10 Tactics To Make Your Blog Stand Out
One of the things I enjoy the most about blogs, especially blogs that are run by one individual, is analyzing why the blog is successful.
What is the magic ingredient that makes this blog succeed, when so many others fail?
Based on my observations, here are some of the elements you can apply to make your blog something special. Note you don’t have to apply all these ingredients, one could be enough, though of course if you apply more than one you increase your chance of success.
Do You Want To Become A Professional Blogger?
Back in 2004 when I started blogging there really wasn’t anything such as a professional blogger. Those who were making money as a blogger weren’t talking about it… yet.
Over the next two years the idea of blogging for money, possibly even as a career, became a reality. Blog networks started up paying bloggers a salary, thanks to programs like Google Adsense generating income became easier for the average Internet user, and eventually blogging went mainstream.
Today thousands of bloggers make money and while the number of those who do it as their main job is small in comparison to the number of blogs in existence, for those who realize the lifestyle of a professional blogger, life is good.
I never intended to make money as a blogger when I started. It was an experiment aimed solely at gaining more traffic from search engines. Little did I know that my blog would eventually become my business and just a few short years later I’d sell off all my other businesses just to pursue blogging.
Today my blog has helped pay for my house, my car, an 8 month trip around the world and I’ve just purchased a plush two bedroom apartment in my favorite suburb, where I will be moving to next month just before my 30th birthday (pictures coming soon!).
Needless to say, I am extremely blessed by what blogging has done for my life, and part of my mission as a blogger is to help other people realize similar benefits and freedoms thanks to blogging. Here are some of the resources I offer that can help you follow in my footsteps…
Would You Like To Become A Blogger?
If you’re interested in starting your own blog, the first thing I recommend you do is go to the free video training site Gideon Shalwick and myself provide for absolute newbie bloggers called “Become A Blogger” –
This site offers ten free videos that take you from zero, to setting up an optimized WordPress blog (and if you go to the blog portion of the site, you will find some additional free videos that give away even more powerful secrets to successful blogging).
While you are at the Become A Blogger site, make sure you download the free report – The Roadmap to Become A Blogger – which is a solid introduction to what it takes to build a successful blog.
Pay particular attention to the second half of the report where Gideon, who is an expert at leveraging social media, especially video, takes you through a series of techniques we call the “X-Factor”.
X-Factor techniques are particularly powerful leverage tools that combine multi-media with social media to bring traffic to your blog. In today’s online marketing world, if you don’t leverage new media when building your blog, you’re going to struggle to stand out from the crowd, which is exactly why we offer the “X-Factor” techniques to teach you how to be better than “average” blogger.
You can download the Roadmap report in both text and audio here -
www.BecomeABlogger.com/roadmap/
I strongly recommend you watch the free videos, get your blog set up and then devour the Roadmap report in one sitting (or listen to the audio version). You will then be a in a great starting position, better than most people who begin blogging, to really profit from your efforts.
Follow a roadmap and you are much more likely to succeed, especially if you are very new to the blogging game and want your hand held along the way.
Become A Blogger Premium 2.0 Opens Next Week
Next Monday, June 29th, for five days only, Gideon and I are opening up Become A Blogger Premium 2.0, the latest updated version of our introductory video training program for bloggers.
This course had over 1,000 students complete the training over the past six months (the best retention rate of any of my programs).
Now that the program is finished, the entire course is there laid out, including over 60 videos with discussion on each video, a private forum for members only, plus all the additional resources we offer like live group coaching calls twice a month with me and Gideon, master the mindset audio series and more.
The videos are split into two types –
- Strategy presentations from me where I lay out my system for successful blogging to you
- Practical how-to videos presented by Gideon, who teaches you the step-by-step to set-up and optimize your blog, and how to implement the techniques we teach
We’re now ready to begin training the next group of eager bloggers and I’m inviting you to work with me and Gideon over the next six months (if you haven’t already!). This time we’re opening the doors only for five days and then shutting down. If you want in, you have to decide next week.
This program really is for beginners who want to learn the how-to of successful blogging. If you’re confused by technology and blogs and websites, etc, and want your hand held throughout the process and prefer to be shown visually through video, there is no better blog trainer than Gideon and the resources inside Become A Blogger Premium 2.0.
If you don’t believe me, go watch the first ten free videos we give away –
If you like the style of presentation in those videos, are eager to learn more (and DO more) and want to work closely with someone who is currently living out the professional blogger lifestyle, then stay tuned for next week to claim your spot in Become A Blogger Premium 2.0, the last public run through of the program for 2009.
I’ll have more information for you later in the week. For the time being, go watch the videos and read the Roadmap, it’s a brilliant report.
www.BecomeABlogger.com/roadmap/
Yaro Starak
Professional Blogger
Become A Blogger Membership Discount Ends Thursday At 6PM
Update: Looks like Gideon did the old switcheroo on me without telling me (to be fair I was on a plane from Dubai to Singapore at the time), so the deadline is actually 6PM now, not 4PM. You’ve got two extra hours.
I’ll make this brief since you have probably made your decision already, but I want to make sure you don’t miss the deadline if you still haven’t decided…
Become A Blogger Premium, the video training course presented by Gideon Shalwick and myself, is open for new members at the special introductory rate of $27 a month until 6PM EST US time, Thursday 11th of December 2008, one week since we opened the program. After that the price increases to $47 a month.
You can find out all the details about the course and sign-up here -
www.becomeablogger.com/signup/
Welcome To New Members
I’d like to welcome on board the 600+ members we already have and all the new people who join in the next few days.
For the past few months and in particular during the last two weeks Gideon and I have been focusing our energy preparing this program. As is the case with many information products released online, we spend a lot of time on marketing initially, however now that our opening period is almost over, we’re turning our focus on to the members.
The first group of members are special because they help frame how the program evolves. We have a basic roadmap ready to go (no pun intended), however with feedback from the active membership we will be modifying the program as it progresses. We are also inviting members to request videos on any topic they want covered.
The first run through of the program is definitely the best time to do it because you save money and you get to partially dictate what is taught.
Plus don’t forget, you have 60 days to decide whether this program is right for you thanks to the mandatory Clickbank refund period (our payment processor). Try it for two months and if you don’t get your $27 bucks work, cancel. There’s no risk here.
If you can afford $1 a day and you are ready to build a successful blog by following along with Gideon’s clean and easy to action videos, here’s the link to join -
Don’t Forget About The Free Stuff
Although it’s pretty obvious I’ve been promoting a video course on this blog and my newsletter for the past two weeks, you shouldn’t take that as an excuse to stop paying attention even if you never intended to join.
The Roadmap To Become A Blogger report, which is nearing 10,000 downloads, is free and will remain free. It’s full of great content and regardless of whether you join our membership site, there’s a lot to take away and action from the Roadmap – so don’t ignore that resource (in both text and audio downloads).
Gideon has also been releasing a few X-Factor videos, which contain real tips that you can use. Yes they promote our program, but they do so by giving you ideas you can use. This is intended as a content launch that helps everyone – you don’t have to give us money to benefit.
And let’s not forget, watching a launch unfold is interesting in itself from an Internet marketing perspective. I hope you have been monitoring what Gideon and I get up to with your marketing hats on too, if you are nearing the stage where you are ready to release your own product online.
Thanks To Gideon
I’d like to thank Gideon especially as he has been working his butt off for the past month getting everything ready. This is his first major launch and as is often the case, he’s really had to put in the hours to keep things going.
Without Gideon you wouldn’t have all this amazing free content and for those special people who joined the Premium site, you have lots more from Gideon to look forward, and of course from me too!
Both Gideon and I look forward to meeting all the new members in the forums and the live teleconferences, which will begin in earnest starting next week once all the new members settle in.
Don’t Forget The Thursday Deadline
Make sure you mark Thursday at 6PM if you are going to join and want the $27 a month price. The course goes for six months long, and after that you enjoy lifetime access to all the resources and any future upgrades we release at no extra cost (you pay for six months only).
That’s a concrete deadline that we can’t change because it wouldn’t be fair to the members who acted quickly and signed up early. Join now or be prepared to pay more for the videos from Thursday night onwards.
Yaro Starak
Still Blogging 4 Years Later
Become A Blogger Premium Open
We’ve just flicked the switch to open the doors to Become A Blogger Premium video coaching program and I’d like to invite you to sign up as a member at this link -
How Much Is The Course?
Gideon and I are focusing this program at beginners and we don’t want to restrict anyone because they can’t afford hundreds of dollars a month, especially given the current economic situation. I realize many people wanted to join my other coaching program, Blog Mastermind, but they simply can’t afford it.
If that sounds like you, then you should be pleased as we have a special price for Become A Blogger Premium –
It’s just $47 a month and the course goes for six months.
We are using Clickbank as the payment processor, which means you have a guaranteed 60 day refund period offered by Clickbank. You can try the program for a full two months and at any time during that period you decide it’s not for you, go to Clickbank and ask them for a refund.
Of course I know you will love the program and as with all the products I release, I’m not going to just abandoned this after I’ve made some sales. Gideon and I are committed to making Become A Blogger Premium a leading video course and will be refining and enhancing it for a long time to come as we get feedback from the first group of students who join this week.
Here’s the link to sign-up -
What Do You Get If You Join?
BecomeABlogger.com Launches – Free Video Tutorials To Help You Start Your Very Own Blog
In the second half of 2007 I was contacted about whether I was interested in buying the domain name, becomeablogger.com.
Initially I said no because I was wearing my “too busy” hat at the time. A few days later I changed my mind and decided to grab the domain for an idea I had previously considered.
Helping Beginner Bloggers
As those who have studied Blog Mastermind know, I don’t provide absolute beginner training in the program on the simple technical tasks, like buying a domain name, setting up hosting and installing WordPress.
Instead I recommend my students immediately begin outsourcing the technical aspect of blogging if that is not your strong point. In the long run it’s definitely a smarter tactic, something I wish I did myself from day one, but instead I decided to struggle with technology myself and thus slow my progress down considerably.
In 2007 I started to attract more press coverage. To leverage the publicity I directed the attention towards my Blog Profits Blueprint download form, which I realized was not the smartest thing to do. The Blueprint is a great report, but it’s really suited towards more experienced bloggers and is not a good entry level book.
People who discover me via mainstream press are usually brand new to anything about making money online, thus they really need a very basic introduction to the world of blogging.
I wanted to make a site where I could offer basic training to get a blog set up using video tutorials, so I could direct people to the site as a first contact point with my training and blogging in general. I wanted a “doorway” site into the world of blogging and also to begin a relationship with my business. Something I could easily say on radio or podcast interviews or in emails from newbies.
When the domain Becomeablogger.com was offered to me I thought it was perfect for my objective. Initially the project was put on the back burner while I was busy with Blog Mastermind creating the lessons, but I kept my eyes open and put some feelers out for someone good at video to produce the tutorials.
I met Gideon Shalwick at a conference in Brisbane and began watching his work interviewing Internet marketing experts at his site Internet Marketing Wizards. I was impressed with his video production and asked if he was interested in the Become A Blogger project and he said yes.
Three months later, and we have just finished the final touches on the site.
Free Video Tutorials To Help You Start Your Very Own Blog
If you are new to blogging and you need help setting up a WordPress blog, then you definitely want to check out www.becomeablogger.com.
The site currently has a series of ten videos covering:
- Why You Should Use WordPress
- How To Get Your Own Domain Name
- How To Get A Web Host
- How To Install WordPress With One Click
- How To Upload Files To Your Webhost Using FTP
- Choosing A WordPress Theme For Your New Blog
- How To Install And Use WordPress Plugins
- How To Create Your First Blog Post And Blog Page
- What RSS Is And Why You Need It
- How To Use Feedburner For Supercharging Your RSS Capabilities
Many of the readers of this blog already have WordPress installed and these videos will be too basic for you, however I hope that whenever someone asks you about how to get into blogging that you send them towards BecomeABlogger.com as a great place to learn the basics.
I’d also really appreciate it if you could write a post to your blog about these new videos as I’m sure all the beginners out there would appreciate knowing the site exists.
The videos are 100% free and as you will see, are easy to follow and of a high standard. You are also welcome to embed the videos in your blog if you like, you can grab the code from within any video.
I’m distributing the Blog Profits Blueprint from Become A Blogger as an option for those people who decide they want to pursue an income stream from blogging after their blog is set up.
I spent several thousand dollars to have Becomeablogger.com created, and if you are wondering why, it’s because I hope to foster new relationships with my email list from people who subscribe via the site. I also hope it becomes a really popular destination for anyone new to blogging.
So what are you waiting for, go visit – BecomeABlogger.com – and tell your friends!
Yaro Starak
Blog Trainer
