How to write a blog that will be great. Basic things you have to do to succeed.

So you want to write a blog?

That’s wonderful, nowadays it’s very easy to get a website up and running in a matter of a few hours. Which can also be a bad thing.

If you are serious about becoming a successful blogger, then you need to get started on the right path. A wrong move now, can become a serious issue later on.

We’ve laid out a Blogging roadmap for you.

Blog 101: Setting Yourself Up for Success

Becoming a professional blogger is not going to happen over night. However, someone who has drive and is focus will find it a lot easier to build a blogging career.

You don’t need to reinvent the blog.

The rumbling onion is full of useful well written information.

It will take you some time, but all you have to do is read and take action.

What To Blog About

Your blog niche is going to be the most important part of your new journey. You don’t just want to write about anything.

Just writing won’t make your blog successful.

Your writing needs to be great.

The easiest way to set yourself up for remarkable content… is to pick a topic that you are truly passionate about.

If you are not passionate about your topic… you will be fighting a difficult battle. You won’t give your blog a chance to be successful.

Once you have a good topic… you’ll next need to find a domain name.

Your domain name is extremely important, since most of the time it will be the first point of contact that your audience will have with you. So you should put thought into this before you even write a blog.

Your name needs to be memorable, easy to spell and it should give people an idea of what your website is about.

Most importantly, try to include one of your keywords in the domain name… so it you are blogging about guitars. Your domain name could be something like AmericanMadeBluesGuitars.com.

I want you to read this post, Your Options for Grabbing a Good Domain Name it goes into detail on how to grab a good domain name.

You’ll even learn a few insider tactics that will insure that your domain name isn’t a dud, we’ll tell you which types of domain names to avoid and how to find premium domain names.

Once you are settled on your new domain name, your next step is to register it and to grab yourself a hosting package.

WordPress Hosting: Do It Right, From The Start

The hosting game is extremely competitive… when you have heavy competition, you as the consumer win.

If you are new and really want to understand hosting make sure to hosting check out our hosting guide which will show you the difference between Shared Hosting, VPS hosting, and Dedicated hosting.

If you are Lazy we also have reviewed the top 3 hosting companies. You’ll find what we discovered, before you buy your domain and pay for hosting.

This guide will save you from future headaches, and show you that hosting for your new WordPress site is actually very affordable.

Once your hosting situation is set… your next move is to actually install WordPress.

Installing WordPress

Not too long ago, installing WordPress was somewhat of a pain.

You had to configure files, upload folders, generate passwords… and so on.

It took awhile.

But fast-forward till today, and installing WordPress is just a click away. Especially if you picked one of our top 3 recommended WordPress hosting companies.

If you need some hand holding… that’s okay. We all do at some point. I want you to take a look at this post: WordPress Installation : What to Expect.

You’ll learn a few different ways to install WordPress.

Once you’ve installed WordPress, you’ll see that have access to a dashboard. It can get a little overwhelming.

WordPress Beginners Guide

You’ve installed WordPress, and you are staring at it’s backend… or the dashboard.

The dashboard is the command center of your WordPress blog. You’ll be able to manage everything from here.

Right from the start, let’s get your blog set-up correctly. I want you to read this post: Installing WordPress and Setting Permalinks and set up your permalinks correctly.

This will help you out in your SEO efforts… because your post title will use keywords instead of the default numbering system that the default instillation of WordPress uses.

Then visit our handy guide: WordPress Guide For Beginners.

This guide will show you the ins and outs of your dashboard. You’ll learn specific WordPress terminology and most importantly… how to write your first a post.

Once you are familiar with how the WordPress backend works, you’ll want to make sure you are using WordPress Pages Like a Pro.

Now that you know how to create content for your site… let’s get to the fun part.

We are going to talk about WordPress Themes.

WordPress Themes

Your WordPress theme is very important… you’ll get to express your self-creativity. But more importantly, if your theme is poorly coded it will harm you.

The search engines have many factors that they take into account when they are ranking websites and some themes just flat out miss most of these factors.

Free Themes

Many people when they are just starting out decide that they want to use a free theme instead of a premium theme.

While free themes can be great lots are junk.

If you are planning on going with a free theme, we suggest you check out this two column theme called: A Dream to Host.

A Dream to Host has all the features you would expect in a high quality free theme including, custom background, custom header images, custom menus, and even Google analytics support.

Premium Themes

Now if you plan on taking your blog to the next level you may want to look at getting a premium theme such as Thesis, Genesis, or Headway. Each of these premium themes are much more robust than any free theme you will find but that comes with a price tag.

Each premium theme has a loyal following and their own pros/cons. Do make sure you do your research before you buy below you will find our reviews of each.

Thesis Theme ReviewGenesis Theme ReviewHeadway Theme Review

We also went into a ton of detail comparing Thesis Theme vs Genesis Theme a while back.

Premium Theme Quickstart Guides

Wrapping your head around what each theme can do can be confusing so make sure you check out our quick start guides.

Thesis Theme Quickstart GuideGenesis Theme Quickstart GuideHeadway Theme Quickstart Guide

If you still trying to figure out what theme is right for you check out this post we did on: Blog Design – Where to Get the Best WordPress Themes.

Now that you are up to speed on themes let’s talk about your logo.

Logos: Getting A Good One

Logos are important… the better they are, they more memorable your brand will be.

Just think about the golden arches, or the swoosh… I don’t even have to say the brand names. You instantly recognize them from their logos.

In How to Get a Good Logo we talk about the different options that you’ll have, from the free route to hiring a designer.

You’ll learn a simple way to find free artwork and options on customizing it. It’s a pretty cool way of designing your own WordPress Header.

Did you know that you can actually have a crowd of professional artist competing to create your logo?

In CrowdSPRING Offers a World of Artists at Great Prices, we review a creative method to having a group of artist submit their logo ideas for you.

Logos are fun, along with your sites design it showcases your brand personality.

Now let’s talk about reach… we’re talking about social media.

Social Media: Grab Your Name Before It’s Gone

Picking up your name across the Social Networks is something that you must do. Not only will it protect your reputation, shady marketers have been know to look for unused brand names.

Everyone can be a target, not just large multi-national brands.

But the other reason, is to expand your brands reach. If you have a presence where your target audience hangs out, then it’s only reasonable to think that they have a greater chance of finding you.

We show you the social media properties to register, and how to go about doing it on: Register Your Username on Social Media Sites.

Don’t forget to also take a look at KnowEm Review: How Much is Your Username Worth?

This service let’s you check to see if your user name is available across a multitude of social networks… a time saver in anyones book.

Once you’ve registered your social media accounts — make sure you empower your community to share your website with their friends

Content Is King

Your content, your writing is what is going to give you a fighting chance over the big boys.

If what you write is just blah… then don’t expect to actually make a living from blogging.

Copywriting 101 Series:

To bring you up to speed we created a 7 part Copywriting 101 Series.

Bad content… is bad for everyone. Make sure your content doesn’t stink.

Copywriting 101: Essential Tools of a CopywriterCopywriting 101: Writing With AuthorityCopywriting 101: Repetition is Not a Bad ThingCopywriting 101: Thinking StrategicallyCopywriting 101: Be PersuasiveCopywriting 101: 7 Deadly Traps Copywriters Fall Into

 

Beef Up Your Writing:

If you are still looking to take your writing to the next level make sure you check out these other popular copywriting articles.

You, A Three Letter Power WordBecause, a Power Word Because It Says So!Why – A Simple Power WordHow to Make Your Writing InterestingWrite Like You TalkTransparency in Copywriting

Timeless Core Content

The main goal of your writing should be that it will become more and more valuable as time goes on.

Most blogs are about the moment… they focus on fashion, breaking news, gossips and the such.

Unfortunately that type of writing becomes old news, pretty much as soon as it is published. We don’t want that to happen to us.

Don’t focus on that type of writing… focus on creating something with substance.

Take a look at Core Content Defined and Examined. We go into detail about what core content is, it’s importance and specific strategies to develop it.

Read What’s in It for Me: 7 Types of Timeless Core Content… and reread it.

This is important… this will make your site and writing remarkable.

Remember, your content is going to separate your from the rest of the pack.

While you are working on creating your core content… you should also think about your writing style.

Checkout this great guide on Typography: Typography Basics – Some Fundamentals for Body Copy.

You’ll also want to learn how to keep your readers attention… with so many distractions popping up online today you won’t want to passup on this important subject.

Grabbing Your Readers Attention.

It’s important to write what your readers want. Once you learn what your audience wants and expects from you… everything becomes much easier.

Make sure and read What Readers Want: A Guide to Converting Readers With Short Attention Spans.

Put the tactics to use… remember we are moving towards your goal of becoming a pro blogger. Learn how to do it right, from the start. How to write a blog is not hard as you may think.

Follow these 3 ways to see your blog explode with traffic.

If you want your blog to find its way out of obscurity, we have to fight for our own audiences. We have to earn our authority.

You won’t build authority by copying another writer — even a very good one — but you can improve your influence by following these 3 proven practices.

1. Act against your own self-interest

When you have an agenda, people take what you say with a grain of salt. It’s like a mother saying her boy is the smartest child on the block.

You can dissolve some of this skepticism by, at times, acting against your own self-interest.

This was the objective of the 1960s ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach when selling the world’s ugliest car: they flaunted its dysfunctions.

When you mention weaknesses before strengths, you lower resistance to arguments and generate more belief.

2. Try the “convert effect”

Consider these two different people:

An all-star high school and college athlete who grew up thin and confident, raised by Olympic-caliber parents. A timid soul who struggled with obesity his whole life and grew up in a family more interested in barbecue than barbells

If both people tout the same fitness program based on eating french fries and sprinting up a 40-foot ladder for 7 minutes every day, who would you believe?

No question you’re going to choose the second person. He is more persuasive because he didn’t start out as a fit athlete — he converted to that status after starting life as a coach potato.

3. Play hard to get

Most customers expect you to say things to please them. They may even sense a little desperation. A little bootlicking. And they blow you off.

This is one of the reasons I don’t suggest you say “I’m flexible”when in negotiations.

Say that, and your opponent will suspect you’ll do anything for money. She’ll suspect you don’t care about quality or integrity. In other words, you can be bought … cheaply.

You do your prospects and customers a greater service when you maintain your independence and integrity, defending your hard work and turning down requests.

People will see that you actually have their best interest in mind because you’re not falling over yourself to kiss their bottoms.

Fascinating headline selection process that will take your blog to the top.

Establish Trust with supporting facts and figures, or maintain a consistent (yet engaging) style your readers can count on.

When you have a solid structure, it’s easy to include fascination triggers and connect with your audience emotionally.

A focused strategy for your first 50 words and a cohesive outline for the rest of your content will not only make it easier for you to write, they’ll help you create engaging content that’s easy to read.

Humans are drawn to problems. They attract our attention, but they also produce stress and anxiety. That’s an important benefit for you when you develop your content because it positions you to present a solution.

But, you need to go beyond identifying a problem and get your readers to connect to the emotions behind the problem.

Brian Clark demonstrates this with his post, Site Sensor: Website Monitoring for Content Marketers and Online Entrepreneurs.

The problem of “website downtime,” by itself, isn’t so compelling, but he agitates the problem by demonstrating that website downtime leads to lost sales and cranky customers calling you out on Twitter and Facebook.

What’s the emotional focal point? Alarm, fear of conflict, and loss. The emotional connection is the trigger.

Our emotions are fluid. Robert Plutchik’s famous wheel of emotion shows us how multi-faceted emotion really is. Alarm may simply start as apprehension. As the emotion intensifies, it leads to fear and then terror.

You don’t usually admire others unless you already accept and trust them.

First, you accept their opinions are valuable. Then you trust them as an authority, which leads you to admire them for their accomplishments.

It’s no different if we’re talking about developing trust in a product or service. I accept that your product or service will help me with my needs, I trust you to provide a useful product or service, and I admire you or your business when you meet my expectations.

As you create content that matches the problem with the emotion, you trigger interest through fascination cues and build a relationship through emotional connection in your writing.

Each emotional step your audience takes with you is a little “yes.” This is essential in the process of building any relationship.

So, how do you find the emotional trigger behind the problem? Look at the feelings the problem produces:

Alarm: You’re afraid of losing customers.
Prestige and Alarm: You’re afraid of losing a coveted award.
Trust: You want to convince your customers with stats and social proof.

Once you’ve identified the emotional focal points behind your problem, you’re ready to write a compelling headline that will tap into the appropriate fascination trigger.

the solution mirrors and resolves the problem.

If your content doesn’t deliver the solution and resolve the problem you present, you’ll start to fascinate but end up falling short and frustrating your audience by not completely resolving the problem. the solution mirrors and resolves the problem.

If your content doesn’t fully deliver the solution and resolve the problem you initially present, you’ll start to fascinate but end up falling short and frustrating your audience by not completely fixing the problem.

Let’s take another look at Brian’s Site Sensor example:

The problem: Your site has been down.
The agitator: More than an hour has passed, and you don’t have a clue until you hear from cranky people on Twitter and Facebook.
The solution: When your site is down, you’ll get an instant notification via email, SMS, or iPhone app.

Even if you’re a customer, you may not be familiar with the extent of potential website hosting issues. You know sites go down sometimes, but Brian shows you just how bad it can get.

Once you’re aware of the danger and seriousness of the problem, he swoops in with the solution, relieving your fear, stress, and anxiety.

If the solution doesn’t mirror the problem, there’s no stress relief.

You can test your content to see if the solution you offer matches the problem. It’s as simple as holding them side-by-side and asking yourself, “Do they match? Does this solution directly resolve this problem?”

Want more traffic on your blog? Guaranteed proven traffic driver.

In this post I’m going to show you how to get more traffic to your blog.

Let’s dive right in…

The #1 Struggle Online Business Owners Face Today…

Traffic…

I probably don’t need to tell you that traffic is the lifeblood of any online business.

No traffic, no leads.

No leads, no sales.

No sales, no business.

Even if you already get “enough” traffic, I can guarantee you that you have the potential to boost your traffic by 2x, 3x, or even 10x from where it is today.

The Right Content is:

Content that generates traffic, leads and sales.

Content that gets you traffic from Google.

Content that establishes YOU as an expert.

Because when you do that, everything changes…

When I discovered how to create The Right Content, everything in my life and business changed.

Whether you own an e-commerce site, run a digital marketing  agency, sell software, or if you are a full time blogger, you need content that brings in targeted traffic.

In other words, traffic that will convert into leads and sales.

you need to rank for keywords that your customers search for every day.
Most content published today isn’t designed to maximize shares, traffic and customers.

And, yes, that even includes most “great content”.

Because there’s a BIG difference between “great content” and The Right Content.

And once you know what that difference is, and how to leverage it, you’ll be ahead of 90% of your competitors.

Unless you describe your target customers as “influential bloggers and journalists”, your target audience isn’t going to share your content.

And if they don’t share your content, you’re not going to increase traffic to your website.

Using the power of fascination to drive explosions of traffic to your blog. Seo optimization

Online content marketing is mostly about making a connection with your target audience and building worthwhile relationships with others in your niche. Seo is needed. Since the fact is you invest time and effort into your writing, you want to see tangible results.

what if your posts aren’t getting the engagement you need to take your digital media platform to the next level? How can you create content that deepens your connection with your readers?

The answer might lie in the reason why we take in certain information, while overlooking other content.

Emotions overpower intellect when we make decisions

Emotions almost totally control our decisions and experiences. For instance, when we run into trouble or experience a strong emotion like fear, we tend to obsess over it. We can become irrational or worse.

our fear overshadows and prevents logical thought processes. When the problem is relieved, we’re free from the constraints of our emotions. We’re more open, agreeable, and compliant. We’re able to think rationally again.

Everything starts with emotion. Memories affect our thoughts and opinions; feelings affect our moods and behaviors. The human limbic system is the gatekeeper for all higher thought processing and evaluation.

To build relationships with your audience, you have to first connect with readers on an emotional level.

Because when emotion is missing, we’re not really engaged.

If readers aren’t interested and engaged, they’re not likely to keep reading. And even if they do read your content, they’re not likely to digest it; it’s less likely to make an impact on their lives.

You don’t want them to eat your content without absorbing the nutrients, so how do you get readers to absorb your writing?

You need to fascinate them.

Fascination is a magnetic force

Fascination has the ability to produce intense focus — that feeling you’ve lost track of time since you’ve been completely drawn in to one activity. Fascination enables you to get the emotional response you want.

Bestselling author, brand consultant, and Authority Rainmaker keynote speaker Sally Hogshead, commissioned The Kelton Fascination Study and found there are seven basic facets to fascination.

Alert (or Alarm) creates urgency. It screams consequences, danger, and loss. It’s the screeching tires that flood your body with adrenaline, the Hells Angel parked next to you, and the police sirens behind you. It focuses on what is most feared, not what’s most likely to happen.Mystique arouses curiosity with unanswered questions. It’s bait pieces, limited access, and unsolved mysteries. Alien abductions and D.B. Cooper. The Bermuda Triangle and Taman Shud.Passion ignites sensory pleasure or experience. It’s emotional, expressive, and animated. Passion uses all five senses. It’s the food blog with photos making your mouth water, the Occupy movement, and divisive issues.Power exercises authority and control. It’s a command over people, circumstances, and self. It’s the man with the gun, people with leverage, and military might.Prestige says, “I’m better than you.” It’s one-upmanship, using symbols of hierarchy, rank, and achievement. The luxury car signaling affluence, your coveted award, and the backstage pass. Innovation (or Rebellion) defies absolutes. The bat suit and the first horseless carriage.Trust builds loyalty with repetition and reliability.It’s about the familiar and predictable — the safety and comfort of routine. It’s a pristine track record and consistent performance. Warren Buffett and Amazon 1-Click.

Anytime we’re drawn to something, fascination cues are at play. For writers, using these cues may make the difference between forming an emotional connection with your readers and your content falling flat.

A guide to updating your old blog posts. You can triple your traffic instantly.

One of the first steps to creating adaptive content is becoming aware of the content you already have. This is why we encourage you to audit your site.

But before you dive into a full-blown comprehensive content audit, it might be possible to make your job a little easier by first dealing with all of the expired content.

What exactly is expired content?

It’s those old sales pages, obsolete product pages, and other outdated content. The pages you’ve forgotten about in your archives that desperately need some attention.

You’ll know where some of this content is off the top of your head. To properly attend to other pages, you may just have to walk through your archives.

Now, this might take an afternoon or longer, but as Sonia said in her article on content audits, there are a number of benefits to knowing what’s in your archives.

Why should you fix old, broken content?

There are a number of good reasons why you shouldn’t ignore old, broken, and neglected sections of your website.

Here are three benefits of attending to expired content:

Keeps your site light. True, the more pages on your site, the wider your reach in search engine traffic. But search engine bots will also require more bandwidth to crawl your site. As Stephanie Chang writes, “You don’t want to risk wasting your crawl allowance having bots crawl pages that are thin in unique content and value.” Keeps your site fresh. Expired and old information communicates to search engines (and your audience) that your site is stale.

Enhances the user experience. A well-groomed site enhances a user’s experience because he won’t stumble across inaccurate information or waste time reading two blog posts when one would suffice.

What exactly should you do with this content? You have four options for fixing each piece:

Leave it alone. If it’s still accurate and necessary information, then you might find good reasons to leave it alone. Did it earn a lot of inbound links? Continues to drive traffic? Then it might be worth keeping. However, the big disadvantage with this option is that traffic to stale content often bounces — and bounces hard — which ruins the user experience. I would suggest you leave expired content alone if it can’t be fixed with one of the options below. But more than likely you can find a way to improve it.Redirect it (301). This is the most sophisticated option, but it has to be done right. Do not redirect to your home page. Google hates it, and it drives visitors nuts. The goal with redirects is to point the expired page to another page that is as close as possible in style, intent, and category. You want to match the original user intent as much as possible with the new page. A redirect preserves any link juice, too. This process, however, can be labor intensive.

Delete it (404). This is the lazy man’s way to deal with expired content — and it’s a horrible idea. It wastes any incoming links, irritates the search engines, and upsets users (even if you do have ahip 404 page). Remember, 404 pages are appropriate for people who mistype a URL. They are not a way to deal with expired content.Improve it. This is hands down the hardest approach, but also the best. Look at a page and ask yourself, “How can I make this page better?” You might need to update a page if the information on the page is no longer accurate, or consolidate it with another page if you see an overlap in content between two pieces. Perhaps you need to update an outdated event or obsolete product page, instead of deleting them.

Can You Resist Clicking These 3 Headlines? (One is So Good I Had to Copy it Right Away)

Your headlines are the tentacles that pull people into your blog. More then your content itself, your title is what brings browsers to your content.
Without a compelling, thought provoking, and interesting headline even the best content is likely to go unnoticed. Meanwhile a great headline can bring popularity to even subpar content.
You should be aiming to envoke emotion with a headline. Ask a question that will inspire further thought. For instance, Are u making the mistake of not planning for retirement is going to perform better then how to plan for retirement. You have to remember the importance of interpersonal relationships in the online world. Many great possibilities are created by the advent of the internet. You just have to be savy, smart, and interesting.
As far as blog posts go, anyone can publish one so its important that you understand that in order to become popular you have to stand out by creating useful or entertaining content that engages your readers. When people are reading they want to know what's interesting before they lose focus on the issue.
Don't give up on your dreams just understand and accept that if you know your good enough then you have to work enough. If you don't enjoy writing then blogging is probably not for you. It takes passion mixed with knowledge to make a blog a success. If you put effort into making the best content that you can while using effective promotional techniques that success is almost a certainty.

Headline 1.) the best content for your blog. If your struggling to generate traffic you need to read this.
Headline 2.) why are you not building an audience for your blog? 2 common mistakes your probably making.
Headline 3.) Why you need to plan your future early. Don't put it off too late.

As you can see all three headlines envoke emotion and further thought. Which is essential if you plan to gain readers.

How to create good content for your blog.

Get Readers Involved 
As you get more readers, you'll also get more comments and questions, of which you should definitely respond. In fact, ask your readers for their feedback. This engages them and involves them in the blog, though few may truly understand it.

It allows them to "buy in" to what you're doing. Sports teams are very successful using this tactic. When was the last time you heard a team announcer say: "And now, the starting lineup for for YOUR ...." People then call the team "us" instead of "them".

Later, you may see a reader that is very knowledgeable (judging by the comments they leave and questions they ask). This reader is a good candidate to contribute a guest post on your blog. This reader, who may or may not have his own blog, has the opportunity to become known by more people just by doing this and providing good content to your blog.

Update Old Posts 
As time goes on, you'll accumulate more articles on your blog. Don't ignore old posts. Update them with fresh, relevant and newer information. The early readers may have read them, but newer readers haven't. These articles then greatly expand the experience for new readers, and they'll be encouraged to return.

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