mat t hewwo o dward.co .ukhttp://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-start-a-blog-award-winning-blogger-step-step/

Matthew Woodward

How To Start A Blog With An Award Winning Blogger Step ByStep

Since I launched this blog just 10 months ago it has received over 85,000 unique visitors, won 3 awards andearnt nearly over $60,000!

In the last 3 months I have blogged f rom Amsterdam, Iceland, Under a tree, Austria, Texas, In a pub, CostaRica & 30,000 f eet up in a plane.

So what’s stopping you f rom creating a blog right now in the next 30 minutes and kickstarting your bloggingcareer?

What You Will Learn

Today I’m going to teach you-

1. How to create a blog over my shoulder step by step

2. How to set everything up including your own domain

3. The site will be mobile responsive, secure & automatically backed up

4. It will also be f ully SEO optimised with social integration

5. You will also be able to add an email subscription opt in f orm

Claim Your Free Domain Registration & Start Your Blog Today – Just Click Here

Getting Started

Bef ore we begin, we should f irst glance at what the f inal product will be.

Below is a screenshot of the blog I created along with a sample post. You can take note of the f act that italso boasts social icons and links f rom af f iliates.

How To Get a Domain Name

In order to begin with your blog we f irst need to set up a domain name and f ind a website hosting service.

I pref er JustHost because they are a well-known company with reliable uptime. Plus, their service comeswith a domain at no extra cost. It is super easy!

Here’s what to do: go to JustHost and click the red button that says sign up now. It will prompt you to entera domain name. You can do so and then click next.

It will ask f or some more inf ormation, which you should f ill out. You also get to pick a plan f or your account— at this point, a one year plan is okay.

Also, be sure to make a good, strong password!

Installing WordPress

First, you will need to log in to your account on JustHost (you can do this with your newly-created domainand password). Af ter you have access to the administrator tools, click on websites.

Here are the next steps:

Click on the option to install WordPress

When you get to the next step, leave Installation Pref erences and Advanced Options at their def aultsettings

Deselect the recommended plugins and themes box — we will deal with that stuf f in a bit

Click complete at the bottom of the screen

Congratulations! At this point you have installed the basic WordPress set up.

One quick thing you should do, just in case, is write down the password and login.

There is no need to be intimidated by WordPress — it powers about 18% of the web and is made with non-coders in mind, so mastering the basics will not be hard.

Now, you might be going insane with blogging by this point, so f eel f ree to change the name of the site toanything you want. I’m going with Blogsanity. Then click save.

Permalinks

Next you should head over to the lef t side of your screen and choose settings, then click on permalinks.

What is next?

Select the custom structure option, and put in this: /%category%/%postname%/

Download plugins — both the pack f rom my blog and the exclusive list that I recommend

Keep all of your plugins in the same f older

Installing Plug-Ins

To install plug- ins, here are the steps to f ollow:

You want to install all of these awesome plugins, so here is the process to do so.

1. Choose new.

2. Upload the plugin f ile.

3. Do these steps with each plugin you want to add.

With my recommendations, you only have nine plugins to worry about.

Configuring Plugins

Start by choosing SEO on the lef t hand side of your screen. Once there you can sign up, grab theverif ication meta values and put them in the appropriate f orms.

Also be sure to keep tit les and metas in mind — select the option f or all f our and then save your settings.

You will want to take advantage of Google author highlighting, and in order to do that you need to headover to Google+ and build a prof ile.

Af ter you get a URL f or your Google+ page, you should go back to WordPress. Look on the lef t side ofyour screen and click on users. Then choose edit. Here, you can paste your Google+ prof ile URL so thatGoogle+ Authorship works on your end.

Bef ore moving on, hop back over to WordPress SEO. You should go to t it le & metas — f ind taxonomiesand choose the option to noindex the pages. Be sure to save your changes.

Finally, f ind your way to the help section and copy “%%excerpt%%.” Then place it in the right boxes.

Improving Blog Security

You do not want to have to always worry about people hacking into your site, so we are going to boostyour blog’s security.

In the tweaks section, select every box that appears in yellow.

Once that is over with, return to the dashboard to deal with points f our, f ive, and six. When you choosef our it will prompt you to change the user admin ID.

Then you will need to re- log in. Af ter that, get over to the dashboard and rename the other points.

Back Up Your Blog

You should have your site backed up in case the worst happens, so mosey on over to backup and chooseAdd New Job.

There will be a f ew settings you can tinker around with. One choice is where your backup will go to — I likehaving it sent via email. Remember to save your changes.

Our next stop is the schedule tab, where you can pick when your automatic backups happen. I’m going toopt f or daily backups at three, which is the basic setting. Don’t f orget to save your important changes.

Also drop by Files and make sure that it knows you want to back up plugins.

To make sure that you get your entire site backed up, we need to get rid of the maximum f ile size. You cando this by setting the maximum to zero.

Where are we now? A good place — we have a blog that is optimised for search engines, secureagainst attacks, and automatically backed up.

Now we can build on that groundwork.

Conf iguring Social Sharing

You probably want a social media side bar, so let’s make it.

Go to Global Conf ig and put in your Twitter handle. (Don’t have a Twitter yet? I think the best idea is to justgo ahead and make one.)

Next, allow normal display. For the time being, you can keep the def aults.

One thing you should do is uncheck all of the sharing options and then just choose those that you actuallywant. Af ter the content, you can add Twitter, Google +1, and the Facebook like button.

Another tool we want is Pretty Link, which lets us mask all af f iliate links.

How do you add this? On the options screen, you will want to switch link options to Permanent 301 and addno follow to link box. Af ter that, update the changes.

Adding Aff iliate Links

We are ready to add af f iliate link #1! For this sample, we can use my HostGator af f iliate.

What do we want to have happen? Every time a user goes to blogsanity.com/hostgator, the URL will directthem to the af f iliate link.

You can create it, because we will need to put that link in our very f irst post.

Setting up Google Analytics

You can jump over to Settings > Google Analytics. It will allow us to enter a web property ID, so you shoulddo that and then save the change.

Doing this will let you get access to all of the Google Analytics stats — visitor numbers, most popularcontent, etc.

Setting up a Contact Form

One way f or visitors to get in touch with you is a contact f orm. Click Pages, then Add New. Choose theContact Me option.

In the blank space, write the f ollowing: “Please do not hesitate to email me if you have any questions orcomments. I’ll do my best to get back to you within 48 hours. Thanks!”

Then we can go to our SEO control box to set some meta and tit le descriptions.

Theme Installation

WordPress has thousands of f ree and paid themes to choose f rom. Start by going to Appearances andThemes > Install Themes.

It will show a lot of newer themes. I’m going to install Montezuma, a theme I really like because it works onmobile devices.

Once it installs, activate it . Now you are ready to write your f irst post!

Publishing Posts

Creating posts in WordPress is a piece of cake. Hover over the Posts link and click Add New.

There is a clearly marked box f or a t it le. Try something like this: “Hello There! Welcome to the blog.” Typesome stuf f in, and maybe even attach an image (you can upload one or choose one f rom the gallery).

Adding YouTube Video

It is pretty easy to add YouTube content to posts on your blog.

Adding Link to Host Gator Aff iliate

Remember our HostGator af f iliate link? It is t ime to put that to use.

There are many dif f erent options: tabs, boxes, etc.

Let’s try a button. All we need to do is put the af f iliate URL in the link spot, and then change the display textto “Visit HostGator Now.” Hit conf irm, add shortcode, and then this step is complete!

We need a category, so call it “personal.” For SEO, the tit le will be “Hello There! Welcome to my blog.”

What about the meta description? Try something like this: “Welcome to Blogsanity, the part of the web wherebloggers go nuts, 24/7!”

Are you ready? All you need to do is click publish. Now your post is live!

Published Post

Everything looks great! We can see our sharing options, video, and our post.

Setting Up the Side Bar

To conf igure the side bar, you will need to head over to Appearance and Widgets. There are dif f erent thingswe could display: newest posts, a search box, etc.

E-Mail Subscription Form

If everything has made sense so f ar, why not go the extra mile? I advise you to create an email newsletter— when visitors subscribe you can collect their data.

Amassing a solid number of email subscribers is a huge part of your blog. How do you do that? An AWeberaccount will help, so let’s take a speedy look at that.

Setting Up an AWeber Account

For just a buck, you can make an AWeber account. Go ahead and do so, then log in.

Once inside, there is a process to f ollow:

Make an email list

Get a sign-up f orm

Pick a template, any template

Shif t the template width to 320 pixels

Find colours that are distinct

See the box that prompts you to enter text and type something like, “Please subscribe. I will neverspam you.”

Format it — center the text

Save the f orm bef ore exit ing

Next, name it. As per our theme today, I’ll call it Blogsanity.

Don’t f orget to save the f orm!

Create an Email Subscription Box

First, head to Settings and lick on AWeber Web Form. Once you log in you can get the code it provides andtype it in when prompted.

Second, navigate over to Widgets. Find the AWeber Form and drag it to the very top. As always, rememberto save!

You now have an email subscription f orm set up, and once visitors begin to add their inf ormation you canstart marketing to them.

You’re done! I have guided you through the process of setting up a search engine optimized, responsive,mobile-compatible blog.

You are even ready to connect with visitors using your social sharing buttons and contact page. These arethe building blocks f or making prof it online.

What Next?

You can use this blog that you have set up as a test site, an af f iliate platf orm, or your main blog — but nomatter what you choose, you have no excuse to not blog now.

You now have the skills and the knowledge, so why not? Follow in my f oot steps and pave your path tosuccess!

Resources In The Tutorial

JustHost – Claim Your Free Domain Registration – Get your domain, hosting & 1 click WordPressinstall!Aweber – Start your email list f or just $1!