Today’s post is an interview with Luis Urbano of the blog C to the A. We bloggers can use all the help we can get when it comes to blogging, and C to the A is a great resource to turn to in order to guide us through the blogging process. I myself can always use help with the tech side of blogging. So, I was interested to learn more about this site and Urbano. Be sure to check it out below and follow Urbano on social media!
About the blogger
Name: Luis Urbano
Blog Name: C to the A Blog
Social Media Links (links open in a new tab):
Podcast: The Modern Blogger
Genre or Niche: Blogging/Education/Technology
Blog Summary: The C to the A Blog helps bloggers, students (of any grade level), and technology enthusiasts succeed in their careers. The blog was founded in September 2019 by Digital Marketers, Luis Urbano, and Anthony Pacheco.
Talking Shop
Why did you start your blog?
I had previously been a student blogger for Stanislaus State’s Admissions and Outreach department for over 4 years (it was actually my first blog too). Throughout that time I posted over 200 blog posts and it’s where my interest in blogging began. It was a WordPress blog too so that’s also where I learned a lot about the platform.
After graduating from graduate school, I had always been thinking about starting a new blog and two years later, C to the A came about. It was originally going to be a blog that was about a variety of different topics but with an emphasis on traveling around California (hence the name C to the A). In fact, the first post we wrote was on the “Things to do in Modesto, CA”.
Modesto is our hometown and we wanted to tell anyone visiting what some of the things they could do were. The blog theme would soon change though and we decided to keep the same name because it still made sense (helping you go from a C to an A grade if we think about it in educational terminology which is another topic of the blog).
How long did it take to set up your blog?
Overall not too long because both my co-founder and I, have used WordPress before. I’d say it probably took like between an hour to two to have settings and plugins configured.
How often do you post on your blog? Do you schedule posts in advance?
We try to post once per week but this varies each week. Some weeks, we have more time so more posts do go up but we try to not post more than twice a day. We don’t schedule posts in advance at the moment but may do so in the future.
How did you create your logo?
I actually created it on Canva. It’s an amazing tool that you can use for FREE. Not only can you design logos but you can design any other artwork like flyers, social media banners, blog featured images, etc.
What is something you wish you’d known before setting up your blog?
I wish I’d known of a great plugin to control spam comments. We’re using one right now that seems to be working so we may be writing a blog post in the future talking about it if it continues to do the job.
How have you promoted your blog? What has worked best? What has failed?
Currently, most of the promotions have happened on social media. I’d say that sharing posts on Twitter has worked the best, while Facebook has failed so far.
What’s the best review/compliment that you’ve received about your blog?
This one’s difficult to answer with just one comment. I’d say all of the comments that we’ve received so far have been the best compliments. The first post I did on blogging was the one I did on why it’s not a waste of time to blog. After seeing the number of comments we received on it, I knew I was going to have the focus of the blog be on helping bloggers, students, and tech enthusiasts. Every time we receive a comment on one of our posts, it’s the best compliment we can get. I couldn’t pick just one because each comment motivates me to continue to share knowledge on blogging.
How active are you in the online blogging community? How has this community helped you as a blogger?
I’m a member of a couple of groups on Facebook and try to help out other bloggers whenever I can. It helps to know what questions other bloggers have as this lets me know what topics I should be blogging about.
What is your day job? How, in any way, does it relate to your life as a blogger?
I’m a Digital Marketing Specialist for a Marketing Agency and I specialize in SEO and Social Media. Blogging and SEO/Social Media are super important for increasing your blog traffic so it’s really relatable to my life as a blogger.
How well do you handle criticism? Do you ever use that criticism to change your blog?
I handle it well. In fact, I encourage feedback on any posts. My belief is that you should appreciate criticism because by getting that feedback you’ll know what to improve on. We shouldn’t feel bad about any critical comments because it can help us grow our blogs.
What is the most fun part about writing? The most difficult?
The most fun part is being able to share all of your knowledge on your own platform. Best of all, it’s knowing that your post that you’re currently writing might be read by thousands of people. I really enjoy blog writing because we don’t have to follow any specific requirements as we did when writing essays in college (MLA, APA, etc.). To me, it’s more creative writing because we can focus on the visual elements of the blog content as well.
The most difficult part would be in figuring out what the best way to start/end a post is at times.
What skills have you acquired or information have you learned from blogging?
It’s helped me have a much better understanding of WordPress, writing, website coding, and graphic design. Once you start blogging, you’ll learn about so many different things that you probably didn’t think you would.
‘What If’ Scenarios
You’re offered to write a book based on your blogging expertise. What is your book about?
My book would be about starting your own blog and the lessons I’ve learned as a blogger (mistakes & successful moments).
If you could interview one famous person for your blog, who would it be?
I would interview Rand Fishkin. He’s one of my favorite SEO gurus out there. He’d have so much knowledge to share with my visitors on blogging and SEO so it would be amazing to be able to interview him for my blog.
An assistant offers to work for you for free indefinitely. What do you have them do?
If they have knowledge of blogging, education, and/or technology, they could write blog posts. If they don’t, then they could do research on WordPress plugins and recommend us to use some that we’re not currently using that can help the blog.
You have the time and energy to write another blog. What is it about?
My favorite soccer/football team, Sacramento Republic FC. We just recently we’re announced as a new MLS franchise joining the league in 2022, so there’s a lot I could be blogging about. I may start it soon though as I have a lot of ideas for it.
Your dream guest poster.
Brian Dean. He’s another well-known SEO guru who runs this amazing site called, Backlinko. He’s mastered the art of writing blog posts so it would be amazing to have a guest post written by him on our blog.
Just For Fun
Favorite band, musical artist, or genre/era of music.
Genre: Electronic
Era: 80s music in general
Favorite place you’ve visited/place you want to visit.
Yosemite National Park. I’m fortunate to live nearby and have had the chance to visit it multiple times. I’d like to visit Europe in general. I don’t have a specific city in mind but it’d be amazing to visit several places in Europe.
Food you’d like to win a lifetime supply of.
Tacos. I’d never get tired of eating tacos.
Your favorite podcast.
Marketing School. This is an amazing podcast with daily marketing tips in 5-10 minute episodes. I recommend any blogger listen to their episodes because there’s a lot that you can learn from marketing that’ll help you with your blog.
Your most unrealistic dream job.
Professional football/soccer player
Favorite Halloween costume ever.
Luigi; which I’d always been wanting to be and actually got the chance to this past Halloween.
Name a talent you have and a talent you wish you had.
I’m a fast typer, in fact, last time I did a typing test I scored around 80 words per minute. I think that explains why some of my blog posts can be rather lengthy, which is good for SEO.
I wish that I’d be more athletic to be able to play competitive sports more often.
Pin it!
This is a great post with a lot of good information. 🙂
Love interviews like this – I always love to read how someone else got into their blogging journey! Thanks for sharing!
Wow that was a very inspiring read and really useful for the bloggers who love to learn new things everyday!
Hello, Laura. I can definitely relate to what he said about learning so much when you start blogging. Back then, as a freelance content writer, I was just given some keywords to use, and that’s it. I send my work in Google doc format. But when I purchased my domain name, hosting, and installed WordPress, it opened a lot of opportunities for me. There’s so much to learn . And I’m super glad I did. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks for sharing your story. Even after learning about SEO and keyword research, I still feel like I’m trying to figure it all out. So, it’s definitely a learning process that requires a lot of trial and error.
Nice interview!! Love the setup of your blog too!
Thanks so much!
I love tacos too! Great post. I’m always inspired by other bloggers and it’s nice to see another one who created their logo in Canva. Can’t wait to check out his blog!
Thank you for the interview opportunity for your blog, Laura!
Thanks for participating!
Very interesting interview! Definitely checking out Luis’ blog. Love your interview format especially the “What if” section!
Thanks for reading. I’m always interested to read the answers to the What If questions.