Why Network with other bloggers?
Blogging for money is a business and just like in the offline world it is important to throw out your tentacles and network. Too many mistakenly think that to make money online all that is needed is to sit at the computer and just blog away. Your results will be immeasurably higher if you partake of some good old fashioned networking.
Think about it.
If your business was offline, you would attend Chamber of Commerce luncheons, join an association in your industry, attend conferences and conventions. Why? To promote your business of course, but also to network, to learn about what others in your industry are doing to move their businesses forward and to form strategic alliances. Why should blogging be any different?
Good news.
You can network in your pajamas if you want. Actually I like to network both online and off for my blogging businesses. I think that a mix of the two is important. Let me explain.
Lets start with the obvious one: networking online. There is a saying that no one reaches the pinnacles of success alone. Ask any guru out there. Cheering peers and colleagues were an integral part of their success. Did these colleagues and peers materialize out of thin air? NO. They were cultivated. This is an important strategy and there is nothing subversive about it. Here are some ways you can network online:
#1. Source out other blogs in the same niche as yours. Follow these blogs and post comments on their articles. Make sure they are quality comments.
#2. Select your favorite blogs and ask if the owner is willing to consider a guest article by you. If the offer is accepted, submit an original article. There is no guarantee that the owner of the blog will post it but chances are that if the article is well written it will eventually appear. This is the beginning of a relationship with that blogger. Treat it well.
#3. In your own blog give some link love to the blog and blogger that you are now cultivating. The blogger will be aware of your support – trust me on this.
#4. Join forums in your niche, follow for a while before posting, then post quality comments – comments that are helpful. Others will begin to take notice of you as will the owner of the forum.
#5. Review the blog that you are following. Tell your readership what you like about that blog, maybe a little bit of advice/critique as to what you think might make it an even better blog and summarize the highlights.
I can bet you dollars to donuts that over time you will have developed a good relationship with the owner of this blog. Rinse and repeat. This is the online version of networking.
I think that offline networking is equally important. Meet other bloggers or internet marketers in your area. Attend “meet ups” and other scheduled internet marketing functions. Some of these functions are free, others have a nominal fee. You will meet people in different disciplines of internet marketing and you will be surprised at how generous they are in sharing their knowledge.
Surprise, surprise. You might even be one of those who is able to share your expertise with a newbie. I recently attended a function that was not internet based. Everyone present was a small business owner. They were intrigued about my online marketing business and wanted to know more. We talked about blogging as a good way to begin their online marketing efforts. Of course I pointed them to my free e.book ABC’s of Blogging for Money.
A word of caution; when networking seek what you can do for the other person before asking them to do something for you. This will differentiate you from 90% of the attendees and will do you more good in the long run. When you meet someone for the first time, ask them what you can do for them that would help their business. Be sincere. Maybe all you can do is introduce them to someone who can be of help. Maybe at the moment there is not much you can do, but you never know when you will run into someone or a situation that is just right for your newly acquired contact.
One other thing when networking offline – its not about how many cards you give out or collect. Make two to five meaningful connections and begin to cultivate a relationship. Be open but be selective as to whom you decide to invest your time with.
Networking is an important component of any business – whether you are selling flowers to the corporate market or blogging for money cultivating relationships is what will take your business to the highest pinnacles of success.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for money
PS.... There’s plenty of cheese at the pinnacles of success.
Quick Links:
Blogging for Money
ABC’s of Blogging For Money
Showing posts with label Blogger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogger. Show all posts
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
ABC's of Blogging #1 on Page One of Google!
WOW! ABC’s of Blogging for Money is #1 on Google and Blog Along With Me holds a respectable #2 position on Google’s page one! I am soooooo happy … I don’t think I have ever been #1 before! But before I sink into the euphoria of this most honored position I have some explaining to do …………..
The next round of topics on this blog is going to be on linking. While I have a fairly good working knowledge of this marketing technique I thought it would be a good idea to bone up on what other top dog bloggers have to say.
The more I read, the lower my spirits sank. I thought once again I did not do enough homework before starting this blog. The glaring error?
Keywords! Or the lack of them in my links. The most powerful link that you have is your domain name. For this blog I had decided to fight for Blogging for Money … while I frequently pepper this phrase in my postings, the domain name rules and it is glaringly bereft of the keyword phrase that I want this blog to become known for.
In an earlier post I had mentioned that this is a long term blog. I am blogging on how to blog – that is a crowded market with professional sites such as Blogger and Wordpress sitting comfortably in the top ranks on page one. Then there is Darren Rowse with his long standing and very popular Problogger coming up strongly in the middle of page one. When I was researching my keyword phrases, I decided that I could live with going for the phrase “blogging for money” which generates a daily search of 145.
While I did not expect to be sharing page space with Blogger, Wordpress or Darren, I did think that at least I would have got Google’s blessing with a page rank … oh, even page rank 1(with Google the higher the number of the page rank, the better it is) would have been great. Nada. Not even a nod.
Linking. Aha. The more I read on linking the deeper the realization sank in … It’s the link, stupid! The domain link does not have the keyword phrase in it! What does it have? It has the far more competitive word “blog” in it. Over 2 million searches daily. Other established and more savvy marketers are cornering that market! Dumb!!!
Now there are other strategies that I can employ to overcome this error but it would take time and aggressive marketing techniques. I could also go for another domain name and have it redirected to this site – I already did that once. I read that as prominent a blogger as Yaro Starak changed his first blog’s domain name three times. But this linking thing kept niggling at me. Then I had an idea. I Googled “blog along with me” and voila, there is my blog on page 1 holding positions 2, 3, 4 and 5.
My first reaction was big deal! Who goes searching for “blog along with me” but then I looked at the numbers – there it was in the 1 -10 of a possible 111,000,000! Be still my heart. How did my little blog of just 6 months beat out over a 100 million other entries?
I looked at each position to see what it was that helped me get to page one and as best as I can figure it out:
Content: The title “Blog Along With Me” is in the header. The phrase “blog along with me” appears in the description of the blog beneath the title in the header. This is a static part of the blog so that everytime a new post is added and the spiders or bots crawl this site, Blog Along With Me keeps showing up. Fresh content, consistent keyword.
Adbrite: I recently added Adbrite as an alternate to Adsense to monetize the blog. It is an interesting advertising system which works in tandem with Adsense, but replacing it when it can do better. Adbrite advertises to prospective advertisers and its ad for Blog Along With Me got picked up by Google. That is a link pickup. It occupies position No. 3.
Blog Catalog: I had submitted Blog Along to Blog Catalog and that too got crawled by Google and once again it is a link pickup
Twitter: One of my readers (bless you Michael) tweeted one of the posts on Twitter. And even though it was a Twitter URL it was a backlink to this site again!
I keep thinking of Mike Litman who was my first mentor. His favorite saying is “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.”
I had an idea! What about my A B C’s of Blogging for Money? That has been up a scant month. To my surprise, there it was on page one holding top spot in the 1 – 10 out of a possible 27,500,000! This time the keyword phrase was in the domain title, and my press release got picked up.
This is really encouraging. It means that if you do enough of the right stuff it will eventually over ride the wrong stuff and your efforts will begin to pay off. More on that in the next post.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogging for Money
PS… That’s a big smiley on the cheese.
Quick Links:
ABC's Of Blogging for Money
Blogger
Wordpress
Adbrite
Blog Catalog
Twitter
The next round of topics on this blog is going to be on linking. While I have a fairly good working knowledge of this marketing technique I thought it would be a good idea to bone up on what other top dog bloggers have to say.
The more I read, the lower my spirits sank. I thought once again I did not do enough homework before starting this blog. The glaring error?
Keywords! Or the lack of them in my links. The most powerful link that you have is your domain name. For this blog I had decided to fight for Blogging for Money … while I frequently pepper this phrase in my postings, the domain name rules and it is glaringly bereft of the keyword phrase that I want this blog to become known for.
In an earlier post I had mentioned that this is a long term blog. I am blogging on how to blog – that is a crowded market with professional sites such as Blogger and Wordpress sitting comfortably in the top ranks on page one. Then there is Darren Rowse with his long standing and very popular Problogger coming up strongly in the middle of page one. When I was researching my keyword phrases, I decided that I could live with going for the phrase “blogging for money” which generates a daily search of 145.
While I did not expect to be sharing page space with Blogger, Wordpress or Darren, I did think that at least I would have got Google’s blessing with a page rank … oh, even page rank 1(with Google the higher the number of the page rank, the better it is) would have been great. Nada. Not even a nod.
Linking. Aha. The more I read on linking the deeper the realization sank in … It’s the link, stupid! The domain link does not have the keyword phrase in it! What does it have? It has the far more competitive word “blog” in it. Over 2 million searches daily. Other established and more savvy marketers are cornering that market! Dumb!!!
Now there are other strategies that I can employ to overcome this error but it would take time and aggressive marketing techniques. I could also go for another domain name and have it redirected to this site – I already did that once. I read that as prominent a blogger as Yaro Starak changed his first blog’s domain name three times. But this linking thing kept niggling at me. Then I had an idea. I Googled “blog along with me” and voila, there is my blog on page 1 holding positions 2, 3, 4 and 5.
My first reaction was big deal! Who goes searching for “blog along with me” but then I looked at the numbers – there it was in the 1 -10 of a possible 111,000,000! Be still my heart. How did my little blog of just 6 months beat out over a 100 million other entries?
I looked at each position to see what it was that helped me get to page one and as best as I can figure it out:
Content: The title “Blog Along With Me” is in the header. The phrase “blog along with me” appears in the description of the blog beneath the title in the header. This is a static part of the blog so that everytime a new post is added and the spiders or bots crawl this site, Blog Along With Me keeps showing up. Fresh content, consistent keyword.
Adbrite: I recently added Adbrite as an alternate to Adsense to monetize the blog. It is an interesting advertising system which works in tandem with Adsense, but replacing it when it can do better. Adbrite advertises to prospective advertisers and its ad for Blog Along With Me got picked up by Google. That is a link pickup. It occupies position No. 3.
Blog Catalog: I had submitted Blog Along to Blog Catalog and that too got crawled by Google and once again it is a link pickup
Twitter: One of my readers (bless you Michael) tweeted one of the posts on Twitter. And even though it was a Twitter URL it was a backlink to this site again!
I keep thinking of Mike Litman who was my first mentor. His favorite saying is “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.”
I had an idea! What about my A B C’s of Blogging for Money? That has been up a scant month. To my surprise, there it was on page one holding top spot in the 1 – 10 out of a possible 27,500,000! This time the keyword phrase was in the domain title, and my press release got picked up.
This is really encouraging. It means that if you do enough of the right stuff it will eventually over ride the wrong stuff and your efforts will begin to pay off. More on that in the next post.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogging for Money
PS… That’s a big smiley on the cheese.
Quick Links:
ABC's Of Blogging for Money
Blogger
Wordpress
Adbrite
Blog Catalog
Monday, March 2, 2009
Blog Launch Announcement
“You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going”
So...I'm just getting it going - it sure isn't right. Not Yet! But the new blog is launched: Money Muscle Gym
One of my first mentors was ">Mike Litman – author of Conversations with Millionaires. I cut my internet marketing teeth with his Success Coaching. His outfit did the heavy lifting for me and I navigated through the course. My practicum website of that course is still up and has spawned others within that topic.
If someone were to ask me what was the biggest take away I got from that course I would have to say that it was not the course, but Mike Litman saying that you don't have to get it right, you just have to get it going. Having been at this thresheld many times now, I understand the wisdom of that saying. It is easy to get caught up in getting it right, but being "right" can paralyze you and you never get going.
There are gaping holes. If not exactly under construction, it is in dire need of completion. But I think I have some important things to say about it, things that I hope you will find useful.
1.Topic: money
This is one of those “Do as I say, not as I do” dictums. Talk about inch wide mile deep … NOT … more like mile wide - mile deep, no “niche” here. But I have an ulterior motive. I have a long term goal to be an authority on money, how to earn it online and become a multi-millionaire. This is not going to happen overnight.
What I will do instead is use the wheel system where the hub is money, and each spoke will be the niche, or specialty. Each one is then spoked out again … sort of like those big round firework displays that light up the sky on the Fourth of July.
- First Spoke: blueprint
- Second Spoke: money management
Ideally each spoke will be fully populated with articles with a call to action in an orderly fashion. Realistically, I may open a new spoke before finishing with the last one. As new information becomes available, I will post in spokes that have already been extensively covered. Each spoke will be monetized with affiliates and advertising.
I can generate a spoke by either using the “Category” function that is available, or set up a “page” for each spoke. For the time being I will go with the category option as you can see from the sidebar entry.
2. Wordpress:
Many times last week and the week before I had been sorely tempted to scrap the whole idea of Wordpress and just go and launch on Blogger where the territory while not conquered is at least familiar. I don’t think that the free version of Wordpress is as techie taxing as the paid version. I chose the latter because it allows me to monetize, that is it allows me to put up ads. It becomes a magazine or a billboard if you will. Now you can do that with the free Blogger, but its capacity is somewhat limited.
To be where you want to be, you have to follow those that have got there and most of the big time bloggers are on Wordpress.
The problem: I have no blinking idea how to put up those ads. You can see from the template I chose that there is plenty of room for banners and ads of all sorts. Moreover I cannot seem to find any instructions anywhere on that specific function…..aaaarrrrggghhh! But I will get there. At least, I can post. I can guarantee you that in 3 months’ time the look and feel will be much improved.
Quick Links:
Money Muscle Gym Blog
Conversations with Millionaires - Mike Litman
So...I'm just getting it going - it sure isn't right. Not Yet! But the new blog is launched: Money Muscle Gym
One of my first mentors was ">Mike Litman – author of Conversations with Millionaires. I cut my internet marketing teeth with his Success Coaching. His outfit did the heavy lifting for me and I navigated through the course. My practicum website of that course is still up and has spawned others within that topic.
If someone were to ask me what was the biggest take away I got from that course I would have to say that it was not the course, but Mike Litman saying that you don't have to get it right, you just have to get it going. Having been at this thresheld many times now, I understand the wisdom of that saying. It is easy to get caught up in getting it right, but being "right" can paralyze you and you never get going.
There are gaping holes. If not exactly under construction, it is in dire need of completion. But I think I have some important things to say about it, things that I hope you will find useful.
1.Topic: money
This is one of those “Do as I say, not as I do” dictums. Talk about inch wide mile deep … NOT … more like mile wide - mile deep, no “niche” here. But I have an ulterior motive. I have a long term goal to be an authority on money, how to earn it online and become a multi-millionaire. This is not going to happen overnight.
What I will do instead is use the wheel system where the hub is money, and each spoke will be the niche, or specialty. Each one is then spoked out again … sort of like those big round firework displays that light up the sky on the Fourth of July.
- First Spoke: blueprint
- Second Spoke: money management
Ideally each spoke will be fully populated with articles with a call to action in an orderly fashion. Realistically, I may open a new spoke before finishing with the last one. As new information becomes available, I will post in spokes that have already been extensively covered. Each spoke will be monetized with affiliates and advertising.
I can generate a spoke by either using the “Category” function that is available, or set up a “page” for each spoke. For the time being I will go with the category option as you can see from the sidebar entry.
2. Wordpress:
Many times last week and the week before I had been sorely tempted to scrap the whole idea of Wordpress and just go and launch on Blogger where the territory while not conquered is at least familiar. I don’t think that the free version of Wordpress is as techie taxing as the paid version. I chose the latter because it allows me to monetize, that is it allows me to put up ads. It becomes a magazine or a billboard if you will. Now you can do that with the free Blogger, but its capacity is somewhat limited.
To be where you want to be, you have to follow those that have got there and most of the big time bloggers are on Wordpress.
The problem: I have no blinking idea how to put up those ads. You can see from the template I chose that there is plenty of room for banners and ads of all sorts. Moreover I cannot seem to find any instructions anywhere on that specific function…..aaaarrrrggghhh! But I will get there. At least, I can post. I can guarantee you that in 3 months’ time the look and feel will be much improved.
Quick Links:
Money Muscle Gym Blog
Conversations with Millionaires - Mike Litman
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Blog Ready to Launch
After considering all the options that are available to me re creating/hosting my new blog, I have made my decision based on the following:
1. Domain Name: to be announced when the blog is up & live (this coming week)
2. Niche Market: Money.
Whoa! That is not a niche market!!!! Yes, I know - this is one of those "Do as I say, not as I do" caveats. Indeed the Internet is flooded with blogs and sites on money, how to make it, how to manage it, how to invest it ... and much much more. My chances of becoming the Search Engines' Darling and be rewarded with top ranking are slim indeed. Having said that I am willing to take longer for this blog to become a money making site for me. The reasons I chose this very broad market are:
a. It is top of mind for just about everyone today.
b. The broad topic allows for many niches.
c. It is consistent with this blog, which is about making money blogging, so it builds on to an existing "product"
d. The niches lend themselves to my being able to promote some of my other existing businesses as options
e. Topic comfort - I write my own material so this will not be as time consuming as perhaps other narrower niches I was considering
3. Platform: Wordpress (paid version)
The reason I chose Wordpress is twofold:
a) Many more options available for development of blog especially as I intend to make this a signature blog. For this same reason I chose the paid version as it offers so many more features and functions that I will be growing into.
and,
b) Having taken a number of courses in Internet Marketing, I was able to capitalize on an offering by Nitro Marketing to set up my blog for free.
4. Host: Hostgator
While both Blue Host and HostGator are offer similar services and product I chose HostGator
because it is the host service that Nitro recommends.
OK.... I fudged a bit here. I was going to do the Wordpress thing from scratch - although I was definitely going for the paid version. Techie type stuff is not my strong suite. It would not be the best use of my time. I had other options for a "set it & post it" wordpress blog (I have a few of those with another program I purchased), but decided to go with Nitro. My experiences with Nitro Marketing courses have been that the content is always strong on detail, complete, and delivers great support. I have not had a blog set up by this group before so in a way I will be testing a new product. Actually you can sign up for their free newsletter. They have started to host free webinars which I highly recommend. You will be advised of those webinars in the newsletters.
Lets recap to date:
1. Topic/Niche selection
2. Domain Name
3. Ten Posts written & ready to post in weekly or semi-weekly intervals
4. Platform (Blogger or Wordpress)
5. Host (needed only if paid Wordpress selected).
Happy Blogging!
Quick Links:
Wordpress
HostGator
Nitro Marketing Blueprint
1. Domain Name: to be announced when the blog is up & live (this coming week)
2. Niche Market: Money.
Whoa! That is not a niche market!!!! Yes, I know - this is one of those "Do as I say, not as I do" caveats. Indeed the Internet is flooded with blogs and sites on money, how to make it, how to manage it, how to invest it ... and much much more. My chances of becoming the Search Engines' Darling and be rewarded with top ranking are slim indeed. Having said that I am willing to take longer for this blog to become a money making site for me. The reasons I chose this very broad market are:
a. It is top of mind for just about everyone today.
b. The broad topic allows for many niches.
c. It is consistent with this blog, which is about making money blogging, so it builds on to an existing "product"
d. The niches lend themselves to my being able to promote some of my other existing businesses as options
e. Topic comfort - I write my own material so this will not be as time consuming as perhaps other narrower niches I was considering
3. Platform: Wordpress (paid version)
The reason I chose Wordpress is twofold:
a) Many more options available for development of blog especially as I intend to make this a signature blog. For this same reason I chose the paid version as it offers so many more features and functions that I will be growing into.
and,
b) Having taken a number of courses in Internet Marketing, I was able to capitalize on an offering by Nitro Marketing to set up my blog for free.
4. Host: Hostgator
While both Blue Host and HostGator are offer similar services and product I chose HostGator
because it is the host service that Nitro recommends.
OK.... I fudged a bit here. I was going to do the Wordpress thing from scratch - although I was definitely going for the paid version. Techie type stuff is not my strong suite. It would not be the best use of my time. I had other options for a "set it & post it" wordpress blog (I have a few of those with another program I purchased), but decided to go with Nitro. My experiences with Nitro Marketing courses have been that the content is always strong on detail, complete, and delivers great support. I have not had a blog set up by this group before so in a way I will be testing a new product. Actually you can sign up for their free newsletter. They have started to host free webinars which I highly recommend. You will be advised of those webinars in the newsletters.
Lets recap to date:
1. Topic/Niche selection
2. Domain Name
3. Ten Posts written & ready to post in weekly or semi-weekly intervals
4. Platform (Blogger or Wordpress)
5. Host (needed only if paid Wordpress selected).
Happy Blogging!
Quick Links:
Wordpress
HostGator
Nitro Marketing Blueprint
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Good Grief Google!
In my last posting I set out a few goals for February one of which was to fix the Google "adsense" space on the sidebar of this blog. It appears very nicely at the end of each post, but for some reason the sidebar has given me nothing but grief. I fixed it for a nano second, or so it seems as it appeared for a while, then I went into my adsense management section in blogge to add another one and voila! It has disappeared again! Slavishly I have followed the instructions on how to activate it- but still no joy!!! aaaaarrrggghhhh!!!
Having said that I still think that Blogger is the easier platform upon which to build your blog. It is very forgiving and does not require you to learn anything about other types of software. So, if this is going to be your first blog or if you are new to blogging, it is Blogger hands down. .
On the other hand if you are a techie type or if in real life you find yourself gravitating towards Operations rather than Sales or Customer Service, then Wordpress is your platform - it is also the platform that most professional bloggers choose. For my next blog I have decided that I will use Wordpress, not because I am blessed with a left brain nor that I am a professional blogger - I am learning on the job in public view - but becuase I feel I need to stretch my muscles. Remember, if it doesn't scare you, its not much of a goal, just business as usual. If you don't exercise your muscles, atrophy sets in. Frequent visits to the gym builds healthy muscles.
I am being asked if I have selected my next niche topic and was I successful in finding a good domain name. Yes, and Yes. I am torn between revealing it now or waiting to make a full announcement as the new blog goes live. I think I'll defer this decision for a few more days.
Meanwhile if you are struggling between Blogger or Wordpress this may help: Blogger is free and money friendly, that is you can monetize it with Adsense and Affiliates; Wordpress has a free and paid version. The free version has limitations.
Till next time ...........
PS... sprinkled within this post are hints of the my next blog topic. See if you can find it and post in comments below:
REPLY WITH COMMENTS BELOW
Having said that I still think that Blogger is the easier platform upon which to build your blog. It is very forgiving and does not require you to learn anything about other types of software. So, if this is going to be your first blog or if you are new to blogging, it is Blogger hands down. .
On the other hand if you are a techie type or if in real life you find yourself gravitating towards Operations rather than Sales or Customer Service, then Wordpress is your platform - it is also the platform that most professional bloggers choose. For my next blog I have decided that I will use Wordpress, not because I am blessed with a left brain nor that I am a professional blogger - I am learning on the job in public view - but becuase I feel I need to stretch my muscles. Remember, if it doesn't scare you, its not much of a goal, just business as usual. If you don't exercise your muscles, atrophy sets in. Frequent visits to the gym builds healthy muscles.
I am being asked if I have selected my next niche topic and was I successful in finding a good domain name. Yes, and Yes. I am torn between revealing it now or waiting to make a full announcement as the new blog goes live. I think I'll defer this decision for a few more days.
Meanwhile if you are struggling between Blogger or Wordpress this may help: Blogger is free and money friendly, that is you can monetize it with Adsense and Affiliates; Wordpress has a free and paid version. The free version has limitations.
Till next time ...........
PS... sprinkled within this post are hints of the my next blog topic. See if you can find it and post in comments below:
REPLY WITH COMMENTS BELOW
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Blogger or Wordpress?
OK. You are ready, able and willing to go.
"LET ME AT IT! Let me start on that blog already!" you say.
Not so fast my little chickadee. We’re almost there, patience. Success is an 80-20 rule and like Dan Lok says, the 80% is the work that goes in at the beginning, the preparation, the research. When all is done your chance of success goes up when you are ready to launch.
So let’s recap:
- niche topic: you’ve got one
- buyers/advertisers exist for this topic
- available affiliates
- keyword rich title picked for blog
- keyword domain availability checked
- decision made to purchase the keyword domain
- READY TO GO!
Not quite!
Your next step is to decide whether you want to use Blogger or Wordpress as your host. Things to consider:
BLOGGER – www.blogger.com
What’s good about Blogger:
a) Easy to set up. Everything is done for you. You just open a Blogger account, register your blog, go through the tutorial, set up your specifications and you are ready to go. All this should take no more than two hours, I know some people who have done it in half an hour!
b) No need to know HTML (that’s a whole different internet language that webmasters are whiz bang kids at, but not you and certainly not me)
c) No need to worry whether you have a c-panel or an how to use FTP
d) No need to know when to upload and when to download --- yes Virginia, there is a difference!!!
e) FREE! Unlimited number of blogs.
The downside of Blogger:
a) There is a limited selection of templates.
b) Tabulated pages are not an option
c) If you have a problem and need technical support, they expect you to rely on the forum for your answers – i.e., there does not appear to be a way to be able to connect with Google staff to help you with any technical problems you may be having.
d) Changes/additions you make sometimes don’t take. As an example if you look to the right hand side of this blog, you will notice that there are two gaps. Those gaps are supposed to be carrying Google ads, but for some reason I have not been successful in having them take.
WORDPRESS: www.wordpress.com
What’s good about Wordpress:
a) looks more like a website
b) functions more like a website
c) many more templates available
d) many more options
e) professional bloggers’ choice
Downside of Wordpress:
a) Not as much of a point and click system.
b) Offers two programs – one much more like the blogger, the other (the one with many more options) requires at least a familiarity for HTML, FTP and a c-panel
c) Up to three blogs free (after that it’s a for fee usage)
Most of my blogs are on Blogger. The few that I have with Wordpress were set up for me. My recommendation is that if you are new to Internet Marketing and to blogging, then you cannot go wrong with Blogger. I would go so far as to suggest that your first few blogs are with Blogger. Look at these as your “starter” businesses. As you begin to build your IM muscles, then go further a field.
If you are an experienced Internet Marketer and have some knowledge with HTML, FTP and c-panel, then I would recommend Wordpress … you know, as Mark Burnett says: Jump In! Even if You Don't Know How to Swim!
There are other places where you can have your blogs hosted, but the above two seem to be the industry standards.
ACTION: Open an account with either Blogger or Wordpress. Don’t go live yet. Take the time to go over the tutorials
Quick links:
Dan Lok
Blogger
Wordpress
Recommended Reading:
Jump In! Even If You Don't Know How to Swim! Mike Burnett of Survivor Series
"LET ME AT IT! Let me start on that blog already!" you say.
Not so fast my little chickadee. We’re almost there, patience. Success is an 80-20 rule and like Dan Lok says, the 80% is the work that goes in at the beginning, the preparation, the research. When all is done your chance of success goes up when you are ready to launch.
So let’s recap:
- niche topic: you’ve got one
- buyers/advertisers exist for this topic
- available affiliates
- keyword rich title picked for blog
- keyword domain availability checked
- decision made to purchase the keyword domain
- READY TO GO!
Not quite!
Your next step is to decide whether you want to use Blogger or Wordpress as your host. Things to consider:
BLOGGER – www.blogger.com
What’s good about Blogger:
a) Easy to set up. Everything is done for you. You just open a Blogger account, register your blog, go through the tutorial, set up your specifications and you are ready to go. All this should take no more than two hours, I know some people who have done it in half an hour!
b) No need to know HTML (that’s a whole different internet language that webmasters are whiz bang kids at, but not you and certainly not me)
c) No need to worry whether you have a c-panel or an how to use FTP
d) No need to know when to upload and when to download --- yes Virginia, there is a difference!!!
e) FREE! Unlimited number of blogs.
The downside of Blogger:
a) There is a limited selection of templates.
b) Tabulated pages are not an option
c) If you have a problem and need technical support, they expect you to rely on the forum for your answers – i.e., there does not appear to be a way to be able to connect with Google staff to help you with any technical problems you may be having.
d) Changes/additions you make sometimes don’t take. As an example if you look to the right hand side of this blog, you will notice that there are two gaps. Those gaps are supposed to be carrying Google ads, but for some reason I have not been successful in having them take.
WORDPRESS: www.wordpress.com
What’s good about Wordpress:
a) looks more like a website
b) functions more like a website
c) many more templates available
d) many more options
e) professional bloggers’ choice
Downside of Wordpress:
a) Not as much of a point and click system.
b) Offers two programs – one much more like the blogger, the other (the one with many more options) requires at least a familiarity for HTML, FTP and a c-panel
c) Up to three blogs free (after that it’s a for fee usage)
Most of my blogs are on Blogger. The few that I have with Wordpress were set up for me. My recommendation is that if you are new to Internet Marketing and to blogging, then you cannot go wrong with Blogger. I would go so far as to suggest that your first few blogs are with Blogger. Look at these as your “starter” businesses. As you begin to build your IM muscles, then go further a field.
If you are an experienced Internet Marketer and have some knowledge with HTML, FTP and c-panel, then I would recommend Wordpress … you know, as Mark Burnett says: Jump In! Even if You Don't Know How to Swim!
There are other places where you can have your blogs hosted, but the above two seem to be the industry standards.
ACTION: Open an account with either Blogger or Wordpress. Don’t go live yet. Take the time to go over the tutorials
Quick links:
Dan Lok
Blogger
Wordpress
Recommended Reading:
Jump In! Even If You Don't Know How to Swim! Mike Burnett of Survivor Series
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Domain Name Selection
Blog domain names can be assigned to the default designation of the server of your domain or, you can buy a domain name and the servers identity will not appear.
What exactly are you talking about? ... you say.
OK. Lets look at our options.
This blog is hosted by Blogger. You will note that the URL is shown as
http://www.ripalongwithme.blogspot.com
The word "blogspot" is the trade name for Blogger hosted blogs, and its inclusion in the URL shows everyone that this is a Blogger blog. As long as the title you want to give your blog has not already been taken, there is no cost for this blog or for the title. The same would apply if you chose to use Wordpress, the URL in that case would include "wordpress" or one of two other selections that Wordpress offers. Wordpress will give you up to 3 blogs for free.
Choosing the right domain, or "title" for your blog is important. It should have relevance to the topic upon which you will be blogging. Lets take this blog and another one I put up quite some time ago as examples.
The first blog is AppleSeeds Grow blog. This I put up a few years ago. The intention here was that I wanted to use the word AppleSeeds as an analogy to planting seeds of wealth, health and wisdom. The content carries some philosophical meandering, tips on good health and on growing wealth. I publish a newsletter by the same name and some of its content gets published on this blog.
The choice of AppleSeeds it turned out was poorly thought out. Originally this blog was devoid of any ads, then as I developed some Internet Marketing smarts I decided to monetize this site with Google Adsense.
While the title and word embody a powerful imagery on personal development, Google does not take to imagery too well. Even though I chose to allow Google Adsense for content, when Google went crawling through my blog, the first thing it picked up was apple and for the longest time the type of ads that were posted on this blog had to do with apple, the fruit, which of course had nothing to do with my content. Visitors who came to this blog certainly had not interest in apple seeds or apple sauce and so the ads were not being clicked, hence no income from Google. It has only been recently that the ads have turned more towards content rather than the title. Interestingly I never saw an ad that was for Apple Computers!
Rule No. 1: Keyword Blog Title should be relevant to your topic.
The second blog I want to call your attention to is this one. Once again when I put this blog up in November, its intent was somewhat different from what I have since turned it into. I and a number of my colleagues bought a program called Rip2 It. While it was promoted as a turnkey system that was as easy as ABC, many of us were having difficulties with the A B Cs and my intention was to post my progress through this program and in Internet Marketing. If you read the summary above under the title, you will understand the original direction or purpose of this blog.
Each December I review the year and make adjustments for the coming one. As I looked at this blog, I thought it could serve a better purpose, not just for a small group of people who were on the Rip2 It program, but to a larger audience who were just starting in Internet Marketing. It was then that I thought about setting out the step by step process of creating a blog. I have since decided on a different title, but will leave the current one up for a while so that readers understand what I mean.
Rule No. 2: Decide on the purpose of your blog.
An example of a good blog Domain: http://www.mercedesbenz.rip2itblogs.com There is no question about it. This is a blog on Mercedes Benz, the content supports it. But where are the ads? The purpose of this blog is to support and point traffic towards its website http://www.BuyMeAMercedesBenz.com. We'll talk about that later.
I strongly recommend that you check and see if the title of your blog is available as a dot com domain name, that is without the word "blogspot" or "wordpress" showing up in the URL. WHY? So you have full ownership of the name.
Someone I know started a travel blog. He called it Travel Sapien. Its a Blogger hosted blog. As travel blogs go this one is somewhat unusual and over time began to draw traffic. Someone checked to see if the dot com URL was available, it was and it was bought. Here is what happened:
My friend's blog URL published address: http://www.travelsapien.blogspot.com
Competitor boughtand owned this published address: http://www.travelsapien.com
Can you see the confusion that this caused the search engines? It took some finagling but my friend now owns the dot com domain name.
There are many sellers of domain names. One of the most popular and the one I use is Go Daddy
Rule No. 3 : Buy the dot com URL name
ACTION ONE: Decide on the Title of your Blog.
ACTION TWO: Check availability of dot com URL, if availble buy, if not, search for a different title/domain for your blog.
Quick Links:
Go Daddy
AppleSeeds Grow
Mercedes Benz
Buy Me A Mercedes Benz
What exactly are you talking about? ... you say.
OK. Lets look at our options.
This blog is hosted by Blogger. You will note that the URL is shown as
http://www.ripalongwithme.blogspot.com
The word "blogspot" is the trade name for Blogger hosted blogs, and its inclusion in the URL shows everyone that this is a Blogger blog. As long as the title you want to give your blog has not already been taken, there is no cost for this blog or for the title. The same would apply if you chose to use Wordpress, the URL in that case would include "wordpress" or one of two other selections that Wordpress offers. Wordpress will give you up to 3 blogs for free.
Choosing the right domain, or "title" for your blog is important. It should have relevance to the topic upon which you will be blogging. Lets take this blog and another one I put up quite some time ago as examples.
The first blog is AppleSeeds Grow blog. This I put up a few years ago. The intention here was that I wanted to use the word AppleSeeds as an analogy to planting seeds of wealth, health and wisdom. The content carries some philosophical meandering, tips on good health and on growing wealth. I publish a newsletter by the same name and some of its content gets published on this blog.
The choice of AppleSeeds it turned out was poorly thought out. Originally this blog was devoid of any ads, then as I developed some Internet Marketing smarts I decided to monetize this site with Google Adsense.
While the title and word embody a powerful imagery on personal development, Google does not take to imagery too well. Even though I chose to allow Google Adsense for content, when Google went crawling through my blog, the first thing it picked up was apple and for the longest time the type of ads that were posted on this blog had to do with apple, the fruit, which of course had nothing to do with my content. Visitors who came to this blog certainly had not interest in apple seeds or apple sauce and so the ads were not being clicked, hence no income from Google. It has only been recently that the ads have turned more towards content rather than the title. Interestingly I never saw an ad that was for Apple Computers!
Rule No. 1: Keyword Blog Title should be relevant to your topic.
The second blog I want to call your attention to is this one. Once again when I put this blog up in November, its intent was somewhat different from what I have since turned it into. I and a number of my colleagues bought a program called Rip2 It. While it was promoted as a turnkey system that was as easy as ABC, many of us were having difficulties with the A B Cs and my intention was to post my progress through this program and in Internet Marketing. If you read the summary above under the title, you will understand the original direction or purpose of this blog.
Each December I review the year and make adjustments for the coming one. As I looked at this blog, I thought it could serve a better purpose, not just for a small group of people who were on the Rip2 It program, but to a larger audience who were just starting in Internet Marketing. It was then that I thought about setting out the step by step process of creating a blog. I have since decided on a different title, but will leave the current one up for a while so that readers understand what I mean.
Rule No. 2: Decide on the purpose of your blog.
An example of a good blog Domain: http://www.mercedesbenz.rip2itblogs.com There is no question about it. This is a blog on Mercedes Benz, the content supports it. But where are the ads? The purpose of this blog is to support and point traffic towards its website http://www.BuyMeAMercedesBenz.com. We'll talk about that later.
I strongly recommend that you check and see if the title of your blog is available as a dot com domain name, that is without the word "blogspot" or "wordpress" showing up in the URL. WHY? So you have full ownership of the name.
Someone I know started a travel blog. He called it Travel Sapien. Its a Blogger hosted blog. As travel blogs go this one is somewhat unusual and over time began to draw traffic. Someone checked to see if the dot com URL was available, it was and it was bought. Here is what happened:
My friend's blog URL published address: http://www.travelsapien.blogspot.com
Competitor boughtand owned this published address: http://www.travelsapien.com
Can you see the confusion that this caused the search engines? It took some finagling but my friend now owns the dot com domain name.
There are many sellers of domain names. One of the most popular and the one I use is Go Daddy
Rule No. 3 : Buy the dot com URL name
ACTION ONE: Decide on the Title of your Blog.
ACTION TWO: Check availability of dot com URL, if availble buy, if not, search for a different title/domain for your blog.
Quick Links:
Go Daddy
AppleSeeds Grow
Mercedes Benz
Buy Me A Mercedes Benz
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