Get set - Go! First Time Blogger Taking Action (Finally!)

Okay so I have been dabbling in IM for over a year now!

I have mainly stuck to article writing because that's what I am good at - writing!


I am lucky that words flow easily for me once I know what I am actually talking about. The first time I started getting paid for my articles was amazing and opened up a whole new world for me! The only thing is - I quickly realized I wanted to be the guy paying someone else for their articles in the long term!

I still have to write and produce articles for some clients to finance my IM endeavors but I am trying to make my writing work for me along with some of the knowledge I have built and will hopefully continue to build up.


2013 has been a year that has redefined my life in so many ways. I have always had big ideas and plans for the future and never saw myself working in a company or "under" someone. While I excel at many things I have always struggled to stay focused and motivated and was recently diagnosed with adult ADD .

I believe this is actually a great advantage and have learnt to use it as such by changing my diet around (along with a few other coping mechanisms) and also realizing what I can and cannot do. For the first time in my life - I feel like I am in a position to actually take action on all my big ideas. I am in my final year of University - where I am studying a Marketing Degree. I have one semester left so my goal is to have the foundation done in creating a recurring income from my IM endeavors before graduation in the Summer.


The first step I am taking is creating an "opinion" blog - I do not have huge plans for it but as a writer first and foremost it's about time I had one! It will always get me used to setting up websites,wordpress,plugins etc..

I have read a lot but the only true way to learn is to do it yourself I think! I am very intuitive and a fast learner - the only problem is I sometimes try to take a little too much on at once and end up nowhere. That is one of the reasons why I am setting up this thread - to have something to keep updated and organized during my journey and so that I do not lose track or motivation.


BlackHatWorld is a forum I have probably neglected too much. I was skeptical of some of the threads I read when I joined over a year ago and didn't want to be overwhelmed by the whole "Get Rich Quick" ideas that float around so much . I joined the WF also but of course that is the same - except with a really cringe-worthy user base who "hype" every single thing to the absolute max! The more experience I get working with webmasters and doing my own research , the more I realized the extraordinary value that communities like this provide.

We are well and truly in the minority. When you read and hangout at forums like this it is easy to forget that simply by thinking bigger picture and wanting to do better for yourself you are already setting yourself apart from the mass population. It is clear BHW is set up in a way that fosters this community aspect emphasizing useful content and helpful discussion instead of being one big funnel like the WF seems to be!


So lets get going shall we ?


First step - Hosting and Domain name purchased using HostGator

Going to mess around with it now a little and check a few themes out to get my first blog up and rolling! Will look at analytics, ad-sense etc after





P.S - I am hoping this will be a relatively active discussion with various tips and mistakes shared in order to benefit everyone involved ! I am also prepared to answer all questions posed to me during the "journey" to the best of my ability.

Good luck! Tip: do some keyword research. I know you probably have ideas for your blog already and that's awesome .. start writing for sure. Themes are easy to change. But when you start running low on ideas use google keyword tool, plug your niche as a seed and it will spit out other suggestions for you with traffic stats and advertiser stats too. Consider how you will monetize this blog, any traffic is a chance to make some money. Maybe amazon affiliate links such as books, items related to your niche? Recomend tthings to your readers just don't go too spammy on them.

Cool!

What I am interested in and actually very good at writing about is sports mainly. Not a very profitable niche as far as I know - only really the betting affiliates.

Other than that I love writing about low-carb dieting and ketogenic diets and all the benefits they entail - only problem I have is how saturated that whole market is ! As a sideline project I am sort of putting together a recipe book - but I really need to do some more research on the time to value ratio of something like that.

I am very aware of how important niche and market research is - but I always get a little bogged down on how to go about it effectively and efficiently. Hasn't the google keyword tool been replaced by the keyword planner? Same thing but better right ? Or am I mistaken?

No you are right - keyword planner is the new tool (but effectively the same). Maybe promote sports memorabilia, sports books, magazine subscriptions, TVs, game tickets for sports niche? All just ideas off the top of my head of course. Keto is great stuff and you could always promote books off that as well.

Adsense is another option (or do both) or any other affiliate offers. I'm still a newb myself in some ways so of course I don't have all the answers. Clickbank products have nice profit margins but I think google finds them spammy. Every link think "could I morally sell this to a grandmother?" sports betting "systems" I think not (if they work you would buy the system, use it and be rich off that, no need for IM right)

First Website and Post up!

Set up analytics and ad-sense - but I don't know what I should be expecting from what is mainly a personal/news blog.

Anyway it wasn't too hard and I should be able to set up niche sites much quicker and more effectively from now on. Also considering doing a Joint venture but will see how I get on solo first!

Next step - Use fiverr or similar to get some basic graphics for the site and keep it updated with regular relevant content

- Then start to get really down and dirty with Niche research and how to go about setting up and delivering a quality targeted website

Best of luck with your journey OP

Nice to see support from someone who has been around for a while!

Thank you!

While I am sure there has been many blow ins who set up threads like these and then disappear into oblivion - for better or worse I plan to keep everyone updated on what I am doing! You guys can then all tell me what I am doing wrong!

Anyone have any opinion for what sort of monthly revenue someone who can produce quick, relevant and quality articles while having more than half a brain should be aiming for?


On a side note - my father actually ran an eBay store over the last few years selling a very specific item related to cameras. He has 100% positive feedback from around 400 sold.

The product is very specific though and the demand is dying - is it maybe something I should look at more or are eBay accounts such as that a dime a dozen these days?

So today I have been having a look through lots of various Wordpress Plugins that may improve my current and future sites.

What I have been doing is looking at similar "top" sites in my niche and then running them through an online tool to see what plugins and themes they use etc..

Its going well so far and I am picking things up fairly quickly!

I would highly recommend you to browse over this pdf document and keep it for reference, it is very helpful with loads of information. It was compiled from a popular journey thread on this forum from the member Bluematter which gives helpful information on ranking, SEO and keywords analysis etc.

I hope this helps you, and also I wish you the best of luck

Awesome! Thanks for the support!

I'll be sure to have a look through it

One thing though - Internet Marketing seems to be always changing and changing pretty quickly so I am always wary of learning from what worked in the past especially regarding SEO. I am pretty sure the fundamentals stay the same but it is definitely something I am trying to be mindful of- that guide is from this year though so it should still help loads !