t contact more people after and didn’t renew the site.

Takeaway:

If you are doing freelance gigs on your own i.e., not on Upwork or other similar sites, then collect full payment upfront.

In 2016, I bought surfersharkattack.com because now I learned some keyword research (I thought so).

The keyword “surfer shark attack” had 1300 searches in the US and the SERPs were not targeting the exact keyword.

Soon I realized why they were not.

Because the articles were dominated by big news sites that don’t give room for a new site to come on page 1.

The other reason this keyword was a bad choice is that it is seasonal and only gets higher searches in April and remains flat all year.

I never built the site and renewed as well.

Takeaway:

Don’t buy exact match domains because you see higher searches for a keyword.

Check the SERPs for the user intent.

If you are able to meet that intent better than someone else then go for it.

In Feb 2017, I thought I found gold on Facebook when someone in a group mentioned this course which was changing people’s lives for the better.

It was a course on how to earn using affiliate marketing with Google Ads.

The affiliate offers were the ones which were banned by Google like make money online, muscle building, skin treatment, etc

The offers were from the affiliate networks like Clickdealer, Maxbounty, and others.

There were many moving parts in this strategy (which would I’ve known, I wouldn’t buy the course).

Like making many Google ad accounts, having many credit cards or VCCs, having a subscription of a link cloaking application, buying dedicated IPs, and the frustration of managing all this.

I bought the course for $500 and invested $400 more.

I was not able to get a single sale.

I realized later that this was a churn and burn method of making money.

I saw a few people make money but I couldn’t go further as I didn’t have any to invest.

Takeaway:

Stay away from such courses.

In July 2017, I started promoting FanPrint merchandise via Facebook Ads.

At that time, FanPrint used to have accounts for both promoters and designers. In 2018, they decided the go with only designers and closed all promoter accounts.

FanPrint is an official merchandise partner of NCAA, MLBPA, MLBPAA, and Dallas Cowboys.

I invested $150 in Facebook Ads and got 2 sales: $28.69 on T-shirts.

And that was it.

I realized that to succeed with product ads one needs to have a higher budget (for many ad sets) and kill non-performing ads earlier.

Takeaway:

Before jumping in to buy a course or promoting a product, take note of your resources and experience.

That same year, I started a dropshipping site, tiknos.com, targeting the US market.

My best friend, Ankit helped fund this venture with $500 and I operated the business.

Failed. Again.

Got one sale on a cat earring of $10.

In total, I promoted 15 products with one ad set for each over 2 months.

It was a disaster.

Takeaway:

Don’t take your best friend’s help if you don’t know sh*t about what you are doing.

After all these failures, disappointment was still happy with me.

In Feb 2018, I saw Amazon promoting the development of Alexa skills and learned how to code.

I built 3 Alexa skills and got downloads too.

But I couldn’t monetize and AWS charges were piling up.

So I decided to delete them.

Takeaway:

Creating apps is awesome. But you need some money to start before you figure out how to monetize your efforts.

In July 2018, after reading a blog post on Gaps.com, Glen Allsopp discussed his hobby of buying exact match domains and seeing whether they rank with one page of content.

He showed a site that he ranked and then planned to rent to local companies on contract.

Guess what,

I bought 10 exact match domains, 10 articles from iWriter, and hosting from NameCheap.

None of them ranked.

Takeaway:

Don’t burn your money.

Out of nowhere, in Jan 2019, I got a LinkedIn message from an Amazon HR for an Alexa Skill job.

I forgot most of what I had learned and couldn’t get through.

Takeaway:

Decide on what you want and keep yourself focused.

In March 2019, I researched how websites were getting huge amounts of traffic from Pinterest.

I got to know that there were a few categories that outperformed others on Pinterest.

They were:

• Home decor
• Food – Recipes
• Beauty – Tutorials
• Arts and Crafts – Tutorials

I decided to go with home decor and bought homedesignfx.com and built the site.

I couldn’t keep up with the number of posts Pinterest requires daily.

To succeed on Pinterest you are required to post 50 pins daily.

Even if you make 5 pins for each post you still need to type 10 posts daily.

Though I didn’t succeed I got to know how to.

Takeaway:

If you are planning to promote on Pinterest then have at least 20 blog posts or other content ready before pinning. It provides you with a start buffer.

Also you need 600 words for blog posts and a lot of images for your visitors to pin.

I also tried providing transcription services and contacted popular podcasts.

But they already had or never replied.

I also created a Fiverr account and sold one Shopify gig then closed it as I became busy with my offline work.

Takeaway:

If you are finding it difficult to sell your gig then research your competitors, lower the price and provide more than them.

You’ll definitely start getting orders.

I had been a long time follower of Justin Cener and always found his videos on eCommerce helpful.

So when he launched his Etsy course in Sept 2019, I bought it without giving any thought.

I bought the course for $117 + $47 for an upsell.

Also, I paid $97 for a service he claimed would help buyers reach him 24×7 and get an immediate reply for one month.

That turned out to be a dud.

The course and upsell at the price were not okay.

You would find the content freely available.

But the $97 messaging service was poor.

He replied to my question in 5-7 days and when I asked for a refund he stopped replying.

The only way I could figure out to reach him was via Paypal refund request.

Even after receiving chargeback he initiated the refund after a month.

He lost his trust.

Note: You need to watch this youtube channel if you struggle with the shiny object syndrome and get mesmerized by the pitches given by the fake gurus.

In Dec 2019, Deepak Kanakaraju, a digital marketing influencer from India, launched an online digital marketing training course with a twist.

The twist was that the student would earn back more than what he/she invested by completing weekly assignments.

I believed this to be a great opportunity for me to take action and practice.

So I enrolled.

And it turned out to be the best investment I have made in a course till now.

The course is over and I have earned more than I invested. You can check the post for a more detailed review.

Apart from failures, I earned too.

I have earned by promoting affiliate products on my Facebook pages, promoting Bluehost on this blog, and selling a Kindle ebook.

As part of the last assignment of the digital marketing course, I created an eBook on affiliate marketing “Affiliate That Sells”.

Available on Gumroad for $7.

After buying many courses (there are more than I mentioned here), I have realized 95% of them don’t provide any value and regurgitate free content.

The only reason I have put a price of $7 is that when people pay they get a sense of responsibility to learn.

The price is locked till eternity with no upsells.

The idea is to provide value worth any other course on affiliate marketing.

The eBook comes with 5 Bonuses, One resource, and a Facebook Group where more valuable discussion happens.

I am not a guru by any standards and don’t aspire to be one. But I want to teach people what I have learned and not make costly mistakes.

I have become a jack of all trades but master of none.

Now, I am in the process of change.

I have become Certified by DigitalMarketer in Content Marketing, Search Marketing, Social Media, and Community Management.

If you need any help in Blogging, WordPress, and Content Marketing then kindly comment below.