Transforming into Spiderman!

It costs $10 bucks to have my face painted, but hey, it’s for a good cause.  My kids had a great time too!

The event was awesome, we raised a ton of money for Cancer, and it seems like everyone had a great time!

Really Nice Shot, If you were trying to NOT hit the target then you are the best I’ve ever seen.  If you were trying to hit the target then. YOU SUCK!.  The problem is if I asked Blogger’s what their Target is most won’t be able to come up with anything specific other than: “lot’s of traffic”.  But what exactly does that mean.

Traffic

There are 3 types of blog traffic Direct, Referral and Search Engine Traffic.

• Direct Traffic

Direct traffic is from someone, anyone typing in your web address into their browser and coming directly to your site, this also counts for those who have your site stored in the Bookmarks part of their browser.  This traffic is specific to you, these are you everyday readers, they come to your site “often” to check out what’s new and to catchup on what has been happening.

• Referral Traffic

Referral Traffic, comes from many sources, but the most common is any link on another site to your site.  There are multiple ways of getting referral traffic and that will be discussed in length in a follow up post, but for now, know that it could come from a comment you left that intrigued a reader, they liked it they clicked on your name in the comments, if you remembered to add the URL to your name so they could jump directly to your site.  They could have come from a link, such as a blogger mentioned you, and but a link to your site within a post, simply put, Referral Traffic comes from other bloggers or websites.

• Search Engine Traffic

This ones a little more difficult to explain, let’s use an example:  you go to Google and type in “Blog consultant” you then choose a site based upon the information given, most of the time the user is going to select out of the top 4-6 links, depending upon relevance.  Then the user comes to your site, they are looking for the specific search term they entered into the search engine.  If they find it right away they check it out, if they don’t they “bounce”.

What kind of traffic are you aiming for?

That is the problem,most bloggers are simply aiming for one type of traffic, referral, and while this is a good source for the short term if you don’t convert them into regular readers all of the work and effort has been wasted.

Check out this post if you liked this one

Bringing Hope for a Brighter Future

The following is a post done by Goodies for Mom (and Baby too!) that is a great example of a powerful way to use a Blog for a Cause. Not only it the post designed to create awareness, it is also informative and has good facts and info to educate you about the cause. Keep it up good Luck!

It’s funny, blogging as it comes to mind create opportunities and gives you the ability to create something of value. Darren Rouse over at ProBlogger has a post today that I wanted to take the time and mention because it is something that makes all the difference when it comes to blogging.

The thought of just cranking out an article is great when you have something to say, but if that is what you tried to do everyday, it is no wonder why so many give up, trying to crank out a blog post every day would eat you alive. So Darren shares some great things to think about as you “Craft” a post, rather than just “punch” one out.

Here is the list to consider:

Choosing a Topic – take a little extra time defining your topic and the post will flow better and you’ll develop something that matters to readers.

Your Post’s Title – perhaps the most crucial part of actually getting readers to start reading your post when they see it in an RSS reader or search engine results page.

The Opening Line – first impressions matter. Once you’ve got someone past your post’s title your opening line draws them deeper into your post.

Your ‘point/s’ - a post needs to have a point. If it’s just an intriguing title and opening you’ll get people to read – but if the post doesn’t ‘matter’ to them it’ll never get traction.

Call to Action – driving readers to do something cements a post in their mind and helps them to apply it and helps you to make a deeper connection with them.

Adding Depth – before publishing your post – ask yourself how you could add depth to it and make it even more useful and memorable to readers?

Quality Control and Polishing – small mistakes can be barriers to engagement for some readers. Spending time fixing errors and making a post ‘look’ good can take it to the next level.

Timing of Publishing Your Post – timing can be everything – strategic timing of posts can ensure the right people see it at the right time.

Promotion – having hit publish – don’t just leave it to chance that your post will be read by people. Giving it a few strategic ‘nudges’ can increase the exposure it gets exponentially.

Conversation – often the real action happens once your post is published and being interacted with by readers and other bloggers. Taking time to dialogue can be very fruitful.

Become a Craftsman

I have taken this to heart long ago, as it is easier to “Craft” a post, instead of trying to figure it out in 15 min. Too many times we as information providers want to create something, and in order to do so, we need to provide Value, or so enough you will have a little audience to provide you useless information to. So, That being said, you need to think of your self as a Craftsman, instead of just simply a blogger, while the idea of blogging is unique and has it’s place, such as this post, that was done after readying Darren’s post.

The majority of posts need to be Crafted and developed over a period of time, while it doesn’t make sense to take a month to write every post, and while some posts come directly from inspiration, and can be done quickly and give value, most are going to take time.

Develop a Blog not just a bunch of posts

Part of developing your blog should be the idea that it is more than just a blog it is a Blog, and has inherent value in it’s name, the site, the content, you as a contributor, etc, etc. You should keep in mind that if you ever hope to make any money from your blog you will have to create demand. Just as Problogger has done, can you think of a stronger Blogging brand? Other than BlogSavvy of course! You can’t ProBlogger has developed his entire business model into one large revenue stream. Think of the whole picture give you the sense that Blogging is more than just making posts.

Blogging for a Cause is similar to Blogging for your Community however Blogging for a Cause has a purpose or a motive behind the blog. The availability of topics is vast, it could be for breast cancer, bone cancer, there are literally hundreds of types of cancer, so picking just one would be easy, typically someone starts blogging for a cause “after” it has affected them, either directly or indirectly.

A Great Example

The Assertive Cancer Patient is a great example of a blog becoming a rallying point for others who can identify with the authors point of view, their trials and frustrations and who can genuinely bask in the feeling of success. Jeanne, is also a very talented writer, which only helps her have a successful blog, use her as a resource as you look to start your own Blog Cause.

A Personal Note

On a personal note: I didn’t fully understand how powerful a blog could be with this until my wife was recently diagnosed with Bone Caner. Where did I turn, well there were medical blogs but they didn’t give the hope and sunshine vibe I was looking for, I eventually found what I was looking for in many different blogs. I was amazed at the “collective” (take from Star Trek) mind these patients, friends, family members and loved ones had towards sharing what I considered most difficult: addressing our mortality. It was however great to see the success stories and to read about how for a luck few miracles do happen. So not that I would ever wish something like this on you, but given this life frailty and the shear numbers of “trials” we will all have to go through in this life, you are bound to know of someone who could benefit from either reading or starting a blog centered around a specific Cause.

Yes i’m being serious, shut up and blog, too often I hear people talk and talk and talk about how they wish the blogged or started a business, or went skydiving or whatever. The sad part is in 5 years from now they will still be talking about how they will or should do … insert your own unfulfilled promise here. Simply put talk is cheap, which is why most people do a lot of it, acomplishment has value, both of what you put in and what you get out. Ask anyone who has done something you admire if now that they look back on the journey to do this amazing thing, if the learned anything, chances are they will say somehting to the effect of more than I will ever know.

So Get Going

Now that we have an understanding that blogging will be tough, and that there will be work involved, how about you do some of that, yeah i mean work. It doens’t have to be 5 posts a day to start off with, it can be as simple as 1 post a month. Commit to something, anything and then keep your commitments. Most people fair not because they didn’t try, most people fail because they were commited to that failure was an acceptable outcome from the beginning. If that is your mind frame, please do you self a favor ad disreguard my advise, do not start blogging. To you: I say just sit right there on the couch.

What next?

What’s next you ask, it’s simple, commit yourself to “doing” and then DO. I know it sounds way too easy to simply be just that, but honestly it is that simple, yet most people will think I’m full of it and won’t do this simple thing that will essentially provide them all that they are wanting and then some, and to you who doubt, I wish you luck because luck is all your going to get.

Step 1 – First things first.

Chose a domain. This is going to be the most difficult part, as most assuredly the one you really want is already taken, so be creative, use part of the name and part of something else, one of my favorite company names is OGIO, short simply and until they chose it for their domainname it hadn’t been used before, so branding could be developed to create the brand, since there wasn’t one before. The other option is to purchase a domain that is for sale or you if you find that the domain name youreally, really want isn’t for sale you can always use whois to find out who owns it and contact the with an offer to purchase it.

Step 2 – Register your Domain

this one is simple, use BlueHost. I used Bluehost to register my first domain and currently

they are hosting 45 domains for me all with one account, and heres the great part they charge $6.95 per month and you get:

UNLIMITED Hosting Space (NEW!)
UNLIMITED File Transfer (NEW!)
Host UNLIMITED Domains!!!
2,500 POP/Imap Email Accounts
SSH (Secure Shell), SSL, FTP, Stats
CGI, Ruby (RoR), Perl, PHP, MySQL
2000/2002 Front Page Extensions
Free Domain Forever!
Free Site Builder (NEW)
24/7 Superb/Responsive Sales/Support

So i have 45 domain names registered and hosted with one account so i pay just 6.95 per month! It can’t get any simpler than that.

Step 3 – Setting up Wordpress

Now that you have found a domain name, registered it with Bluehost and have a Bluehost hosting account you are now ready to set up your Wordpress blogging database. Why Wordpress you ask? Wordpress is simple to navigate, simple to operate and there are tons of free Themes out there to give you your style, and if you really want to brand your self have Blogsavvy help you to design a custom theme. Now login in to your Bluehost cpanel and scroll down to the bottom of the Bluehost cpanel and look for a program similar to the logo below.Click on it and once inside of the program you will see a just how simple it is to install your WordPress blogging software. Below is exactly what you should see, simply click the button, new installation and in 3 simple step it will setup your blog for you! It can’t get any simpler.

Short description: WordPress is a blogging software with a focus on ease of use, elegance, performance, and standards with a huge selection of themes and plugins.
Homepage: http://wordpress.org/

WordPress support forum
(We are not associated with the support forum)

New Installation (2.5.1)
Disk space required: 5.63 MB
Disk space available: 1535718.5 MB

Now you will set up which domain you want to install the database on, select your domain, leave the install in directory space blank, now you will create your administrator User name and Password, this will be your login info into Wordpress, then give the Admin a nickname, and enter an email address, this one is used only for the Administrator of the blog, then click Install WordPress,

Install Wordpress

The next screen will tell you where it is coing to install it and what the name of the database will be called. Simply click Finish Installation and your ready to begin blogging!

Install WordPress (2/3)

The MySQL database and MySQL user milliot1_wrdp6 will be created and used for this installation.

- You chose to install in the main directory of the domain gettomonkey.com.
- The access URL will be: http://gettomonkey.com/.

Click on Finish installation to continue.

Step 4 – Begin blogging

Now that your blog is set up go to http://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin and you will see a screen similar to the one below:

Use you Administroator Username and Password and your done. Now take a look around and you will see that it is very user friendly and if you get brave write a post and send me a link to it in the comments and i’ll check it out.

Congratulations you are now blogging!