9 years of active blogging: Man ki Baat

As of today, my blog completes 9 years of existence and has entered 10th year. On this occasion, a quick look back.

The blog started as an experiment way back in 2006, because sending articles to print was a time consuming process. I had to write it and send by post and hope that it gets selected by editors, It would take several weeks to get published- if it gets selected, most of the time I won't know when it gets published and need to keep monitoring the publication, compensation takes another few months. The online medium seemed much simpler- instant publication, instant feedback. I started writing simply because I wanted to write- not because someone would read, not because I might make money. Initially I would torture friends to read, eventually stopped doing that. Audience came voluntarily or through search engines.

Initial few years I was writing random stuff- not focused on anything particular. But over years I realized that most of my interest revolves around travel and automobiles.

Looking back, if I ask myself whether I made lots of money from blogging, answer is NO. At best it was able to cover for my internet bill. But I did get lots of invites and opportunities which are either not possible to buy (You can't get Director of Tourism to accompany you on a bike trip across Thailand irrespective of money you are willing to pay) or would cost considerable money if I had to go on my own. So money saved and experience earned could be counted as benefits of blogging. I am also spending my own money for various adventure activities or road trips, so net cash inflow is still negative. But what matters more is that blogging has given me an identity in real world.

I could also make many friends in the blogging and PR space, which is nice. [Related: Travel Bloggers I met recently]

Over years I have seen many bloggers and writers who have quit jobs and gone full time. Neelima, Sankara to name a few. I am not thinking on those lines yet, because one- money I make from blog is nowhere near the salary, second- moment I depend on blog for livelihood, equation changes a lot- I can no more simply indulge in what I like doing- need to start worrying about next client, negotiations, invoice, follow up and so on. Thus blogging will continue to be a part time hobby.

Demand for bloggers has increased substantially over past one year- almost every brand wants to engage bloggers for extra visibility. This is a good sign. Still most bloggers at best get some gift hampers, not a large reward which can be at par with someone's daily income/earnings. (To give a comparison, college girls who work with event management companies earn Rs 3000-5000 or more a day for events- to handle tasks like manning registration counter, depending on various factors like how beautiful they are and how cash rich the company is)

I am thankful to all my readers- many of them are very regular at reading the blog, though they may not be writing any comments. You know me, but I won't know you unless you write a comment or tell me that you're reading the blog. Thanks for your support. Any comment, criticism is welcome.

In terms of numbers, Alexa India Rank for enidhi.net has improved substantially to 15000 level down from 30000 level it used to have earlier. Need to see if this sustains. Google PR has been stagnant at 3. Traffic as per google is about 1000 page views a day. I tried my hands on video editing, but as of now it hasn't got expected response- probably because I am not spending enough quality time on editing the footage.

Time management has been a challenge- between work, blog and personal life. On an average I am spending an hour or two per day on blog related activities, either early morning or late night. Most of the trips are still weekend ones, can't afford to travel for weeks/months like few do. If I go one trip I break it down into smaller topics and keep posting over a period of time, which gives people an impression that I am always on the move. Truth is I go to office on most of the days like all of you.

Just got my renewed passport. According to TripAdvisor I have seen only 7% of the world. Let us see what I can cover before the passport expires again.