Setting Up A Blog

Firstly, a blog (short for web log) is simply a platform to produce content.  Think of it as kind of like making a diary, but the topics are usually focused around something of interest to your target readers.  You can add content as often as you like, and usually each entry, or post, is around 250 words or so.

If you want to see an example of a blog, take a look at mine at http://www.yourlifeourpath.com.

Blogs are great for two main reasons;

1.)  Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

2.)  Building relationships with your Potential Business Partners.

SEO is all about getting your websites ranked higher in the natural search results of the search engines, for specific keywords.  For example, if you could get your website to show up in the number one position when someone does a Google search for ‘work from home’ then you’d have no problems getting lots of leads.

In order to get that ranked high for a particular keyword, your website first needs to be relevant to that keyword.  Also, the source of your incoming links (other sites that link to your site) is very important.  If those sites are all about the home business indsutry, then that will help you in your rankings for home business keywords.  But remember, sites will only link to you if you offer their users something of value. 

The incoming links that you get from articles and blogs are also important.  

If you want to see how other people are getting the number one and two spots in the search results, simply go to Yahoo and type in “linkdomain:www.NameOfSite.com” and a list of all the incoming links for that site will be displayed.

For example, if you do a Google search for the phrase “home business opportunities” you’ll see that the number one spot belongs to www.workathomemums.com.au (at the time of writing anyway). We can investigate why that particular site is so popular, by typing into Yahoo ‘linkdomain:www.workathomemums.’  You’ll then see that there are no less than 184 incoming links.  No wonder they’re in the number one spot!

Always remember that SEO is a long term strategy…it can take months before you start seeing results.  But if you get ranked for the right keywords, it can be well worth the effort. And by writing a blog, you can help to speed up the process.

Blogging is also great for building relationships with your Potential Business Partners (PBP’s). 

When writing content, try to aim for at least one post per week or more.   That way, the search engines notice that you are frequently producing new content, and their search bots, or spiders, will crawl through your blog more frequently.  It let’s your PBP’s know that you take your business seriously too.

What Should I Write About?

Try to write about something that people are interested in.  A common mistake made by new home business owners is to use their blog to blatantly self promote their business.  People prefer to read blogs that are interesting, informative, and entertaining.  This comes more naturally to some people than others.  But as long as your writing is focussed on offering a benefit to your readers, and not just on you, then people will be more inclined to come back.

Make sure that you throw in the occasional link to your website as well.  If I were writing about ’The 7 Most Common Mistakes Made by New Home Business Owners,’ then I could end the post with “if you’d like to get an insiders perspective on the home business industry, head on over to www.HomeBusinessBuilders.com.au.”

You can also link to other useful websites as well, which your readers will appreciate.  So if you are writing about how to write good copy in your marketing, you might point your readers to a site like The 100 Greatest Headlines Ever Written.    The more value you can add to your readers, the more likely they’ll be to see you as an expert.  And once you achieve that expert status, people will begin approaching you- which is what attraction marketing is all about.

How Do I Set Up A Blog?

Setting up a blog is very easy.  And it’s free.

There are two main blogging platforms that I recommend.  The first is Googles’ Blogger.  And the second is Wordpress.  The best way to learn is to just go ahead and sign up, and follow the step-by-step instructions.  But in case you get lost, here are a couple of videos that you may find helpful;

BLOGGER

Setting up a Blog with Blogger Part 1 of 2

Setting up a Blog with Blogger Part 2 of 2

Google Blogger Settings- Part 1 of 3

Google Blogger Settings- Part 2 of 3

Google Blogger Settings- Part 3 of 3

WORDPRESS

How To Set Up a WordPress Blog (quite long- 50 minutes!)

So you now know how to blog.  The key with blogging is to be consistent.  Try to write a new post at least once or twice a week if you can.  Before you know it, you’ll have built up quite a lot of useful content.

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