In February I’ve implemented my Top Commentator counter in my sidebar. But it was never my intention to leave it with the implementation alone. No, I wanted to reward my Top commentator of the month.

First of all the top commentator will win a 1 month 125x125 adspot in my rightbar.
Secondly I will share some linklove by making a little review of their blog or site.

Top commentator for March was Dot Com Guru Shanker Bakshi
When I visited his blog, my first reaction (because of his banner) was this must be a good Poker Player

I’m always curious where my readers come from, this time it took me to India. Shankar was wondering how to earn some money and started surfing. When he came by John Chow’s site he decided to do the same and started to make money online via his blog. And a new Dot Com Guru was born.

Before he started blogging he did some radio and television shows, what could mean that a celebrity visited my blog

His blog is nicely made, with a design that isn’t that catchy, but because of it, is very nice to look at. It isn’t overcrowded like many other sites.

One post I liked, is his Pagerank explanation post.
Another post what made me think was his ‘how to stay happy’ post. A nice post about how you can take another look at a situation when you’re feeling a bit down. It reminded me about a story about a guy that one day started to only reply ‘yes’ to every question. He stopped saying no and he came out being much happier than before.

Overall I like Shankar’s site and I certainly will pay him a visit every now and then.

Another thing about my Top Commentator reward is that I’ll mail the winner with the message that and what they’ve won. Also I included some questions I would like them to answer, so I could include these in the ‘Top commentator of the month’ post.
Here are the questions and the answers from Shankar:

When did you first start thinking about blogging and why?
I start blogging after reading some of the best top posts of John Chow. The impression I got from his writing was so great that I instantly decide that I must start blogging and establish my self in blogsphere.

When did you actually start blogging?
It was 29th August 2007 when I first publish my post on Google blogger, later on I shifted my blog to my own domain name with WordPress Publishing software.

Did you used a layout template for your blog or did made one yourself?
Initially I tested many WordPress themes then I settled with Glorious Future theme created by The Great Sadish, though I had customized it a lot according to my need and preference. 

Do you blog on more than 1 blog or do you put all your attention to one blog?
At present I am concentrating on my one blog; I do have another website for my audio visual productions work.

What do you like about blogging?
It’s a great platform where you can express yourself freely; the smart thing about this is that you get instant reactions of your readers in form of comments and discussions.

You have any particular recurring topics (for example my Stumbling Friday posts) you post about or do you blog about anything that comes into your mind?
Yes I write Rambling posts every fortnight with the title “The Miscellaneous Ramblings of a dot Com Guru”. Make money online is my blog niche but yes mostly I write what ever comes in my mind and which can help my readers in any manner.

Do you use any social media like Digg, StumbleUpon, Technorati, MyBlogLog, others?
These social media sites play a great role in bringing your blog before more and more people, bloggers use them as SEO Tool. I do use them and frequently submit my blog to other social media sits like blogfriends and Facebook. Technorati help getting up there by showing various blog reaction and authorities.

Why should people visit your site?
Believe me it’s a great site to visit J , new bloggers can learn a lot from visiting my site.

What’s the best advice you can give to other bloggers?
Content is the king, don’t blog only for money blog for your own pleasure, it will definitely take you there, but yes do market your blog among various social media sites. 

If you could start over once again, should you do something different?
It took lots of my time to set my blog voice and niche, initially I write about so many topics, even about sports Bollywood and Hollywood but now my blog has its own personality and voice. If I have to start over once again first I would like to make my mind very clear that about what topic I would be comfortable to write. 

If you would ask me one question, what question do I have to answer then?
What you would like to do with your 1 million dollars, how near or how far you are from that big challenge of earning 1 Million dollars?

My answer to his question: This is all explained if you click on the ‘What’ link in the menu above.
And how far am I at the moment, well still very very very far. When I started out I just hoped to earn the money back for my hosting, this I did already and I can pay the hosting for the next years also, so I’m getting closer with every dollar I earn

PS Shankar, I’ve added you to my Linkpage.

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