In my professional blogging career, I have written about
various topics, including business, sports, entertainment, and technology.
However, I found the most success in writing about South Asian business and the
economy. In fact, the success I achieved in this field was nothing short of a
fairy tale.
I was featured in Google News, cited by major media outlets,
and even referenced in Wikipedia. My blogs attracted thousands of page views,
and I received an award for my writing on South Asia. In this post, I will
share my experience of blogging about South Asia.
### My Blogs on South Asia
First, I’d like to discuss the blogs I contributed to. I
wrote for four different blogs about South Asia, and I will describe them in
detail.
The first blog was **South Asia Biz**, which, as the name
suggests, focused primarily on South Asian business. It was part of the
California-based NoMoreMedia network and was launched in March 2006. I
continued writing for it until 2008, during which time it achieved significant
success.
This was my first professional blog, marking my transition
into full-time blogging. I was thrilled to contribute to it and saw substantial
success. I worked alongside a dedicated co-blogger, and together, we had tremendous
achievements in 2006 and 2007.
South Asia Biz was referenced by Wikipedia, BBC, Channel 4
UK, Boeing, and many other top global blogs. We also provided extensive
coverage of Aishwarya Rai’s wedding in 2007. During 2006 and 2007, it was
considered one of the top blogs on South Asia, covering not just India but the
entire region. It was even recognized as a quality blog by *The Times Online
UK* and was shortlisted for the Asia Blog Award in 2006.
The second blog, **Indian Raj**, was also part of the
NoMoreMedia network. I primarily wrote about India on this blog, and while it
did gain some traction, it never reached the success level of South Asia Biz.
Nonetheless, it was a respectable blog.
The third blog, **South Asia Fair**, was part of the Cosmo
Fair blog network. Unfortunately, we did not invest as much time and effort
into it as we should have. While it wasn’t a failure, I regret not taking it
more seriously.
The final blog, **South Asia Blog**, became one of my
biggest successes in blogging. We managed to get it featured in Google News,
which was a significant achievement. I never imagined being able to bring a
blog into Google News, but we did it. Though it lasted only three months, the
journey was incredibly rewarding.
### Coverage of South Asian Countries
Since India has the largest population in South Asia, with
approximately 1.4 billion people, we naturally wrote more about India than any
other country. In fact, the combined population of all the other South Asian
nations does not even equal half of India’s population.
Most of our posts about India focused on three key areas:
1. **Business** – As our primary focus was business, we covered various
industries extensively.
2. **Bollywood** – The Indian film industry always had plenty of news and
updates.
3. **Cricket** – As India’s most popular sport, cricket was another major topic
of coverage.
I also covered **Pakistan**, primarily its outsourcing
sector and general economic developments. One recurring topic was Pakistan’s
electricity crisis, which worsened during the summer months. While I wrote
extensively about Pakistan’s economy, I rarely covered politics.
The exception to my non-political coverage was **Nepal**.
Between 2006 and 2010, Nepal underwent significant political changes, including
the end of the monarchy and the introduction of elections. I covered Nepal’s
political developments extensively. Additionally, I wrote about Nepal’s
economy, focusing on tourism, agriculture, and its chronic electricity
shortages, commonly referred to as load shedding.
I also wrote about **Sri Lanka**, particularly its
outsourcing industry and tourism sector. Occasionally, I covered cricket, as
Sri Lanka has a strong cricketing presence.
Regarding **Bangladesh**, I did not write much about it in
2006 and 2007. However, in South Asia Blog, we significantly increased our
coverage of Bangladesh, particularly its business sector.
**Bhutan** was another country I covered, although
information was scarce at the time. The country was undergoing a transformation
between 2006 and 2011, with the introduction of its first English-language
newspaper, online forums, and possibly even its first television channel. I
documented these changes whenever possible.
Lastly, I covered **Maldives**, primarily focusing on its
tourism and fishing industries. Although my coverage was limited, I enjoyed
writing about the country’s economic landscape.
### Final Thoughts
Writing about South Asia has been a fascinating journey for
me, and I truly enjoyed it. I plan to continue sharing success stories related
to South Asia Blog in future posts.
