Learn How to Create a Blog in 5 Steps

Step 1:

Think of what you love doing, or what you know a lot about. The number one reason blogs fail (whether created for profit or fun or both) is because the creator runs out of ideas. If you want to be successful, pick something you either love doing and know a lot about or something you want to learn about. Yes, you can actually create a blog about something you are learning:D! I love learning new things, and I have had HUGE success simply by creating a blog about the topic I want to learn. It has actually been proven that people learn better by teaching others, so don't be afraid to simply create blog to show others the great info you're learning:D. You'll be surprised how much more you will learn...and how much more money you will make too;).

Step 2:

REPEAT STEP 1 FIVE (repeat 5!) times. If you say you can't come up with 5 topics you know a lot about and enjoy doing AND 5 things you want to learn about then, no offense, you need to stop reading this and go back to working at McDonalds. When sitting down to create a new blog network (I will talk about this in a later post) I usually start with between 15-20 new ideas and cut them down from there. I say repeat Step 1 five times, but if you have enough having 10 topics is even better (as you will see in the next step)

Step 3:

Keyword Research. The most important and most overlooked aspect of any type of Internet Marketing (or for that matter any business in general). Keyword Research basically means FINDING OUT IF PEOPLE WILL BE INTERESTED IN LEARNING WHAT YOU WANT TO TELL THEM! You should have between 5-10 Blog topics you are considering. In the keyword research stage, you will research each individual topic to find out if it is a viable option. By viable option I mean 1) there are people searching for the topic on a search engine and 2) there is money being spent in the topic. Although you can monetize ANY (repeat ANY) aspect of the internet, it's always easier (especially if you are new) to go into a niche topic thats ready to spend some cash:D. I won't be going into Blog monetization in this post but if you keep it in mind now you will save yourself some serious pain and suffering down the road.

There are two places I use to do keyword research:

Google KeyWord Tool Look for a total search volume of 5k or more for your top 5 keywords

KeyWord Tracker Look for a total count of 300 or more for your top 5 keywords

Step 4:

Buy a domain and Hosting. I get my domains and hosting from two places and two places only. I get my domains from GoDaddy and I get my hosting from Hostgator. Why? Because they are the best, period.

Hostgator.com is where I have ALL my hosting accounts, and I am constantly raving about how great they're customer service is, as well as the spectacular pricing I get. I have found no one better

Now for domains. Simply put, I love GoDaddy:D. I also love the GoDaddy Girls but that doesn't really have anything to do with blogs;). My number one rule of thumb is buy the best from the best, and GoDaddy has never disappointed me. My other number one rule of thumb (this is why I have two thumbs) is to ALWAYS diversify. You CAN if you want to buy your domains through HostGator.com, but this makes me nervous. Why? Because if for some reason HostGator goes down, so do my domains. If I buy through GoDaddy, I can just simply go to GoDaddy and switch them to another hosting account and use my backup databases on my computer. I have never had this happen but it's a good idea to plan for the worst.

Step 5:

Choosing your blogging platform. Now I will tell you right now installing a blog on your domain is a b****! You have to have a FTP program, find the right files, set up your SQL database, etc. Even worse you probably have no idea what any of what I just said means.

But don't worry, I have you covered:). HostGator comes with with a script installation program called Fanatstico Deluxe, meaning you don't have to do any of what I just said! You simply log into your HostGator CPanel, click on Fantastico, and choose your blogging platform. The only hard part is picking which program to use.

You have three options. b2evolution, Nucleus, and WordPress. I have used both b2evolution and Nucleus, and they are both ok. I will say it very simply, GO WITH WORDPRESS!! I will explain in a later blog on why exactly but rest assured for ease of use, Search Engine Optimization, and 3rd Party Plugins WordPress dominates.

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