Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the art and science of enhancing your website’s visibility on search engines like Google. With the right SEO techniques, you can attract organic traffic, boost engagement, and ultimately increase conversions. In this post, we’ll cover essential SEO tips for website optimization that every website owner should follow to improve their site’s rankings and performance.

1. Understand Your Audience and Keywords

Before you dive into optimizing your website, it’s crucial to understand who your target audience is and what they’re searching for. This involves comprehensive keyword research. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs can help you identify high-traffic, low-competition keywords relevant to your niche.

• Long-tail Keywords: Instead of focusing solely on broad terms like “shoes,” consider long-tail keywords like “best running shoes for women.” These terms may have lower search volumes, but they’re often less competitive and more targeted, leading to higher conversion rates.
• Search Intent: Understand the purpose behind a user’s search. Are they looking for information (informational intent), wanting to make a purchase (transactional intent), or just browsing? Tailor your content to match these intents.

2. Optimize On-Page SEO

On-page SEO refers to the elements on your website that you can control directly. Here are some key areas to focus on:

• Title Tags: Ensure your title tags are descriptive, include your target keyword, and are within 50-60 characters to avoid truncation in search results.
• Meta Descriptions: While not a direct ranking factor, meta descriptions influence click-through rates. Write compelling descriptions (around 150-160 characters) that entice users to click.
• Header Tags (H1, H2, H3): Use header tags to structure your content logically. Your H1 should include the main keyword and clearly describe the content of the page. Subsequent headers (H2, H3) should break down your content into manageable sections.
• URL Structure: Keep URLs clean, descriptive, and short. Include your primary keyword, and avoid using unnecessary characters or words.
• Internal Linking: Link to other relevant pages on your site. This helps search engines understand the structure of your website and allows users to navigate easily, improving the user experience.

3. Create High-Quality Content

Content is the backbone of SEO. High-quality, relevant content not only attracts visitors but also keeps them engaged.

• Content Depth: Google favors in-depth, comprehensive content that thoroughly answers user queries. Aim to create long-form content (1,500+ words) that provides value, is well-researched, and offers unique insights.
• Regular Updates: Fresh content signals to search engines that your site is active and relevant. Regularly update your blog, add new articles, and refresh old content to keep it current.
• Multimedia Elements: Incorporate images, videos, infographics, and other media to make your content more engaging and shareable. Ensure all media elements are optimized with alt text and appropriate file sizes to maintain page speed.
• E-A-T Principle: Google’s algorithm emphasizes Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T). Establish your credibility by creating content that showcases your expertise, earning backlinks from reputable sources, and displaying trust signals like secure payment options or customer testimonials.

4. Mobile Optimization

With mobile devices accounting for more than half of global web traffic, mobile optimization is no longer optional. Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means it predominantly uses the mobile version of your site for indexing and ranking.

• Responsive Design: Ensure your website is fully responsive, meaning it adjusts seamlessly to different screen sizes and devices.
• Page Speed on Mobile: Mobile users expect fast-loading pages. Compress images, leverage browser caching, and minimize JavaScript to improve load times.
• Avoid Pop-ups on Mobile: Intrusive pop-ups on mobile devices can frustrate users and negatively impact rankings. Make sure any pop-ups are easy to close and don’t cover too much of the screen.

5. Improve Website Speed

Page speed is a critical ranking factor. A slow-loading website can result in higher bounce rates and lower user satisfaction.

• Optimize Images: Compress images without losing quality, use the correct file formats (like WebP or JPEG), and implement lazy loading to improve page speed.
• Enable Browser Caching: By caching resources on your users’ devices, you reduce the number of requests made to your server, speeding up load times on repeat visits.
• Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML: Remove unnecessary code, spaces, and comments from your files to reduce their size and improve load times.
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN distributes your content across multiple servers around the world, ensuring faster access for users regardless of their geographic location.

6. Build Quality Backlinks

Backlinks, or inbound links, from reputable websites signal to search engines that your content is trustworthy and valuable. However, not all backlinks are created equal.

• Focus on Quality Over Quantity: A few high-quality backlinks from authoritative sites (e.g., reputable news outlets, industry leaders) are more valuable than numerous links from low-quality sites.
• Guest Blogging: Contribute high-quality articles to relevant blogs in your industry. In return, you’ll often get a backlink to your site.
• Broken Link Building: Find broken links on other websites and suggest your content as a replacement. This is a win-win strategy that helps both parties.
• Earn Links Organically: Create content that is so valuable and unique that other sites naturally want to link to it. This includes original research, infographics, or comprehensive guides.

7. Use Structured Data

Structured data, or schema markup, helps search engines understand your content better and can improve how your site is displayed in search results (e.g., rich snippets).

• Implement Schema Markup: Add schema markup to your HTML to help search engines display rich results like ratings, reviews, and event details.
• Use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool: After implementing schema, use this tool to ensure your structured data is correctly formatted and functioning.

8. Optimize for Local SEO

If your business has a physical location or serves a specific geographic area, local SEO is essential.

• Google My Business (GMB): Claim and optimize your Google My Business listing. Ensure your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent across all platforms.
• Local Keywords: Incorporate local keywords in your content, meta tags, and URLs (e.g., “best Italian restaurant in Chicago”).
• Encourage Reviews: Positive reviews on Google, Yelp, and other platforms can boost your local SEO. Respond to reviews to engage with your customers and build trust.

9. Monitor Your Performance

SEO is an ongoing process that requires regular monitoring and adjustment.

• Use Google Analytics and Google Search Console: These tools provide insights into your traffic sources, user behavior, and site performance. Regularly check your rankings, organic traffic, and click-through rates.
• Set Up Rank Tracking: Tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush allow you to track your keyword rankings over time. This helps you identify which strategies are working and which need adjustment.
• Conduct Regular Audits: Perform SEO audits to identify and fix issues such as broken links, duplicate content, and crawl errors. Regular audits ensure your site remains optimized as search engine algorithms evolve.

Conclusion

SEO is a complex but rewarding endeavor that requires continuous effort and adaptation. By implementing the tips outlined in this guide—ranging from keyword research to technical optimizations—you can create a robust SEO strategy that drives organic traffic, enhances user experience, and ultimately boosts your bottom line. Remember, the key to successful SEO is staying informed about the latest trends and being willing to experiment and refine your approach over time.

The post The Ultimate Guide to SEO: Top Tips to Optimize Your Website appeared first on Online Income Teacher.

The most important part of your website is its content, and the most important part of your content is the headline! This means that your content headlines are THE most important part of your entire website!!!

Your headline is the first, and perhaps the only, thing that will grab the attention of your readers. This makes it vitally important that you make it count and use a great one to make the biggest impression!

One of our most popular articles was ‘10 Steps to Write Amazing Content!‘ where we stressed that ‘Content is King‘ when it comes to your website. Without good website content, you will never get any interest in your website. The headline is the primary way of doing this, as it is headlines that draws people in.

But headlines can do a lot more than just attract people’s attention. A great headline can convey a lot of information, telling your targeted audience exactly what your article is about, whilst luring them in to read it.

You only have to look at newspapers to see the value that headlines have. The front page headline is the most important part, as it is this that usually influences people whether to buy the paper or not.

Many people underestimate the importance that their blog post titles have. You can write an amazing article post that people would find really helpful, but give it a bad headline title and nobody will read it. This inspired me to write this post to help you to write great headlines that work for your website.

How to Write a Great Headline

Headline writing can be a bit of an art form. The more experience you have, the better you get at doing it. There are a few things that you can ask yourself to see whether your headline is a good one, sort of like a check list.

Is your headline useful? – If people reading it can see that they can get some use out of it, perhaps learning something from it, then they will be more likely to read it.

Is your headline informative? – You should know exactly what the following article will be about from the headline alone. If not, then people will not read it because they won’t know what it is about.

Is your headline unique? – This can be harder depending on the subject matter. If there are lots of articles on a similar subject, then you need it to stand out from the rest in some way.

Spend Time Writing Your Headline

Due to the importance of your headline title, there is no need to rush in and commit to one. I know other bloggers that spend as long coming up with that right headline as they do writing their blog post.
I usually write a very rough blog title right at the start of writing a post. That way I can determine the direction that I want to go in when writing my post. I then come back when I have finished my entire article and write a much better one. Sometimes this is much easier than some posts, and I have been known to change a blog post title a week later because I am just not happy with it.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how you come up with your headline. As long as you put some thought into it and it is clear to your audience, then that is a good headline.

80% Of People Will Read Your Headlines

On average, a massive 80% of all people that come across your headline will read it! That is a huge percentage of people, however only 20% end up reading the article. That is a big difference!
This helps to display how important the headline is. If you spend time writing a great headline, then that could increase the amount of people that go on to read your article.

Different Types of Headline

There are many different types of headline that you can use to present your articles. The following are some of the most common types;

‘How to…’ Headline – These can make great headlines. Everyone wants to learn something new, so there is high demand for articles that show then ‘how to’ do this. This very article that you are reading is a ‘how to’ article, so it worked with you!

‘Direct’ Headlines – A direct headline is one that doesn’t mess about, it gets straight to the point. This can work well for promotions and offers, for example, ‘25% Off Web Hosting‘ or ‘FREE Website eCourse‘.

‘Indirect’ Headlines – This type of headline is the opposite to the ‘direct’ method. An ‘Indirect’ headline takes a craftier approach. Often these types of headlines are written in such a way that readers are curious about what the article is about. An example of this would be, ‘You are slowly killing yourself’ in reference to a post about bad health habits. ‘Top List’ Headlines – This type of headline is one of my favourites. Everybody likes lists of things, whether it’s ‘Top 10 Football Clubs’, ‘5 Great Ways to Save Money’, ‘30 Ways Your Website Can Earn You Money‘, etc. People find lists easy to follow because they are split up into a set number of points.

‘Question’ Headlines – Fairly self-explanatory, a ‘question’ headline asks a question to your audience. For example, ‘Is Nuclear Energy Worth The Risk?’, ‘Does Britain Still Need The Royal Family?’, etc. These questions need to involve the audience, so either they want to know what you have to say in response to the question posed, or have an opinion of their own which they what to see if they agree with the article.

‘Command’ Headlines – Offering a ‘command’ to your readers can also work. Something like ‘Get Started Today!’* or ‘Change Your Life Now!’ can have an impact on your readers.

‘Testimonial’ Headlines – These types of headline can be very successful when promoting yourself or your own product. ‘”Why I Love OnlineIncomeTeacher.com” – by Scarlett Johansson’ (I wish!). This type of headline can give your readers an outside perspective that they might find interesting.

News Headlines – This type of headline can also work, if the news is still relevant. Writing a post about the Royal Wedding might have proved popular around the time of the event when there was a lot of interest. Writing one now would not be as interesting.

The post How To Write Great Headlines appeared first on Online Income Teacher.

Every day, millions of Internet users receive emails that they immediately toss in the trash or mark as spam.  Although great deals of these emails are indeed unsolicited spam, some are actually developed from legitimate companies sending various advertisements.  One of the biggest reasons why these emails get tossed immediately is due to the fact that they are not personalized.  But why is personalizing an email important in today’s market?  Well read further and we will explain.

1. Connections

Email marketing can have an improved clickthrough rate by approximately 14% if you personalize the message for the individual. If an email includes the recipient’s first name following “Dear” (e.g. Dear John, Dear Mr Jones, Dear Susan, etc.) it is much more likely to be read – out of curiosity if nothing else. Messages need to have that interpersonal connection in order to provide a greater impact to the reader.

2. Reduced Fear

In today’s online world, bots send out spam without regard of personalization. For many people, the message is immediately deleted if it contains, “Dear Friend” simply out of fear that it may be malware of some kind. There are so many scams on the Internet right now that placate to a person’s ego and try to sound like they are being singled out. As more people are becoming aware of this ever growing problem, messages that are not personalized are being removed or marked as spam never to be seen again.

3. Trust

When it comes to eCommerce or online services, there needs to be a certain level of trust in order to keep your customers happy. Without using a person’s name or personalized information pertaining to the individual, this trust is greatly reduced. Think of it this way, would you trust a message of a bank error in your favour if the email simply stated, “Dear Beneficiary?” That line right there would throw up a red flag to many people looking to keep their information safe.

4. Effort

Some Internet users view personalizing marketing emails denotes a form of effort in order to gain his or her business. If you merely set up a bot to send out various amounts of information without adding that personal touch, readers could be dismissive of your material for you didn’t show effort in gaining his or her approval. This happens more often than you may realize, and it can be akin to customer service. Adding that personal touch shows that you are putting some effort into making the customer happy.

5. Beyond a List

Adding personalization to emails proves to your audience that your organization is going above and beyond the simple email list that could have been purchased by a number of outlets. Many recipients don’t appreciate these lists and wish there was some way to remove themselves. As many lists exist that have been obtained using questionable tactics, personalization adds more appeal to your audience and demonstrates that your ideals involve more than just a list of addresses.

While email marketing today is what flyers and postcards were in the 80’s, it is still a very effective method of engaging consumers. If you use a list that your audience actually subscribed to, the marketing is that much more powerful as he or she is interested in your material to begin with. Add a bit of personalization to your email marketing platform and see how well it works for you.

The post 5 Reasons Why Personalizing An Email Is Important appeared first on Online Income Teacher.

¡Hola!  I thought I would try something a bit different today and have a go at writing a post about marketing de contenidos(content marketing) with a slight Spanish flavour.  Whether it works or not, or even makes sense, is yet to be seen, but you do not know if you never try.

Marketing de contenidos is something all bloggers need to focus on as it helps attract visitors to your website.  How to do this effectively though is something many struggle with.  For that reason, I have put together a few tips to help.

1. Hueco en el mercado (Look for gaps in the market)

Whether you are thinking up ideas for your website content, or even a niche to build a website around, you need to look for gaps in the market.  If you can find a subject that is not being covered yet, then you could be onto a winner.  Failing that, just by presenting your content in a different way to everybody else can help you to stand out from the crowd.

Use tools such as Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends to find out what people are searching for.  If you can do a bit of research into what your target market is actually searching for online, then you can better tailor your content for them.

Look at your competitor’s websites to see what subjects they have not covered yet.  If you can identify where they are missing out, you can take the initiative and cover them yourself.

2. Desarrollar ideas de contenido (Develop content ideas)

Once you have researched the market to find potential gaps you can begin to develop content ideas to fill them.  This does not simply mean writing a one off post, instead think about multiple posts that you could write to cover the same subject.  Perhaps you could turn it into a series of articles that follow on from one another, or different posts that approach the subject from a different angle.

Another good thing you can do is to review your overall website every now and then.  What subjects have you not covered in great detail yet?  Always remember that you should try and grow your website over time to be one giant information resource for visitors.  Instead of linking to other websites that better explain a subject (e.g. Wikipedia), create that content yourself so that you can refer people to it and keep them on your site.

3. Estrategias de marketing (Marketing strategy)

Once you have a list of content ideas that you can work on, it is important to decide upon a publishing schedule.  Having an editorial calendar can help to keep you organised and keep you focused.  It can be easy to let things slip by putting things off until tomorrow, especially if you are working independently.

4. Tipos de marketing de contenidos (Types of content marketing)

There are many different types of content that you can create for your website.  Each has its own benefits that can help attract traffic to your site.

Artículos Blog (Blog Posts)

Written blog posts are one of the most effective content types of them all.  They are relatively quick to produce, they can be easily updated and, most importantly, you can optimise them for the search engines to help attract more visitors.

Blog posts can themselves come in many different forms, such as;

• Tutorial posts,
• Interviews,
• Discussion pieces,
• Polls,
• Competitions,
• Surveys,
• Question and answers,
• Reviews,
• Opinionated articles,

Written articles will always be the primary source of content for a blog.  Mixing it up every now and then though can help keep readers interested.  Search engines also find it easy to crawl written articles, allowing them to send more traffic to your site when optimised properly.

Recurso de información (Information Resources)

Information resources (or ‘White Papers’ as they are also known) are a fantastic content type to include on your website.  Usually these information resources are full of great information for people to use and keep coming back to.  If you allow people to download it from your site in PDF format, then they can share it with their friends and colleagues.

The biggest benefit of allowing people to download and share this information resource is that it can reach far more people.  If you brand it appropriately and include lots of links pointing back to your website, then a whole new audience will be able to find you.

Many internet marketers have used information resources to great effect, so try it out yourself and see how you get on.

Vídeo

Did you know that, after Google, YouTube gets the most search requests made by people from around the world.  Video is a great way to reach more people and spread the word about your website.

There are lots of different types of video that you can create for your site, you don’t just have to rely on one type.  What is even better is that you can embed them within your posts and pages on your site.  That way, your existing audience can view them as well as people on YouTube.

Remember also that you can earn money from videos on YouTube.  There are plenty of vloggers (video bloggers) that earn their living solely through making YouTube videos.

Boletín electrónico (Email lists and newsletter)

Every website should have an email list.  If you don’t yet have one you should definitely look into setting one up.

The greatest thing about email lists (and email marketing in general) is that the people who subscribe are your very best customers.  They have actively decided to subscribe to your site because they like what you already offer.

Email newsletters are a way of encouraging people back to your site, whilst also allowing you to promote your latest content, offers, deals, etc. to them.  Again, people will be able to share and forward your emails with their friends, meaning even more people will be able to find you.

Podcast

Despite many people thinking podcasts were just a fad, they have not only stuck around but grown into a big business online.  Many entrepreneurs, marketers and novices have started their own podcast, which has led to many gaining popularity online.

Quite a few websites have set up their own podcast as a way to reach a wider audience.  After all, not everyone has the time to sit down and read through a lengthy post every day.  It is much easier though to listen to a podcast during their drive to work or when picking up the kids from school.

Infografía (Infographic)

The old phrase “A picture speaks a thousand words” has never been truer when describing infographics.  Infographics, when done well, can visualise just about any kind of topic or statistical data and make it easy to understand.  This is one of the reasons why infographics are one of the most shared content types online.

If you want to share some boring statistical data in your website, why not try creating an infographic instead.

5. Promocionar tu contenido (Promote your content)

Content creation is only 50% of the work, the other 50% comes from promoting that content online.  You could have the best content in the world, but if you do not spend the time to promote it then it will have been for nothing.

A simple way to help promote your content is to increase the number of distribution channels.

• A blog,
• Twitter profile,
• Facebook page,
• Google+ page,
• LinkedIn profile,
• Pinterest account,
• Instagram,
• YouTube channel,
• Podcast on iTunes/Android,
• Forum,
• Social media community pages,
• …and many more!

Depending on how many people you have working for you, you should be able to concentrate on a least a handful of these.  For the ones you can’t, at least by having a profile setup on them, people will be able to find you.

Promotion goes hand in hand with creation, so it is often beneficial to think about how you will promote it during the creation phase.  Perhaps you could post teasers about your upcoming posts, behind the scenes footage of a video you are creating or images of your team hard at work in the office.  It all helps to promote you and your site online, and ultimately put some personality in your brand.

What content types do you use on your site?  Which promotional methods do you find most useful?  We want to hear from you, so please leave a comment below.  Adiós!

The post Estrategias de Marketing de Contenidos para bloggers appeared first on Online Income Teacher.

I got a question emailed to me today from a reader asking exactly what he needed to learn about in order to become a successful blogger.  Well that isn’t the easiest question to answer in a simple email as there is SO MUCH that goes into becoming a blogger that many people don’t realise.   Instead, I thought it would make a good topic for a post.

“What do I need to learn to become a successful blogger?” is a question that I think many aspiring bloggers want the answer to when first starting out, I know I was eager to learn before I launched my first site.   Whilst some topics are obvious that you need to learn about, others are not so until you come to need them further down the line.

This particular question got me thinking quite a bit about which things you specifically need to learn about sooner rather than later.  I therefore came up with 12 things that every blogger really NEEDS to know about when starting out online.  Obviously this list could have been much longer, but I tried to keep it relatively short so as not to overwhelm any newbies.  Learn about these and you will have a good solid foundation to build a successful site upon.

1. SEO, SEO, SEO

SEO, or as it is properly know – Search Engine Optimization – is a subject that you must learn about.  I decided to place this first on the list as I feel that it is THE most important thing any blogger or website owner should learn about (I can’t stress that enough).

What is Search Engine Optimization?  Well basically, it is the term given to understanding and implementing the way in which search engines to help benefit your website.  The vast majority of website traffic that a site receives will come from the search engines, so by making the most of them you can make sure that lots of people find your site.

SEO can be divided into two separate sections;

• On-page SEO,
• Off-page SEO,

On-page SEO refers to the techniques that you can use ON your website to boost traffic and web rankings (such as; keyword placement, using Alt tags, meta descriptions, etc.), whereas Off-page SEO refers to the techniques used, you guessed it, OFF your site (such as; social media, guest blogging, link baiting, etc.).

Both are very important, but I would definitely put more emphasis on learning about On-page SEO techniques.  This will help you to understand how the World Wide Web works and, more importantly, how you can create content and structure your site to make the maximum impact online.

If you only take one thing from this entire list, make sure your set time aside to learn about SEO.  It WILL help you in the long run!

2. Writing

Nobody can become a blogger without first knowing how to write.  Whilst this may seem absurdly obvious, there is a lot more to writing than simply stringing a few sentences together.

Writing is something that certainly develops over time.  Just think about when you first learned how to write as a 3-4 year old and compare it to how you write now.  Well the same can be said when you first start out blogging.  We all know how to write, but there is a big difference between writing every now and then, and writing 1000+ words several times a week (maybe even daily).

You need to be prepared to make mistakes along the way.  Your first blog posts will probably take a good while to write, yet they will be nowhere near as good as the ones you write a year, two years, ten years down the line.  You need to be prepared to learn your craft, develop as a writer and find your voice/writing style.  The only way to do this is to write on a regular basis, so get stuck in.

You also need to make sure that you brush up on your spelling and grammar.  Too often I see posts littered with mistakes.  People do notice them and they can have a bigger effect on your audience than you would imagine.  You are publishing posts under your name so take pride in your work and try to make them as good as you possibly can.

3. Content Creation

Yes, writing and content creation are two very different things.  You could be an excellent writer, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can create good quality content for your website.

Quality website content needs to, not only attract readers, but engage them as well.  You need to learn how to construct posts that entice people to keep reading to the end of an article, to leave comments and to click on your other pages.  Again, this comes with practice and you will get better at it over time.

Content creation actually covers a whole host of different areas, such as;

• On-page SEO (yes that again!),
• Creating engaging titles,
• Engaging introductions,
• Images,
• Video,
• Audio,
• Internal linking,
• External linking,
• Call to action,

To learn more about content creation, check out our in-depth guide to creating quality blog posts.

4. Niche Blogging & Understanding Your Target Market

There is one thing that all successful blogs have in common – they are all run like a normal business.

Blogging is a business, so you should treat it like that.  If you want to create a successful blog then you have to approach it in a professional way.  That means taking time to research the niche subject that you want to focus on and not just jump in two footed because you enjoy it.  If you can find a gap in the market that no one is yet covering, or alternatively find something that is already being covered and do it better, then you may be onto a winner.

Understanding your target market/target audience is also extremely important.  If you know who you are aiming for, or what types of people are actually visiting your site, you can better tailor your content to suit them.

5. Domain, Hosting & WordPress

If you want to start a blog online, you will have to, at some point, learn how to set one up.  Many new bloggers find this process daunting, but when you actually learn what goes into setting up a site online you will find that it isn’t that bad.  In fact it is quite straight forward.

Essentially all you need is 3 things;

• Domain name (i.e. www.YourDomainName.com)
• Web hosting (where your website files are stored online)
• WordPress (the framework that you build your site on)

I’m not going to go into detail about these things in this post as you can find more information in our Domain Name Registration, Beginners Guide To Web Hosting and Getting Started With WordPress guides.

6. HTML & CSS

Now here is a subject that many people dread learning about when starting out.  Thankfully, most bloggers only need a basic understanding of HTML and CSS to get them on their way.

The vast majority of your time will be spent creating and editing your website in WordPress, but occasionally you may need to edit little bits of code here and there.  This is where a basic knowledge of HTML & CSS comes in.

Check out this fantastic site that you can visit to learn more about HTML & CSS.

7. Social Media

We are all familiar with social media as we all use it every day to chat with our friends and family.  Despite that, do you actually know how social media works?  You may be nodding, yet I very much doubt you do.

Social media is dead easy to understand when you are using it yourself.  Perhaps you only use one or two networks (i.e. Twitter and Facebook) and only tend to communicate with a handful of people regularly.  Things change, however, when you approach social media for your website.  Not only do you need to be familiar with more networks (i.e. Google+, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, etc.), but you need to know how each works differently.

You also need to realise that different social networks are better at different things.  Twitter, for example, is great for talking to people directly, whereas Google+ is better for sharing images and videos with people.  Again, this may seem obvious but it has big implications for how you use them for your business.  There are only so many hours in the day after all.

8. Social Media Marketing

There is a big difference between social media and social media marketing.  Social media is a great way to interact with existing fans of your website.  Social media marketing though is fantastic for finding new fans and helping to spread the word about your blog around the world.

You will need to learn about;

• The marketing rules & regulations of each social network,
• #Hashtag trends that you can tap into,
• Groups/pages/communities that you can join,
• Advertising policies,
• Setting up dedicated pages for your blog,
• URL shorteners,

There are literally billions of people using social media every day.  You just need to learn how to tap into a tiny fraction of that in order to build a community around your site.

9. Networking

Yes, networking and I’m not talking about social networking this time.  There is a famous phrase – “It’s not what you know, but who you know that matters.” that is particularly important for bloggers to remember.

Blogging, as an industry, is one great big community.  Not only is that built up of regular readers, but also by other bloggers as well.  You need to get out there and start making connections with other blog owners.  This doesn’t just apply to other bloggers in your niche, but bloggers who run sites in other industries as well.  Why is this important?  Well not only is it good to learn from one another, but you can help to promote each other’s sites.   Why would you want to promote other people’s sites though?  Well because you can tap into each other’s audience of course.

I have met some fantastic bloggers online from around the world through running this site, some of which I now work with on other projects.  I have been able to learn so much from them and get help when I needed it.  After all, it’s good to know people who are in a similar situation to you.

10. Google Analytics & Webmaster Tools

A couple of incredibly important tools to learn about are Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools.  Both of these greatly help you to understand how your site is performing and can identify areas in which you can improve.  Only by understanding this can your site grow and develop over time.

Again, I’m not going to go into detail about these tools in this post, as there is far too much to cover.  You can, however, check out both our Beginners Guide To Google Analytics and Beginners Guide To Google Webmaster Tools for more info on using them.

11. Photoshop

Photoshop, or an equivalent image manipulator (like GIMP or Paint.NET) is a vital tool for you to use and learn about.  Every blog and website needs images and graphics, so being able to edit them properly is extremely important.

WordPress allows you to upload and edit images within your site itself, but that is very limited.  Whilst it may take slightly longer, it is much better to edit your images before you upload them to your site.  Not only does this mean you can keep image file sizes down, but doing so can help keep your site running quickly.  Site speed is vitally important, so making the effort to optimize your images in Photoshop beforehand is well worth the effort.

12. Branding

Lastly, I want to cover branding as this is often a subject that many new blogs fail to do properly.  In order to create a successful blog, you must create a brand identity that people will be able to recognise.  This can be as simple as designing a logo or using the same pallet of colours across your entire site.  Whatever it is, it needs to be distinctive so that it helps you stand out from the crowd.

It is also important that you use the same branding for your site everywhere.  Make sure that you use the same logo/colours/tag line on your website, social media profiles, emails, newsletters, etc.  Everywhere that people can find you.  That way, people will start to notice you more online and you will begin to build up a community of readers.

Learn To Become A Successful Blogger

Like I said at the beginning of this post, this list could have been much bigger.  I haven’t even mentioned things like; advertising, affiliate marketing, product creation, etc.  All of those are important, but when first starting out you can probably forget about them for now.

If you focus on the 12 things that I have listed above, you will develop a solid foundation on which to build and grow your site over time.  If you get the fundamentals right, everything else will follow.

Do you agree with our list?  What other things would you add for new bloggers to learn about?  What did you find helpful when first starting out?  We want to hear from you so please leave a comment below.

The post 12 Things To Learn To Become A Successful Blogger appeared first on Online Income Teacher.

Web design is something that many people only think about when first setting up their site online.  They may spend hours, days or even weeks pondering over the best placement of a logo, or what colours go well together.  Whatever it may be, once a site owner is happy with the way the site looks it is often forgotten about.  Due to this, there are many sites online that have bad web design features that are putting many people off from revisiting their site.

Running your own website is a rather “unique” experience.  There is often a lot more that goes into it than people originally think, which is one of the reasons why so many people give up prematurely.  When you are not thinking about what your next post will be about, you will be promoting yourself on social media, looking at more ways to monetize your site, replying to endless emails, creating your own product, etc. etc. etc.  Web design is something that is always put on hold until later.  Unfortunately, a sites web design has a much bigger impact on people than you may think.

We have put together a list of 7 “no-nos” of bad web design to avoid.

1. Website Text

You may think web design is all about graphics, colours, pixels, etc. but text is a key part of it that is always overlooked.  Text makes up the majority of your site, which is why it is so important that it is presented well on your site.

Some common examples of bad text on a website would include;

• Small text that is difficult to read,
• Illegible fonts (i.e. fonts that look handwritten),
• Text that appears crowded together,
• Text colour contrast makes it difficult to read,
• Underlined text that is not a link,
• Coloured text that is not a link,
• Paragraphs in all caps/bold/italic.

If people find it difficult to read the content on your site then they won’t stick around for long.  Always, always, always put emphasis on clear and easy to read text on your website.

2. Bad Website Navigation

One thing that really gets on people’s nerves is bad website navigation.  It is infuriating when you are trying to find something on a site but can’t due to;

• Poor navigation,
• Unclear navigation,
• Complicated (and unnecessary) navigation,
• Broken links,
• Pages/post titles that don’t properly explain what they are about,
• Endless scrolling,
• No search bar,

The whole point of creating content for your site is to enable people to find it.  If they can’t, for whatever reason, they will go and find it elsewhere.

Every couple of weeks (or so), have a play around on your website and see if you can find everything.  Better yet, get a friend or family member to test your site for you and see how easy they find your site to use.   Don’t take any criticism to heart; just use it as a way to improve your site further.

3. Bad Overall Design

There are certain web design features that scream out to be fixed, yet for whatever reason, some website owners choose to ignore them.  These not only annoy potential visitors to your site, but they also could be limiting how many people can actually find you.

Some of these overall bad web design features would include;

• Websites that don’t work (or have major issues) on certain browsers,
• Websites that don’t work or appear incorrectly on mobile/tablet devices,
• Excessive use of frames,
• Side scrolling,

Mobile and tablet internet browsing has exploded in recent years (and is set to increase further) so it is incredibly important that you make sure that your site is “mobile friendly”.  Failure to do so only limits the number of people that can potentially find you online.

4. Website Backgrounds

Website backgrounds are something of a divisive subject in certain circles.  Some people love them whereas others absolutely hate them.  Whichever stance you take, there is unquestionably a wrong way to go about using them.  This includes;

• Busy, distracting web backgrounds that take the attention away from the content,
• Backgrounds used under text that make it hard/impossible to read,
• Backgrounds that make you dizzy and want to vomit (like the above picture).

Backgrounds can, when used properly, be a great design addition to a site.  Anything, however, that distracts or makes it harder for the viewer to read should be avoided.

5. Website Links

Every site has links, yet some sites choose to make these links difficult for their readers to see/follow.  Why they would do this is anyone’s guess, but it sure won’t impress many of your visitors.

Try to avoid;

• Dead and broken links,
• Links that aren’t easy to see due to a low contrast in colour,
• Links that are the same colour as your text (how will people find them!),
• Undescriptive links,

Just make things easy for people by making your links as clear as possible.

6. Images

Images, when not used correctly, can cause more problems than you would expect.  The biggest factor is when people use images that are really large (both in terms of dimensions and file size) that cause your site to load much slower.

• Large images that take a long time to load,
• Images that are bigger than the users screen,
• Images with no Alt tags,
• Large (file size) thumbnail images,

There are many things that you can do to help improve your page load speed, but one key aspect is to use properly optimized images.  Doing something as simple as this can improve your site speed greatly.

7. Useless Website Junk & Clutter

To wrap up this list I wanted to quickly talk about the clutter and general junk content that many sites feel the need to include.  I’m talking about things like;

• Excessive amount of adverts,
• Meaningless awards mentioned on every page (who cares you were voted best local website in 1998?)
• Pageview counters,
• Too many links in the sidebar,
• Anything that flashes or blinks,
• Automatic video/audio that starts when you open a page,

If you bombard your visitors with too many things when they land on one of your pages, it can get distracting and/or put people off.  Remember that it is your main content that will keep people on your site, so don’t try to distract their attention away from it.  Of course, there will be certain things that you will want to highlight on your site, but having too many of them can have an adverse effect.  Less is always more in this regard.

How Many Bad Web Design Features Do You Have?

These are just a select few web design features that you can work on.  Ultimately, in order to create a good site you need to think like one of your readers.  Can you find things easily?  Does everything work?  How fast is my site to load?  What things attract/distract my attention?  Answer these questions and you will be on the path to create a much better website.

If you are still unsure, checkout what not to do by visiting “what has been described as” the world’s worst website!

Always remember though that web design is an ongoing process.  Technology is always changing and it is your job to make sure that your site is always up-to-date and working correctly.  Standing still is never a good option, always be looking to evolve, develop, improve and move forward.

Which web design features do you think you could improve upon?  Which features would you add to this list?  We want to hear from you, so please leave a comment below.

The post 7 Really Bad Web Design Features You Should Avoid appeared first on Online Income Teacher.

Many people have varying opinions on Google.  Some feel that it is abhorrently evil, whereas others absolutely love it.  People are divided even further, however, when Google has an effect on their livelihood.  This tends to always raise the question of whether you can live without Google or not.

There are many online businesses and websites that rely heavily on Google, in fact I get to speak to many website owners who are in this situation.  I have had a few people get in touch with me who are angry that “Google has killed my business” and vow to turn their back on it forever.   Perhaps you have had a similar experience, but whatever your feelings are towards it unfortunately your business can’t live without Google.

Personally, I am somewhere in the middle area when it comes to my views on Google.  At times I worry about the monopoly that it has over the internet and the huge influence that it has, however as a website owner I value the tools and global reach that it can give.

There is no real point in trying to fight against Google as you will inevitably lose.  What you can do though is work with it (and its vast array of tools) to help promote your online business.  That is why I decided to put together this list of reasons why your business can’t live without Google.

1. Google Search Traffic

Whilst Bing, Yahoo and other search engines are great, nothing comes close to the huge behemoth that is Google.  Approximately 65-70% of all global internet searchers are done via the Google search engine.

What does this mean?  Well simply that if your online business intends to drive traffic, it needs to make the most of Google.  That is where the vast majority of people are coming from, so why fight against it.

Admittedly, even if you do everything that Google says, things can go wrong when they make updates to their search settings.  This can cause huge variations in traffic (i.e. the Penguin update cause many sites to lose lots of traffic), but unfortunately you just have to grin and bear it.  If future updates do have a knock on effect on your site, try not to be angry (as that will get you nowhere), instead just work towards fixing the issues.  Believe me, this has happened to one of my sites and the only thing that helped was to work WITH Google.

2. Google Analytics Data

Since Google is used by the vast majority of people, it provides the most accurate traffic statistics.  There are many other alternative analytics programs and website data services that you could use, such as; Alexa, Open Site Explorer, Piwik, Parsely and many, many more.

One HUGE advantage that Google Analytics has over many of its competitors is that it can link in with other Google services (most of which are listed below) that help give you a better insight to how your website is performing.

I wouldn’t recommend that you rely solely on Google Analytics, as it helps to have more than one way to assess your site, but I would definitely suggest that it is a tool that you absolutely can’t live without.

3. Google Webmaster Tools

If Google Analytics is focused on the performance of your website, then Google Webmaster Tools is focused on the health of it.

Essentially it allows you to keep track of things like;

• Crawl errors,
• Crawl Stats,
• Malware,
• Sitemap stats,
• HTML Improvements,
• Site speed,
• …and much more.

Check out our beginners guide to Google Webmaster Tools for more information and watch the video below.

4. YouTube

We have already established that Google is the biggest search engine online, but what would you guess is the second biggest?  Bing?  Yahoo?  Baidu?  Nope, it’s none of those.  It is actually YouTube!

OK, so technically YouTube is not a search engine, but in terms of the number of daily searches made, YouTube outdoes all of the other search engines.  This is one of the main reasons why Google paid $1.65 billion for it back in 2006, which is a bargain for what it is probably worth now.

What does this mean for your online business?  Well, there is a HUGE source of traffic to utilize by introducing video to your marketing strategy.  Not only can people find you via the normal search engine, but they can find you via videos on YouTube that you have uploaded that point back to your main site.  What is even better is that you can embed your videos onto your main site as well, so people can watch them there.

There are many types of videos that you can create for your site, the point is that it helps to market your business.  You can even earn money from your videos via YouTube’s partner program.  In fact some individuals have been able to ditch their jobs and work full time online making YouTube videos, so it is well worth doing.

5. Google Keyword Planner

In order to make the most use of Google to send traffic your way, you need to figure out what people are searching for online.  This is where the keyword planner tool comes in, as it allows you to search for popular keywords and keyphrases that are being used.

This allows you to create content, whether that is in the form of a blog post, a YouTube video, a slideshow, etc. that will help to attract traffic.  Your time is precious, so spending that time creating content that has a good chance of being found is infinitely better than creating content that has little or no chance of people finding it.

This is definitely a tool that you need to start using!

6. Google Trends

Google trends is quite similar to the keyword planner tool, in the fact that you can find what people are searching for online.  The main difference though is that Google Trends focuses on what people are searching for right now and how popular that search term has changed over time.

This is not only great for (again) targeting your content for people, but also finding what people are searching for within your niche.  It can also be great for choosing a website niche in the first place, as then you know what sort of size your target audience is.

7. Google+

Facebook and Twitter tend to grab all the headlines, but Google+ is arguably the most important and influential search engine around at the moment.  You could say that it is still in its infancy, but it is, without doubt, growing very quickly.

What makes it so influential is the fact that it is linked with Google’s other products, particularly its search engine.  You can now find listings that your Google+ friends have shared in the past or see your friends/colleagues posts in the SERPs when you wouldn’t normally.

Google authorship is also closely linked to Google+, allowing a small picture to appear next to your content in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).  This has been proved to increase the clickthrough rate to websites that have this enabled, making it even more important that you set yours up.

You can also setup individual Google+ pages for your business.  Not only is this another way for people to find you online, but it also provides additional information next to your main site listing on Google.

8. Google Maps

If you want to find where a place is, where do you tend to go first?  Google maps is the go-to place for the vast majority of people online.

Again, where Google maps differs to many of its competitors is that it is linked with the other Google tools/services.  When you search for a place, not only will you find where it is, you will get (or at least if it is setup properly);

• A link to their website,
• Address,
• Phone Number,
• Google+ link,
• Photos,
• Street view,
• Reviews,
• Directions,

If you are a business with a physical location, you cannot neglect Google maps.  It is simply a service that you MUST use in order for people to find you.

9. Google AdWords

A key way of attracting more people to your website is by advertising online.  Now whilst you can attract lots of people by advertising on specific sites or even offline, one of the best is to advertise on Google itself.  This is done by using AdWords.

I would explain how the whole process works, but it is much easier if you just watch the video below that describes how it all works.

10. Google Translate

Whilst there are a lot of people in the world that speak and read English, there are many more who don’t.  The greatest thing about the internet is that it has made the whole world smaller.  People from all corners of the world can find your website with a few clicks, but that doesn’t mean that they can understand everything.

This is where Google translate comes in.  It is by far the most used translation tool online, making it simple for people of other nationalities to read your content.  If people use Google Chrome (more on that later) then that translation process is done automatically when a website is opened.  Even if you use another browser, you can install the Google translate app/extension and that will work also.  You can even install an app/button on your website itself, allowing people to translate your site when they land on it.

This Google tool is one that you don’t really need to worry about, though arguably it is one of the most important ones.  This very site attracts readers from every continent in the world (which is amazing!), so I owe a lot to the translate tool.

11. Android

Android devices account for approximately 75% of the global smartphone/tablet market.  Since mobile internet usage is dramatically increasing, it is vitally important that websites are “mobile friendly” for people to view whilst on the go.

The Google Play store is also one of the largest mobile app stores online, meaning that if your business intends to make its mark within the app market, it needs to do so for Android devices.  The Apple store for iPhone/iPad users and Windows app store are equally as important, but since Android holds such a hold on the market you can’t afford to neglect them.

12. Google Hangouts

More and more people are making use of video calls (or video conferencing) to connect with other people.  Not only is this great to keep in touch with distant family members, but it is also a good way to connect with clients, business contacts and colleagues.

Skype is currently the market leader in this field, but Google Hangouts isn’t far behind.  Google’s smart move was to link it up with YouTube, allowing people to record and publish their video conversations to their YouTube channels for free.  This is great for businesses as they can easily record video conferences and interviews to share with their wider community.

13. Google AdSense

There are many different ways to monetize a website, advertising is just one method that you can use.  AdSense can be a good choice for many sites, though affiliate marketing and banner advertising are just as, if not better alternatives.

What AdSense can offer though is targeted adverts that fit in with your other content.  This can encourage people to click on them more, which in turn helps to increase your revenue.

14. Google Drive

Cloud storage is a very competitive industry at the moment, what with companies like Dropbox, Amazon Cloud Drive, Box, Microsoft OneDrive and Apple iCloud, to name a few, all competing for the same people.

Google Drive is one of the most widely used cloud storage services, simply because it makes it easy to store and share all of your documents between all of your different devices.  This makes it perfect for businesses as they can share files between different people.

Google drive works seamlessly between Gmail, Google Docs, Google+, Android and other Google tools, making it simple to access what you are after.

15. Google Chrome

If you run a website you will know how important it is to test to see whether everything works across multiple browsers.  Since Google Chrome is arguably the most widely used browser online, it pays to make sure that it works perfectly on there first.

Google Chrome also features on their Android system, making it all the more important that you test your site to see if everything functions correctly.

So Can Your Business Live Without Google?

Google is being incredibly smart by building and linking all of their tools and services together to create a gigantic network.   Arguably though, it is because of this huge network that so many people are concerned about Google’s hold on the internet.

Whatever your personal views are about Google as a company, it is this network that is the reason why you should be working WITH Google and not against them, as you wouldn’t get very far without it.   It allows you to reach the most people online, with the greatest ease, with the best integrated tools at your disposal.  At the end of the day, it makes good business sense.

What are your views on Google as a whole?  Which Google tools/services could you not live without?  We want to hear your views, so please get in touch below via the comment system.

The post 15 Reasons Why Your Business Can’t Live Without Google appeared first on Online Income Teacher.

Many people access the Alexa.com website regularly in order to gain analytical information pertaining to their websites. A lot of people put a great deal of stock into the Alexa rating system. While it may be a useful tool in determining how some of your visitors access the site, is it truly a representative of how well your blog performs?

Those that install the Alexa toolbar are the most prominent sources of the rating system. Every website these users access is recorded in the system in order to provide a list of the most popular sites. Unfortunately, there are a few aspects of the system that can skew the results making it less than ideal to use as a way to gauge performance such as:

• Tracks all activity of the root domain
• Alexa toolbar users are the primary source of information
• Installing the toolbar yourself can inflate the rating

1. The Root Domain

Any access to various parts of your website impact the root domain in Alexa. This means that if you have subdomains within your site each with a separate blog or different subject material, all of the visits will be displayed under your primary domain name. For instance, visits to boating.123abc.com and daycare.123abc.com will combine to give an overall rating for 123abc.com. If you need statistical information separating those two subdomains, Alexa is not the tool you want to use.

2. Alexa Toolbar/Extension Users

Those using the installable toolbar or browser extensions from Alexa are the primary methods of collecting information. This means that users that do not have the toolbar installed are not reflected in Alexa’s data. While the toolbar itself is used by a wide variety of individuals, the data is still incomplete in order to justify the rating system.

3. Your Own Toolbar/Extension Installation

If you install the toolbar yourself and frequent your own website, this could inflate the rating to make the site look more appealing. Unfortunately, it also provides you with a false sense of security that your site is performing well. If you use Joomla, WordPress or any other content management system that utilizes an administrator panel for submitting content, the Alexa toolbar will record that visit. Even if you’re not trying to inflate your rating, it can still happen simply by accessing the admin panel of your website.

Are there Benefits to Using Alexa?

Although the rating results can be completely skewed by your own activity, Alexa can still provide decent information pertaining to those users that access its pages. While this list of information is centered around Alexa toolbar users, it can still be valuable to further engage those individuals by showing:

• Keywords used by those visitors to find your content
• Basic biographical data of the Alexa users
• Basic demographic data of user locations
• Daily time spent on your website
• Bounce rate percentage

Coincidentally, all of this information is also available in other free tools such as Google Analytics which bases information regarding all of your visitors and not just those with a toolbar installed.

For what it is, Alexa can be beneficial to give you an overall sense of your blog’s potential. However, the numbers are greatly misleading as there are too many ways that the rating can be modified. Although your blog may look popular according to the Alexa rating, that doesn’t mean you can start planning for your retirement.

The post Does An Alexa Rating Really Impact Your Blog? appeared first on Online Income Teacher.

I get sent plenty of questions from people asking about the different aspects of blogging and running a website.  One of the most common types of people who get in touch are from individuals who are thinking about, but are hesitating on starting a blog.  If you are one of these people then you are not alone.  It is completely natural to feel like that (I went through a similar thing when I started), so I thought I’d but together this post to address the common issues that people face before taking the plunge and launching their first blog.

Money Is Tight

“I want to start a website, but money is tight.”

This is an issue that comes up a lot and is a very valid question that people need answering.   What do you do when you want to start a blog, but you have a very limited budget.

Well firstly, many people often overestimate just how much a website costs to setup/run.  We talk about this in our ‘How Much Does It Cost To Build A Website’ where we estimate that you can get a self-hosted site up and running for about $60.51 for a WHOLE year (which is only $5.04 a month or $1.16 a week if you work it out like that).  That really isn’t a lot when you think about it.  Essentially you are investing in a business, as your website could easily make that back through advertising, affiliate marketing, product sales, etc.

Still, if money is a problem then there are some free alternatives that you could use.  These certainly aren’t anywhere near as good as self-hosted sites, but they do allow you to get online quickly.  There are plenty of different blogging platforms to choose between, but if I had to recommend one I’d go with WordPress.com.  The fact that it is WordPress means that you have plenty of flexibility over the look and feel of your site, plus if you want to transfer to a self-hosted site in the future (which is much better) then it is fairly straight forward to do with WordPress.

No Experience/ Think It Is Too Complicated

“I want to start a blog but I have no idea where to start.”

This is something that I think everyone feels when first starting out.  You have to remember though that even the most successful website owners started at this point.

Website building and blogging have come a long way in a fairly short period of time.  At one time you needed to be a computer whiz that was really knowledgeable about coding.  Nowadays, thankfully that isn’t the case anymore.   Systems like WordPress make it really easy to setup a website without the need to learn any code at all.  That leaves you able to concentrate on what is really important and focus on the content of your website.

Probably the most complex thing that you need to learn about (sooner rather than later) is about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), but even then, that isn’t too complicated when you learn the fundamentals.  Essentially it is just a way to make your site and individual posts more visible to the search engines, which is what will send you the most traffic.  On-page SEO techniques is where you need to start as they can really help attract more traffic to your site.

Anything can seem scary and complicated when you know little about it.  “Knowledge is power” as they say, so it is just a case of getting stuck in and learning about it.  If I can do it, then anyone can!

Don’t Know What To Blog About

“I want to start a blog but I have no idea on what to write about.”

If you are at the point where you know that you want to setup a blog, but just haven’t got a clue on what that blog should be about, then you need to sit down with a pan & pen and do some planning.

The first thing that I say to anybody in this situation is – “What are you passionate about?”

You need to be passionate about the subject you want to blog about.  It takes a lot of work in the initial stages to get a site up and running, so you need to be interested in that subject.  Pick a subject for the wrong reasons (simply to make money) and you may find that you lose interest quickly.  I absolutely love blogging and helping people, which is what keeps me interested and motivated to keep putting in the hours on this site.

Whilst passion is obviously vital, you still need to think about the direct you want to take the site in and, of course, whether there is an audience out there that would be interested.

You may have a huge, slightly mad passion about frogs (for example), but would there be enough people who share that passion to start a website on it.  You may be better, in that case, broadening out a bit to cover other amphibians, therefore widening your target audience.

Frogs may be a daft example (to most anyway), but hopefully you see the point.  You need to find a nice balance between something that “you” are interested in and something that “lots of people” find interesting as well.  Let’s face it; you could have the world’s best site on [insert subject], but if you are the only one interested in it, then what is the point!

Check out our post on choosing a blog niche for more information.

Too Many Ideas To Blog About

“I want to start a blog but I have too many ideas on what to write about.”

Opposite to the previous point, you may have lots of different ideas on what to blog about.  This is actually one of the most common types of question that I get asked.  It’s easy to do, after all, plenty of ideas can race through you head on what you could focus on.  The key is to focus on one or two, instead of all of them.

You may be interested in;

• Technology
• Health & Fitness
• Food
• Films
• Frogs (why not)

Clearly, starting a blog that tries to cover all of these subjects would be ridiculous.  Not only would you struggle to find a target audience (as they wouldn’t know what your main focus was), but you would also be spreading yourself too thinly by writing on all these unrelated subjects.

Instead, you would be much better focusing on one or two of these.  That way, when people discover your site, it is clear to see what your main focus is.  For example, a blog on healthy food or technology used in the movie business would be good topics to focus on.

Still Hesitating On Starting A Blog?

Starting a blog can be a big decision, especially if it is your first.  There is a lot to consider beforehand, but at the end of the day there comes a point where you need to pluck up the courage and take the plunge by actually starting your site.  You can’t possibly learn everything beforehand, but if you take it in small steps you can learn and improve your site as you go along.  Don’t be afraid to make mistakes as you are bound to make plenty.  There is nothing wrong with making mistakes as they are often the best way of learning.

Just remember that every successful website started at the very same point.  All you need is that one spark of an idea and some persistence, with that anything is possible!

Are you thinking about starting your own blog but don’t know where to start?  Do you have any questions that you need answering before taking the plunge?  If so, please feel free to leave them below in a comment and I will try to answer them for you.

The post Are You Hesitating On Starting A Blog? appeared first on Online Income Teacher.

Never before has it been easier for you to setup your own website online.  So much so, in fact, that it is incredibly quick to do so, meaning that you shouldn’t have the excuse of “I haven’t got enough time to setup a website” as it can be done easily in under 15 minutes!

This post will guide you through the process to setup a website and get it online for you to grow, be it a business website, a personal website or something in-between.  So without further ado, let’s get started… the clock is ticking after all.

Register A Domain Name

First thing you need to sort out is a Domain name.  This is essentially the address of your site (e.g. www.domainname.com) and every site needs one in order to be found online.

Now there are many sites online where you can buy a domain name from, such as; GoDaddy.com, Register.com, 123-reg.co.uk, 1and1.com, etc. but all function in exactly the same way.  For the purpose of this example, I’ll be using GoDaddy as that’s the site I use when registering all my domain names.

Simply enter in the domain name that you want to use (i.e. MyDomainNameExample) and the site will let you know if it is already in use.  You may find that certain domain extensions are already in use, but others (i.e. .co.uk, .net, .biz, etc.) are still available.  Try if you can to get the .com version as that is the one most people will enter automatically.

When you are happy with the name you have chosen, follow the onscreen instructions to purchase your domain.  This will simply involve entering your details, payment and most importantly choosing how long you want to register it for.  I’d probably recommend registering for 12 months to start with and then after that time has passed, re-registering for a few years in advance.  That way, you know that your domain name is yours for the foreseeable future.

Here are a couple of posts to help you choose a good domain name that you can read;

• Domain Name Registration Tips
• How To Get The Domain You Really Want

Setup Web Hosting

Next up, we need to purchase space online for all your website files to be stored.  This is called ‘Hosting’ as it is where these files are “hosted” for people to find 24hrs a day, 7 days a week.

Again, there are many places online where you can purchase Hosting from, such as; HostGator.com, DreamHost.com, 1and1.com, etc. but all generally work in the same way.  I’ll be using HostGator as an example as that is the one I use to host all my sites on.

All you have to do is choose the right package that you want to go for.  HostGator gives you the option of going with the;

• Hatchling Plan – Single site domains
• Baby Plan – Unlimited domains
• Business Plan – Unlimited domains with added features

As you are reading this guide, this is probably your first website so you are better off going for the Hatchling Plan to start with.  If you want to create further sites in the future, you can always upgrade to the Baby/Business plan later.

Follow the onscreen instructions to purchase your hosting package.  You will be asked to enter in your existing domain name (that we have just registered previously) before you make your final payment.  You are now the owner of hosting space for your site.

The last thing you need to do is link your domain and hosting together so that when you type in your domain, you get directed to your hosting space and any files that are stored there.  To do this, follow our simple ‘Linking Your Domain Name & Web Hosting Together’ guide.

Install WordPress

We have your domain and hosting all sorted out, now we need a way to help you create your site.  Years ago, you needed to be able to manually code a site to get it up online, but nowadays there are great content management systems (CMS) that you can use to make the job a whole lot easier.

WordPress is the Godfather of CMS and is used by millions of sites around the word (including this very site).  What makes it so popular is that it is incredibly easy to use and, more importantly, allows you to create professional, custom sites to your liking.

If you went with HostGator, you can follow our guide to install WordPress for your site here that only takes a minute or two – ‘Setting Up WordPress’.  Don’t worry if you went with another hosting provider though as many use the same method as shown.

With that, you now have your very own website up and running. Congratulations!  That didn’t take that long now did it.

Hurray, Your Online!!! …Now What?

Once you have WordPress installed, the fun really begins as you can start to play around with the way it looks and, of course, add all your content.

Check out our ‘Getting Started With WordPress – Beginners Guide’ to help you find your way around your brand new site.  Here we show you how to add new pages, posts, install plugins, menus and much more.

Also, check out our ‘Genesis Framework Review’ as we explain why we chose to purchase one of their premium themes to really make our website stand out from the crowd.

Are you starting a new website?  Do you have any questions that you need answering?  We are here to help you, so let us know what you need help with in the comment section below and we will try to answer it for you.

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