How to start a blog

How to start a blog
The idiot-proof guide for every clueless marketer"

Proudly brought to you by:"

A shameless self-promoter of an extremely shrewd marketer who leads a double-life as a
narcissistic blogger who probably swears a little too much on Twitter for her own good

Would you buy a car from
someone who can’t drive?

1
You become one of them

2
You increase your ability to influence influencers

3
You acquire market intelligence AC Nielsen can’t provide

4
You become an Influencer

My Blog’s Brand Vision

Why does this blog exist?
State one reason why your blog exist

What is my blog about?
Describe your blog in a single sentence

Who do I want to attract?
Identify a maximum of two groups of target audience you wish to attract

My blog will be better than…
List the one blog you wish to beat in terms of quality and quantity (web
performance)

My blog reminds people of…
List the one brand that best represent what you wish for your blog to be (i.e.
NIKE/ LOUIS VUITTON/ etc)

My Blog’s Editorial Content

Frequency
List the number of times you will commit to blogging weekly

The Carrot
What is the unique piece of content your blog will have that others don’t?

Themes
Deﬁne the topics you will blog about on a weekly and monthly basis

Personality
What tone will you undertake?

Categories
Develop a sitemap for your blog

blankanvas sitemap

Free
Home
Kontribute
The Author
The Blog
Press
blankanvas
sticker

Lead Story
Features (x 3)

The The
Poll Advertising The Dark The Design The Digital The The The The Lonely The The Photograp The Social
Mummy
The Artist
The Bitch
One
Diva
Strategist
The Dirt
Fashionista
The Geek
Kollector
Lesbian
Tavellor
Narcissist
Oddball
The Rest
Whore
Slut
her

For the purpose of this presentation, I will illustrate the beneﬁts of using
WordPress’ publishing platform which you can download from
WordPress.org and host on your own server."

No, using a free service provided by WordPress.com is not an option.

Step 1: Load up with the right tools
1. A text editor
 To edit your CSS and PHP files
 Recommended: Adobe Dreamweaver

2. A photo editor
 To prettify your graphics and photographs for your blog
 Recommended: Adobe Photoshop
 Tip: I use Skitch (available for Mac only) for quick & dirty screengrabs"

3. An FTP client
 To install WordPress, themes and plugins on your server
 Recommended: FileZilla (for PC users), Cyberduck (for Mac users)
 Tip: To avoid clogging up too much space on your server with graphics and photographs, use
a 3rd party provider like Flickr"

4. Tracking tools
 Google Analytics: To track your blog statistics
 Bit.ly or Su.pr: To track the effectiveness of your clickthrough rate
 Feedburner: To build your database
 Facebook Page: To build your database and track on your quantitative readership profile
 CrowdScience: To track on your qualitative readership profile

Step 2: Find yourself a web host

1. You need a web host that provides:
 PHP version 4.3 or greater
 MySQL version 4.0 or greater
 The mod_rewrite Apache module"

2. Select a web host that is based in the country you think you’d get the most
trafﬁc from and has been around for a while"

3. Choose a sexy domain name"

4. Tip: Sign up for a web host alongside with your domain name registration.
Typically, a web host will offer to waive off the domain name registration fee if
you commit to a web hosting plan of 12 months and beyond

Step 3: Install

1. WordPress.org has a detailed guide at http://codex.wordpress.org/
Installing_WordPress#Detailed_Instructions"

2. Follow carefully step by step and you will be ﬁne

Step 4: Soup it up, baby

1. Grab yourself a theme
 A theme determines how your blog looks and functions
 Avoid changing your themes too often as it reduces brand recall (yes
honey, you’re creating your own brand now)
 Be practical – don’t use a theme that requires a certain level of expertise
in coding which you don’t have
 Make sure you have a logo, and make sure it looks good
 Recommended websites:
o WordPress.org: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
o PremiumWP: http://www.premiumwp.com/
o WooThemes: http://www.woothemes.com/
o Best WordPress Themes: http://www.bestwpthemes.com/ "


2. Load up the plugins
 Plugins enhance your blog’s user experience, extends its capabilities, and make
you wish you started your blog earlier
 Download from: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/
 Recommended plugins:
 Akismet: filter those nasty spam out
 All-in-one SEO Pack: because people don’t go beyond the first page of
Google
 Cforms: deploy sexy looking forms on your blog
 Find Me On: the best looking widget that displays all of one’s social network
profiles I’ve seen so far
 Get Recent Comments: display the most recent comments/ trackbacks on
your blog
 Google XML Sitemaps: make your blog as search engine friendly as possible
 IntenseDebate: enhance and encourage conversation on your blog or website
 LinkWithin: encourages stickiness on your blog with recommended stories
and associated thumbnails along with each blog post


2. Load up the plugins
 Recent Posts: for those with a magazine layout like mine, this function allows
“last in, ﬁrst out’ readers to read your latest posts easily
 Search Suggest: because some of us can’t spell
 Subscribe to Comments: allows readers to receive notiﬁcations of new
comments that are posted to an entry
 TweetMeme Retweet Button: adds a button which easily lets you retweet your
blog posts
 Ultimate Google Analytics: enable Google Analytics on your blog
 WP-o-Matic: create posts automated from RSS/ Atom feeds
 WP-UserOnline: enable you to display how many users are online on your
Wordpress blog with detailed statistics of where they are and who there
are(Members/Guests/Search Bots)
 WP Super Cache: Cache your blog so that it doesn’t take too long to load

Thank you
Holler over at pat@bypatlaw.com if you have any questions

Photo credits:!

WordPress logo: http://sophia.smith.edu/blog/news/ !
Corvette: http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/42793153@N05/3952796817/
Drawing board: http://nzesylva.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/the-drawing-board-is-now-full/

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