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How Start a Blog - A Quick and easy Guide for 2018

How to Start a Blog - A FREE and EASY 2018 guide

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About the Top Downloaded WordPress Plugins

May 2, 2018 by Samantha Leave a Comment

There are lots of great WordPress plugins that can help you manage content and do a number of other things, and it is important that you know about the best ones if you want to make your website as profitable as possible.

 

  • Akismet

 

Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet Web service to determine whether or not they look like spam. Some of the features of this plugin include:

  • Automatic checking of comments with spam filters
  • Status history for each comment, so you will be able to see which specific comments were flagged or cleared by Akismet and which ones were spammed or unspammed by a moderator.
  • Discard feature that completely blocks the worst spam, helping you to conserve disk space while increase the overall speed of your site.

This plug is one of the most popular for WP users because it is so effective and serves a very useful purpose as well as its variety of features.

 

  • Google Analytics by Yoast

 

This WP plugin allows you to track your WordPress site easily using the latest tracking codes along with added data for search result pages. Some of the features of this plugin include:

  • Easy and straightforward integration with Google Analytics API. Simply authenticate and select the website you want to track.
  • Uses the universal or the asynchronous Google Analytics tracking code, known for its speed and reliability.
  • Ability to enable demographics and interest reports.
  • Tracking for outbound links and downloads.
  • Configurable options for tracking outbound links as pageviews or events.
  • Ability to track downloads as pageviews or events in Google Analytics.

Google Analytics by Yoast is considered to be one of the more popular plugins because it offers so many different features and is an invaluable resource when it comes to tracking anything from downloads to outbound pages. If you need a good plugin for tracking your blog, this is definitely one of the best ones you will find online; it is a comprehensive tool that has helped countless WP users to maximize their earning potential.

 

 

  • Jetpack by WordPress

 

Jetpack is a very powerful resource that used to be available only on WordPress.com and includes traffic, customization, performance and content tools. Some of the features of this plugin include:

 

  • Mobile theme: A lightweight and customizable theme that is designed specifically for mobile devices, including phones and tablets.
  • Content Tools: Enables you to create and publish high quality content with Markdown, Spelling, VideoPress, Shortcode, Post by Email and Embeds. All of these features can be extremely helpful when it comes to generating quality content and getting it seen by as many different people as possible.

 

There are a number of reasons why Jetpack is such a popular WP plugin, including the fact that it has a very simple design that doesn’t put any unnecessary stress on the user’s server. You will also find that this plug has a social networking enabled comment system, allows you to post your blog from any email client, offers full integration with popular social networks and much more. When it comes to plugins that serve multiple purposes and help with creating and distributing content effectively, this is one of the best that exists right now.

 

  • WordPress Importer

 

This WP plugin helps with importing comments, tags, custom fields, categories and more to a WordPress export file. Those who are looking to make the switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org will find this plugin to be especially useful. Some of the different things that this plugin will allow you to export include:

  • Comments
  • Authors
  • Posts, pages and other types of custom posts
  • Categories, tags and terms from custom taxonomies

This is one of the more popular WP plugins you will find, mostly because of how simple its design is and how well it works.

 

  • WordPress SEO by Yoast

 

When it comes to improving your WP site’s SEO performance, this plugin may be exactly what you need. WordPress SEO by Yoast enhances the user’s ability to optimize their website and increase revenue significantly. The Yoast team offer top notch support and it will make getting your website to rank higher much easier. Some of the features of this plugin include:

 

  • Page Analytics: This plugin’s Page Analytics function checks a number of simple but important things that many people tend to forget about. It can check whether or not your posts are long enough, if you have filled out a meta description and if it contains your primary keyword as well as if you have used any subheadings in your post. Although it may seem like a small feature, it is a very useful one nonetheless.
  • RSS Optimization: If you are being outranked by countless other pages and want to start getting the upper hand, the RSS Optimization feature of this plugin can definitely be of help. When you automatically add a link to your RSS feed linking back to the original article, you are directing the search engine where to look for the original. When you do this, the plugin increases the ranking of your website for the keywords you have selected.
  • Social Integration: SEO is directly related to Social Media, and it helps to have a plugin with social integration like this one. This WP plugin can help you to distribute your content to a greater number of people with Facebook OpenGraph implementation as well as Google+ sharing tags.
  • Multi-Site Compatibility: The WordPress SEO plugin has full multi-site compatibility. The XML Sitemaps work well in all different setups and you can go into the Network settings to copy the settings from one blog to another, or even make blogs default for the settings for a certain blog.

 

All of the above-mentioned WordPress plugins can be extremely useful, especially if you are struggling to get your website ranking and aren’t making nearly as much money from it as you could be. The right plugins can make all the difference, so you will want to look into some of these options.

Filed Under: Blogging

How to do Keyword Research for your Blog

April 30, 2018 by Samantha Leave a Comment

Keyword research is a crucial part of any SEO or PPC campaign. This means choosing the keywords that you are about to spend money and time targeting, to ensure that they will provide the very best ‘bang for your buck’ and be worth all of that investment.

A keyword or a key phrase, is the search term that a user will input into Google or Bing when they are searching for something. The aim of an SEO (search engine optimization) campaign is to ensure that the website lands at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant and specific terms.

So as a blogger, your aim is to help more people find your content by getting your site to show up at the top of the results when they search for relevant answers to questions on Google.

Keyword Research for SEO

If you run a website that sells hats online, then of course an ideal example of a keyword or keyphrase you could target would be ‘buy hats online’. The problem with this strategy however, is that by most people’s reckoning it is too ambitious. That is to say that competition is high and that it could be hard to fend that competition off.

On the other hand though, a phrase like ‘where to find the best hats to buy online’ could be too niche and not have enough search ‘volume’ meaning that no one is really looking for it!

So how do you know which keywords to target? Here are some of the best tips that generally work:

  • Use Google’s keyword tool – This keyword tool is significantly underpowered from what it once was and no longer offers the full range of data that it once did. Why? Because the tool is aimed at people considering paying for AdWords campaigns. Google realized that if it made it too easy for SEOs to find the most high-volume search terms with the least competition, then users would no longer need to pay for ads! This is a somewhat anti-competitive move, but it is what it is.
  • Use Google Trends – That said, Google has another powerful tool available for free that is ideal for the savvy SEO or PPC marketer: that is Google Trends! Google Trends is a tool that shows currently trending search terms so you can see what’s currently ‘hot. This is very useful for marketers, seeing as the best keywords are often the ones that are currently popular – but with other creators haven’t jumped on yet!
  • Use Bing’s keyword tool – Bing also has a keyword tool! It’s actually less neutered than Google’s too and while fewer people use Bing, it is generally safe to say that the results here will roughly translate to Google searches too and can as such be extrapolated.
  • Use 3rd party tools – Some great ones are http://www.semrush.com and http://www.spyfu.com 
  • Use some common sense – Ask yourself: what are people likely to search for that the competition might not have thought of yet? Do searches yourself and look for the gaps in the information. How can you fill the niche?

Keywords and More Considerations for PPC

Keyword research is not only crucial for SEO, but also for PPC advertising – or AdWords PPC to be more specific which shows ads on Google’s search pages along with chosen search terms. And this is something you need to consider in conjunction with other factors when you begin a PPC campaign.

PPC is a great way to market a website or a business and an even better way to bring yourself new customers and clients. By using PPC you can put your adverts right at the top of relevant searches/keywords, and drive huge amounts of traffic to your site. If you have an effective business model that reliably converts your traffic into paying customers, and if you have a scalable business that allows you to easily cope with increased demand, then using a good PPC campaign can be a simple and direct way to drive up your sales and make a lot of cash.

But don’t think for a minute that that makes it easy. While PPC can be easy money once you set it up, there are a lot of things you have to get right if it’s going to work for you. People do entire courses in PPC which should tell you that it’s a complex matter. Again, keyword research is key – along with several other considerations.

Using PPC as Keyword Research

Here’s an interesting idea: using PPC as keyword research.

For instance: pay to get an ad to the top of Google for a specific search term and then see how that performs. All the numbers in the world can only tell you so much, whereas actually being at the top of the SERP for a day can show you things like conversion rates for different terms.

Find what works for you and then invest more money into a bigger PPC campaign, or more time into a full SEO campaign!

Final Considerations: Nuance in Keyword Research

Finally, consider that keyword research won’t always mean just looking for a certain phrase and then repeating that over and over in your text.

These days, there is a little more nuance to successful use of keywords. That’s because Google has gotten smarter about the way it looks for keywords in your text. For instance, it is now able to understand synonyms and related terms. For instance, if you target the phrase ‘how to build stronger biceps’ then you might actually also be competing with the phrase ‘get bigger biceps’ because Google knows those mean the same thing.

So, just because there isn’t competition for your exact keyword, there might be competition still for similar phrases. Likewise, you should keep this in mind when inserting those keywords into your content by using ‘LSI’ – latent semantic indexing. Don’t just repeat the phrase itself, but also different variations of the phrase.

There’s a lot to consider, so don’t make this your sole focus. But thinking logically about what terms might be available for you to grab, while still bringing lots of traffic, can help to give you a significant edge over the competition.

Filed Under: Blogging

Beginner’s Guide to Planning Blog Content

April 29, 2018 by Samantha Leave a Comment

So, you want to start a blog?

Think you can just start writing? You think that’s really enough to ensure your blog is a success?

Well… in some cases it is… but to really maximize your chances of doing well, it can help to come up with a content plan. This will give you a rough structure and roadmap for the content that you’re going to bring to your blog over time. And having that outline will in turn help to ensure that you don’t run out of ideas, that you keep a steady stream of high quality content on your site, and that you leverage any and all opportunities to promote your site or work with others. Here’s how it’s going to work.

What Makes Good Content?

A good place to start is by identifying what makes good content and more important – what makes good content on your site.

Your site will have a brand and if you’ve approached this correctly, that brand should be aimed at a very specific target audience. You should know exactly who will be reading your site and what kinds of things they are interested in.

It’s not enough to simply know that your site is ‘about fitness’ – you need to know the ‘buyer persona’ so that you know how they approach fitness. How old is your average reader? Why are they interested in fitness? Is it because they want to dominate the competition or just because they want to be happy and healthy? The type of content you produce for each type of audience is going to vastly differ. You should have a tone, an approach and a style in mind – all of which will ensure that each post on your site helps to further cement your brand image.

Meanwhile, you need to think about what makes good content in general. And the answer is value: you need to somehow provide entertainment, information or inspiration with each and every blog post. And you need to provide advice and information relevant to the identified target audience.

The best tip is to think of each blog post as though it were a product: and in that way it should have a USP that sets it apart from every other blog post out there and that makes it easier for you to ‘market’ in your social media posts and through the title of the post itself.

Keeping the Ideas Coming

You will find there are days when the ideas come pouring and you are flooded with inspiration for new blog topics and subjects. You’ll be itching to write them all down!

But then will come the days when you feel completely at a loss for what to write and all those good ideas are forgotten – or just don’t seem quite so inspiring.

So, make sure you keep a list of blog topics and add to this list whenever a good idea comes to mind. That way, when you do sit down to do some blogging, you’ll have a wide range of different subjects that you can draw from in order to get productive.

If the ideas still struggle to come, here are some suggestions that can help:

  • Combine different subjects in an interesting way – Fitness for martial artists, fitness and its effect on productivity, fitness as seen in the movies
  • Make a ‘listicle’
  • Draw from your personal experience
  • Consider writing an interview
  • Try to remember the last time you learned something that surprised or amazed you about the niche
  • READ!

Ordering

The quality and consistency of your content isn’t the only thing that matters. What is actually also very important, is making sure that your content lands in a good order.

This is important because you want to ensure that you provide good variety on your blog post, without straying too far from the subject matter.

For instance, if you have a ‘lifestyle blog’ or a ‘self-development’ blog, then you may write about a few things that are tangentially related. For instance, you may write about fitness, you may write about meditation, you may write about diet, you may write about productivity tips.

Hopefully, your audience will be interested in all these things. But chances are that some topics will appeal more to some people than others. So, you want to cater to all those tastes, without showing preference for any one. If you have 10 posts in a row on meditation and nothing on fitness, then you may lose some visitors or be seen as a ‘meditation site’. Try to ensure that your ‘most recent posts’ always paints an accurate picture of the variety and sorts of things that you cover.

Timing

Consistency is the most important consideration for any blog. You need to make sure you regularly post new content and that your audience knows when they can expect it.

Of course, life is anything but consistent, and so you can’t guarantee that you will always be available to write. This is why having a backlog of good content is a good idea and then scheduling those posts to get published at smart intervals so there is a steady stream. This also means that you can write on the subjects that you are most interested in at the time (this always makes a huge impact on the overall quality – you shouldn’t really write if you aren’t ‘feeling it’).

By taking this approach, you can also carefully schedule content to coincide with important dates. For instance, if you have a post on sticking with goals, you might decide you want it to go live when the new year roles in. If you have a post reviewing a new smartphone, you might need it to go out on the day the embargo lifts.

If you ever land a guest post on another site, then you need to make sure that anyone who comes to your site from that guest post will then find content on your site that they will like.

All these considerations can make a big impact on the success of your content and your blog on the whole. So get planning!

Filed Under: Blogging

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com

April 24, 2018 by Samantha Leave a Comment

WordPressAnyone who is thinking about starting up a website that they can use to generate revenue will need to first consider the benefits of self hosted vs. WordPress.com blogs. There are certainly benefits to each of these options, and it is important to take a close look at them before making a final decision of any kind.

Theme Support

Themes are a very important thing for many people with websites, so it is therefore important to look at what each of these options has to offer when it comes to theme support.

    • Self Hosted: WordPress.org allows its users access to custom/commercial themes as well as the many different free themes that exist. With this option, you will be able to customize or do anything else you want with your website.

 

  • WordPress.com: With this option you can only choose from free themes from WordPress.com, and you will not be able to modify the CSS or other codes within the theme in any way.

 

Plugins

Another crucial factor to consider when trying to determine whether to go with WordPress.com or the self hosted WordPress.org is the plugins that each one allows. These two options are very different when it comes to plugins, so take a look at what each one has to offer if this is an important issue to you.

 

  • Self Hosted: With websites like WordPress.org, you will be able to upload free, paid or even custom plugins. By being able to do this, you will be able to increase your chances of success as well as the convenience that comes with having so many different plugin options.
  • WordPress.com: Plugins are not allowed with WordPress.com, so you will not be able to upload any, whether free, paid or custom. There are, however, numerous built-in features that are similar to plugins but not nearly the same. By purchasing the VIP program, you will be able to get full control over all your plugins, PHP code, ads, themes and everything else. This program does, however, cost a steep $2500 per month.

 

Cost

Nobody wants to pay more than they have to for a website, so it is important to look at what each of these options costs before deciding which one to choose.

 

  • Self Hosted: WordPress.org charges for web hosting on a monthly basis. Users are required to pay a registration fee each year as well. For sites that get an especially high amount of traffic, the cost of hosting can be quite steep. With WordPress.org, it costs a total of $10/year for a domain name and $7 per month for hosting. With unlimited storage space and no need to pay for ads though, it is a fairly attractive deal.
  • WordPress.com: WordPress.com offers free blogs with up to 3 GB of storage space. The catch is that there will be text ads displayed on your blog to logged-out users. You are also required to pay a domain registration fee ($10 per year) for custom names if you do not wish to have a sub-domain. This website does, however, offer a number of plans, including the Basic, Premium and Business. Each of these plans come with their own features and cost, so it might be a good idea to look into some of them before making a final decision.

 

 

Monetization

 

  • Self Hosted: With the self hosted WordPress.org, you will be able to sell an unlimited number of ads on your website. You can also use any ad service you like. Above all, you get to keep every penny of what you earn from your own site, which is something that is definitely not available everywhere.
  • WordPress.com: Monetization on WordPress.com is restricted. You are not allowed to sell any ads on your own website unless you receive at least 25,000 unique views each month. If you do receive this many views per month, you are required to apply to try the feature called Ad Contorl.

 

Those who want to keep everything they earn from their websites will definitely want to think about what WordPress.org has to offer. The self hosted option is much better when it comes to how much you get to keep from all of your hard work.

Maintenance

 

  • Self Hosted: With the self hosted WordPress.org option, you are completely responsible for maintaining your site and updating it as well as keeping regular backups and making sure your website is optimized. This is more work, but people who want full control of their websites usually like it that way. If you want to be in full control of your site, having to do all of the maintenance yourself is probably a good thing overall.
  • WordPress.com: You do not have to do any maintenance whatsoever. The website’s staff takes care of all the maintenance, including backups, updates, optimization and just about everything else.

 

Although it may seem tempting to choose the option that requires little to no maintenance, doing so will mean that you have less control of your own website and the direction it goes in. If you are serious about making money from your website, the self hosted option is much better because it allows you to control every aspect of it.

 

Conclusion

While it is true that there are both benefits and drawbacks to self hosting and WordPress.com, the former option provides those who want more control over the direction of their websites with a lot more. And although hosting on WordPress.org may not be free like it is on WordPress.com, there are many other benefits to consider, such as the unlimited ads you can put on your website and the unlimited storage space. Self hosting is the very best option for those who are tired of putting their website on cruise control and want to get back and take control of the wheel. With so many benefits and drawbacks with each of these options though, you will need to take as much time as necessary to make the decision that is right for you.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: wordpress, WordPress.com, WordPress.org

Big name brands that are using WordPress

April 19, 2018 by Samantha Leave a Comment

There are many different major brand names that use WordPress because of how beneficial and effective it can be. While it is true that many smalltime internet marketers and businesses use it, there are also a lot of bigger companies that utilize it as well.

BBC America

The American branch of BBC has publicly stated that they use WordPress because of all the great editing tools as well as a straightforward and easy-to-use interface that benefits their editors. The BBC America blog, Anglophenia, was the first page to be moved to WordPress, and it was soon followed by the rest of the website. BBC America has stated that they also like to use WordPress because each show they air can have its own theme on their website, making every page unique to the program.

MTV

MTV is another major brand name that uses WordPress for their “Newsroom” website, becaue of how well it fits in with the rest of their interface/design. This music video channel is one of the most popular TV networks in the entire world and its decision to use WordPress for its Newsroom was a significant one that garnered quite a bit of attention at the time. MTV uses WP for the section of their website that announces any significant or noteworthy news they want viewers/fans to know about.

CNN

CNN also uses WordPress for a number of their on-air personalities, such as Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Anderson Cooper and Larry King. These blogs they use for their on-air personalities provide visitors with information about them as well as relevant news. This news giant has stated that they use WordPress because it allows them to choose the themes they want for each of their most popular personalities.

NASA

NASA uses WordPress as well for their blog, which features a number of different news articles each day relating to science and space. WordPress provides NASA with the numerous theme and template options that are customizable for the perfect look.

TIME Magazine

The blog section of TIME magazine is WordPress as well. Each day TIME updates their blogs with different news articles relating to world news. WordPress is the ideal choice for blogs, which is primarily what it is used for, even by bigger brand names such as this one.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: brands using wordpress, why wordpress, wordpress

7 Benefits to Blogging

April 18, 2018 by Samantha Leave a Comment

Benefits to blogging7 Benefits to Blogging

Blogging is not easy. Sure, the top dogs make it look pretty cushy as they make a living from the comfort of their homes, writing about topics they enjoy for an appreciative fan base.

But GETTING to that point is not easy. In fact, you’ll likely spend the first year, maybe two years, writing articles that pretty much no-one will read. And your AdSense revenue will be stuck at 0.10 cents for what seems like an eternity.

You’ll have days where you have no idea what to write. You’ll want to give up at times. And then there will be days where you download the wrong plugin and your entire site stops working.

Is it worth all the hard work? If you have the sticking power, then absolutely. And not JUST once you reach the point where you’re highly successful either. Blogging is inherently rewarding, in and of itself.

Here are 7 very good reasons to keep blogging along…

And if you don’t have a blog yet, check out our quick and easy guide on how to create a blog here!

1 You Will Learn Valuable Skills

While it’s slow to start with, your blog will grow and develop over time and eventually that growth will become exponential. You’ll be kind of a big deal.

This is partly just steady growth that occurs whenever you stick at something with great consistency. But it’s also partly because you’re going to get better at your craft. Your blog posts themselves will get better, but you’ll also learn how to better promote your content on social media and through SEO. Your site design will get better. Your knowledge will improve. You’ll get better at communicating with your audience.

And ALL of this is valuable in itself. Running a blog is like running a microcosmic business and will teach you marketing, copywriting, sales, design, web development and much more. When you do succeed, it will give you an incredible amount of experience and skills that you can use to launch future businesses, that you can add to a CV, that you can sell as a consultant…

2 You Will Meet Great People

When you start blogging, you’ll be contacted by your readers, by other bloggers in the community and by anyone who reads an article you post and finds it interesting or useful. This is a great way to meet like-minded individuals, to network and to expand your skills, and to gain new insights and knowledge from the community.

And it’s always great to hear from a fan letting you know that you helped them!

3 It is an Advert For Your Skills

Another benefit to blogging is that Even if you don’t make money from the blog directly, it can still bring opportunities and income in other ways. In particular, you’ll find you get contacted by people who are willing to pay for your services and you may even get interviewed in order to share your opinion in your niche.

Having a blog or websites gives you a kind of portfolio and showcase. You can add it to a CV or to a business card. You can direct ad traffic there. It’s your ‘base’.

You can also this way use a blog to ‘launch’ other endeavors. Want to be a singer? Then you could use your blog as a platform to showcase your music.

4 You’ll Help People

The vast majority of blogs are informational, meaning that they will help people learn a topic or share useful tips.

This is great because it means that all being well, you will be helping people. That alone should be a good reason for most people to put in that time and effort and of course, it also means that you’ll occasionally get those aforementioned grateful emails and comments – which is great!

5 It’s fun!

Believe it or not, blogging is actually fun – as long as you’re doing it for the right reasons. If it’s a topic you enjoy, then you’ll be writing about that subject and you’ll have a great excuse to dive in and to learn more in depth. Not only that, but you’ll be creating something you’re proud of – having your own brand, designing your own website and seeing it all grow and improve is very rewarding.

6 It’s Passive Income

All these things are nice, but for many people the original motivation to get into blogging is that it will eventually allow them to earn a passive income.

Eventually, this can lead to the dream of earning money while you travel the world. You’ve stopped trading time for money and you’re completely free to spend your time as you wish while running your business on the side. You can engage in a little lifestyle design and choose how much you want to earn, how hard you’re willing to work and what you want to do with the new free time you now have.

But even before you get to this point, you’ll find that blogging is a great way to earn a little extra cash on the side. In fact, this is the very best way to approach the whole thing – rather than assuming you’ll be earning a living overnight, instead consider than anything ‘extra’ you earn is a win and should be treated as such. Even if it’s just enough to buy a meal out once a month to begin with, that’s still better than nothing!

7 There is No Upper Limit to Your Income

There’s no upper limit to your income as a blogger, meaning that you could in theory become pretty rich.

There are countless different potential revenue streams. You could use it to sell your own product, or a digital product. You could make money from advertising. Or you could make money by selling a service.

Whatever the case, if the site goes ‘massive’ you can potentially become very wealthy. There’s no ‘cap’ on your wages as there are with conventional employment.

As you can see then, there are tons of excellent reasons to try creating a blog. In the short term, it will be a great and rewarding experience that lets you help people and build your own skills. In the long term, it could help you to live a life of your dreams.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: benefits to blogging, why blog

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