Bloggers Face-Off: Muhammad Saleem vs. Raj Dash

by Daniel Scocco

For some bloggers, one blog is just not enough. They have the talent to write skilfully on a variety of topics, and also the discipline to produce a huge amount of content on a consistent basis. It is an enviable position to be in. They get paid well and they end up developing a strong brand around their names.

In this edition of the Bloggers Face-Off we have two bloggers that fit this profile perfectly. Do you read Pronet Advertising or Copyblogger? Then you probably know Muhammad Saleem. He covers mainly online marketing and social media, and you can also read his articles on MuhammadSaleem.com.

Raj Dash is the second blogger, he writes for several high profile blogs including Search Engine Journal and Performancing. His personal blog is located on RajDash.com. Now to the face-off!

	Muhammad Saleem	Raj Dash
1. How long have you been blogging?	I have been blogging in one form or another for at least 4 years now	4+ years. I started around March 2002
2. How many blogs do you write for currently?	I currently write for 2 blogs regularly (and for another once a week)	Not including my own, 3 client blogs and up to 5 other blogs casually
3. What is the advantage of writing for other people?	The ability to help others by sharing your knowledge and experiences with them	A chance for a variety of topics, and a chance to interact with other people. The latter works for me, as I have a personal goal to “interact” with at least 2 million people in my lifetime. I think I’m at about 25,000
4. If you could give an advice for a novice blogger, what would it be?	Don’t be discouraged by other top bloggers. There’s room for everyone	Pick a topic you’re passionate about; use relevant keywords and synonyms, without overuse, in your titles and article body; deep link your archives
5. Full posts or post excerpts on the Homepage?	Excerpts. That way the visitors can see the various posts and decide which ones to read further	I used to use excerpts, but have moved to full posts
6. Do you think that everyone should blog?	No. If you don’t have something to say, don’t force yourself to blog	I think anyone with the urge to do so should, for many, many reasons: improvement of communication skills, writing therapy, discovery
7. Digg, Reddit, Delicious or Stumble Upon?	All of them. One isn’t a replacement for another. They all have communities of hundreds of thousands of users and each site has something different and unique to offer. Why miss out on any of them?	Why yes please. All. Plus Sphinn and Smoochr, the latter of which I’m now a partner in
8. What is your productivity tip for writing a lot of content?	Don’t write a lot of content. Write by quality, not by quantity	Come up with a list of article titles long before you try to start writing. A list helps cue your mind to pick up tidbits on a constant basis, while you surf
9. Does Adsense make a blog look unprofessional?	Yes	I added it to my personal blog but am unsure. If you blend well, I think it’s okay
10. If you could read only one blog, which one would you pick?	TechCrunch	That’s a very hard question to answer, but it would probably be Performancing
11. What is the secret of your success, expressed in one word?	Networking	Passion (about writing and wanting to do my best)

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20 Responses to “Bloggers Face-Off: Muhammad Saleem vs. Raj Dash”

palin ningthoujam on August 28th, 2007 9:38 am

good one. very inspiring.
Daniel on August 28th, 2007 10:09 am

For sure it is a different approach to blogging, but works well if you like it.
Brian Clark on August 28th, 2007 11:00 am

These are two great guys, both of whom I’ve known for a while. And although I’ve known Raj longer, he hasn’t sent me any content.
Daniel on August 28th, 2007 12:01 pm

Brian, I will take that as a hint .
raj on August 28th, 2007 1:20 pm

Brian: I don’t know if my content is good enough for CopyBlogger
raj on August 28th, 2007 1:22 pm

Oh, and Daniel, thanks again for this nice exposure. Muhammad has done very well for himself and I’m fortunate to be compared to him.

I’ll post on something later today on rajdash.com to link to this faceoff

cheers
-raj
Ali on August 29th, 2007 1:37 am

Funny, Muhammad says that Adsense makes a blog look unprofessional but yet he would only read TechCrunch if given a choice.

When clearly TechCrunch is probably one of the only blogs that has as many Ads as John Chow does, save for the affiliate links. Google Adsense included.
Technobuzz.net on August 29th, 2007 1:52 am

Good One

Thanks

http://www.technobuzz.net/
Ramkarthik on August 29th, 2007 1:55 am

Danie, good choice for a face-off. I didn’t vote on this because both of them are my inspiration. Both of them write great tips. Raj writes a lot about Blogging and Muhammad Saleem writes more about Social media. So I didn’t vote. Good luck to both.
Muhammad Saleem on August 29th, 2007 3:24 am

@Ali, I use AdBlock plus (ftw)

Daniel, thanks for the face-off. Been trying to get you online but you are a hard man to get a hold of!
Muhammad Saleem on August 30th, 2007 3:20 am

Hi Raj,

Thanks for the shout out, seems like we’re neck and neck We’re facing-off and it seems odd that we’ve never really talked. I would love to hear from you.

Cheers,

Muhammad.
raj on August 30th, 2007 8:44 pm

Hi Muhammad. I’ve emailed you back, but sometimes GMail does not properly handle my Yahoo Mail messages.
Chris Garrett on September 15th, 2007 3:25 am

Talk about split loyalties, do I support performancing or copyblogger??
Gayla McCord on September 18th, 2007 8:59 am

Daniel sure knows how to pair these Face-offs up doesn’t he?

Sometimes it’s better to just flip a coin
blogr on October 16th, 2007 6:22 am

good interview

-blogrtools
http://blogrtools.blogspot.com
yorum on November 3rd, 2007 7:41 pm

thank you
Mircea on March 15th, 2008 1:22 am

I just discovered these two guys…and I hope to know them better.

I surely can use their advices for http://www.mytestbox.com web software reviews blog…