Erik Qualman once said, “We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it”.

Can you believe that, folks? Social media is a key generator for your business; let it be either an online or a brick and mortar business, you need social media to literally survive in this world.

The challenges small businesses face is inevitable. Yes you — small business owners will face tons of obstacles which will either demotivate you or burn a hole in your pocket. As a social media consultant, I dare to say that there will be challenges in social media especially in two phrases; entry level and sustaining a marketing strategy to compete with the rest.

As Erik said above, social media is no longer a luxury; it is a needs that will determine success in business.

So, what are the challenges small businesses will face in social media? How do you overcome them?

Let’s break them down in this article, shall we?

1. Choosing the right social media platform

Are you going for the 6 seconds video marketing on Vine? Or maybe, constantly publishing videos on YouTube? How about content and social marketing?

Small businesses doesn’t have the budget like those big boys do. Business owners probably need to form out additional money just to participate in the rat race using Facebook ads.

Sounds familiar, right?

So, which is the best social media platform for small business?

Solving this social media challenge is simple. Business owners need to ‘F-O-C-U-S‘ and this means that “Follow One Course Until Success“. Yes, this comes directly from the mouth of John Lee Dumas at Entrepreneur On Fire.

Focus on one platform (any platform of your choice) and find ways to master it. Don’t even think of changing to another social platform until you have completely leverage the true power of that social media platform.

And on the side, allow me to introduce Kabbage. It offers small business loans that could allow entrepreneurs to grow their business in various ways. Business owners could use this working capital loan to increase their budget for more effective social media marketing.

 

2.” I don’t have enough time to manage social media” type of mindset

Time is the holy grail for any business owners and entrepreneurs and it is a no brainer that this is one of the biggest challenges faced by businesses in social media.

Sure, social media takes a lot of your time daily and you have a business to run. Managing one-single social media account (process of engaging with your followers) takes forever — hours and hours of hard work.

And you’re pretty sure you can make more money selling whatever your products are than just doing social media.

Don’t bother answering. I know it’s true!

The way to solve this challenge in social media is simple: Use social media automation tools.

There are free social media management tools like Hootsuite that allows you to schedule posts at anytime you want, across several social media accounts at once. Spend 30 minutes a day on scheduling and you can literally ‘escape’ from the hectic life in social media.

If you are managing a medium-sized business, there are premium tools such as Sprout Social that offers more features and capabilities to manage your social media accounts like a professional. Plus, saving you thousands of dollars in hiring social media manager or agencies for the job.

 

3. How do I create a social media marketing plan for my business?

• How do you know if you are having the best strategy for your business?
• How do I find the right target audience for social media marketing?
• Is measuring success important?

Questions, questions and more questions. These are the questions that will be lingering in your mind especially when you are creating your own social media plan for your business.

Need some advise? Here’s how business owners can solve this problem:

Step 1: The power of clarity for your business goals

If you want to be successful in social media, be really clear in your business goals. What’s your goal in using social media?

Is it for branding, improve visibility, increase sales or gain more followers?

The clearer and more specific you are with your business goals, the higher the chances are for you to create a good social media strategy that fits with your business. Trust me.

Step 2: Understand your audience

How well do you know your audience? Social media marketing is not about the sheer numbers; it is all about understanding your audience. Knowing where they are and what interests them will provide better ROI (return of investment) in any social media plan that you have.

Why is this a common challenge business owners face in social media? They are targeting the masses, not specific audience who are potentially your future customers.

Step 3: Start developing a social media strategy for business

This can only be done once Step #2 is done. A no-brainer, right?

You know who your potential customers are and where they love to ‘hang out’ in. The next step?

Create a social media plan and engage with them. Always focus in being a solution instead of adding to the problem.

Step 4: Analyze everything

The last step is fairly simple … but time consuming. Analyze what works and what doesn’t. Take the opportunity to change and adapt to changes.

That’s how you and your business can grow in social media marketing.

 

4. Is paid advertising on social media worth it?

 

 

Yes – they – do.

With proper strategy, you can literally turn one time visit from Facebook (for example) into a loyal customer through advertising.

Sure, paid social media advertising is optional and you can still survive without it — but life will get harder for you.

If you want to ‘get out’ of this popular challenge business owners face in social media, then ask yourself if you are affordable for it. If you’ve the additional funds for marketing, it has absolutely no harm to use at least $20 a day on social.

Here’s an example of how Post Planner uses $20 a day using Facebook ads.

 

5. What is the best time to tweet or post an update on social media?

The answer? It varies depending on the social media platform that you are focusing on. Knowing the best time to tweet or post an update could increase your engagement, triple fold.

 

But how do you solve this common challenge business owners face in social media?

Knowing your audience (geographical data) and using the right tools will help in this case.

Most social media platforms provide geographical data (either simplified or detailed) for users to use. For example, there’s Twitter analytics report and Facebook Insights. These are absolutely free tools that will provide you important information which will make or break your social marketing strategy.

And if you are a social tool fanatic like me, there’s also Hootsuite analytics reports which you can extract at anytime (CLICK HERE to get a free 30-days unlimited access to Hootsuite Pro).

 

Conclusion

If you are struggling with social media, don’t worry; you’re not alone. I started my own business and got right into the social media mess. But trust me, challenges small businesses face in social media is easily resolved with some strategies set in advance.

And don’t look further. The above 5 are social media strategies you can start working on right now!

Leave a comment below and tell me what you think. Feel free to add more social media challenges that business owners will face too!

The post 5 Social Media Challenges Faced By Business Owners (And How To Solve Them) appeared first on Reginald Chan.

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Every entrepreneur wants to get noticed in a noisy world.

Yes, they do and so do you. But wait, me too! Today’s world is very much different. Entrepreneurs are competing with one another on a daily basis because we are fighting for the same pie. The pie didn’t increase in size over the years, but the number of entrepreneurs do.

We are constantly finding for ways to beat the competition. Take this website for example. I am constantly finding ways to build a bigger audience and increasing the size of my email list.

Getting noticed in a noisy world does sound like a daunting task, right? I bet.

They want to see you do good, but never better than them. Remember that – Unknown.

This quote is point-on. In this marketing world, there aren’t that many friends that wish you all the best with your business truthfully. And to be honest, they will welcome your failure because if you fail (and fail more), they probably have higher chance to success. Plus, lesser one competition to compete with them.

Make sense?

In this post, you’ll learn the tips I used to get noticed in a noisy world. I’ve been through some tough times, but with multiple awards and honorable mentions such as from Harvard University’s blog, I am sure I could do you some favors for free, right?

So, here’re some great stuffs you will find today:

• 1

  Finding a platform to start (and sticking to it)

• 2

  Understanding the importance of syndicating your content

• 3

  Getting noticed by being bold or different (but not overdoing it)

• 4

  Providing tons of value to your customers or followers

• 5

  Building a community that will make you stand out from the crowd

 

 

1. Finding a platform (and stick to it)

The biggest misconception about marketing and getting noticed is “the more places you are, the more visibility you get”.

In this case, a platform can varies from social media platforms to ultimate goals, from marketing techniques to entrepreneurship ideas.

Sure, you get visibility if you are everywhere but you probably won’t be able to leverage them to the maximum. You are starting out and most likely lack of budget.

Stick to a platform and work with it. Put in your heart and soul into the platform, and market your way to the top. Everyone is trying to participate in various marketing platforms — e.g. social platforms, marketing strategies blogging plans and podcasting.

The moral of the story is simple. Get noticed in a noisy world by being that good in that one, specific platform. When that happens, you’re literally golden. Trust me.

 

2. Syndicating your content

If you want to stand out in the crowd, you need to start syndicating your content. Allow me to give you an example for this blog.

In content marketing:

Four new content are published on a weekly basis and when these content goes live, they are distributed into various social media platform … automatically.

Using IFTTT or IF This Then That, I am able to syndicate my content across the web without hassle. Zero time lost and “booyah” to my productivity level. A more complex explanation using IFTTT can be found here.

In short, IFTTT allows me to share my content (in various forms) to multiple platforms with just a few clicks of the mouse. With the time saved, I could focus on things that matters most to me; writing better content to serve my audience (yes, you!).

 

In overall marketing strategy:

I have big plans for this website and one of them is to create my own video audience on YouTube. When I create a video, I would then extract the voice and turn it into my podcast show.

And even live hangouts or interview series could be transformed into a super awesome podcast series thanks to the marketing tools from the Rainmaker Platform.

If syndication isn’t your marketing strategy, you got use it .. or face the consequences of losing out in the near future!

 

3. Get noticed by being bold

Being bold isn’t being stupid or rude. It is the smart way of gaining attention. When do you bold statements, the spotlight will be on you.

Y-E-S, YOU!

Take the opportunity to shine and at the same time, be smart enough not to create a backfire.

Take a look at the image above. Daniel Craig (before and after). Which attracts your eyes better? I mean, seriously!

So, how to be bold?

The easiest way is to create a statement against the norm.

You are an entrepreneur and you are most likely to sell / promote a product. There are competitors, alright — and that makes creating bold statements much easier (but riskier). Take a look at the tweet below:

Bold statement from the folks at @BrilliantBooks, who are offering refunds to GSAW customers. (via @sarahw) http://pic.twitter.com/mKHo5Zn7sW

— Alex Shephard (@alex_shephard) July 15, 2015

We all heard about the drama around the book series, “To Kill A Mockingbird” — if you have not, don’t worry. A quick search on Google would provide you with some answers real fast.

Now, back to the story. Do you think the company had released a powerful and bold statement? Yes, yes and yes!

But there’s one thing you need to know. Being bold usually comes with the positive and negative side; you either get tons of support or making a fool out of yourself.

Important takeaway: Learn to be bold at the right time, but not all the time.

 

4. Providing value (without asking for return)

It is noisy in whatever industry you are in. People are constantly sharing information on a daily basis. For instance, there are over 500 million blogs out there (as of today) and 2 million blog posts are published every day.

I bet it is extremely ‘noisy’ right?

Think about it this way instead.

Everyone is sharing content and the real fact is that most people are selling or promoting a product for their own gain.

Now, imagine what happens when you put on your game face and reach out to the mass public by providing enormous value. And, you aren’t asking anything back in return — not even an email address.

What will happen when do you that?

• You’ll build trust
• You provide value (more than anyone else)
• You start building brand loyalty

And when you do this long enough, you will become an influencer in your own niche.

 

5. Creating a community can get you noticed

Don’t believe me?

Check out the Facebook Group Email1k created by Noah Kagan of AppSumo. He created the a community for free, thanks to Facebook powerful community feature.

The disclaimer taken directly from the group:

This group is for people working through Noah Kagan’s Email1K course. It’s to support and help each other get more email subscribers.

What you can do here: You can ask questions about the content in the Email1K course, questions about using the SumoMe tools and questions related to building your subscribers. You can help others out by contributing your knowledge. Please do. That’s what makes this group a great community.

The main goal of this Facebook group is simple: Share ideas and get more email subscribers.

He did that by providing tons of advice (being active in the community itself) and providing free email templates to grow the member’s email lists. The results? Happy, happy community members.

What can you learn from Noah? Get noticed in a noisy world by providing value — yes value that will turn on your visitors into loyal readers and making you a well-respected person (for the value you provide, not politics )

 

Are you ready to get noticed in a noisy world?

Leave a comment, share this around or hit me up on social. Tell me what you think about this and if you have more ways to get yourself noticed in your own niche.

See you in the comments below!

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Productivity tools make or break an entrepreneur’s productivity level.

One way or another, the right tools with the right planning will help you get more jobs done in a shorter time span. And when you have more time in your hands, you can achieve more tasks than what’s expected.

Juggling so many tasks can be daunting and lead to a lot of stress. If you’re an entrepreneur and you want to become more efficient, productive and successful, here’s a list of tools you need to use today.

 

1. Buffer

Social media marketing is the next big thing in marketing. Regardless the size of your business, you got to engage in social and this is where Buffer helps you to improve your productivity level. You can schedule social media updates and perform serious analytics with Buffer. This makes building up your brand and company on social media extremely easy.

 

2. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a powerful alternatives to Buffer. However, Hootsuite works slightly different from its competitors. Aside from scheduling and analytics, Hootsuite helps to increase productvity but having the social listening feature. You can listen and engage with customers while understand the strategies taken by your competitors.

 

3. Trello

Working with a team and want to delegate tasks efficiently? Trello allows you to do so — and in style! The thing that makes Trello a powerful productivity tool is that it allows you to drag and drop between projects (or also known as boards). You can create checklists, images and texts to take productivity to the next level. It comes with a free account and you can subscribe for paid ones for more features.

 

4. Evernote

Evernote is probably one of the best (and popular) productivity tools for entrepreneurs. It allows you to upload images, voice memo, texts, reminders and chat with your colleagues for team collaboration. What makes it really useful is the offline feature where you can access the notes anytime of the day from any mobile devices. Just like Trello, there are both free and paid accounts with different features.

 

5. Clear

This is an iPhone app and it does one thing (and only one thing) superbly well. It helps you to get organized and ensure that tasks are completed in a timely matter. Clear allows you to add new tasks and reminders under a few seconds. Simple actions such as swiping the tasks left and right would open up more options such as delete the task or marking the task as complete.

 

6. Any.Do

Another powerful task management app on smartphones. It integrates perfectly on computers too and the one thing that makes it stand out from the rest would be the ‘ morning notifications’. For example, when you set your day start at 9am, Any.Do will send you a reminder on tasks that need to be completed on the same day. You can snooze, change date or even set the tasks as complete. And the best part, it is free to download (paid plans available).

 

7. Asana

Looking for productivity tools to help your team with task management? Asana is a free project-management tool that allows teams to communicate without email, in one central location. Trust me, you can’t ask for more than this!

 

8. Fiverr

Entrepreneurs are always chasing for more time and yes, 24 hours isn’t enough. Fiverr is a market place to find for nearly everything (which starts at $5 per gig). If you are on a shoestring budget, you may want to consider getting a few gigs from Fiverr.

 

9. Elance

If you require a freelancer on a long term project, Elance is the answer. You can search for thousands of freelancers with different capabilities and price range. Personally, I love using Elance to find for Virtual Assistants (VA’s). The concept is pretty simple; You act as an employer and you post a project. Freelancers from all around the world will bid for the project and you can select them based on experience, price range etc. Payment could be done by milestones or after completing the project.

 

10. Social media platforms

Believe it or not, social media platforms are great source of productivity hacks. For example, spending sometime on Twitter or Pinterest would give you a couple of ideas for your upcoming project. Plus, with social media being live 24-7, you know that you are going to get the latest trends — every single time.

 

11. Talkwalker

Consider Talkwalker as a newer, more advanced version of Google Alerts. It offers more comprehensive results and more options that allow you to check for mentions of your company online. This helps with public relations and the chance to interact with people who are discussing your brand online.

 

12. DropBox

DropBox allows you to share files with others, sync files across devices and ensuring your files are constantly accessible (while safe) in the cloud. As an entrepreneur, this is a great productivity tool as it allows you to share important files with your colleagues without needing to send an email attachment or using hard copies.

 

13. Google Drive

You already know about this tool, but the release of Chromebooks and the ability to convert and edit Microsoft Office documents make this productivity tool (and accompanying Docs and Sheets) a great way to collaborate and share documents with your clients, freelancers or employees. Do I really need to elaborate more on this?

 

14. Audible / Kindle Unlimited

Most entrepreneurs read a lot. For me, listening to audio version of the book is always an awesome way to save more time while increasing your productivity level. With both Amazon Kindle and Audible, you can listen to several audio books each month.

 

15. EventBrite

Are you looking for the latest networking event in town? Head over to EventBrite and discover tickets for small to medium size events at reasonable prices. EventBrite also allows you to create and host your own event in the case of need (which is awesome).

 

16. Meetup

Looking for bigger events to join and EventBrite isn’t capable to provide such resources? Meetup is the tool for you. It is a super effective way to find influencers, local events and networking groups in just a few clicks of the button.

 

17. Editorial calendar

Do you find yourself rushing to get posts published on your company blog? Using an editorial calendar like this one would help you to publish posts in a timely manner. It also allows you to be more productive and ensure your readers are constantly getting updates without fail.

 

18. Rainmaker Platform

Looking for an all-in-one marketing platform for your startup business? Introducing the Rainmaker Platform; A complete marketing platform that allows you to build your own marketing and sales platform build under one roof. From superior web hosting to marketing tool, Rainmaker Platform takes your marketing and productivity level from A to A+ in just a few clicks. You can also try it for 14-days free using this link.

 

19. MailChimp

I bet you heard about email marketing before. Trust me, email marketing is a great productivity tool if done correctly. I use MailChimp as my email marketing provider and with it, I create multiple follow up emails and broadcast emails to be delivered at the right time — every week. MailChimp is set to send out welcome emails for new subscribers and specific emails for those who have completed several tasks; clicking on links, opening emails etc.

MailChimp has both free and paid plans which starts from $9 per month. Create a forever-free MailChimp account here.

 

20. IFTTT

IFTTT is the short form for IF This, Then That. Basically it allows you to create automated tasks to speed up your productivity level. One of my favorite (and most used) productivity hacks using IFTTT is when I tag ‘tasks’ to a post to Pocket app, it will automatically trigger and action which will add the the title and details of the post to my Evernote notebook entitled, Follow Up Tasks. Instead of manually saving the information on Evernote, IFTTT does it for me and it save up a lot of my time. At the moment, there are over 50 different actions and triggers to customize your automation.

 

What are your favorite productivity tools?

I hope I didn’t miss out any productivity tools that entrepreneurs can utilize. If you have any which is not listed, feel free to leave a comment and tell me about it!

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Before we start the whole Thrive Theme review today, allow me to share with you one major challenge we all face. Most websites doesn’t look good because of budget constrains. Well, if you do have the budget, that’s a whole different story, right?

As a blogger or a business person, we (yes, you and me) are constantly looking for the best website designing solution that is flexible, user-friendly and affordable. The challenging part for any web development is that it requires coding knowledge or you are required to pay huge money for it.

If you want to build a website from scratch, create a beautiful template but do not have the technical skills to do so, this post is for you.

In this post, we are going to take a detailed look at the conversion focused Thrive Themes, powerful lead generation plugin, Thrive Leads, easy to use Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages that turns your website into a marketing machine.

The Thrive Themes family is created by Shane Melaugh, the guy behind the once popular, Hybrid Connect plugin. For the record, I used Hybrid Connect since day one of the product launch and huge kudos to the team behind it. It is important to note that Hybrid Connect is no longer in production phrase and has been replaced with Thrive Leads.

This article is divided into four parts:

• Thrive Themes if you are looking for high converting and super-fast loading website themes
• Thrive Leads if your goal is to double or triple your email subscribers in the shortest time possible
• Thrive Content Builder if you want to create mesmerizing blog post with fluid drag and drop ability
• Thrive Landing Pages if you just want to have beautifully created landing pages to capture ever visitor who lands on that page (and in just a few clicks)

So regardless if you are a complete newbie in blogging, an experienced, serial blogger or expert in web designing, I am sure you’ll find them useful in your everyday life.

Ready to set the world on fire with mesmerizing WordPress theme and layout? LET’S GO!

Thrive Themes Review

Thrive Themes is basically the all-in-one pack for all your web development needs. At this time of writing, Thrive Themes come with 9 (yes, 9 super awesome WordPress themes) stylish designs ready for you to use.

If your ultimate goal is to create a good looking website, not using the standard Genesis themes and focus in building a huge blog following, then this is an awesome way to go.

Thrive Themes are dubbed as the conversion focused WordPress themes.

I come from a marketing background and trust me – the idea of using a conversion focused theme for your blog is welcomed. Building a beautiful website is usually just one part of the equation; turning readers into customers is the key for your blogging success.

And if you’re the type that is super choosy and picky (like me), you probably want to get the best out of your theme. With Thrive Themes, you can easily add or change the website layout with just a few clicks of the button. Plus, the drag and drop feature is a super time saver to say the least.

Here are the examples of the ready-made Thrive Themes:

CLICK HERE to visit the Thrive Themes demo page (don’t worry, it will open a new page so you easily navigate back to this page).

 

Thrive Leads Review

Thrive Leads is a WordPress list building plugin that was built from the ground up with conversion optimization in mind.

According to TechCrunch, majority of U.S. users are spending at least 52% of their time on mobile when compared to desktop. And when it comes to building an email list, having a mobile focused approach is vital.

Traditionally, you are required to know some coding knowledge in order to get those lead generation boxes pop up beautifully in any devices your readers are using. I’m sure that sounds challenging especially for bloggers like me who doesn’t know much about codes.

But with Thrive Leads, you don’t have to worry anything!

Most of the features of Thrive Leads (and their products) are based on drag-and-drop. This means that you spend less time creating an optin popup and focus more time on doing things that matters to you; which is growing your email list!

Email generation boxes (or lead boxes in this case) are created automatically to ensure that they fit beautifully in any devices.

Can you imagine what happens when a beautiful pop-up box appear in front of your readers without the need of zooming in (or out) to read the texts? You’ll skyrocket your email subscribers … almost instantaneously.

Thrive Leads plugin is excellent for email list building because it is:

• Easily integrated to over a dozen different email marketing providers
• Mobile responsive lead boxes
• Drag and drop features
• Ability to create custom lead boxes (as well as default ones)
• Custom lead boxes display based on specific timing and page

If you are interested to check out Thrive Leads, click here to head over to their demo page or watch the video below:

 

Thrive Content Builder Review

Do you feel that the blog posts created with WordPress is boring? I certainly think so!

The ability to bold, highlighted and using different fonts are just too common – you want something that give the huge “boom” and “pow” to readers who visit your article.

Introducing Thrive Content Builder, a WordPress plugin that revolutionize how you publish your blog posts using WordPress.

You don’t have create a blog post using the standard WordPress draft and ‘create a post’ page; you create blog posts using the front end editor.

Yes, this means that you see exactly how the post will look like just like your readers do!

Thrive Content Builder is powerful because it helps you to insert tweetable sentences, create call-to-action boxes and even inserting images with just the drag-and-drop feature.

Trust me – this makes the old blog post creation much more fun and on top of everything, giving you the first hand experience of how your blog post will look like in front of your readers.

Thrive Content Builder is a plugin which works on any WordPress themes and it is also included when you purchase any of the Thrive Themes packages.

This video explains how to build a complete page using Thrive Content Builder (from scratch):

CLICK HERE to see Thrive Content Builder!

 

Thrive Landing Pages Review

Alright, I hear you. You have the best custom theme and lead generation magnet anyone could possibly get … but you need a plugin that allows you to create landing pages for lead generation.

Well, Thrive Themes got you covered with the Thrive Landing Page plugin.

Allow me to be really upfront. You probably heard about LeadPages – used by influencers like Pat Flynn and John Lee Dumas. So, is Thrive Landing Pages really that good compared to LeadPages?

When you talk about the “Thrive Landing Pages vs LeadPages“, one thing comes to mind – it is all about the price.

Thrive Landing Pages costs $59 pear year while LeadPages costs at least $204 per year. And Thrive is just a fraction of what LeadPages costs!

Don’t get me wrong, LeadPages is probably one of the more popular option (even I used it before) but when I’m given the ability to choose between two plugins that does the same job, I’ll go with the one that has less effect on my wallet.

Makes sense, right?

To be honest, Thrive Landing Pages offers more features compared to most of its competitors. Creating custom templates, integration with multiple email marketing solutions and drag-and-drop features are more than enough to turn anyone.

But don’t take my words for it. Watch the video below (credits to Shane) and discover how you can create a 100% custom landing page from scratch using Thrive Landing Pages.

CLICK HERE to head over to Thrive Landing Page demo.

 

Recap: Thrive Themes review

One of the most common questions I hear about Thrive Themes is “Is it worth it?” and “Is it really that good?“.

Allow me to share my thoughts on this. I’m one of the early adopters for Thrive Themes and even use them on various websites I own.

I am able to take website building to a whole new level and developing a new WordPress theme as easy as 1, 2 and 3 — just by using Thrive Themes, Thrive Landing Pages, Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Leads.

And if you are wondering if Thrive Themes fit your web development needs, here are some of advantages to can leverage from:

• Creating unique WordPress themes without hassle (using drag-and-drop) feature
• Ready made website, landing page and lead boxes templates to choose from
• Each Thrive theme or product is created with speed in mind (no slow loading websites etc)
• Experienced support team to assist you with any woes or doubts

Compared to those website builder or landing page plugins that cost over $50 per month, the full Thrive Theme package only costs $149 per year (original price of $199). Trust me, there isn’t any better deal than this and Thrive Themes are one of the best in the market right now.

Do you use Thrive Themes or any of the Thrive products on your blog? Tell me what you think about it in the comments below.

And if you have NOT get a copy of the specially discounted price, you can check out Thrive Themes packages here.

Review Summary:

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You heard that you can make money with a blog and you are inching to start a blog. There are way too many guides out there on ‘how to start a blog‘ but you want just the facts.

Yes, you want a complete blogging tutorial that teaches you how to create a blog from scratch. You have no time to waste and certainly, you don’t want to waste money buying web hosting and domain names just to become another failed blogger.

You want to start a blog and start making money from blogging. I feel you –and that’s why I created this post for you; How To Start A Blog In Just 5 Simple Steps.

If you are the type that read, bookmark this post for future reference and if you’re a graphic-type of person, there’s an infographic right at the bottom of this post. And if you find this post useful, I would appreciate it if you can share this around or use the infographic in your blog post!

 

Step 1: Start a blog by choosing a domain name

A domain name is like your brand and it matters even more especially when your blog get traction and more visibility. Most bloggers find it really challenging to find a blog name and allow me to hep you out on this.

There are several rules of thumb when it comes to choosing a domain name:

• Always go for dot com (.com) followed by dot net (.net) and dot co (.co) – Avoid others forms of Top Level Domains (TLD’s) regardless how interesting they sound like
• Domain name should be short and in most cases, under 20 characters
• Choose a domain name the represents your brand and make sense for reading (higher readability = easier remembrance)
• Avoid hypes and numbers whenever possible
• Have the keyword embedded in the domain for some search engine advantage in the future

Domain usually costs anywhere from $0.99 to under $10 per year. There are many domain registrars out there such as GoDaddy and NameCheap which sells at super low prices.

Want to save money in domain name and get a free one? Continue reading Step 2!

 

Step 2: Choosing a reliable web hosting company

Web hosting is like the power company that lights up your home (in this case, home is your domain). One of the biggest mistakes done by bloggers is choosing really, really cheap web hosting companies due to the obvious reason; dirt cheap cost.

The results? Tons of downtime and even possibility of hacking which leads to angry visitors and lost of revenue for you. If you think about it, this isn’t the reason of you starting a blog. You want to make money or passive income from blogging!

So, here are some guidelines you need to know when choosing a web hosting company:

• Reliable uptime for web hosting performance
• Proven track record in this industry
• Support consists of live chat, phone, email and forum
• Money back guarantee

Since you are starting out in blogging, you should be getting shared web hosting as this is the most affordable one. While there are higher end ones like WP Engine, you’re still in good hands especially when your blog is hosted with a professional web hosting company with affordable prices.

Why? Because it doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket.

If you need recommendations, I recommend using BlueHost (read my review on Bluehost) because it costs only $3.95 per month and all the goodies such as free domain name, free site builder, professional support and money back guarantee under one roof. Of course, you only get this deal when you use this link (original price is $5.99 per month).

 

Step 3: Installing a blogging platform

In the 3rd step on how to start a blog, you need to install a blogging platform. Here, I would recommend you to install WordPress as it is one of the most flexible blogging platforms for both beginners and businesses.

Big brands such as Tech Crunch, The New Yorker and Sony Music use WordPress for their websites.

By default, most shared hosting service providers would have cPanel system which you can use to install WordPress. If you slightly geeky, here’s the real definition of cPanel credits to Wikipedia:

cPanel is a Linux based web hosting control panel that provides a graphical interface and automation tools designed to simplify the process of hosting a web site.

If you are wondering if you could create a blog without WordPress, yes you could — but would you? Millions of blogs out there are powered by WordPress because it is flexible and super scalable. As a matter of fact, WordPress allows you to change every expect of your blog (with some coding knowledge).

Right now, you may be thinking, “Hey Reginald, this is just too much for me. I am working/studying and I have absolutely no time to spare. I demand to know how to start a blog fast!”

Yes sir! Pardon me for all the jargons I said in the past few paragraph. You want an easy way out? Signup for BlueHost web hosting and they will give you a free domain. Then the magic happens. BlueHost has 1-click install for WordPress. All you need to do is to click and wait.

Now you are all set … under 5 minutes. Yes, sign up for BlueHost here (If you cancel within 30 days, you receive a full refund on your hosting service and if you cancel after 30 days, you receive a prorated refund for the remainder of your hosting term).

 

Step 4: Setting up your blog

Yes, you just started a blog. Pretty simple right?

No, it’s no over yet! There’re two more steps and the next step (really simple one, I promise) is setting the blog up.

On your dashboard (accessible through http://ift.tt/ww5jlA), head over the left panel and click on Settings > General as seen on the image below:

Once the page is refreshed, you will see a new page and this is the main switch box for your blog. See the options in the image below? Fill the details according to the details of your blog.

Once everything is done, click on the Save button.

Important note: Tagline should be no longer than 160 characters.

 

Step 5: Installing plugins to your blog

What are WordPress plugins?

WordPress plugins are bits of software that can be uploaded to to extend and expand the functionality of your WordPress site. 

In short, plugins help you to do wonders with your blog (even when you have no knowledge about) and it increases productivity.

Plugins can be installed directly from your blog’s dashboard. Click on the left panel and select Plugins.

A new page will be visible and you can search dozens of plugins directly from the WordPress repository. As of this point of writing, there are over 37,900 plugins available for download to your blog.

Here are some important plugins you need to have when you first start a blog:

• JetPack (utility plugin)
• Akismet (plugin to manage spam comments)
• Contact Form 7 (plugin to create contact forms)
• W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache (helps to reduce blog loading speed and improve web performance)
• WordPress SEO by Yoast (improves your blog SEO markups)

Alternative plugins for advanced bloggers:

• Thrive Leads (plugin to build email list)
• Easy Social Sharing Buttons (create custom social sharing buttons)
• Scribe Content (advanced SEO and analytics tool for bloggers)

WordPress comes with some beautifully made themes which you can use for free. But if you would want a more custom look and feel, there are tools such as Thrive Theme Builder that allows you to create custom custom blog templates without a single line of code. Besides that, you have StudioPress who offers dozens of professional made blog templates ready for download at very reasonable prices.

 

So, what’s next after starting a blog?

Did you know that you have finish all the 5 steps in ‘how to start a blog‘?

Yes, give yourself a pat on the back and maybe some beer. You have successfully create a blog from scratch (and without pulling a single strain of hair). Well, that’s awesome right?

Of course, starting a blog is just the first step in your blogging journey. What’s coming up next is how to make money with a blog (subscribe here to be kept updated)!

 

Bonus: How To Start A Blog [Infographic]

Embed This Image On Your Site (copy code below):

<div style=”clear:both”><a href=”http://ift.tt/1b55vX6how-to-start-a-blog/”><img src=”http://ift.tt/1FcQ5iH; title=”How To Start A Blog [Infographic]” alt=”How To Start A Blog [Infographic]” border=”0″ /></a></div><div>Courtesy of: <a href=”http://ift.tt/1b55vX6how-to-start-a-blog/“>Reginald Chan</a></div>

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from How To Start A Blog In Just 5 Steps [Infographic] http://ift.tt/1Ksx5eX contributed by Reginald Chan