Hey you guys, Mark here.
I broke my right Clavicle, causing severe pain, stopping me from using my right arm at all. Not a good d
ay for me. 
There will be no posts here on MonkeyBlogger as my arm is in bad shape and it has taken me forever to post this with one hand.
I ask that you all stick around though, as soon as I’m better I will be posting once again. 
Regards,
- Mark Cuda
This is the start of a new series, and I think it’s going to be the longest.
So, long, I don’t even know when we’ll end it. 
But in all honesty, this is something so many people want to learn how to do, but just can’t, and granted, it can be tough at first, but once you’ve installed, configured, and run many blogs, it becomes second nature. 
So today, and for the rest of the series, I’m going to talk about just that.
Each article will focus on one aspect of creating a blog, whether it be the hosting, installing, configuring, etc.
Then once we have finished this series, we’ll be releasing a new series entitled “The Ultimate Guide to Running a Blog” and that one will be a doozy as well.
So without further ado, let’s get the show on the road!
Now, before you can even think of starting a blog, you gotta have somewhere to put it! Many people don’t realize you don’t just make a blog, you have to have a domain, hosting, and the knowledge to set it up, and we’ll provide that today.
Before you can put a blog somewhere, you need a name, or a domain, such as www.theblogsite.com or www.myblogsite.com and you can register them at places such as NameCheap or Godaddy or any other domain registrar. The steps are simple. You choose your domain and extension, (.com .org .net) and I recommend .com and then you buy it! Let’s go through the steps if you were using Namecheap, which is my registrar of choice.
The First step is choosing the domain. Point your browser to www.namecheap.com and you’ll be asked to enter in your domain name and the extension. Once you do that, click search. (See Example 1)
Once you search, you’ll see a list of the domain in all extensions, and if they are available. (See Example 2) If they are, it will say “available” next to it. For now, leave them all unchecked except the .com which is already selected, and then click “Add to Cart” (Example 2)
On the next page, you are going to want to click the button that says “Standard Checkout” and then it will ask you to login. All you need to do is then create an account, and pay!
In the next part, we’ll talk about hosting, where to get it, who to go with, and how much to pay.
Well we’ve made it! One month old! I know that’s nothing to the three and four year old blogs, but to me, I’m happy to have made it this far.
Well, along with the one month anniversary, I’m pleased to announce the winner of the MonkeyBlogger Mini Contest!
The Winner of a one month 125×125 advertisement and a free review on MonkeyBlogger is…..
Drumroll Please!
Drums…
Drums…..
Drums……..
Nathaniel!
Congrats Nathaniel of http://www.green-flamingo.com/
As proof here’s a snapshot of the 6 people who entered and their places.
Well, Nathaniel, you have 1 week to email me or Mike from Bloggin-ads.com will get the prizes.
I’m so happy we’ve made it one month, and I can’t wait until we hit 1 year!
With the multitudes of blogs, (especially in the “MMO” niche) there are too many blogs that look exactly the same, sound the same, and use the same re-hashed content.
Yeah, you can change a couple of things here and there on the John Cow theme, but it’s not really going to do much.
Yeah, you can re-write someone else’s articles, but eventually readers will be tired of the same old content. Everyone knows how to make $1000 a day with no work, or how to become a 100K a month affiliate marketer.
When your starting a blog branding is in my opinion, the most important thing. I’m not saying that content isn’t very important, but when your starting a blog, you need to make it stand out from the millions of others. Once your blog is unique enough, then worry about your content.
We’re going to go through three things that, to me at least, are uber essential when starting a blog, and trying to brand it.
Everyone can download the newest Wordpress themes, or buy the John Cow theme, but does this set them apart? No. Don’t let yourself be fooled thinking it does. Now, I know that not everyone can afford a custom theme, but at least customize the theme you have. Change the colors on the John Cow, get a nice header done, change the fonts up a bit. Do something or your blog will get thrown in with the other 5000 using the John Cow theme or any other popular “blogging” Wordpress themes.
The best thing you can do is get a custom theme done. Now, other places charge $700, $900, heck, Unique Blog Designs charges like $1500. But for a limited time, (I know I’m plugging, please forgive me) I’m going to offer my readers discounted theme designs! I will design a fully custom wordpress theme for $300, and if you would like a full cartoon header, (like mine) It will be $500. I know that seems like a lot, but it’s much cheaper than the other guys, and for $500 your getting a kick butt header with full cartoon, like mine.
Another thing you can do to brand your blog is get a mascot of custom cartoon header, like I mentioned. I can create you a mascot for $150 and a full custom header for $250. (It’s cheaper if you get it with a theme like I mentioned above. 
)
But it’s essential to brand your blog and custom designs really help in doing that. My blog is using a custom theme I made as well as mascot/header. I think it really sets MonkeyBlogger apart.
Now, I talked about this in full detail in my post Consistency People!, where I spoke about consistent blogging style, and also in my post Don’t Lose your Originality I spoke about keeping your posting style and content original.
This is really tough, but it’s essential. When you have the same content, but with a twist, or laid out in an original and interesting style, then people will read it. This is really important to do, and if you don’t, you will not be set apart from every other blog.
I know this seems super broad, but really, be unique! Do something no blogger has done. Hold a crazy contest! Give away something no one does, like an iPod. Really get yourself out there, and show everyone in the blogosphere that your not another blog that no one will care about in 6 months, but that you know what your talking about, and you will provide them with some great unique content or products. You could even give away an eBook.
One thing I’m going to do is make T-shirts, but more on that later.
These are just a few things you can do that will really brand your blog, and will set it apart, and can even make your blog promote itself!
This is really just an encouraging post more than anything.
To be perfectly honest, you cannot post every single day.
Yeah, ok, maybe Jason at The University Kid can pull it off, but he’s been using quite a few guest posters.
What my point is, is that Life Happens. Time and unforeseen occurrence befall us all. Even The Bible speaks of this.
You are always going to have that one day, or even those few days, where you 1) Cannot post or 2) Can’t even access your blog.
I had one of those days yesterday. I just had so much going on, but I did plan 1 hour to write up a post. But of course, what happened?
I got a call, and absolutely had to leave, and I had no internet or even computer access where I was.
Now, at first, this was really depressing, but I realized, “Hey, there was nothing I could have done.” I had no choice but to leave, and I had no way of posting where I was.
I know this post sounds like a quack so far, but my point is this.
As a blogger, you try and and post every day, in fact, you may even promise your bloggers a post every day, and if you miss a day, it can be very depressing. But, you can’t let this get you down! If you do, your blog will fail. Sure, it sucks when you can’t get a post out a certain day, but your readers will forgive you. (I hope so, at least ) But in all honesty, on all the blogs I’ve had, I always had those kinds of days, and as long as I apologized for it, (I think I’m doing that in this whole post ) my readers were usually very forgiving. If they aren’t then ban them they weren’t very loyal readers, and you probably would have lost them anyways.
So basically, if you can’t post for one day, don’t worry, because life happens, and you’ll always have these kinds of days.
So just keep on keepin’ on, and stay strong in your blogging, because that’s what will set you apart from other blogs. Determination.
