1: Let’s talk about you! What is your story ? How did you get started online ? What do you do ? What’s your business about?
My Story: My name is Harshad Rawool and I am having expertise in search engine optimization. I offer consultancy and training in E-commerce and SEO.
It has been an exciting journey, to learn new skills at the job and apply the acquired skillset in the project and to get the desired result has been an enthralling experience.
I started as an SEO Executive after graduating from Mumbai University with an IT degree at the age of 20.
Having a decade-long experience working with top brands in digital marketing, I have now started my own enterprise – DigitalSpeedX. It is a beginning of a new journey, to explore new adventures as an entrepreneur, to learn new ideas and try new innovative techniques to establish my personal brand as a topmost brand in digital marketing.
2: How do you make money online? What are your income streams?
A few years back, I started writing my blogs on the latest trends that were introduced in digital marketing. I have been constantly upgrading my personal brand and training professionals and students by giving lectures on various topics on digital marketing. So, I would say that offering training and consultancy in digital marketing are my primary income streams and I earn around 5-6 lakhs per year.
3: How long did it take to make your first income online?
I have been working on projects as a freelancer since my job days. I also trained budding students in SEO and other digital marketing topics. It took me around 6-8 months to get my first income.
4: What are your monetization tips for any new beginner in the digital marketing industry (blogger/ freelancer/agency owner) so that he/she can earn at least $500 a month?
First and foremost, decide on a niche subject and start writing blogs on that subject to promote yourself. Based on my personal experience I feel personal branding is the most important aspect of the digital marketing industry.
5: How do you search for a client online?
As I said earlier, I have regularly posted blogs on my website – harshadrawool.com and then sharing the post on social media websites such as LinkedIn and Facebook and creating and posting stories on Instagram. Social Media reach is tremendous and there is a great probability of being noticed for your skills.
6: What is your biggest traffic strategy for your blog?
I have been regularly covering the latest trends in my blogs interspersing with relevant keywords for search engine optimization.
SEO is vital. Implementing the mandatory steps in On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO has given me very good traffic. Hence, I will always suggest being updated with the latest trends and also implement the basics appropriately to reap the rewards for it.
7: How did you grow a raving audience online? What is the best strategy for building and growing an audience?
I would reiterate here that Personal Branding is most important. To build a successful personal brand, writing fresh and relevant blog content is essential and sharing through social media is the next significant step.
Here, I would like to emphasize Fresh and Relevant Content as it is the crux of the popularity of blogs.
About promotion on social media, I would suggest you focus on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn – share your post along with related keywords, create an image and write a summary of the post.
8: What books/blogs would you recommend to new hustlers who want to make it big in the digital industry?
I have always been a voracious reader and this has helped me as I read blogs especially on trending topics.
You need to decide the subject or topic you wish to explore and then read as much as possible on that topic. For instance, if you want to be an SEO expert you can follow Brian Dean – he is a millionaire and all due to blogging in SEO.
9: What tools/ skills do you think are required to run a successful online business?
Today, WordPress is simple and easy to create website software and hence it is very easy to develop a website.
YouTube is video sharing service where you can learn to create a simple, elegant website and YouTube can be easily accessed on any type of device.
There are various free designing platforms like CANVA, CRELLO – to design images for posting.
However, it is always good to have some technical knowledge like what languages are used to create a website, about the domain and hosting. One should have clarity of thoughts to express and be able to write blogs.
My most important suggestion would be to have patience and tremendous will to acquire new ideas, learn new concepts. There is a plethora of information on the internet and one can easily gain all the required knowledge to run a successful online business.
10: Who is your inspiration in the digital marketing industry or your mentor ?
I have been following numerous experts on various topics related to digital marketing. Prominent names are Brian Dean, Neil Patel, Sorav Jain, and Deepak Kankaraju.