OK Blogging....I don't get it

Long as I've been marketing online I've never had what you would call a successful blog, although I've tried to set one up many MANY times.....I know all the pieces that it takes to make a blog. I know its best to host your own blog so you don't have to worry about your content being flagged and taken down. I know what keyword research is and what to look for, and how you are supposed to build your posts around those key words....but I swear it all falls apart when I attempt to put these things together.

One thing I don't get it Wordpress for starters. How to get it to look like I want once I choose a template befuddles me.

I am coming to the community on this one. Is there anyone out there who can help with setting up my blog...either by doing it for me or walking me through step by step? I really need a mentor because even before when I had blogs on blogger, I could never keep up with the posts like I should because I would run out of things to say....

Maybe someone can lead me to a very simple blogging course, but I would prefer a mentor to partner with and share ideas. Please post below if you feel you can help in one way or another.

 

Hello drknlvly6781. I have been blogging for quite some time now. The key to successful blogging is patience.It takes a very long time to grow your readership and for your content to rank in the search engines.But when you plant the seeds and wait for a while things will eventually take off.This has been my experience with blogging.

But anyways,I really do enjoy helping out fellow entrepreneurs. Please feel free to send me a message,or check out my profile.

I look forward to helping you.

Take care

 

Adrain is right. It takes patience and a lot of hard work. You may want to take some time to learn the basics of SEO. Start with a decent amount of content on your blog and keep adding new content on a regular basis. Create relevant backlinks.

All of this takes time, but if you keep working at it, good things are bound to happen.

 

Do you have a blog started already that we could look at or are you trying to start a new one now? There are some Wordpress themes that just aren't compatible with some features, so it would be helpful to have specifics (i.e. web address, if it exists already, theme, plugins, features you want to add, etc.).

 

I've been blogging for a number of years, and I'd be happy to share ideas with you as well. So, do you currently have a setup?

Also, I always tell people that are new to blogging to visit the Problogger and Copyblogger sites and read as much information as you have time for. Both are excellent resources for both new bloggers. and vets. You'll find answers to alot of your questions, as well as tips for content ideas, etc.

 

Don't think of it as BLOGGING (unless that's what you want to do).
WordPress sites can be pages of information people are seeking.
No need to constantly chatter about things not sought after.
Allowing visitor comments is an option, not requirement.

As for design and content, you can find cheap help on Fiver, Odesk, eLance, and others.
If you can't learn on your own a mentor is not going to be a lot of help.
They can tell you what to do but you still have to learn to do it.

Think of your site as a series of ARTICLES, and learn article marketing.
eZineArticles has lots of helpful tutorials on the right way to do it.

 

So what exactly is a "successful" blog to you?

Is it...

- One that's monetized with banners and ads?
- One that gets lots of comments and feedback?
- One that drives traffic to your other online properties?
- One that gets your name out there?
- Something else altogether?​

Once you answer that question and determine your goal, it'll be much easier to establish what you need to do to accomplish it.

There are lots of ways to get inspiration, ideas and locate content to write.

You could...

- Get ideas from articles others have written
- Extract content from Private Label Rights (PLR) ebooks for posts
- Check out the discussions in forums for interesting subjects
- Write about your own experiences, frustrations, achievements etc.​

There are many WordPress design tutorials on YouTube to help you configure your blog just the way you want. Once you learn how to get a particular "look", the steps are basically the same or similar for any theme you use.

Plus they are cool plugins available to help you jazz up your blog and add really neat, interactive functions.

As Just2EZ correctly points out, there are things you'll simply have to learn to do. There's no getting around that. All it requires is intention and some focused application, and you'll eventually know those things. Then you build your knowledgebase from there.

And the surprising truth is: the process is never as difficult as you think it's going to be.

Hermas

 

I have close to 3oo blog post, I've been pretty successful....well, that's both my husband and I. It's what we do BLOG. We have a team of bloggers that we help and train and well, I want to keep with the rules of this forum so that's all I'll say about that. You can be successful blogging. It sounds like you already know quite a bit there; all you need now is....inspiration and motivation.

 

It can be hard sometimes to find what you want to blog about or it can be a struggle to find the right words, but given time it does become easier and second nature to you, I believe it is important for your online business!

 

The basics of a wordpress blog is very simple. You get the hosting and install it with a push of a few buttons. As for the domain you either brand yourself as in yourname.com or what you main theme is about.

What is the main theme of the blog and then who is your target market?

The key to get your target market to come by is to write and always give them value. After a while they like and trust you and will always be back for more. Running out of ideas? Well get into the target markets problems, wants and needs.

 

I simply use my blogs as a way to add fresh unique content to my websites as I know this is what Google likes! Its also a great way to get more keywords and pages indexed on google, every new post is like a new page with your post title being the title of your link in the serps. Think about things to write that people will search for and add some great keywords to your post.

But everything takes time

My blog is fairly new with only 9 posts but its getting there, you can check it out below, feel free to ask me anything

 

It looks like you've already been helped, but I'll tell you this. Blogging is a business, like anything else online, and you have to take it seriously and treat it like a business! If you really love it and want to succeed, then you'll focus and keep trying until you learn it. Good luck!

 

No doubt you have already discovered someone to help you out-but I am always interested in helping people out,
I have been using WordPress for 3 years now and I love it. One is always learning, but this is cool, the main problem with blogging is attracting genuine readers, there seem to be so many flaky people out there who want to leave crappy spammy comments-as if this is going to help them achieve anything, i just don't understand why they do it-it all gets deleted you would think they get the message, Askimet sorts most of it out-everyone hates them! Apart from this it is getting the right audience to engage with your stuff, which no doubt is there to help them-but you just have to persist.
If you are still interested in partnering give me a shout and we can discuss.
Cheers

 

Blogging is a LONG term thing.

If you want faster results, I would go with PAID ads like pay per click.

 

Blogs are easy to use, without any complex technical tools in place and no programming knowledge necessary. You
can install one in 5 minutes, write a post in the same way you would on a word processor, and update your theme and
style in seconds, often times for free. So you really don`t have to have a blogging course for setting a one
Master blogging by yourself like I do

 

Setting up a blog using a theme is the easy bit. Customizing it to how you want it is were it gets technical... You can always ask on web development or wordpress forums on how to customize it to your liking but other then that i recommend you select a theme you like and adding content to it as that's as easy as it get.

 

Since you have no time to write or don't like writing, I would recommend that you do curation. Find a great information in a specific topic and share your thoughts about it on your blog. Don't forget to provide the link to the original content and let your readers decide to click on it if they want to read more.

 

That will work but again, it may not.

I would still recommend someone new who wants to succeed faster to build their business with PAID ads like pay per click.

 

I hated WordPress. I liked it only because it had so many options...but if you're new - that can be overwhelming. After my domain expired, I moved to Blogger. It's a lot easier. You could always go on elance or fiverr and pay someone to set it up for you. My friend set mine up for me simply because I hate doing things like that.

Blogging takes time to get traffic...and you have to be diligent. Feel free to message me to get my email address if you need help with the actual blogging part. I do it for a living. I would be happy to share some information with you (free). Don't pay for a course when you can learn for free.

 

I am with you I'm always afraid of running out of things to say. I started a blog that was just going to be about personal stuff. Then a friend who's a writer recommended I talk about my journey as a freelancer because it's something people can learn from and it would be of interest. I had plenty to say on that subject, 10 years worth. And the beauty is I'm still doing it so once I run out of history I can just talk about the present. Also there's patience and discipline. I had to set a reminder in Outlook to remind me to write. I call my blog 'What to Do Wednesday' so once a week I need to sit down and write. I know Wednesday is coming.. every week so I have time to think about my topics before I write. Also I use tags more so than keywords. You should keyword for SEO definitely. But I found I get my audience from the tags I pick and that way I don't have to constantly think of how to fit a word into my writing which takes some of the pressure off. Wordpress tagging is easy because it's just an option on the side of the page where you're writing your blog. Good luck