Lana Robinson
"Most People Would Rather Avoid Trying...and Be Right,
than Take Action and Be Wrong.
Do You Want To Be Right or Rich?"
"Action = Mistakes & Success = Wealth"
Blogging for Members
Your First Blog
What is a Blog?
Direct from Blogger.com comes this definition:
"A blog gives you your own voice on the web. It's a place to collect and share things that you find interesting - whether it's your political commentary, a personal diary, or links to web sites you want to remember.
Many people use a blog just to organize their own thoughts, while others command influential, worldwide audiences of thousands. Professional and amateur journalists use blogs to publish breaking news, while personal journalers reveal inner thoughts.
The blogging experience is about not only putting your thoughts on the web, but hearing back from and connecting with other like-minded folks."Why publish a blog?
Publishing a blog allows you to instantly create new content-rich web pages that can link back to other websites you own. These new pages can be linked to your current website (like the GDI account you set-up) or they can be promoted separately. By creating additional content-rich website pages and promoting them from your home page or through other means, you'll be accomplishing two important things:
1. You'll provide more value for your website visitors. This increases the "stickiness" of your website making people stick around longer and ultimately trust you more. On the Internet, trust translates to profits!
2. Search engines LOVE fresh content created through blogs. By publishing your own blog and adding fresh content to it on a regular basis, you'll attract the attention of the major search engines who will list your website in their directories for FREE. That's right! As soon as you have pages of your blog in the search engines, you'll start attracting free qualified traffic to your site without paying a dime for it. Are you familiar with Google Adwords?
Imagine running a large and comprehensive Google Adwords campaign without paying anything for it... That's exactly what you can accomplish by publishing your own blog!
Are you ready to get started?
Come on... it's EASY, it's FREE and it's FUN!
In fact, you'll have your own blog setup in 3 easy steps.
Let's get started...
Click Here to log into Blogger.com
Next, you'll arrive at the "Create an account" page. Complete the 5 simple fields on that page.
TIP: For your user name, I suggest using your first and last name combined OR the characters of your domain name without the .com, .net, .org, .ws etc. This way, if people are searching the Internet with their favorite search engine for you by your name, your blog may appear in the generic search results. If they are searching for your domain name, the same holds true. They can find your domain AND your blog at the same time!
Read the "Terms of Service" and check the box and then click on the "CONTINUE" arrow.
The next page is the "Name your blog" page. Enter a title Example: Lana Robinson's Home Business Blog or Lana Robinson's Work at Home Journal or something like that... Be creative!
Now enter your blog address. Again, I suggest using the characters of your domain name without the .com, .net, .org, .ws etc. If the name is taken, try the characters of your first and last name combined or anything else you want to be your blog address. Whatever name you decide upon will create your blog URL such as: www.YOUR~BLOGGER~USERNAME.blogspot.com
Next, complete the word verification field by typing the characters you see in the picture above the field.
NOTE: Ignore the "Advanced Setup" option for now. The advanced setup option allows you to add your blog files directly to your Global Domains International hosting account. I strongly advise you against using the advanced setup option at this time (unless you are already extremely comfortable with uploading files to your hosting account). Later, I will provide step-by-step instructions for transferring your blog to your GDI hosting account. But, for right now, let's just get your blog setup and running properly using Blogger's free hosting.
Click the "CONTINUE" arrow.
Next, you'll arrive at the "Choose a template" page. This page allows you to choose a custom look for your blog.
Take a look at the designs available and select one by marking the selection circle inside the blog template image. You can easily change the template later, or even create your own custom template design once your blog is set up.
Once you've selected your blog template, click the "CONTINUE" arrow.
YourName's Home Business Blog or
Congratulations! Your blog has been created! :-)
Now it's time to add some content to your blog...
Now that you have your blog setup, it's time to post one of your articles to it.You may think you have absolutely nothing to say. Nothing could be further from the truth!
The first step is to format your article.
Here's how to format your article:
NOTE: I've setup this article format below with html code for proper formatting so that when you enter it into your blog, all necessary links will activate automatically. All you need to do is Highlight & Copy the italicized text below directly into a text editor like Notepad. Then, simply replace the "(ARTICLE TITLE GOES HERE)" text and the "(ARTICLE CONTENT GOES HERE)" text with your actual article title and text. Once you have your article setup in this format, it will be ready for you to Copy & Paste directly to your blog.)
OK, here's the format for your article:
<b>(ARTICLE TITLE GOES HERE)</b>
Copyright © Your Full Name Here
<a href=http://your-website-here.com>
http://your-website-here.com</a>
(ARTICLE CONTENT GOES HERE)[Note: you have to write something and put it here. It doens't have to be a novel - just whatever is on your mind!]
<b>About the Author:</b>
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
<a href="http://your-website-here.com">
http://your-website-here.com</a>
-----------------------------------------------------------------
As soon as you have your article formatted correctly, follow the simple steps below to publish it in your blog:
Click here to login to your Blogger account.
Next, click the "New Post" icon.
A new page will open up with a large text entry field.
Next, click the "Edit Html" button near the top-right of the data entry field.
NOTE: It is VERY important to use the "Edit Html" feature! Otherwise, your article will not be formatted correctly once it is published. You will use this "Edit Html" screen to enter one article at a time and post it to your blog. In other words, your links and page breaks won't be formatted so when someone sees your post it will be all one long sentence with no paragraph breaks and your links won't be 'clickable'.
Highlight & Copy the article from your text editor including the resource box which is the "About the Author" section.
Once you've highlighted and copied the entire article and resource box, go back to your Blogger post creation screen and Paste the complete text into the field provided.
Once the full article and resource box is pasted into the field, click the "Publish Post" button at the end of the page.
Congratulations! You've just published your article on your own blog! Now, every time you have new articles to post, simply repeat the process described above.
At this point, you have the option to view your blog or simply move on and continue adding articles. If you decide to view your blog first, click the (in a new window) link.
Give yourself a pat on the back.
You are a blog publisher now! Who woulda thunk it?
Now it's time to tell people about your new blog.
Before we get into the action of marketing your blog, allow me to share with you the philosophy of why blogging and publishing content online is so important and profitable...
First, most people surfing the Internet are looking for information. In other words, most people are not actively seeking to buy a product. And nearly everyone expects to get the information they are seeking for free... yep.
Me included.
Speaking specifically about the marketplace of people who are "interested" in having a home business and/or making money online, most of these people want to find good information about the subject FIRST. They may already know what business they want to join and they are looking for someone that can give them 'the edge' they need to be successful in that particular business.
Therefore, becoming a provider of trustworthy information about home businesses, work at home opportunities and online money making ideas positions you as the source for what people are actually looking for in the first place. If your blog comes across as an advertisement, then they will move on because they typically aren't looking to spend money. Remember, they want good, quality information that will help them make the best decision for themselves.
Then, when people find your information and get engaged in the articles, they will naturally find the links that point to your website and visit it. Now, they have already been pre-sold and have more trust in the link to your website because they have already benefited by reading the free information provided in the article on your blog!
Also, blogs are the most search engine friendly Internet publishing tool in existence. This means that the pages of your blog can start being indexed by the search engines almost immediately and some of the your blog content pages will start showing up in the FREE listings of the search engines when people search for various keywords. Therefore, adding quality content to your blog on a regular basis can generate free targeted traffic to your website potentially forever.
Now we're getting into some extremely powerful FREE Internet marketing techniques... These techniques take more time and effort to implement than paid advertising, but they are completely FREE and they do work.
OK, let's get to work...
You want to start by "pinging" your blog to get the automated traffic machine started.
First, click here to visit the Ping-o-Matic website.
Once you get to the Ping-o-Matic website, type in the name of your blog in the first field.
In the second field, type in the complete URL of your Blogger blog.
Example: http://www.YOUR~BLOGGER~USERNAME.blogspot.com
NOTE: Replace YOUR~BLOGGER~USERNAME with your actual Blogger username! This is very, very important!!!
Next, select (check) ALL available "SERVICES TO PING".
Now, click the "Submit Pings" button.
A status report will appear on the next page indicating the status of your blog pings.
What this does is notify a bunch of blog listing services about YOUR blog. Now they will send spiders over to your blog to index the content and link it to their network! :-)
Congratulations!
You've completed the first important step in marketing your new blog. Now, anytime you update the content of your blog by adding new articles, publishing your thoughts, etc., re-visit the Ping-o-Matic website and ping your blog!
Let's move to the next step of promoting your blog...
By following the steps in earlier days of this guide, you already have some subscribers who will be happy to find out about your latest news... your new blog!
Remember, your autoresponder letters have already been working automatically to educate and build trust with your subscribers... NOW is the *perfect* time to send them a custom message telling them about your new blog! :-)
Follow these steps to tell your subscribers about your blog:
Login to your Aweber autoresponder account.
Once you've logged in to your Autoresponder account, click on the "Messages" tab near the top of the page.
On the next page, click on the "Send Broadcast" link.
On the next page, click on the "Send a new broadcast" link.
On the next page, you'll see blank fields ready for you to enter your subject line and message body.
You can either write your own message announcing your blog to your subscribers or use the following message:
Body:
Hi {!firstname_fix},
I know you're busy so I'll make this quick...
I just started publishing my own blog at:
http://www.YOUR~BLOGGER~USERNAME.blogspot.com
Please take a look and tell me what you think...
I'm also looking for ideas for the future of my
blog. What kind of information are you looking
for that I could write articles about?
Thanks, {!firstname_fix}! I appreciate your feedback!
Sincerely,
Lana Robinson
~~YourLinkHere~~
NOTE: If you decide to use the message above, please be sure to change YOUR~BLOGGER~USERNAME to your actual Blogger account username. After you've edited the message above with your correct Blogger account username, use your preferred email program and send this message to yourself as a test to ensure your blog link is working correctly.
TIP: Whenever you use the {!firstname_fix} tag in the subject line or message body in your Aweber messages, this will automatically add each individual subscriber's first name to that spot in the message. Just in case you didn't know, this is called "personalization" and it's a great way to get your subscribers to pay attention! They are less likely to delete your message becaue you addressed them by name. :-)
Next, on the "Set delivery options" portion of the screen, select "All Subscribers".
Then click on the "Save Broadcast" button at the bottom of the page.
Finally, you will be taken to the "BROADCAST CONFIRMATION" screen. On this page, simply click the "Queue" button one time to have your message sent to all your subscribers simultaneously.
Great job, future Internet Guru!
Anytime you have some news to share about your business, it's a great idea to use your autoresponder to let your subscribers know about it. This type of active relationship building can make a HUGE impact on your business. The more you interact with your subscribers, the more they will trust you and want to do business with you!
That being said, you will probably receive some responses by email to the message you just sent... Every response is automatically re-directed to your email address that you have set up in Aweber for the "Reply To" address.
TIP: Reply thoughtfully and with enthusiasm to each of the emails you receive from your subscribers. Responding to your subscribers WILL increase your sales. In fact, many of them will be shocked to get a personal reply from you and become excited to find out that what you promote is, in fact, REAL. Understanding and applying this point gives you a HUGE advantage in the online marketplace!
EVEN BETTER TIP: Reply thoughtfully to the feedback you receive and let them know that you have posted your reponse to your blog. Make a new blog post with their feedback (include the name of the prospect that provided the feedback as well) and respond to their feedback right there on your blog! This will do several things for you. It will show your prospect that you are a serious business person that you took the time to respond to their feedback not only to them personally, but to the whole world as well.
They may even tell their friends about your blog post because their name is on there. You just got some more prospects that you may not have had otherwise! :-)Wow...
Look back at the trail you've blazed today...
You are a blog publisher now! Congratulations! :-)
Oh, and by the way...
Do you realize that you can add anything you want to your new blog whenever you want?
It's true!
You can add more articles to your blog anytime you want using the same simple steps applied above. You might add your own articles or you could just add your own thoughts, ideas and experiences (like an online diary of your Internet marketing journey). With a blog, the publishing possibilities are only limited by your own imagination...
You can even take some articles that other people have written and post them on your own blog (as long as you keep all their links intact and don't change their article). A great article site is www.EzineArticles.com. They allow you to publish articles written by others on your own blog. This is a great way to get good, quality content for your blog if you have "writer's block"
The point to realize is that, as a blog publisher, you've just unlocked a HUGE window of opportunity for yourself! :-)
IMPORTANT: To make your blog work for you, you *MUST* add fresh and original content on a regular basis. You can start making posts every day or two about your own online marketing experiences and/or you can update your blog with fresh articles.
Congratulations again!
You've already accomplished more in your first 10 days of marketing online than I did in my first 5 years... :-)
Recommended FREE Blogging Videos:Free Blogging Videos
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Special Tip: Although it's a good idea to write your blog about business, you can always start a blog about anything that interests you. Remember we should have some fun in our business too. That way, you'll really enjoy updating your blog and sending friends there too. And don't forget to add some of your business links in the blog, you never know who is interested in making money online.Every time you make an update to your blog, make sure you tell the world about it. Click here to visit the Ping-o-Matic website each time you update your blog so that your posts don't go unread!
Wordpress.com is another excellent blogging tool, and it is also free. The same concept applies to what was discussed above. Play around with what works best for you and start making some posts!
