Posts Tagged ‘blog’

Hey everybody. Well, like I promised, we are going to start producing kick butt content. Today. That’s right, I said today. Right here, right now, you are going to start getting blown away by what we’re going to accomplish here.

The challenge continues today, but I’m going to raise the stakes, and make this a little more interesting. Remember when you all voted to pick which of the three choices I would pursue? Click here to check out that post. Now, if you look, “Create a blog and sell it for $500 or more of profit” is the choice that won. But wait…what came in second place? Ah yes, “Create a blog and get it earning $100 a month” came in second. But guess what? We are officially adding that goal to the MonkeyBlogger Challenge. So now, we will create a blog, get it earning $100 or more a month, and sell it for $500 or more. But you know what, why stop there? Let’s make it $750…heck $1,000! Yeah! Now we’re talking!

So it’s settled then. We’ll create a blog, get it earning $100 a month, and sell it for at least $1,000.

When I say $100 a month, I don’t mean $100 gross profit, we’re talking net. So yes, there will be expenses for every month, but we’ll be profiting off it, so who cares right?

Now, the next step in the challenge is picking a name and domain, and we’ve done that. The name for our technology blog for the challenge is “Tech Smack” and the domain is www.techsmack.net

One reason I went with .net is because I can prove to those few skeptical ones that a .net site can still be just as valuable as a .com site. The other reason was that everything .com was taken. Haha, at least all the good ones. Either way, this challenge will prove that it can work.

That’s it for today, tomorrow we’ll start the blog creation, organization, customization and optimization processes and get the ball rolling. So stay close, it’s coming!

*NOTE* We here in Florida have a Hurricane/Tropical Storm coming, so there is a chance that tomorrow’s post will be delayed, but if it’s at all possible, tomorrow’s post will come tomorrow. *NOTE*

First off, I want to apologize for the delay, but my grandma has not been doing well at all, and I’ve been at the hospital almost every day, so it’s been tough on the family. But I’m taking time to write this up, as it’s important I think.

The time has come for use to move onto the first step of the MonkeyBlogger Challenge. Picking a niche. Now, this is one of the toughest, and most crucial steps when it comes to starting a blog or website with the goal of selling for profit.

So for our blog, that’s the first thing we want to figure out. What is it we want to do with this blog? What do we want to promote? A product? A service? Is is a news blog? Thes are all things we need to consider.

I’ve done a lot of research and thought regarding this, and I’ve decided to go with a news blog. But the next step is choosing what type of news blog. Considering there are many news blogs, I don’t want to be too general with my niche.  For example, I wouldn’t go for a blog like www.tuaw.com, which covers everything Apple, but something like www.appleiphoneapps.com, which covers just iPhone apps.

So I’ve picked four general niches, and I’m looking for the help of my readers to pick which one to go with, and then what sub-niche to go with. So, in the comments, leave which of the four you think I should choose and why, as well as some sub-niche ideas. I’ll consider all and then choose what to go with, and we’ll discuss that in another post.

So without further adu, here are the four niche choices.

1. Technology
2. Music
3. Television
4. Sports

Now it’s time for your input.

This post is guest blogged by Tom Sinfield from StandOutBlogger.com where he provides challenging posts that will help you increase your blogging potential. I want to thank him, it really is helping me out big time. Check out his blog, I really, honestly like it, it’s a great one. (And I’m not just saying that ) I also need more guest posters, so if your interested, shoot me an email. Thanks!

How many times have you seen a blogger bounce into the scene, claiming that he will be the next John Chow, blogs frantically for a couple of weeks and just seems to be getting some momentum – and then disappears?

I don’t know about you, but I have seen this happen all to often. People come in thinking that blogging is just easy money and when they realize that you have to work hard on it just like any other business, they quit.

I think that these new bloggers are being sold a fantasy by ‘get rich quick’ ebooks promoted by internet marketers looking to make a quick buck and other bloggers who fudge their figures to make themselves look good.

I guess what I am trying to say is that blogging is hard work. However that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t give it a go, because there is the potential to make big money blogging. But it isn’t going to happen over night – it will take time and effort and training, and mistakes, and ups and downs. Your success will depend on how much you really want to succeed blogging, because I have seen people who have a lot of head knowledge about a topic and so much potential but their blog just fizzles out. But I have also seen young everyday people, who if you asked them, had nothing special to offer – yet they had a drive within them to make something of blogging no matter what. And you know what? They are doing fantastic. Their blogs are successful. They are getting high traffic levels. They are making a good living from their blogs, and they have built themselves an influence that money cannot buy.

So let me ask you one more time.

How much do you really want to succeed in your blogging?

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.

Domain

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.

Step One

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)

Example One

Step Two

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)

Example Two

Step Three

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!