In this 7 step blogging tutorial, we are going to walk you through what helps to form a good blog post. Blogs are cheap to run and are great for everyone from the guy looking to earn money from home right through to large corporations.

If you are struggling to install WordPress or even generate ideas to content; read on!

Step 1 – Get a free blog!

The first step in this blogging tutorial is to get a business blog set-up on your domain. You might want to choose a separate domain, but if you want to contain SEO value, it is better to keep it on your current site

There are lots of free blogging platforms to choose from. Personally, we prefer WordPress. It is easy to use and there are 1,000s of great plug-ins available.

You have 2 options when it comes to installing WordPress on your domain…

1. Use this guide which has full details on how to install WordPress.
2. Use a Free WordPress Installation Service.

Step 2 – Installing Plug-ins

So you have figured how to install WordPress? Great! The next step is to make the most out of some of the best WP plug-ins available. There are thousands, so don’t get too overwhelmed. As you gain knowledge about blogging over time, you’ll figure out some extra plug-ins that are suited to your site.

Here is what we consider to be the top 5 WordPress plug-ins:

1. Contact Coldform – The easy way to make contact forms!
2. Shareaholic – Feel the power of social media!
3. Google XML Maps – Make sure Google can find your website content!
4. WordPress SEO by Yoast – Start ranking for your top keywords!
5. Akismet – Fight spam the easy way!

Step 3 – Choosing a Theme

There are a few options when it comes to choosing a theme. You can run inline with your current theme/web design, use free WordPress themes or purchase a premium theme from the likes of Monster Templates.

Step 4 Developing Content

A blog can be a great way to make consistent money online if you offer people the chance to view great content. The first part of how to write blog posts is thinking of snappy titles. You don’t have to spend hours going through the thesaurus and incorporate huge words. All you need to do is:

• Make sure it is to the point
• Ensure that the title is directly related to what is inside the content

Learning how to blog takes time. You need to read relevant blogs and see what sort of topics they are coming up with. The main things you should consider before even writing the post title are:

• Will this post have any relevance to the potential customers you are trying to attract?
• Will these people really be impressed what they have read and feel like they are going away with actionable VALUE?

Step 5 – Structuring Blog Posts

You don’t need to structure a blog post in the same way, although it will allow your blog to have some kind of unique feel to it. Blocks of text are NOT easy on the eye.

Here are some things that are easy on the eye for you to try out:

• Tutorials & How To Posts
• Numbered lists
• Bulleted lists
• Info graphics
• Top Tips
• FAQs
• Top Resources

Step 6 – Using Images

Following on from blog post structure, try and include images where possible. If you have a high quality camera, take a picture of something that is included in the post. If not, then you can search OpenClipArt instead.

Step 7 – Finding Great Resources

Even opinion based blog posts should link out to other resources. Don’t be afraid of linking out. It adds value to your content. We have a top 5 WordPress plug-in list within the content of this blog post and we have linked to all 5!

With the recent Panda updates affecting many web based businesses, more and more people are looking to produce quality content. OK, so you have quality website content, but how can people find it? You still need links!

Finding blogs that accept guest posts is one way of building a segment of a link portfolio. It also helps to give your website some instant traffic.

 

1. Submission Guidelines

So you have opened up a Word document with over 2,000 words of guest posting guidelines; puts you off, right? It shouldn’t! A blog that has extremely strict posting guidelines means a few things:

• Your content and links will only be posted alongside other high quality content and links.
• The site is less likely to be penalised by Google updates and therefore, the back link will have SEO value for years to come.

2. Blog Relevance

Blog relevance is just as important. The website you are guest blogging on should contain relevant keywords and content. So if you run a plumbing store, write for construction and plumbing blogs.

You can find blogs that accept guest posts by searching for “Write for us”, “Guest posting guidelines”, “Submit articles” plus “your business niche” in Google.

So, if you have a team of plumbers, you should focus on the home improvement/DIY industry.

“Write for us plumbing” or “Write for us DIY” should do the trick…

3. Content Quality

Don’t just focus on quantity, but quality instead. Don’t just get accepted on a high quality blog, make your post stand out.

The page may have fairly little SEO value now, but if you produc

Really high quality web content, then you will get back links and social media shares to that page. This will improve the authority of that page and therefore, the quality (in terms of SEO value), of the actual link.

4. Link Building Strategy

Google does not like unnatural looking link building strategies. Vary your anchor text, deep link to relevant pages and even use the home page URL. Although it might not be a focus keyword for your link building strategy, if you are writing a post about outsourcing service providers, why not link to an article that is directly related to outsourcing service providers?

5. Regular Submissions

In terms of relative SEO value, each back link won’t be as valuable as the last. That is not to say that you shouldn’t keep submitting to the same websites. If you are getting clicks and the blog is relevant, then this guest posting opportunity is one that shouldn’t be passed up on. Guest blogging is also a way of networking, so the more you do it, the more potential clients you will see appearing at the gateway to your business!

 

Every savvy webmaster knows that having the right domain name, is good for business. Those that are short and catchy, directly relevant to their business, or even their business name, tend to do the trick. The question is; what is the future of domain names?

Domain names are registered at an alarming rate, millions every year. It stands to reason that the supply for those that can be brandable to a business, will thin out quickly. This has taken a basic registration, which only costs £6/$10, to sale prices of $1,000,000 and beyond.

Investors

Like every industry, there are already “domainers” that specialise in the purchase and sale of domains. For many, it has been a mixture of analysis, assumption, with a bit of pot luck thrown in for good measure. The possible introduction of the .UK, will shake things up, that is for sure! Always remember that even if you don’t sell domains, you’ll still be paying for annual web hosting!

Is the future of domains, investing?

Domain valuations

Here is where the difficulty lies. With millions of domains, the same domain doesn’t get sold very often, so making an accurate valuation based on sales history (unlike property, for instance) is extremely difficult.

IDNX, we believe, will start to establish a metric for valuing domains. It’s worth downloading their report and having a read.

Without going into details relating to factors that affect domain prices (our opinion), IDNX shows that in January 2009, and the index was at around 120.00, rising to around 190.00 at the peak of January 2012.

So a domain purchased for $12,000 in 2009, should have been worth $19,000 in 2012.

Appraisals

Domain appraisals can be incredibly misleading. If an agent valued a property, it is likely that 3-4 other agents would value the property within 1-2% of the initial valuation. Think it’s the same for domains? Think again!

One generic tool might give a $1,000 for a site, with another tool giving a valuation of $5,000. The same goes for manual appraisals. Of course, when there is a fairly standardised way to value domains, like property, the market will tighten up considerably. Of course it goes without saying that any domains that have a site attached and/or SEO value and rankings will be worth more.

Top 3 domain sales of 2012!

For those that are unfamiliar of just how much domains can sell for, below is a list of the top 3 for 2012 (DNJournal). This doesn’t include some of the all time chart toppers, such as: Hotels.com ($11,000,000 in 2001), fb.com ($8,500,000 in 2010) and beer.com ($7,000,000 in 2004) according to Domaining.com.

 

Domain name	Sale price
Silver.com	$875,000
Stockphoto.com	$250,000
NYE.com	$175,500

 

Where do you think the future of domains lies?

SEO and PPC experts alike know that keyword relevancy is a factor when it comes to obtaining results. Google likes to direct visitors to pages that are directly relevant to what the user is searching for. Increasing landing page quality, therefore, has a direct impact on creating a lower CPC for PPC campaigns.

 

Why Google quality scores matter?

A quality score will be determined using a range of factors. How the ad relates to the landing page, will be one of these factors. If a keyword features in an ad, the URL and the lander, then the quality will increase, helping to create a lower CPC.

Setting up new Ad Groups

It’s a time consuming task, but each campaign should be segmented. If increase landing page quality has a direct on creating a lower CPC, it makes sense to create a range of landing pages. Assuming the web designer operates in the fields of web design, PPC management and SEO, the focus keyword groups might be segmented into 3 groups:

• Web design
• PPC
• SEO

This will help to create a lower CPC for a campaign, but segmenting Ad Groups even further will help to lower them once again. For example, for the web design segment, Ad Groups (with relevant keywords), could include:

• Cheap web design
• Ecommerce web design
• Blog web design
• UKweb design
• Midlandsweb design
• DesignerLondon
• And so on…

Each of the Ad Groups will have a separate set of keywords Each Ad group will also have a landing page that has been orientated around these keywords, with a relevant URL where possible. The more detailed a campaign becomes, the cheaper it will get.

Top Tip: A campaign could consist of 1 or 1,000s of Ad Groups. It is an idea to start small and increase sustainably. Some Ad Groups will get less interest than others. As a campaign is developed, focus on the groups that are getting the most impressions and clicks and slowly expand those groups first.

Adapting each ad and landing page

It goes without saying that the CTR will increase with specific Ad Groups and landing pages that are high quality. Think about who will be landing on a page. Don’t just replace the “Ecommerce web design” keywords directly for “Blog web design”, they are two different services. Orientate both the adverts and change the landing page to suit their needs.