How to Create a Blog That Blitzes Your Competition

We all want to rank well on search engines. But to do so, we need to create a blog that not only ranks well, but is highly optimized for SEO at the same time. This is the missing ingredient so many bloggers chase when they build blogs. The reason being is that not only will a blog become a great income tool once it ranks well and receives a huge input of traffic, but well ranking blogs are positioned perfectly to make a lot of money.

A classical example is the blog called IcanHasCheeseBurger. The creator started the blog with nothing else in mind than having some fun while posting images of cats with funny captions. What happened next is nothing of being a miracle since this blogs started to make thousands of dollars in income every single day. To this day, this very blog is one of the top earners in the blogging market, clocking in more money every month than most people earn over the course of a year.

Not everybody is as lucky as to simply create a blog, see what happens next and then find themselves with a winner at hand. People who start off blogs today often do so with a plan. This is a great idea, since success stories like the one mentioned above don't happen often by accident.

In fact, the higher our competition in a certain market, the smarter we have to market ourselves and our blog in order to stand a fighting chance. Marketing involves all of the following and many more methods. The most popular ways to market is to work toward ranking well in the search engines. This can be achieved with the help of frequent blog updates, back links to your blog, content that actually relates to what your blog is about and links from your blog that are related to your conversations.

Naturally, there is a lot more like social marketing, advertising, commenting on other blogs, etc. As you can see, creating a blog isn't just this straightforward thing you do and then sit back to collect your cheques. Trouble is, most people never even get past the starting line to find out.

But not all is lost and once you finish reading this article you know why. See, most people have no clue hat to do next once they create a blog. They are lost amongst hosting issues, data base challenges and the thousands of plugins, widgets and other goodies we can install on self hosted blogs these days. This is enough to have most bloggers quit eventually. It is simply too hard to rank well, be noticed and receive tons of traffic if we have no idea where to get started.

For some however the dream becomes a reality and their blogs continue to be their number one source of income so they can travel the world and live a life of luxury. These people have recognized that in order to become successful with a blog, they need to utilize the tools that help us get there. They are the ones who create a blog and then blitz their competition.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1385964

How to Create a Blog

"Books" are to websites what "diaries" are to blogs. The content of the two differs a lot. Blogs are generally very short subjective posts and are more of a discussion area for ideas that you want to share with the internet. Sometimes a blog can be created for reviews of products or for marketing purposes. If you want to build up a business, then you need a website rather than a blog.

Some businesses do use blogs for marketing purposes. Along with a professional website, blogs can be a great way to keep customers updated with recent activities on your website. This is a great way to build a relationship with your customers - which will make them more inclined to make return visits to your blog. It's a bit like Twitter; a lot of businesses use Twitter to market their product - such as Starbucks. It's a great way to reach a lot of people in an effective way!

Blogs, like websites, are very easy to create and you don't need any computer programming skills. There are lot of great blogging platforms that supply you with everything you need when you want to create your new blog. Blogger and WordPress are both very popular blog platforms. Blogger is owned by Google and as such, their blogs will get really great search engine rankings. WordPress is widely known for being extremely user friendly. There are thousands of free templates on the internet, so you can create your blog to be exactly how you want it. Also, the design templates can be changed with only a few clicks - so your blog won't be down for days or even hours.

With WordPress, you can either host your blog for free or host it under your own domain name - which you have to purchase. It's better to buy your own domain name, as it means that you can do more things with your blog.

A great way to make money from your blog is through Google's marketing program: Google AdSense. It's free to sign up to and a lot of people make a lot of money through Google AdSense and other affiliate marketing companies. Some people even generate a full time income from their blog!

Blogs are a great way to market yourself. If you are creating a marketing blog to promote your website, remember to address your audience. Let them know what you are offering and give them a reason to visit your website and to want to be a returning visitor!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3451536

Create a WordPress Blog Quickly - How to Create a Blog With WordPress Fast

If you are looking to start making money with a blog, you need to get a WordPress blog set up quickly because every second you wait is another second you're leaving money on the table. Creating a blog with WordPress couldn't be simpler so follow these easy steps and you will have your own blog up and running in just a few minutes!

WordPress is great because it's extremely easy to use but you can have a gorgeous and professional looking blog created in no time and best of all, WordPress is completely free. So the first thing you'll need to do is get yourself a domain name for your new blog. The domain is the web address that you'll use to get to your site. Choose a name based on what it is you plan to blog about.

After getting a domain name registered, you want to find a web host so that your blog will be live and accessible to your future visitors. Choose based on whether or not the company offers one-click WordPress blog installation. Most of them do these days because it's such a popular platform to use. One-click installation means you can get your blog installed and ready to use with the click of one button.

Once you've installed your blog, it's time to put some content on it so you can begin earning money. To do this, you'll need to find out what it is your future visitors want to know about. Once you create a list, begin writing posts that both offer information that helps your readers and also links to products that solves your readers' problems. This is how you'll earn money blogging.

Creating a money-making blog should be simple but many people find the process difficult and confusing. If you want to learn how to set up your very own blog for free, sign up for my Make Money Blogging Challenge today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5011928

How to Create a Blog the Easy Way

If you want to know how to create a blog you're not alone. Blogging has become extremely popular and everybody wants one. The only problem is the technical aspect of it. If you have never done it before then there's a learning curve you need to master for it to be the blog you picture it to be.

The good news is that there is a way to cut that learning curve in half. There's a program online called the Niche Blogger where you will be shown step by step how to create a blog. You will learn how to create niche blogs that are designed to keep making you money for years to come. In fact, the longer you have them the more money you make.

This is not some hyped up guru type program. It's a program owned by a housewife and mother of four who was trying to show her computer illiterate mother how to create a blog. While she was teaching her mom she got the idea for the Niche Blogger which now has over 700 members who share blog ideas and help one another.

Before I joined the Niche Blogger I had no clue how to create a blog. It was so far over my head I wouldn't even try. Now, several months later I don't think anything of setting up a blog. I know that if I forget anything that I can always go back to the step by step instructions laid out for me. On top of that we have a very active forum with the most helpful bloggers online willing to help within minutes.

If you think I'm kidding or exaggerating I'm not the Niche Blogger is the real deal. If you're spending frustrating hours or weeks trying to create a blog and end up spinning your wheels then join the Niche Blogger and stop the madness.

The best part is that you are taught not just how to create a blog, but how to create profitable ones that will make money for years to come. Don't just take my word for it check it out for yourself with the free 3 day trial offer.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2010656

How To Create A Blog

Blogs are more permanent than posts to an online discussion list, more dynamic than older-style home pages. They are more personal than traditional journalism, and definitely more public than diaries. A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary site. So, there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people.

Blogs enable interaction and invite others to reward a person’s creative effort with feedback. They weave new social networks, introducing people with common passions. Another reason why one should start blogging is dissemination of "micro-opinions" important to a small audience – opinions that would never make it in newspapers.

Weblogs, definitely, are the mavericks of the online world. Two of its greatest strengths are their ability to filter and disseminate information to a widely dispersed audience, and their position outside the mainstream of mass media.

The XHTML family can accommodate extensions through XHTML modules and techniques to develop new XHTML-conforming modules. These modules permit the combination of existing and new feature sets when developing content and when designing new user agents.

With so many different ways to access the Internet, the XHTML family is designed keeping in mind the general user agent interoperability. Through document profiling mechanism, servers, proxies, and user agents are able to create best effort content transformation. This language is both RSS and XML conforming. The content can be readily viewed, edited, and validated with standard XML tools. XHTML documents can utilize applications (e.g. scripts and applets) that rely upon either the HTML Document Object Model or the XML Document Object Model.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/18670

How to Create a Blog Post That Is Interesting

The internet has a lot of possibilities to offer. Blogging is a popular internet activity. Are you curious on how to create a blog? This article might be able to help you.

You may have read a few blog posts that have created quite an impact on you and you are wondering how you can create a blog yourself.

A blog is simply an expression of your thoughts that you want to share with an audience. If you want to know how to create a blog, you have know that it's not all about writing grammatically correct materials but blogging is all about capturing your target audience's attention.

If there is something that you want to share, a thought, an idea, or a current feeling, creating a blog might be the best venue for that. While it is necessary for you to understand what search engine optimization is all about and how it can help your blog get the potential readers that you need, it is also a must that you create readable and engaging blog posts.

So the perennial question is how to create a blog post that will be interesting enough for a lot number of people. Take a look at these tips:

The first thing you need to work on is to find your niche. This means you need to find what you want to write about. For most people, they choose to write about the areas in which they are most knowledgeable. You don't need to be an expert on something to write an interesting blog post about it. What is important is that you keep your posts focused and easy to read.

To be a good blogger you have to let your audience know you more through your posts. You don't need to bring out everything about you but you can let them know why you chose to write about the particular topic of your niche.

Keep in mind that a good blog name doesn't guarantee that potential readers will take interest in your work. You have to make your posts interesting to make sure that readers stay on your page and read your posts so that they will come back every time you have new postings.

The next thing you need to do is to finally introduce yourself as a blogger. In line with this you need to determine what style of writing to use. Decide whether you are going to create a story-telling kind of blog or take a more serious route in which your foremost goal is to educate your readers.

Keep your readers interest by writing something that is of value to them.

Make sure that your blog is updated on a regular basis to make them come back for more.

Lastly, having excellent content doesn't guarantee wide readership. You still need to go out there and make an effort to promote your blog. How do you do this? Create links to your blog in social networking sites or put a link in another webpage.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7845295

Want to Know How to Create a Blog?

Do you want to know how to create a blog? Starting a blog is easy - there is no need for you to employ someone to do it for you. There are just a few simple tools that you need.

Before you can even begin writing your blog, you need to choose the right domain name plus a reliable and reputable web hosting service. Do not be overwhelmed with a lot to choose from, what you need to look for is a hosting service that can give the best performance when it comes to your needs - site stability, uptime, and speed, among others.

Once you have the domain name and your site is up, you can start writing; but not without ignoring some factors to ensure that your blog will be read and appreciated by many people.

One of the most important things you have to do is to create a provocative blog name. This is to be able to catch that attention of your target audience. It has to be catchy and witty and one that will create an impact to visitors, making them curious to read about what you have to say.

To create a blog, it is not enough to have an attractive blog name, you also need to have a good blog layout and the appearance should be pleasing to any reader's eyes. You need to sustain their interest - they have to like what they see.

So, can you now start creating your blog posts? Not quite! You need to determine first what will be its contents all about. You have to know what your goal is.

Know you target audience. You have to have specific demographics that you want to attract to read your blog then decide on what you want to talk about on your blog. Keep your topics right on target; hence the importance of knowing what group of people you want to reach out to.

If it's going to be a personal journal, you can make it more interesting by adding photos. Keep entries fresh by writing regular updates. Make it free-flowing and easy to understand. Readers should be able leave comments on your page, this way you'll have a chance to interact with them and you'll have an idea how they are reacting to your blog posts.

It is not enough to create a blog because you have to make sure that there will be traffic going to your blog site. You can take to social media to promote your blog site. You can also share it with friends. There are a lot of ways to make your blog site known to many people.

Since you are just starting with blogging, it is best if you ask experienced bloggers about the tricks of the trade. They, too, were beginners like you.

Lastly, make your personality show your posts. Make it personal; that is how you connect with audience. Be yourself and write with conviction and passion. When you want to create a blog make sure that you have the right tools.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7845304

Blog Post Writing - How to Create Successful Blog Posts

1. Know your audience. You're most likely to create effective blog posts if you know the people that you're serving. As a writer, it's important that you know and understand their needs and demands. You also need to know their preferences and those things that they consider very important. Through this, you'll easily figure out how you'll write your posts in such a way that you'll be able to help, educate, and entertain these people all at the same time.

2. Keep it short and simple. Online users are really not big fans of lengthy articles. Probably because they don't find it enjoyable to read something from their computer screens for more than a couple of minutes. So, keep your blog posts relatively short. It will help if you consolidate your ideas first before you start writing and if you try your best to stick with your chosen topics. Also, don't use fillers and big words. Make sure that your blog posts are easy to understand.

3. Make it scannable. Help your audience quickly find the information that they're looking for by making your blog posts easy to skim through. Doing this is relatively easy. Start by discussing your main points using very short paragraphs. These must not contain more than 5 sentences. Then, use subheadings and bullet points.

4. Ensure that your blog posts are informative. The only reason why people visit blogs is because they would like to be informed. So, make sure that each of your blog posts contains at least some. To get the kind of response that you're looking for, I suggest that you share a slice of your expertise and share some of your compelling secrets.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3207209

Blog Tutorial - How To Create A Blog

A blog is a personal journal that you update online
frequently and the author points to other links to support
the author's commentary. Readers post comments on
the journal entries and this makes the blog interactive.
Readers can also subscribe to blogs using Really Simple
Syndication (RSS).

Brainstorm ideas on paper. Find topics that interest you
like karate, dancing or fish to name a few examples. An
example of a good niche is product reviews of digital
cameras. Preferably choose an idea that you already know a
lot about. You can use the Overture Inventory Tool or
Wordtracker to find words that get traffic from search
engines with little or no competition and write content
using these keywords.

I suggest using the two main types of software for creating
blogs Blogger or Wordpress. I recommend Blogger if you
starting out on the internet as it is very simple. If you
want more features use Wordpress. You may want to hire a
professional to set it up for you and do your layout of
your blog as it it can get technically complicated to work
with. I recommend registering your own domain and signup
for your own web hosting to publish your blog to. If you
decide to choose the hosted blog on Blogger and Wordpress
and you migrate to your own domain once you become well
established this will cause you to lose your search engine
rankings.

You can use Technorati tags to tag your posts. This will
allow you to dominate niche conversations. You can also use
Social bookmarking services like Addme to generate code to
install on your website that will allow your visitors to
tag your posts thus creating popularity for them on social
bookmarking sites and giving you backlinks.

You can use Google AdSense to monetize your blog. Use
different layouts to test which generates the most income
for you. You can also use affiliate links related to your
article. If you offer a blog on a highly technical subject
like digital cameras you can also use Chitika eMiniMalls.

You can market your blog in the following ways. Submit your
blog to blog carnivals. These blogs host a carnival
featuring blogs related to a niche. You will also receive
backlinks from these and this will boost your link
popularity. You can use a service like Onlywire which
creates a link in your toolbar that allows you to submit a
blog post to several social bookmarking sites at once
allowing you to get visitors from many different websites.
Submit your blog to the most popular blog directories and
also the rss directories.

Master these basics and you can build a successful blog. If
you build a number of blogs you can eventually turn this
into a full time income.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/495721

How to Create a Blog to Make Money Online - Setting Up and Starting Your Own Blog to Earn Money

Starting a blog to earn an income online is one of the smartest ways you can increase your income easily. Thankfully, setting up a blog and getting started blogging is extremely easy. There are just a few simple steps you need to follow to get your very own blog going.

The first thing you have to do before you can even write your first blog post is choose a topic to blog about in the first place. If you want to make sure you have a profitable blog, you will need to choose a topic that lends itself to monetization. That means your topic should be something people buy products for. Almost every topic has something its readers will buy but some are more lucrative than others.

Next, you'll need to choose a name for your blog. The domain name of your blog should tell your readers something about what it is your website has to offer. One really smart move you could make at this stage is to imagine what the future readers of your blog might type into Google to find you. Now try to incorporate some of those words into your domain name. That way you'll get lots of visitors through search engines like Google instead of having to pay for advertising to get readers.

Finally, you will need to register your domain name and get your blog hosted. Owning your own blog is crucial to the success of your blog money making venture. Thankfully, there are extremely affordable hosting companies that make getting a blog up and running easy.

Setting up a money-making blog should be simple but many people find the process difficult and confusing. If you want to learn how to set up your very own blog for free, sign up for my Make Money Blogging Challenge today!

The Challenge provides step-by-step instructions and ongoing personal support and assistance and is 100% free for a limited time. Sign up and rise to the challenge today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4968532

How to Create a Blog - You Have 2 Choices

Before you learn how to create a blog you should be very clear about certain factors.

You have two choices - you can do it yourself or pay someone to do it for you.

However beforehand you will need to consider what it's purpose is for i.e. personal or commercial, what 'platform' you will use and whether you want to 'pay' to get it set up or create it yourself.

Let's just make an assumption that you are going to create a blog for your company but that you want to create the blog yourself as having one created can cost any where from $250 to $25,000 ( depending on complexity and income generation potential)!

The first thing that you will need is access to an internet connection preferably a DSL connection.

The next choice you will have to make is what blogging platform you will use. For example B2Evolution or Wordpress.org. If you are going down the Wordpress route remember that under Wordpress.com's terms and conditions you cannot create a commercial blog from it so stick to the '.org'

Both B2Evolution and Wordpress.org are free platforms - that is the blog engine software is free and is 'open source' therefore being constantly updated. However if you are looking at doing this yourself Wordpress.org is much less complicated to set up and administer than B2Evolution. Both these blogs must be self hosted i.e you will need a hosting account!

Let's just assume that you have opted to set up a Wordpress blog. You will have made a wise choice. Firstly it is the most popular blogging platform chosen by D.I.Y. bloggers and industry professionals.

There are literally thousands of themes (skins - what the blog looks like) and plugins (the functional addons) and most are free.

Additionally if you want something that looks completely different you can have custom made themes designed for as little as $20.

Plugins are a little different though. Depending on what you want the plugin in to to do and if it's available - it may not be free. Having said that though - unless your requirement is very specific it's unlikely that 99% of you will ever have to pay anything!

OK so now you have made the first decision and it's going to be Wordpress. You have to decide on a few things before you start.

Firstly you need to download and activate the blog. This is the tricky bit for 'newbies' (inexperienced computer users) but once you get the hang of it - it becomes very straightforward.

After you've uploaded the blog using an FTP Client (like FileZip or FileZilla - both free). You then need to set up the MySQL database.

You can automate this process using cPanels Fantastico which is the easiest way on how to create a blog or you can try this manually. This is where it gets complicated!

This involves more 'computer' knowledge than most people have but there are other options. There are many videos avaialble that will help you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1869069

Learn How to Create a Blog With WordPress in 7 Easy Steps

OK, great, you have now decided to set up a WordPress Blog. Now you need to know how to create a blog.

I will assume for the purposes of this article that you have chosen to download your WordPress platform from WordPress.org, that you have a hosting account so as you can self host your blog, that you are going to host your blog on its own domain .i.e. mydomainblog.com and that you know the 'basics' of using an FTP client like FileZilla.

Step #1

Go to WordPress.org and download the latest version of WordPress. This will be a Zip file. Extract the contents. You will end up with a sub folder i.e.'WordPress v2.7'

Step #2

Open up your FTP client and go to public_html or httpdocs. Open up these public folders - this is where you want to place the WordPress files/folders.

Step #3

Open up the unzipped folder and you will see over 25 (at present 27) files and folders. Upload the in the public directory. This will take at least 5 minutes so take a tea or coffee break.

Step #4

OK, glad you've had a nice break - lets get on to preparing the 'mechanics' of the database.

You will need to set up a MySQL database and then change a file -Ok here goes.

Step #5

Go into your control panel for your domain.

Select the MySql icon. You will see 3 main areas. Here you will set up a database name, User Name, Link the database to user (as well as set privileges) and you should have the last box say 'localhost' - leave that alone as 99% of setups don't require you to change this.

Now create your database name this will look like xxxx_database name. After you press the create tab you then press go back which takes you back to the database creation page.

Now create the database user name it will look like xxxx_database user name and set a password. Press create and the Go back tabs

Now you need to 'marry' the database name and user. Match the database name and user and by clicking add user to the database - for the moment make sure that the 'all privileges box is checked.

Where it says 'access hosts' if this has localhost beneath just leave the box blank.

Press the 'go back' tab now and you will have created your database.

Step #6

Open up a text editor or Dreamweaver or NVU (free HTML editor)

Access the wp-congig-sample.php file and upload it into your editor. In particular you will see the following information.

define('DB_NAME', 'WordPress'); // The name of the database
define('DB_USER', 'username'); // Your MySQL username
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password'); // ...and password
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); // 99% chance you won't need to change this value

You need to change the default information in the wp-config to include your database information.

Make sure you do not remove the single quotes.

define('DB_NAME', 'WordPress'); // The name of the database
You will need to change the "WordPress" to the actual name of your database that created when you set up the database i.e. define('DB_NAME', 'nicheblog');

define('DB_USER', 'username'); // Your MySQL username
again change the 'username' to the username you created when you set up the database.

define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password'); // ...and password
This is the 'password' you created when you set up the database.

define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); // chance you won't need to change.

Leave everything else alone and save this file as wp-config.php

You now go to your FTP client and upload the amended wp-config.php file

Step #7

You then go to and type in your domain on your browser.

When you first go to install you should be presented with an 'auto install feature' which will ask you for the title of the blog and your email address.

Once you have followed the instructions, your blog will be created automatically for you. Make sure to save the user name and password provided.

That's it for the basic WordPress installation!!!

You are ready to log in! You will see the default WordPress theme in the front end of your website. You can change the look and feel of the website by changing the default theme to custom WordPress theme.

This should work 99% of the time providing you have followed the steps. Should the self install not complete successfully it is often because the blog creator has either not properly set up the databse and/or not changed the wp-config-sample.php files properly.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1898303

How to Create a Blog and Make Money

If you want to know how to create a blog and make money then you aren't the only one. While its true people do make money blogging there is one thing you need to know and that is to set up the blog the correct way. Therein, lays the problem how do you monetize a blog? Furthermore, how do you monetize it to make the most profit?

When I first started blogging I didn't know how to create a blog at all let alone monetize it. After all, the technical part of setting a blog up can be intimidating. You can start with Blogger to get your feet wet and dabble a bit, but Blogger while it has its place in the Blogosphere, isn't the best platform to monetize a blog.

The problem is when you create a Blogger blog is that for whatever reason Google can decide to shut it down. Poof! Gone! Just like that. That's because they own it not you. That's why it's better to buy your own domain and hosting and get a WordPress blog so you don't have to worry about those things.

However, WordPress comes with its own unique problem which is the learning curve. Setting up a Blogger blog is easy, setting up a WordPress blog is another story, especially if you're techie challenged like me.

Then, to top that off you not only need to create a blog, but also set it up to make money. Yes, in case you didn't know, there are specific ways to set up blogs to make money.

Of course, I didn't know this so my blogs in the beginning didn't fare well as far as making money goes. Until I found a membership site called the Niche Blogger this is where I learned not only how to create a blog, but to monetize it as well.

The Niche Blogger is owned by a housewife and mother of four by the name of Amy Bass. She started blogging to get her family out of debt and did it; in fact, she paid off over $72,000 in debt just by blogging.

Finally, I found the secret of how to create a blog and make money. It's simple, find a mentor who knows how and do what they do. Now, you know the secret too, so why not come and join us at the Niche Blogger.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2024971

How to Create a Blog

There are many ways in which you can create a blog, the easiest being to use a blog host such as Blogger or Wordpress.com. Using these, you can create your blog on any topic you want and even customize it to suit your needs to a certain extent.

I say 'to a certain extent' since no blog that is operated from a blog host's website can ever be truly yours, and you consequently have limited control over the design and occasionally even the content of your blog. That is because neither the software needed to manage the blog, nor the files that hold your content, are contained on your website, but on that of somebody else. That 'somebody else' is either the operator of Blogger or of Wordpress, or whatever blogging host you happen to be using.

So what does that mean to you in practise? I have no intention of going over the pros and cons of the hosted versions of Wordpress and Blogger, and have provided a link on my website that provides that information for you, but it should be clear to anybody that if you host your own blog from your own website, you have much more control and latitude in the design, formatting and content of your blog.

It is not difficult to upload Wordpress to your website and run it from there. You can then upload any number of the multitude of plugins and templates available to enable you to design your blog in any way you want. You can change the appearance and content not only of your navbar, but can use html to change practically every aspect of your blog to suit your needs. The question you will be asking is how you get Wordpress onto your own website.

It is easier than you think. Wordpress.org provides the software, and you have to upload it to your website into a directory of your choice. The easiest way is to use an ftp client, and you can get information on good free ftp software on my website or blog. You then have one or two alterations to make to some of the files and you are done. You have a blog that you can change to suit your own needs without any of the restrictions that are imposed by the Wordpress website.

You can change the template to any of the thousands on offer online, either free or paid, and you can also use software to design your own or to customize the templates to your own design. You can change the whole look and feel of your blog, and offer whatever links that you feel necessary. You can put whatever adverts on it that you want, including AdSense blocks, and use your blog to make you money.

Creating a blog is easy, and if you know how to create a blog exactly as you want it, then you will have a great tool at your disposal that you can use to promote any product you want, and also to make direct sales, either of products or of advertising. There are many ways in which you can use it either to promote products or to earn money through advertising. You have few restrictions when operating a Wordpress blog from your own website; all you have to know is how to do it.

Once you know how to create a bog on your own site, you can harness the power of blogs to achieve what want to achieve with your website. There are few limits and your imagination will be your major asset, so use it.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/896348

Why You Should Know How to Create a Blog

If you know how to create a bog then you have a fabulous promotional technique at your fingertips. A blog provides the ever-changing type of web content that search engine spiders die for, and if your website is new, then you will have no need to submit to any search engine for inclusion in its indices.

Spiders seek out blogs like they hunt flies, and when they find yours it will be reported back to headquarters immediately and your website will be scanned and immediately listed. Assuming, that is, that the content warrants it and that your blog is considered good enough for the website link on it to be given a visit.

If you don't continually change the content on your website, then it will quickly drop down the Google listings, and also those on the other search engines. However, it's not just the website: it's every individual webpage on your site that has to continually change, because the search engines list each page individually, not whole domains. Search engines just love change, because they exist to provide a good continuous information service to their users, and if the content of the web pages in their indices remained the same all the time, they would fail in that objective.

Therefore, they insist on change, and if you don't provide it, your page will slip off the listings. A blog lets you change the content of your website with ease. Not just the home page but every page. So, if you want your website to remain in the top listings then you will need to have a blog, the contents of which you can keep refreshing manually whenever you have a few minutes.

You can use a blog to interact with visitors to your site, and I fact you can use it virtually as a forum. You can use it to advertise your new products, disseminate information and gain information. A blog is a means of communication, and if you can create a blog then you have the ability to cerate traffic right there at your fingertips. You can update information and pass it your customers and friends faster than with an email.

In fact many people use blogs instead of websites. They don't have websites and just park their blog right there on the blog provider. There are several blog providers, but it is important to choose the right one if you are to create a blog that does exactly what you want it to do. You also have to learn how to use your blog to you best advantage. Once you learn how, it is not difficult to create a blog just for providing information, but how do you make it pay? And make it big time?

The best way is to have it on your website, rather than on the provider's site, because then you can use a lot more customized plug-ins. Most cPanel websites can easily interface with Wordpress without much trouble.

That's the secret of blogging, and that's what makes the difference between a Blogger and somebody that just operates a blog. It's a big difference in both ability and cash! Don't just learn how to create a blog, but learn how to make your blog earn the kind of money for you that your website probably can't even approach.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/818466

How to Create a Blog - You Have 2 Choices

Before you learn how to create a blog you should be very clear about certain factors.

You have two choices - you can do it yourself or pay someone to do it for you.

However beforehand you will need to consider what it's purpose is for i.e. personal or commercial, what 'platform' you will use and whether you want to 'pay' to get it set up or create it yourself.

Let's just make an assumption that you are going to create a blog for your company but that you want to create the blog yourself as having one created can cost any where from $250 to $25,000 ( depending on complexity and income generation potential)!

The first thing that you will need is access to an internet connection preferably a DSL connection.

The next choice you will have to make is what blogging platform you will use. For example B2Evolution or Wordpress.org. If you are going down the Wordpress route remember that under Wordpress.com's terms and conditions you cannot create a commercial blog from it so stick to the '.org'

Both B2Evolution and Wordpress.org are free platforms - that is the blog engine software is free and is 'open source' therefore being constantly updated. However if you are looking at doing this yourself Wordpress.org is much less complicated to set up and administer than B2Evolution. Both these blogs must be self hosted i.e you will need a hosting account!

Let's just assume that you have opted to set up a Wordpress blog. You will have made a wise choice. Firstly it is the most popular blogging platform chosen by D.I.Y. bloggers and industry professionals.

There are literally thousands of themes (skins - what the blog looks like) and plugins (the functional addons) and most are free.

Additionally if you want something that looks completely different you can have custom made themes designed for as little as $20.

Plugins are a little different though. Depending on what you want the plugin in to to do and if it's available - it may not be free. Having said that though - unless your requirement is very specific it's unlikely that 99% of you will ever have to pay anything!

OK so now you have made the first decision and it's going to be Wordpress. You have to decide on a few things before you start.

Firstly you need to download and activate the blog. This is the tricky bit for 'newbies' (inexperienced computer users) but once you get the hang of it - it becomes very straightforward.

After you've uploaded the blog using an FTP Client (like FileZip or FileZilla - both free). You then need to set up the MySQL database.

You can automate this process using cPanels Fantastico which is the easiest way on how to create a blog or you can try this manually. This is where it gets complicated!

This involves more 'computer' knowledge than most people have but there are other options. There are many videos avaialble that will help you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1869069

A Beginners Guide to: Using Facebook for Social Media Marketing

Introduction

Unless you've been living on a desert island for the past decade, you'll have heard of Facebook. It's used by millions of people the World over and it's a great way to connect with others.

This fact has not been lost on Marketers and Advertisers and they've moved to Facebook in their droves. Social Media Marketing, as it's become known, is a hot topic. Do it right and your organisation will benefit massively. Do it wrong and you'll disappear off the site like you never even existed.

What is Facebook?

Before talking about how to use Facebook for Social Media Marketing (SMM), it's important to take a moment to clearly understand what Facebook is. Facebook is an Internet based social networking application accessed via an Internet browser. The important element here is that it's for social networking. It's not designed for marketing or advertising (unless you want to pay Facebook to carry an ad for you). Abuse this fundamental viewpoint at your peril.

Everyone that joins Facebook MUST create a profile. It can be a Business Profile or a Personal Profile but you are only allowed one profile.

Creating multiple profiles is a violation of Facebook's Terms of Use and can result in all of your accounts being terminated.

I emphasise the above statement because it's really important. If you spend some time carefully crafting your online persona, it can be devastating to have it all taken away.

Business Profile or Personal Profile?

Facebook has only two primary profile types. A Business Profile or a Personal Profile. The personal profile gives you full access to all the features in Facebook. The business profile gives you access to administer your Pages and ad campaigns only. This is from the Facebook FAQ:

Business accounts are designed for individuals who only want to use the site to administer Pages and their ad campaigns. For this reason, business accounts do not have the same functionality as personal accounts.

Business accounts have limited access to information on the site. An individual with a business account can view all the Pages and Social Ads that they have created, however they will not be able to view the profiles of users on the site or other content on the site that does not live on the Pages they administer.

In addition, business accounts cannot be found in search and cannot send or receive friend requests.

Deciding upon whether to create a Business or Personal profile is a big topic on it's own. But, in short: If you intend to do Social Media Marketing, I strongly urge you to create a personal profile.

Security

Now you've created a personal profile. the very first thing you'll want to do is to check your Privacy Settings by selecting Account > Privacy Settings from the menu at the top right of the Facebook page. Take some time to work through these options before you start to use Facebook.

For example, one of the default settings is that your Family and Relationships are public. I'd suggest that you might want to limit this to friends only.

As another example, you may well want to keep some of your contact information, ie: your home phone number, private.

Completing Your Personal Profile

Once you've created your personal profile, Facebook gives you lots of hints on how to complete your personal information. Most of it is great advice and well worth following. Remember, what you're trying to do is setup your online persona. It will reflect you and your business. Let this guide your actions as you add information and photos.

Your aim is to have as complete a profile as possible so that your own friends will recognize you and will befriend you on Facebook. You'll also want your profile to be engaging enough so that you can make new friends online.

Adding Friends

Once your profile is ready, it's time to add some friends with whom you can communicate. Again, Facebook helps by offering to search through your eMail, Instant Messenger, Skype and other accounts to create a prospective friends list. Select 'Find Friends' from the menu at the top right of the Facebook page, next to the Account menu option you selected earlier.

You'll be presented with a list of contacts that also have accounts on Facebook and you can choose who you'd like to add to your friends list.

Adding current friends is the best way to get started with Facebook. Later, I'll show you how to add other friends.

The Wall and the News Feed

Facebook can be confusing at first so for now, I advise that you limit yourself to two main views when using it, the Wall and the News Feed. 

• The Wall. When someone first visits your Facebook page (or you visit theirs), the default view is the Wall. The Wall is a place to post and share content with your friends. The visibility of the items posted depends upon your Privacy Settings (see above, under Security).


• News Feed. The News Feed is a constantly changing list of stories from friends and Pages (more later) that you follow on Facebook. It's only visible to you.

To get to your News Feed, choose the 'Home' menu option at the top right of your Facebook page.

To get to your Wall, choose 'Profile' from the menu at the top right of your Facebook page and then select 'Wall' from the menu at the top left of the page, just under your profile picture.

Using Facebook

Now you've set it all up, I suggest using Facebook for a while and getting used to it. Start some conversations and join in others. Write on peoples Wall or comment on what they've said. For now, it's not so important what you say (but remember that this is your online persona for you and your business so do apply caution) but it is important that you get some practice using Facebook.

And so, to Business...

Now that you've got to grips with the basics, it's time to create a Page for your business. To do this, go to your 'News Feed' page and select 'Pages' from the menu on the left side of the page. If you can't see that menu option, click on the 'More' button and it should then appear.

You should now see a button titled 'Create Page'. Click on that and then follow the simple directions.

The team at Facebook have written a number of documents that will help you create your Page. You can download the manual on creating Pages or visit facebook.com/FacebookPages#%21/FacebookPages?sk=app_7146470109 and follow a number of useful links from there.

Your Business Page

Once your page is created, visit it and you'll see a series of steps to get you started. At the top of the list is a button to 'Suggest to friends'. This is where setting up a personal profile (as opposed to a business profile) really helps you. Basically, Facebook will send an invite to any of your friends that you select, asking them to 'Like' your page. This is important because once you have 25 'Likes', you can get a custom URL for your Page that is then easier to find, pass on to others and even use on your business stationery.

Why is a Business Page Important?

The primary reason for creating a business Page is to separate your business life from your personal life. Many business users don't like to mix their personal and business life. While they may be very happy to share some information with friends and family, they may not want that same information made known to their business contacts.

Once you've created a business page, you can invite your business contacts to 'Like' your business page and communicate with them there. This way, you can enforce a separation between you the person, and your business.

Note also that you can add other users as administrators on the business page thus reinforcing the fact that the business Page is a separate entity from individual users.

If Facebook is for Social Networking, How Can I do Marketing?

Earlier, I said that Facebook is a social networking site and that you should abuse this notion at your peril. What I meant by this was that users do not log on to Facebook to suffer interminable advertising messages or to be marketed at. They come online to socialise. If you try and push your business on them, they will desert you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6355843

Ultimately Who Owns Your Facebook Business Page?

Facebook pages are all the rage and with good reason: Every business that deals with people needs one because Facebook is where the people are!

Problem is most small to medium sized business owners are busy, don't have the time and would simply prefer to have someone else do it for them.

Facebook "experts" everywhere are offering to help create with the 'difficult' task of creating Facebook pages for busy professionals who want them.

Fact is, a basic Facebook page is very easy to create and sometimes you'll hear someone say "sure, I can do it for you," but before you let them, here are a few pointers to ensure that your Facebook Page is the property of your business.

Now there was a time when this was major no-no. At that time the creator of a Facebook page could never be removed as an administrator. Simply, whichever employee uses his or her personal Facebook account to create the company Facebook page would forever have access to it. Even if that employee left the company. Even if you fired that employee for gross negligence or criminal activity - like illegal use or abuse of your Facebook page.

Luckily that has all changed and now page creators can be deleted as administrators. This is true, however, only if the Page creator adds someone new as an admin. Thus, it should be company policy that whoever creates a company Facebook page must immediately add a second administrator as soon as a Page is created. If that doesn't happen, a Page creator will control your company Facebook page forever.

All this jargon?

For those confused by the nomenclature 

• a Facebook Profile is the account used by a person
• a Facebook page is the account used by a brand or business.

The distinction is made because multiple people (Profiles) can work for or administer a single business or brand (Page).

What was the Fan page thing?

Ah yes, one of the most common questions we get. This is simply the OLD name for a Facebook page. It came out of a MySpace like thought that bands and singers had public pages for their FANS to.

So simply, they used to be Fan pages, but then Facebook in their wisdom decided that "fan"  didn't really describe the relationship customers had with their brands and companies. More than be a "fan" they though you could "like" it a lot better. So they really only swapped the "Become a Fan" buttons for "like" buttons on brand pages.

The Page Creator has the Power (initially!)

Facebook Pages must be created though an existing Facebook Profile. The profile that creates the account will initially have primarily administrative control over the Fan Page forever. So what does that mean? It means that any person made with administrator role has indefinite control over the operation and destiny of your Facebook Page.

I know you may be thinking: What could Possibly go wrong? Well here are a few examples:

The Upset Employee

So you have an employee who's a Facebook 'expert' and they offer to create the Facebook Page for your business and even manage it. Well, six months from now, there is a slow economy or something else that forces you to lay them off or fire them and they decide to delete your Page and all the 800 people "like" your company page you've generated and you have no legal discourse.

The friend or associate who claims to be a 'Facebook expert'

Expert? First of all, there really is no such thing as a Social Media or Facebook 'expert'. Event he guys and girls that we all see as 'experts' themselves claim not to be!

Second, similar to the upset employee, friends often have disagreements that lead to ended friendships. You never want to be pessimistic about friendships, you have to be realistic as a business owner and know that you have to be prepared for the worst and in this situation, it isn't much to ask a friend to give you primary control of what's already yours.

Other stuff...

What if the person who owns your account gets flagged for spam? What if their account gets deleted or they delete the account themselves? Consider all these factors considered when creating your Fan Page and make your final decision to be that the page will be created in your name through your profile OR get ownership in writing!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7308503