Blog Checklist
The goal of this checklist is to set up a self hosted WordPress Blog and build it up into a profitable Online Business as I learn myself and help others do the same. Watch for my upcoming Free eBook that will expand on the information contained here.
What Is A Blog?: A Weblog or Blog for short is a personal online journal or website with a series of online posts that run in reverse chronological order so visitors will see your latest Post right up at the top. Comments run latest 1st also, but there are plugins to change the order if you choose. Read Full Post Here
Blog About What?: Before you start, know what you want to blog about. What are you passionate about, what do people compliment you about being good at, what can you talk about for years and not be bored or care if you even make a penny, what niche are you pursuing. Plan ahead a bit and create some content (Posts, Info, Resources). This will also help you come up with that “cool” first Post. I’m playing catch up with this now because getting a Blog going was part of the Alex Jeffreys Course, so I had a blog up and it sat there for a time while I figured out what the heck I was going to do with it. I came back to this because we got to a point in traffic getting and list building where I felt uncomfortable with the results due to the fact that I didn’t have enough to offer here. If your foundation is weak, your house wont stay up very long!
Self Hosting?: Many people use free blogging platforms such as blogger.com, wordpress.com, etc because they are very easy to setup in just a few seconds but you will have the same look as thousands of others, lacking the tools and design to help you stand out in the crowd. This may be OK for a lot of people, but if your in it for the long haul with full ownership and control you will want self hosting for your blog. Why leave all your hard work in someone else’s hands and risk the possibility of being shut down at any time without even a reason? Domain Names are cheap, Hosting is cheap, WordPress is by far #1, need I say more?
Domain Name: This will be your brand so think carefully on it. Try to use your own name if you can, or at least something with a keyword or two in a Niche you are pursuing and try to keep it short. The average price per year is $10. Netfirms is $7 per year and with the $9 hosting plan you get 2 Free Domain names and 24/7 support. When ready, Clay Recommends Netfirms
Hosting: Netfirms is a great choice with over 1,000,000 sites hosted. Another highly rated host with over 1,300,000 sites, great 24/7 support, and ease of use is Hostgator. For this blog I use Hostgators $8 per month baby plan including unlimited disk space, bandwidth, and websites. Whatever your choice just make sure they have cPanel with Fantastico, PHP installed, and .htaccess support. So what are you waiting for? Clay Recommends Hostgator
This page is a work in progress and for information referencing only so comments has been disabled. If you have comments or questions, please do so at a related post and I will be happy to answer them or find the resources to help you.
