How to start a blog

How to start a blog The idiot-proof guide for every clueless marketer" Proudly brought to you by:" A shameless self-promoter of an extremely shrewd marketer who leads a double-life as a narcissistic blogger who probably swears a little too much on Twitter for her own good

Why should I start a blog?

Would you buy a car from someone who can’t drive?

1 You become one of them 2 You increase your ability to influence influencers 3 You acquire market intelligence AC Nielsen can’t provide 4 You become an Influencer

Before we begin…

My Blog’s Brand Vision Why does this blog exist? State one reason why your blog exist What is my blog about? Describe your blog in a single sentence Who do I want to attract? Identify a maximum of two groups of target audience you wish to attract My blog will be better than… List the one blog you wish to beat in terms of quality and quantity (web performance) My blog reminds people of… List the one brand that best represent what you wish for your blog to be (i.e. NIKE/ LOUIS VUITTON/ etc)

My Blog’s Editorial Content Frequency List the number of times you will commit to blogging weekly The Carrot What is the unique piece of content your blog will have that others don’t? Themes Deﬁne the topics you will blog about on a weekly and monthly basis Personality What tone will you undertake? Categories Develop a sitemap for your blog

blankanvas sitemap Free Home Kontribute The Author The Blog Press blankanvas sticker Lead Story Features (x 3) The The Poll Advertising The Dark The Design The Digital The The The The Lonely The The Photograp The Social Mummy The Artist The Bitch One Diva Strategist The Dirt Fashionista The Geek Kollector Lesbian Tavellor Narcissist Oddball The Rest Whore Slut her

For the purpose of this presentation, I will illustrate the beneﬁts of using WordPress’ publishing platform which you can download from WordPress.org and host on your own server." No, using a free service provided by WordPress.com is not an option.

Step 1: Load up with the right tools 1. A text editor  To edit your CSS and PHP files  Recommended: Adobe Dreamweaver 2. A photo editor  To prettify your graphics and photographs for your blog  Recommended: Adobe Photoshop  Tip: I use Skitch (available for Mac only) for quick & dirty screengrabs" 3. An FTP client  To install WordPress, themes and plugins on your server  Recommended: FileZilla (for PC users), Cyberduck (for Mac users)  Tip: To avoid clogging up too much space on your server with graphics and photographs, use a 3rd party provider like Flickr" 4. Tracking tools  Google Analytics: To track your blog statistics  Bit.ly or Su.pr: To track the effectiveness of your clickthrough rate  Feedburner: To build your database  Facebook Page: To build your database and track on your quantitative readership profile  CrowdScience: To track on your qualitative readership profile

Step 2: Find yourself a web host 1. You need a web host that provides:  PHP version 4.3 or greater  MySQL version 4.0 or greater  The mod_rewrite Apache module" 2. Select a web host that is based in the country you think you’d get the most trafﬁc from and has been around for a while" 3. Choose a sexy domain name" 4. Tip: Sign up for a web host alongside with your domain name registration. Typically, a web host will offer to waive off the domain name registration fee if you commit to a web hosting plan of 12 months and beyond

Step 3: Install 1. WordPress.org has a detailed guide at http://codex.wordpress.org/ Installing_WordPress#Detailed_Instructions" 2. Follow carefully step by step and you will be ﬁne

Step 4: Soup it up, baby 1. Grab yourself a theme  A theme determines how your blog looks and functions  Avoid changing your themes too often as it reduces brand recall (yes honey, you’re creating your own brand now)  Be practical – don’t use a theme that requires a certain level of expertise in coding which you don’t have  Make sure you have a logo, and make sure it looks good  Recommended websites: o WordPress.org: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/ o PremiumWP: http://www.premiumwp.com/ o WooThemes: http://www.woothemes.com/ o Best WordPress Themes: http://www.bestwpthemes.com/ "

Step 4: Soup it up, baby 2. Load up the plugins  Plugins enhance your blog’s user experience, extends its capabilities, and make you wish you started your blog earlier  Download from: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/  Recommended plugins:  Akismet: filter those nasty spam out  All-in-one SEO Pack: because people don’t go beyond the first page of Google  Cforms: deploy sexy looking forms on your blog  Find Me On: the best looking widget that displays all of one’s social network profiles I’ve seen so far  Get Recent Comments: display the most recent comments/ trackbacks on your blog  Google XML Sitemaps: make your blog as search engine friendly as possible  IntenseDebate: enhance and encourage conversation on your blog or website  LinkWithin: encourages stickiness on your blog with recommended stories and associated thumbnails along with each blog post

Step 4: Soup it up, baby 2. Load up the plugins  Recent Posts: for those with a magazine layout like mine, this function allows “last in, ﬁrst out’ readers to read your latest posts easily  Search Suggest: because some of us can’t spell  Subscribe to Comments: allows readers to receive notiﬁcations of new comments that are posted to an entry  TweetMeme Retweet Button: adds a button which easily lets you retweet your blog posts  Ultimate Google Analytics: enable Google Analytics on your blog  WP-o-Matic: create posts automated from RSS/ Atom feeds  WP-UserOnline: enable you to display how many users are online on your Wordpress blog with detailed statistics of where they are and who there are(Members/Guests/Search Bots)  WP Super Cache: Cache your blog so that it doesn’t take too long to load

Thank you Holler over at pat@bypatlaw.com if you have any questions Photo credits:! WordPress logo: http://sophia.smith.edu/blog/news/ ! Corvette: http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/42793153@N05/3952796817/ Drawing board: http://nzesylva.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/the-drawing-board-is-now-full/

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How to start a blog

by Pat Law on Dec 21, 2009

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How to start a blog — Presentation Transcript