Do you like to write? Do you know how to send email?
If so, you have almost all the tools you need to get started. Operating a blog takes very little technical knowledge.

The instructions below are to give you a feel for what to expect as you’re signing up. Feel free to print and share in your classroom or senior center.

What is a blog?

A blog is like an online diary. There is usually a single page of entries that comprise the main page. Although older posts are archived, it’s different than a regular web site because of the frequent updates, personal tone, and chronological archiving. The main page of a blog tends to be its most popular. Most recent posts are listed first, at the top of the page. Blogs can be used for any purpose — as a fashion diary, a daily rant, a picture-of-the day (which tend to be popular if the photos are interesting), or even as a personal archive that you might wish to access from any computer, such as a list of good crockpot recipes.

Programs to create blogs:

There are many programs you can use to create your blog. Among them:

Blogger.com (which is discussed below)
LiveJournal
TypePad
Xanga
Movable Type
WordPress

How long does it take to set up a blog?

Not long, maybe 5-10 minutes. You could spend more time deciding on a name for your blog than on actually setting it up from scratch. (Which is one of the reasons why there’s a Quick Start Planning Guide to get you thinking about your blog.

Getting Started:

Figure out what you will call your blog and how you want the address to read. Try to avoid numbers,
hyphens, underscores or names that are too long — usability studies show those tend to be
difficult for people to remember.

Quick Start Planning Guide: What do you want to call your blog? _____________________________________________________ What description would you like to appear at the top? _____________________________________________________ What do you want your URL to be? You’ll have to check availability, but have several ideas ready. Your URL (with the free blogger tool) will be something like: http://yourpage.blogspot.com where “yourpage” is the name of your choice. ______________________________________________________ Note that there can’t be any spaces in between words — they have to be separated by a hyphen or underscore. Usability studies show that characters in a name are hard to remember so if you can avoid URLs with too many syllables, that would be best. For example: INCORRECT:: http://this is a page about spleens.blogspot.com CORRECT: http://this-is-a-page-about-spleens.blogspot.com EVEN BETTER: http://spleenpages.blogspot.com (no hyphens and easier to remember)

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1. Visit www.blogger.com

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2. Click on “create your blog now”

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3. You’ll need an email address to create a Google account, if you don’t have one.
Any email address will do. If you already have a gmail address, then you already have a Google account and can just sign in.)

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4. Name your blog:

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5. Choose a template — scroll down to see all the examples:

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6. Your blog has been created! You can start posting right away.

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7. POSTING: The posting screen has options to add pictures, video, links, change text color & font. If you publish the post,
it will go live right away. If you’re not ready, you can save it for later (it will not go live until you click the “publish” button).

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8. ADJUST BLOG SETTINGS: You’ll want to adjust your settings for the blog right away so you specify how comments are handled, pages archived, etc.

The default for most items is ok, EXCEPT for the “comments” tab – choose the option to have comments moderated. This means no comment can appear live without your approval first. I recommend this because some unethical companies have robots that troll the web looking for vulnerable blogs to post to and you don’t need your blog littered with comments consisting only of porn links.

It’s good to go through each item and make sure it’s set the way you want. At the bottom of each page, you’ll have to click on “accept changes” before moving on to the next tab.

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9. You can also edit the template, either now or later or as many times as you’d like:

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10. View your new blog!

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Examples of blogs:

Some of these people launched writing careers using their blogs as a starting place; some have published books or have been approached by publishers.

Amalah ( www.amalah.com)
Amy Storch’s incredibly funny blog on motherhood.

Behind the Counter ( www.behindthecounter.com)
The daily grind at Wal-Mart, from an anonymous clerk’s eye.

Cute Overload (www.cuteoverload.com)
Photos of animals so adorable you might implode.

The Sneeze (http://thesneeze.com)
Started with Steve’s chronicles of weird things he’s eaten, complete with pictures and commentary, morphed into a
side-splitting log of everyday life.

Kyle Cassidy (http://kylecassidy.livejournal.com)
Author of the bestselling photography book Armed America. Kyle’s online blog includes photos from his
latest project and also lots of pictures of his beautiful cat Rozwell peering into delectable vegetarian dishes.

The Dark Net (www.the-dark-net.blogspot.com)
From science writer James Riordon. Started out as a blog, morphed into an incredibly engaging and captivating book.

Blogs can also be boring…

The dullest blog in the world ( www.wibsite.com/wiblog/dull)

There are blogs about blogging:

Want to learn more about how to blog? These two blogs are among the top-rated sites out there for information on blogging.

Blogging Basics 101 (http://bloggingbasics101.com)

Lorelle on WordPress (http://lorelle.wordpress.com)

You can also search for blogs:

Blogger’s Choice Awards (http://bloggerschoiceawards.com)
View blogs that received acclaim for their ingenuity, style, character, or content.

Bloglines (www.bloglines.com)
A search engine for blogs only.

Google’s Blog Search (http://blogsearch.google.com)

Video Blogs

Building quality backlinks is an important step in the development of your blog, or any type of website for that matter.

It can be a boring and time consuming process but the success or failure of a site can depend on it.

What is a backlink?
A backlink is a link from another website to yours.

Why do I need backlinks?
Backlinks are important for a number of reasons:

• They can increase traffic to your website.
• They are an important factor when Google assigns PageRank.
• They help to improve your ranking on search engine results pages.

What follows is six of the most effective methods you can use to build backlinks.

1. Directory Submission

Submitting your blog to directories should be one of the first things you do to kickstart your link building efforts.

It is unlikely you’ll ever see any significant traffic from directories, but that’s okay. The purpose here is to gain backlinks to help increase your PageRank.

There are both general directories and blog specific directories. Seeing as this process can be quite monotonous I’d suggest starting with the blog specific directories and if you don’t run out of steam move on to the general directories afterwards.

Note: Make sure you only submit to directories with high PageRank.

Alot of directories require a reciprocal link, meaning they will only list you in their directory if you link back to them from your blog. It is generally better to stay away from these sorts of directories.

Here are a few directory lists to get you started:

• Blog Directories
• General Directories
• Free SEO Friendly Directories
• High PageRank/Non-Reciprocal Directories

For those of you who would rather not plug away at their computers all day you can find plenty of people on the Digital Point forums who offer directory submission services. It comes at a price of course, but most of them are pretty reasonable.

2. Link Exchanges

Look for blogs that cover the same topics as your own, and have been up and running for about the same amount of time.

Keep in mind you don’t want too many outbound links, so don’t go crazy with link exchanges.

Note: Don’t waste your time asking large established blogs for a link exchange. It’s not going to happen.

3. Social News/Bookmarking Sites

Social sites like digg, reddit, and del.icio.us are not only good for generating backlinks but also for driving traffic to your blog as well. If you’re lucky enough to make it to the front page of any of these sites you can expect to gain alot of secondary links.

With that in mind here are a few things you should consider.

• Make sure you are submitting quality content that fits with the interests of the sites users.
• Don’t submit every post you write or you might find yourself banned.
• Write an eye-catching headline that draws people in.
• Don’t be lazy when writing summary descriptions.

You can find a large list of social sites at populair.eu.

4. Link To Other Blogs

Every blogger keeps an eye on who is linking to them. But if you want to make an impression it is important to write a well crafted post that adds to a discussion and doesn’t just parrot what’s already been said. If you do make a good impression you may find them linking back to you in the future.

Note: Bloggers are narcissistic creatures so a bit of ego stroking will go a long way.

5. Leave Comments

Leaving comments on other peoples blogs is a good way of generating awareness of your own. It is important to leave thoughtful and interesting comments to draw people to your site.

The Top Commentators plugin has also added further benefits to leaving comments.

If you make the top commentators list on a blog you get a link back to your site on the sidebar. It’s not a permanent link however but making the list does have some advantages.

• The exposure will bring people to your site.
• The links are included in your Technorati ranking.
• Some blogs will link to your site in a post if you are one of the top commentators.

6. Create Quality Content

Nothing will get you more backlinks than quality content.

• Quality content gets noticed.
• Quality content gets linked to.

Well researched and insightful material is the bread and butter of successfulbloggers. If you want your blog to be a success and in the process generate a ton of backlinks you need to follow suite.

I hope this has been helpful.

If you are tired of wasting your money on MLM leads, home business leads, mortgage leads or any other kind of lead then please read on.. I’ve learned that you don’t have to waste your money no longer!  There are over 30 great Social Marketing websites where people all over the world socialize and meet each other online. Don’t waste your time buying leads, even if they say they are targeted do you really know that they are?

The lead companies are getting rich off of you and I don’t think they need any more money.. When you meet people on these social marketing sites you will see 1000′s of groups and they are all targeted to what ever you want to talk about.  So then you start meeting people in your targeted range for your business; people who think like you. Now I don’t want you to pitch your products or try to sell them everyday.. But first just get to know them and give them advice and give them away to succeed in whatever they are doing.

You want to give at least 80% to all of your new friends, and take about 20%, what I mean is giving is better than taking… Trust me. When you do this you will see people that will appreciate you and will just go to your link or business without you even knowing.  So many people think to much about the money and that’s kind of the older uplines fault,, because when you join a business your are first motivated by how much money you’ll make and you don’t want to do this, because if all your thinking about is the money then you fail.

Now I don’t want to scare you but if you can change the way your thinking and start giving, giving and giving first, then take some.. I promise you that you will grow in any business and reach the success you want.. Make sure you have constant training so you will stay motivated and always find different articles or videos etc. to share with all your new friends they will appreciate this 10 fold! Have great success my friends!

A lot of people I know would really love to make a million dollars. Can you imagine what you could do with that? Besides your initial spending spree (I think we almost all would do the same initial actions—pay off some bills, fix up a car, repair something or other in our house; in other words, we would get “safe”), think of all the ways you could really start maximizing your potential. If you were me, you would finally get your ass back in school, go to grad school, whatever. Or you might look at the people in your life around you who you love and start to try and help them.

So what’s the problem? When I ask all these people what they’re going to do about it, things get muddy—and fast. They have no plan. It’s as if their dreaming stopped at the dreaming, as if somehow the bag of money would end up falling right out of the sky. “Man would that be their day.” They never get any further than that. If you want to become a millionaire, you really have to plan your way into it. You can’t just hope that your $150,000 house (for which you have a mortgage) will grow in value by more than 600%, especially these days. You really have to really goddamned do something about it. So let’s do something about it.

First of all, as the title indicates, I want to look at doing this in a relatively short period of time. No doubt saving a million bucks over the course of lifetime is doable, but is it desirable? To be able to retire when you are of the age to retire? That’s great. Old, and debilitated, now we can (finally?) have some fun. This doesn’t seem all that desirable. I want to be able to actually enjoy doing things with the wealth, and I want you to think about being able to do the same. So let’s go (but more quickly).

So there’s just no way around it. First, we simply have to do all the math. But don’t worry, I’ll help. And besides, most of it is easy. Once we actually start doing the calculating you’ll see quickly why most people never make it. It can be hard to make a million. But also, most people who think they want to make it, never actually go through this exercise, never see what obstacles they have, and hence, never overcome them and never end up making it.

So let’s start. The obvious beginning is to start mattress stuffing. Shelling away cash at some regular pace will be nothing short of an exercise in futility. In order to stow away a million bucks in eight years with this method, we’d have to shell out an ice cold twenty-four hundred dollars every week (Click this or any image to enlarge):

Not cool. We’d have to be wealthy before we can get wealthy. The first upgrade to this is obvious: “duh, let’s earn some interest.” Ok, let’s skip all the regular mainstream bank savings accounts (they’re awful—my wife’s savings presently offers an amazing 0.35%—which is why she has thirty-six cents in it) and move right on to one of my favorites, ING Direct’s Orange Savings Account. Presently at 4.20% (12 times Chase’s) it annihilates regular savings accounts and it’s FDIC insured. But this doesn’t really solve anything either:

Even with the severely heightened interest rate, in order to get a million in eight years, we would have to invest over seven hundred thousand initially. So we have the same problem: we’d have to be wealthy before we can get wealthy. Not good. To get a million, even saving with a decent rate, we’d have to start off with much more than most of us has. Have you caught on to what we’ve just done? Most everyone is familiar with our good old rate formulas. What we’re doing is beginning to manipulate them. Given a fixed amount of time, and a fixed ending balance, we picked a rate and found an initial principle that would get us where we want to be with the rate we can easily achieve. But because this rate is not near good enough for those of us without three quarters of a million sitting around, we’ll have to go higher. How much higher? Look at the next graph. The rate formulas have four variables, Initial Principle, Ending Amount, Interest Rate, and Time. Our Time and Ending Amount are fixed (we want 1M in 8 years), so this shows the relationship between the other two variables, the rate and the initial principle, in other words, all the rates at all the different initial amounts that we can use to get a million in 8 years:

As you can see, almost any normal rate is insufficient if we don’t have a quarter million or more to earn interest on, and even if we had that much we’d need a remarkably high rate of about 18% per year. So much for our ING savings account. But you see, that’s why we’re doing all this. We’re doing all the things that the people who never make it don’t do. Conversely, this allows us to avoid doing, then failing, from all the things they might try. In other words, they might after all, have that ING account.

It should be plain that in order to do this, we’re going to have to start thinking big. No more nickel and diming your way to prosperity here—forget it. If you’re going to do it, you have to damned well do it. For starters, the next thing we can do is combine the two methods from above. The first one with a consistent savings amount combined with the interest bearing ideas from the second one. This will be kind of like an annuity, a mortgage in reverse.

So if we start saving a stream of money that, with the growing balance all earns interest, we’ll finally start seeing some results. Using a modest (modest compared to the $2000+ mattress stuffing from above) amount of say $80 from every bi-weekly paycheck, earning a sizeable interest rate of say 12.60% (more on the rate soon), all combined with an initial investment of $2000, we’ll get the million in September of 2039:

What does this mean? It means that even given regular payments, and a high interest rate, and an initial balance, it will still take much time to get to that million. How much of a bi-weekly payment will it take to reach a million in 8 years (assuming everything from above remains the same)? About $2,460 every other week will get us there in 8 years, which is interesting, because in our opening mattress stuffing example, this was how much we’d need everyweek instead of every two. The interest makes up about half of what we need. Still with me? (Now we see just how hard becoming a millionaire quickly can be—but I’m not done yet). In order to actually be able to do this we’re really going to have to push the envelope here. Assuming we don’t have a few hundred grand to start with, and assuming we’re really pushing the limit on what kind of interest we can earn (I’ll still come back to this), in order to stay within our 8 year time frame, we’re going to have to mess around with the amount we shell out every paycheck. But because we can’t shell out $2,460 every other week, let’s start much smaller and end much larger. What if we start with $60 every other week for the first year, then double it in the second? Then double that in the third, and so on? If we can manage that, we’ll cross over the million mark in July of 2016, or in about 8 years:

Before looking at this more though, let’s look at that interest rate. If you think 12.60% is ridiculous, don’t. I can think / of / three high income funds right off the top of my head that earn 13% or better and haven’t skipped a dividend in years. Hell some are even over 20%; and presumably, you could assuage your risk by diversifying ownership among many different ones that cover different industries. So back to our final solution. If we start in the first year setting aside $60 every other week for that whole year, then $120 during the second and so on, you might have noticed that by the end, to get a million in 8 years (starting with almost nothing), we would be forking out over fifteen thousand dollars every other week. But this is the whole purpose of the exercise: to push the limits on everything attainable to achieve maximum results in minimal time. If getting to the end seems unreasonable, try to raise the rate, increase the initial payment (to something higher than $60) or take a little longer to get there. But is doubling that payment every year really that unreasonable? I’m going to tell you that I don’t think it is. Think about this: once you got even a couple years into the experiment, you’d have saved tens of thousands of dollars. By about that time, after having continued to increase your saving amount, you’d be down to no cable, no DVD rentals, no luxuries (depending on how much you make and how much you could stomach). Food, house, car pool. But also, at about this time, you’d have a complete bankroll and quite realistically, you’d be an expert on making vast quantities of money in short time frames. Don’t you think people would be willing to hear, and even pay for, a story like that? Essentially, just by doing something remarkable, suddenly that initial remarkable feat would now be a source of additional income. As you continued then to remarkably amass a fortune in such short time, both your credibility and your notoriety would increase. The experiment would become self-indulging.

Think this is all impossible? Look at John Chow. In only around a single yearhe’s doing (and making) what our now meager example would have us do in over eight years. He’s making over $25,000 a month from a blog, that essentially is telling people the details about his making money from his blog. In other words, you don’t even have to be nearly as good as him to get there (though it would take you longer than his one year). And it wouldn’t even have to a blog—you could possibly write a book, or do presentations, whatever. Or for that matter, using your initial cash pile you could start a business, then use that business as a cash cow that would fund your million dollar experiment. The reason so many workaday members of society want but never get that million (and certainly not in 8 years) is because they never sit down and do what we just did: learn the hard way that traditional savings concepts simply will not cut it. You have to think very big, and then use that bigness to make it all even bigger.

And even though John’s blog is about money, you could fit into any number of other categories that suit your interests better. Only the top few sites in any category will make the most serious money, but the remarkable thing about the Internet is that there are no limits to the categories; you could make any site and gear toward making it the best in that class. Then use that increasing greatness to make it even greater, all the while making more money. Simply put, you have to start it and treat it like a business.

If you’re a FaceBook user, you may have seen that some of the photos posted on people’s albums show their name when scrolled over with the mouse. This is called tagging a photo and it’s quite easy to do. In the process, I’ll explain quickly how you can upload photos to your FaceBook account to create albums or to update your profile picture.

That’s one of the most frequent questions we receive from beginning webmasters. In this article, we’ll answer that question and address other domain name issues that affect all webmasters.

How do I decide on a domain name?

We’ve covered that particular question in a lot of detail. But basically, you want a name with these characteristics:

Short: The maximum allowed size is 63 characters, but keep the name as short a possible. That’s easier to type and remember. Memorable: Names with special characters like hyphens and underbars are harder to describe to customers over the phone. Visitors aren’t as used to them either and you may inadvertently send customers to your competitors if they have similar names without special characters! Descriptive: Use your company name or a description of your product instead of company initials. People would instantly know what a site called “NeverPayIncomeTaxAgain” is about (although they might be suspicious). The full title is much more descriptive than the acronym “NPITA.”

Get more detailed information about domain name selection from these previous Webmaster Tips:

Get the most from your domain name A name of your own What makes a good domain name?

I typed the domain name into my browser and got an error message. Does that mean it’s available?

Not always. Here are some possibilities:

The domain name is available. The owner is designing the site but hasn’t posted it yet. The owner purchased the name for future use. The owner bought the name, hoping to resell it at a profit.

Just because a name doesn’t come up in a browser or a search engine is no guarantee of availability!

So how do I really check availability?

Most Web hosting companies and domain registrars let you check the availability of a domain name and it associated extensions (like .com or .org). Some even offer alternate versions if the name you searched on isn’t available.

How do I register the name?

You’ll need to use an accredited domain name registrar or one of their agents. Often, your Web hosting company has a relationship with a particular registrar that allows you to purchase your Web hosting account and domain name with one transaction.

That’s easy, but it isn’t always the cheapest option. You can buy a domain name from any authorized dealer; you aren’t required to go through your Web hosting company. Prices for domain name registration vary widely – from as little as $8.00 to $35.00 for the same name!

This is one area where it pays to shop around!

What if the name I want is taken?

Go to the InterNIC WhoIs search page to find the owner. Perhaps he/she is willing to transfer the name to you. Transferring ownership is simple. It may not be cheap.

Some people buy hundreds of domain names on a speculative basis, hoping to sell them at a profit. Expect to pay a premium if you approach a speculator. Depending on the name’s perceived value, you may have to pay hundreds, even thousands for it.

However, if an individual owner has just lost interest or decided not to use the name, you can probably get it for very little or nothing.

You can also investigate some relatively new services that allow you to immediately register a domain name if the owner doesn’t renew it.

Is it ok to buy an expired domain name?

That depends on the name’s history. Find out why the previous owner doesn’t want it anymore. The most obvious reasons are pretty benign:

Lost interest in maintaining the site. Bought it on a speculative basis and couldn’t sell it. No longer running the online business.

A less obvious – and more dangerous reason – is that one or more search engines have permanently banned the site for spam tactics. Gambling and adult sites like to buy up domain names, link them together, and use every spam trick they know to try to boost the search engine rank.

Once the search engines discover the spam sites (it usually doesn’t take long), the site (or sites) may have their URLs permanently banned. At that point, the URL is worthless to the spammers: they release it and buy more.  That means that no matter how hard you work at link popularity, how carefully you create content and optimize your pages for particular engines, you’ll never achieve a high rank with the expired domain name.  Check out the history of expired domain names before you buy at theWayback Machine. It’s a historical search engine that maintains records of how Web sites appeared months – or even years – in the past.   Enter the domain name you’re interested in into the search box and check its history. Steer clear of sites that appear to have consisted mainly of affiliate links, online gambling, or adult content.

Your domain name is your online identity so make sure that it’s clear and memorable enough that visitors can find your site after their initial visit. But remember that most first-time visitors will find you through search engines. That’s why it’s important to optimize your page usingSearch Engine Power Pack. It’s an online tool that gives you valuable advice about selecting keywords, writing META tags, optimizing your page for particular search engines, and submitting your site.

A good domain name is just your first step to online success. Search engine promotion is a continuing process that keeps traffic coming to your site.

You know, it really is absolutely AMAZING how much can
happen in such a short period of time in our world.

It really is AMAZING that when you open yourself up
to opportunity, it really can flood in from all angles.

Take my story for instance, less then 18 months ago
I was FAILING miserably in network marketing.  Had
a $200 a month check that barely covered my autoship,
was spending way more money trying to build my business
than I was making, had no duplication and no more contacts 
left to even talk to.

Man…those days stunk!  I felt like a serious predator
all the time.  Every single new person I met…the first
thing I thought was, “Maybe I can get this person in
my business…”

It really wasn’t fun.  And after failing like that for 
9 months straight I finally got the picture that I
was doing something wrong.

I finally got the picture that I was NOT going about
things the right way.  At that time, I didn’t ‘Know’ the
right way…all I knew was I needed serious solutions
to run an “actually” successful business.  What my
company and uplines were teaching me was NOT 
cutting it…

So what happened to me?

How the heck did I go from making absolutely
nothing in my business as little as 18 months ago
to now consistently doing over $50,000+ in income
every single month?

Well, let me BEGIN to tell you…

I learned what it takes to ACTUALLY succeed in our
industry.  I started to develop the skills and abilities
that ACTUALLY produce money on a daily basis.

These aren’t things like ‘talking to friends and
family’…these are things like driving an endless
amount of traffic to ANY offer I want…and converting
all that traffic into prospects and distributors
for my downline.

This is seriously the most profitable skill ANY 
network marketer could ever develop…and 
this is something that hasn’t even existed
until recently.

You see, technology has changed the ENTIRE
landscape of how we do business.  Technology
has created so much opportunity for people its
really just nuts.

You have at your fingertips, almost one BILLION
people that you can tap into to produce growth
for your business on a daily basis.  When you learn 
the ‘Mechanics’ of using technology to produce endless 
prospects and leads…it’s literally like you can create cash 
in network marketing ON DEMAND.

That’s exactly what I now teach my team how to
do, and thats exactly what I do myself, and I have
to tell you…I couldn’t HYPOTHESIZE going back
to the ‘old school’ methods of building network
marketing businesses.

When you learn the science of marketing, and how
to ATTRACT prospects directly to you…nothing 
compares.  

And to help you learn exactly that 
I’ve created an incredibly powerful training that
documents exactly how I use technology every
day to build my business…and how you can
‘easily’ do the same.

You can learn more here:



In this audio training, I brake down how you can
start using ‘Attraction Marketing’ + ‘Internet Marketing’
to began achieving results in your business
exactly like I am in mine.

And just in case you want to see what those results
are…there is some proof right here on this page:



My advice to you is this…Start learning how to use
technology to build your business IMMEDIATELY.

The network marketers who have this ‘tool’ in their
arsenal are going to be able to create success in network
marketing 10x easier then their counterparts.

Take some time to digest my training, and you will
be that much closer to ‘Mastering’ this crazy game
called network marketing.

Yours In Massive Success,