In this post we are going to help with these questions. We are going to tell you, and show you, how to use a blog for business.

Before we get into step by step instructions of how to blog, we will cover the basics of why you should be blogging, and why it makes sense to use a blog for business.

It all begins with establishing yourself online, creating a brand, and having a home base to drive traffic to.

Let them get to know you. Provide value by teaching something, and build a list at the same time

Blog posts are published on the internet. Each post has it's own unique URL and therefore can never get buried or lost or forgotten. They can also be updated at any time.

It's recommended to update your posts now and then. Doing so will renew the page indexing by Google each time.  You can watch the post climb in page rank as you continue to add value to the article. You want your website to be the one that's seen by people that do Google searches. That's what this is all about.

Blog posts are also easy to access. They can be found fast with a simple search at your blog page. Just put your keyword in the search box and you'll get a listing of all relevant posts. Very convenient for the reader.

Blogging is an exceptional way to provide information that is continuously ongoing and advancing. Keeping people informed with useful information is a great way to build up subscribers and followers. You'll become known as an authority figure in your niche.

Use your blog as a home base to drive traffic and for sharing to all your other various social media platforms. You can create a wheel. Your blog is the hub with spokes linking your other online properties and pages.

Build your mailing list on your blog by offering a free compelling offer in exchange for an email.

Link building is another important factor for Google ranking. Notice I said link building this time, not list building. Building a link profile and a linked network is pretty major for getting ranked and for building up your domain authority. That's why you want to tie everything together.

You can build links internally. Use anchor text to link with other pages of your website. You can also link build externally. These are called backlinks and they occur when other webmasters and bloggers link to your content from their websites.

Sharing from your blog can get you backlinks if done right. There are techniques that we will cover more extensively in future posts.

Having a home base for your content is a great way to stay organized. Repackaging your content will help you build up your brand. Different delivery methods with the same content can make it appear new and fresh. It's perfectly okay to do this. It helps to always provide unique and high-quality material that is owned and branded by you.

Everyone who is trying to create a brand, share a message online, or build a business should have a blog. From there you can add a Home Page, an About Me page, and Contact page. There are no limits. You can attach as many pages as you want and have a nice menu at the top to map the site.

Using a blog for business is something a beginner can do. Any person can have one up and running quickly with relatively little online experience, and will learn a lot about internet marketing. There are tools available that make it easy and fast.

Now I'll go through some steps to get started, and provide some tips and resources to help you along with your task of using a blog for business.

First you need a hosting account. I use WPX Hosting which is an upgrade for me from my original hosting account. It's a slightly more advanced hosting company that specializes in WordPress and server speed.

A beginner can use a shared hosting account such as HostGator. That's what I started with and I used it for years. I still use if for certain applications. HostGator is perfect for beginners. The price is right and it's perfectly sufficient for what you'll be doing.

Choose the Baby Plan so you get the unlimited domains feature.

Once you get your hosting account, setting up WordPress is a breeze. In your C-Panel (Control Panel) is a Quick Install button and the rest is fast and easy. Click through and follow the guide.

WordPress will send you an email with your password and login link. Save the email for easy reference.

Now you have your WordPress blog/website, but it's just an empty shell at this point. You have a choice of free themes to choose from. Find the one you like and click to install. It's all done within your WordPress dashboard.

There are premium themes available for a minimal cost. You are welcome to scan through what's available..

Once you have your theme you can add a header image and you'll be able to see the sidebar. It's starting to take shape.

Still there are some things to do behind the scenes for site security, for backups, and for optimizing your posts and pages.

Plugins are like apps. They are as easy to install as the theme. Point and click. But there's thousands to choose from so don't let this rattle you.

You only need a few plugins to start that we will suggest here. They are all free.

There are more plugins you might want to take advantage of once you get going. One great thing about WordPress is that once you get rolling, there are always things you can do, and add, to make your site better.

Another Google SEO factor is something called domain authority. Domain authority comes with time, and with link building with other established bloggers. Not only that but it can take up to 6 months just to get recognized and indexed by Google. So begin now and start establishing yourself with Google and with the online world.

I hope you enjoyed this overview and I hope that you received value from it. If you have a business, and you are not blogging yet, it is my wish that you immediately put in place a plan to start. Not only does it make a lot of sense to blog for business, some will say it's mandatory in this day and age.

Does that sound familiar?

Some say don't promote your business on your personal page. They say only on a business page. Some say it's okay on a personal page. What is better?

How about that one? Have you heard it before too?

It's all about engagement. That's the main thing. Your #1 goal is to create engagement.

But why? What does that do?

I want to make sales and enroll team members.

How will this "engagement" thing help me do that?

Engagement is interaction. Sales and team building comes from driving traffic to your websites, to your content, and to you. There are a lot of triggers that create this traffic, and social media interaction is one of those triggers. A big one.

So keep reading we are going to break this down as to the how's and why's. It will answer those questions.

It's really a personal preference. Are you passionate enough about your business to shout it out to the world? If the passion is not there, or if you are afraid of what your friends and family will think, then you might not be all in.

It's like sticking your toe in the water but being reluctant to jump. 

I promote my business on my personal page because it's something that I believe in and that I'm proud about. But I do it in a strategic way. You can do it effectively without being a pain in the rear.

Teaching things that are somehow relevant to your product is a good strategy. Mixing your posts up with personal stuff, raising awareness of issues, and offering solutions to problems is a good mix. So are testimonials and talking about benefits. Not being overly repetitious will keep you out of that "you're annoying" space.

Just so you know ... not posting regularly, is NOT a good strategy.

But if you hold off talking about your business while you're building up your business page, then nothing is happening for you. You already have an audience on your timeline or personal page. Learn to use it effectively.

If you are serious about your business and what you are doing, you won't worry about what your friends and family think, and you might even win some of them over. They will see your passions and that you believe strongly in what you are doing. They will understand that you don't care if someone else doesn't like it. And they might even want to follow you because of those qualities. Some might not, and that's okay.

But there are other advantages that come with learning social media marketing as well. Use it to build social signals, social proof and website syndication. Learn how to create a web of your internet real estate and link it all together. And posting all the content you are learning to create is putting social media to work for you.

Okay .. so what are social signals? The MOZ blog says it like this ....

So you see... social media marketing really does have more of an effect on your business then you might realize, and the way you market on the social platforms has everything to do with your social signal strength.

The more popular you are, the more people want to follow you. If there's a crowd, people stop to see for themselves. They want to know what's going on. If people are gathering, they want to gather too.

It's a phenomenon. We don't know why it is, it just is. People might not know you at all, but if you have a following they will want to follow too. They will think you must be really good at something. On social media they call this social proof. The more popular you become, the more social proof you earn..

Search engines even give points for social proof. You can literally rank higher for being popular. They might judge your reliability, or your trust factor on your social proof. It must mean to them that you are putting out high quality content and providing useful information. Why else would people want to follow, like, and comment on your posts?

 It starts with being social, and learning how to communicate on the social platforms in an engaging way that provides value and benefits. Engagement is a big factor. Friends of friends and friends of family really do care about what those that they are connected to are doing and saying, and who they are following and engaging with. You can become an influencer just in the way you post and the content you provide.

So start creating social signals and earning social proof. These alone are a good social media strategy for a beginner.

Here's something interesting. In the Kissmetrics Blog article 7 Things You MUST Understand When Leveraging Social Proof in Your Marketing Efforts, #6 Authority Rules! states the following ....

You are in this for business. If you weren't you wouldn't be reading this post. So you should present yourself as a professional. Let your visitors know that you have a business and let them know that you are serious about building your business.

Fill in the about me sections and your mission statement. Have a complete page so your visitors can read and learn about you. Let them know that if they were considering a business you would be a good person to talk to and to learn from. Don't try to be someone or something you're not. Just be yourself and be real. If you are new at your business or at marketing it's okay to tell people that. Tell them you are working hard at learning it all and getting better, and that you like to share what you learn with others..

Showing yourself as a serious professional really is the best social media strategy for a beginner I can give you. It's the foundation of it all. Getting other peoples attention and holding their attention is the first step. If you can't do that they just won't take you seriously enough.

 It takes time to learn the techniques for posting and sharing, and it takes time to learn content marketing. But you can start now. You have the basics. Now it's time to take action. Start with your page and fix it up so you come across as a person who is serious about being taken seriously.

Creating and posting quality content that people can and will share can really give you a boost. It's a known fact that word of mouth recommendations are the strongest there is. If your friends and contacts like and share your content, their friends and contacts are likely to do the same thing, and so it goes.

If you learn content marketing you can share variations of your material so it never gets boring. Your friends will begin to anticipate what you are going to come out with next. They might even start asking questions about learning how to do the same things you do. This could be the beginning of your first training or tutorial product.

There is one last thing I absolutely cannot leave out especially while I'm on the subject of sharing content and getting engagement on your posts. Have you ever felt like only a small percentage of your friends are seeing your posts on Facebook? Well it's not your imagination. Facebook is programmed that way. It's in their algorithm. Those who are engaging with you are the ones who see your posts.

They call this your "reach" So if you want to expand your reach, then expand your content sharing and give it value. Make it beneficial and engaging and shareable. The more people who like, comment, and share your posts, the wider and deeper your reach becomes. And those people's friends and their friends begin seeing your posts also.

But you can't count on getting likes, comments, and shares alone. You must give likes, comments, and shares as well. It's a two sided thing, and it's what creates engagement. If you engage with others, they will engage back. So make it part of your routine.

This is really just the beginning, but it will get you going. There are tools of the trade that will help you automate and syndicate. Learning how to create a web of online real estate is when it starts getting exciting and very real. Start with your social presence and then move to blogging. The two work hand in hand. Putting them together will seriously boost your social signals and your social proof. 

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This is what we are doing now and you should too ... intensive internet marketing training. Learning how to blog and build a website. Use this as your homebase and your hub for feeding your social platforms. It is the key to building your own brand online. Providing good content that has value and benefits. It will attract other networkers to you. They will see the benefits and will want to do it also. Include all other aspects of internet marketing such as SEO, video marketing, and list building.

Making a decision to learn how to market online and building your own brand online could be the best move you will ever make. It's not easy. It requires hard work and daily action. But it's worth it in the long run. We've been down this road and we learned some hard lessons. It's not fun wondering what to do next, or if you've made a mistake even getting involved. People quit days later after realizing they don't know what to do to make it happen.

So your priority becomes promoting you, and why people would want to join you. This will bring better results than if you are always branding the product and the company. Of course you have to do some of that, but it's also quite necessary to provide your own value as well. Naturally your friends will join you, but no one has ever built a walk away income with just their friends and family. Your reach will need to extend far beyond that. Learning how to market online will help you pull that off.

When you get good at online marketing you'll be able to choose any company you want or build any business you want. It won't matter ... you'll be able to build it. You will be the nucleus, and if you choose a good company or a good product, you'll then have a one, two punch.

We spent years rambling about, bouncing around, going here and going there, not knowing what to do first or what to do next. Don't do what we did. Decide now to learn how to market online, and then choose what you are going to build.

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I'm sure you've heard it before about a gazillion times... know your audience. It only makes sense though. I do not need to spend a lot of time here. It kind of goes without saying that you will know who your target audience is. But even so... knowing who your audience is, and what they need to hear might be two slightly different things. It's crucial to provide content that your readers have an interest in, and in a way that will capture and keep them.

There's big talk about the importance of being consistent and regular in your online content. And it's true, you do need to be somewhat consistent. But that doesn't mean writing randomly about the sky just to get something out there. You do have to have a topic, and you do need to know something about it. So study up on your chosen topic if you need to. We are all a mouse click away from the largest information source in the world and it's all free, so use it.

Headline your article, and some of your paragraphs too. Headlines should not be tricky or cute. That's hard to pull off. Headlines should do nothing but tell the reader what they are about to hear. Use your headlines to "hook" the reader, but never in a deceptive way. Creating good "hooker" headlines is a skill that you will learn and get better at. When a reader stays you know they are intrigued and want to learn more.

Gone are the days of keyword stacking and rambling just to deliver content. Google, and your readers, want to see real content that means something. You can suggest, recommend, teach, opinionate, summarize, educate, or narrate, but just make sure your reader walks away feeling as though they got something from reading your post. Provide value and benefit. That is what will keep your audience coming back for more.

Will you agree that some of the reason for doing all this is to be found on the internet when people search for something? That means writing blog posts the way Google wants to see them written. They are the ones that need to be kept happy when it comes to page rank (your ranking or positioning in the search engine results).

There was a time when a blogger could write in just about any way, at any length, and stuff a bunch of keywords anywhere in the content. Not any more. Now google wants to see high quality content, details, and explanations, and quite frankly so does your readers. They can get filler and fluff anywhere. Google also wants to see longer posts than before. Keywords need to be strategically placed within the content in a way that makes good reading. It should all flow and make sense.

Images do three things. They provide more SEO juice for Google, they get the readers attention, and they break up your content so it's more visually stimulating. Your images should relate to your topic in some way. It can be indirectly, but it should have some kind of connection, even if it's symbolic in a sense. You'll be able to keyword tag your images which is one of the SEO magnets. Your images can also be found in search engines for additional exposure back to your brand. Images are one of the most attention grabbing pieces of content used today. So are videos.

The main thing is to get started. You can learn and get better as you go. You won't break anything and you won't be spanked. These are simply guidelines and things to work towards. Just get started and you'll be surprised how fast you get the hang of it. 

So there you have it. The A,B,C's of writing blog posts. It's not rocket science and it does not have to be perfect. It's better to be constant and conform as best you can to these simple basics. The rest will all come with repetition. You'll be fine. Writing blog posts does not have to be a dreaded chore. You can enjoy yourself doing it. So have fun and happy blogging to you!

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Today we will talk about it. We will talk about how important it is to just start, and that you don't have to be an expert, but rather just a little motivated. I have a lot of friends in the industry and I watch way too many capable people lose interest and lose their dreams simply because they just could not start taking action..

I can help you along with some simple advice and direction. Create an identity. This is the beginning of building your brand. You'll see the importance of this as you get going. Anyone that wants to make something happen online must create an identity and a brand. If you don't, you are just a ghost.

Your domain name is your name tag. It's all part of your brand. It can be anything you want it to be. Preferably something professional that relates to you. Some people use their name if they are an individual business person.

Company owners might use a company name or a company tagline. Others might use a nickname or something that people know you are associated with. But keep it professional. You can always adjust before you get too deep into it.

This is your next step. You are creating an identity online, and you are creating some online real estate. People have to be able to find you if they put your name in a search engine. This is the beginning.

You can add your home page and subsequent website pages later but start with a wordpress.org blog. This will get you going in the easiest and fastest way.

I use HostGator for my basic hosting. They are a good fit for a beginner. Once you get your hosting account the wordpress website is an easy install through the HostGator dashboard.

Too many people get hung up on trying to create the perfect home page website first. But it freezes them. You will hear me mention "rapid implementation" often times. Taking action is the key. Blogging is essential in your training. It's not just the writing of a blog post, but what it all leads to.

Blogging is your gateway to learning SEO, images, link building, list building, and setting up sales funnels. You start with the basics, you learn the basics, and then you start adding on. A sure-fire way to get frustrated and quit is trying to learn too much and too many different things at once. It gets overwhelming and you'll get lost. We won't let you do that if you follow us along.

​As you start learning and building momentum you will get more excited. Getting started with online marketing might seem hard at first, but stay with it and it will all start to make sense.

You'll develop a plan of action and a path to follow. My book, Internet Marketing Basics for the Beginner, talks a lot about the importance of having a plan and a strategy to follow. It will keep you on track and in the game.

These suggestions are the best advice I have for you. I'm speaking from experience. There's nothing better than self satisfaction in watching yourself grow and learn. There's plenty of training and it's all free. You have a complete encyclopedia a click away. Just Google it. Absorb and learn.

Your blog will become the hub of your networking wheel. You'll share your blog posts on your social media platforms. You will learn to repackage your blog content into various other forms of content. This leads to "content marketing" where it gets fun and exciting. 

Next you will build your website home page, your about me page, your lead capture page, and your list building funnels. This is what blogging will lead you to, and this is where getting started with online marketing will take you.

So instead of putting things off because you're not really exactly sure what to do, the thing is that if you just decide you are getting started with online marketing, you will. Put some things in motion. Take my advice and start with step one and step two. The rest will come to you as you go. It doesn't have to be perfect and it doesn't have to be pretty. Remember ... rapid implementation.

You can take all the trainings in the world, attend all the webinars and workshops, read all the ebooks, and drive yourself crazy doing those things ... or you can just start and do, and learn as you go. The latter is by far the better.

Will you make mistakes? Of course you will. Will you learn from them? Yes! Nothing will break... you can't hurt yourself. Try it and you'll see. Learn how to set up a blog, how to post and market on Facebook, and how to create a Youtube channel and start doing some videos.

Find someone who is doing the things you want to do, watch them, study them, learn from them, and then do what they do. Search around and you'll eventually find someone who's training style you like. Follow that person.

After working at it for a while your current tasks will become habit. There's a lot of methods that can be incorporated into your daily routine that will gradually get you to the success that you want.

Anybody can do this. You don't have to have any experience and you don't have to be some kind of a whiz or guru. You just need to take some simple action steps. I was doing this the slow long hard way ... doing it on my own figuring it all out from scratch. .

You don't have to do it that way. Do it on your own but with the help and guidance of someone who has been through it and who is willing to answer your questions. It's not necessary for someone to do it for you and you don't need hand holding ... you simply need guidance.

I'm not an expert now by any means but I've come a little ways. Not knowing a thing about it when I started I even put a note out about it that said "hey everyone I'm going to start blogging but i have not idea what i'm doing".Telling everyone what I was going to do ... means I had to do it.

I can now see where it is all going and along with a brighter future. If i can help just one person that's very well worth it. I'm helping myself at the same time I'm helping someone else.

Learning as I go and teaching others. You know they say one of the best ways to learn is to teach what you learn. It sticks better. When you learn something, teach another person what you learned. Post about it, blog about it, and video about it.

Everyone has strengths .... finding yours is the key. Getting started will help you do that.

So you see ... getting started with online marketing could be the best decision you make. There is only one thing holding you back, and that is you. So get started today.

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Try content marketing and get yourself noticed. There are two things that I learned early in my internet marketing career that must be done to even think about becoming successful online - Getting Seen, and Becoming Known.

It's a simple concept

Do you remember having a favorite teacher in school because they taught cool stuff that actually meant something to you? Stuff that you could use in real life. Stuff that might benefit you in some way? Or how about that friend who was unique and that always had something interesting going on. You were always open to hearing what they were up to right? You may even have thought that you could learn some things from that person.

Consider the 5 points below to get you started with content marketing. Start your journey of becoming that go-to person for some of you contacts.

1. Choose A Topic

Everyone is good at something .... everyone has something to share on some given subject ...everyone has something to contribute that others can get some use from.

2. Create a Website for Your Content

3. Create Your Content in Multiple Formats

4. Build Your Email List

The money is in the list. Yes we do hear that all the time don't we? Over and over again. So are you building a list? Have you learned how to build a list? Using content marketing is an excellent way to do it. Show people good value and they want more. Once you get people to opt-in to your list trust me you will not have trouble knowing what to send them next. One great method is to use others people stuff. Spin it into your own words and put your brand on it. You don't copy and paste. You use other peoples material to get you started ... to get the gears turning in your brain ... and take it from there. Makes sense right?

5. Market Content on Social Media

Well of course! You are on social media ... I am on social media ... everyone is on social media. So use it to your benefit! Share everything on social media, and the great thing about content marketing is that it doesn't get boring. You are mixing up all your delivery methods. Nothing is ever the same. Share your blog posts, your how-to vidoes, your explainer videos, your voice over videos... there are so many different variations of videos and thats the #1 method today. AND ... put share buttons on everything! When your content becomes so good that people start to share it on social medis... then you know you are well on your way.

Now .. rinse and repeat

You will develop a style and a routine that gets easier and easier. You might start with a blog post, turn it into a podcast, then a video of you, then a power point type video with voice-over. You can take your blog post and turn it into several social media posts. Bring images into the mix. Brand your images with your name and website domain. You get the idea right?

Content Marketing - the simple strategy of sharing material in different formats that people find useful and benefit from.