setting up your first blog

London Blogger’s Meetup SEO expert Jo Turnbull of seojoblogs fame writes the basics of how to setup your blog. A nice intro and I would certainly agree on some of the points like getting your domain name right, the All in One SEO pack and of course loving y our blog..!

Anyway, over to Jo.

Setting up a Blog

Once you have decided to set up a blog  you might ask yourself “where do I start?”  Here are a few tips to help you on your way:

1.    Decide on a domain name

I recommend going to godaddy.com and seeing if your domain name is free. If it is free, I would register the domain name for at least two years.  Choose the domain name with keywords you want to rank for.  For example if you want to be known for seo and blogs, make sure that is in the domain name.

2.    Choose your content management system (CMS)

There are a lot of  CMS’ out there such as Drupal, WordPress, Magento and it is important you choose the right one. I strongly suggest WordPress as it is really easy to use.  There are a number of themes you can choose from.

3.    Host your site

Once you have a domain name and CMS, you should host your site with a company you trust. Normally, people host their sites at the same company where they purchased the domain name from.  Godaddy.com offer some great rates, from as little as five pounds a month and there is 24/7 support charged at a local rate.

4.    Plugins

Once you have chosen the CMS, you can then download plugins to help your site rank better in the search engines.  I have used the All in One SEO Pack for WordPress which allows you to add different page titles, meta descriptions and keywords to each post.  This means you can optimise individual posts.

Ultimate Google Analytics allows you to track the visits to your site.  This is the first plugin I would download as you can track the number of visits to your site from when it is live.

The akismet plugin identifies and blocks comment and trackback spam on blogs. It has saved my blog from hundreds of spammy comments.  I can’t believe people have so much time to send such rubbish.

You can also make a mobile version of your site through the WordPress Mobile Pack.  Everything is going mobile and you certainly want your blog to be too.

5.    Finally – love your blog

Update your blog regularly.  There is no point setting up a blog if you leave it and only write posts once a month.  It needs to be updated regularly with interesting content about your site.  If you have a site about cakes, you could write about simple recipies for domestically challenged people.  I would certainly find that post interesting as I am not the best in the kitchen.

So there you have it, a few steps to help you set up your first blog.  If you have any other tips, let me know.

Guest Post – The Future of Social Media

On the 29th January 2009 Internet World ran a one day conference hosted by the “social media elite”.

For those of us working within the social media sector the hot topic at the moment is how can we effectively measure and monitor the impact of specific social media campaigns? This is currently the sectors Achilles’
heel and I hoped that Vicky Brock the board director from the Web Analytics association would help shed some knowledge on social media best practises etc.

Initially I was a little disappointed that she did not delve into a list of tools that she currently uses to benchmark, monitor and track her own social media campaigns. However Vicky did pull a fluffy white rabbit out of her hat when she informed the floor that the World Bank had released its open source BuzzMonitor code on their CRS site. This was a subject that I knew nothing about. We at Nitro Mobile have since downloaded the code are looking to build upon its infrastructure in the next month or so (I will let London Bloggers know once the tool has been completed for you to have a play with).

Cesar Mascaraque the MD from Ask.com Europe brought some interesting key points to the conference. This includes stating that he sees a future in vertical search and that he is currently looking to purchase vertical search engines in key sectors.

All of the speakers without exception were excellent and many highlighted interesting points as they delved into their own compelling case studies. However many of the discussions were extremely basic and rather then looking at “the future of social media” we were often left reminiscing on what has already been. It also really grinds my gears when a speaker asks the floor to “put your hands up if you are on Twitter…….OK, OK….. put your hands up if you are tweeting now…”. Two separate speakers started their presentations with this statement!

In reflection, the event was informative and I think that everybody who attended came away with a better insight into how they can apply social media marketing more effectively. From a personal perspective a few key points aided my research and made the day well worth attending.

Written by James Norris, Strategist at Nitromobile Ltd