Blogging Do vs. Do Not

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Do You Blog?

Blogging is now the most common way to express yourself, to review, to communicate, to create a tribe, to make money as an Internet Marketer.

But not all Blogs are equal. There is a right way to do it and a wrong way as well.

Don't let the rules and regulations to kill your spirit, this is the reason why I create this lens, and I talk about DO and DONOT in Blogging.

The key of success on blogging:
  • The blog must have an appealing personality as you want your readers to come back to your blog
  • You have to be a problem solver, a specialist in a specific niche - with other words you must create a great, informative contend for your reader
  • Maximize wisely your blog revenue
  • Take action and never give up
  • Keep your blog up-to-date
Replacing the e-mails conversations with Blogging is very effective, and the Seth Godin's 3 U's are valid for blogs as well:
Blog advertising is in 2009 one of the largest forms of advertising on the web.
And the good news is that doesn't matter if you are a small company or a large one, your chance is equal, and it's yours for the taking.

Blogging gives you multiples way to produce revenue, but is perfectly positioned for affiliate marketing, for creating lists and communities.

The Blog phenomenon starts with 2 platforms: Blogger and WordPress, but nowadays more platforms are added. Ning is a perfect example, I love Ning functionality as this platform was design with Web 2.0 in mind, it is suitable to create communities.

My aim is just to point out the right way to do blogging, not to defined Blogging as the Blog industry is so well established.

Blog DO 

Knowing that the Blog advertising is now the fastest way to get your message across, you have to design Blogs for a long run, with your vision and final goals on mind:
  • Create Blogs with WordPress on your own domains to have full control on them
  • Your Domain and your title must contain good keywords or good long tail keywords>. It is a subject elaborated my everybody under the sun, I'll just redirect you to a lens in which I have a long list of key work tools: Writing Digital Products Lens
    There is one exception of the rule: under specific circumstances your domain can be your name, this is a habit which will grow. A blog under your name is very flexible as topics, can be the equivalent of the lensography in Squidoo, advertising for a specific business, advertising of all your activities, and so on. It is appropriate for an artist, a writer, a coach or a person what is already established as a name in a specific niche
  • If you want to do reviews on your blog and you still use free platform, especial with blogger, put the word review as part of the name, this way is not going to look spamy, example:
    http://affiliatemarketingreviews-mc.blogspot.com/
  • Find good reliable web host with cPanel and Fantastico, I recommend Hostgator
  • Deleat the year and month from your permalink, your blogs must look as:
    http://your-Blog-domain.com/the-post-title/
    not having year and month will entice people to click even 2 years from now
    Keep this structure of permalink: /%postname%/
  • Create "dofollow" blogs where each comment will count as a link, and people will be more tempted to comment on your blog, I commented this subject on my blogs http://squidooeventlog.com/dofollow-blog
    and use plug-in AKISMET to filter your spam e-mails (AKISMET is a default on WordPress, all you need to do is to activate the plug-in)
  • To optimize your WordPress blog for Search Engines you can use All in One SEO Pack plug-in
  • To add your post to many social bookmarking sites, you can use Share this plug in
  • The best part of working with WordPress is that they have over 4,200 plug-ins which create an incredible flexibility for your blog.

Be careful, when you upload new versions of WordPress, some plug-ins may stop working, and prior to load a plug-in see for which versions is working.


The next topic will be to show you how you can create in minutes a blog using Fantastico utility.

Create a Blog With WordPress On Your Domain 

This is a maximum 10 min process, I show you how!



Prerequisites:
  • You need a host with cPanel
  • CPanel must have Fantastico - this is a utility which the host must buy separately and not all hosts do this
  • You have at this point a domain you can use

You open your cPanel, and you click on Fantastico de Luxe icon.



You got a new screen and you click on WordPress in the left menu By the way, spear 2 min. to look in that left menu to see how many scripts you can load with Fantastico, it really is a powerful utility to use.



You get the following screed in which you click on New Installation



Now you will get a screen to fill in, choose the right domain, if you have many, and let "Install in Directory" blank, fill in the rest of requested info.

At this point you have a Blog with WordPress on your domain, but with a default WordPress theme.
Nest step is to choose a theme you like:
  • Browse WordPress theme directory, choose a free one
  • Download the Theme, and unzip the file
  • Go to FTP and upload the unzip folder on "/wp-content/themes" folder of your domain
  • Go back to WordPress admin, click on Design
  • Choose Theme button, and click the theme you loaded

Personaly I like themes with 2 site bars, but if you are a beginner use a team with just one site bar, and later you can change
Those are 2 examples of Blogs I created with WordPress on my domains, both are 2 site bars themes:
http://michaelacernescu.com
http://squidooeventlog.com


This is it, entire process takes maximum 10 minutes, but I remind, you need a host for your domain with cPanel with Fantastico on it.

What is left?
Start to add content to your blog, put an opt-in list on a site bar, give the people a reason to sign in, and start to build credibility for yourself.

Blog DO NOT 

I am not sure that after "Blog DO" we need a "DO NOT" module, as do not is kind of opposite of Blog DO, but I will spell out anyway, hoping that when you read is more powerful.

My point of view, which is not the single way of thinking, but as I pledge I tell you what I know, what I believe in, what I experimented with, makes perfect sens to know my opinion, " I report you decide":
  • Don't use free blogs platforms (Blogger and the free version of WordPress), the single free Platform I recommend is Ning (but Ning doesn't have yet the functionality of plug-ins as WordPress does), and WorkPress on your Domain, which is not free because you need to pay for domain and Web host, fortunately they are fairly cheap now
  • Don't use a domain or Blog name as ABC123. Who will search for ABC123? Don't use a cute or "nice" name. Do a lot of research for your domains and titles (there is one exception I pointed out on DO module)
  • Don't use free web hosting, when there is a way to make you spend less money, I always let you know. But web host is different, this is part of the package which will make you successful, you need to relay on big bandwidth, reliability, prompt support.
  • Don't let your Blog die, update as often as you can

Video Tutorial - How To Use WordPress 

Chris Abraham walks you through how to join the fastest-growing and most elegant free blogging services, WordPress.

He validates some of my points, even though he is doing an exercise of creating a WordPress blog on WordPress server (as a subdomain of WordPress).

Technically you learn more about how to enhance and add functionality to your blog, he is showing you how easy is to work with WordPress which makes my day. We are on the same page here. Enjoy!
powered by Youtube

Video Blogging on Your Domain 

This little Video validates my point of having your domain for your blogs, is showing you a different need of this idea.
powered by Youtube

Video Blogging SMO 

powered by Youtube

Blogs About Blogging On Google 

Niche Market Research: Finding Internet Marketing Niches ...
Our marketing blog provides useful information about the features and possibilities to use a blog for successful internet marketing.
Internet Business: General Mistakes « Internet Marketing Blog
Posted by Staffer in Internet Marketing on December 28th, 2009 | No Comments ». An Internet business's start-up costs are often much less than those of traditional businesses. The rent and overhead may be minimal. ...
Internet Marketing - Should You Dabble Or Delve — Aussie Internet ...
Internet Marketing Blog with Sean Rasmussen. ... Aussie Internet Marketing Blog. Sean SEO. Internet Marketing ? Should You Dabble Or Delve. by Sean Rasmussen on December 29, 2009. in Internet Marketing. Internet Marketing - Dabble or ...
Happy Birthday TopRankBlog - 6 Years of Marketing Blogging ...
We've been through and observed many, many changes in the internet marketing industry over the past 6 years. Of course, Online Marketing Blog isn't the only internet and SEO focused blog celebrating a 6 year birthday this year. ...
Powered by Google

Blogging to your success 

Blogging To The Bank 3.0

It is definitely one of the best books I've ever read when it comes to building a successful blogging niche business

Rob Benwell teaches a very solid blue print plan that gives you the exact details on how to profit tremendously through online blogging and what you get is his personal experience on creating his blogging empire.

What I like about this eBook:
  • Rob is efficient; he keeps things very simple and strait to the point
  • I found the most powerful blogging techniques, valuable tips or untold secrets to higher cash-flows from my blogs
  • Rob recommends email list building from our blogs as an attainable outcome and that alone has the potential to spread your income sources
  • Affiliate marketing is his top recommended monetization method, I truly important point in 2009
  • Rob surprises me by talking about selling blogs, I think he is right, I never did but I shall try to implement this idea now
  • My favorite, in extra bonuses Rob included some amazing new techniques on crushing your competition in the search engines and getting indexed by tomorrow, this is amazing info!
Blogging To The Bank 3.0 is the best yet in terms of helping us followers stay ahead of the pack too.

A related topic is to learn how to get the most of it from Clickbank:

Michael Jones's The Clickbank Code
It has an refd. 78.0%, and an incredible gravity 644.42. When was the last time when you get such a grav.?

If you want:
  • A simple to follow step-by-step guide to quickly and easily getting your online business into profit
  • To make more money this month than you ever have before
  • The freedom of a lifestyle where you "work" whenever you feel like it and do it on your own terms

Then The Clickbank Code is exactly what you've been looking for...

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  • Reply
    AndyPo AndyPo Aug 29, 2009 @ 5:10 am
    Great lens. Useful advice.
  • Reply
    Michey Michey Aug 9, 2009 @ 9:51 am | in reply to JaguarJulie
    Julie, it is a good start, you will learn better WordPress doing it. I suggest to chose for your first Blog on WordPress a Theme with one side bar (not 2 sides bar). After the first blog you will be an expert on WordPress and you will see the advantage of using a platform which is so flexible.
    The Syndication is working beautifully with WordPress blogs, and with blogs in general, the majority of Themes for WordPress have the syndication already build in.
  • Reply
    JaguarJulie JaguarJulie Aug 9, 2009 @ 8:07 am
    You know Michey, I believe I am doing a blog don't with my blogger blog! I've got my own domains and should consider migrating my blog to my website. You've given good pointers about adding WordPress, but I need to learn WordPress 'better' so that I am comfortable with it. What about the 'issues' of syndication -- the good and bad?
  • Reply
    Michey Michey Aug 1, 2009 @ 8:58 am | in reply to mbgphoto
    Yes, Beth the time is my enemy as well, try to do me best but "list to do" is never empty.
    At list I know that I try hard.
    Regards
    Michey
  • Reply
    mbgphoto mbgphoto Aug 1, 2009 @ 8:50 am
    Michey

    Thanks for the great information. So much to do ....so little time :) I really appreciate your insight.

    Mary Beth
  • Reply
    puzzlemaker puzzlemaker Jul 20, 2009 @ 8:58 pm
    Michey you really know your business. I've just added this to my favorites folder on my desktop. As soon as I know I can make a blog, I'll be reading this over and over again.
  • Reply
    sandyspider sandyspider Jun 7, 2009 @ 2:21 pm
    Great source of information. I have favorite it.
  • Reply
    Michey Michey Jun 3, 2009 @ 2:09 pm | in reply to sittonbull
    OK! Glad you are back, for your new computer, Please, take one with great speed and a lot of memory.
    You are not alone I am behind my schedule with almost everithing, but I do may best, this is all I can do, I also have a good ( at list I thing is good) lens about traffic-do-donot, that one will give you the big picture.
    Welcome back
    Michey
  • Reply
    sittonbull sittonbull Jun 3, 2009 @ 12:39 pm
    Hello from your slowest student! My computer quit & for all intents & purposes I have been out of cyberspace for the last month or so. I'm in the process of reinstalling everything I can on a new one.... and am way behind, but I'm delighted to see you publish this great lens & make available some of the things you were trying to teach me. All the best to you & hope to be back in the swing of things soon.
  • Reply
    tdove tdove Jun 3, 2009 @ 8:27 am
    Thanks for joining G Rated Lense Factory!
  • Reply
    Michey Michey May 29, 2009 @ 8:44 am | in reply to Michey
    Sorry the last response was from the previous comment.

    By the way, you know why I like so mush your teaching lessons? it is because you know that we have now a generation of visual learners and you use visual effects very well. I like to be in your class!
  • Reply
    Michey Michey May 29, 2009 @ 6:41 am | in reply to Evelyn_Saenz
    Glad you are here. Yes, that one is a very good book.
    About Word Press Direct - nobody I know is using it!, Word Press is intuitive enough, you don't need a membership to use it.
    The beauty of WordPress is not only the functionality via plug-ins, it is also the fact that you can use their platform and create a blog in your domain, when you will do affiliate marketing you will appreciate this opportunity.
    Regards
    michey
  • Reply
    Evelyn_Saenz Evelyn_Saenz May 28, 2009 @ 10:09 pm
    I am just starting to figure out blogging and this lens has really given me some things to think about.
  • Reply
    ChineseKitesforKids ChineseKitesforKids May 28, 2009 @ 9:58 pm
    P.S. The book you have listed "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" is excellent! I recommend anyone reading this BUY THAT BOOK from this lens, you won't be sorry.
  • Reply
    ChineseKitesforKids ChineseKitesforKids May 28, 2009 @ 9:55 pm
    I actually love using Blogger, I realize that it doesn't have all the plug-ins that you get with other platforms but I like posting my own content anyways. Plug-ins actually get on my nerves because in my niche the content really needs to be hand selected. I'm think you have a lot of great information and I agree that for C-panel you should go with Hostgator. The customer service rocks and they have 24 online chat help which I think is just fancy.
    Another thing I would like to add is NEVER USE WORD PRESS DIRECT. Once they get your paypal information they wouldn't stop billing you, even after I canceled they billed me for two months and refused to cooperate in giving back the money. Their customer service is horrible. I had to cancel my bank cards and turn them into the fraud department at my bank in order to get my money back. If you're going to pay for a blog platform I would recommend using someone reputable. Word Press Direct is a bunch of crooks!
    5 Stars & a FAV!!
  • Reply
    Michey Michey May 28, 2009 @ 6:33 pm | in reply to The_Party_Animal
    Thanks! Yes I'll keep updating this lens you are welcome to come back.
    regards
    Michaela
  • Reply
    The_Party_Animal The_Party_Animal May 26, 2009 @ 6:12 pm
    Great lens - I recently starting focusing on my blog: http://www.thepartyanimal.org/ChildrensBirthdayParties/ and I am doing very well - your tips are very helpful and will be looking at all of your stuff - thanks
  • Reply
    aj2008 aj2008 May 26, 2009 @ 5:30 pm
    Another lens that I have bookmarked and shared on Tagfoot so I can find it easily. Thank yoiu for sharing and Angel Blessings to you!
  • Reply
    Michey Michey May 24, 2009 @ 3:57 pm | in reply to OhMe
    Hi! Blogger is a very easy to use platform, it is easy to fall in love with it. There are 2 disadvantages with them:
    1) You don't own your blog, it is on Google server, it is Google property, and you are at the Goggle discretion to be deleted if they change again the algorithm of ranking or if they consider that you have too many affiliate links, and this is viewed as spam sometime.
    2) Blogger will never have the functionality of over 4,000 plug-ins WordPress has, (except if they buy WordPress, I don't think is going to happen!).
    3) Blogger doesn't give you the choice to create a blog with their platform but using your own domain for it, WorldPress does this.
    4) This is the reason why I am the advocate for using WordPress platform on your domain. This means you are free, it is your own Blog, you do whatever you wish with it.
    Regards Have a Great Memorial Day
    Michey
  • Reply
    OhMe OhMe May 24, 2009 @ 3:39 pm
    I like Blogger so evidently I am in the dark about something. I have several blogs and Blogger is my favorite. Great lens, by the way.
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by Michey

  This is Michey, an Internet marketer, Digital Product writer, Web 2.0 enthusiast.

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