Chapter 8 – Navigating Your Blogger or WordPress Blog
Now that you have setup your blog as outlined in my previous article you are ready to get familiar with all of the functions of your blog.
As I mentioned before, it doesn’t hurt to write a “Hello World” post explaining who you are and what your blog is about. This is good so you can learn by doing and you can always delete the post later if you are unhappy with it.
Whether you have already written a post or not, the following article will walk you through the various menus and options available in your blog. I am breaking this article into two parts for those using Blogger and those using WordPress.
For those using WordPress blogs there is one additional step to finalize your setup. Please check out my guide on The Final Step of the WordPress Setup Process to complete your new installation.
If you are already familiar with the options available in your blog and would like to move onto the next training guide, I would recommend checking out Writing Your First Money Making Blog Post.
If you have already installed WordPress and are interested in setting up a second domain to run another site you will want to checkout my guide on “Adding a New Domain to Your Hosting” to make sure that everything is in place to setup another blog.
If you have taken care of the prerequisites you are ready to move on to the actual installation of the new blog with WordPress publishing software.
Go to Dreamhost.com and log into your account. Once you are at the account control panel you will need to follow the steps listed below to setup your new blog installation.
The video above walks you through adding an additional domain to your hosting and then setting up your blog using the Dreamhost one click install process. If you have registered a second domain this video will walk you through everything you need to know.
If you are setting up your domain and hosting for the first time you can watch from the 4:40 mark to get a good idea of what you need to do.
01. First, click on the “Goodies” link in the navigational menu to the left. It is located under the “Mail” link and above the “Status” link in the navigation menu.
02. This will open a drop down menu with several options. We want to select the option near the bottom of the list called “One-Click Installs”
03. Once you have selected this option you will be taken to a new page called One-Click Installs.
The page gives you three options for how you would like to manage the one click install process. The options are:
Install new website software – Easy mode
Install new website software – Advanced mode
Upgrade or remove previously installed software – Advanced mode
You can choose the option that best suits your needs but I would recommend going with the “Install new website software – Advanced mode” option.
The reason being is that you want to have as much control over your site as possible. That’s why you went with web hosting in the first place, right? I will walk you through everything in the advanced menu, so you will know what options you need to choose.
If you are 04. Once you have clicked the “Install – Advanced” option a drop down will open and you will need to select the software you would like to use. In this case, since we are installing a new blog you would want to select the “WordPress” option.
There are several options available including:
WordPress
Gallery
ZenCart
PhpGed View
OpenX
Pligg
dotProject
Moodle
Joomla
Phpbb
MediaWiki
WebCalendar
For the sake of this article we are going to focus on the “WordPress” option.
05. Down below this make sure you select the proper option. You do not want to mess up a blog you have already created if you have more than one domain setup. (If this is your first blog installation then you don’t need to worry about this.)
It is going to ask you: “Install to?”
Make sure you select your new domain from the drop down list. (If you only have one domain it should default to the proper one.)
Once you have selected your new domain, if you leave the box blank after the domain name WordPress will be installed to the root directory of your domain. This is most likely what you want.
If you want to install WordPress into a directory other than root, most people enter “Blog” for this section. (This is mainly done when people are building a site and want to have a blog hosted on the website also. They may also do this if they are building a website around the blog.)
06. Once you have selected your new domain from the drop down menu you need to specify a name for the new blog’s database. You can go with anything here. If your site name is CoolBlogInfo, you might want to choose something like “cbiblog” for your database name.
(If you get a message that the database name is already in use just try again until you find one that is available.)
07. For the section asking “Use Existing Hostname,” I recommend keeping this separate from your original blog. (This only applies if you have more than one blog setup on your domain. If not, disregard this.) It is probably set to your original information by default.
To change this, toggle the drop down menu and select “Create a new hostname now.”
Once you have done this, the Create a New Hostname box will become available and you can enter a new name. The default “mysql” label is fine but toggle the drop down after this to associate the mysql sub-domain with your new domain name. (By default this will be set to your original blog information.)
08. The next section asks you the “First User” for this database. I recommend creating something easy to remember here. You can go with the default, which should be setup from your original blog, but to keep things separate I created an easy to recall user name and wrote the info down so I wouldn’t forget it.
(If this is your first blog just choose a name that will be easy to remember and go with that. This will be your login and password for your database should you ever need it.)
09. Once you have entered all the information, double check this page to make sure everything is correct. Once you have determined all the information is how you want it and the WordPress installation is pointing to the correct domain, you can go ahead and press the “Install it for me now!” button.
Once you have done this you will be taken to the “Success” screen!
Fantastico, shmantastico!
You will now see a message about your new blog being setup within the next 10 minutes.
After all the hard work you have done you deserve a coffee (or beer). Get up, fix yourself a drink, and once you come back to your computer your new blog should be setup and ready to go.
Congratulations, you have now mastered the Dreamhost One-Click Install program. You can see how useful this can be for quickly setting up multiple domains with their own blogs.
Now that you have setup your first (or second) blog, you will want to login and make sure everything is setup correctly. Check my guide entitled “Options and Menus Available in a WordPress Blog” to learn all the details of configuring your blog software.
Chapter 5 – How to Setup the Initial Installation and Configure Your Blog
In our last guide I discussed considerations to make when setting your blog for the first time. Now I would actually like to cover how to setup your blog.
As I mentioned in previous articles, Make Money Life is geared towards teaching anyone how to get started making money online. I do not want to assume that someone already knows one area or another.
While doing a lot of my research, I came across sites with great information that left out key points, because the author assumed people knew about these things already. This created a lot of unneeded research time for me that could have been spent setting up my site. If you come across information like this on my site please let me know so I can revise articles and help better answer your questions.
I will always address questions or feedback if they are in the form of comments on the blog.
Blogging Hardware and Software Requirements
I’m sure you will be glad to hear that blogging it not a very intense operation for a computer. Because of this, you can probably get by with almost any computer you currently own. In some rare exceptions you may notice slower performance on very old systems, but most PCs out there will work fine.
The software you use for your blog is dependant on your preferences and hosting service. I would highly recommend using WordPress software to maintain your blog.
WordPress is completely free to download and use, is widely supported, and has a very helpful community of users. It also has a lot of extended functionality through the use of free plugins and themes that people make for it.
There are other software alternatives but for the scope of this article and providing support to my readers, I am going to focus mainly on WordPress.
Now as I mentioned, sometimes the software you are able to run with your host may limit you to a specific application. A good example was setting up a blog for my company through their hosting service, which only supported “Movable Type” blogging software.
If a host tells you that you can only use one type of software it is a potential red flag for future support issues. I prefer a company that accommodates my needs instead of the other way around.
As I mentioned in a previous article, I am very happy with Dreamhost web hosting. I have sites on several hosts and out of all of these services Dreamhost has the best track record for uptime and helpful support.
You can save $10 signing up with Dreamhost by using the coupon code: MMLSavings
WordPress vs. Blogger
In my previous article Setup a Blog to Start Making Money Online I covered the pros and cons of using free blog services vs. WordPress software and web hosting. I will cover setting up both in the sections below.
How to Setup Your Blog on Blogger.com
To create a blog on blogger.com all you need to do is signup for a Google account. If you have a Google or Gmail account already you are one step ahead of the game. If not, you can do this right through the blogger website.
01. First go to blogger.com. You can either sign-in with your existing Google account or click on the orange “Create Your Blog Now” link.
02. Fill out the information on the following page and click the “Continue” button.
03. Once you have your account setup, you should be taken to “Step #2 – Name Blog” which is the blog creation section. (If you signed in with an existing Google account you will see a “Create a Blog” link at the top of the page.)
04. On the Name Your Blog screen you need to decide on two very important bits of information. A blog title and blog address.
“Take your time and choose wisely. This is a very important consideration for the future of your site.”
05. Once you have decided on a name, fill in the required information for the blog title and address. Then click the “next” button.
06. You will now be taken to a screen that will allow you to “Choose a Template” to customize the look for your blog. Choose a template that best suits your tastes and click the “next” button.
07. You are now at the final screen “Your blog has been created!” You have successfully created your first blog and can now add your first post by clicking the “Start Blogging” button.
You might want to do this and write a quick Hello World post explaining to people who you are and what your blog is about. This can be done as a practice post and you can always go back and delete it if you don’t like it.
Congratulations on setting up your first blog! Now you know how easy it is to setup a free blog with blogger.com (blogspot).
I am also happy to tell you it is just as easy to setup your first blog using web hosting with a service like Dreamhost.
I will cover this type of setup in the section below. If you are setting up your blog with Dreamhost checkout the following instructions for everything you need to know to easily get started.
How to Setup Your Blog with a Hosting Service
To setup a blog on a hosting service like Dreamhost there are a few more steps involved, but it can be just as easy as setting up a free blog. Don’t worry; I will walk you through everything you need to know to setup a blog with a professional appearance.
The first thing you need to do is register for a hosting account. As I have mentioned before I think Dreamhost is a great option for bloggers because they cater to WordPress and their “one click install” service makes it easy for even a beginner to get their first blog up and running in minutes.
When you sign up for your hosting you will need to register a web address if you do not already have one. I am guessing most people reading this article do not already own a web address so you will need to think of a name for your blog if you have not done this already.
I have a great guide on the site that will walk you through all the considerations to make when choosing a name for your site and web address.
Once you have your name picked out you are ready to complete the signup process.
01. The first screen you will come to says “Signup – Let’s Get Started”. Here you will need to select the type of hosting you want, or decide if you only want a web address.
You will need hosting for setting up your blog on a web host.
02. The next choice asks if you need extra features for your site. They offer Unique IPs, Premium phone support, VPN Access, SSL Secure certificates, and Google Apps.
I feel that most of these extra features are unneeded. If this is your first site, you do not need a lot of fancy services you are not going to use.
The premium phone support is expensive in the event that you don’t use it, and the Dreamhost support staff responds to email requests in a VERY timely manner. I recommend using email for any support questions you may have, because it’s quick and free.
The Google Apps option is worth leaving checked because it’s free. I left it checked when I signed up for my account. I haven’t used it to date, but the price is right.
03. The next step will instruct you to “Please configure your first hosted domain now.” Here you have a couple options.
Register a new .com/net/org/info domain for me. (Free with hosting!)
I already own a domain, I just want to host it with you (you can still register a free domain later)!
I already own a domain, I want to host it AND transfer the registration for free!
Just a dreamhosters.com sub-domain for now (you can still register a free domain later)!
You are probably going to want to go with the first option here. When you sign up for hosting you get to pick a free domain name so you can setup your web address now by choosing this option.
The second and third options apply if you already own a web address (domain). If this is the case you probably know which option best suits your needs.
The last option allows you to setup a sub domain with Dreamhost. Since the whole point of signing up for hosting is that you can have a unique site name and address I recommend registering the free domain that is offered to you in the first option.
04. Once you have made your selection you need to complete the registration form. This is standard information you would need to provide for any type of subscription-based service.
Once you have filled in the required information you can move onto the next section.
05. In the “Finally” section you will want to make sure to use the MMLSavings coupon code to get your $10 discount on hosting. You can use the money you save to register a second domain if you would like to setup a second website down the road.
Once you have entered the coupon code click the “Continue to Secure Payment” button to finalize your registration.
06. On the next page it will give you a couple options for how to pay for your hosting. The two main options are by PayPal or Credit Card.
If you read the fine print you can see that only Credit Card payments are eligible for refunds so this is the option I went with to be safe. It’s also nice because not everyone has a PayPal account.
07. Once you have filled in your billing information click the “Charge this card now” button and you will be taken to the “Let’s Get Started” screen.
“Welcome to Dreamhost”
This screen tells you that your payment has been accepted and that your account will be setup as soon as it is approved. (It only takes about five to ten minutes to approve your account.)
I recommend printing this page out for your records. You will also receive the same confirmation to your email so if you prefer to save it as an email you can do that too.
From here click the “Continue to your web panel” button. This will allow you to login to your new account for the first time.
When you click this button it will take you to the “Current Users: Log In” screen. You will be required to enter your Web ID and password to login into your new account. Your Web ID is the email address you provided during registration. Your Web Panel password is the password you setup when you registered.
Once you have entered this information press the “Log In” button and you will be taken to your account control panel.
Congratulations. You have just finished setting up your first web hosting account. From here you can install WordPress using the Dreamhost “one click install” service. For more information on this, checkout my next article about Using Dreamhost One Click Installs to Setup Your New Blog.
Blog Setup Overview
You have now learned how to setup a blog on a free host like blogger or on a web host like Dreamhost. You are finally ready to start writing your first blog posts.
At this point feel free to log-in to your blog and explore. Don’t be afraid to write some test posts to get a feel for your blog and the publishing process. Keep in mind that anything you create can always be deleted later so have fun and try things out.
Chapter 3 – Picking the Right Topic can Make or Break a Blog
What is a Niche?
One of the very first decisions that you need to make when creating your blog is what is your “Niche“? A niche is a specific topic or subject matter that is of interest to a specific group of people.
This is actually one of the most important decisions you need to make when starting your blog because it will affect the total potential your site has for making money. A lot of “Make Money!” websites neglect to cover this very important aspect because it is so broad that they do not want to scare people away from the start.
Don’t worry. I will help you understand exactly why a niche is important, considerations to make when choosing a niche, and how to maximize the profitability of the niche you choose.
Some Examples of Specific Niches
As I mentioned about, “Niches” are category specific topics that appeal to groups of people that are researching information. They can range from almost any subject out there.
A good way to look at niches is as “hobbies”. Hobbies are good examples of niche information because there are so many strange hobbies that people pursue. Some good examples are, snowboarding, wood working, painting, video editing, cooking, cycling, playing video games, bird watching, etc.
This list could go on and on. As you can see these are good examples of niche topics because each hobby could be talked about in detail and would appeal to a targeted audience of people who are interested in information on that hobby.
When I say “Specific Niche” I am trying to help you narrow down your topic to pick a subject that will apply to a targeted range of people. The “playing video games” example I use could be narrowed down even more to focus on xBox 360, Playstation 3, or even PC gaming.
The more specific you get within your niche the more targeted your traffic becomes. Targeted traffic has the highest percentage of conversions, which means you will be able to make more money with your site.
There is a saying that goes:
“Shorter keyword searchers are shoppers and, longer keyword searchers are buyers.”
What this means is that there is more implied intent behind long keyword specific searches. A person looking for information on playing video games may just be interested in general gaming info. While a person looking for information on “PC gaming flight stick controller” is obviously more aware of what they are looking for, and will be more likely to act on that information.
The more specific your focus is within your niche the more “long keyword searchers” you will bring into your site.
Examples of Popular Niches
There are a lot of popular topics out there because of all the various interests people have. If you read blogs and search the internet you will notice a lot of common themes that occur with niche sites.
Some examples of popular niches are:
Self Improvement
Computer Technology
Home and Garden
Internet Marketing
News and Politics
Business and Finance
Health and Beauty
Search Engine Optimization
There are many more popular topics, but these are some of the ones I see on a daily basis. Being aware of these topics can help you choose a good niche to start your first blog with because you may want to avoid popular subjects when you are new to blogging.
The reason I say this is because while these topics are highly searched they are also highly competitive. You may create one of the top sites in your niche, but getting the exposure it deserves could be very difficult starting out.
I recommend choosing something more specific for your first blog in order to learn in a less competitive environment. That way you can judge the results of the work on your site more accurately,
How to Choose the Niche that’s Right for Me?
Choosing a niche can be difficult for some people because they get caught up in the learning curve surrounding that niche. The way to avoid this problem is simple.
“Write What You Know”
Choose a topic you are already familiar with. This way you do not need to learn an entirely new subject. This benefits you for many reasons.
It is easier to write about a subject you already know.
You can become an authority on your topic because your knowledge will show in your writing.
You will have insight into the small details of the topic that will boost your credibility.
You can offer trade secrets that others cannot to make your information invaluable to your readers.
You will enjoy writing about your topic over the long haul.
Keep in mind that a blog that is designed to make you money will need to withstand the test of time. While information in your niche may change you need to be able to stay passionate about the subject matter. This will allow you to produce quality articles for the life of your blog.
Because of my background I have actually created several blogs covering different niches. This benefits me in two ways. The first way is because my long-term business strategy is to make money through multiple websites.
The second benefit is that having a blog for each topic I would like to discuss allows me to keep the focus on a specific niche. This way I can drive targeted traffic to each niche site I maintain. As a result these sites make more money than if I had one website that covered many topics.
Why is it Important to Choose a Specific Niche?
Taking the time to plan ahead and choose a specific niche will help you in many ways. It will allow you drive more targeted traffic, and make more profit with your site.
Many Pay Per Click services like Google Adsense generate relevant ads based on content. If you constantly focus on one topic the ads on your site will be more tuned in to the topics on your site, which increase the likelihood that a reader will click on an ad and make you money.
It also helps search engines index your site accurately which will drive the type of targeted traffic that will help increase the profit you make with your website.
Jack of all Trades, Master of None…
As the old saying goes, if you specialize in many different fields you may become well versed in a lot of subjects but you will never be recognized as an authority on one topic.
Depending on your business plan this may be a consideration to keep in mind. While multiple websites can make you good money by playing the numbers game, one highly successful site can make you just as much, or more than several smaller sites.
Since I have outlined what to consider when choosing a niche for your blog, you should have a much easier time creating a site name that will emphasize your niche.
Chapter 2 – Create your Blog and Learn How to Make Money
What is a Blog
By modern standards a blog can be many things. The definition of what a blog is has changed quiet a bit since people first started creating them back in the mid 90’s.
“Blog” is an abbreviation for “Web Log”. These web logs were originally created in the form of online diaries or web journals.
As blogs evolved people started using them for different purposes like creating “niche” sites that covered specific topics leading to the creation of online communities of bloggers with shared interests.
Today most blogs still focus on web journals. While others act as websites that provide niche information about various hobbies and interests. These niche sites now compose a large portion of the blog community, and cover many different topics.
As I mentioned in my “How to Make Money Online by Blogging?” article, there are many methods people use to make money with their blogs. The primary way people do this is through monetization of the blog itself.
Monetization means adding features to a website that enable the site to generate income.
This can range from Pay Per Click advertisements, to selling goods for online stores, to writing reviews about products and services.
The ways you monetize your blog are completely up to you. In the next few guides I will outline the ways that I think are the best to help beginners get started monetizing their blogs.
Free Blogs vs. Hosted Blogs
There is a lot of thought surrounding free blogs and hosted blogs. Everyone has his or her own opinion and neither is right or wrong. I lean more towards hosted blogs because of the extra layer of polish it adds to a site’s professional appearance. It also provides many easy ways to promote your blog.
I will cover the specifics of both types of blogs so you have the information you need to decide which best suits your needs.
Free Blogs that will Allow You to Make Money
There are many free blog services out there. Two popular services that come to mind are “Blogger” (Google’s free blog service) and Wordpress.COM. Both websites allow users to sign up for free blogs that they can get up and running in minutes.
One thing to keep in mind is at the time of this writing Wordpress.com does not allow users to monetize their blogs. This may work for “sandbox blog” **ARTICLE HERE**, but even for testing purposes I feel that you need the ability to use different advertising methods, so I would recommend using Blogger if you decide to go with a free blog.
Blogger is a good service because users have a lot of freedom with how they can use their blog. For a free alternative it is a much better option than Wordpress if you plan on monetizing. Free blogs will always have their drawbacks over web hosting. I have listed some of the considerations below.
The main drawbacks to using a “free blog” service are:
Not being able to easily relay a site name to someone.
Lack of overall professionalism.
Fewer options to customize your blog and less control over the interface.
Any popularity you generate for your blog is linked to the blog service instead of a Domain you own.
Terms of Service imposed by whatever service you decide to go with.
Get Your Own Web Address
Having an easy name to remember is great. This is especially true for a website address. A short memorable dot com can make a great impression on people and guarantee return visitors.
The problem with having a free blog is you are forced to create your blog on a sub domain of their site address. This means instead of being “RandomTechBlog.com” you will be “RandomTechBlog.blogspot.com”. See the difference?
Having a dot com makes it much easier to tell people the name of your site without needing to write it down or give them a business card. This is one reason having a hosted blog is more appealing to me, as a lot of my sites rely on word of mouth advertising.
Sell Yourself as a Professional
The issue of overall professionalism is also addressed by having your own dot com. People have been trained to look at dot coms as the “Official” version of the internet. If you have a site that does not have a .com on the end people question why it doesn’t. In some cases people may even have negative associations with the non-standard address and be less likely to view the site.
Give Yourself Options
Having fewer options may not bother some people, but it does bother most users that like having full control over their site. In this case, it also comes down to having full control over your business. The old saying “If you want something done right” definitely applies here. I don’t want to have to rely on someone else’s interpretation of how something should work. I want it to work the way I tell it to.
While free blogs have come a long way and offer a lot of options to their users, be aware that you still do not have full control over your site.
One good example of this is the use of an htaccess file which allows you to set custom rules for the way traffic to your site is handled. A lot of larger sites rely on this for organizing information and optimizing their site for their readers.
Search Engine Popularity and Page Rank
Site popularity is also something you want under your control. As with real life, online popularity is hard to get. It is very difficult to work your way up the ladder, and requires a lot of work on your part.
When you get to a point where your blog becomes popular you want to make sure you can take control of that popularity and spread it throughout your site. This is very easy to do if you control your domain and have your own dot com. On the other hand this can be a very difficult task if you are using a free blogging service.
The reason being that you are building popularity for the service you are using. If you have a blog at blogger, all the links into your site and all the traffic you drive works to build blogger’s overall popularity. While your site will still benefit from this popularity, if you ever decide that you want your own dot com, it is hard to transfer a lot of that popularity with you to your new site.
The Benefits of Web Hosting
If you are setting up a blog to try and make a couple of quick bucks than by all means do what you feel is best suited for your project. In this case a free blog may be a good alternative for you.
If you are looking at the long term potential of a money making website then I strongly suggest you look into getting a dot com and a hosting service.
Even if you are not ready to get your own hosting keep in mind that you can get a web address for less than $5 dollars a year. Yep, it’s that cheap. So even if you go with a free blog you can point the address to your site, so people have something easy to remember instead of “randomblognamehere.blogspot.com”. You can always setup hosting later and redirect your web address to point to the new site.
Now you can see why it’s such a good investment to have your own web address for $5 a year.
Hosting has also become dirt cheap in the past few years. I remember 10 years ago when it cost over a hundred dollars a month. Now with all the great services you can get hosting for as little as $5.95 a month.
If you are ready to setup hosting I would recommend going with a service like Dreamhost. They are a very professional service that offers great deals on web hosting. The also provide great benefits to bloggers by offering easy, “one click installations” of blog and site building software, including WordPress.
If you sign up for hosting, Make Money Life can give you a $10 discount with Dreamhost by using the coupon code: MMLSavings
That way you can get setup with cheap hosting today for next to nothing. For a full review on Dreamhost and their services feel free to check out my review here:
“Great Hosting for the Cost of an Extra Value Meal – Dreamhost”
Setup Your First Blog and Start Making Money
Now that you understand the concepts behind making money with a blog and the considerations to make when setting up your first blog we can actually get started setting up your site.
Now that you have setup your blog as outlined in my previous article you are ready to get familiar with all of the functions of your blog.
Now that you have setup a new domain you probably want to get it up and running with WordPress so you can start making the most out of your new site.
If you are setting up your domain and hosting for the first time you can watch from the 4:40 mark to get a good idea of what you need to do.
You will now see a message about your new blog being setup within the next 10 minutes.
In our last guide I discussed considerations to make when setting your blog for the first time. Now I would actually like to cover how to setup your blog.
This screen tells you that your payment has been accepted and that your account will be setup as soon as it is approved. (It only takes about five to ten minutes to approve your account.)
One of the very first decisions that you need to make when creating your blog is what is your “
Self Improvement
As the old saying goes, if you specialize in many different fields you may become well versed in a lot of subjects but you will never be recognized as an authority on one topic.
By modern standards a blog can be many things. The definition of what a blog is has changed quiet a bit since people first started creating them back in the mid 90’s.
There are many free blog services out there. Two popular services that come to mind are “
If you are setting up a blog to try and make a couple of quick bucks than by all means do what you feel is best suited for your project. In this case a free blog may be a good alternative for you.