What is a Blog used For in Terms of a Home Business?

Wordpress for Beginners Series by Jan Ashby

What is a blog used for - and what is the easiest blog to use? Herein I'll explain a bit about each of the top 5  blogging platforms - Wordpress, Posterous, Blogger, Tumblr, and Squarespace.

For Beginners to Blogging

You need to know that wordpress and blogger aren't the only options..   
Actually, Tumblr is kind of a neat way to blog because you don't have to commit large CHUNKS of time, to get your thoughts or ideas disbursed across the Net.  And it's free.


For those who don't know, Tumblr is sort of a cross between blogging and Twitter - you create brief posts

(shorter than the formal style postings done on Wordpress).  You frequently use photographs or images in these posts at Tumblr - and you'll also tend to post videos there.   

It is a handy tool - it encourages many to write more frequently, since it is micro-blogging. Quick, short bursts..

You can also use Tumblr to post a quick link, quote, or some music from your phone, desktop or email. 

*Note: Posterous is a similar blog platform - a "no-fuss" way to blog ( micro blogging service which allows you to post media & images, and post by Email too)

The Wordpress Blog Platform

Wordpress has the free version - wordpress.com, which you could start out at.  They provide the hosting for you, which is nice. But the difference is you don't really OWN the blog - i.e., it's not a web property you can sell and make cash from.  It's more for the beginner, and for linking out from; that's what it's good for.

It's not to be used for commercial purposes, you see.  Now let's discuss the merits of self-hosted wordpress blogs. Well, it's a property you will own - you pay for the hosting, and you do the writing.  It's your property, your "online real estate", and you can create an effective brand around it.

Wordpress Blogs:  Your Own Voice

It's your chance to be heard in the world.  You should make it a good blog of high quality.  One you can be proud of.  To this end, you'll want to become an effective writer, to evoke an emotional response in your readers. It's worthwhile to invest some dollars here  (writing courses).

There are effective ways of writing - be brief and concise.  Never use jargon, or scientific words on your blog; you'll only sound pretentious. 

Here's a list of do's & don'ts for your blog -

1. ALWAYS cut a word out if possible  
2. Restrict your usage of foreign terms
3. No jargon
4. Use active verbs rather than passive verbs
5. Don't drag on with lengthy explanations
6. Use Images to help readers comprehend your meaning
7. Don't use metaphors or cliches - be inventive and create your own sayings
8. Don't discuss religion - unless you have a blog devoted to this purpose
9. Provide good value
10. Brand your blog

The Square Space Option:  You Pay Based on Volume

With squarespace.com, you pay based on the volume of blogging that you do. This means the experience is equal for all - the low-volume blogger gets access to the SAME things the high-volume writer has access to.  Also, squarespace is easy to use - no coding.  It's based around a modular design - it's not difficult to build a blog.

Blogger - Google's Blogging Platform

Blogger supports drag-and-drop template editing, and it does dynamic updating (i.e, it autosaves your material). It's main boon is the ease of use - you can have your blog set up almost instantly!

It's FREE to use, and is owned by Google - this can be a plus as far as search engine listings  (i.e., google likes to publish it's own properties).

Posterous: Features It's Known For

This is another Free blogging platform; you actually don't need to sign up.  You don't do anything but send an email to get your own Posterous blog.

It's a snap to get started & post up images, media etc.  Posterous is not exactly a "micro-blogging" platform though.  You can make a long post, if you wish.  Posterous is best known for it's "post by email" function.  It has a rich text editor, and you can TAG entries right from the email Subject line.

Add tags in the subject of your email using the syntax ((tag: apple, gadgets)).

Okay to read further on Posterous go here 

There you go - I hope I've given you some ideas and helpful info. In my opinion, the easiest blog to use is what? (Click the link & find out)

To Your Business Success -  Jan 


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What is a Blog Used for? Here's 8 Tips on Blogging Procedure

Hello all.  I'm Jan Ashby   

I just made another video in my Wordpress for Beginners series.  This video discusses an answer to the question, "What is a Blog Used for".

It's challenging for beginners to wordpress to know what to focus on initially.  The newcomers to wordpress are sometimes overwhelmed by all the plugins and wordpress widgets - not to mention dealing with a wordpress theme. Whew ..

I can understand why those not familiar with the inner workings of wordpress have issues. I remember what it was like for me - in the beginning, I wasn't quite sure what to do first.

I mean, I knew it was important to attract advertisers (from what I'd read) .. but I didn't really understand that first you have to work on being a good writer, and getting your message across in a succinct manner (and be entertaining from time to time).

Then, once you know how to write a decent post, you've got to get a grasp on SEO (search engine optimization), keyword density, permalink structure, tags etc.

Plus you've got to know something of "social media", web 2.0 sites, building your contact list, and networking with others (LinkedIn, Facebook, Youtube e.g.).

Yes, there is a certain order to things.  That's what my tutorial covers.  If you'd like to see the 2nd "wordpress for beginners" video I did go to this youtube video on wordpress lessons .

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Wordpress for Beginners: Patient Advisors who Provide SEO Tips and Hints

Wordpress for Beginners: SEO Hints and Tips

Good day to you.  I am Jan Ashby. If you are a beginner to seo and wordpress, I have an excellent suggestion for you..

A place you can go to get help, where the people are actually patient.  I remember when I first started to learn about the Internet, and about all things "seo" - I'll never forget how impatient some teachers were.

The talked too fast, and during the webinars I would attend, it was clear they were needing to get finished with the webinar to go onto something else (presumably more important).

Anyway, I've you've experienced something similar, you'll find it refreshing indeed when Sakura leaders stay late at the webinar's end, to answer your question.

If you are one who needs some hand-holding and seo hints and tips, you really ought to check into the Sakura group. You can  "Join FREE" and go through some of the no-cost training, & then decide.

*Note:  when clicking the hyperlink, you'll be taken to a safe website - and at the Top of page you can find the yellow JOIN Free button.

It's a friendly little group - and one that truly wants to see beginners succeed, and get their first wordpress blog going.  To see an introduction, watch this vid:

  



Video Training and Video Marketing

Another thing you may be wondering - is the training "up to date", as far as seo techniques go.  The answer is a resounding "yes".

I have learned so much about Youtube that I didn't know before - about the importance of playlists, and how to optimize my Youtube channel.  Yes, part of doing video marketing (promotion) is to create your own channel. 

This is part of the training, and SEO Hints, which you will be privy to when you come join our little group.

I even have a special design on mine. You can get your youtube channel tricked out by somebody at Fiverr, btw.

Rest assured, if you have a question on video optimization (such as what exactly to DO when inside the challenging-looking youtube dashboard), you can speak to me (leave a voicemail), or Michael Camire - or John Jarvis.

These are members of the Sakura group, who'll be very happy to assist you. That is our niche - helping beginners to Wordpress, and video  marketing.

Thanks for visiting.  To learn more about blogging or developing skills (such as keyword research, video SEO, blogging, and building your team) you can go to my Life Skills training blog.

P.S. If you'd like to see one of my videos (Beginner information), go HERE
To see an example of a Youtube playlist, visit this

SEO Rules Update: On-Page Seo and Off-page Seo

Off-Page Seo: Tips and Tricks

Today I'd like to give you some help in the area of off-page SEO and on-page seo.  With the latest Google update (algorithm update), a blogger has to be smart.

You may be wondering about link building, with regard to your wordpress blog. So maybe you're wondering what percent of links should be aimed at the Home page, and what percent should  be aimed at the inner posts and pages.

Right now, you should make less than half of the links you build (from Web 2.0 sites, social sites, article directories, wiki's and forums) go to the home page.  All other links can go to inner pages.

On-Page SEO: Pretty Link is an Option in Link Building

A plugin that can make things a bit easier when you are working up a post, and you want to be certain your outbound affiliate links are "no-follow" is Pretty Link. There is a FREE version you can use, and an upgraded version with additional features.

For simplicity, let's start with the free version. This plugin is helpful because it makes your long affiliate links look better.

It keeps track of your links, too.  Internally (in your Dashboard), you give each link a Title and a  Description (so you know WHAT it is) - no one else sees this but you.  So you can take a LONG affiliate link, and beautify it (you know how long and ugly those Amazon links are ..Ugh!

Once you have this all set up, you can track your link across different pages, in order to see which page is performing the best - in terms of click throughs by visitors.

Pretty Link Options and Link Options: Inside Your Wordpress Dashboard

Pretty Link "Options" and Link Options: Inside Your Wordpress Dashboard

Okay, now to the settings - once you're in your dashboard, you will go to "Plugins", click on plugins and find "Pretty Links";  select "Options" and then "Link Options" in order to set all links to "No-follow".

You'll see PRETTY LINK beneath Tools and Settings, on the left-hand side of your dashboard.
Click on "Pretty Link" and then hit "Add a Link".  Now at the top, you see where you can set a Permanent redirect or a Temporary redirect.  I generally choose permanent (301).

Next you must enter a target url. This is pretty self-explanatory. Once you have done that, you just create your pretty link and title it.

Example of Pretty Link

In my case, I have some other sites - so I entered "Life Skills Training" in the blank box.. So my pretty link looks like this:   http://selfimprovement.info-just-for-u.com/blogger/life-skills-training

If you want to make your Pretty Link a "no-follow" link (wise to do for sales page links or affiliate links & CPA), you mouse over "Pretty Link" plugin (Left side of your dashboard), and find"Options" (and CLICK it) and then click "Link options". 

This allows you to set the settings to "Add no-follow to link(s)".

To be clear, you do not head to plugins; instead find Pretty Link on the left side of dashboard. Then adjust your settings, and you're good to go.  I hope you've enjoyed this little tutorial - Jan Ashby

Should you be interested, you can find PrettyLink at wordpress.org.

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Are You Tired of Not Getting Top Rankings?

Top of Google: New Course Shows You the Exact Steps

There is a course I took which really aided me in my approach to keyword research.  It specifically showed me how to check on the amount of competition for a certain keyword phrases - and how to apply the "1000/100,000 rule".

Simply stated, this rule gives you a guideline, when you are going about your keyword research on a daily basis. You find a keyword phrase (after much sifting) that you are interested in, that has 1,000 monthly searches (according to Google Keyword External tool - a.k.a. the Adwords tool.

It can be found here.  Point is, when you locate a keyword phrase that's got 1000 monthly searches and only has 100,000 or few competing websites, you're good to go.

Oh, I should mention that once at the Keyword External tool, you need to use the drop-down menu and select "Keyword tool". Then you can perform a search.

Google Keyword Tool: To Get Started with Keyword Research

Of course, to get started you'll have to own a Gmail email account, and then apply to the adwords program; so you'll likely need to have some kind of website, to get approved.                      

Of course, if this is too challenging, you can always do up  a blogger website - and just use a different option to perform your keyword research (Market Samurai, SEO Book)


Sakura Project: Here's What I Wanted to Give You

The great thing about Sakura is the people actually care that you succeed.  They enjoy helping beginners to wordpress.

And you can join as a free member - or if you don't want to do that, merely attend a  weekly meeting to see if you are interested.  By the end of the hour, you'll get a sense of whether you gel with the team.

We are a fairly low-key bunch - the teleconferences are not intense, they are friendly and informative.

The Sakura Project not only helps you understand how to launch a wordpress blog, but also how to organize a blog post, which plugins to use, how to add video to your blog from your desktop, free wordpress themes versus paid for themes; and video marketing, on-page seo both for your blog and inside Youtube (seo for your youtube video at Youtube.com).

On-Page SEO: Inside Youtube

If you choose to buy the seo course from Sakura, it is called How to Be First on Google. It is thorough and comprehensive; you will learn so much, if you focus in and take it slow - anyway if you'd like to learn more, visit this video.

THanks for listening, and good luck with your online endeavors.

- Jan 

Rank High on Google: How to Rank with Video

There is a very definite approach which will yield results and help you to rank high on google. It is a method done with video marketing - that is, using video on your blog (you also post the video at youtube.com, with this technique).

I found it very intriguing when I first heard about it.  The person who introduced me to this - John Jarvis, a very trustworthy canadian (I like canadians - can you tell?).

My name is Jan Ashby and I'm an internet marketer. The way that I found John - by using tribepro (social media promotion site).

I began to study his stuff, and look at his rankings in the Google search engine - and saw THAT indeed he was able to "rank high on google".

You can look at my keyword research blog post , or better still watch this video:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw-eoMPySDs

This particular topic, "rank high on Google", I actually do rank well in the google search results - currently I am bouncing between #5 and #6 (all search results oscillate some, it's a day by day process).  But what I did for my term, "rank high on Google" was a lot of backlinking with social sites, plus I built a good link wheel, and I also did commenting within the Youtube community - this is when you locate a video in your niche (in this case "seo") and comment.

It's best if you actually listen to the video maker's video first, and then make an intelligent remark.

  
To learn some proper etiquette on how to do this, visit this Rules & etiquette video. 

My blog:  Lifeskills Training

Related Videos:  Wordpress User Roles: Beginners Wordpress series
                            Rank High on Google, and Yahoo.com
                            How to Rank High on Google (my Video)
 

Books that Will Change your Life: Bill Johnson's Bestsellers

Books that Will Change your Life: Awaken to This Series

Today I'd like to continue in my series Books that Will Change your life..

It is Sunday, and somehow it seems appropriate to broach topics of a spiritual nature. The first book I'll mention is for those of you who are feeling confused about the Bible. If you're wondering "what is God's plan", you may be interested in this text; there is an  author (Bill Johnson) who feels he is talking directly to God. 

This book, published in 2007, is Face to Face with God and explains for example:

• what to do about "invading thoughts" during prayer time
• what happens when God speaks to you (as a result of obedience)
• what it means to enter the favor of his face
• how to "set up an ambush” to apprehend God 

As a pastor in Redding, California, Bill exudes passion and is pursued frequently for speaking engagements. Known to be an incredible teacher, he has an infectiousness about him which has filtered down to his congregation. He has written other popular books, such as "Strengthen Yourself in the Lord" and The Essential Guide to Healing.

The only one I've read so far is Strengthen Yourself in the Lord: How to Release the Hidden Power of God in Your Life.  I just really liked some of the things Bill said in this book.  I will share several of my favorites - Bill shares the following -

- It is impossible for anyone to reach his ultimate destiny in life without learning to minister to himself (p. 27).
- My job is to trust my heavenly Father with the problems and situations I don't understand, and focus on stewarding my will to what I know to be true. My success in watching over my heart determinies the measure of Kingdom breakthrough I will experience in life (pg. 34).
- The tests that David endured were tests that specifically addressed his ability to keep focus on his identity and purpose. He was tested by coming into circumstances that directly contradicted God's Word over his life (pg. 39).
- God never sets us up to fail - only to grow (pg. 41).

That last one, God never set us up to fail - only grow .. I really like that one, for then the arduous things that we all go through are never a "waste" - rather, they're purposeful.

Bill Johnson's New Paperback: Available at Amazon

If you want to understand how to release the hidden power of God in your life, then I will suggest the book Hosting the Presence: Unveiling Heaven's Agenda to you. Created especially for you to understand that God desires to be in a relationship with you, this book may change you; as one reviewer puts it, "this book has been a special gift from Bill's heart to mine".

Thanks for visiting Breaking News Dispatch.  Blessings upon you.

Related Media - Books that Will Change Your Life: A Video

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