Blog-Software

Step 1: Choose Your PassionWhat does passion have to do with it? I just want to make money!
Well making money might be a good reason for starting a blog and money CAN be made, but in the end creating and maintaining a blog that is going to last is more about your passion or your driving force. Ask yourself this question;”What would I do everyday, for the rest of my life, without ever being paid to do it?”
Whatever answer you come up with is your passion. That is what your blog should be about; YOUR PASSION. That is what you should be blogging about. Write for yourself before you right for someone else. Money and fame are just icing on the cake.
See, when you first start writing your blog, there most likely WILL NOT be any money returned from your time investment. Making money is usually a result of long hours invested in gaining subscribers and avid readers and becoming known as an “expert”. You might decide to monetize your blog, but without people reading your blog, how are you going to make money?
Remember this:THERE ARE NO GET-RICH-QUICK SCHEMES RELATED TO BUILDING AN A+ BLOG!!!
Sorry to dash your dreams but if you are looking for the “key” to riches beyond your wildest dreams, then please go somewhere else; you won’t find it here.Step 2: Write Down Your Goals
Most likely if you write down your goals those goals will happen. This is because making yourself actually think about what you want to accomplish is half of the battle already won.
“Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail.” ~ English Proverb
What do you want to accomplish? How are you going to deliver your message? When you are finished, what is it going to look like?Step 3: Visit Some Other Blogs
Do some research and check out what other people are doing with their blogs. Learn what blogging is in general. Don’t just search for blogs in your niche, but also in general. There is alot to be learned from others that have already put up there own blogs. Posts some comments so that you can start to get a feel of what the whole blogging process is. While you are researching be sure to bookmark those blogs that you have visited and write down interesting ideas that pop into your head. You might not remember where you have been only a day or two earlier.Step 4: Choose a Blogging Software
There a bunch of options when looking for your blogging software. I would start by doing a search on Google for Blogging Software. Don’t be intimidated by the 62,000,000 + results returned back to you.
For the scope of the article, I am going to talk about WordPress (http://www.wordpress.com). I chose WordPress for my blog not only because it is the most popular, but also because it is backed by a huge community, has some really useful plugins, gives you loads of control and is easy to use. You can either signup for at www.wordpress.com or find your own hosting provider to host the blog for you. If you are new to blogging then signing-up at www.wordpress.com might be your best bet. There are many of bulit-in extras like stats that track your visitors that are beneficial. Best of all it is FREE!!Step 5: Buy a Domain Name
Buying a domain from a domain registry such as GoDaddy will make your blog appear more professional. Choose a domain name that not only fits your blog’s purpose but also has keywords in it. For instance, if your blog is about gardening, then choose a domain such as “MyGardeningBlog.com” or “My-Gardening-Blog.com”. The .com, .net, .org, etc extension is not important although .com extensions are generally recognized as the default.Step 6: Customize Your Blog
Customizing your blog is very easy with WordPress. If you choose to host your blog with www.wordpress.com then you can choose from dozens of pre-installed templates. You can also Search Google for additional templates that are either FREE or low cost for around $45 a template. If you find a template that is not provided by the hosted service then you can simply upload the new template to your account. The control panel that comes with the hosted service is very easy to use.
If you are daring enough to modify the template by hand you can do so. WordPress is built in a web site scripting language called PHP. If you are not familiar with PHP then this route is not for you. You can, however, find additional resources online either at the WordPress website or by doing a Google search.Step 7: Install Helpful Plugins
WordPress is easily expandable by the use of “Plugins”. Plugins are little pieces of software that are created by a 3rd-Party developer that accomplish simple tasks such as helping you manage your Google Adsense(http://www.google.com/adsense) ads or backing up your WordPress installation. There are many plugins to choose from and you can search for them at www.wordpress.org.Step 8: Write Your “About” Page
When you are ready, you can describe the blog and its purpose in an “About” page. Be as descriptive as you can about the target audience and what you will be providing in the blog.Step 9: Start Posting to Your Blog
This is actually the hardest part. If you have done your homework on what your passion was and you did some research, then you most likely did some blog posts in your head. Don’t sweat coming up with great and astounding ideas or intricate essays. Remember the KISS method and Keep It Simple Stupid! (OK I had to break this rule for this article but you know what I mean…)
You have to remember who your audience is in general. Most people read blogs rather than other forms of information because they are short and to-the-point snippets of information that can be easily digested. I think this is just normal human behavior in a conventional society. There is far too much information on the internet and too little time to try to consume it all. Blogs satisfy our normal curiosity like small little squares of chocolate would satisfy our sweet-tooth.Step 10: Marketing (and maybe Monetizing) Your Blog
Since you have been blogging your little heart away, wouldn’t it be nice if people actually read it? Here are a few ways, among many, to go about marketing your blog.

I have been blogging for just over two months now. Many of my mentoring students have been asking my advice on blogging. I have so far hesitated to teach much about blogging, because it’s not something I feel I “know” yet. I feel much more comfortable teaching about things I know.
Well… I took a look at Alexa today and noticed that this blog almost hit the top 10,000 most visited sites on the Internet today. I have been seeing success with many of the methods that are unique to blog promotion. I felt it was time to write a post about blog promotion… BUT… WAIT! I haven’t even explained why I have this blog thing. I can’t really jump into getting traffic to your blog without explaining why I have a blog and why you should have one too; now can I?
Let’s go back to my history. I “made it” online without many of the tools you see me offering today. I had no products. I had no copywriting ability. My search engine ranking data was my key to my original success on the Internet. I would simply create high ranking web-sites for some market and sell the traffic from those sites directly to those who did have copywriiting ability and products. Obviously I no longer recommend that. Having your own product and copywriting ability are both multipliers to knowing how to get traffic. Now-a-days I focus on all three aspects of your Internet business and recommend that you do the same.
With that said… don’t underestimate the traffic business. Consider this. Who is the richest man in the world? Right. Bill Gates. He sells software. Software is a good business! Consider this though. Who are the 3 leading sites on the Internet? Go check Alexa if you don’t know. OK; don’t check. I’ll just tell you:
1. Yahoo
2. Google
3. MSN (Microsoft)
Now take a look at that third one. That’s the company that Bill Gates (the richest man in the world; remember?) started. Now he’s messing around on the Internet in the #3 spot.
Now; let’s take a jump here. What do those three sites sell? Ok; take a minute on this one. There will be a test.
That’s right. They sell traffic (or they mostly sell traffic… Yahoo and MSN are a tiny bit more diverse than that). Now isn’t that interesting… The richest man in the world… who go that way by selling software… now wants to sell traffic.
OK; that was a diversion. We’ll come back to that later. What I wanted to tell you about was my experience selling traffic (which is still the largest part of my business). I made a mistake. I sold traffic anonymously under corporate names. None of my traffic customers know who I am. They just buy traffic from XYZ Corporation because it converts to sales for them. XYZ Corporation has no personality. In fact, it’s fully automated and most of my customers seem to like it that way.
I tried to change that a couple of years ago. I started sending them emails teaching how they could get the most out of my traffic service. I was too late. They didn’t know me and they didn’t want to hear from me.
Then I tried one last attempt (I’m glad I did) by offering them a special on traffic that month. I think I did a two for one deal or something like that. Over 25% of my customers bought a new campaign that day. I made over $60,000 in one day with that one email. I thought that was cool! I still do. I can write a single email and make thousands of dollars in a single day. I think a lot of marketers like that.
The power of your customer list is incredible! If you can convert 2% of strangers into customers with a sales page, you can convert 25% of your existing customers into customers of another product with that same sales page. That’s powerful!
I tried it with another product. It was a good product. It was mine. It was the search engine research itself that lead to the traffic those customers were buying. In effect, I was offering to teach them how to generate the same traffic that I was selling to them. It flopped miserably. No-one bought. I tried several other products. Nothing. Why?
Some of the responses told me right away. Even though I was writing under the company name, they didn’t know me. I’ll repeat that. They didn’t know me. They knew my company. They knew that my company delivered great converting traffic, but they simply didn’t know me. An endorsement of one company by another isn’t very powerful. It isn’t nearly as powerful as an endorsement by an individual.
So, I went on to do the Freedom Events. You know how they went. Based on the endorsement of a few well-known Internet marketers, they sold out. Lesson learned. To get that 25% number, you need one of the following:
1. To be marketing to your customers as a company and selling a special offer on the product of your company that your customers already know about.
2. To be marketing to your customers as a person and selling a special offer on any product that you personally endorse… and have never given a bad endorsement on a product to your customers before.
I wanted to do the latter with my own customers… not those of another Internet marketer.
What is the best way to do that? As I look around, a blog is the absolute perfect vehicle for that. As I sell products (and cross-promote them on the owner’s pages), I also promote this blog. I do it very early in the process. It is mentioned on the owner’s page and is also mentioned in the very first email most people get after purchasing one of my products.
They buy the product from a stranger, but I introduce myself as the creator of that product very early by pointing them (you) at this blog.
Then, I don’t hide the blog behind some corporate image. You do buy my products from a corporation, but do you even know the name of that corporation? Who cares what it is called? I want you to get to know me. That’s the purpose of this blog.
Now some folks are finding this blog before they purchase one of my products. That’s OK too. Some people buy a product based on the sales page. Some buy because they know the author never produces junk. Some have a combination of those reasons.
OK; so… yes… you should have a blog. I suggest that you create your blog between your 3rd and 4th product in your primary market. That’s when I created this blog. That is also when you want to start cross-promoting your 3 or 4 products on their owner’s pages.
Here are some other things that I think are important:
1. Register your name for the domain for your blog.
2. Put your name at the top, not some cutesy blog name.
3. Share of yourself. Do not post to your blog like you are a customer service rep answering the phone for a large company… never revealing anything of yourself… only the corporate script. Chat with your customers like they are dear friends. Don’t give out your home address or phone number, but within the context of the blog… what are you afraid of? Let your blog readers get to know you.
4. Post often. People can get into the habit of doing something daily or hourly very easily. It is much more difficult to get into a weekly or monthly habit. Post at least daily so your blog readers can get into a daily habit of reading what you have to say.
5. Don’t worry about giving away secrets of your products. That’s one reason I only sell software, video and mentoring products right now. It’s simply not possible to accidently give away too much in text on your blog. Software and video are both more robust mediums than text. I can explain in words all day long how to do something… it will still be useful to buy the software to automate that task and/or buy the video to actually see how it all works.
6. Get a subcribe link up on your blog (and all of your content sites). Some people will want to follow your blog, but won’t remember. You need to give them a way to allow you to send them reminders when you post. This will dramatically increase your number of repeat visitors over time.
OK; I think that answers the question about why I have a blog and why you should too… and how you should set it up. Now, I can jump into the specific ways to get traffic to a blog that only exist for blogs… not other types of sites. I’ll do that in a future post.
For now, go register your name and get Wordpress installed on that domain. Get your subscribe link up. Write an article and submit it to your blog… and then submit it via Artemis Pro with your blog mentioned in the resource box of your article. That’s how I started just a little over two months ago and as of today… I’m almost in the top 10,000 most visited sites on the Internet. See if you can beat me in the next couple of months.