All set to create your blog? Ask yourself these 31 questions

Blogging is a wonderful way to express your feelings and share your thoughts with the web world. It gives you the platform to share your knowledge and voice your opinion about any subject. But, blogging is not easy. It takes a lot of hard work, focus and the drive to make your blog a successful one. Otherwise, there would be no one to read or comment on your blogs.

Here is a list of questions you need to ask yourself before launching your blog. Hopefully, this will help you focus on the right things, avoid making serious mistakes and make your blog popular.

1. Why do I want to create a blog? Do I know how to create a blog?
2. What is the central theme of my blog? What kind of topics will I cover?
3. Do I want to make money from my blog?
4. What will be the design and layout of my blog?
5. Can I give enough time to my blog?
6. Have I thought about the domain name for my blog?
7. Do I know the latest SEO strategies to make my blog rank higher in the Search Engines?
8. Do I know anything social media? Can I promote my blog in different social networking websites?
9. How much can I spend to purchase the preferred domain for my blog?
10. Do I have good writing skills?
11. Who will be the target audience for my blog?
12. Which one is the best blogging platform right now?
13. What is my strategy to build traffic?
14. How shall I measure my blog’s success?
15. How would I protect my blog from hackers?
16. Who will create the images for my blogs?
17. Do I know the basic HTML codes?
18. Can I handle both positive and negative criticism?
19. What will be the tone of my writing style? Humour, serious, sarcastic?
20. Have I read enough on how to create a blog and handle technical issues?
21. Do I want a free blog?
22. What are the advantages of working with a good hosting company? How can they help me?
23. How can I get enough information to write blogs on various topics?
24. Why would my audience be interested to read my blogs?
25. How would I connect with other bloggers and readers?
26. Is blogging just my passion?
27. What are the tricks to create a blog and make it popular?
28. Do I know enough about affiliate marketing and Google Ads?
29. How much do I know about image and video editing?
30. Am I ready to learn from others?
31. How would I let others know about my blog?

There you have it – 31 simple yet important questions you need to ask yourself before launching a blog. Do you think I have missed out any question? If so, then what are they? Share them with us.

How Help To Make It Blogging Easy

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Videos on Websites Add Interest & Drive Traffic

Video on a website is really popular. That said, have you started using it yet? If not, why not? I think a lot of people are intimidated by the thought of being on video. I get that, I was too, but there are a lot of benefits that video adds to your website.

One of the biggest benefits is that recording a video essentially helps establish trust. It provides a way for your visitors to “meet” you in person. Having the opportunity to see and hear you makes you a real person, not somebody behind the curtain.

Video is here to stay, and we all have to accept it and get in the game. The good news is that it is really simple. I will walk you through how you can record and add video to your website.

Choose a digital video camera

There are a lot of digital video cameras on the market, but this is not a review of cameras. I use the FlipAdding video to your website is easy using the flip camera, so I will talk about how I use it. Other cameras are somewhat similar. You will also need to purchase a tripod to hold the camera so that you can easily record.

Here are the steps I follow when I am going to add a video to my website. I simply set up my tripod with the camera attached. Then I turn the camera on, push the red button on the back and just talk to the camera as if I was talking to someone across the table.

I try to just be conversational, in other words, I am just being myself. Now that is not so hard, anyone should just be able to do that. You may think that is easier said than done. I suggest that you just practice a bunch of times. In the beginning I was really self concious, but the great thing is that you can always erase the video and redo it.

Once you are happy with the recording, you just plug it into the usb port on your computer and upload. A screen opens that lets you fill in the information about your video and then just upload it to YouTube.

Embed Videos
Once you have uploaded the video to YouTube, it is really easy to embed the video on your website.  While on YouTube,  you  chose “share”.  It will then give you the option to choose embed. Click on it and then an embed code appears in a box. You simply copy it.

Once back on you website, you can add it to your post. Make sure you choose the HTML tab in the upper left hand corner of the post content box. Once you have done that, you simply paste the embed code where you want to place the video in the post. That is all there is to it.

Which Digital Video Camera?

I only have experience using The Flip, so that is the one I will tell you about. I was going to make a video for you, but when I was researching the cost and features, I noticed that Amazon has some great professional videos for you to go and look at. The cost of this camera varies from $59 – about $159. The price is based on the number of hours you can record. The $59 model holds only one hour, the $159 model holds four hours. In addition, the more expensive model has lots of bells and whistles (figuratively speaking). Clicking on the picture of the Flip above this paragraph will take you to Amazon to check out the different cameras. But before you click on it to go there, read the explanation below.

To see the  videos, on the left side of the window, you will see some icons, one of them is to view videos about the item.

Videos provied on Amazon about the Flip digital Camera

This picture shows the actual Amazon page for the Flip camera. On the left side by the red arrow, you can choose to see the videos about the product.

That is a great price, I paid a lot more that that a couple of  years ago. I have the basic model and it works just fine for my needs. I do have to admit that the additional two hours on the more expensive model would be nice though

Moving Forward To Success! Internet Marketing Journey….

I am back in the UK now. Had a nice vacation to Atlanta in the US where my sister lives. A great place by the way, if you ever get the chance you should all go. Great weather and some nice locations…..

Anyway in my last post “Where Is My Internet Marketing Success” I spoke at length about how I failed and down right sucked at internet marketing. I was really getting quite pi$$ed off. Why have so many people made so much money yet here I was really struggling and trying to find my way.

I was just too bogged down in all the wrong things. The one thing I did have was uncertainty. I wasn’t sure what I was doing was the right thing so this lead to me flip flopping from one idea to another then wondering why nothing was happening. The only thing I was doing consistently was buying more internet marketing products!  Arrgh!

You see I have found out that this is what most internet marketers want. They want us to be uncertain. They want us flip flopping around. They want us buying more of their products!! Get this clear in your minds.

I am not saying that all the products are no good or don’t work or are down right crap. I am saying that this is what the marketers want and we make it very easy for them by being in this constant  uncertainty loop.

Fail To Plan……
You know the rest right? Plan To Fail!! I genuinely think this is where most people are falling over. They have nothing. They have no idea, no strategy, no plan! All their efforts crumble even before they have started.

If you want to make money you have to treat this as a business not just an opportunity. Learn some simple business planning techniques and put them into action. Do this first before you start with the actual methods of doing things.

So I have started my business plan. At the moment it’s written scribbled  down on about 4 sheets of paper. I will then put this into Google docs. Why Google? It’s very easy to use and highly portable. I can modify and add to my notes from any computer not just this laptop. I can easily share with other people…..

I have also done one other major major step forward in my business and that is get an accountability partner!

Product Creation Obstacles and Losing Focus-Internet Marketing

I’ve stepped back a little from the internet marketing world of late. There are a number of reasons for this. I will go into them all in a minute. But as of right now I plan to turn this around and plan my first product launch.

This is quite a personal post and will share information many people keep under wraps.

One of the products I have recently been working on was a WordPress plugin. I had a great idea for a plugin so I hired a developer and he got working on it.

Working with him started really well and we made great progress.

There were a number of functional additions and design changes along the way and it was looking pretty good and he handled all my changes really well. We would Skype most weeks to discuses the details. We had a number of iterations of the plugin under our belts and it was looking good.

Then things changed… my belief in the plugin as a product started to slip. I started to doubt the product. And on top of that the developer was doing a bit of a disappearing act. And was getting harder and harder to get hold of.

I also started to find small bugs in the software. Some times it wouldn’t function properly or would corrupt a whole blog post. This wasn’t good.

I had a few people test the plugin and most got it working fine and praised it. A much needed boost of confidence I needed. Some did see the errors and issues I had found. Which only cemented my doubts further.

Also around this time my work load in my day job increased rapidly. I used to have time at work to think about and action some of my internet marketing ventures. Now my time was in big demand I was working longer hours and in the middle of managing a complex IT project at work.work!

I would get home knackered  (that’s really tired to the American folk :-) and drained and working on my failing plugin was getting further and further from my mind.

So my dreams of being a software CEO seemed to be slipping away even further.

Once these types of blocks and obstacles happen is is so hard to get back on the horse, focus my mind, and get cracking again.

Also during this time I attended the Marketing Summit in Manchester UK. My first live internet marketing event. These are great for seeing what others are doing, meeting like minded people and getting killer ideas.

The first speaker up was Brad Gosse. He is a great speaker and was full of amazing stories and information. But what really stuck with me was one of the businesses he has. He mentioned it’s good to have some kind of evergreen that’s always in demand business. And to steer away from the information that is timely. meaning it will be obsolete in a year if not a month! Like that latest SEO technique you’ve been trying.

Anyway at that point I had a light bulb moment and my head was filled with “I could do that!”

How To Create A WordPress Plugin With Zero Coding Skills?

In my last post I wrote about creating my new internet marketing product. I decided to take a huge leap into the unknown and create a WordPress Plugin from scratch. In this follow up post I describe how I got ideas and how I designed the plugin from the ground up.

Why did I decide to create a WordPress Plugin? I wanted to come to the market with a cool product. One that would grab attention and give me instant authority and respect in the IM niche. But also a product that is in demand and that my customers would enjoy and get benefits from. Sure, I could have created another ebook or video course and in the future I definitely will be doing both these things but for my first product I wanted to create a bit more buzz. I hope this plugin will do that :-)

How To Find WordPress Plugin Ideas?

Let’s assume you want to follow in my footsteps and get your own WordPress plugin created that you can sell on the internet. First you need an idea for a Plugin!

This is where most people get stuck or stop altogether. Thoughts of “how can I design a plugin?” “I don’t have any ideas?” “All the good ideas have been taken, haven’t they?”

These are all common objections for not getting off your butt and doing something!  These objections probably apply to most things people do online. And if everyone thought like this nothing would get done. So how do you get around these?

Turn objections into objectives!
I will step through each of these objections and show you how easy it is to get over these hurdles stopping your progress. All that needs to be done is a little research and break down each objection into a number of much simpler tasks that can easily be handled.

I don’t Have Any Plugin Ideas?

How to design wordpress pluginSitting looking at a blank screen will not help you come up with any ideas. So start looking at what plugins are available today.

Step 1. Do some research. Go to various websites and see what plugins are being created and sold right now. Which ones are selling the most? What do these plugins relate to? Are they SEO, Social share plugins, Membership site plugin, squeeze page plugins, the list goes on and on.

Research these ideas and put them onto paper. Organise them.

Step 2. New Ideas. Having done your research you should have a nice list of popular and successful plugins. Which ones could be improved? Could you take a number of functions from other plugins and add  it to another to create an entirely new plugin? What missing functionality could you add to an existing plugins? This is how I came up with the idea for mine. I took an already existing plugin and added additional functionality to it, changed the design slightly and had a new plugin! Simple.

How Can I Design A Plugin?

Easily! I designed my plugin idea using a pencil and paper. I had a simple idea of what I wanted and I got to work designing it with simple sketches and notes. You could even start off with a mind map. Use Mind Meister for this (free product)

I then moved these sketches into Keynote or Powerpoint as a way of cleaning them up and getting everything together.Designing a wordpress plugin

You have to design and detail everything. How do you want the front end of the plugin to look? This means what do you want the end user to see on their screen when the plugin runs? Design this with arrows to explain all the details.

Remember a developer is not a designer and you will have to explain every bit of your design and not leave anything down to them. Or what you will get it back not as you expected. So explain everything even the smallest details.

I got a few initial designs back with unwanted elements. See the pic to the right. I wanted the boxes around the social icons to be removed. Looks awful with them there. A simple design issue that was simply resolved.

Design the plugin back end. The back end is all the functions of the plugin that you see in WordPress. What do you want the user to be able to modify? Colours, sizes, menus, social icons, all the options. These need to be detailed out too. So the developer know exactly what you want the end user to be able to control.

All these options need to be designed and laid out to your developer.

By now you should have enough information to 1. research and 2. start designing your plugin. So what are you waiting for?

Plugins are one of the biggest sellers on the Warrior forum and JVZoo. Start creating your own product now.

5 Safety and Success Tips for Freelance Web Designers

Freelancers continue to grow in demand as the economy slowly recovers, with 22.5 million businesses considered non-employers by the United State census. Freelance web designers, among other types of freelancers, enjoy a flexible schedule and often have the ability to work from home instead of traveling to client sites. While freelancing sounds attractive to many web design professionals, with Rockable reporting an average of $49 per hour for the profession, you need to stay safe in a digital age life as far as content is concern with identity theft, scammers, and other security concerns.

Practice Due Diligence 

You find freelance clients in a variety of locations, from word of mouth to job board sites such as Craigslist. However, you'll also run into many scammers and time wasters through these venues as well. When you get to the point of signing contracts or submitting tax information to a potential client, look into their business. You don't want your social security number and other private information falling into the wrong hands. Ask about their business, find their physical location if possible, and do extensive research on the company when you get to this point.

Protect Your Online Accounts 

Many freelancers accept various forms of electronic payment, such as Paypal. If a scammer gets your email address through an inquiry you made to a fake job listing, they may send email scams designed to get your password for Paypal and other online accounts. According to Lifelock, phishing email scams can cost you money and compromise your identity. Always go directly to the websites to sign in instead of clicking an email link, no matter how concerning or persuasive the email is.

Keep an Eye on Computer Security 

You keep client data, marketing files, and other sensitive information on your computer. If your computer security gets compromised, you face data loss and compromised information. A malicious computer virus may wreck an entire hard drive's worth of data. You may already be using an external hard drive or USB drive to save backups of your files. However, cloud based backup solutions give you an extra layer of security by storing data off-site, at a third party data center. Cloud based storage also allows you to access these files from any device with an Internet connection. Some freelancers combine multiple backup solutions including DVDs, external hard drives or thumb drives, with a cloud storage service such as Dropbox hosting a copy of these files.

Pay special attention to computers that rely on older, unsupported software or operating systems. If the software developer no longer updates the software, the potential for security holes is greater. Take a look at upgrading your computer if the hardware is unable to support newer, more secure versions of operating systems and advanced anti-virus software.

When Clients Come to Your Home 

If you have clients coming to your home, make sure that you let someone know when they are stopping by, and how long you expect the meeting to last. If at all possible, have meetings at a co-working location or a quiet cafe instead of your house for obvious safety reasons.

Keep Your Body Healthy 

Another safety issue that freelancers may not consider is keeping their body healthy. You spend long hours at a desk, working on client projects or sending out inquiries for work. Freelance.com recommends keeping an eye on the ergonomics of your workstation, from the keyboard to your computer chair. While a good computer chair may run near $1,000, it's worth it when you consider the amount of time you spend sitting in it. Plus, it's tax deductible. Many companies manufacture ergonomic keyboards that run approximately the same price as a standard keyboard.