Build A Blog

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I’ve had an interesting year so far this year, as you will see from my unexpected photography project that I talk about on my digital photography blog.

My first blog

When I started this blog I had no experience with blogging whatsoever, yeah I’d read a few blogs but without really knowing what they were or how they were created. So you could say I jumped in the deep end or kind of just wandered into the world of blogging by mistake! I started my first blog with Blogger and looked around for some information on blogs and how they worked. What did you do with them?

And what I remember about that time is the vast amount of information that was around about blogs, and how much that information varied in it’s usefulness. There was everything from how to build your blog to how to make huge amounts of money with your blog. All written by established bloggers who had spent a long time learning about blogs and building them, basically successful bloggers who had put the time and effort in to produce a successful blog.

And I take my hat off to them, they were and are an inspiration to me and my ongoing journey with blogging. But sometimes it can be hard for a beginner blogger to relate to a professional blogger, they can seem miles apart. I have learned a lot since I was first introduced to blogs, but to be honest I wouldn’t say it’s been an easy ride. Learning about blogs from scratch has been hard and challenging, especially because I had no other background with anything on the Internet or Internet marketing.

At times it’s been very slow going and very frustrating due to my lack of knowledge. And it was the things that I knew were simple (for everyone else) that took twice as long for me because I was learning them as I went. I famously remember wanting to launch my computer out of the nearest window because after 3 days I still couldn’t figure out how to upload a theme to Wordpress!

What this blog can do for you!

And that’s stayed with me, most often it’s the simplest things that can cause the most problems! Why? Because they can be the first steps that we learn as bloggers and they can seem so simple (now) that they are often overlooked when bloggers are writing information. So the beginner blogger can be left to struggle (unintentionally of course!) and spend time trawling the Internet for answers.

This is where Build a Blog comes in, Build a Blog is about my personal journey with blogs and blogging. And a place for beginner bloggers to find simple and clear information about setting up blogs, and making them into a solid foundation for their content. Covering the simple steps that are essential for beginner bloggers to learn, but can easily be overlooked by experienced bloggers who have just forgotten what those first steps are like.

Once I’ve covered all the basic elements to setting up a blog I will pull all the information together and produce a pdf report so all the information will be together and easy to read. I look forward to writing more about blogs and blogging and learning more tips to improve the blogging experience for me and my readers.

Post in the comments if there are any problems that you are encountering?

Mandy

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I’d just like to wish everybody a happy New Year, and that your Christmas (if you celebrate it) was equally enjoyable.

At this time of year I can’t help but look back over 2008 a little, and that helps me to then look forward to 2009 and all that I hope it will bring…

What happened in 2008

If I look outwards to the world and the major events that happened this year. Then it was truly a landmark year, especially if you look at the major events that effected the world, like the election of the first African American President for America and the global financial problems for instance. Definitely a year to remember.

And then from a personal point of view the dominating factors were the deaths of 3 close family members and friends, that have obviously effected me. And also finding out that I will need a fairly major operation has really made me look at myself this year and what I want to achieve. A year to remember…

Looking forward to 2009

In the next couple of days I will be going into hospital for my operation so that is on my mind a lot at the moment. But I also want to learn from this experience, about myself, what is important and what changes I may want to make because of what I have learned.

So from a personal point of view there is a lot going on, which is actually quite exciting. Any changes that I want to make will have an effect on my blogging and my photography, which both need a little more attention at the moment after last year. Taking a little time and putting myself first, instead of running around after everybody else and trying to fit everything in, will be good for me (forced or otherwise).

My aim for 2009 is growth, both personally and in my online activities.

Mandy

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I expect you have seen some of the videos that Yaro Starak has released during the last week, they are full of information. The videos and interview with a million dollar blogger he published to help us all become better bloggers really impressed a lot of people - including me. He’s also released 2 videos showing how he makes money with his blog. You can watch them through this link - How Yaro’s Blog Makes Money.

Today is your chance to become the next blogging success story and Yaro is willing to help you get there.

His private coaching program has just opened to take on new students. You can join here -
Yaro’s Blog Mastermind Coaching Program

The program, called Blog Mastermind, is comprehensive and includes -

• - A step-by-step coaching course delivered in weekly lessons in text and audio format
• - Private members-only forum community and access to regular live training calls with Yaro (you can ask him anything you want about your blog)
• - Video case studies of blogs and a ten-part series of audios from Yaro covering the core
• aspects about what it takes to earn big dollars from a blog
• - Access to the social traffic club, a special community of members who help each other drive traffic to their blogs from social media sites
• - 5 unique interviews with professional bloggers like Darren Rowse, Brian Clark and Andy Wibbels
• - Plus loads more.

You can take a behind the scenes tour and hear Yaro talk about his coaching program if you watch the short video at the start of the sign-up page here -

Click here for more information on the Blog Mastermind Coaching Program

This is definitely the only course I know of that teaches you how to make a full time living blogging only part time, and how to build a real business from a blog, taught by someone who has actually done it.

Yaro’s teaching style is unique, he’s easy to learn from and has an ability to make complex subjects simple to understand.

He’s also one of the only bloggers I know of who really understands Internet marketing and how to build a business that doesn’t suck all your time.

Plus he makes over six-figures a year from his blog, so that’s enough proof for me!

No matter what level of blogger you are, whether you are brand new and still don’t even have a blog, or you are an experienced blogger who wants to take their income to the next level and stop working so hard, Blog Mastermind is for you.

Yaro is offering 3 fast-action bonuses for the first 100 new members who join his program today. They include three interviews and videos on important subjects to any blogger -

• - How to effectively implement Yaro’s “Conversion Blogging” system on your blog
• - How to use video to market online, just like Yaro did with his recent videos, with advice from video expert Gideon Shalwick
• - Advanced tactics to improve your conversion rates to sell more from your blog posts and email newsletters, coming from Will Swayne, the conversion specialist Yaro hires to improve his blogging business

You can read more about the bonuses at Yaro’s blog post here -
http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/954/fast-action-bonuses/

These bonuses are only for the first 100 new members today, so you better hurry if you want these extra goodies. Here is the link to join the coaching program -
Click here to join the Blog Mastermind coaching program

Even if you don’t join Yaro’s program today, make sure you study his videos and the Blog
Profits Blueprint report he gives away.

Yaro offers so much great advice that won’t cost you a cent and I’m sure if you follow his
instructions you will begin earning rewards from your blog.

I’ll speak to you soon,

Mandy

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Whoever said blogging can’t make BIG money had not heard this story.

Yaro Starak interviewed his previous student, Alborz Fallah, who is the owner of caradvice.com.au - a car blog for Australians, which was valued at $5 million dollars and generates close to $50,000 a month.

You can listen or read the interview here -

Alborz Fallah million dollar blogger interview

Alborz started his blog like most people, sitting at home, writing content each day outside of the time he spent at his full time job. His blog grew, he started making money and he just kept working.

Eventually he was approached by people who wanted to buy his blog. He said no, until someone came along who only wanted to buy a share in the site and help it continue to grow. Alborz agreed and his blog immediately went from part time hobby, to full time business.

Today Alborz’s blog has full time employees, he travels to Europe to test some of the most prestigious cars in the world and it’s fair to say he is living a dream - making big money writing about a topic he loves.

In this interview you can hear Alborz talk about how he grew his traffic, how he brought on investors to help grow his site and what’s it like being in charge of a multi-million dollar blog.

It’s worth listening to this interview because you can learn some key things to help with your own quest to make a profitable blog, for example -

• - How Alborz chose the topic for his blog is a great lesson for anyone else out there struggling to come up with a blog topic
• - The search engine advice Alborz offers is powerful yet simple and will immediately help your own blog get more traffic, if you follow it
• - The story of how investors came on board to take Car Advice to the next level is unique, but definitely worth hearing because it shows how you can grow a blog from just making a few hundred dollars, to making six or seven figures a year.

The interview is available for instant download in MP3 or text transcript. Here’s the link again -

Alboraz Fallah interview

Yaro released this video to inspire people to believe what is possible with a blog.

If you want to follow in Alborz’s footsteps, consider taking on Yaro as your blog coach and join his Blog Mastermind coaching program and you might just become the next Alborz.

I’ll speak to you soon,

Mandy

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Discover how a Blog can make you $10,000 a month…

If you have ever wondered how someone makes a six-figure income online using a blog, I have a video you just HAVE to watch.

Here’s the link:

Conversion Blogging video part 1

Yaro Starak, a well-respected blogger and blog trainer, released a free video that takes you inside his Internet business, which is based on just one blog.

Using his blog, Yaro generates a steady $10,000 to $20,000 each and every month.

His system is not your usual story of using a blog and sticking AdSense on it - he’s taken a much more BUSINESS focused approach.

He calls his system “Conversion Blogging” because it combines a blog with an email list to create consistent income.

Inside the video you will learn -

• - Why blogs are the only Web 2.0 marketing tool you will ever need
• - Exactly how Yaro uses his blog to build a MASSIVE email list
• - How just a blog can turn you into the No. 1 authority in your market
• - What methods Yaro uses to translate his blog into a steady cash-flow stream
• - How you can replicate Yaro’s methods using just one blog and get started in minutes

I loved this video because it’s not full of marketing hype, just a very down to earth and practical presentation. He’s a good teacher giving great content for free, that’s real information that you can use to improve your blogging, that’s what drew me to his blog in the first place.

I guarantee you will enjoy this and learn something too.

Set aside 32 minutes now, grab a drink, sit down and watch this video -

Conversion Blogging Video

Bye for now, and happy watching!

Mandy

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There are basically two types of bloggers in the world - reporters and experts - and some people perform both roles (usually the experts, it’s hard for reporters to become experts, but it’s easy for experts to report).

If you have ever taken an Internet marketing course or attended a seminar specifically for beginners, you have probably heard about the two different methodologies. Whenever the business model is based on content, and if you blog for money then the model is based on content, people are taught to either start as reporters, or if possible step up as experts.

I’ll be frank; you want to be the expert.

Reporters leverage the content of the experts and in most cases people start off as reporters because they haven’t established expertise. Experts enjoy the perks of preeminence, higher conversion rates because of perceived value, it’s easier to get publicity, people are more likely to seek you out rather than you having to seek others out, joint ventures come easier, etc… experts in most cases simply make more money and attract more attention.

Most Bloggers Are Reporters

The thing with expertise is that it requires something - experience. No person becomes an expert without doing things and learning. Bloggers usually start out without expertise and as a result begin their blogging journey by talking about everything going on in their niche (reporting) and by interviewing and talking about other experts (reporting again).

There’s nothing wrong with reporting of course and for many people it’s a necessity at first until you build up some expertise. Unfortunately the ratios are pretty skewed when it comes to reporters and experts - there are a lot more reporters than there are experts, hence reporters tend to struggle to gain attention and when they do, they often just enhance the reputation of the expert they are reporting on.

Don’t Replicate Your Teacher

If you have ever spent some time browsing products in the learn Internet marketing niche you will notice a pattern. Many people first study Internet marketing from a “guru” (for lack of a better term). The guru teaches how he or she is able to make money online, and very often the view that the student gleams is that in order to make money online you have to teach others how to make money online.

The end result of this process is a huge army of amateurs attempting to replicate what their teacher does in the same industry - the Internet marketing industry - not realizing that without expert status based on a proven record and all the perks that come with it, it’s next to impossible to succeed.

Even people, who enjoy marginal success, say for example growing an email list of 1,000 people, then go out and launch a product about how to grow an email list of 1,000 people. Now I have no problems with that, I think it’s fine to teach beginners and leverage whatever achievements you have, the problem is that people gravitate to the same niche - Internet marketing - and rarely have any key points of differentiation.

How many products out there do you know of that all claim to teach the same things - email marketing, SEO, pay per click, affiliate marketing, and all the sub-niches that fall under the category of Internet marketing. It’s a saturated market, yet when you see your teachers and other gurus making money teaching others how to make money (and let’s face it - making money as a subject is one of the most compelling) - your natural inclination is to follow in their footsteps.

If the key is to become an expert and you haven’t spent the last 5-10 years making money online, I suggest you look for another niche to establish expertise in.

Report on Your Process, Not Others

The secret to progress from reporter to expert is not to focus on other experts and instead report on your own journey. When you are learning how to do something and implementing things day by day, or studying other people’s work, you need to take your process and what you do as a result of what you learn, and use it as content for your blog.

It’s okay to talk about experts when you learn something from them, but always relate it to what you are doing. If you learn a technique from an expert it’s fine to state you learned it from them (and affiliate link to their product too!) but you should then take that technique, apply it to what you are doing and then report back YOUR results, not there’s. Frame things using your opinion - your stories - and don’t regurgitate what the expert said. The key is differentiation and personality, not replication.

Expertise comes from doing things most people don’t do and then talking about it. If you do this often enough you wake up one day as an expert, possibly without even realizing how it happened, simply because you were so good at reporting what you did.

You Are Already An Expert

Most people fail to become experts (or perceived as experts) because they don’t leverage what they already know. Every person who lives a life learns things as they go, takes action every day and knows something about something. The reason why they never become an expert is because they choose not to (which is fine for some, not everyone wants to be an expert), but if your goal is to blog your way to expertise and leave the world of reporting behind you have to start teaching and doing so by leveraging real experience.

Experience can come from what you do today and what you have done previously; you just need to take enough steps to demonstrate what you already know and what you are presently learning along your journey. I know so many people in my life, who are experts simply by virtue of the life they have lived, yet they are so insecure about what they know, they never commit their knowledge to words for fear of…well fear.

Blogs and the Web in general, are amazing resources when you leverage them as a communication tool to spread your expertise because of the sheer scope of people they can reach. If all you ever do is talk to people in person and share your experience using limited communication mediums, you haven’t much hope of becoming an expert. Take what you know and show other people through blogging, and you might be surprised how people change their perception of you in time.

Reporting Is A Stepping Stone

If your previous experience and expertise is from an area you want to leave behind or you are starting from “scratch”, then reporting is the path you must walk, at least for the short term.

Reporting is a lot of fun. Interviewing experts, talking about what other people are doing and just being part of a community is not a bad way to blog. In many cases people make a career of reporting (journalism is about just that), but if you truly want success and exponential results, at some point you will have to stand up and proclaim yourself as someone unusually good at something and then proceed to demonstrate it over and over again.

Have patience and focus on what you do to learn and then translate that experience into lessons for others, and remember, it’s okay to be a big fish in a small pond, that’s all most experts really are.

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. It’s an informative look at different types of bloggers or blogging styles, and interesting to see which one I fitted into. Yaro is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link: Blog Mastermind

Mandy

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!UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST!

The new design for the case study blog has gone live and in this post I’m going to look at the 3 stages I took to do it. And here’s the before screenshot of the blog.

1. choosing the theme
2. installing the theme
3. setting up the theme

1. Choosing the Theme

With the amount of Wordpress themes available and the quality of the themes, picking one to use can be easier said than done. But I was after a premium theme that would take my blog design to the next level and give me greater flexibility. This also meant that I would most likely have to be willing to pay for a theme.

I didn’t mind that if it means I’m getting a quality theme. The old theme that I used was a Brian Gardner free theme, but I have long been an admirer of his Revolution themes that are premium customizable themes for $79.95 (US).

The decision came down to knowing what I wanted and being able to find exactly that from a source I already knew in Brian Gardner. As soon as I found his site I knew that one day I would be using one of his premium themes and planned for that. Now maybe I’ll start planning for him to do me a customised one…

After a bit of deliberation I decided on the Revolution Pro Media theme for now!

2. Installing the theme

I was a little bit apprehensive about installing the theme because there’s a lot more to it than an ordinary free theme. But the Revolution Themes have their own instructions and a set of tutorials and a support forum so there was no need to worry.

The problem was going to be how do I install and then fiddle about with the theme to customise it, without driving any visitors mad? I looked at various methods like local hosting and plugins, but these gave me permission problems and compatibility issues that I didn’t want to waste time on figuring out. So I decided to use a simple plugin called the maintenance mode plugin. It’s really easy to use and as you can see from the screenshot it does what it says!

Installing the theme itself is just the same as any normal theme the only difference being once installed there is more to do. The Revolution Pro Media theme has it’s own options page for a start, and also a lot more files in the theme editor to play around with. I found it easy to use and adapt to what I wanted, but that was mainly because of the support forum and the tutorials.

3. Setting up the Theme

To say this theme is customisable is an understatement, it’s a brilliant base to build a unique and quality site from, and it’s been written with this in mind. I on the other hand have had very limited knowledge of HTML and CSS so I have kept it fairly classic, but it’s also so incredibly close to what I wanted to do in the first place that I was happy to just tweak a little. Here’s the after screenshot showing what the new design looks like, to compare with the before shot.

As I’ve said above the best and quickest way to set the blog up and get it running is to use the tutorials and the support forum. If you are wanting to do a little more they even have a list of approved designers to help customise it for you.

It’s a work in progress in my eyes and at some point I will do more with the header, but I am really pleased with the results so far. I’ll just take one thing at a time and the next thing is a Newsletter.

In the mean time please feel free to visit The Photographer Blog and take a look around at the design.

UPDATE: Since writing this post Brian Gardner has discontinued the Revolution Themes, although he has archived the tutorials, information and forums for the themes it is unclear when this will stop. He has said at some point the support and upgrades will stop. I am a little disappointed at this as I had not long purchased the theme, but that is life and I move on! With no guarantees of how I could update it for future Wordpress installations I decided to cut my losses and stop using the theme. Changing instead to the Thesis Theme by Chris Pearson that you can view on the case study blog - which I am extremely happy with! Thesis Demo Site — See the Thesis Theme in action!

Mandy

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I have resisted for a while but I have finally given in and joined Twitter!

Twitter if you haven’t heard of it before, which would be surprising because everyone seems to have heard of it, is a social media and micro-blogging site that allows users to send updates or Tweets up to 140 characters long. Twitter has become hugely popular over the past couple of years and is a great way to connect with people in a more relaxed way.

I have started to use this service recently, and I have found it easy to use with help available if needed.

On the downside the last few times I have tried to login on the site itself, I haven’t been able to because Twitter has been too busy!

But there are loads of plugins and extensions for Twitter that can be used to make life easier, here are just a few:

Twitbin
TwitterFeed
Twitt-Twoo
TwitterFox
Twitterbar
I have just started using TwitterFox which is a Firefox browser extension that allows users to send updates from a box in the browser, without having to be on the Twitter site and makes things really quick and easy. And I am going to start using TwitterFeed which posts your blog’s feed to Twitter whenever it’s updated.

Do you Tweet?

Mandy

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As the last part of my series about blogging productivity I want to bring together what I’ve already talked about in the previous posts:

3 ways to improve your blog writing

Do you batch process your blogging

It’s all well and good knowing these techniques for my blogging, but as I have said before I need to be able to bring them together with some overall plan so that I can make the most of them.

I first caught onto this idea when I was reading a post at Skelliewag.org called the pocket sized guide to blogging . I think it’s a fantastic post and it made me think that it would also be a good idea to actually write down a blogging action plan of what I wanted to do.

And that’s what I’ve done. I’ve taken what I learned recently and written it down in an action plan that I can refer to. Listing the important key factors that I use in my blogging:

• plan for writing posts/ideas
• tasks to batch process
• where I plan to do my marketing and how
• how I want to monetize the blog
• future plans for the blog

Basically a plan that I can look at to keep me on track on a day to day basis, but also to help me move in the right direction for the future and where I want to take my blogs. It’s helpful for those days when my memory can wander and also good as inspiration if I’m having a bad day.

Whether you call it a blogging guide, a master plan, a blueprint or an action plan would you find it useful to write one?

I have.

Mandy

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What is batch processing?

It’s basically grouping similar tasks together to be done at the same time, therefore saving time by not flitting back and forth jumping from one task to another during the day. So I now put tasks like posting, marketing, admin and social media into groups to do together, instead of off the cuff.

Using this method I can become more productive. By organising my tasks into a more constructive and logical order, which will create a more focused day without being distracted as something comes up, like an email.

How did I hear about batch processing

I heard about batch processing from a Problogger post that Darren wrote about how he uses it. I realised that it’s a way of working that I have been unconsciously trying to implement for a while without realising it. But with little success because I was not implementing it properly.

So his post hit a real cord with me and seemed such an obvious thing to do. I think the problem is that it is so easy to become distracted from what I am doing, because their are so many different tasks to perform with blogging. That I can end up running around in circles and not really getting very far. I’m starting to think that I am a person that needs (or wants) to structure their day and their blogging. I think this comes from having an awful memory!

Anyway it’s working very well for me, at the moment I am batch processing some posts (pretty obvious) to appear later in the week for both of my blogs. I think it becomes even more important to batch process tasks if you have more than one blog like me.

I love it when I find another way to improve my blogging and time management even if it is obvious, it can take someone else to point it out before I can see it for myself. It makes me feel that my blogging is moving on when I find these little nuggets and implement them, and it seems like I have found quite a few recently so that makes me happy - and busy…

Mandy

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