| I've had a few friends ask me about blogging. What do | | | | Themes |
| I do? Why do I blog? How do I get visitors? What is | | | | Everything should be ready for you to start posting. |
| required to blog? What programs are used? | | | | Now of course WordPress will look pretty plain. If you |
| Well I couldn't possibly address all the topics that are | | | | went to WordPress.org and read the docs, you will |
| brought up when talking about blogging, but what I will | | | | have found out what Themes are. Themes are |
| do is tell you what I do. Now of course, I am not a | | | | installed on WordPress to give it a specific look. |
| very popular blogger. I get about on average, 3 visitors | | | | Any theme you use can be as complex as you want |
| a day to my blog, though my record at any one time is | | | | it, and as simple as you want it. It's really up to you, but |
| 27 people on my site. But that was once. | | | | lots of people have found that simplest is best. It is |
| Okay, first thing: | | | | easier for the indexing bots to read your information |
| Get your own Domain Name. Don't use a account or | | | | and get your site indexed in Google where people can |
| any other free account. Spend the dollars, and buy a | | | | find you. But complex can also help you organize. |
| domain name that is simple and easy to remember. | | | | To find themes WordPress.org has a themes area full |
| Nobody wants to remember is way easier to | | | | of free themes. Just follow their instructions to |
| remember. sell cheap domains and allow for certified | | | | download and install them on your site. |
| domains which protect you from spammers finding | | | | Also you can just type in "free wp themes" in Google |
| your personal information and doing the unthinkable: | | | | and you'll find a bunch as well there. |
| SPAMMING. | | | | So now you have your looks up, your software |
| Now you will need a hosting account. There are a lot | | | | installed. Now all you need to do is log into your WP |
| out there. I use ixwebhosting. A hosting account hosts | | | | dashboard and start typing up content for your |
| the domain you bought on it. This will cost money too, | | | | viewers. |
| but usually hosting accounts will allow multiple domains | | | | Now if you are setting up a topic specific blog, only talk |
| to be hosted on them. I know some even allow | | | | about your topic. But if your using a personal blog like |
| unlimited domains. You will have to search around to | | | | this one, then you can talk about whatever you want. |
| find one you like the best. | | | | The key point is to make sure your content- if your |
| Now the next step is choosing a topic to blog about. | | | | sites main goal is traffic- is interesting and what |
| Now if it's a personal blog like mine here, which is more | | | | readers want to read. |
| a place for me to vent and share my thoughts, then it | | | | "Content is King" is a very popular saying in the internet |
| is not such a big deal to choose a topic. But if you | | | | marketing world. Nobody will go to your site if nobody |
| want to blog about cars for instance, then you will | | | | wants to read your content. Of course you need |
| want to choose a domain name that is related to cars. | | | | people to visit your blog to read your content. There |
| A whole book on domain name choosing, and | | | | are free ways to get traffic to your site, and you will |
| keyword research could be wrote just on this topic, | | | | get visits, but ultimately what really matters is how |
| but I'm just touching on it for the sake of keeping this | | | | many of those visitors come back, and how many |
| article to a readable length. | | | | people they tell to come visit your site either by linking |
| Simply put, choose a focus for your blog. Sometimes | | | | to your site (back links) or verbally to their friends. |
| more focused is better. If your blogging about cars, | | | | Traffic |
| you may want to focus on American Cars, or Car | | | | So to get traffic, first set your blog up with good |
| tires etc. But Cars can work too. | | | | content. Indexing itself will help you get traffic right off |
| Make sure your domain name is related to your topic. | | | | the start just by people typing in keywords and your |
| Okay, to host your blog on your site, you will need a | | | | site showing up in the organic results. |
| platform to host it on. WordPress is the best out there, | | | | For an extra boost, setting up you blog so it syncs with |
| and it's free. They have an easy 5-minute install that | | | | your Facebook notes helps as well. You can only sync |
| will show you how to install WordPress onto your site. | | | | one blog though, so you may want to leave that for |
| So now you have WordPress on your site. I'm not | | | | your personal blog. If you start up a Facebook profile |
| going to delve to deep into WordPress. WordPress.org | | | | just about your topic though, you could sync it there. |
| is full of information on how to use the program. It | | | | Writing articles, and submitting them on article directory |
| would be a waste of my time to show you how to | | | | sites gets traffic as well. Lots of these sites have |
| use it. I will mention though that WordPress allows for | | | | good rankings with Google as an authority site, so lots |
| plugins which can be installed on your site. These will | | | | of times when your article shows up on their |
| help you with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) | | | | directories it'll show up high in the listings of Google |
| A couple plugins to download would be: | | | | gaining you lots of views to your article. You put a |
| Platinum SEO | | | | resource box at the bottom of the article, and after |
| MB Ping Optimizer | | | | people read the article they will click on your link to |
| Google Analytics | | | | your site which you will place in the resource box. |
| There are tons of others out there that will help you | | | | Videos on YouTube and other video sites is another |
| with managing your site, your visitors, your content, etc. | | | | good way to gain traffic. Put together an informative |
| Just do a Google search for "Best WordPress Plugins" | | | | video about your topic and tell viewers that more |
| and you will find tons of plugins to add to your site that | | | | great information can be found at your site. Tell them |
| will help optimize it for efficiency, traffic, etc. | | | | in your video and have a link in your video description. |
| You can then search for these plugins by going to the | | | | So to break down what I just said into simple form: |
| plugin tab in your WordPress dashboard and clicking | | | | Buy a domain name related to topic |
| on plugins. You can then type in the name and install | | | | Host your domain name |
| them to your site. | | | | Install WordPress |
| FTP CLIENT | | | | Find a good clean theme |
| You will need an FTP CLIENT to upload information | | | | Drive traffic |
| from your computer to your blog. FTP stands for Fast | | | | Now if your website is good quality, and the content is |
| Transfer Protocol and is used to transfer information | | | | interesting, people will start linking to your site to share |
| from your computer, like files, web pages, etc, to your | | | | with others. This is the best way for traffic to |
| hosting account which you can then display for people | | | | generate, cause it means that people that click through |
| to see. The FTP client I use is Filezilla. You can find it a | | | | these links to your site are interested in your content. |
| filezilla-project.org The website will explain how to use | | | | I hope this helps anyone that wants to start a blog. It's |
| it. If not, google "how to use a ftp client" and something | | | | not very complicated, but a lot of research needs to |
| useful will show up. | | | | be done. I showed the steps I took, but there are lots |
| Okay, so you have your own domain name, a hosting | | | | of other ways to blog. |
| account, WordPress installed, using filezilla. | | | | |