Today I have tech geek who is founder of Divilabs Aigars Silkalns who actually usually use these words at work: UX, UI, web design, web development, WordPress, WordPress Themes, framework, web apps, SaaS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, CSS, PHP and lately Ruby on Rails. Colorlib have collection of amazing free wordpress themes. Aigars will be sharing his experience in SEO and how he built Colorlib.
Can you tell us something about your blogging journey? How and when did you enter blogging? And who are your blogging role models?
I made my first website in 2009 but at that time I didn't write content for my website but hired copyrighters instead. I didn't write my own blog posts until 2011 when I started by technology news blog. It became very popular and it generated over 3 million page views a month. There was very little money to be made as I wrote about upcoming released and those are ridiculously hard to monetize. I got a good taste for what's possible with a blog and that's when I started to learn more about SEO and internet marketing in general.
I have since moved away from active blogging and these days I consider myself an entrepreneur. I do write some articles from time to time but not nearly as active as few years ago.
Please let my readers know more about you and your business?
Colorlib is the largest source for free and premium WordPress themes as well as website templates, PSD templates and loads of other resources around building your own website. We help users to build their first blog or website by offering all the necessary tools and information.
Our free themes have been downloaded over 2,5 million times and are used by countless websites. Our themes are completely free to use for private and commercial use without restrictions. We are the only theme store that offers completely free and not freemium themes because we are not here to become rich but to help users with their first steps online.
What are your top favorite 3 tools for managing social media campaigns and why?
- URL shorteners (Bit.ly, goo.gl) and UTM parameters for link shortening and tracking. These are tools that everyone take for granted but these are the best tools and they are completely free to use. Can't live without them
- Buffer is my tool of choice for account management, post scheduling and publishing. Love that you can control all your accounts via one dashboard.
- Atom text editor to keep notes when needed.
Do you use Pinterest for your business, what kind of Pinterest tools you use?
I do use Pinterest for my business but I don't use any Pinterest specific tools. Just Buffer for publishing and scheduling posts.
What Is Your SEO Super Power?
Ahrefs.com. Highly recommend it for competition tracking. I don't use it in a regular way because keywords and backlinks aren't important for me but it is a great tool to see what competitors are up to.
How Do You Conduct an SEO Experiment?
These days I no longer experiment with SEO because I have a strategy in place that I have developed over the past 8 years. Still the same strategy doesn't work for all sites and I need to adopt as we go but I wouldn't call it experimenting.
How does it feel for owning the Best Website covering collections of WordPress themes?
It feels great knowing that Colorlib is the largest and most popular website of its kind. However, I am still looking to grow within WordPress niche as well as extend its reach to web design, development and maybe other niches.
What blogs do you read? Tell me about an article you recently read that stuck out to you?
I'm not subscriber to any blogs because I like to read about specific topics that interest me that exact moment. For example, currently I am building a new half-marathon training plan therefore I read a lot of information about distance running but usually these aren't the most recent articles just the ones that answers my questions.
A client asks you to build a strategic plan for their website. What steps would you go through?
Few things that every website owner should understand:
- Content is the key. Website must be updated regularly or built timeless in the first place. No news section at all if you are not 200% sure that you will update it.
- Website must be marketed. Building a website is just a tiny part of the whole picture because customers won't find it until you start to promote it.
- Website is optional. It is not mandatory to have a website if you have a professional email ([email protected]), an outstanding social presence and domain name with a contact information. The rest can be managed via social media.
What are the Secrets of Affiliate Marketing and are you associated with any kind of affiliates.
Never treat your website as a way of getting rich quick or even getting rich in general. Money doesn't motivate you. Most people think that it does but it does only to a certain point. Therefore, make sure that you are building a real business or offer a valuable content to your readers. Passion for business or teaching will keep you motivated for way longer than money.
Once you have left greed behind you can think about making and impact. That's when you will make the most money. Affiliate marketers never think about making and impact and that's why most of them fail. Affiliate marketing is a great way to get some extra income but if it is the main purpose of your website, you might be doing something very wrong.
Do you use Blackhat SEO tactics in a white hat way. Like scrapebox?
Have never used black hat SEO tools or tactics in any shape or form and I can't see why anyone would want to use them. It has been proven over and over that these tactics never last. Black Hat SEO is a way of looking for shortcuts on a straight road. There aren't any but people want to believe that there are.
Do you think 3rd party blog post links and ebook submissions are playing vital role these days?
Yes, they are if 3 rd party blogs are well regarded in the industry. For example, if you are blogging about technology, getting links from The Verge and TechCrunch would be a big deal. And it's doable if you can provide the best content.
Reaching out to small blog owners for guest post opportunities will work but one mentioned from The Verge is worth 10,000 mentioned on small blogs.
Do You Share Your Strategies Transparently with the SEO Community?
I never tend to share SEO strategies because none of my websites are about SEO. If someone ask for suggestions I'm happy to help if he/she already have basic knowledge and strategy in place. Teaching everything about SEO from a ground zero takes years and I don't have that much time for everyone who might ask for some advice J.
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