Keep Your New Year’s Resolution: Set up a Social, Search-optimized WordPress Blog … Today

This guest post is by Marcela De Vivo of Gryffin.co.

Recently ProBlogger discussed how to brand your blog, how to find your voice, and how to build your authority.

Image courtesy stock.xchng user panoramadi

These articles are powerful, but often I find myself speaking with people who don’t have a blog yet, or are using Blogger or custom made, cumbersome platforms. Just this week alone I went through these steps with four different people who want to jump on the blogging bandwagon.

In this article we will go back to basics for those who haven’t started their blog yet, or who are on platforms that are hindering their progress.

If one of your New Year’s Resolutions was to improve your blogging presence—or start a new one—read on!

We’ll go through a step-by-step process, including tools and resources for each step, to set up a WordPress blog that is optimized for social and search marketing success.

WordPress is currently the most popular content management platform.  It can be used for static pages or as a blog.  You can add plugins for a shopping cart, image galleries, and much more.

Here’s how to set it up.

Register your domain with sites like Register.com, Godaddy.com, or Enom.comCreate a hosting account with sites like BlueHost.com, WPEngine, or HostGator.  If you would like to do more research on hosting companies, check out WhoIsHostingThis.Select a WordPress theme. I personally love using StudioPress as the themes are clean, functional, and easy to work with. Search for a responsive theme so your blog will be accessible to mobile users.Is your site running on a different CMS or platform? Consider using a blog migration service, such as BlogWranglers, to move your current site over to WordPress. Hundreds of thousands have done it, with no regrets.Upload WordPress to your hosting account, and customize with your relevant theme.  If you are not a techie, this is the part where you’ll need some help.  Check out Elance.com, Freelancer.com, or a site like Craiglist.org to find someone who can help you set up and customize your template.Install WordPress plugins.

Let’s take a deeper look at the plugins you’ll need.

These are the social media plugins I recommend you consider.

My favorite SEO plugins include these ones.

Usability plugins can be a huge help. Consider these:

To gain exposure from search engines, you need to have your blog focused on a theme. Select a primary keyword within this general theme for each page of the site.  You can read more about keyword research in this ProBlogger article.

Select keywords by identifying low-competition and high-search terms for your industry from Google’s Keyword tool.

Other tools you can use include:

.

While a designer/programmer is working on setting up your site, you can start by writing and preparing content for your site.

A well-optimized page includes the primary keywords in the Title of the page, Meta Description tag, H1 tag, once or twice in the body, and in an outbound link.

As you’re preparing your content, remember these elements of an excellent blog post:

Post title: creative and compellingSocial share icons: make sharing your content easyImage: an image speaks louder than wordsOpening paragraph: include keywords in a teaser into the introductionBody copy: use headers and bold wordsLists: make your content easy to scanConclusion: include a teaser for your next articleRelated posts: give them more content to consumeComment section: Always respond to comments

Read Darren’s compilation from earlier this year for more information on each element in The Anatomy of a Better Blog Post.

By this point you should have a WordPress blog with a range of enhancements made possible by plugins and other customizations.  You will have SEO plugins to improve your on-page SEO, page load times, keyword density, site maps, and other relevant SEO features.

You will also have a selection of social plugins so that you can encourage social shares from your site. You will have other features such as contact forms, tracking, reporting, and an email signup box to build your email list.

Incorporating keyword research will help you to deliver the content that people are looking for in a way that lets it be found.  You can write articles based on long-tail terms, answer questions that your audience may have, and target hundreds of keywords by writing articles specific to each one.

So what are you waiting for? Make your New Year’s Resolution a reality and start your new blog today. And if you have any suggestions of plugins, tools, or services to add to this list, please do share!

Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer who writes about blogging, SEO and social media at Gryffin.co/blog.

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$1500 In 1 Week with No list, No Traffic & No Money

In the years I’ve been online attempting to make money, I’ve never really earned a lot. I’ve made some money here and there promoting different programs, and I’ve lost a lot of money buying products and paying for traffic. My best days online have always been short-lived, never generating more than a couple day burst of income and then quickly fizzling out.

In my first 7 days inside of the Empower Network I generated over $1500 in commission with no list, no blog and no money to spend on traffic. And unlike past endeavours, the money I’ve earned isn’t a one-off payment – over $500 of my first week earnings are monthly recurring payments. You see, Empower Network is a little different from other training systems out there and their affiliate structure is just as ‘odd’.

Empower offers 100% commissions on all of their products, some are montly recurring and some are one-time payments. The system is crafted in a way where the products are already built for you, the sales pages are done and hosted for you, you get a blog on an authority domain to help drive traffic, and they will upsell your customers on further products once they’re in the door.

How I Did (Offline)

I started with no list and no money to spend on traffic, so how did I manage to get sign ups? I used what I had available to me. I like to attend local business networking events where I can meetup and chat with other entrepreneurs. Inenvitably, the first question you get asked at any networking event is “so what do you do?” – when you simply respond with “I’m an Internet Marketer, I make money online,” it seems to pique peoples’ interests. The follow up question is typically “how do you do that?”

At any business event you will almost always collect a handful of business cards. Most people put them in a box, never to be seen again, or immediately dump them into the trash when they get home. Business cards are valuable, because they each represent a warm lead – you met each and every one of those people and have some connection to them. As soon as I got home I would start flipping through the cards and send out a short, personal email to each person letting them know I enjoyed chatting with them. At the bottom of each email I would put a link to my Empower Network opt-in page, or if I had talked to them at the event and they seemed interested in what I was doing, I would make it clear “here’s a link to that thing we were talking about earlier.”

From going to 2 events in a 3 day span, I generated over 30 leads into Empower Network and those leads resulted in more than $1000 in commissions. There are much easier ways to generate 30 leads online, but most require some money or some other existing resource like an email list, or highly trafficked blog. When you have no money and no list, sometimes you have to work a little harder, but it pays off.

How I did it (Online)

A small part of my success in the first week was actually because of (free) promotion I did online. Almost everyone has a Facebook and Twitter account with friends and followers. I used my small online lists to my advantage and drove little bursts of traffic to posts on my Empower Network blog – which is already optimized to collect leads for you.

The posts I wrote weren’t all about online marketing and making money. Some of my most successful posts (conversion-wise) were simply about the events I had gone to. I would write a quick post and upload some photos I took at a networking event and tweet it out to different people who were also there. I would target people who spoke at these events and make sure I snapped a photo of and linked to their website. I would then write a quick tweet where I mentioned each of the speakers and thanked them, all while linking to my Empower blog. Almost every single person I mentioned retweeted me, giving me access to their twitter following and dozens more clicks, new leads and new sales.

It really frustrates me to hear people complain about how they don’t have a list, or they don’t have a blog, and how they can’t get any results because they don’t have X, Y or Z. One thing I want to make clear is: everyone started at zero. John Chow didn’t wake up one morning to hundreds of thousands of readers, he started with nothing and they slowly built up. Any online marketer with a gigantic list started with no one in the beginning. I’m the first to admit I was guilty of this type of whining and making those kinds of remarks. I stopped when I realized that the complaining was really just wasting time I could be using to START.

About the author: Michael Yurechko is a founding member of the Team MMO Empower Network Team. He lives in Vancouver.

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How To Start Your Money Making Blog In 2013

No doubt you made a resolution to start a blog, or take your blog to the next level, in 2013. I am here to help. Whether you are brand new to blogging or a seasoned professional, the following resources will get you off in the right direction for 2013 and beyond.

Free Blog Installation Service

One of the most common complaint I hear from potential new bloggers is they don’t know how to install the software. Because of the technology barrier, many would be bloggers never start their blogs. If this is your situation, then I have a solution. Let me set up the blog for you for free!

To get the free WordPress installation service, all you have to do is order a web hosting plan from HostGator (they host this blog). Then forward me the login information to johnchow [at] johnchow.com and I’ll install WordPress for you. I’ll set it up with search engine friendly URL and install six must-have plugins to make your blog run better. Afterwards, I’ll email you back the login information for your new WordPress blog and you can start blogging!

Blogging with John Chow

Blogging with John Chow details step-by-step how I created a blog that went from zero to over $40,000 a month in only two short years, and how you can do the same. The course came about when I was thinking of updating my best selling eBook, Make Money Online with John Chow dot Com. While much of the content in that eBook is still valid, a lot has also changed. Blogging with John Chow brings everything completely up to date and adds my proven 4-step formula to successful blogging, and a 30-day action plan. Click the image below to watch the video on what Blogging with John Chow is all about.

WP Blog Videos

WP Blog Videos is made up of seven modules that will take you from how to register a domain name to RSS, SEO, email and social media marketing. For many bloggers, this will be really basic stuff and the question, “Who the hell doesn’t know how to register a domain name?” is sure to come up. The answer is, a lot of people!

Every video tutorials were made with the absolute beginner in mind. You’ll never feel like you’re listening to some rambling tech geek. Once you finish the first two modules, you should be able to get a new WordPress blog up and running.

You get access to all 100 videos at once. There’s no waiting until next week to get the next video. This way, you can skip over the stuff you already know and learn the stuff that you don’t. New videos will be added over time and you’ll be able to watch those for free with your membership. All the videos are encoded in HTML5, so you can watch them from any web browser or mobile device like the Apple iPad or iPhone.

Stay up to date with all of John Chow’s tips for making money online and blog posts by subscribing via email. Your email will be kept private and never shared with anyone.

Blitz Your Next Blogger’s Conference: The Ultimate Guide to Getting More Bang for Your Buck

This guest post is by Ben Liau of Digital Online Strategy.

Blogger conferences are a great way to find out more about how to become a better blogger. You learn from successful bloggers who have already made it big, and who are willing to share their knowledge and success stories of how they reached their goals.

But blogger conference tickets aren’t cheap—these events can be quite costly to attend. The ticket price for good blogger conferences start from around $100 and go up to about $300 of more for the larger events.

If you are going to spend that much money to attend a conference, you’d best get your money’s worth. I can help with that. In this post, I will go over eight tips that any blogger can follow to make the most out of paying for and attending a blogger conference.

When attending a blogger conference, it’s always important to do your homework.

Some blogger conferences have speaker sessions that run concurrently, so it’s important to research and work out which presentations you would most like to attend.

It is also important to research the actual speakers to make sure they are the ones who can answer all the questions you have.

Planning is essential to getting the most out of a blogger conference. You will want to be able to meet the right people and ask the right questions. Here’s how you should plan:

There will be many bloggers attending the event, and there will also be many brands and PR agencies looking to build relationships with bloggers. So make a list of the bloggers you would like to meet at the event, and try your best to touch base with them and spark a relationship.

Make a list of which brands you would like to be associated with and approach them during the conference to introduce yourself. Also make sure you have a media kit prepared, just in case they are interested in your rates and charges.

Before the conference, drop a message to anyone you would like to meet in person. This breaks the ice, and it makes it easier for you to approach them at the event.

If you are travelling interstate or overseas make sure you plan your time correctly, because missing the start of a conference could leave you quite clueless.

Finally, dress to impress. This will boost your confidence when talking to people, and you will also feel very good about yourself.

Most conferences will provide you with a notepad and pen to take notes, but that’s definitely not enough for you to be highly effective.

Make sure you bring along your favorite device for taking notes, whether it be your mini laptop or your iPad. Use what you are most comfortable with. An iPad is great because you can also take a video of the event, or showcase your blog on your iPad to others.

The golden rule to going to conferences is bringing a lot of business cards. The worst position you could be in, is to not have a business card when you’re asked for one.

A business card will show you are professional and organized, and is easy to distribute. You never know who might end up with it—and contact you at the end of the week for sponsorship!

Blogger conferences don’t happen every other day, and when they do happen, they cost money.

So make the most of the opportunity by networking and chatting with everyone and anyone you meet. Preparing for the conference by dropping messages to other bloggers beforehand, as I mentioned earlier, will make it easier for you to approach and chat with people—and once you get going it gets much easier.

Always be yourself. Don’t try to be someone you are not. Be humble and ask for advice if you need it, and try to be up-to-date with current news, so there will be plenty to talk about.

Don’t just stick with the people you already know, go and meet new people. And never, ever get drunk at a blogger networking event. Most, if not all the bloggers will be blogging about the event, and the last thing you want is to be mentioned in their post about your disorderly behavior.

Before the conference, make sure you join the conference’s Facebook page and engage in conversations with other bloggers to make initial contacts.

Tell your own followers that you are going to the event—you never know who might be able to help you with introductions!

At the event, hop on Twitter and comment about the conference, using the conference’s hashtag. This works as a great ice breaker for networking with other people who are tweeting.

This is where a lot of the value of attending a conference lies.

It’s important to take notes during the session, but it also very important to write questions to ask the speakers during the Q&A time. If you’re shy, you can always go to the speaker after the session, to privately discuss you questions.

Also, at some blogger conferences, the speakers asks questions after the session and those who answer stand a chance of winning something, so it’s always good to be on your toes.

Every blog conference will have sponsors that will contribute to a conference goodie bag full of awesome product samples and promotional items. Make sure you get your hands on one of these conferences bags and visit the sponsor booths to see if you can get anything extra.

Also, some booths will also run competitions, so make sure you have your business card handy so you can enter that competition to win the prize.

After many conferences there are “after-conference” networking events. Keep your ears open for any of those events, because they’re another great opportunity for networking.

Once the conference is totally wrapped up, it’s always good to review your notes and start taking action.

Lastly, take that list of the contacts you have made at the conference, and follow them on social media. This will establish a connection and solidify your relationship.

These are my tips, from going to numerous blogger conferences, and speaking at a couple of digital marketing conferences.

I hope you can use this guide to get the absolute best value out of your next conference. But if you have any more tips to add—or questions to ask—please feel free to do so in the comments.

Ben Liau is a veteran digital marketing strategist and is a regular speaker at online marketing conferences. He regularly blogs about all digital marketing channels including seo, sem, email, social media marketing, and web analytics at Digital Online Strategy. You can follow him on Twitter @benliau.

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My MOBE Results – $16,577.83 In 29 Days

I’ve been receiving a tremendous amount of emails concerning My Online Business Empire (MOBE) and my MOBE bonus offer. The two most common questions are, am I a MOBE licensee, and how much money have I made from it. To answer those questions, I decided to create this video to show my results from MOBE.

You can look at the video as me showing off, or you can look it as motivation because the steps I used to create this income isn’t anything that you can not do. All I did was followed the MOBE guidelines on driving leads and then letting the MOBE sales team do the rest.

My MOBE Bonus Offer Expires In 2 Days

Right now, I am offering an awesome bonus to any readers who enroll as a new MOBE licensee. If you enroll in MOBE before the end of the year, you’ll receive the following:

A Brand New Apple iPad (worth $499)My original Blog Profit Camp program loaded onto the iPad (worth $597) Complete Blogging with John Chow system with Automation Empire module and lifetime access to Blogging Done for You module (worth $598 per year)Lifetime access to my WP Blog Videos training (Worth $1,164 per year)A review on John Chow dot Com to promote your product or service (worth $500)Access to my Inner Circle Coaching program (worth $1,164 per year)Two hours of live 1-on-1 coaching at the MOBE mastermind in Fiji (worth $4,000)

That’s over $8,500 of bonuses! These are not made up numbers either. An Apple iPad does cost $499 and advertisers do pay $500 for a review on this blog. To get the bonus, all you have to do is enroll as a MOBE Licensee using this link, then forward me a copy of your receipt.

You will get instant access to the entire Blogging with John Chow system and WP Blog Videos. You’ll get the reminder of the bonus after the 90 refund period. Yes, Matt is so confident that licensees will make money with MOBE, he backs it up with a three-month long refund period. Even if you refund the license, you can keep Blogging with John Chow and WP Blog Videos as my gift to you.

You only have two days left, so do it now!

Enroll In The MOBE Licensee Program | More Info About MOBE

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Millionaire operating system

Many people have tried to make money on the Internet and have failed for any number of reasons. Maybe they bought into a system and it didn't work for them. Maybe they got discouraged by the lack of success from the beginning and get out early. Maybe they don't have someone to guide them through the process and teaching them the right way to do things.

You don't want to fail. You want to succeed. And that is what is supposed Millionaire operating system to deliver. Over the course of the review today, we have a look at this comprehensive system and the people behind it. And no, it has nothing to do with replacing Windows or Mac OS.

Is an online business system that aims to equip you with all the tools and guidance you need to be a successful Internet entrepreneur.

Not only is a marketing system designed to help you capture leads, funnel and filter these leads and sell the right kind of product mix in these potential customers on the Internet, but the OS is also a millionaire online training system. You can get started with right away, earn while you're learning.

When you become a member of OS millionaire, you get automatic enrollment in 8 key affiliate programs, a comprehensive curriculum 180 days on Internet marketing, coaching (including One to One time), direct access to a professional sales staff, a comprehensive website and access to a cooperative of traffic.

So, why is it called the millionaire operating system? Well, the "inner circle" who founded this project all happen to be very Internet successful entrepreneurs in their own right, earning seven figure income from the web.

When you go to the main landing page for MOS, are treated to a video featuring Jeff Lerner that explains its history and how does the MOS. Jeff is ranked as one of the Top 500 Home Business entrepreneurs in the world.

The co-founders have different types of expertise and experience, but they say all that have experienced substantial success online. Inner Circle also includes Mike Antoni copywriter, traffic gurus Jashin Howell, sales expert Jeremy Miner, conversion specialist Dave Nayavich and others. These are the guys who are going to act as your personal tutor.

One of the main differentiators that separates the millionaire OS from other seemingly similar systems is that it integrates a fair bit of training with a comprehensive system of online business. You get one-on-one coaching to guide you along the way, as well as various training modules that allow you to move "forward business members." day by day

The MOS also marketing system is meant to be absolutely complete, including five key factors or components of any successful online business: traffic lines, funnel, filter, follow-up and produced. They allow you to generate traffic, they automatically funnel leads to build a relationship of trust with visitors, filter traffic automatically to find the most qualified contacts and actually help generate sales by leveraging the right follow-up and products.

The key difference? Not everyone can subscribe. Not that it's a limited time offer; is that they provide limited membership.

So yes, you have to apply to join the community of Millionaire OS. Just like the funnel and filter traffic to make money, they do the same with applicants. They want to make sure that the "right kind of people," with the right kind of mentality are joining so that they can ensure your success.

The application package is $ 29.95 and comes with some bonus material. If after the application and interview process decide that you're not a good fit, they'll refund your payment. It took some digging around, but it seems that the membership fee of the MOS itself is one-off and $297 then $ 199 per month. And ensure that bends a profit in your first year.

CLICK HERE TO REQUEST THE MILLIONAIRE OS

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Start your Blog before it ends the world!

The world is suppose to end today, and if you haven't started your blog yet, this is your final opportunity! To help him out, HostGator (host my blog) is having a 50% off the end of The World for sale! All webhosting plans are 50% off today, or until the world ends, whichever comes first.

50% off and free installation of WordPress

If you order web hosting through me you can have WordPress installed for free. In addition, it will install the following free WordPress plugins to get your blog started on the right foot:

All In one SEOGoogle total SitemapW3 CommentatorsWordPress.com StatsAfter Top CacheShow the DeadlineAkismetJetpack

If you were to hire someone to set up WordPress with plugins listed above, it would cost you over $ 100. However, you're getting for free because the world is going to end!

All you have to do is order a web hosting plan by HostGator, then forward me the login info to johnchow [at] johnchow.com, you will install WordPress for you. Afterwards, we'll send you an email back the login information for your new WordPress blog and you can start blogging!

Click here to order your new WordPress Blog

Not only will get your blog hosting at one end of the discount, but every hosting plan at HostGator has 100 $ and $ 25 Google AdWords credit of Bing that you can use to promote your new blog. Start your own blog for 50%, get WordPress and plugins installed for free and get $ 125 on advertising claims. This is the best web hosting deal around the world!

But the sale is only for today! If you were thinking of starting your own blog, today is the last day to do so. The world may not be here tomorrow! Order your web hosting plan and allow me to set your new WordPress blog before it's too late!

Happy end of the world!

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