How Do I Get My Business Online?

It’s something everyone asks at some point. And there are lots of answers on the internet, but not all of those answers are fair or even going to give you the help you need. Even worse, a typical web design company (whether a full blown firm, or a hopeful work from home out of the basement type) will eagerly charge you hundreds of dollars to get you web hosting, install the blog and design that you like. A vast majority of people looking to get their business online don’t know any better on what “fair value” is when it comes to getting a web site online. They will pay hundreds of dollars simply because “someone” said it is the going rate. When really, all it takes is a half hour of your OWN time and following these simple steps:

1. Get a domain name. You need to have a physical location for folks to go in order to see your website. So think of a domain name that has a keyword or two of the type of service or product your business is about. For example, if you are a seamstress looking to bring in more customers, a domain name suggestion might be www.seamstress-city.com where “city” is the city you live in. That way, if someone is using a search engine to find a seamstress in the city you live in, your site is going to come up as being very relevant to that search query.

I always recommend NameCheap.com as a domain name registrar. It is not so important on where you buy your domain name from - it is, however, very important to make sure you own that domain free and clear from any hosting company you may choose to use. That way, if you ever decide to change hosting companies, the domain name is yours without having to wait for someone to change DNS settings (I’ll tell you about those later on) or wait to get access to change those DNS settings. The example below about DNS settings will be shown via NameCheap.com, so if you don’t have a registrar in mind, use NameCheap.com - it’s easy to understand, the navigation is very clear and I’ve used them for years and years.

2. Get website hosting. Obviously you’ll have to pay someone to host your website. Hosting these days is pretty cheap. There are hundreds of reputable web site hosts too. Personally I have used HostGator.com for the last 6-7 years. Their prices are reasonable but the service is exceptional and for me, that’s the deal maker. I have used other services but always came back to HostGator. Their packages start for as little as $4.95 USD a month, that’s cheap! But the important part here for installing your new WordPress blog, is that this hosting company has “Fantastico”. Fantastico is a point and click way to install WordPress. NO learning curve here. That’s the whole point of this method.

After you sign up for your HostGator hosting account, you will get a welcome email with your user details, various urls and your password. The important bit here, is the DNS settings. This is the numerical internet address your site is physically located at. We need to associate this address to your new domain name. So when folks go to your domain name, they are actually being sent to this numerical physical address.

3. Setting up your hosting account. As stated above, you need to tell NameCheap.com what numerical address to associate your new domain name with. So log into NameCheap.com and browse to your domain name server set up (see below).

Enter the DNS settings HostGator sent you in your welcome email. Click “save changes”. And that’s it! Your hosting is set up.  And it doesn’t take 24 hours anymore for the changes to take effect, more like a half hour.

4. Installing WordPress. With your welcome email you will have the url (link) to “CPanel”. Click this link and log in with your login and password. Scroll down to the bottom half of the page and find “Fantastico De Luxe”, click on it. Then click on “WordPress”. You’ll see the screen below.

• Do NOT enter anything in the “install in directory” box unless you want your blog to be on a subdomain of the site (www.yourdomain.com/blog).
• Enter a username and password (wise not to use the one you already have with HostGator, but choose something memorable to you).
• Enter a nickname - this is the name you will be known as on the blog. It could be your real first name or even just “Admin” (without the quotes)
• Enter your email. You can set up an email for the domain name or use one you already have.
• The Site Name and Description can be changed later on so don’t worry about that.

Press “Install WordPress.”

Now you will see the below image. I *always* email myself the wordpress login details. So fill in your email and send it to yourself. Make sure you keep it somewhere safe!

And that’s it! You have just put yourself online. It cost you the price of the domain name and a monthly hosting fee. NOT hundreds of dollars. Log in and play around, see what the various features do. A future post will discuss on how to set up categories, regular database backups, and how to install a theme.

Any questions can be posted here!

If you have seen a site that has mostly Google Ads on it, and not a lot of content, you’ve seen a “niche” blog. Albeit a very bad one. The people that make sites like that don’t truly understand the value of what they could potentially do, or how to do it.

A better way to build a niche blog is to add relevant content FIRST, let the site age some, gain some PR and then start to concentrate on how you want to monetize the site. Some ways to monetize a niche blog are:

1. Google Ads
2. Affiliate Marketing
3. Selling Banner Space

How you go about monetizing your niche blog is “the magic” that brings in the big bucks! When done correctly, Niche Blogging can create permanent residual income.

So, what do I think? Love it! All the important navigation links in the back end is now on a left sidebar. With additional section-specific tools and links on the right side bar. Everything in th backend is now very nicely set up in a sensical and easy to find manner. I really think it’s a great addition! Very clean, simple, yet functional.

What do I like best? The drag and drop feature. You can arrange the sections however you like. Even better, you can install any plugin from wordpress.org with a click! No more downloading to your PC and uploading to your host. Just click! Great job WP!

But I do notice the sites are slower ;( Going to have to talk to Hostgator about that. Can’t have things slow, can we? I’ll be very, very annoyed if it continues.

So on that note, I’m tired! Going to bed coz the alarm is going to wake me up again in only 6 hours or so now. Bleh!

1. Akismet - Most bloggers are already aware of Akismet, but if you are not, this plugin is a must have for any type of blog. It deals with your spam, and it learns what YOU think is spam as well. You can install it and let it notify you of spam comments to deal with individually on a case per case basis, or you can let it run on auto and do the work for you.
2. All in One SEO Pack - This SEO plugin is extremely helpful in that you can specify additional meta information that you otherwise cannot in the standard WP backend. Without giving up all my tricks, you can now use your keywords wisely and in a site wide manner.
3. Broken Link Checker - There’s nothing worse than having broken links all over a site. Especially resource pages that are so obviously outdated they may as well not even be there. This plugin tells you when there are broken links in your posts. You can then choose to fix it, or remove it all without going to the post directly.
4. commentluv - This one is a personal fave. I hate spam as much as anyone else, but if someone makes the time and effort to truly read a post I wrote and contribute to that post with useful, relevant information that others will find useful, I will reward them with a DOfollow link to their site (if they’ve left one) and their last post.
5. Google Analytics for WordPress - You do use Google Analytics, don’t you? If not, you should! Keep track of everything you need to know about site visitors, bounce rates and what keywords people are finding your site with.
6. Google XML Sitemaps - This is a no brainer for me. You may think using a site map is so 90’s. But what you didn’t know is that it makes your site Google friendlier! And it can actually help your new niche blog get indexed *FASTER*. Try it out!
7. Internal Link Building - Effectively helps you page sculpt. If that’s of interest to you (it is to me!). Page sculpting can help your internal link juice be used wisely. Link a keyword in your own posts back to the category page for that keyword - it helps spread your juice around and can increase sub page PR if used properly.
8. Limit Posts - This plugin limits the displayed text length on the index page entries and generates a link to a page to read the full content if its bigger than the selected maximum length. The author site seems to be down, if anyone knows where to get a download link for this one, let me know.
9. Sociable - Allows visitors to social bookmark, tweet or stumble your posts.
10. Wordpress Automatic Upgrade - Another no brainer for me. When WP updates, you can get your blog updated with a few clicks from your site backend. Simple as that!
11. WP ads - This is a highly useful plugin for anyone using ads of any kind on their site. You simply add the code in the backend, assign a zone for the location of the ad, and the plugin generates code for the that zone. Then you simply enter the above code wherever you want the ad to show in your theme template. So easy!
12. WP-reCAPTCHA - Another must have. This reCAPTCHA version works fluidly with most current WP themes. You can choose from a few different styles. Requires a reCAPTCHA key (which is free).

I’ve got this set in a specific folder on my PC. After the WP install, I upload the files to the plugin folder on the server and voila, done! Click to install them in the back end and you are up and running, ready for posts.

Do you have some favorites to add to this list?

And what is niche blogging, you may wonder? Well, it’s when you have a niche or topic you want to target for a type of advertising, affiliate or client-based content. You build the blog, add content related to the niche, and let it age a bit. Meanwhile you create back links. Once the site gets a PR update, you can start buying and selling links on it. Or add affiliate marketing related content and build some permanent residual income for your cushy retirement somewhere warm, with a beach and free drinks…

I’m nurturing my network. It’s still new-ish. And I’m learning how to maximize residual income on all the sites. Affiliate marketing has taken on new meaning for me as well. Otherwise, the speed I can install a new Wordpress blog (with necessary plugins) has increased significantly. Practice makes perfect huh? And just when I think I’ve got all the sites/blogs I can handle, a new domain name idea pops into my head. Because I don’t like using dropped domains or bothering to look for good dropped domains. But that’s another topic.

So how many blogs do you have in your network? C’mon now you can fess up! Most won’t though, so I won’t pry *wink*. I know it’s more secret than the stash of money you are keeping from your spouse *nod nod*. I know how it is!

I hope to use this blog as commentary of my journey as I stumble through learning to be an “official” SEO and link builder.

To-date, I’ve been stumbling around learning this and that for the last 10 years. Mostly web design and graphics, but learning how to market my sites was always a huge interest to me as well. In the mid to late 90’s I found myself online and trying to learn how to make a  web page. I ended up being a volunteer Geocities.com “Community Leader” (for Area51 - that tells you a bit about me doesn’t it?) for several years. I learned more teaching others how to code html and make graphics and to use the Geocities tools and services. I even had stock in the company, a “gift” for being a volunteer. Of course I sold it way too early and only made a few grand. Today? I’m sure it’d be worth a lot more. Still kicking myself for that one!

Anyway, I have been making web designs and graphics since then. Mostly for friends and online acquaintances for a few bucks here and there. I never seriously thought I could market myself for a full time job in the business. But I sure noticed how many people were being ripped off online for not truly understanding the value of a website design, the graphics or the “SEO” services being offered. Still a problem today, but I think folks are getting a bit more savvy.

Now that I am no longer one of the many who “work out of the basement”, but now has an “official” job at a desk, in an office, I am trying to take myself more seriously. But my wacky sense of humor and burning curiosity of anything I don’t *know* is going to prevent that, at least in part lol. At my last job, I was the self-designated shit disturber too! Someone has to do it.

So welcome to my little commentary on things SEO and social media (which I have a burning desire to *know* more about on a regular basis) and link building, which funds my many online hobbies.