How To Blog Crash Course – Part 1

Sep 192011
 

How to Blog
Are You Ready to Learn How To Blog?

Welcome to Part 1 of the “How To Blog” Crash Course Series.

These lessons will give you the basics of how to blog and start the beginning of a successful online career.

First, we’re going to go over some of the basics of setting up your blog. I will also give you a few simple techniques that you can implement which will help the popularity of your blog. And lastly, if you’re wanting to build a blog that makes you money, I’ll share with you how to blog and make it profitable, too.

For starters we’ll talk about how to blog using the best blogging platform. Whether you’re blogging for fun or blogging for money, these methods will work.

There are many different blogging platforms available for bloggers. None of them are difficult to use and they each have their advantages and disadvantages. A blogging platform is simply a piece of software that turns your writings into a website that visitors all over the world can navigate and access.

I’ll cover two of the most common platforms which most bloggers use… WordPress and Blogger. As you’re learning how to blog, before you decide which blogging platform you’d prefer, let’s talk about a few of the pros and cons of two of the top platforms. This way, you can get a better idea of which one will be most suitable for you.

First, let’s take a look at how to blog with Blogger.com.

There are several advantages to using blogger.com.

1. Using this platform is as easy as following a few prompts. Many new bloggers like Blogger.com because of its simplicity. It’s also 100% free.

2. There is nothing to install.

3. There is no need to get external hosting because Blogger.com is a “self-hosted” blogging platform.

4. They will give you a domain based on the title of your blog, so you won’t need to purchase a separate domain.

5. If you want to create multiple blogs, they make it very convenient to access all of them in one location. Blogger.com is a great platform for niche blogging. Meaning, you will create 20, 30, 100… blogs each having their own niche.

While these are all great benefits, as is usually the case, there are some major draw-backs to using Blogger.com.

1. Your flexibility is very limited. If you’re just starting to learn how to blog, you should know that the functions of blogger.com are extremely limited. There are many things that you won’t be able to do with your blog, that to me, are necessary for professional bloggers. However, if you’re blogging for fun, some of this will be a non-issue to you.

2. Another important point for a person who is new to learning how to blog, you’ll want to set your blog apart with a custom theme. Using blogger.com limits your flexibility in this area. This means that your blog will have the exact same look and feel that everyone else who uses blogger.com has.

3. With blogger, you can’t use your own domain name. Blogger.com will give you a domain that will look similar to this: “http://yourblogname.blogger.com/” Other platforms allow you to use your own domain, which will look like this: “http://yourblogname.com/”, which, of course, is a much better way to go.

4. If your blog is not self-hosted, you will NEVER own it. If you are learning how to blog so that you can take it to a career level, you want to host your blog on your own server. Many blogs that are not self-hosted have gotten shut down. This can easily happen because, the blog is actually owned by whatever platform you’re hosting with. If they don’t like your content or don’t approve of your subject, they can shut it down at the flip of a switch and all of your hard work (and sometimes your income) is completely lost.

5. You are in full control. When your blog is self-hosted, you are the one who determines how it looks, what it says, whether it’s up or blocked… The changes you are able to make to a self-hosted blog are literally limitless. As you get more into learning how to blog, you will understand the value of being in full control of everything that happens with your blog.

Now that we’ve seen what blogger.com has to offer, let’s take a look at another free platform which is WordPress.

WordPress.com is very similar to Blogger.com. The advantages and disadvantages are pretty much the same. However, there is also a free option with WordPress.org that has major advantages. To try listing all of the advantages here would be pretty futile. But I will list a few:

1. You are the owner of your blog — 100%. Unless you give your access to another person, you are the only one who has control. No one else can take it down, or object to anything you choose to write about. It’s all you, and when you’re just learning how to blog, that’s exactly what you want…

2. You can use your own domain name. With WordPress.org, you use your own domain installed on your WordPress platform. This is not difficult at all. Check the “Getting Started” section of this website and it will walk you through the entire process of getting your blog set up the right way.

3. You have the freedom to select any blog theme that you like. There are tons of free themes that you can select directly through WordPress. There are also many themes that your can purchase and install on your blog. Again, there are so many options to choose from when you’re hosting your own blog.

4. With a self-hosted blog through WordPress, you also have access to many, many “plugins” that will do all sorts of things to increase the functionality of your blog. The WordPress.org blogging system is definitely the way to go if you’re just learning how to blog and you want to get the most out of your blogging efforts.

5. And this deserves to be repeated… You are at liberty to blog about whatever topic you choose without being concerned about your blog being taken down.

The cons of using this platform are so minor, that it almost doesn’t matter, but to give you the full picture from all sides, I will name a few.

1. Using WordPress.org is a lot more detailed than the others. This means that setting up your blog and learning all of the ins and outs may take a little more time. But all it takes is a little patience. Once you get it, it’s like riding a bicycle. Easy.

2. You will have to spend money on a personal domain name but you can get one for about $10 per year.

3. You will have to sign up for a hosting account (usually less than $10 per month).

Even though there is a little cost involved with using WordPress.org, the cost is extremely minimal and the advantages are well worth it. Just about every professional blogger that I’ve come in contact with uses the WordPress.org option. And if you’re brand new to learning how to blog, you definitely want to start out with the best option available. This is very crucial to your success.

At this stage in your “how to blog” journey, I will assume that you have an idea of what your blog is going to be about. If you know, your next steps will be very easy. Of course, this next section only applies if you’re planning to use WordPress.org.

Your “Getting Started” Assignment:

1. Buy your domain name. If you’ve never purchased a domain name, or you’re not sure where to purchase it from, use the most popular seller of domains, “Godaddy“. One thing I love about GoDaddy is that they offer around the clock support should you ever have questions or need any help with your domain. They will walk you through whatever process you need that is connected to your domain.

2. Sign up for your web-hosting account. “Hostgator” is the one that I use. I’ve found it to be everything I need in a web host and again, it’s the most popular one around. And just like GoDaddy, they also offer 24/7 support should you need assistance. I’ve used them several times and I can’t tell you how relieved I was that they were actually there to help me.

3. I’ve mentioned a few blogging platforms in this post. Check them all out then choose the one that best suits your needs. In the Get Started section of this blog, I walk you through the process of how to get your blog all set up.

If you get stuck on any part of getting set up, click this link. When you have a step-by-step system to follow, learning how to blog is super easy.

Filed in how to blog.

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How to Blog Crash Course – Part 2

Sep 192011
 

How to Blog
How To Blog and Brainstorm Good Topic Ideas!

Here is your second lesson in the “How to Blog” crash course. If you haven’t read part one yet, be sure to do that first.

If you’ve reviewed Part 1, you know by now which blogging platform you would like to use for your new blog. Today we’ll brainstorm to help you come up with some good topic ideas for your new blog. This is the starting point of learning how to blog.

Keeping your blog fresh and interesting for your readers is extremely important.

Finding a good niche to start in isn’t difficult for most people who are just learning how to blog. But if you notice how many abandoned blogs are out there today, it proves that sometimes it’s difficult for “newbies” to keep their blogs going. The experts will tell you that the main component to keeping your blog alive is to post new content frequently. You simply continue to add new posts, videos, tips, and information to your blog regularly. You determine the schedule, then by all means… stick to it! While this might sound like a lot to do, it’s not… so don’t let it intimidate you.

Here are 5 simple tips that will help you to brainstorm fresh topic ideas as you’re learning how to blog.

1. Write About Current News That Pertains to Your Niche

As you’re learning how to blog, one thing you want to do is to write posts that will attract attention to it. One good way to do this is to include timely, interesting news about your niche. Regardless of who your target market is, you can usually find current information that your readers would find interesting. One simple way to do this is to sign up for Google Alerts (which costs nothing) and set it to send you alerts on keywords within your niche. You’ll get a constant flow of what’s going on and what’s current in your niche community. When you get the alerts, write a blog post about the topic.

2. Don’t Disable the Comments Section With Your Posts

A great source of inspiration for writing new posts can come from your own comments section. Let’s say you’ve written a great post about how to house-train a new puppy. In your comments area, you might start to see a few people asking questions about puppy-pads, doggie treats, puppy sprays… All of a sudden, you know exactly what your audience needs to know more about. Simply find the solution and there’s the topic for your next blog post. Hopefully you’re starting to see that learning how to blog isn’t difficult at all!

3. Create Resource Lists

There are, no doubt, other blogs and resources that your target audience needs to know about. As you continue your ‘how to blog’ journey, learn things about your niche and start to develop your own resources, then turn that information into a valuable blog post! Resource lists are super simple to write and provide a lot of value to your audience. Not to mention, it’s convenient for your readers and provides them a great benefit. Remember… the more value you can give, the better. So if you ever get stuck on what to write about… make a list and blog it!

4. Often Visit Other Blogs Within Your Niche

Never lose touch on what’s happening in your niche. As you’re seeing what other bloggers in your niche are writing about, you can take the same topic and write about it from a different angle. Or perhaps find an area of that topic that the writer may have missed, and write about it. In some cases, you may have a completely different opinion of the writer. If so… feel free to express your own views about the topic on your blog. Just be careful not to ever bash or talk negatively about a fellow blogger. This to me, is one of the most important things you need to understand as you’re new to learning how to blog. Being nice will get you a lot further and being mean can actually hurt your reputation. 8-)

5. Share Your Personal Experiences On Your Blog

As you’re working within your niche, you will start to have your own experiences that pertain to it. Letting your readers know how things are working for you can really help them to connect with you. You want your audience to feel as if they actually know you. This helps them to identify and connect with you better than any other type of post. If you try something that didn’t work well, blog about it. If you find something that has worked extremely well, blog about it and explain why. The personal touch always, always works on many levels.

When you first start learning how to blog, there are a lot of little things that can boggle your mind, but never let that hold you back.

These simple tips just scratch the surface of all the places you can find good ideas to write about for your blog posts. I’ve found that keeping a note-pad close by pays off. Whenever a good idea pops in my head, or I may see or read something that seems interesting, I jot it down… just for the idea. I then come back and develop it later.

That’s it for today. In the next post, I’ll talk about some of the different types of blog posts you can use.

Assignment for today…

Create a list of no less than 10 topics of interest that fit within your niche. Under each idea, write at least three points of interest. Make this your starting point for developing your idea list. Keep this list handy and add to it whenever you get a new idea. When you’re ready to start posting, use this list to develop your writings.

Hopefully, you’re already starting to see that learning how to blog is not difficult at all.

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How to Blog Crash Course – Part 3

Sep 182011
 

How to Blog
How To Blog Crash Course – Part 3

There are many different types of blog posts that you can write for your blog. Understanding what they are is very important when you’re just learning how to blog.

Blog posts can be short or long, they can tell a story or help people with technical tips. You can use blogs to make sales, share information, or drive traffic to another website. The most important thing you want to focus on is making sure to keep your blog posts interesting and fresh. You want to do this whether you’re just learning how to blog or if you’ve been at it for years. Keep in mind, if your visitors are bored with your blog, they won’t stay on it very long.

 Today, I’ll cover 5 types of blog posts that will keep your journey of learning how to blog exciting.

1. How To Blog With Reviews

When it comes to monetizing your blog, writing review posts is a good way to go. Here’s how it works. Let’s say you choose a product to market… you write a good review of that product and include your affiliate link withing the article. If your blog visitor gets the information they’re looking for, it could send them straight to your sales page. If you sales page is also good… wallah!! You just got paid! When you’re writing your review, be sure to include the major pros, but never leave out the cons. Keep your review balanced. When you do this, your audience will appreciate your honesty and will often gain a deeper trust in what you have to say about the product.

2. How To Blog & Share Quick Tips

Quick tips are generally very short, and are good for those “in between” blog posts. When you have a “quickie” piece of helpful information that people in your niche would appreciate, quick tips are the key — and the best part, they don’t have to be full-length articles. You can do a quick 5 minute video, and you’re good to go. Anther great tip if you’re just learning how to blog, try to keep your focus on one key area within your niche. It just makes it easier when you’re centering your content around a keyword group that stays pretty consistent. Of course, as your blog ages, you can begin to expand your topics (and your keyword group) as long as they’re still within your niche.

3. How To Blog Using Lists

Lists are easy to read, and that’s why people love them. Some of the most popular blogs on the net, you will notice, make good use of this type of blog post. There is not a niche on the planet where a list can’t fit. What a lot of bloggers don’t realize is that more people scan than actually read a post. List posts allows your readers to ‘glance’ over the content to get some of the information they desire. The post you’re reading right now happens to be a list style. You can use this style to list resources, how to’s, and so much more. the possibilities are endless.

4. How to Blog Using Interviews

Conducting interviews can be extremely valuable for your blog, but know that they will take a little more preparation and time. And this type of blog post is a lot easier than most bloggers think. All you really have to do is find a person in your niche who is knowledgeable about the topic. You simply ask them questions pertaining to your niche and let them answer and share their experience with your readers. Using interviews will not only give you great content, but will ultimately bring more traffic to your blog. And quite often, the person that you’re interviewing will invite their own audiences to view the content as well.

5. How To Blog Using “How To” Posts

“How To” posts are a lot like quick tip posts and is another way to give valuable information to your audience. A “how to” post differs from a “quick tip” inthat it can be divided into sections… again, much like the post you’re reading right now. Example: This is Part 3″ of a “How To” post. I’ve taken one piece of content and separated it into five separate sections. This type of post makes for easier reading and helps to avoid information overload.

Lesson 3 Assignment:

Using the “List Method” write a new blog post within your niche and add it to your blog.

You might need some help on what to write about. An easy way to find good ideas is to look at the FAQ section of a blog that’s within your niche. Pick a few questions and simply provide the answers written in a list format. Now, you have a post that has great content that people in your niche want to read about. You know they want to read about it because they’ve already asked the questions.

As you go through this simple course, you’ll come to discover that learning how to blog is truly easier than most people realize.

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How to Blog Crash Course – Part 4

Sep 172011
 

How to Blog
How To Blog Crash Course – Part 4!

Today’s topic for me, is the most important when it comes to learning how to blog successfully. That topic is how to get traffic to your blog.

The reason getting traffic to your blog is so important because it doesn’t matter how awesome your blog might be, if enough people aren’t visiting your blog every single day, you will never reach your goal and it will be useless (unless you’re blogging just for fun…) So today, we’re going to talk about how to blog and put a plan in place that will actually get traffic to your blog.

I meet bloggers every day who do an awesome job of writing good content. But for some of them who are just learning how to blog, getting good traffic is a major issue. So let’s talk about it.

Getting Traffic — So Important When Learning How to Blog

Listed here are 6 effective and common practices that will get more eyeballs on your blog.

1. How To Blog With Social Networking

If you’ve been around even for a short time, I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about being social online. That’s because social networking goes hand-in-hand with blogging.  You want to be distributing your content across multiple social networks and there are many ways of doing it.

Using the most common social platforms like Facebook, Digg, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Reddit and so many more makes it super simple. When it comes to being social online, one of the main things you want to remember is that it’s not all about YOU. It’s important that when you’re working withing these networks, that you consider and participate with other people. Responding to their updates and visiting their pages will give you a lot more juice than doing what most beginners do… and that’s blasting links all over the planet with no real interaction.

2. How To Blog Within Your Niche

This one is easy. It simply means that you search for blogs within your niche and start following them. Read their posts, see what they’re up to and from time to time, give some valuable insight through comments to their posts. Quite often, the blog author will notice you and your activity and visit your blog in return. Not to mention, if your comments are valuable, you’ll get visits from other commenters, too. But whatever you do… please don’t spam! Some bloggers go a little over-board with commenting all over the place, and their soon spotted as spammers. You don’t want this to happen to you. You don’t want to annoy people. If all of your comments are spammy, this will do you more harm than good. The key is to find a few good top-rated blogs and make good comments every week.

3. How to Blog Using An RSS Feed

Another good way to help your blogs syndication is to use Using RSS feeds, which will have your content sent to multiple readers. All good blogging systems have RSS feeds included. In case your blogging system doesn’t have one, check out Feedburner.com. FeedBurner allows you to share your feed through email which is very convenient for pulling in new readers. RSS feeds will also encourage repeat visits when your content is good, informative, and well written.

4. How to Blog Better with Keyword Research

One of the hardest things about starting a new blog is finding a topic that hasn’t already been beat to death. However, there is a plus to this. If the topic is a good one, new people will always be seeking out information about it. Using the right keywords is the difference in whether you’ll have a few or hundreds of people reading your posts every day! Keyword Research on its own is a huge topic, which could be broken down into multiple books. It’s so vast, it can’t fit into a “crash course”. Just know that it’s something you need to learn as much as you can about and be sure to implement when writing your blog posts.

5. How to Blog Using Regular Articles

One easy way to get more people viewing your content is to turn your blog posts into articles and posting them in article directories.  Learning how to blog and include article marketing should definitely become a permanent part of your content sharing methods. You actually get two feed two birds with one piece of bread. As you start to post your articles in article directories you get the added benefit of what we call “link juice”. That means that you’re adding back links to your blog which will help in your traffic rankings. Getting back links is another full topic on its own.

6. Backlinking Is Key For SEO

In a nutshell, backlinking is when other prominent websites are linking to your blog. Getting quality back links to your blog is an SEO method that will make a huge difference in how your page ranks in Google. In other words, the more links that are pointing to your blog, the better your rank. You definitely want ‘real people’ and not just robots and software visiting your blog. The best way to assure this is to share your content in places that are relevant to your topic. I know many bloggers who focus on just getting back links and could almost care less where they are. In my opinion, you’re better off getting quality links that will help you connect with real people who have an interest in what you’re blogging about. This is extremely important when you’re just learning how to blog. So I say, when you start to learn about getting back links, be specific. It just makes sense.

This post has given you just a few simple ways of driving traffic to your blog. Choose a method that works well for you, then wash, rinse, and repeat the process over and over again.

What you’ll soon discover is that you’ll end up with a lower Alexa score (the lower the better…) which means you’ve got more people visiting your blog and reading your posts. Ultimately, this leads to more leads, clients and customers for your business. If you’re just learning how to blog, you may as well do it right the first time… it will save you a lot of time!

Today’s Assignment:

Join each social media site that I mentioned earlier in the post. Be sure that your “about me” section isn’t left blank. Write it once and save it on your computer. Then all you need to do is copy and paste your “About Me” article for each site that you join. Even though you may feel that joining these sites isn’t really necessary at this stage, do it anyway. Trust me… it will come in handy later on.

Okay, now get ready for my favorite part of this crash course on learning how to blog. I’m going to finally share with you my favorite method for how to blog and making money online!

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How To Blog Crash Course – Part 5

Sep 172011
 

How to Blog
You’ve Made It To The Last Section of “How to Blog” – Crash Course! Congratulations!

This post is going to cover five easy ways you can make money from your blog.

Please understand that as you’re learning how to blog, you have the potential to add a full-time source of income to your household. You just have to understand what’s needed to make it work. Blogs have gone from being simple online journals to satisfying marketing needs for businesses and social needs for individuals.

The awesome thing about learning how to blog is that regardless of the niche you’ve chosen to work in, your blog can be tailored to make you money. While this post won’t go into the specifics of how to do some of the things I’ll mention here, it will explain what some of those things are. This will at least give you a starting point when it’s time to set up your personal blog.

So, let’s jump right in to how you can make this happen for you.

1. How To Blog and Make Money With Network Marketing

MLM is still one of the most lucrative business models for the average person… at least for the person who learns how to do it properly. I’ve been involved in network marketing since I left corporate America, and I haven’t looked back… not even once. The important thing you need to know if you want to market your mlm online, is that trying to promote your business using a company replicate website does not work. There are thousands of reps in any given company using the exact same website, so nothing sets you apart from the pack. To build an MLM business online, you have to know how to build an MLM blog, which is slightly different from most regular blogs. Knowing how to build a blog specifically for network marketing is not an option for the online MLMer.

2. How to Blog and Make Money Selling Products

Developing your own product and selling it online is another option that many people take. If you’ve found a good niche, there is information that people in your niche would like to know more about. Learn all you can about your niche and share it with your readers. People come to your blog to get information about that topic, so don’t be stingy. Sharing what you’ve learned about your niche will add great value to your blog, and will have your readers continuing to come back for more. You can create your own products with videos, e-books, cd’s and more. Allowing people to download these products for a price is a great way to go. All you do is advertise the product on your blog. If you’ve already given your readers valuable information for free, it won’t be difficult to sell them the really good stuff for a price!

3. How to Blog and Make Money Using Contextual Advertising

It takes very little intervention on your part to make money with contextual advertising. This is similar to CPA (cost per action) marketing, which means that as you write posts on your blog, you include links that will redirect your readers to another website. The site that your readers land on will usually be linked to a product that they can purchase, and you’ll receive a small commission when they do. Of course, it would be a product that your niche market would be interested in. While it doesn’t pay the most money, you could end up getting hundreds of clicks every month, which could lead to a nice passive stream of income.

4. How To Blog and Make Money With Google Adsense and PPC (pay-per-click)

With Google Adsence and PPC, all you do is add some simple code to your blog. Again, as your readers are drawn to your site by the value that you give, they may be drawn to click on one of these ads, and when they do, they would again be directed to a site that will pay you for a sale. The ads that show up are always based on the content of your posts, so they should be ads that your audience would be attracted to. These payouts are extremely small in comparison to most other methods, however, it can add up to hundreds of dollars over time. Nothing to write home about, but you’ve got the space for it on your blog, so why not use it…?

5. How To Blog and Make Money Using Post Reviews

Once your blog is getting a lot of daily traffic, you can get some attention from the reviews that you post… and you can write a review about just about anything that’s relevant to your niche. When you write and post reviews on various companies and their products, you can get paid well. There are many networks who will link advertisers and bloggers together. If you choose to work within one of these networks, you can earn a flat rate just for posting a review about a company or product. Of course, make sure that your review is within your blog’s niche.

6. How To Blog and Make Money With Affiliate Marketing

I saved Affiliate Marketing for last because hands-down, it’s by far my favorite way of making money online. Every way of making money with a blog isn’t listed here, but out of all the ways that are, to me, affiliate marketing is the simplest method, and easiest to start. All you need to do is select products that have already been created, write posts or reviews on your blog, and include your affiliate link.  And believe it or not, most product owners will even save you the time of writing articles and email messages. They often provide these materials for their affiliates along with banners and ads that they’ve already designed. So, you’re left with having to do nothing but copy and paste, although I recommend that you still personalize the articles to suit your style.

While affiliate marketing is very simple, just like all the other methods listed here, it only works if you have lots of people visiting your blog every day. So learning how to drive traffic to your site, and then doing it regularly will be important to your blog’s success.

As you see, you have many options for making money with your blog. Some will appeal to you and some won’t, so be sure to choose a method that suits you best, then learn all you can about how to use it.

If you’d like to continue to receive more tips for how to blog for money, and using systems that work, be sure to join my blogging newsletter.  This will keep you up to date on the latest tips and tricks for successful blogging.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our “Crash Course” on How to Blog and please do come back and visit often.

Assignment:

Think about which of these methods you’d like to use for making money with your blog. Google it, YouTube it, and research all you can on that method, then start to implement the things that you’ve learned. Of course, this is an assignment that will continue to grow as you research, and will be ongoing.

This is the ‘real beginning’ of truly learning how to blog and cash in on all of the internet profts that are available to you.

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