Technology & Social Media Blog

Anyone started there own blog? How does this work?

Would like to know more about this.

Am thinking it would be cool to start my own blog

Thanks

MTR

 

I wrote one for a few years when I was trading full time. I loved it and it was a great way to link in with other people with similar interests. Some great conversation in the comments too.

Sign up to wordpress and away you go!

 

WordPress is nice and easy plus great phone app

 

I've got a property investing/finance one on the website. When I get a spare moment I enjoy busting out a few paragraphs. It gives me a break from number crunching and also updates/provides more content for the site.

My website was built via joomla - but for a simple blog there's heaps of options to choose from. Wordpress would be a good start.

Cheers

Jamie

 

Thanks Jamie, is this costly exercise?

 

Depends on how easy you want it to be

Can be as easy as signing up to Wordpress, choose a name, template and start writing. Domain name will be like mtr.wordpress.com. You can buy a domain name and plug it so it looks neater, e.g. mtr.com.au. Or go all the way, get a hosting, a domain name and install one of the blogging system (Wordpress, joomla, etc. I like Wordpress as it is the easiest).

For simple blog - it can be as cheap as Free
Then domain name, $25 per 2 years
Then hosting - depends on how big (I went cheap for $60 per year)
Then template (there are free and paid - I paid for mine about $60)
Then there is custom build template (even more expensive).

 

Heaps of info out there in google land. (I think it used to be called the internet) Funnily enough I was looking at this last weekend.

Are you looking at it for a hobby, or as a source of extra revenue?

If you're going the revenue route, I'd look into getting your own domain (look for domain names on godaddy.com.au) and paying for website hosting (or host yourself). It might cost a little to setup but then you don't have to worry about losing viewers if you do change your domain/address later.

 

Wordpress was originally a blogging platform and as suggested above would be a good start.

It can be a great way of generating traffic to your website via "educational marketing". I have only really scratched the surface of this potential lead generator. Also lifts you above the pack as an authority as not a lot seem to be doing it actively, in my niche anyways.

I use a local Perth guy to help me with the technical side and happy to provide his details via PM if you want some assistance?

 

Also heaps of awesome YouTube tutorials. Go 2 screens and watch on one and play on the other.

 

@MTR my wife has started one recently with a few things attached to it and a shop. It was not all that expensive to set up although it did take er a good amount of hours to get it working well. I believe she used Word Press. Feel free to check it out, it has had a really good response so far;

www.runbrave.com.au

Mick

 

will do, thanks for the tip

 

this is cheap as chips

 

How do you actually make money from this?

 

You could start a shop with PD guides eg. an e book on How to do a 4 TH Development. Then set up a shop on the blog through Pay Pal. Easy. Just need to get the right exposure and have an audience. My wife is selling merchandise and a virtual run from her blog.

 

Spare change for you

 

I ran a cycling blog for years back when I was doing cycle touring. I used wordpress and found it excellent. I found it a lot of work to write about each ride but then my posts were very detailed, so that didn't help. You need to be fairly active as people can comment on posts and it is best to moderate the comments to filter out spam and abusive posts.

 

A few above have suggested Wordpress. I have tried both Wordpress and Blogger, I prefer the latter, may be another option you could check out.

Find a product/service you can advertise on the site and in your posts, take a commission per click/sale (typically this would be something that ties in with what you are writing about). Am sure there are others, but you could start here to find a advertiser to partner with: Clixgalore.

 

I've been blogging for 5 years on issues relating to new houses.

Just a hobby really but it makes me $5-6,000 a year. The majority from selling self published books.

If you are going to be serious about it some things I would recommend are:

• Write a list of things you think you could write a blog post about. If you can list 50 items you know you can make some real progression. (I see a lot of blogs that stop after 10 or less posts)
• I aim for posts that take around minute to read. When you are starting you want readers to quickly decide whether they like your blog. This can mean breaking big subjects down into smaller parts.
• Get your own domain name. . . it shows other people you are serious.
• Use Wordpress, a little harder than Blogger but again using Wordpress shows that you are being serious.
• When you have been going a while look for some similar blogs and offer to write a guest post. (I will publish guest posts from hobby bloggers for free although I charge for links to commercial websites)

If you want to look at what I am doing my blog is called: anewhouse.com.au

 

95% of website visitors won't know what platform you're using once themed.

Wordpress is fine (and more versatile) if you want to spend time learning about installing the plugins you'll need to perform some of the basic tricks Blogger has out of the box. I've also been blogging for 5 years and don't think the Blogger platform has been a hindrance.