How to Start a Movement with Your Blog - with Gideon Shalwick
How to start a blog
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Transcript of 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
Why should I start a blog?
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
Before we begin…
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
Home
Poll Mummy
The Advertising
Slut The Artist The Bitch The Dark
One The Design
Diva The Digital Strategist The Dirt The
Fashionista The Geek The Kollector
The Lesbian
The Lonely Tavellor
The Narcissist
The Oddball
The Photograp
her The Rest The Social
Whore
Lead Story Features (x 3)
Kontribute The Author The Blog Press Free
blankanvas sticker
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/ "
Step 4: Soup it up, baby
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
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
Step 4: Soup it up, baby
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 [email protected] 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/