How I have moved on as a Blogger!

I have learned a lot about blogging since I last posted to this blog last. And I have put all the information I have learned into one blog. This blog used to be an old blog of mine called Create Blogs, but I have made a lot of changes to it including the name.

It is now called Build a Blog and I strongly recommend you take a look, as there is a lot of new information on the blog now, that would be very helpful to anybody who is starting with blogs, or who is a beginner blogger.

It has been a very interesting journey for me the past couple of months, so if you would like to take a look and see what I have been up to visit: Build a Blog and let me know what you think!

Thanks

Mandy

Create Blogs

Create Blogs is on the Move!

I said in my previous post that I have made some changes to the way I blog, and I am about to make one of the biggest for this blog. I'm moving it!

It's moving to Wordpress which is another blogging platform but with some distinct differences to Blogger. I won't go too indepth at the moment but here are the 3 main differences for me:

• It's open source software which gives greater flexibility.
• The Wordpress software has to be uploaded onto a server.
• You need your own domain name.

That means that the name will be changing to www.builda-blog.com which I felt was a better name as it's turned into more than just a creating blogs site. This is all completely new to me, so if things look a bit funny for a while you'll have to excuse me, while I get a grip on Wordpress!

I am going to continue to share my developments about the blog, to show how this blogger does it, and give a view of my thinking behind it. I hope this is helpful to anybody, (I'm not saying this is the right way to do it or anything, just an example of the way I am doing it) please let me know what you think by leaving a comment at the end of this post.

And I hope to see you on the other side!!

Create Blogs

Taking Stock of Create Blogs

I haven’t been able to post as regularly as I would like recently, for reasons I won’t go into. But my break away from posting to Create Blogs did give me a chance to take a fresh look at how things are going, and whether I am reaching my goals with this blog.

And although I worry about losing traffic and momentum, it has been time well spent for me, and I have made some changes to my blogs and the way I want to blog (that I will share with you). But for now I am deleting 2 of my older blogs so I can focus on building Create Blogs (for the time being).

I will be starting another blog soon that I am researching at the moment. I am also going to talk about how I create it on Create Blogs, and show the steps I am going to take to do that, and what information has influenced me in making those decisions.

So stay tuned there’s more to come.

Why am I telling you all this! Well it’s what Create Blogs is all about. It’s easy to read a pro blogger’s blog and see how they’ve done it, but it can be hard to relate to, as they already have a successful blog that seems a million miles away. I am still an amateur, and found it hard going finding the information you need at the beginning, to fill in the blanks. So that is why I started Create Blogs, to help similar bloggers to myself by sharing the information I have found, and what I have learned. Hopefully making your blogging path that little bit easier!

I love blogging and really enjoy it. There is always something new to learn to help you move forward, and I know I will learn just as much if not more, than what I hope to pass on.

Create Blogs

Do You Digg?

OK I know I lied, I just wanted to add one more post to my Create Blogs Traffic Series!

So here it is - Social Bookmarking sites (and also Social networking sites) have found huge popularity at the moment and therefore have huge amounts of traffic, including returning traffic.

It’s only recently that I have come across these sites through reading about them on other blogs, and decided to give them a try. Although it could be a bit of in the right place at the right time with the right subject, as obviously some topics are more popular and have a wider audience than others. But you never know who could be reading your blog and bookmark or digg it.

It seems the 2 most popular sites at the moment are:

• digg.com
• del.icio.us

digg.com

Briefly, you can share, bookmark and promote whatever is important to you and the digg community can then vote on it (digg), the more diggs your story gets the more popular your story becomes and the further up the page (in your topic) it appears.

del.icio.us

Again briefly, del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site where you can keep all your bookmarks in one place and see what other people are bookmarking, it’s a lot of fun.

These are only 2 sites there are many more, and I’d imagine by looking at the sites if you did start to be noticed, it would have a snowball effect. So you can see if your blog became popular through one of these sites it could transform you traffic results. So if you like my blog, you might like to bookmark it!

Create Blogs

Want a bit of Link Love!

Link Love!

I am coming to the end of my blog traffic series for creating blogs, and I would like to point out that they have not been posted in any particular order, and that there are obviously a lot more ways to get traffic to your blog. It’s just these are the main ones that I have come across on my travels and use.

It’s been very interesting to write, as I realise that recently I haven’t used some of the techniques as much as I should, and links is one of them.

Don’t be an ‘insular blogger’ , you will hear a lot about this from experienced bloggers - participate in the blogging community and spread a bit of ‘link love’ (and the does and dont's), and they are right. I should do this more, I don’t do enough, but it’s just been finding the time! I think that’s more a call for me to be more organised.

So what is ‘link love’. Well, when you join in on blogging message boards or forums then you can leave a link at the end of your message taking them to your blog. Or when reading another blog and you decide to leave a comment or join a blog roll, then again you can put in a link to your blog. Now I always try to think about my comments and try to do it when I have something constructive to say, rather than spamming my link all over the place, because you’re not going to get thanked for that, and remember they’ll know your blog address!

Now, there’s 2 chances to get more traffic to your blog, and if you happen to link on higher traffic blogs than yours, then those chances start to look even better. But don’t abuse it, comment and link with respect and you’ll have a good name in the blogging community. Blog to help each other out and you’ll get the most out of blogging. And I will make sure I join in this great community more!

Creating Blogs

Get Traffic from Emails!

So how can you get traffic to your blog from emails?

Add your blog address to your email signature like we did with forums. You can add a message to the signature, inviting your recipient to pass your information on to a friend if they enjoyed your blog.

Then every time you email your list (if you have one) or family or friends, then your blog address is sent with it, giving you more exposure. And hopefully if they do enjoy your blog and pass it on, then it can become viral and bring in traffic for your blog over some time!

Creating Blogs

Drive Targeted Traffic to your Blog using Google Adwords

Google Adwords is a great tool to drive targeted traffic to your blog. You can target specific keywords from your blog that you know people will be searching for. You’ll know the keywords from having done your research on search trends and competition when you set up your blog. Which obviously means you are putting your ad in front of a hungry audience (the best kind!).

Now there’s a lot of free and paid for information out there for Adwords. I started out by using Google Cash, it was recommended to me by a writing newsletter I subscribe to (Google Cash 3 has recently been released). I also subscribed to any free courses that I came across (they are after your email address but you can always unsubscribe afterwards).

But don’t forget Google itself! adwords.google.com explains exactly what adwords does and the best way to utilise it. It also has a help centre that’s crammed full of information, demo’s, guides, troubleshooting and FAQ’s. The information is useful and they take you through each step in producing an adwords ad. It’s all free to use, just sign up for an account and have a look around.

If you would like to see more then click on the Google Adwords button on the left.

Create Blogs