In the olden days, when dinosaurs walked the Internet, starting a web log was a monumental undertaking. By the time Peter Merholz coined the term “blog,” the situation had improved considerably. In fact, there is a whole subset of hosting called blog hosting. A blogger no longer needs an advanced skill set in order to start a blog. However, he/she still has to decide upon blog platform.

WordPress is probably the best blog platform solution for most people. It is new-user tweaked with an embarrassment of riches when it comes to free plug-ins, themes, widgets and apps. Because of its ease of set-up and broad platform functionality, WordPress is also the choice of the top hosting companies. For this purpose, we’ll focus on WordPress hosting.

To choose top web hosting, there are a few questions the blogger needs to ask himself. Can you set-up your own script? Do you know how to customize it to run correctly? Do you know where to locate quality plug-ins to improve your blog performance? Do you know how to activate the plug-ins? Every wise choice you make now is a future headache you will be spared.

There are chiefly two choices when it comes to blog hosting.

1) You may opt for a “free WordPress host.”
“Free blog hosting” offers to the blogger a few pool themes that are provided to all the free blog host users. Most free blog hosts offer very few WordPress plug-ins and/or widgets. Most free hosts require “upgrades” for any advanced options. These upgrades quickly amount to a bigger bill than a paid blog host would have charged you in the first place. The paid host would also have given you better hosting. The “free host” rarely offers the degree of functionality that paid blog hosting will. A paid blog host typically has to have a better grasp of the script itself.

2) You may decide upon paid blog hosting.
There are nearly 10,000 WordPress plugins, from basic statistics counters to highly complicated multi-use ones. A paid blog host will allow you to use most, if not all, of them and thus extend the WordPress platform to its full strength. In a competitive blog situation, these plug-ins can be vital to search engine optimization. Plug-ins make easier the once-complicated task of running a successful blog.

A paid web host will often have an easy set-up requiring little technical expertise. If you’re a technically sophisticated netizen, you can also find a paid blog host that offers all the bells and whistles you might prefer. Is your blog the start of a business or a part of an existing enterprise? Is it a personal blog? Will you be embedding video? What widgets and/or apps will you require? The great thing about WordPress is you’ll have those questions easily addressed. You will also have a remarkably straightforward set-up, no matter how complicated your blog.

Other pertinent hosting questions are the obvious ones. What size account will you need? Most quality web hosts have scalable options for every blog level. Under almost all circumstances, the openly marketed account options will be enough. However, all professional hosts can assist you in scaling up from there.

Does your web host tech know his stuff in terms of security? In as solid a platform as WordPress, that is not as critical an issue. The blog software itself does most of the sentinel stuff for the blogger.

In fact, all you have to do is blog!
-Jimvesting Dot Com

Jimvesting.com’s got a brand new feature just for you:
GET THE STANDOUT COMMENTS PLUGIN – FOR FREE!

Two weeks ago, we saw the launch of a brand new blogging tool from John Chow, Alex Shalman and Jeff Rose. Their product called “Standout Comments” is a WordPress plugin that integrates all of the useful features of a comment section into one — in order to help you drive traffic to your newsletters, RSS feeds and marketing lists.

What’s new about this product you ask? NOTHING! And that’s the beauty of it (?). For a limited time… you can own this fantastic repackaging of plugins that already exist for a lower price… for only $67!!!

RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME DEAL ALERT!
Not only is this a killer deal, a few bloggers have upped the ante!

• If you sign up through John Chow’s link you will have a 1-in-10,000 shot at winning an Apple iPad that he doesn’t want!
• If you sign up through ZK of Web Traffic ROI, you get a truckload of eBooks he says are worth a combined $447 on the open market!
• And if you hit up Dan Scocco of Daily Blog Tips you can get his obsolete domain advice eBook for FREE!

But I’ve got ‘em all beat — No… I am not going to provide an illegal download

How to Get “Standout Comments” by John Chow for Free

When I told John Chow that I thought $67 was way overpriced for everyone, he responded: “Then don’t buy it and all day searching for the 2 to 3 free plugins. For others, time is money.” What John didn’t factor in is that I’m not concerned about me not buying it… I’m concerned about people getting taken for a ride because they think they need it. You can get every single feature of Standout Comments for free, and you can do it in less than an hour. Better yet — you can do it in under 15 minutes because I am going to provide you every single component of Standout Comments in a package I call “Jimvesting’s Comment Miracle.”

If your time is worth $268/hour, please disregard this post and buy it.

The Features of Standout Comments

• Subscription Options
• Sharing Options
• Advertising Banner
• Admin Panel
• Aesthetics
• Tweetback URLs
• Money Back Guarantee

Subscription Options
The main component of Standout Comments is that it offers you a way to provide a link to your newsletter at the end of your comment entry section so that any time anyone posts a comment, you are offered a chance to subscribe to a newsletter as well. This can be perfectly replicated by a lot of premium plugins, including: Opt-In Comments ($57), Action Comments ($17) and WP Optin ($27).

I’ve found our free solution (after a LOT of digging, this thing was totally buried!) in “Aweber WordPress Plugin” by Guru Consulting Services. This plugin puts a checkmark in your comments (AND on user registration if you want) to automatically add anyone who comments to our Aweber opt-in list. Bravo! That’s the same thing Standout Comments does!

The second thing that Standout Comments accomplishes is that it adds a checkbox for users to be “subscribed” to the comments, so that whenever anything new is posted they get an email. There are literally dozens of these plugins available for free, my favorites are: 1) Subscribe to Comments and 2) Enroll Comments. Bingo bango… we’re done here!

Sharing Options
Sharing options is something that we discussed a week ago: Linking Your Blog to Your Social Profile. To recap, there are quite a few social plugins that will accomplish exactly what Standout Comments is doing, and my favorites (for the purposes of looking like Standout Comments) are: 1) SexyBookmarks; 2) Socialize This; 3) Sociable.

Advertising Banner
This is another easy one, as everyone and their grandma has thought of doing this. Personally, I’m not a fan of putting an advertising banner by the comment section. However, if you really want to, my favorites for this purpose are: 1) Banner Garden; Max Banner Ads; Ad Minister; Advertisement Management.

Admin Panel
All of our plugins can be edited in seconds through the WordPress admin panel.

Aesthetics
I was kind of surprised that they brought this up “plays nice with your theme, and integrates seamlessly.” Well, so does ours, as all we are doing is adding a few links, boxes and banners. Aesthetics couldn’t be sexier… check!

Tweetback URLs
Plenty of Twitter plugins to go around… I’ve searched for and found a few. For simplicity, I am using Tweetbacks by Yoast.com which allows all of the tweets that mention my posts to be listed as a new kind of trackback (a “tweetback”). Also, I’m going to combine this for maximum effect with the simple added form field for twitter usernames in my comment section with WP Twitip ID.

Money Back Guarantee
They offer a 100% money back guarantee for 30 days… I’ll offer you a 200% money back guarantee for 60 days! In all seriousness, pretty much every marketable product has a return policy, but don’t believe for a second that it means the product is priced effectively.

Introducing: Jimvesting’s Comment MIRACLE!

I’ve compiled my entire guide and all of the plugins in one place, and have made it available for you to download for free! I spent a few hours going through all this and testing to make sure it works… but yes indeed, it has every last feature of “Standout Comments” but you will save yourself the $67 price tag.

In case you didn’t pick up on it, this post is extremely sarcastic and I am only trying to poke fun at John Chow (a good friend of mine) & other bloggers who promoted it for him. While I am upset he didn’t gift me a free copy like those other lucky guys, Standout Comments is actually a damn good release. While I don’t agree with the price tag, it was the first plugin on the market to put everything in one spot for you — easy to install, use and implement. But yes, the Jimvesting Comment Miracle actually is 100% compatibility, real, free and devious!

Where’s the Proof!?
Below is a screenshot of the Jimvesting Comment Miracle plugin working on my test server, which you can access here. I’m not trying to hide anything, and every plugin that I have gathered is indeed 100% free and customizable… making MY package more flexible than Standout Comments if you know your way around.

Download Jimvesting’s Comment Miracle (JCM)
Like What You See? It is darn near identical to the actual plugin.

Download Jimvesting’s Comment Miracle
Jimvesting’s Comment Miracle (Version 1.0): DOWNLOAD HERE!

Promote The JCM Plugin Package
First of all, I’m not exactly sure why you WOULDN’T want to promote this! If you are in the blogging camp that believes these kinds of plugins should be free, than why not show your support by writing a blog article, tweeting about it, or trying to blow up Digg/SU/Facebook with spam for my new plugin. Anyone who helps me to promote this (use my banner if you’d like, link back to this blog post) can shoot me an email and get a free copy of my eBook “Thirty Day Blog.” Sweet!

I hope you enjoyed this feature (I know I did). I’ll be sure to update this post as improvements get added to the world of WordPress plugins (happens on a weekly basis). I’d use this myself if I hadn’t grabbed Optin Comments when it was free. Drop a comment if you use it and let me know what you think.

Stay Bullish on the Net!
-Jimvesting Dot Com

I was recently talking with a few buddies about the Web 2.0 “wave” of themes hitting the blogosphere, and we were chatting about the types of new tricks that can be done with CSS to stylize your blog. To me, what is considered “Web 2.0″ are themes and colors that are light, simple and easy-to read. I’d say that “fresh” is the new “professional“… and making your blog “fresh” isn’t as hard as it seems.

One really neat trick that I will now share with you involves adding simple “boxes” to your normal post structure, allowing you to add a beautiful flare to an otherwise ordinary blog post. As a note: I want to attribute this trick 100% to the designers at WooThemes . WooThemes is one of the pioneers of these great looking templates, so I am borrowing a piece of their code that a buddy and I were looking at to encourage you to change your website to fit a more natural “Web 2.0” feel.

Let’s Look at Some Examples

The first is an “alert“-type box, that could be used to warn users of some kind of exception to a rule or a potential downside/side-effect to a strategy:

WARNING! The Nuclear Reactor Is Set To Explode!

Let’s offer our users a free download with our “download“-type style:

Check out our FREE eBook: DOWNLOAD HERE

Why not give our users the green light with the “tick“-type box:

“It’s A Green Light Go” – Gorilla Zoe

Add some additional information or an expert tip with the “info“-type styling:

FUN FACT: The collecting of beer coasters is called “tegestology.”

Adding a little note here or there is convenient when you have a “note“-type box:

Grocery List: Milk, Eggs, Baking Soda, Chocolate Chips, Flour, Sugar

Awesome Styles, How Do I Use Them On My Blog?

I’ve compiled the coding you need to add this to your WordPress style, and the great thing about these is that they are really 100% plug-and-play! If you know your way around, you can have these styles working in under a minute.

STEP 1: Download the five different icons that you will need to designate a different style when you enter a new type of “box.”

Grab the icon series from Jimvesting.com:  DOWNLOAD ICON PACK

STEP 2: Upload the image files directly to the “images” folder within your theme (will most likely be located here: “/ROOT/wp-content/themes/THEMENAME/images/“) via an FTP client or web-based file uploader.

STEP 3: Add the following code anywhere in your CSS file (by default, this will be “style.css”) by editing your theme in WordPress (“Appearance” –> “Editor”)

/* CUSTOM IN-POST BOXES */ p.alert, p.download, p.info, p.note, p.tick {  margin:10px 0 20px 0; padding:9px 10px 9px 50px; } p.alert { border-top:1px solid #f0baa2; border-bottom:1px solid #f0baa2; background:#ffd9c8 url(images/ico-alert.png) no-repeat 20px 13px; } p.download { border-top:1px solid #d4ebaf; border-bottom:1px solid #d4ebaf; background:#edfcd5 url(images/ico-download.png) no-repeat 20px 13px; } p.tick { border-top:1px solid #d4ebaf; border-bottom:1px solid #d4ebaf; background:#edfcd5 url(images/ico-tick.png) no-repeat 20px 13px; } p.info { border-top:1px solid #ccc; border-bottom:1px solid #ccc; background:#eee url(images/ico-info.png) no-repeat 20px 13px; } p.note { border-top:1px solid #efe3ae; border-bottom:1px solid #efe3ae; background:#fef6d2 url(images/ico-note.png) no-repeat 20px 13px; }

STEP FOUR: Call the codes inside your actual posts by replacing any paragraph code with a new “class.” This can be done by going to an HTML (the source code) view of your post, and changing <p> to <p class=”____”> where you want the box to appear.

CODES:
To call the alert box: <p class=”alert”>Text Here</p>
To call the download box: <p class=”note”>Text Here</p>
To call the tick box: <p class=”tick”>Text Here</p>
To call the info box: <p class=”info”>Text Here</p>
To call the note box: <p class=”note”>Text Here</p>

Step 5: Clear your blog’s cache (if applicable)  to make sure the changes take place. Save your post and enjoy!

I hope that you enjoyed this quick tutorial. I know that a lot of people have asked about how to do this on other websites, and since I figured out how to make it happen I figured I’d go outside of my typical content and get you some blog improvements. Everyone can use a little Web 2.0, and if you want a theme for a great price that is totally fresh… check out WooThemes for an awesome deal.

-Jimvesting Dot Com

UPDATE: As recommended by Fas of GreatestReviews.net, “WP Notes” has a similar effect on your posts… plus it is a plugin so it is easier to install. CSS is definitely the smart call, but plugins sure are easy to use!

We’ve spent the last 29 days getting all the way from a domain name to a completely customized professional blog, and now that we have completed every last item from our checklist it is important to spend our last day making a gameplan to ensure our success well into the future. One of the most important reasons that other people are better bloggers than you is that they have a routine. That’s right. One of the defining characteristics of a good blogger is that they set themselves up for success by devising a structured attack plan to execute every day.

Today, we are going to work on setting up our gameplan so that you know exactly how to optimize your half-hour of blogging every day to form a wildly popular blog on the internet in as little time as possible. I’ve been in this industry for years, so I have a very good idea of what works and what doesn’t work. Let’s complete our Build A Blog Workshop and start on our way to blogging success!

Understanding When to Work and When to Market

Many people will tell you that the success of any website is due to the 70/30 rule — 70% marketing, 30% content. With this in mind, it’s tempting to shun content altogether and pour all of your time into marketing… but what most people don’t realize is that this rule only works when you are in a certain stage of growth. It is important during the first weeks of having a blog that you are putting out consistent content and marketing the heck out of it. From there, you should tailor your gameplan going forward based on the kind of growth that you’ve seen.

The basics of blogging gameplans:
What gets growth? Marketing.
What maintains growth? Content.

I’ve devised what I think is a great system for maximizing your 30-minutes of blogging every day during your first month of operations. After the first month passes, it is important to re-evaluate and decide for yourself which route is most effective on a day-by-day basis:

As you can see, there is going to be a big decision to be made of when you need to write new content (“BLOG“) and when you need to go around and market your website (“MARKET“). The advice given above for your first month of blogging focuses on delivering maximized marketing efforts. You can see that it is always smart to start out with content (writing new stuff 4/7 days in week 1)… but by the time we reach the end of week four we are really getting all we can out of the content we have put up already.

What Do I Do On a Blogging/Marketing Day?

I’m glad you asked! The difference between a success and a flop in the blogosphere is how efficiently you blog and market… it’s all about time management. There are a few different activities you can do on each side of the coin, focused on either writing content or marketing that content, but it is ultimately your call on what is best worth your effort.

BLOG: On a blogging day, you should be writing new content (duh!). I find that 30 minutes of writing is really all that you need if you are staying honest with yourself and working throughout the thirty minutes of your allotted time. If you have a great idea for a post, write it down… there’s a reason that the “Draft” section in your admin panel exists. If you are running out of things to blog about, check out my post that contains some things to write about when you run out of ideas.

MARKET: Content marketing is a lot more up in the air than blogging, and there are literally hundreds of techniques for things to do to boost your traffic and search engine placements. Remember the list we made on day 25 for blog commenting? Now is a great time to pry through that and drop comments on blogs in your niche with recent posts. Another technique along that line would be to comment in forums with a link to your site in the signature. The second way to drive direct traffic to your blog would be to start ramping up your social media efforts, creating Facebook pages, boosting your followers on Twitter and even building a network on StumbleUpon or Digg. Indirect marketing efforts such as article marketing or writing guest posts can be just as effective in the long-run… so be sure to balance your time between short term traffic and long-term search engine results.

=================================================

Content is expensive, and to develop your 30-day gameplan you will want to consider how much you can really “dig” out of each article you post on your blog. The name of the game is to write less and still get more traffic. By following my attack plan for the first month and then shifting gears depending on what is working (and what you ultimately want to do), you will be a much more successful blogger than by trying to do it all at once.

That’s it for Jimvesting.com’s Build-A-Blog Workshop! I hope that you have enjoyed this series… and please continue to check back at Jimvesting.com for more great free tips to make money online every day. We will be posting a complete .pdf version of this series on our newsletter for your reference in the near future, so stay tuned for that release and stay bullish on the net!

-Jimvesting dot com

Our blog is ready to go and completely synced to our social media profile… so what’s left? I would have to say that the number one way to deliver the “big money” to your website (while increasing your readership at the same time) is to start into the wonderful world of email marketing!

Creating your first “list” is a task that many feel should be left only to the professionals — but I tell you that this is not so! If you are only capturing leads through your Feedburner RSS feed, then you are missing out on at least 50% of your traffic potential. If is very easy to get yourself a digital product to offer and pull additional leads by gifting them to your subscribers in exchange for their email addresses. The possibilities are endless once you have a user signed up to your email list, and I’m sure that you will find your efforts well rewarded once your list starts growing larger day after day.

Advantages of Building an “Opt-In” Email List

If you own a blog for the purposes of driving revenue, it is definitely in your best interest to own a list. Remember that starting a blog is free, but paying for a newsletter service to help you manage an “opt-in” subscriber base is certainly not. The reason for this? Email marketing is more lucrative. Once someone subscribes (aka “opts in”) to your email list, you have captured their name and email. With this, you can send them targeted offers and promotions built on making you commission off of their sales. It is a lot easier to add subscribers via a list than RSS, so once you start building your listing up… the promotions you offer become a lot more profitable.

People that opt-in to an email list are inherently more willing to pay for a product than someone casually reading a blog. Imagine you have an offer that converts at 8% via email and pays you a $35 commission for each referral. If you have just started a list, you have 100 people and have just made a commission of $280. That ain’t bad for sending an email! Now let’s say you continue building your list and get it to 1,000 members — you are now making $2,800 for that one email! Let’s wrap this up by saying you send your list an email like this just once a week… hardly enough to annoy anyone into leaving your list… you now are making $145,600 in commission every year! Wow.

The Best Email Marketing Hosts

Newsletters run right alongside your blog, and mesh very well with your content, so they are really a no brainer to any blog owner looking to boost revenue at low cost. I’ve used a few of these services throughout the years, and have settled on Aweber as my personal favorite. Aweber is the industry leader and offers a TON of great options at less than $20 a month — a price you should easily be able to gain back after your first offer conversion . Here is my list of the top three newsletter services based on my experience:

1. Aweber – Get Your First Month for Just $1 (LIMITED TIME)
2. Constant Contact
3. Vertical Response

All of these services are excellent, but again I have found that the most cost-conscience decision is with Aweber… whom is the #1 trustee of the affiliate marketing community and a great company to work with. With that, I highly recommend that you check out these options and consider the fee to run a service only in light of the potential profits from these services.

Setting Up Your First Campaign

Okay, so you’ve registered for one of these sites and you want to start building your list. There are literally dozens of different methods out there for getting your list started, but the number one technique that I endorse for blog owners is simply putting an opt-in on their blog. As you can see in my current design, I am offering a free digital download to anyone who simply enters their email address to opt into my email marketing list. This is a quick and dirty way to generate tons of additional subscribers, and I think it is perfect for bloggers even despite the fact that everyone seems to be doing it these days.

Logging into your Aweber account, it is quite easy to set up an opt-in list with one of their pre-defined templates. I would recommend simply asking for the users’ name and email, so that you can target emails to them with subject lines like “Hey Jim, check out this cool offer!” Aweber makes it quite easy to slap their code right into your blog and see it work immediately to start converting offers.

===========================================================
Need to give your users an incentive to join? Offer them a digital download (software,ebook, etc)! Don’t have an eBook? Subscribe to my newsletter and download one of my books… if you leave my links you can give my book to your readers for free!
===========================================================

Bottom Line: Now that you have made your blog and have a fully customized & monetized look, it is in your best interest to start to plan for the future and build up your email marketing list. The sooner you start, the more you will be able to profit down the road. Not only are lists useful for pushing commission-based products, but you can also send people broadcasts from your blog to keep them coming back and reading your content. With so much seamless integration, setting up your first email marketing campaign is a must.

-Jimvesting dot com