This weekend I am back with another awesome interview. I hope you are enjoying BCIS (Blogging Cage Interview Series) and have gone through all the interviews. This is 4th interview from BCIS and you can read all interviews here.
Jane Sheeba is one of the most famous Indian lady blogger and with her diligence nature she have become authority in blogosphere.
With her guest posts on top blogs she have gained huge popularity as well as her blog ProBloggingSuccess is also growing at very fast pace. Jane have done Ph. D in the field of Medical Physics at Lancaster University and she worked on a EU project titled “Brain, Respiratory And Cardiac Causalities In Anaesthesia” (BRACCIA).
Apart from being a scientist she is doing awesome work in blogging, so let’s have talk with her.
Jane Sheeba
Hey Jane, Warm Welcome on Blogging Cage.
Hi Kulwant, thanks for having me here. I feel honored!
1. Tell us about your history and your dreams in childhood.
What I am doing now has nothing to do with what I had in mind during my childhood and school days. I won’t lie saying that I was born to be a business woman and I had this dream of having my own business right during my childhood.
In my school days all I dreamed was becoming a scientist, which I eventually did. But ironically, after that dream came true, it became so uninteresting. I did not love a day job. I wanted more freedom, more flexibility and I wanted to make an impact. I went about searching the missing element. And that’s how I found what I wanted. And I’m currently on it.
2. Apart from being a Scientist how you entered in Blogging? Which were the things attracted you for becoming a blogger.
Actually I stepped into blogging accidentally. While I was in the UK away from my home for the first time (for doing my Ph. D), I hung out in forums and started a couple of blogs just to cope with my loneliness. The thing that attracted me to become a blogger is the amount of authority I can build with blogging. And of course, the ability to make money and go on a flexible working pattern – building my online business.
3. Share your first 6 months blogging experience with us.
The first 6 months of my blogging were terrible! I had no idea what I was doing. I did MANY mistakes (but that was for good since I learned a lot of lessons).
I spent way too much on crappy stuff. I read lots of books but took no action! You know … all the amateurish stuff!
4. Were there any obstacles from family when you entered in blogging?
Not directly. Nobody told me not to do what I was doing. But I could see a feel of hesitation in their faces when I said I am going to build an online business and am going to quit my day job quite soon. Certainly my parents and in-laws were not happy with the idea. But after about 6-8 months they started to believe in my words.
My hubby is the most supportive person with my business. He covered various mistakes and even covered my initial blogging expenses out of his pocket. Even when I was broke and felt like quitting a couple of times, he was the one who encouraged me to go on J
5. Which were the blogs you read in your starting days and still reading them?
Two blogs – Problogger and Copyblogger. I still read both of them.
6. When you started blogging then how you wanted to monetize? Because blogging is the things that when you enter in it many doors starts opening. How many doors were opened for you?
When I started I was all for cheap advertising. I had an eye on those few little bucks (well I had a thin pocket then, but that’s surely not an excuse) and sacrificed my site’s quality and sanity for those bucks!
The doors actually opened for me when I built authority in my niche! The doors – direct (more quality and targeted) advertising, affiliate marketing (this one’s a biggie), my products, consulting (the biggest contributor of my income) and other services and some more.
7. What are your views about having more than one blog?
The most common advice I heard in the blogosphere is this: Work on one site and make it popular. Now this is actually a topic for a whole blog post which I plan to discuss at Problogging Success in detail.
I have so many blogs. I think about 13. By blogs I mean authority blogs and not anonymous niche sites (I also have a bunch of those). It is hard, it takes more hard work! But I love doing it this way – all my blogs are simultaneously developing into good ones.
What works for me would not work for everyone though!
8. How much time you spend online? And how much time you give to your blog and promotion?
I spend about 6-7 hours daily. I don’t feel burned out since I take a lot of breaks in between (I have a 3yr old hyper-active kid – so you can guess). I don’t work at one sitting for more than an hour. I LOVE to work this way.
Ideally half of the time goes for promotion and half for content creation.
9. What are your views about having blogging partner? Because I have read one some blogs that we should have one blogging partner.
Not sure what you mean by blogging partner here. If you meant a business partner with whom you share work and profits (and investments) hear me – this is NOT for everyone. At least not for me! I started an online business because I want to work my way and when you have a business partner things won’t be much flexible!
If you meant having a team or employees, yes I vote for it. I have an in-house assistant (who’s my hubby’s cousin) to help me with lot of the dirty and boring stuff with my biz 
10. What were the reasons and big expected results which attracted you for guest blogging?
I observed the big players; especially the ones who were not known at all when they started. And when I started to notice them, they were leading bloggers who were launching $1000 products and were featured on top blogs. I found that the key was guest blogging.
Although I didn’t yet plan such a biggie guest blogging campaign, I have grown my blogs to a greater level with guest blogging. Now, nearing 300 guest posts, I guess I can say that
11. What are the things you doing to fight Google Panda, Penguin and Author Rank update?
Luckily none of my main blogs got hit by Panda or Penguin. One of my niche sites did. It was only two months old, so I really didn’t bother and ditched it.
In my opinion, having great content (on site) and doing some real hard work on building good quality, authority links (off site) will keep you safe. All the spammy, bulky link building and content copying will lead you to trouble.
12. According to you which are the things stopping us in blogging as compared to other countries?
Technological advancements are improving but much slower in our country. When I lived in the UK, where I first started blogging, I would get lightning speed broadband for five pounds a month (unlimited data). I would download a 700MB movie in about 10-15 minutes. And I lived in a student dormitory on campus!
Now I am willing to pay for 8Mbps, but the same is not available in my city (yup I live in a city) – The max speed available is 2Mbps and I don’t get it in full! This is just an example.
And still a larger population of people doesn’t tend to accept the advancements! May be they’re not aware of the potential of online business and all these kinda stuff.
13. How are you attracting more customers in your business?
I just help people and go with them the extra mile. My blog works for me 24/7 getting me potential clients. And since I also engage with my readers outside my blog and help them I get more clients through word of mouth.
14. What are your future plans? Do you have any plan to sale any of your blog in future?
I don’t have any plans to sell any of my blogs as of now. But I may change my mind since I’m always experimenting.
As of now, I am planning to build more authority in those niches where I’m currently running blogs. I feel that building an authority and establishing myself as an expert really works well.
15. Message for my readers.
As I always say, blogging is no joke. There is no silver bullet and there is no overnight success. Don’t believe in ANYONE who says that blogging is an easy way to make money online. You have to be prepared to put in some hard work and be ready to work strategically.
Blogging has a great potential. So don’t miss out.
Now your turn!!
Share with us that what were the things you learned in this interview and how you are going to make them happen for you?
Let’s have sound chat in comment section.
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About Kulwant Nagi
Kulwant Nagi is a 25 years old Full-Time Blogger from Haryana, India. He Loves to write about SEO, WordPress and Blogging. Blogging Cage is a webmasters blog where you will learn blogging and SEO Tips. 
great sir for the 4 interview with jane sheeba ji hmmm i get motivated after reading it……
You are welcome Tushar.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 4: Interview with Jane Sheeba (Blogger cum Scientist)
Hi kulwant
This is an awesome interview…An inspirational one
One thing that I miss though is Jane’s monthly income reports….
Hello Shitij,
Thanks for being here. Good to hear that you got inspiration from this interview.
I am not asking bloggers for their monthly income reports.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 4: Interview with Jane Sheeba (Blogger cum Scientist)
Hey Shitij I don’t reveal my income reports as of now. I can’t do so for many reasons (remember, I’m still in my day job – I have stated that I’m ready to quit, but my boss wants me to stay one more year – it is a LONG story
). But I do know every penny I earn and I spend every month with blogging 
I also keep track of improvements and failures with every income stream each month!
Jane recently posted..Affiliate Marketing Programs: How To Choose The Right Ones
Well Kulwant I must really admire you for publishing interview of some of the great bloggers from Indian blogosphere. I’ve been following Jane’s PBS since I began blogging and I really love her writing style. She is very soft spoken and helpful person and is always ready to advice newbie anytime which is a very rare thing in probloggers.
Thanks Kulwant once again and keep rocking this way. I am really loving Bloggingcage ..!!
Gaurang according to me Jane is the only known lady blogger from India. Her writing style is totally unique and have too much personal touch.
And this is the reason that people love her and her blog. Yes, she have very polite nature and you will always see her in helping mode.
Thanks a lot for kind words.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 4: Interview with Jane Sheeba (Blogger cum Scientist)
Hey Gaurang, thanks SO much for your kind words! Yes its a fact that I do love to help newbie bloggers. I always try my best to answer emails from all my readers – I may miss some due to inbox overwhelm, but I never meant to ignore anyone.
One of the main reasons I do so is the: I know how hard it is to cope with all the challenges when you start a blog as a total newbie. I’ve been there. And that’s why I try to help as much as I can. Hope this makes sense. There’s no marketing tactic in this
(many ask me if I do that as a marketing trick).
I’m glad to hear you like my writing style
Sweet!
Jane recently posted..How To Design A Blog That Converts
Hey Jane, No need to justify this to anyone. We all know you and your nature. Glad to see you, taking active participation here too.
Gaurang Joshi recently posted..Charge Smartphone Using Beer or Coffee Cup
Jane, glad to see you on Blogging Cage.
I had few questions for you –
1. Why are Indian bloggers always lagging behind? We don’t seem to have that kind of presence like int’l bloggers have.
2. Apart from guest blogging, what would be the best way to gain recurring traffic?
3. I am not having much success with affiliate products listed on my blog whereas my niche site on weight loss is giving me really good returns. Why this difference? Why it is difficult to sell affiliate products from the main blog?
Please reply.
~ Chitraparna
Hey Chitraparna, glad you asked these questions
1. I actually don’t think so! What I currently see is completely different. I see many Indian bloggers are moving ahead of the race in the blogosphere. I have so many international clients (usually blog audit and blog maintenance)- most of them don’t have a clear vision about their blogging future. But almost all of the Indian bloggers I know clearly know what they want and what their business goal is. Plus, no one can beat the Indian bloggers in engagement. They’re very good at engaging in fruitful discussions with other bloggers. So I guess Indian bloggers are really progressing well and are well received, except that there are not many lady bloggers as of now. But that will change soon too!
2. Anything that involves engagement with readers, potential customers and followers WILL lead to consistent traffic. Guest blogging, blog commenting, engaging via social media, via blogging communities, forums etc. You don’t have to do it all. Just pick one or two that works best for you and stick with them. The only advantage with guest blogging compare to other methods is that it helps kill three birds in one stone – you can get traffic, backlinks, and can establish authority at the same time.
3. If affiliate marketing is not working for you, it could be because of any of these two reasons: (i) you are not targeting the right audience with the right products or (ii) sorry to say, but may be you are doing it wrong! If it is (i) just make sure you have the right relevant products for your readers; you can always experiment with different product, the type of pitch etc. If it is (ii) hmm… that’s a topic for a separate blog post
Thanks again for asking these questions!
Jane recently posted..Top 10 Benefits Of Guest Blogging
Hi Kulwant
Thanks for this nice interview with Jane Sheeba.. one of the my favorite blogger..
Mosam
Mosam Gor recently posted..Social Networks and Harmony
Not only your favorite but she is favorite of all bloggers here.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 4: Interview with Jane Sheeba (Blogger cum Scientist)
Well, yeah internet speed is the biggest problem in India..
Its really great and inspirational for everyone to hear that Jane is having 13 active blogs in total and working well as a mother..
Management is not an easy job.. Excellent work
Dhruv recently posted..Make Money Online – Affiliate Marketing Tips For Beginners
Yes Dhruv, maintaining 13 blogs is a hard but once you master the time and know how to manage it then you can easily run them.
Thanks for expressing your views.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 4: Interview with Jane Sheeba (Blogger cum Scientist)
Great job done Kulwant. She is well known blogger and every blogger will feed motivated after reading this interview. Thanks for sharing her interview with us.
Yogesh Vashist recently posted..How to drive more traffic to my website
Welcome here Yogesh.
Thanks for your words.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 4: Interview with Jane Sheeba (Blogger cum Scientist)
That’s inspiring Mam. These interviews are really inspiring the newbies and also many probloggers. Mam, Can I ask you something?
You say that you spend 6 to 7 hours (with breaks) in blogging. You work in day time or night time? Do you have the habit to sleep late at night? How do you manage time in blogging out of distractions like Facebook, YouTube and other stuffs? I used to start writing an article but after 25% completion of writing, I may open tabs for referring sites. Finally, I end up on Facebook or YouTube. My bed time is 2 AM to 8 AM. My family members are against this habit. They want me to go to bed earlier and wake up around 6 AM. I am pursuing my engineering 1st year. I usually take care of my blog at evenings and weekends. Everyday, I rush for my college bus which departs at 8.30 AM.
How do you tackle with distractions? Please give some advises/tips.
Arjun recently posted..Manage Facebook Albums as Windows Folders [Windows 8]
Kulwant, thanks so much for featuring me here
I’m honored. I’ve also spoken really exclusive stuff that I’ve not talked about elsewhere 
Jane recently posted..How To Become An Influential Blogger
It was great to have you here Jane. I am honored that you accepted my proposal for interview.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..Nofollow vs Dofollow: Both Are Good; But Where?
I am regular reader of ProBloggingSuccess since the start of my blogging life. Got a lot of inspiration from that Interview
.
Narender Chopra recently posted..SEO Profiler Review : Features of SEO Profiler Tool
Good to hear that you are reading her blog to learn best tips of blogging.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 4: Interview with Jane Sheeba (Blogger cum Scientist)
Itis not an easy task building and maintaining 13 authority sites. it takes real hard word and focus to be able to achieve that feat.
I have a dream of building several authority sites as well. At the moment I already have 4 blogs with PR3 each. There are also some limitations that have slowed me down. I believe the dream is achievable if I don’t quit. Thanks Jane Sheeba because you just fired me up.
Efoghor Joseph Ezie recently posted..Business Development Tips for Professional Service Providers
It is not an easy task building and maintaining 13 authority sites. It takes real hard word and focus to be able to achieve that feat.
I have a dream of building several authority sites as well. At the moment I already have 4 blogs with PR3 each. There are also some limitations that have slowed me down. I believe the dream is achievable if I don’t quit. Thanks Jane Sheeba because you just fired me up.
Efoghor Joseph Ezie recently posted..Business Development Tips for Professional Service Providers
No doubt, Jane is one of the best Indian bloggers. I personally like her writing style and writing voice. And I always love to read PBS blog articles from the beginning of my blogging career. You’re the true inspiration for the guys like me.
@Kulwant: You’ve been doing great stuff to boost blogging cage online visibility. I’m loving your questions and also admired to see your designing work. All the best!
@Jane: I only have one question, what’s your advice on guest blogging? Is it better to land on only top blogs or any blog that you come across in your niche? Only you can better answer this, as I can see you everywhere around the blogosphere with your guest posts.
Great answers indeed!
Rahul Kuntala recently posted..Let’s Break Some Blogging Rules [to Stand Out from the Crowd]
First of all most welcome on Blogging Cage Rahul. Happy to see you here.
You are right Rahul. She have captivated the readers with her writing style. Thanks for loving my blog and appreciating my efforts.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 4: Interview with Jane Sheeba (Blogger cum Scientist)
Thanks for the nice words Rahul
As to guest blogging, I’d not only stay on top blogs. Top blogs are good to get a lot of attention, but it is hard to get published on them. Sometimes you have to wait for months to get a single post published. And blogs like Copyblogger don’t allow any guest blogger to publish their post. Recently I had a reply from them stating that they have a pool of guest bloggers and accept only posts from them and not from any others (no matter how great your content is).
So go for authorities or peers who have a nice traffic and a good interaction (comments, shares, etc.) on their blogs.
Jane recently posted..Make Money Blogging: Insight, Reply To Ana And Ti, And My Own Income Streams
So inspiring is the work of Jane!
Never allowing her readers’ will to wane!
Jane has become an authority! She has that ability to make you a problogger. I think she is One of the best blogging gurus found within your reach. Looking forward to reading one of her best ebooks ‘Guest Blogging Champion’. Despite the fact I haven’t read the book yet,I can say that you will find ‘an abundant treasure of information’ about blogging in it. These days, I have been reading only ProBlogging Success and Basic Blog Tips.
Heartfelt thanks to Kulwanth, a wonderful blogger, for featuring Jane here.
P.S. @ Kulwanth, I thought of ‘interviewing’ Jane (Of course, She would have been kind enough to accept, had I asked her.) after some time. Now I remember that great quotation:
“In every work of genius, we recognise our own rejected thoughts’ they come back to us with a certain alienated modesty.”
MNB Achari recently posted..Do You Blog For Money – Get Ready To Fail, Seriously!
Thanks for becoming one of great commentor on my blog, I loved your small poem.
I can guarantee that her book will be teaching best guest blogging tips.
Thanks again for this wonderful comment (I am loving you).
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 4: Interview with Jane Sheeba (Blogger cum Scientist)
Well, Jane is finding her place among the top of the BlogoSphere.
Congrats Jane
And I appreciate Kulwant for always having the right choice.
Thanks a lot Zion. Feeling happy to see you again.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 4: Interview with Jane Sheeba (Blogger cum Scientist)
Jane is great. I am a regular reader on her blog and she has amazing things to talk about. In fact, I have learnt a lot from her blog and many are doing so as well. Interesting to note that she as PhD as well. Well done Jane.
Shalu Sharma recently posted..Shy Indian women
Yes Shalu. She is a proud PhD degree holder. Good to see you here.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 4: Interview with Jane Sheeba (Blogger cum Scientist)
Interviews are really essential to have some inspiration from the big guys in the blogging arena. Thanks Kulwant for conducting this awesome interview.
Rahul Chowdhury recently posted..Interviews: Hongkiat Lim of Hongkiat Design Blog
Yes Rahul, interviews gives us clear picture of blogging and we can dig into life of bloggers. Thanks for going trough this interview.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 4: Interview with Jane Sheeba (Blogger cum Scientist)
Awesome Interview..
very inspriing for Me, I have learnt a lot of things for my blogging career..!
Thanks….and keep posting more interviews… So it will help a lot of new bloggers
Murtaza Nimuchwala recently posted..Unlock IDEA Netsetter E303D – Simple Trick
Thanks for being here Murtaza.
I started this series to inspire newbie bloggers. Good to hear that you are enjoying reading these interviews.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..5 Ingredients of Successful Blogging
Hey Jane,
Like you, I have a supper active 3 year old daughter who keeps my room in total disorder constantly lol
It was good reading this interview and thanks for opening up
Enstine Muki recently posted..$100 PayPal Cash Giveaway And 3 Premium WordPress Themes #Giveaway
I can relate your feeling Enstine
Its a tug of war where you have stuff to complete at the same time you can’t ignore those cute little ones as well. And if I do try to ignore, my son makes a cute face asking “will you not pick me up?” lol.
Jane recently posted..Blog Marketing Strategy: How To Effectively Market Your Business With Your Blog?
Hello Jane,
kudos on your success in the blogosphere! Thank you for your inspirational interview. We, too, share a common background: We both started as scientists before we appreciated the beauty of internet.
Matthew Denos recently posted..How to Lose 5lb in 30min – Kutting Weight Sauna Suit Review
Wow Matthew. It’s great that you have same background. She is doing phenomenal work in blogosphere.
Kulwant Nagi recently posted..BCIS 6: A Talk With Satish Gandham From SwiftThemes.com
hmmmm… good encouraging tips for me it give a lot of tips and keen to work online as well..
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