Set Up a Blog – Research/Themes/Plugins
Blogs are more popular than ever. If you have a blog or if you have ever thought about creating a blog then you should know that there is software out there that can help with managing the process.
The only problem is determining what works and what does not; selecting software can be extremely overwhelming and time consuming.
Before deciding on blogging software, take the time to sit down and figure out what it is you want in software. If you are just starting out, you need to keep expneses in mind. Focus on the things that will make your blogging process more efficient and enjoyable. As you become more proficient you can then consider additional software.
To help with your selection process I have put together a list of items that I either use with my blogs or that have been recommended by someone I trust.
Niche Research
The first step, and probably the most important, is niche
research.
Choosing a topic for which there is both a demand and that you are
interested in is paramount.
There are two excellent tools that can be used for Niche Research. The first is Market Samurai. This tool provides an anlysis of your keywords and your competition's strength. Its free trial is just enough time to kick the wheels.
The second product that I use is Micro Niche Finder. I started
using it about two months ago. This is an excellent tool for
finding a great niche.
Which tool you choose is really just a matter of preference. Both pull their data from the same source. The only difference is in how the data is presented. I actually use both to help me with my niche selection.
Domains
In terms of domains, I recommend Go
Daddy and Name Cheap. If you
are concerned about costs, go with Name Cheap for your domain.
They tend to be a few dollars cheaper.
Hosting
With Hosting you want a reliable, low down time, great customer
service provider. Although most hosts advertise unlimited domains
per account, it is rarely true.
Before choosing a service, you need to think about Shared versus Dedicated hosting. If you are just starting out and you don’t plan to have more than 10 domains on your account then Shared Hosting is probably ok. Anything above that and you may want to consider Dedicated hosting. I have found that the following two hosting service providers are very reliable.
Once you have established service with your host, it is now time to load Wordpress:
Installing Wordpress with Cpanel
Themes
Theme selection should definitely be a part of your blog's overall
marketing strategy. In fact it is not such a bad idea, placing a
bit of thought
into
theme selection prior to your Wordpress installation. Your
theme is that important. Not every theme works for every niche so
choose
carefully.
New Wordpress Theme – Believe it or not, these themes are totally free.
Catalyst – This theme is one of the best out. It has tons of features. With this theme you can truly design your own blog from scratch.
DIY Theme (Thesis) – SEO friendly and highly optimized, this theme comes with unique designs (1, 2, and 3-column layout combinations) and pinpoint font controls.
Premium Press – Great specialty themes: ShopperPress, DirectoryPress, CouponPress, Classifieds Theme, and RealtorPress. Great for auto blogging.
Flexibility Themes – Flexibility themes are one of
my
favorites. This theme is extremely easy to use and very
flexible. In terms of features, it is also a little less
intimidating than the others.
Classi Press - Awesome theme for those looking into creating an Auction or Listings Blog.
Plugins
Plugins are the life and blood of your blog. Some are designed to
help automate and manage specific tasks while others are designed to
help
manage the overall process. The following plugins represent the
base case. Meaning this list represents the minimum that you
should consider adding to your blog.
WordPress SEO – Probably the best SEO solution for your WordPress blog. Not only does it handle the basics such as SEO titles and Meta descriptions but it also handles XML sitemaps and has an .htaccess and robots.txt editor.
WP-DBManager – This plugin is essential to the management of your blog. It helps with the optimization, repair and or backup of your database. It also supports the automatic scheduling of database backups and optimization. This feature is awesome.
Redirection Plugin – Great plugin for helping you track 404 errors and manage 301 redirections.
W3 Total cache – Helps with optimizing your blog’s speed and user experience via caching: page, browser, object, minify and (CDN) content delivery network support.
WordPress Mobile Pack - With more and more people
accessing the
internet via their mobile phone, you site has to be mobile ready.
Yet Another Related Posts Plugin - Based on a unique algorithm, this plugin creates a list of related posts, to be displayed on each blog posts.
Easy Adsense – Manages every aspects of Google Adsense. This plugin will insert ads into posts, side bars and even add a Google Search box.
Adsense now – Simpler version of Easy Adsense. Some say that Easy Adsense has too many features and is complicated. This version is a lot easier.
Advanced Plugins
The following plugins are recommended for advance usage, autoblogging
and affiliate sites. They are designed to help with automating
your blog so that you can work on other things, create additional
blogs, or simply extra time on the beach.
WpRobot – No doubt the best autoblogging piece of software out there. This was the first tool I bought. WpRobot allows you to post content, from Ebay, Amazon, Shopzilla, Flickr, and YouTube just to name a few. If you need article content, no problem it can help with that also. If your budget is limited, this is definitely the tool to start with.
Phpbay - phpBay Pro is the best plugin around for adding keyword rich Ebay auction listings to your posts (Ebay Partner Network). The developer also has a product for Amazon listings (phpZon pro).
Comparipress – Creating a price comparison blog? Comparipress allows users to easily display products from the following affiliates: Amazon, Overstock, Commission Junction, Link share, AvantLink and Affiliate Window.
Wizard Plugins – Offers individual plugins for Overstock, Commission Junction, Link share, and AvantLink.
Reviewazon – A great plugin for creating a review blog based off Amazon product listings.
Clickbank – If you are looking into placing Clickbank products on your site, this is a great plugin. It creates ads on you blog posts similar in presentation to Google Adsense ads.
Eclipse Cloaker – Eclipse Cloaker masks your affiliate links so that your id and commissions cannot be stolen. If you are concerned about the theft of your commissions and your affiliate links check out this great tool.
Comment Pig – Comments are extremely important to a blog. This plugin pulls comments from Yahoo Answers, YouTube and Twitter based upon your tags and keywords.
Tag Pig – Created by the same developer as Comment Pig, this plugin manages every aspect of your blog’s tagging.
Instant Article Wizard – If you only need a content generating tool, this may be the product for you. This plugin can creates content in minutes, it also checks it using Copyscape.
Buidling Backlinks
With a brand new blog, one of the quickest ways of getting noticed by
Google is backlinks. Not only will backlinks get your blog
noticed but they are an important part of your journey towards rank.
Directory Maximizer – At only .14 per directory submission, Directory Maximizer offers an affordable solution. Directory Maximizer manually submits your URL to directories for one way links back to your site.
Bookmarking Demon – Although expensive, this is an excellent bookmarking tool. It creates your bookmarking accounts (automated), deep scans your site for bookmarks and drip feeds them creating quality backlinks.
Web traffic Genius (Plugin) – For every blog post, this tool automatically sends a submission to over 20 RSS Feed Aggregators. Although I can’t quantify any traffic that may have been the result of my usage of this tool, I can say that my Page rank and Google listings have improved since I started using it.
Social Media
No marketing strategy whether a business, a blog or traditional
website, is complete in today’s environment without a social media
consideration. Social Media is considered a great venue for
marketing and building credibility in your blog’s niche. The
following are a few tools that can be used to explore this opportunity:
Tweet Adder - Automated Twitter promotion and
marketing tool.
Tweet Attacks – Twitter marketing software designed to drive traffic to your website, sales page or blog.
Twitter Account creator – Create unlimited twitter accounts.
MarketMeSuite – My favorite Twitter marketing software. The great thing about this tool; it allows you to brand your tweets with actual links to your website or blog (more back links!!) Check out the video below.
Now that you have the proper tools, let's get cracking!!
