Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

I have seen over the past year or so many people that have watched many people start blogs and fail. There are many reasons for this from anything like not enough time or just plain lose interest. Well I have got the greatest solution to that problem. If you have ever wanted to start blogging and making money there is only one thing that I would suggest to my readers and that is the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook by Darren Rose of Problogger.net.

I have personally used this book to my advantage and jump started my blog back in to stardom when i simply lost interest and had no direction. The book itself goes through all of the basic things and ways to advance you blog in many different directions. I was lucky enough to do this with the large amount of people back in april. Even found a couple blogging buddies that were there for support along the way. There is even a forum that Darren set up for participants in the program.

You may be thinking that there are no facts without proof. Well i have brought some transparency to this post with my stats from Jan 2009 to July 2009.

YGrab.com 2009 Stats to Date

I have also took this picture of my page views. I know it may not be as high as some other bloggers out there but it is pretty insane since this program is what started it all.

YGrab.com Page Views

What i think that really separates this ebook from any other book out there on the market is that Darren lays it out how it is. He does not yank your chain or have you do any ridiculous tasks. If you stick with the program i can almost guarantee that you will start a profitable and manageable blog if you stick with it and see the bigger picture. I will say this right now, it will not happen over night but with a little bit of guidance you can easily start something you will enjoy.

So what are you waiting for head on over and pick this book up right now. Who knows if Darren will ever raise the price but this has got to be the only book i will fully put my face behind 100% and share with my readers. Also if you have not already check out ProBlogger.net for more blogging tips and information on blogging for money.

Alright so finally i have gotten around to producing my first video blog post. I was a bit nervous on this one but i finally got it done no matter how long it took me. Anyways i wanted to do this post specifically for that reason and make it my first one. I wanted to set a precedence of how my videos will be and hopefully make them better with suggestions from my visitors. So if you have anything to add to the video or just want to criticize me go ahead, i am ready ! I know this is not perfect and is a bit shaky but please register your opinions!

Over the past year or so i have achieved quite a few different degrees of success. Most in the area of domaining but more recently blogging and affiliate marketing. I am no expert by no means at affiliate marketing but i have come full circle about how it works and to make a little bit of money. Then on the other hand I would consider myself a good blogger and i can offer quite a bit of advice on that as well. I wanted to focus on 3 blogs that have brought me in to those 2 worlds are turned it all upside down.

problogger.net

ProBlogger.net
Specialty: Blogging

I know quite a few people in the domain development biz read ProBlogger.net but i wanted to bring it to light here. The reason that i have gotten value from this blog is because of the simple fact that Darren at ProBlogger is no idiot. He tells you how it is and then gives advice on how to fix it, make it better, or do it. Even if you have been blogging for years i highly recommend this blog for your daily reads. I especially want everyone wanting to get in to blogging or have just started blogging to head on over and read ASAP. You can also see another side of the web business from the eyes of a blogger and from time to time brings up domain names.

shoemoney.com

ShoeMoney.com
Specialty: Affiliate Marketing

Jeremy from Shoemoney.com has got to be one of the most transparent bloggers out there to day. Over the past couple months that i have read his blog i have picked up information from single posts that have made me money. Just recently he did a great post on Twitter Traffic Arbitridge, that set a new light for anyone trying to make a quick couple hundred a day. Not only has he done that yesterday he posted a coupon for MySpace ads and then referred to a post he made about 8 months ago that is practically a business in a box. Highly recommend this blog to anyone that has a bit of money saved up for online investing, i can almost guarantee you that you can double that money in little time with the advice and techniques Jeremy shares with everyone.

johnchow.com

JohnChow.com
Specialty: Blogging/Make Money Online

Now i am just want to start by saying that this just an occasional read for me. I probably visit his site every couple of days. I have only been reading his blog the past couple of months but there has been extremely helpful information on there. There have been some great videos recently that have expressed some transparency about his blog. I enjoyed them and brought a couple of new lights in to my head. Only problem is that i tend to see some off topic and paid posts frequently, not bad since the deals or whatever is being promoted might be worth the try. Recommend to the beginning make money online person, great info just be careful about what you read, watch the videos!

Special Mentions

copyblogger.com

CoppyBlogger.com
Specialty: Copywriting

This is a very very helpful blog to read on a daily basis if you are a site developer or blogger. They discuss everything from how to write successfully to problems with people’s landing pages. A wealth of information that should be taken to heart and applied to your websites.

elliotsblog.com

ElliotsBlog.com
Specialty: Domaining

Its hard to put Elliot’s blog in to words. Elliot has to be one of the most transparent domainers out. The information he lets you in on, even in real time, is just amazing. Over the past year we have seen him develop some minisites and let us in on some of the deals he has made in the past. Great reads and conversation take place at this industry focal point.

I have done quite a bit of research with my RSS feed and E-Mail subscriptions over the past month on a couple of different sites. I have come to the conclusion that these are extremely important in retaining visitors and the longevity of your site.

RSS Feed

If you are a blogger and featured on domaining.com you know the power of being syndicated in a high traffic area. Now what if you could create that high traffic area but only for your blog or website. Well this is EXACTLY what an RSS or E-Mail subscription does. It gives people the chance to allow them to see what you are doing without actually coming to your site but it allows them to read what is going on. Now if you put out quality enough articles then the chances of a click through to your site are going to go through the roof.

Some things to improve on getting subscriptions really depends on placement and promotion of your RSS reader on your website. With YGrab i have not really put this forward really all that much until recently. If you check out the sidebar you will see an area that you can subscribe by email. Since i have put that there i have had quite a few people on a daily basis sign up. Not anything significant but enough to open my eyes to the traffic that i was losing. I also have an RSS reader icon in the footer all the way at the bottom of the page. Everywhere i read, this is the worst place for it. I agree 100%!

From what i have read and tried putting your subscription right below a post before the comments works great for conversions. I have seen this on many many top blogs. Also putting a subscription “bar” above the fold works great as well. This is why i think my email subscription box has worked so great. I will be making a few changes that relate directly to this in the coming weeks along with some tweaks to my theme.

If you have any advice about RSS Feeds or E-Mail subscriptions go ahead and let us all know. If you have a question feel free to ask in comments or my contact form.

DO NOT FORGET TO SIGN UP FOR MY RSS FEED OR E-MAIL SUBSCRIPTION(Right Sidebar) !

There are 3 easy ways to create a wordpress blog. All of them are super easy and i will take you through them all step by step. I am creating this as part of the How To Make Money Blogging post i made.

1. Creating a WordPress Blog on WordPress.com

Creating a WordPress Blog on WordPress.com is probably the easiest way to set up and start blogging right out of the gates. The only down side to this is that you will be using a sub-domains, i.e YGrabMoney.wordpress.com.

Step #1
Click on the sign up button at the top of WordPress.com and then fill out the required fields it presents you with. Make sure that you click on “Gimme a blog too”
*BONUS* Even if you plan on creating a wordpress blog on your own server, it is recommended that you still make an account on wordpress.com. Some plug-ins require a code that you get from that account

Step #2
On the next screen it will ask you your language, blog title, and what url you want for your blog. Again you will be using a sub-domain. After that it will send an email to your email address, go check it and click the confirmation. You can log in from that email but i suggest just moving on from where you had left off at on the other screen. It will ask you your name ect. Now go log in.

Step #3
Log in at WordPress.com and go to “My Dashboard” at the top of the screen when you log in. Congrats your blog is not created and can be accessed and visited by anyone anywhere.
*BONUS* When in the control panel of the blog you can actually set it up to your own domain name. Just click on upgrades below the left side bar. In the menu there should be a tab for domains, just click and add. They will guide you through the process.

2. Creating a WordPress Blog on Your Own Hosting Account

This is the most recommended way of creating a wordpress blog. When doing it this way you have complete control of your domain names, hosting, and blog itself.

Step #1
Download and unzip the WordPress package, if you haven’t already.

Step #2
Create a database for WordPress on your web server, as well as a MySQL user who has all privileges for accessing and modifying it.

Step #3
Rename the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php.

Step #4
Open wp-config.php in your favorite text editor and fill in your database details as explained in Editing wp-config.php to generate and use your secret key password.

Step #5
Place the WordPress files in the desired location on your web server:
* If you want to integrate WordPress into the root of your domain (e.g. http://example.com/), move or upload all contents of the unzipped WordPress directory (but excluding the directory itself) into the root directory of your web server.
* If you want to have your WordPress installation in its own sub-directory on your web site (e.g. http://example.com/blog/), rename the directory wordpress to the name you’d like the sub-directory to have and move or upload it to your web server. For example if you want the WordPress installation in a sub-directory called “blog”, you should rename the directory called “wordpress” to “blog” and upload it to the root directory of your web server.

Step #6
Run the WordPress installation script by accessing wp-admin/install.php in your favorite web browser.
* If you installed WordPress in the root directory, you should visit: http://example.com/wp-admin/install.php
* If you installed WordPress in its own subdirectory called blog, for example, you should visit: http://example.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php

3. Creating a WordPress Blog With Fantastico

Fastastico is a self installing script installer. At Least that’s what i would call it. There are an amazing amount of stable scripts to be installed here including joomla, wordpress, and other popular scripts.

Step #1
Click on your Fantastico Icon. On the next page look for ‘wordpress’ on the left hand side, click it.

Step #2
Click New Installation. In the drop down menu select the domain you want it to be installed on. If you want the blog to be installed in another directory other than the main directory fill in that field, if not leave it blank. Fill in the rest of the details. Click ‘Install WordPress’

Step #3
Then click finish installation, then you are done. You can access the blog at yourdomainname.com/wordpressblog/wp-admin. Obviously fill in with your own domain and sub-directory if used.

So as you can see its pretty simple to create and start blogging. Just one more reason to get in on the action and take your online adventures to the next level. So create your own wordpress blog and get on it.

If you need hosting i would recommend HostGator they have fantastico along with great support. Plus they are super super cheap and reliable.