Step-By-Step Instructions On How To Setup Your Own Blog

Blogs may have started out as online diaries, but business owners quickly realized the power of using blogs to promote and advertise their products and services. It’s not only one of the fastest ways to build a solid reputation as a leader but it also facilitates two way communication with your viewers creating trust over time. One thing to make sure to note here is that if you use a blog to grow your business, which in today’s market is absolutely necessary, you need to realize this is a long term marketing strategy and you may not see results immediately.

Before we can even get in to what to do with your blog, you need to know how to make one. In today’s video I take you step by step through the entire process so you can create one for yourself. If after watching the video it seems like too much work or you feel you are not tech savvy enough (I promise it’s super easy to do and takes less than 30 minutes) I have including a free resource for you to check out. If you go to blogsbyann.com and purchase your hosting through her Host Gator link, she’ll set it up for you at no cost.

I also talk about a list of must have plugins for your blog. What exactly is a plugin? It’s much like an app for a phone. They are additions you can download that will either help your blog look cool or function in a certain way. Here is a list of the most important plugins you need for your blog:

Spam Tools:

• Akismet
• TanTanNoodles – simple trackback

SEO Plugins:

• All in One SEO Pack
• Feedburner (feedsmith)
• Google XML Sitemaps
• Simple Tagging Widget
• Simple Tags

Misc. Plugins:

• Advanced Text Widget
• Audio Player
• Date Exclusion
• Traffic Geyser Social Poster
• WP Super Cache
• Nofollow Blogroll SEO
• WP Hide Post
• MyBlogLog Widget

Social Networking Plugins:

• Sociable
• Digg Digg
• Tweetmeme

Setting up your blog is only the beginning. In future videos and posts I’ll go through how to customize your blog, what type of content to add, and how to promote your blog to get tons of traffic. For now, get started with setting your new blog up and start researching other blogs to get an idea of what you’d like your own to look like.