Blogger Interview: Olawale Daniel of Techatlast.com

Our guest Today On the Interview section of this blog a great blogger by the name Olawale Daniel, he is the Owner of Techatlast.com a Technology blog where he shares lots of technology and Blogging Tips.

I hope you enjoy this awesome Interview.

Please, kindly introduce yourself to our Readers- Tell us what you do and a bit insight into your bio.

My name is Olawale Daniel. I am a writer, blogger and business man-cum-student. I’m the founder and owner of TechAtLast.com and other five blogs on the internet including, iTW, LTJ, and BHT, which serves as a top tech and gadget news blog on the internet.

How did you find out about Blogging?

Back then in 2005, I heard about making money online with affiliate marketing. So I attended series of seminars in Lagos, the Western part of Nigeria. And since then, I have been doing blogging, though; it was on a newbie-level for a whole two years without breakthrough.

I was misinformed by the so-called “Gurus”, who always have claims of making thousand dollars online, but, with no guaranteed proof of their earnings – I mean majority of marketers on SADC platform at that time – they’d conduct seminars all because they wanted to earn from others that do not even have enough. And the story now turns to the sayings in the bible which goes thus: “from the one who has few shall it be taken for the one who have in abundance.” It is very easy to pronounce in Yoruba language, though, that is not where I’m going.

From the Onset

I firstly heard about blogging at one of Akin Alabi’s seminar back then in 2006 at Ikeja in Lagos suburb. After the seminar, I tried my hands on some of the tips and ideas that were disseminated by Akin at that seminar. Though, I do not get it right at that time, but there seems to be some signs of being successful if I can work it out then. But, because of the influx of make money now ads on Success Digest at that time, I have to look for other fast techniques as an aspiring make money online victim to quickly make money while doing less – unknown to me that I was only hurting myself

However, after the Akin’s seminar, all other seminars I attended impacted bad practice of blogging in me, practices such as “copy-paste blogging” and all of those illegal blogging practices like spamming – copying another people’s blog content to my website all because I want to improve my adsense earnings, make money from affiliate marketing and the rest – even at that time, Google is still nice to fake bloggers. Not like this time of Matt Cutts and the Google WebSpam team!

But, when I tried all of the steps with no result, I have to rethink my techniques by leaving the business for some profitable offline business models, with believe that internet business is a scam of a thing!

However, in 2009 going into 2010, there’s a new chapter of my life when I started reading and learning about new ways to be self-employed because it has always been my aim ever since I started going from one seminar to the other, not to work for others. Even, that was what makes me to join a network marketing initiative that was brought to Nigeria then, it is called IFA. I joined because I wanted to be the head of the company I’m going to manage, and not the one to be managed, but, things didn’t go as I’ve planned.

That brings me to my plan B – to be creative and always have hunger for self-employment opportunities.

I never in one day plan to work for somebody else than myself, and that’s why I have always try as much as possible to be self-employed by all means.

TechAtLast came into being with some basic inter-personal advice and teachings from a blogger friend of mine and brother, Onibalusi Bamidele of YoungPrePro.

After my three years of unsuccessful blogging practice, I ended up starting bigger when I started doing what I love to do most, technology!

“Passion can take you to any length in life, if only you can believe in what you love to do most”.

Tell US about your Technology Blog, Techatlast.com and how did you start it?

Answer:  TechAtLast as I’ve said earlier is a combination of three popular words, Technology-At-Last. It simply means; at the end of all things, Technology is going to be the last thing that people will embrace. When I was choosing the name, there were hundreds of ideas popping up, but I choose TechAtLast instead of all other domain that I came up with while I was brainstorming the name.

Even, Bamidele told me that we should do some keyword research for the site URL then, but I refused because that is exactly what I’m looking for – TECHNOLOGY is my passion, and AT the end of days, technology is going to be the LAST thing that people will succumb to use for their day-to-day activities; when people want to eat, they are going to use technology products like spoon, electric kettles etc., when they want to move from one place to another, technology is going to be the mode of their transportation. That’s just the idea of what I’m taught of then and it worked.

What is Your Blogging Motivation?

Answer: Passion to solve people’s need. I’ve heard many people talking about money being their #1 reason for them doing blogging; I won’t do such a thing. I’ve blogged for more than 9 months without ever thinking of making money from it and it has really helped me a lot. Even, until my blog reached a stage where advertisers were asking me for sponsorship and others, I’ve never think of getting money from the act because that was what I’ve come to learnt from Robert Kiyosaki’s philosophy – the author of popular “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “CashFlow Quadrant”. He taught me to work for free because during that time, I’d be able to learn more and have more knowledge about the industry than to be looking for money.

“If you are too desperate to get something desperately in life (money, fame, accolade), that is exactly, the time when you’re going to lose many more other things”- Olawale

Focus on solving people’s need and you will make more money while doing what you love to do most.

“When you give others what they want, they’d go extra length to help you get what you need” - Olawale

How did you manage to make Techatlast.com Successful?

Answer: I believe in God and do not focus on early success. Writing all of my posts with focus for the top! I do not try to look at the right or left to see if I’m left behind or not when I knew I’m already at the TOP.

Visualization of the TOP really helps a lot!

My passion is to get there and even go beyond that position and now, the blog is ranking among the best in the technology industry worldwide. Glory be to God almighty for that.

What was Your Major Challenge when starting out and how did you overcome it?

Answer: Paying for my hosting account is one of the major challenges I faced when I first started blogging. That time, Credit Card is not that easy to apply for in Nigeria. You’d have to be a business owner before banks can allow you to get a card for online transactions due to bad image the internet business have in Nigeria.

How many hours do you work on your blog daily?

Answer: Almost every hour! But to be frank, I spent around 8-15 hours per day on my blog, TechAtLast. While few minutes five of my other blogs.

How Much Traffic do you get monthly?

Answer: Before, I was getting more than 100k+ visitors on my blog on monthly basis, but there was a time when my hosting company have Apache server errors, and I lost the blog and its rankings because I never have a good backup plan on ground at the time. So, I have to start all over again from ground zero up.

But now, the average monthly visitor according to Google Analytics is 40K.

How much on average do you earn Monthly?

Answer: Apart from Google Adsense, I normally realized around $800-1000+ on monthly basis from my online clients work. It varies. And at times, the fee could be more than that. It doesn’t move me and that’s why I do not rush things in order to make money at all cost from my online businesses.

What do you think is your Secret To success?

Answer: Passion, Dedicate and Focus

What advice do you have for Newbie/Beginner bloggers?

Answer: They should start blogging with the aim for solving people’s need and not to make money. Money will come when you have done your best. If they don’t want to be faced out soon, their focus should be on giving solution to people’s need. There are lot of people out there looking for ways to repair their PC or other home appliances, if you have a simple guide to show them how to, then do it. Money will come when you have many people with good testimonies about your business.