by Rahimah Sultan

My first blog was on Blogspot.


I didn’t know much about blogging, but started anyway. I used it for an affiliate program I signed up for online.


The program owner offered a template that I used. All I had to do was write my article, using that template, and publish it on Blogspot. The affiliate link code was already included.

I learned a lot using that template and blogspot. I would play around with it to figure out how to use HTML and how to do a few other things.


The drawback of using that platform was not having control.


I now use a WordPress blog over which I have total control.


The following four blogging tips will help you get started.

1. Decide what to blog about.

You will need to know what content you’ll be covering on your blog, in order to choose the proper domain name and theme.


Give this a lot of consideration, as once you’ve set up your site, it will be rather difficult to undo without starting over.

2. Choose a blogging platform.

Within WordPress, you have two options which are often confusing to people. They are hosted and self-hosted.

Hosted is “WordPress.com blogs.”


Self-hosted (recommended) is “WordPress.org blogs.”

WordPress.org blogs give you total control.

3. Find a host.

Once you’ve chosen your blogging platform (.com or .org) you need to find a hosting company to “house” your blog.

Then pick a domain name, install WordPress, and decide on your blog design and the bells and whistles you want.

4. Your domain name should be your actual name.

If that’s not possible, choose a name that represents what your blog is about or one that reflects your niche.

Take into consideration the following four points.

a) Use a short name

“Johnson’s Tea Marketing Campaigns, Inc.” would be an awful domain name. Visitors would find it difficult to type.

b) Do not use plurals

Brendas Software. Is the domain name Brendassoftware.com or Brendasoftware.com?

You don’t want to confuse your users.

c) Use Relevant Keywords in Your Domain Name

If your business focuses on a very specific area, strong consideration should be given to using relevant keywords in your domain name.

d) Your Domain Name Should end with “.com”

End your domain name with “.com” and not some other extension such as .us, .net, .biz, etc.


The simple fact is that when people think of sites, they always type in .com

You’ll get installation instructions with your hosting package.

Do not let lack of knowledge be an excuse for not doing something.

Just start gathering information by doing online searches and get educated on how to proceed.

Now, decide what to blog about. Choose a blogging platform.

Find a host, pick a domain name, install WordPress, design and use your blog!

These Four Blogging Tips will help you with your blogging plan.



Your Hosting and More

by Rahimah Sultan

Are you having trouble with blogging? Are you at a loss for article subjects?

Here are a few blogging tips.

There are subjects all around you. Just be aware of your surroundings.

You can use newspaper headlines, people watching (what you’ve observed someone doing or making, etc.) or what someone did at the grocery or department store.

You can also research information online. It’s your blog.

You can talk about whatever you wish. If you have a niche-specific blog you probably want to make the article relative to that niche.

While making the article relative to your niche you can use analogies.

For example, you observed someone buying flowers. You can tell a story about the type and color, how carefully they were handled and discuss the customer service.

Then if your niche is internet marketing, you can relate this to products for your customers and your follow up customer service.

Once you think of a topic make an outline just like you did for school papers.

The outline should include:

A Title
An Introduction
Some Key Points
A Conclusion
A Resource box

Here is a very basic outline.



Title

The title should be in bold type and it should be engaging. It should set the tone for the entire article.

Introduction

An introduction is self explanatory. In this article, all of the above is the introduction beginning with the question “Are you having trouble with blogging?”

Headings

Your key points become your headings. I suggest an absolute minimum of three key points. They should also be in bold type.

Conclusion

Your conclusion is a summary of your article and anything else you wish to state that is directly related to your topic.

Resource Box

You can also include a resource box with your picture, a bit of information about yourself, and a link to your site or products.

In summary, you now have a template that you can use for every blog post. You can save it in outline form and use it over and over.

It contains a title, introduction, several key points related to your subject, and a conclusion.

Now you can get busy using this template of blogging tips to make your writing easier.

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