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Getting Started with Learn To Blog

Hello and welcome to Learn To Blog.

This page is sort of a getting started guide to navigate our site. You’ll find an overview of blogging as well as some quick links to content you may find helpful.

First, The Fundamentals of Blogging

Our goal is to help you cut through all the noise to understand blogging so that you can leverage it as a tool to create content around what you love, attract an audience, and generate an income.

But before we dive into that, let’s start with the basics…

What is a blog?

A blog is a website that you can easily update with content and interact with your community.

It starts with content. When you have great content, you can draw a crowd. When you have a crowd that trusts you, you can make them offers of things that will help them.

You can blog about anything. There are no limits.

Some blogs are educational and some are for entertainment.

Whatever lights you up, you can find an audience looking for your message. And bloggers tend to draw an extremely loyal following.

Which turns out well for turning your blog into a business.

You don’t need a degree in journalism to be a blogger. The barrier to entry is low and you can learn as you go.

“If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), “Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?” chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.” ― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Common Misconceptions About Blogging

1. You need be technically savvy to start a blog

Not only is this not true, it could not be further from the truth. LTB has community members from all ages and backgrounds who are learning how to blog successfully. New technologies are rapidly emerging making it brilliantly simple for us to build amazing blogs and quickly publish information online. But honestly, even with as simple as it is to blog, we believe to focus on our strengths. So if you are not technically savvy, we share resources to learn it yourself or to leverage other people to get you where you want to be.

2. You need to be a polished expert for anyone to listen

We’ve all had that friend who says they are going to start giving back when they make it rich. In this busy world that we live in, no one has the time. They are always going to start someday in the future. Waiting for everything to be perfect. Well, the timing will never be just right. You may have poor grammar, or be feeling like you lack credibility, or that no one cares what you have to say. So what! Starting is the biggest hurdle. You learn and make mistakes as you go. It may take a train a while to pick up steam, but when it has momentum, it’s hard to stop. But, back to your friend. What if giving back was part of the way for her to make it rich? Sometimes we need to do things we’ve never done to get the things we’ve never had.

3. Blogging is a fast way to make money online

Can you make money with blogging? Yes. But, nothing will happen overnight. Blogging is a long term game. How long-term means is defined varies for everyone depending on your starting point. But, it is an investment. Along your journey, you will discover many different ways to earn income from your blogging efforts. And you will find people selling you on “push button” this or “automated income” that. We find that the people who have the most success with blogging are truly passionate about their business or mission. They would do it if they did or didn’t get paid. But, what is on the other side is freedom. When you crack the blogging code, you can work from wherever, whenever you want.

Types of Content Your Will Find Here

LTB offers in-depth free tutorials on our blog. Here’s an example of some of our favorite content:

  1. 10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging
  2. Learn How To Get Your First Website Online In A Matter Of Minutes
  3. Choosing the Right Options and Settings for Your WordPress Blog
  4. 5 Content Publishing Models For Your Blog — Which One Are You?
  5. Crank Up Your Copy: Ideas to Improve Your Content
  6. How to Leverage Your Assets to Build Your Blog Audience
  7. 23 Things That You Can Do To Get Your Blog Post Seen Everywhere
  8. 10 Blog Commenting Tips To Get Traffic From Other Blogs

Getting Started with Blogging

Remember how we said blogging doesn’t require a degree in computer science to get started?

Here’s a video tutorial that we created that will walk you through the very first steps. You’ll learn how to get your web hosting, how to get a domain, and how to get a WordPress blog up and running in a matter of minutes.

These are the core components that you need when starting a blog.

If you prefer it written out in text, here’s yet another tutorial that explains the whole process with screenshots.

Heres a few more posts for you if you are just getting started with blogging.

More Related Blog Posts:

Earning an Income From Blogging

When most people started out with blogging, their income is generated through affiliate commissions. They get links to product online and get paid to refer you to purchase.

Here’s an example…

The link below is an affiliate link to Amazon to one of our favorite books.

The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield <<< blatant affiliate link

If you click that link and purchase the book (which you should as it should be in every bloggers library) and anything else on Amazon, we get paid a small commission for referring you.

Might not even add up to a dollar, but those small commissions can add up fast and earn you a nice side income to start until you really start getting traction on your blog.

However, think about all the companies, products, and services out there in the world that would pay you to refer them business. You could blog about interior design and have affiliate links to furniture where the commissions can be much larger.

There is a huge surge in the market right now of digital products…

Courses, softwares, memberships, etc.

These products are often attached to a much larger 30-50% commissions because they have such high margins and low overhead.

Hopefully that’s enough to get the wheels spinning.

Of course you know by now that it requires and audience and traffic in order to earn an income like any business.

But here are a few more posts for you to read up on about making money as a blogger.

More Related Blog Posts:

Why Every Blogger Must Build A List

A reader comes to your blog and checks out your stuff.

They like it. But, immediately they get bombarder with all types of distractions online and may soon forget about you.

This is why you see “opt in” and “subscribe” forms on blogs. Blogs are very community oriented. People share a common interest and voluntarily come there on their own terms.

By capturing your visitors email address, you can invite them back to your blog periodically through a newsletter when you have new content for them.

Every blog should be building a list of some sort. Once you start building a mailing list, you begin to be control of your traffic.

You have a list where you can send people to blog posts, promote affiliate products, promote your products, promote services, share tips, and whatever else you can think of.

GetResponse and MailChimp are both great starter options for building a mailing list. GetResponse if you are soon going to start selling to your list. MailChimp is better if you are not going to sell to your list for a while.

Here’s an example video walkthrough on how to setup a email opt in with GetResponse and LeadPages:

For a more customizable page to make your own offers and downloads to entice an email opt in, this video explains the types of results we get using a tool called LeadPages…

And again, here is more reading material about building an email list.

More Related Blog Posts:

How to Get Traffic to Your Blog

So you’ve got your blog setup, you’ve figured out how to get some affiliate links dialed in, you’re setup to build an email list.

Now how do you get people to come to your blog?

Not only that, but how do you get people to engage with you and share your content.

It all starts with value. If you put your focus on creating something great, people will eventually catch wind of it. But, catching wind is not a good traffic strategy.

So, here are a few articles that will help with your traffic and engagement on your blog…

More Related Blog Posts:

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