My first blog post, written 5 years ago, in March 2013, can be seen below. It made the cut.

Sentimental reasons?

Not sure really. Maybe I decided to keep it as an example to myself, and for anyone else that finds it amusing. I'm sure several will.

But what even brought this about?

It's time to clean up this blog. All the old "just getting started" posts are going bye-bye. We've reached the next level of blogging, and it does not include keeping the clutter.

So why keep one? Why would I bother to hang on to my first blog post, from 5 years ago, that looks like was written by a 5th grader?

It's interesting to see how far a person can advance, grow, and change since their beginning. Who is now banging out websites, blog posts, videos, and articles on a very regular basis.

Sometimes the hardest part is just getting started. For others getting started may be easy, but going beyond a comfort point might be the hold back.

That's what happened with me. After my first blog post, I reached a point that I was unfamiliar with, and that I knew was going to require some searching, studying, learning, and then doing. And that's when I became stuck.

But when it comes to something that we really want to do, we will have to find a way to get through that sticking point. We all know the feeling of satisfaction that will result from our breakthrough.

It's true. 

Blogging is your first step to building a list, becoming a content marketer, and even to becoming an SEO expert. These are acquired skills that come through a transcending process.

And yes, you guessed it. Your first blog post is your first step.

The post My First Blog Post – Don’t Do It Like That, Do It Like This appeared first on Internet Marketing For Beginners.

Are you a beginner online marketer? Have you been told you should be blogging? Has this made you wonder how to use a blog for business?

So what's this all about? Why should you bother with a blog and how can it benefit you?

A blog is the perfect platform for doing those things. Use the blog to tell people about yourself. 

Striving for Excellence

If you find this information valuable please subscribe to get future posts delivered to your email, and please leave us a comment…thanks!

• YouTube
• Google+
• Facebook

The post Are You Using A Blog For Business. If You’re Not, You Should Be. appeared first on Internet Marketing For Beginners.

There are right ways and wrong ways of doing just about everything ... would you agree? Writing blog posts and articles are no exception. At least not if you want to get read, and if you want people to take you seriously, and to come back for more.

Formats, styles, content, and how you deliver is ever evolving, but one thing remains constant, and that's how you write to get your readers attention, and to keep ​their attention.

The fact is, there are some critical basics for writing blog posts that never go out of style. I've listed a few of those here for you.

Get personal. Write like a fellow human being and like a friend. Tell your story. Weave it in with your topic and content. You'll be amazed at the difference in reactions and attention. People love it when they have something they can really relate too. Your story may be their story too. Everyone can appreciate a good story, and now you are not just writing, but conversing as well. There is nothing better than captivating the attention of your reader with something that has an impact on them. Stories can do that well. 

It's all about them ... the readers. How will your product make them feel, or make things easier for them, or change their financial situation. Regardless of what your product is, your readers don't care so much about all the features of the product, they care about how it will affect them. Tell your story, or the product story, in a way that makes it about them, the reader. How will THEY benefit?

Above all else ... just get started and you can perfect your blogging skills and your SEO knowledge along the way.Yes, Google will be looking for all the things I mentioned in the previous paragraphs. But that doesn't mean holding yourself back thinking it all has to be perfect or that you need to know everything. Writing blog posts is something that you will get better at as you go.

Striving for Excellence

If you find this information valuable please subscribe to get future posts delivered to your email, and please leave us a comment…thanks!

• YouTube
• Google+
• Facebook

The post A,B,C’s of Writing Blog Posts appeared first on Internet Marketing For Beginners.

In my mind, everyone that is starting out or attempting internet marketing should for sure be doing some basic foundational activities. One of those activities is blogging. Blogging can take you down a lot of avenues because of the sharing aspects available online now. Your blog is your hub and everything branches out from there. It’s your home base. Everyone should have a blog.

So …to get started… of course you need to install and set up the blog, but first, you will want to have chosen and acquired a domain name. This is something that you should put some thought into. It will be your name tag online. Just the simple fact that you have your domain name can change the way people see you online. Now you are a serious marketer. It will set you apart from those who are not serious. Doesn’t sound like much I know but you would be surprised.

Put Some Thought Into Your Domain Name Choice

Your domain name will tie in with the niche market that you are going after. Targeting a select group of people will create far more efficiency in your marketing efforts and create better faster results. This is another area you would want to put some thought into …. but don’t over think it. I see far too many people get stuck with this and never get past the planning stage. This is a critical mistake that people make and it takes them right out of the game. We will teach you to just do it.

To install a WordPress blog you will need a hosting account. The blog itself is free but there is a minimal charge for hosting account…. however hosting is something that you are going to need anyway. If you continue on to learning how to set up lead capture pages and sales funnels you will need a hosting account. I use HostGator and it works just fine for me. Perfectly adequate and easy to navigate. Once you have HostGator you can install your WordPress blog right inside your hosting account C-Panel (back office) with just a couple clicks – super easy.

You will also want to learn how to create image banners and edit images. This is also free and fun. Microsoft Paint is fine for this, or any number of other image editing software. Some are free and some that are more advanced you can purchase. Images are important for blogging. Your cover image of course … but also images in your posts have a purpose as well.

And the icing on the cake is your lead capturing opt-in form that will be included with all your blog posts. The opt-in form is the beginning of a funnel that will capture leads, drip info on those leads, and direct them down the path to wherever you want them to go.

Watch this video for more clarification on who should have a blog

by Brett Gurney

Striving for Excellence

If you find this information valuable please subscribe to get future posts delivered to your email, and please leave us a comment…thanks!

• YouTube
• Google+
• Facebook

The post Who Should Have A Blog? Everyone That’s Trying To Market Online appeared first on Internet Marketing For Beginners.

Images for blogging do matter and in this blog post we will discuss why.

First, let me say this ….content marketing is arguably one of the most important things a person can do for branding themselves and their businesses online. Having quality keyword-rich content on your blog or website is what will attract visitors doing searches online.

It’s known that blogging more than once weekly increases your rank placing and will get you more traffic than if your blog appears naked. It’s not hard to double your traffic fast if you blog consistently and often.

But the trick is to get your visitors and readers to come back for more. Images for blogging can be a big help in making that happen. They will break up the text making it easier on the eyes, they can be used for stressing main points, adding additional explanations to any topic, adding extra SEO juice to your post, and just making things more interesting. Entertaining and attractive content will bring readers back. Being careful to choose relevant and attractive images for your blog posts is well worth the time invested.

There are many different ways to go about locating and using images for your blogs and articles.

Take Photos Yourself

Phones today have great cameras in them as you well know. They can be used to produce great images, and of course a digital camera too. Naturally, you want your photos to be relevant to the topic you are writing about, so if there is something you can do yourself that fits, by all means, have at it. You can snap a location you are in, a lifestyle you are writing about, products you might be promoting, or events you are attending. Make sure the lighting is good and for product pics you can make yourself a light box or outside in natural light.

Be Creative

Images for blogging don’t have to be photographs. You can relay great messages that hit your topic using quotes on a good background. It’s a great way to grab attention to a point you are trying to make and add interest at the same time. Good images grab eyeballs so you can really use that to stress something you want to get across.

Hire Someone

If your budget allows you can always hire someone that you trust to create your images for you. Fiverr is a good site for that and it’s affordable. There are other graphic designers on similar sites. this is a good alternative if you don’t have a lot of spare time or if you happen to have someone that you know will be better at coming up with ideas. If you outsource your blog posts you can ask your writer if they know someone.

Check Out Stock Photo Sites

There are plenty of images for blogging available out there you just have to look around a little. iStockphoto and Pixabay just to name a couple. Some are free and some are paid. If you search enough you can find appropriate photos or images for almost any project. Make sure though that you familiarize yourself with the copyright rules and licenses and act accordingly.

Images are good to use and they can benefit your content creation in a big way, but at the same time, you don’t want to go overboard with them. Also, loading time can be a factor for your website so take this into account and use the smallest images you can get away with. Another thing, remember to use “alt tags” on the images to make the search engines happy and create more juice for your rankings. The “alt tags” also provide the reader with a description if the image fails to load.

Happy blogging and make a habit of using at least one or two relevant images in every post.

by Brett Gurney

Striving for Excellence

If you find this information valuable please subscribe to get future posts delivered to your email, and please leave us a comment…thanks!

• YouTube
• Google+
• Facebook

The post Images For Blogging – What’s The Big Deal? appeared first on Internet Marketing For Beginners.

Does your writing have much to be desired?

Relax, it’s ok … it’s not so uncommon. In fact, it’s really quite common.

Some people just hate to write. They are not good at it. They write anyway, because they want to blog, but it just stinks. It’s not readable. It looks and sounds like a mumble jumble mess. Sound familiar?

Others love to write… they are good at it… but maybe too good. They could write a novel, but is that good for a blog post? Stories are awesome, but is the reader staying on the page? Is it captivating enough to keep their attention? Are you getting your message across?

Your writing has to be readable for the common man (or woman).

People love to scan…. they are busy….they are in a hurry but have a few quick minutes to see what you have to say. So how do we keep those eyeballs on our blog post’s long enough to get the message across? How can we present this in a friendly way so as not to lose our readers?

I think this is something that a lot of people deal with…they want to blog, and so when I came across some great content on this very subject I got to thinking, and decided to share it with you in a blog post.

Question: “You want to blog, but do you think you need to spend hours and hours perfecting your writing skills?” The answer…probably not. In fact you might need to dumb it down some. The solution may be a lot easier than you expect. Writing less and styling your text so it’s easy to read could be all you need to do to attract and hold attention.

To write successfully for the web, you need to forget some of what you learned in English composition class, accept that people scan web pages rather than reading them in detail, and work with this reality rather than fighting it.

If you want to cover a complex topic, consider breaking it into a series of posts. It’s a great way to keep people coming back for more, and your reader will find it easier to digest your content if they get it in portion-controlled sizes.

Here’s a few simple ways to simplify your writing and to get more people to stay on your page and read ALL your content.

1) Use the line break.

It’s an easy way to make your content more readable. Lots of white space makes it easier on the eyeballs. Feature one idea per paragraph, and keep them short — three or four sentences at most.

And try writing some paragraphs with one sentence only.

2) Break up the content with subheads.

Subheads help keep the reader engaged, acting as “mini headlines” to keep them moving through the rest of your content, and give clarity to the content.

3) Use bullet lists

• They create eye magnets your readers can’t resist
• They’re an easily-scannable way to present multiple points
• They look different, so they provide a visual break

4) Use images with captions.

Images draw attention and eyeballs, and are known to intrigue the reader making your content more interesting to them.

5) Add relevant links

Internal links back to your own content will keep people on your site and reading your best material, and external links demonstrate that you’ve researched the topic and want to highlight other experts.

Good content uses both to expand your reader’s understanding, adds value, and helps with SEO indexing.

6) Use formatting

Add emphasis to your web copy by bolding important concepts. You reader will be able to scan through and pick out the most important information at a glance.

Don’t highlight everything (which would have the same effect as highlighting nothing). Instead, emphasize the key points so the scanner can quickly pick them out.

7) Use numbered lists

Numbers are an effective way to both capture attention and to keep the reader engaged. You can often make a post more compelling just by numbering your main points. Give it a try.

8) Don’t hype

Forget about the caps, exclamation marks, multi-colored font, and pitching your deal. Your blog post is not a billboard and it’s not a classified ad. Think instead about teaching, educating, motivating, explaining, sharing, telling stories, sharing testimonies, and offering help. Calls to Action are not hype, and are ok, and even recommended, if not overdone.

and finally …proofread. Do you find it easy to read and understand. Will the reader keep from getting lost, and will they get the main points. Does it look like something you would want to stumble across online and would it captivate your attention.

So for those that want to blog, practice these simple steps and you’ll be a blogging pro in no time.

I hope you received some value from this. Please feel free to leave a comment or two

by Brett Gurney

Striving for Excellence

P.S. Stay tuned for more Internet Marketing Tips & Techniques and guides to building the brand of YOU.

P.P.S. If you find this information valuable please subscribe to get future posts delivered to your email, and please leave us a comment…thanks!

• My YouTube
• My Google+
• My Facebook

The post You Want To Blog, You Need To Blog, But Your Writing Just Stinks? appeared first on Internet Marketing For Beginners.

The #1 best blogging tip I can give is to just begin.

I’ll help with this process if you follow along, but to just begin is what will break down all the barriers.

Once started the rest will come easily enough. Start blogging, get some videos out, get more comfortable in front of the camera, and start your journey. One of my biggest roadblocks was the nagging thoughts of what I would blog about, what I would talk about, and when and how I was going to get started. But when I got started it opened the floodgates and the thoughts and ideas came to me … I’m sure it will be similar for you… and now I find today that I will never run out of material or things to say and talk about.

Here’s another blogging tip… find yourself a good mentor and/or online training course. Get the training, absorb the training, then blog and video about it. The writing and videos help to process the information so it sticks and you will learn and remember better and faster. It doesn’t matter the exact subject or topic..anything that interests you and that you want to share with others.

If you want to attract people with an interest in home business, network marketing, blogging, video marketing, content marketing, or anything similar then start learning those topics so you can teach what you learn.

Start giving your own blogging tips. The education you share can become a product on it’s own… one that you can use to generate leads with and create an income with. People are attracted to those who are providing good content that will help them solve a problem. This will establish you as a leader and as someone they will want to follow and continue learning from. Information is in high demand and if you provide it people will want to partner with you and work with you. They will come to you instead of you chasing them. This is the attraction marketing concept, and it works. Anyone can do this there is no experience required whatsoever.

When I started I knew nothing about blogging or video… I was totally green and didn’t know where to start or what to do. But I started reading, following the instructions and going trial and error… the slow long hard way figuring it out on my own. It was a process and a learning curve but now we are starting to cruise. Finding the right mentor or trainer can knock a lot off that learning curve. I got the blogging tips from that training and started applying myself. You don’t have to do what we did…all that trial and error… we’ve done it for you …

Now we invite you to follow along the journey. Get your domain name, hosting account, set up wordpress with a good theme, and start writing content. I talked about how helping others has it’s benefits and that it’s also an excellent way to learn and to retain information. Getting a blog established on the internet has many other benefits as well ..including name branding and recognition, and lead generation with minimal capital outlay. If you want to start establishing yourself as a leader and practicing the attraction marketing methods which is the fastest track to success, then get started with these activities. I hope my blogging tips can help you get started too.

Watch my video for further clarification.

The post Blogging Tips – Get Started, Get Some Video’s Out, and Brand Yourself appeared first on Internet Marketing For Beginners.