By now you should have your own niche topic and today we shall look at setting up your blog. There are 3 main programs that you must have:
Main Requirements to Setting up a Blog
- Domain name
- Blog Platform
- Web Hosting
I will recommend to you the services that I used for the above 3 programs. And it will be easier for you follow if you choose the same choice. However, if you decide to use the free blog platform like blogger and wordpress.com. I will not stop you but my advice is not to.
Why Should You Own A Domain Name
In fact, I wish that I could insist you to buy your own domain name and host it on a web hosting service. I did several of my blogs on the blogger and have really regretted it. Don’t follow my mistake but instead learn from it.
1. Sense of ownership
When I bought my own domain name and started blogging on it. The feeling of writing content on it is totally different from when I am writing content on my blogger blogs. The reason is because I feel that I own the domain name and is my asset and business. I would put in my 100% effort in seeing that the blog succeed.
As a result, when I compared the content written on my blogger blog and my own domain blog. I find that the content on own domain are of better quality and more compelling. This feeling never existed when I set up blogs on blogger platform. Because I know that the domain does not belong to me. I strongly recommend you to get a domain name if you are serious in making money through blogging and avoid the same mistakes as me.
2. Selling your domain
This is never possible if you are hosting on a free blog platform. Because you simply don’t own the domain. There might be a time when you want to stop blogging but because you don’t own the domain, You are unable to flip the site for some money in return. This amount of money that you lose could be from a few hundred dollars to a few thousands depending on the popularity of your blog.
3. Looks professional and more credible
When you own a domain name, it will show that you are serious about the topic you are talking about. The image that your blog portrayed will be professional and much more credible compared to the free blog platforms. As a result, it increases the chance that people will look at your blog’s content.
After looking at the advantages of having your own domain, have you come to a decision? Who else want to follow my footsteps and regret his action later? Heed my advice and buy a domain name.
3 Steps In Choosing Domain Name
Step 1: Related to niche topic
Choosing a related domain name to your niche topic is important. Because domain name becomes like a brand name for your blog. If the domain name is totally different from your topic niche. It does look out of place and it makes it more difficult for people to remember. Brainstorm for ideas on the domain name and use thesaurus if you need help in find related words.
Step 2: Assess length of domain name
Keep your domain name short and yet meaningful. A good guideline is roughly around 3 words and about 20 characters or less. This will make it easier for your readers to remember. Avoid using words with a lot of repetition characters like “businessssuccess.com” because it is difficult for people to type the URL.
Step 3: Improve domain name by rhyming it
I find this a good way to market your blog through the “word-of-mouth” advertising although it is not a must to follow. I tested this domain name with a group of 20 friends and many still remember my blog URL after 1 week because they say that it rhymes well. It will improve the chances that people still remember your blog after a long time due to this reason. Try reading my blog URL and you will find it quite interesting and rhymes at the same time.
I sign up my domain name with namesilo.com because they provide good service and so far do not have any problem with them. It costs you around $10 for a domain name which will last you 1 year. You will need to do some setup for the domain name. But it is really simple and I will recommend you a video later on to follow the step by step guide.
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Blog Platform
Now you need to decide on a blog platform to go with your domain name. I will only recommend you one blog platform and that is WordPress. Do take note to use WordPress.org and not WordPress.com because WordPress.org is the self-hosted one where you can use your own domain name.
Why Should You Use WordPress.org
There are concrete reasons in why I want you to set up your blog with WordPress. However, if you insist on using other blog platform. You can go ahead but I will not be able to help you as much since I have never use other platform before.
1. Plugins & themes
There are thousands of plugins and themes available for WordPress. The plugins include those that are SEOs and comments orientated. These plugins will help you and make your work easier in the future. It is also easy to incorporate the plugins into WordPress and it contains clear instructions on how to install the plugins.
2. Support
There are a lot of people using WordPress to set up their blog and you can find a lot of support just by searching Google. There are in house support forum as well which has a lot of questions being ask everyday.
3. Easy Installation
Many web hosting provides one click installation and makes installation of WordPress so much easier.
Web Hosting
You need a web hosting service to host your domain together with WordPress. There are many web hosting service that provides one click installation for WordPress but my vote goes to SeverLanka.
I use ServerLanka as my web hosting service as well and it is one of the best web hosting service with the highest uptime. They provide the most excellent service even when they faced problems such as hurricane.
I am currently using the Business plan which cost $4.95 per month and they provide 30 days Money Back Guarantee. You can actually test out this web hosting for the time being and decide if you want to continue with it. But I am confident that you will continue using it like I do even after 1 month.
Additional Program
I recommend building an email list right from the start of blogging. And you will benefit from it as your blog grows. You can create a PDF report like I do and use an auto email responder service like Aweber to handle your email list. There are many things that you can use your email list for and this includes selling products that you have used and recommend it to them.
I have use Aweber to handle my email newsletter and have never find any problem with them. They also have the highest send through rate which means the amount of emails that actually reached your email list.
There are some email responders that have very bad send through rate and there could be as high as 40% email newsletter not reaching their recipients. Avoid those and use Aweber if you decide to build an email list from day 1 of blogging. I will teach you on how to utilize this email list in the later part of the coaching.
