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

 

When you visit a website are you curious about who owns or operates it? Do you check it out, especially if it contains something that peaks your interest? What is the first page you look at?

 

Your ‘About Us’ page is a vital part of any website. It is actually one of the most visited pages of any and every website. If you want to find out about a company, an organization or an individual, you will probably look at this page first. That is why I have included it in my Tips for Promoting Your Website. So, take advantage of this fact when promoting your website.

Personalize Your Page

 

One of the first impressions you can make on a potential consumer is from your ‘About Us’ page. This is good news for everyone because it is one of the best pages on your website for you to get creative with and truly personalize.

 

If your business has a particularly interesting, or unusual, back story relating to how it came about, that could be a fun way to make the most of your ‘About Us’ page. You can use fun images or a pleasing color scheme.

 

One thing to remember when you’re creating a good and effective ‘About Us’ page is to personalize it enough to suit you and your business. Reveal the how, why, and what your business ultimately stands for. Do not overload your consumers with too much information.
Your ‘About Us’ page should not be too long. Explain succinctly what your company does, and what the goal is, but in a fun and relatable manner.

 

Optimize your website

 

Be sure you optimize your website for relevant, repeat organic traffic from search engines. Your title, description and meta tags should reflect what your site is about. The description should be a sentence or two describing the content of the webpage. Now use the main words of the description for the keywords meta tag. If you have a blog update it regularly and optimize each post in the same manner so the search engines can find it.

 

Post actively on forums and blogs

 

You can participate in forums where your target audience is reachable. Post useful responses to questions, and include a signature with your website on your profile. You could possibly incorporate your own tips for promoting your website in a discussion. Do not spam as you most likely will be banned.

 

Publish an e-zine

 

An e-zine is an online magazine like a newsletter. You can publish your own or subscribe to others. You can find many free directories where you can add your digital newsletter and articles. Ezine Articles is one of the top directories.

 

Social Media Marketing

 

Use the strength of social media sites – mainly Twitter and Facebook – to reach your marketing objectives.

 

So, do not ignore the importance of your “About” page. Use it to your advantage.

 

You can benefit from the free online advertising tips discussed here. There are many no cost resources on the internet to promote your business, and of course you have the option of paid advertising. I’m sure that using these Tips for Promoting Your Website can be beneficial.

 
 
 
 

by Rahimah Sultan

 

First of all a blog IS a type of website. Basically, anything on the Internet is a website. A website is any place you can visit online through a URL or a Domain. The answer to the question ‘Should I Use a Blog or a Website for My Internet Marketing’ is YES.

 

Let me explain. Blogs were created to make regular posts in chronological order, usually with the latest on top. A post is anything you want to write about or articles related to whatever your site is about. Now blogs use a set of tools that allow you to add, remove, and edit your online content. If you use a WordPress blog you do not have to know any code to have your own blog/website.

 

If you want to have a web presence, all you have to do is set up a static site on a WordPress platform and add plugins and custom themes (templates) to expand your blog/website with thousands of features.

 

Using a blog style website is the fastest and easiest way to get started online for a hobby or an Internet business. Should I use a blog or a website for my Internet marketing is now a moot point. Search engines love blogs. Every time you add new content it is picked up by them. If you post new and relevant content regularly, you will get return visitors to your blog.

 

Most WordPress themes allow you to set up a static website and then add the blogging component as a separate section of your website.

 

There’s no need to choose between a blog and a website when you can have them both. And you do not have to manage two separate sites.

 

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by Rahimah Sultan
Only a few years ago very few people were using blogs to get their message out. Now that blogging is cool more people are doing it. If you are serious about blogging the best platform to use is WordPress.

 

WordPress is the global community that creates plugins that can make your blog sizzle. If you want to optimize your posts and content for search engines, there’s a free plugin for that.

 

With WordPress you have numerous benefits along with low cost and flexibility. There are free plugins that stop spam, optimize your blog for search engines, and more.

 

Jeff Bullas has detailed the 25 most popular plugins in his article The Top 25 WordPress Plugins. (Click here to read)

 

Blogs are like mini websites. They are free and easy to use and offer a variety of page styles to fit almost any user. They are online journals that allow other people to read your thoughts and reply to them. Blogs allow you to Link to other interesting sites on the Internet and discuss them. You can promote and sell products, talk about your hobbies or share videos or whatever you wish that you don’t mind sharing publicly.

 

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by Rahimah Sultan

 

This is part two of Marketing Roadmap Success: Getting Free Traffic. In part one we covered getting backlinks, SEO and better SEO positioning. We will now discuss social networks, forums / discussion boards / online communities, video sharing, and review sites.

 

As stated before, the series contains seven videos. This article covers the last four of the seven Marketing Roadmap Success strategies for getting free traffic to your site.

 

1)  Social Networks

 

Facebook and Twitter are both social networking tools, like an online community. You can use them to find people you know, business partners, and business groups and prospective connections. To sign up is free, and you can easily integrate the two so that people can keep up with you and get to know you better. This is a way of building trust between you and prospective clients.

 
2)  Forums, Discussion Boards and Online Communities

 

Forums, discussion boards, and online communities are similar to blog posting and comment posting so there are not a lot of different things to learn. You just have to follow the guidelines for each. To find forums and the like, just do a search online for ones that suit your needs. Used correctly these methods can get you good backlinks and good traffic back to your site.

 

3)  Video Sharing Sites

 

Video sharing gets traffic back to your site, especially if you use You Tube and Facebook and integrate them with Twitter.  The tools you’ll need for videos depend on the kind of videos you want to make. There are paid and free versions of video tools. Using this technique with other online advertising methods can multiply your exposure.

 

4)  Review Sites

 

A lot of people go to review sites to decide whether or not they want to buy a certain product. There will probably be a review site for whatever niche or market you’re in: travel, movies, books, games, holidays, cars and products. You can contact the industry owner and find out how to get listed for a review.

 

Otherwise you can find a lot of individuals who are website owners, one-person businesses and internet or affiliate marketers.  You can go to forums and find review sites. The video covers the procedure for doing this. Find sites and be ready for them to honestly review you.

 

By incorporating these four strategies into your marketing, you can get increased backlinks and exposure for your Marketing Roadmap Success: Getting Free Traffic strategies.