Personal Blog Question

Hey there everyone its Jason again

First off I would like to thank you all for your encouragement, optimism and support.
So I have decided to start my own personal blog and do all of my blogging there
for various products that I am going to promote. Now some of the questions I have
is first obviously, once I purchase my domain name, how do I set up my own personal
blog so that it runs smoothly and does not redirect to blogger or some other blogging
site. Also I would like to have an optin to my newsletter so that I can capture more
leads and build my list.

Secondly, do you think this would be feasible by itself so that I can build up my page
rank over time and get indexed on google? Now to make this work I would post my
entries and link to my squeeze/review sites where they can optin in there as well for
bonuses etc. I have checked out Brian Johnsons' and I am impressed. What I really
want to know is should I still use blogger, squidoo, hubpages and the sort? From
there link back to my own personal blog and squeeze pages?

Sorry for all the questions but if I'm going to do this I want to do it properly the first
time so that it goes without a hitch. Please give me some help. Any and all advice is
welcomed.

Jason

Hi Jason, I can answer the first question for you.

When it comes time to purchase your domain, look for a hosting company that offers the domain for free. Many do this if you purchase a years worth of hosting.

Next when looking at a hosting company, make sure they offer cPanel and fantastico. Fantastico is an add on product that a lot of the Linux based hosting companies offer, it contains many applications that can be installed through cPanel (the web based GUI interface for managing your hosting). Most importantly, Fantastico contains, Wordpress in it. That is what you will want to use for your Blog. Granted it will be an older version of Wordpress, but good enough to get your blog going. You can even find plenty of free templates for it as well as other add ons for Wordpress.

This is the easiest way to get a blog going, other than signing up at Blogger or Wordpress.

Fantastico also has a free autoresponder in it. But be warned it is very difficult to work with and the results may not be the best. You are better off signing up for a commercial autoresponder. If you are just getting your feet wet for the first time, then you can use Email Aces, they offer a free account. That should be enough for you to start with.

I hope that helps.

Darren

Hi,

I use the Baby Gator plan at Hostgator and create a
Wordpress blog using Fantastico.

It is pretty quick and easy.

It is a good idea to use your own blog and free sites to promote
products.

Until you build up some page rank it may be difficult to land
on the first page of Google for your keywords.

That is where the free sites come in.

I usually send my traffic from my personal blog and the free
sites to a cloaked page on my own domain.

I also add links from the free sites and article directories to my blog
to boost the page rank.

I also book mark my personal blog as well as the free sites.

I hope that helps.

Craig

Hey Jason,

I like Hostgator as well. They seem pretty reliable and are reasonably priced. Go with the Baby Gator plan like Craig said, as it gives you the ability to host multiple domain names. They do offer cpanel with Fantastico, so installing WordPress is as easy as a few clicks of the mouse. I think WordPress is the way to go if you do want to have your own blog on your own domain, just for ease of use reasons.

I use 1and1.com for registering my domain names. It's the cheapest price I've been able to find...$6.99US. I've never tried their hosting, so I'm not sure what it's like, although I've heard mixed reviews.

Cheers,
Kevin

Hello Jason,

You have a solid plan of action here, if you would like I can get you
hooked up with my next course that will launch later this fall. This might
prove helpful for you since it deals with driving quality traffic from
wordpress powered sites / blogs.

The course has over 29 videos that total close to 4.5 hours, you can also
download a draft of the ebook has has tips on hosting and a discount
that will save you either $24 or $48 on hostmonster.com

Similar too hostgator.com - I use them and love them. They offer all the goodies
mentioned within this thread, cpanel, fantastico ... ect

Think about a domain name that is general in nature and targets a term
that makes sense for your future visitors. This is why I grabbed
"netmarketingcourse" ...

While I have a ways to go in ranking for my target phrase
"internet marketing course" I will get their.

Make sure to use plenty of content and make it your own, Google loves
content and it will help you rank. My course also offers some tips on getting links
to help push your rankings over time.

Please email me for info if your interested:

brian1965@gmail.com

Didn't read other responses, but read your question clear and loud...

Here's my stance...

Have a hosting account where you gt" Fantastico" in cpanel 11... i use kiosk.ws, if that is expensive, I recommend using Hostgator.. Watch the intro videos on cpanel login and you will know how to set up a blog in 20 seconfds.... literally... Not only a blog, but even a forum or a helpdesk...

And yes, a blog must be used for building that trust and relationship, so provide a lot of value...

Of course you need internal links from hubpages , EA etc... So keep posting everywhere on the planet!

-Lakshay

Hi Jason

Shoot you a PM and I will give you access to about 3 hours of WordPress and SEO videos that might help you with your blog.

Thanks
Charles