Blog Tipz

When it is time to start your first blog, there are several decisions that you must make before seeing any significant increases in readership.  The fact is that it won’t be an instantaneous process.  Unless you have already established yourself as a leader online and are well respected, you will need to do heavy promoting if you want to see any significant income or traffic to your new blog.  Outlined below is an in-depth look at the steps involved the decision making process, from the time you open up your browser until you see traffic from social networking sites. 

Choosing a Niche and Thinking Before Beginning to Blog

1. Choose a niche you enjoy. If you hate blogging about a topic you dislike, your readers will know it, and you will never be able to be successful.  You’ll lose interest within a couple days and the blog will become abandoned. 
2. Decide how in-depth you want to go with the topic. You should be able to blog on a topic that can be easily expanded with many resources available, but in an area that isn’t over saturated yet.  When you think about it, are you able to generate subtopics of the main subject, or have you chosen a topic that is extremely specific.  Having a blog about a specific topic, such as a specific technology product, can benefit both you and your readers as you will become experts in the field, but you could face more “competition” with similar blogs.
3. Are you an expert?  When you look at the top bloggers, you’ll notice a not so surprising trend – visitors return for the insight that they give on subjects that they also enjoy.  While you may have little background knowledge on the subject, it is a good idea to research, research, research before diving into a field where you won’t be able to convince readers that you know what you’re talking about.
4. Is the field controversial?  Deciding to blog in several different topics, for instance being a celebrity blogger can lead to ridicule and criticisms from other bloggers plus you could face possible copyright infringement since images aren’t easy to attain access to unless you’re reporting news from the scene.
5. Don’t feel pressure. No matter what you do to begin blogging, don’t feel pressure from bigger bloggers to mimic them – start your own trends.  Others may see what you’re doing as successful, and the trend will catch on.
6. Determine a schedule that you can stick to.  Most people start out blogging as a hobby.  Because you may have a full time or party time job, devote at least an hour or so each day to improving your blog.  It is essential that you post at least once or twice a week to maintain the appearance of a fairly updated blog.
7. Think about your audience.  What type of audience do you want to attract – people that are already experienced in a field and want more information or readers that have no clue how to do something.  Gear your posts to your readers – not search engines.
8. Why are you blogging?  As long as you’re not blogging simply for profit, don’t become disgruntled when you’re RSS subscribers aren’t increasing – you are following your dream – push your hobby to the fullest extent, and don’t give up simply due to some figures you don’t like.  Imagine if a large company decided to stop working simply due to a quarter of high losses.  It’s important to stay focused and revamp or improve previous methods.

Pre-launch Steps – From Choosing a Blogging Platform to a Web Host

1. Taking a look back at your niche, browse the web and look in the footers of blogs to see what type of blogging platform they are using, the themes associated with them and the plugins available. 
2. Read the minimum requirements, research what others have to say, and find one that fits your budget (although a majority are free).  If you are comfortable with frequently uploading and upgrading files and folders, but need a lot of control over the design and function of your blog, WordPress is a the highest recommended choice.  There is also a free version that includes similar features, but doesn’t allow advertising unless you purchase their hosting plan.  Blogger is known for being simple and user friendly, with one-button publishing.  At this step in your blogging career, try to avoid using blog platforms that involve a monthly or yearly fee.
3. Once you have decided on your blogging service, decide what you’ll call your blog name.
4. Some quick tips for choosing a domain/prefix name -
   1. Keep it as short as possible – preferably less than 10 (using your own domain) and less when using a hosted service such as .blogspot.com.
   2. Use as little syllables and multiple words as possible – three words is generally the limit.
   3. Don’t include your name in it unless you are creating a personal blog or portfolio site.  Most times, people won’t remember your name or it won’t have much meaning in relation to your blog.  It’s O.K. to use it if you use it creatively.
   4. Be sure that any terms you use are not already in use by other larger sites or copyrighted and all suffixes are available – .net’s, .org’s, and .com’s are available before starting on a free service.
   5. Include keywords in relation to the subject you’ll be blogging about.
   6. It should be easy to say.
   7. Recently, there have been a number of short, unique domains selling for high amounts – consider this when thinking about your domain, and any possible revenue generated if you were to take a different route.
5. Choose a hosting service that is able to handle the traffic that you not only “expect” but increases in traffic if you become popular and publish media-rich content.  Quick tips to choosing a good host -
   1. Search for “Host Reviews”, replacing the host with the possible host you want to join. 
   2. Go to popular sites with hosting reviews, read what others have to say.
   3. Search for “Host Downtime/Sucks/etc.” to view the reasons for receiving a negative review.  Weigh out results older than one to two years ago and sum up the averages.
   4. Choose a host that is known for handling small to moderate spikes in traffic and has a reputation for “fast” loading sites.
   5. Decide whether to go with one of several main types of hosting – shared (virtual) hosting, dedicated hosting, or collocated hosting (you do your own hosting).  Each has its benefits and negatives.  The cheapest type of plan is shared hosting.
   6. Don’t purchase a host simply for the fact that there is “X,XXX” GB hosting space or “XXX,XXX” GB monthly bandwidth.  While the hosting space is a factor, you’ll never use it all unless you run a file sharing site, and even then, many low-cost hosts can’t handle the demand on their servers.
   7. Try their support, CPanel, and features before buying the host.  It won’t hurt to submit a trouble ticket or chat with support to see what you’ll expect.
   8. For a reliable, inexpensive host, expect to pay approximately $5-$15 per month with domains costing less than $10/year or free if you purchase a hosting plan with a domain included.
6. Purchase a hosting plan (one year or more with two years of domain length remaining is recommended) that is suitable to your needs.  Don’t purchase too far in advance in case you are unhappy with your host.

After You’ve Purchased and Made the Biggest Decisions

1. Set up your site such as name servers in the case of purchasing from other domain registration services from your hosting company.
2. Download WordPress or sign up for Blogger/any other service.
3. Spend a moderate amount of time searching for a semi-unique theme to use for your blog.  Your theme is what sets your blog apart, so it is important to make it stand out.
4. Customize the theme to your liking, making an emphasis on your blog’s logo.  Have a custom theme designed (now or down the road) to brand your blog – custom themes range from $50-$1,500+, so it is an important factor in the direction of blogging you take.
   1. Be sure that no HTML and CSS tags are significantly affecting your design and impeding on the way content is displayed.
   2. Style every post the same – resize images to fill the space.  I recommend 450-500 pixels for most themes on WordPress, as only a few are smaller than that.  Use CSS or plugins to help create uniformity, for instance links should always be underlined on mouse over.
   3. Remove any default pages or elements and replace it with information about your blog – short, eye catching, and unique descriptions. 
   4. Make sure that your blog looks similar in different browsers without major errors.  Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari lead in market share.
5. Go through the options and settings in your blog software, and make sure that everything is the way you want it – for example, a major SEO and personal decision is the format of permalinks.  Other settings, worth noting include:
   1. Adding a favicon – adds a 16x16px image to the address bar area and tabs/bookmarks.
   2. Setting how comments are displayed – in a new screen/below posts, how users are able to comment, and whether they are allowed to use code in the comments.  Will comments be limited to members or can anybody post one?
   3. Plugins that will benefit your blog – active Akismet anti-spam or similar plugin immediately (purchase a Pro-blogger API key if your blog makes more than $500/month).  Add recommended plugins from other users such as All in One SEO Pack for SEO optimization or others you find useful for engaging readers.
   4. Decide how many posts will be displayed on the main page.
6. Begin the process of marketing your blog by submitting it to Google WebmasterTools, verifying it, and submitting sitemaps (allows you to inform search engines about URLs on a website available for crawling).
7. Point your RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to FeedBurner so that you can keep track of new subscribers and trends.  Active the free PRO version to gain special features.  Most blogging systems have an area so that you can easily integrate your new FeedBurner address. 
   1. Spread the word about your new feed.
   2. Create a special area of your bog where it discusses how feeds/RSS works and why it is good to subscribe.
   3. Hold contests to help gain new readers.
   4. Create a highly visible, but not distracting, image using one of the universal feed icons.
   5. After launch, include an area at the top of the first post notifying readers that it is important to subscribe to stay updated.
8. Sign up for traffic metering services.  A few highly recommended ones include Google Analytics, Sitemeter, and StatCounter.  Follow the instructions to add the code in the appropriate location in your blog.  Choose whether you will keep stats private or not.  A few key points to know about blog traffic:
   1. It isn’t constant.  Don’t be discouraged by slowly growing traffic.  Look at the overall trend and optimize if you aren’t seeing the results you wanted. 
   2. Be sure that you block your IP or your traffic metrics will be much higher and inaccurate.
   3. Don’t check it every two minutes.  Improve your blog instead while waiting for new visitors.
   4. Don’t expect hundreds of daily visitors until the second or third month, if you’re lucky.

From Creating Content to Marketing

1. Start brainstorming your first post. 
   1. Use an eye-catching, search engine and reader-friendly title.
   2. Open up your “Dashboard” in your blog and hit “Write Post”.  Become acquainted with the post layout, so you know where shortcuts and tools are located.
   3. Combine small posts into one if they are related.
   4. Practice good grammar and spelling.
   5. Check and re-check your post.  Use spell-checking tools.  Add meanings for acronyms used so that users aren’t confused.
   6. Create easily scannable, easily accessible content that  makes sense to the reader group you are writing for.
   7. Now, you’re ready to publish your first post.
2. Now, since your first post is complete, it is time to start the process over.  Once you complete a post, it is a good idea to take a break, then get back to brainstorming and creating new content.
   1. When you run low on content, browse others’ blogs to see what they are blogging about, reflect on a good post, publish news stories, or create resource lists.
   2. If you don’t have good grammar skills when you start, don’t worry.  As long as readers see that you are improving, they will stick (hopefully) stick around.
   3. Content must be as unique as possible.  Do a search to see how many similar articles there are on the same topic.  Don’t be discouraged if there are hundreds of others.  This just sets your writing standard much higher to create better, more useful posts.
   4. The first month is the most important – post 30-50+ posts in the first month to establish yourself in the online market.
3. Update the Pages in WordPress.  It’s a good idea to create an Archives page, a Contact page, an About page, and an Advertising page (more on that topic later).
4. Administering comments – Don’t be impatient when you haven’t seen comments weeks on end.  Commenters typically follow others and there is a greater chance of receiving more comments once you have several already.
   1. Delete any comment you would regard as spam – typically containing more than two links, ads for pharmacies, prescriptions, foreign lotteries, high risk money making opportunities, etc. 
   2. Reply to comments or create a separate post with responses to insightful thoughts.
   3. Reward visitors with the “Do-follow” plugin until spam comments get out of control.  Feature a “Top Commenters” list in the sidebar or a blog roll.
5. Choose whether you’ll have advertising from the start or wait until you’ve reached a goal to add advertising.
   1. Decide what type of advertising you’ll use – textual, in-line, banner, box (125px x 125px) or another format.  It is recommended that you read all terms, especially AdSense’s so that you aren’t banned or have your earnings withdrawn for invalid clicks. 
   2. Combine different types of advertisements to see the best results.
   3. Choose an “ad optimized” theme so ads appear blended into the layout.
   4. Having advertising from the get-go on a blog makes it easier to incorporate the ads and a higher CTR (Click Through Rate) in the end.
6. Join link directories and blogging directories.  Not only can they help with rankings, they’ll bring you a small number of “referred visitors” to your blog.  The traffic may be small, but when there aren’t many other links for your site name in search engines, it can prove beneficial over time.
   1. Be sure that the link directories are valid and use “recommended link directory” lists.  Adding your blog to too many may result in penalties by Google.
   2. Use a similar description that you were using on your blog (branding).
   3. Tell potential visitors why it is useful for clicking your site’s title.
7. Purchase advertising on other blogs.
   1. Increase budget when you see direct blog earnings increase, to continue growing. 
   2. Look around for the best deals.
8. Use traditional forms of advertising – while advertising online is usually more effective than off-line, try experimenting with telling your friends, co-workers, and family about your new blog.  Hand out business cards.  Perhaps purchase a trail ad in a local newspaper and see the results you receive.
9. Submit content to social networking sites and aggregators such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Sphinn (Internet Marketing) or other ranking sites.  Add widgets to your blog making it easier for readers to submit your content to similar sites. 
   1. Fact: It’s fairly easy to gain a decent amount of visitors from social networking sites.
   2. Fact: You’ll probably gain readers from them if they visit your blog and like what they see.
   3. Fact: You should make the most of them, but not rely on them solely for traffic.
   4. Fact: High amounts of traffic can result in your site crashing, so prepare ahead of time, if possible.
   5. False: Traffic is always reliable and will continue to stay high.
10. Backup your blog and determine what methods work best for you.  It is important to backup your blog on a regular basis (at least once a week).  Backing up WordPress | Backing up Blogger Templates/Blogs

In conclusion, how did you start to create a successful blog?  Was it a natural process for you or did you have to go through a long learning period to become as successful as you are today?