How to start a blog from scratch: Guidelines for posting

April 20th, 2010 Kevin Quinlan No comment

Before you start posting any of your content, you should have a good idea about how you want to layout your information. You should decide how long you want your posts to be, and how frequently you want to post. You might also want to create a format for your posts depending on the type of information you want to display.

Long or short posts

The general guideline is to write posts that are approximately 250 words each. People are much more likely to read through a shorter post. The potential to get bored while trying to pick through the information in a long post is always present. Avoid adding a bunch of filler to your shorter posts and provide the reader with easy to read useful information for the best results.
There are other times when longer posts are necessary. Sometimes you just can’t say what you need to in 250 words. In this case, it is okay to write longer posts but you want to pay careful attention to the format that you use. It is very important to use subheads to break up the information you are providing.

Formatting

As I just mentioned, using subheads is a great way to make your posts easily digestible for the reader. There is no need to abuse them, but if you have a lot to say, or you deviate from the initial topic of your post, feel free to add a few in!

Images

Images are a great way to make your posts more interesting to your reader. Sometimes the right image can help clarify the purpose of the post for your readers. When using images in your blog, always be sure to give them specific names that explain what they are. Don’t forget to give each image a description and a caption too!

Frequency

Most successful bloggers update their blogs regularly. Many update their blogs several times a day, while others simply choose to update their blog on a daily basis. Bloggers that post longer articles may find it necessary to only post every few days. The trick is to get into a routine for your readers. If you post daily, and then stop for a few weeks, it could cause confusion and your readers may disappear.

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How to start a blog from scratch: Use plugins to improve your blog

April 19th, 2010 Kevin Quinlan No comment

Before you actually start adding new posts to your blog, it is a good idea to make sure you have everything all setup. Has your theme been uploaded and activated? Have you installed the plugins you need?

There are a few plugins that you should consider activating for your blog to ensure the best results. The first plugin you will want to take advantage of is the All In One SEO Pack by Michael Torbert. This excellent plugin will help you keep your posts search engine optimized so you can improve your page ranking.

Comment spam can be a real problem for bloggers. A great way to reduce this problem is by installing and activating the WP-Spam Free plugin by Scott Allen.

If you want to market your blog on social media websites, install a plugin called Bookmarkify by Gary Keorkunian. This will place buttons for several popular social media websites at the bottom of each of your posts.

You could spend hours sorting through the various WordPress plugins that are available. The few that are listed above will get you started, but you will probably want to add more along the way to further your blogging goals.

Also, make sure to take the time to configure the settings for each of your plugins. Installing and activating plugins is typically just the first (and generally the easiest) part of the process.

It is also a good idea to install plugins one at a time. If there happens to be an incompatibility issue between your theme and the plugin, it will be much easier to troubleshoot the problem this way.

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How to start a blog from scratch: Don’t forget about branding

April 16th, 2010 Kevin Quinlan No comment

Bloggers should never underestimate the importance of branding. With successful branding, it is possible to greatly improve the success of a blog. I debated about where I should place the topic of branding in this series. Perhaps it should be one of the first things that new bloggers think about, but somehow it seemed better to firmly establish your list of blog ideas first.

After you have selected a blog idea to pursue, you are going to want to spend a bit of your time focusing on branding. This means you will need to create tag lines that will define your blog, and even logos. If you are particularly serious about creating a distinct blog, you may want to skip the previous step and hire someone to create a WordPress blog theme for you. Sometimes the free WordPress blog themes simply do not convey the message that you are trying to project.

Branding your blog is an intricate process. It should be woven in to the name of your blog, the domain name you select, tag lines, logos, and just about anything else that you want to associate with your blog. Take the time to really think about each of these things because they will perform an important role in distinguishing your blog to readers.

Make a list with fun tag lines that will grab the attention of your readers. Share these ideas with your friends and family who will be able to help you determine if they are catchy or not. They might also be able to help you generate blog ideas that you had not even thought of. Don’t be discouraged if this process takes time. Stick with it and you will be able to come up with plenty of innovative ways to properly brand your blog.

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How to start a blog from scratch: Choosing the best blog theme for your idea

April 16th, 2010 Kevin Quinlan No comment

In order to draw attention to your blog, it is important to choose the best blog theme available. By selecting the best blog theme, you will catch the eyes of those who stumble upon you website and encourage them to investigate further.

The Blogging Center endorses WordPress for a variety of reasons. Blogs built on this platform are easy to customize and there are thousands of plugins and themes just waiting to be downloaded. There is also tons of WordPress documentation available to users.

You will have no problem finding a large selection of websites that provide users with free WordPress themes. The trick is finding the right blog theme for your idea. If you are creating a blog about ballroom dancing, don’t pick a blog theme that displays a yacht or a deck of playing cards.

Aside from the images, there are some other things that you want your blog theme to include. First, you want to pick a blog theme that is widget friendly. You will find that these themes are much easier to manipulate.

You also want to select a blog theme that is easy to read. You might locate a blog theme that would be great for your idea, but if it has a black background and red letters, you might want to keep looking. It is extremely important to make it easy for your people to read what you are posting.

Another thing to keep in mind is that every blog theme is not compatible with every browser or the different versions of WordPress. Use your blog’s analytics to determine which browsers your readers are using and make sure your blog theme supports them!

Blog Theme Checklist:

Theme should compliment your idea
Widget friendly
Easy to read
Compatible with the latest versions of WordPress and a variety of browsers

I find Web2Feel has a great selection of professional looking blogs that typically meet all of my requirements!

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How to start a blog from scratch: Using keywords to improve your search engine ranking

April 15th, 2010 Kevin Quinlan No comment

If you are taking the time to start a blog from scratch, there is a good possibility you want people to find and read your blog. When you first launch your new blog, chances are you will not even be able to find it in your search engine’s results without searching for its exact title. Luckily, if you select the right keywords, you can quickly begin the process of improving your blog’s search engine ranking.

A quick read of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines will reveal two things. The first is that Google recommends that you build your blog’s content for your readers and NOT for search engines. The second point to keep in mind is that Google DOES recommend adding the appropriate keywords to your content. Keep in mind you want to avoid keyword stuffing which can get you blacklisted from search engines.

What to DO:

Design good content for your readers
Add keywords periodically through your content to boost your search engine ranking

What NOT to do:

Keyword stuffing

So which keywords should you add throughout your posts? Once again, you will want to think back to your previous research using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. Use those keywords and reap the rewards. This might mean creating several articles about the importance of vehicle repair history. Just make sure you are creating useful articles and not just garbage filled with keywords.

If you fill your blog with garbage posts that are crammed with keywords, you’ll probably never develop loyal readers. By taking the time to write useful information for your readers, they will consistently return to your site in search of new information. In the end, you will likely earn much higher blog revenue by following this course of action!

There is also another type of keyword called long tail keywords. Understanding what these are and how to use them in your blog will help you improve your search engine ranking!

It is important to understand that adding the appropriate keywords to your blog is only the first step to improve your search engine ranking. Keep following this series to learn about the other important aspects of search engine ranking!

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How to start a blog from scratch: Estimating your potential blog revenue

April 15th, 2010 Kevin Quinlan No comment

Using the list of ideas you came up with in the previous step, it is time to determine how much money you can expect to earn with the keywords relevant to your blog. In order to generate blog revenue, you will want to focus your blog on the keywords that offer high CPCs and higher traffic volumes.

You do want to avoid selecting keywords that are in high demand by advertisers. Doing this may make it challenging for you to improve search engine ranking for your blogs.

One way to better understand what kind of blog revenue you can expect to earn is by using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. You will want to make sure to add the column “Estimated Average CPC.” The CPC stands for cost-per click. This tells you how much money in Adsense revenue you can expect to earn if someone happens to click an ad on your blog that is related to the corresponding keyword.

The below are the Keyword tool results for the keyword “vehicle repairs.” Although the keyword “vehicle repairs” has a CPC of nearly $2.00, the advertiser competition is maxed out. This means they keyword is already heavily targeted by advertisers and it might be useful to pick a different keyword like “vehicle repair history” or “motor vehicle repairs.”

You want to target keywords that are earning at least an estimated CPC of $1.00. Targeting the keywords with the highest CPCs can be challenging as these keywords are typically in very high demand. In the above picture the keyword earning the highest CPC, “vehicle repairs,” is also the most in demand.