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30. Last Day of Month 1. Time to Make a Blog

· 73 Comments · OWM Month 1

You have come a long way, and you are now on Day 5 of the action plan. You’re almost there! Today we are going to do some more content building for your campaign.

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73 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Bernita Burdick // Feb 9, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    I’m a little confused about what you said about wordpress. I am using that format in order to make money as well. Could you elaborate a bit more on why use blogger instead of WP. I’m just not getting it..lol

    Thanks

  • 2 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 9, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    I am talking about wordpress.com here, not to be confused with a self hosted wordpress.org blog.

    IF you read the terms and conditions at wordpress.com you will find there is a strict no money making policy there. There is also a bit of it that says you can not use it to boost another site up in the search engine rankings ~ which is exactly what this step is about. Building up backlinks to drive your lenses up the search engines.

    Take my word on this, I had all of my wordpress.com blogs deleted ~ and there were many, with no warning, no nothing, just gone. However, most of them were being used to build backlinks to other sites ~ even though they had good content and were not junk blogs they were still deleted.

    Hope that makes things a little more clear.

    Jackie

  • 3 Bernita Burdick // Feb 9, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    I take our word. I didn’t realize there was a difference between wordpress.com and wordpress.org.

    So, to make sure I understand this correctly. On blogger we are just making posts about our lens topics and putting a link in the post back to the lens. Is this correct. Is there a sample blog I can look at? I am a visual learner.

    Thanks

  • 4 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 9, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    that is correct.

    here’s one of mine. It is not theme/topic specific, you can do one or the other or both:

    http://how-to-instructions.blogspot.com/

    Jackie

  • 5 Bernita Burdick // Feb 10, 2009 at 6:13 pm

    I have been adding list links, filling in the info,and saving them but it doesn’t show up when I preview the blog. I have checked the help section and am not finding what I need. Any suggestions to make it visible?

    Thanks
    Bernita

  • 6 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 10, 2009 at 6:41 pm

    Hi Bernita -

    Hmm - I just tried it and it worked for me - could be you’re missing a step (are you saving after you add the links? - you should see a list on the pop-up screen for the gadget) or could be the template is acting funny?

    Maybe it wants to be published before previewing?

    hmm …

    Andrea

  • 7 Bernita Burdick // Feb 11, 2009 at 2:32 pm

    I figured out about the link. Now I have another silly question. I have never used blogger and it shouldn’t be that hard, but I can’t get it to separate the paragraphs. It doesn’t do it in compose mode. I have used and that doesn’t work. I did it in html mode etc. I had to delete one post 6 times. What am I not seeing?

  • 8 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 11, 2009 at 2:39 pm

    I have had this happen to me before too. I suggest you try a new theme and see if it will work correctly. You should just be able to hit the enter button to create a space between paragraphs.

    Jackie

  • 9 Sheila Newman // Feb 18, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    I’ve just signed up for the blogger account. Where it asks for the title and blog url address I don’t know what to put.

    Also do I put 5 different posts on the same page or do I make 5 different blog posts?

    I’m running out of content ideas. With the Squidoo lenses and the ezineartcles I don’t have anything new left to say. I’m finding this part a bit difficult.

    Can I just copy some of the info from my articles and lenses on to my blog?

    Thanks.

  • 10 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 18, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    Hey Sheila,
    I would use your best keywords as the url and title for your blogger blog.

    then do 5 posts on the blog.

    I just wrote a blog post today about just this thing. It might come in handy for you.

    http://internetmarketingformommies.com/how-to-create-interesting-content-for-articles-lenses-and-blog-posts/

    Hopefully that will help you with your content needs.

    You can always grab content and then just rewrite each paragraph so it says the same thing, just a little differently.

    Jackie

  • 11 Sheila Newman // Feb 18, 2009 at 3:03 pm

    Do I put all 5 posts on the same blog page?

  • 12 Sheila Newman // Feb 18, 2009 at 3:29 pm

    I’ve accidentally put the incorrect url in one of my blogger posts. How do I change it?

  • 13 Jackie and Andrea // Feb 18, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    No you want to do them each as a new post.

    You can go back and edit any post you make on blogger. You should see a wrench like thing that will take you to the edit area where you can change the url, just make sure you save after you are finished.

    Jackie

  • 14 Judith Turner // Mar 1, 2009 at 3:03 pm

    OK I am tying up loose ends from my first campaign and was wondering, with my blogger blog will I post just enough blog posts to get back links to all my lenses in campaign 1 and then move on or should I add fresh content from time to time? If I should keep adding fresh content how often do you suggest?

    Funny thing is I started with squidoo just to build backlinks to my wordpress.org blog but since finding OWM I am hooked now on Squidoo!

  • 15 Jackie and Andrea // Mar 1, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    That’s just how getting hooked on Squidoo happens lol.

    I would say just put a few posts on your blogger blog. You don’t really need to add to it, however it is there later if you find your campaign is not picking up as much as you’d like it to. You can go back and add some posts/links.

    You’re not trying to rank the blog, just use it for links.

    Jackie

  • 16 Rebecca Fleckenstein // Mar 26, 2009 at 4:56 am

    Hi Andrea and Jackie!

    Do you know the html code that I use so that when someone clicks on my link that is in my blog it will take them to a certain section of my lens instead of the beginning of my lens?

    ty,

    -Rebecca.

  • 17 Jackie and Andrea // Mar 26, 2009 at 6:23 am

    Hi Rebecca -

    It’s a little confusing the first time you do it - but yes - here’s a blog post I just did to show you how:

    http://www.learnitstepbystep.com/blog/how-to-link-to-a-specific-part-of-another-page.html

    You’ll see that the place I point to looks like a hyperlink - not sure how to fix that - but it works :)

    Andrea

  • 18 Jackie and Andrea // Mar 26, 2009 at 7:38 am

    Opp - figured it out - not hyperlinked now :)

    Andrea

  • 19 Joyce Thorburn // Mar 27, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    hello Jackie and Andrea,

    Was starting my Blogger blog when I got a message I had my first sale. $ 57.- and another $12.- for the up-sell.
    This thing really works. I was having problems with my computer and it took me forever to get the stuff submitted to Feedest and feedage. My computer kept timing out.
    I think I’ve only had that project up for two weeks and never got my Blogger Blog done yet.
    Thanks guys for your help.
    I’ve struggled for 2 years or more without any luck at all. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I’m mobility challenged and have not much else to do. I HATE TV.
    Anyway, thanks. And I’ll keep on working and reading your tutorials. I’m way behind.
    Joyce

  • 20 Jackie and Andrea // Mar 27, 2009 at 6:55 pm

    Oh what fun Joyce! Doin’ a happy dance with you tonight!

    Yep keep on plugging away - you are doing an amazing job and we are so proud of you :)

    Thank-you for sharing!

    Andrea

  • 21 Rebecca Fleckenstein // Apr 8, 2009 at 10:19 am

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,

    When I put a new post on my blog I ping it. Should i be adding the feed to feedest and feedage after each new post.

    Rebecca.

  • 22 Jackie and Andrea // Apr 8, 2009 at 10:26 am

    Hi Rebecca -

    RSS feed directories will update themselves once you’ve submitted your feed.

    So each feed to any directory once is just right.

    Andrea

  • 23 Tammy Smith // Apr 21, 2009 at 12:10 am

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,

    Have made a post in my blog at blogger. Hit the publish button. Forgot to text link my kws so went back to do this and hit the publish button again and this is what came back Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request.

    So can you not make text links after you hit publish? Or am I missing something here?

    Thanks,
    Tammy

  • 24 Jackie and Andrea // Apr 21, 2009 at 5:44 am

    Sure you can - was it an html error message?

    There are also two ‘views’ to make changes in - one it straight html and the other isn’t - just like the ad blogs.

    They also may have been having a hiccup. I would try again. Then paste the exact error here if you see it.

    Andrea

  • 25 Tammy Smith // Apr 21, 2009 at 1:19 pm

    Well I did everything over this morning just like last night and it worked. Imagine that.

    Thank you.
    Tammy

  • 26 Jackie and Andrea // Apr 21, 2009 at 1:23 pm

    Cool!

  • 27 Tammy Smith // Apr 23, 2009 at 3:50 pm

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,

    I was just wondering do you need to make a site map and privacy policy with your blogs at blogger as you do when you create your own blog with word press?

  • 28 Jackie and Andrea // Apr 23, 2009 at 6:18 pm

    if you have adsense on them you need a privacy policy.

    I personally would not put adsense on your link blogs. They won’t get traffic and it can mess up your adsense account for your other sites. It’s a huge thing ~ too complex for this site, but it’s not a good idea to put adsense on your sites until you are getting a good bit of traffic.

    I know, it’s a hard urge to fight. :)

    Jackie

  • 29 Jackie and Andrea // May 8, 2009 at 9:58 am

    had some questions about what to post on your blogger blog so I put together a list of 10 ideas for posts.

    http://www.learnitstepbystep.com/blog/what-do-i-post-on-my-blog.html

    Jackie

  • 30 Shalisha Alston // May 11, 2009 at 9:18 am

    I was wondering, since wordpress.org allows you to post whatever you want, can we use them instead of blogger blog?

  • 31 Jackie and Andrea // May 11, 2009 at 9:45 am

    The real point of using these free blog platforms to create your linking network is because the sites themselves already have a TON of authority. So this authority gives the blog you set up a little extra oomph.

    If you host your own blog you don’t have the benefit of the site authority behind it and it can take a LONG time to build up some decent authority for your own site.

    So I would recommend you stick with blogger or any of the other free blogs available, of which there are many.

    Remember the purpose of this blog is to get a quality link back to your lenses ~ it doesn’t have to be pretty, you don’t have to like it, people will probably NEVER even be there. It’s sole purpose is to provide links to your money pages.

    Jackie

  • 32 Shalisha Alston // May 11, 2009 at 10:08 am

    Got it. So wordpress.org doesn’t have any authority?

  • 33 Jackie and Andrea // May 11, 2009 at 10:26 am

    wordpress.org is not a site ~ it’s YOUR site. Wordpress.org is the wordpress software you use to set up your own site. You host the blog on your own server ~ so no there is no authority in the beginning. It’s a brand new site, new domain, new content, new everything ~ so no there is no built in authority where there is with blogger.com which is a site PR of 8.

    Jackie

  • 34 Carole Rowland // May 27, 2009 at 10:35 pm

    Made my first blog on blogger, will do the others tomorrow. Checked my “KW” in google search and 4 out of 6 Zimbio blogs are listed on the first page. I was excited, but the question is, does this mean anything since we can’t have links in our text area?

  • 35 Carole Rowland // May 28, 2009 at 8:50 am

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I am working on my other blogs, but wanted to change up the pictures each one. When I start on my 2nd post and I go to set up the picture for the header, it lets me put it there, but it also changes it on my other post, which I don’t want. Is this just the way blogs work or is there a way to change it for each post?

  • 36 Carole Rowland // May 28, 2009 at 9:49 am

    Never Mind, I figured it out. Just got a little panicky, lost several of my post, had to start over. Anyway, I have 3 of them done and 3 to go.

    Thanks

  • 37 Judith Turner // May 31, 2009 at 11:32 pm

    I just noticed that with all my blogs, articles, hubpages, etc I always use just my main keyword phrase for the anchor text (one phrase per lens that is). Is this right? Should we be using more than one keyword phrase for the same lens or is what I am doing okay?

  • 38 Jackie and Andrea // Jun 1, 2009 at 8:08 am

    Not sure what you mean by “blogs”. Are you talking about the posts you make at the free ad blogs? If so ~ you should include links to all of your lenses ~ using the related keyword as the anchor text of the link. Each lens should be related to 1 keyword ~ but you can link to all your different lenses in one post/hub.

    Articles only let you have 2 links so you have to do one for each lens, and have 1 keyword pointing to your lens, and one keyword pointing to the sales page (if you have gotten a redirect url).

    Jackie

  • 39 Judith Turner // Jun 1, 2009 at 9:19 am

    Sorry I should have been more clear. I have my blogger blog that I did for this project plus I have some niche blogs that are related to my lenses. You did answer my question. Thanks :-).

  • 40 Faye herl // Jun 6, 2009 at 8:17 pm

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I have some questions about keywords. First , if you have a keyword phrase that you are using in content,can words in the keyword phrase be spread out or do they lose their effectiveness if not exactly next to each other. Also what is your opinion of article spinners?
    Oops almost forgot, on the “health” on the squiddoo lense, do they all need to be “good”
    or I guess what I am asking is how critical is “health” to the commercial success outside of squiddoo?(hope that makes sense…)

  • 41 Jackie and Andrea // Jun 6, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    Hi Faye -

    Yes your keyword phrase has to be intact.

    We use UAW to spin our articles. You have to make sure the one you choose does a good job of popping out articles that make sense - most don’t.

    And you can ignore Squidoo ‘health’ completely.

    Andrea :)

  • 42 Faye herl // Jun 6, 2009 at 8:32 pm

    Thanks, Andrea!

  • 43 Carole Rowland // Jun 17, 2009 at 4:39 pm

    Just finished by blogs for my 2nd campaign. Somewhere above, can’t find it now, something was mentioned about adding the RSS feed to our lenses???

    Is this right?

    C

  • 44 Carole Rowland // Jun 17, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    Never mind, was getting ahead of myself, it is the next lesson.
    thanks,
    C

  • 45 Barbara Paine // Jun 19, 2009 at 10:46 pm

    I’ve been totally confused about the whole blog thing — Jennifer talks about creating a blogger blog and then also talks about creating a niche blog using WP. I couldn’t understand the difference. I think I’m finally getting it after reading through this post and the comments.

    I am gathering that the Blogger blog is really just a blog created for backlinks (I am tempted to call it a throwaway blog) — there is no expectation of trying to drive traffic to it, rank with it, or sell anything with it. It’s strictly a tool used to increase the rank of our Squidoo lenses.

    The WP blog (the niche blog) is one that we create after we see that one of our campaigns is doing well. This is a full-fledged blog that we want to drive traffic to — but, honestly, I’m not getting what kind of content we would have on the WP blog or what we are trying to gain with it.

    Can you clarify that part for me? (And confirm that I am understanding the Blogger blog purpose as well?)

    Thanks!

  • 46 Jackie and Andrea // Jun 19, 2009 at 10:54 pm

    Hi Barbara -

    Yep you’ve got blogger right. It’s for backlinks and will probably never see humans.

    The niche blog can expand on whatever theme it is that you find is working for you. The point of it is to OWN the space. So you’re free to market whatever and however you care to.

    In this case - Squidoo is not a destination - it’s a market testing vehicle.

    Nite :)

    Andrea

  • 47 Linda Servis // Jun 20, 2009 at 6:44 pm

    After doing the blog I was on to Day 7 in the main guide and PPG said to get ezine rss feeds. I went into ezine and only one article seemed to have something that looked like an rss feed. The other articles, when I pressed the orange button took me to google and a general google-ish feed, not mine.

    So what am I doing wrong now?

  • 48 Jackie and Andrea // Jun 20, 2009 at 7:01 pm

    You have to log in to your EZA acct.

    Click the public profile link on the left hand side.

    scroll down to where it says: Articles by “your name”. There’s an RSS icon right there you can click and get the RSS feed url.

    when you hover over the RSS button it will give you a bunch of options, if you click the xml button it will give you the RSS feed and you can copy the url out of the address bar.

    Jackie

  • 49 Linda Servis // Jun 20, 2009 at 7:38 pm

    Got that. So there is only one rss for ezine, not one for each article?

  • 50 Jackie and Andrea // Jun 20, 2009 at 7:47 pm

    Right - you grab your author feed.

    Andrea

  • 51 Larry Pitts // Dec 18, 2009 at 9:15 am

    Hi Friends, Got my 3 lenses indexed and my 1st ezine article done and submitted. Ready to Blog. Can’t believe how far you all have taken me. Thanks and keep up the good work. Merry Christmas!

  • 52 George Varghese // May 23, 2010 at 5:15 am

    Hi Jackie & Andrea,
    I have seen the lens about your “how to make diet shakes” in the answer to the question no. 10. I have managed to down load the product images from Amazon sites using Jing software into my Squidoo lens.But how can I make this images link back to Amazon site when clicked on? Can you give me html code for making this possible?
    A big thanks for taking me this far.You two are great

  • 53 Jackie and Andrea // May 23, 2010 at 6:03 am

    Hi George -

    Well congrats for going this far - it’s you who’s doing all the heavy lifting :)

    Here’s the lesson with the info you’re looking for:
    http://www.learnitstepbystep.com/21a-sprucing-up-your-lenses-with-images-and-opt-in-boxes.html

    The video near the bottom of the post should help.

    Have a great day,
    Andrea

  • 54 George Varghese // May 24, 2010 at 1:29 pm

    Hi Andrea/
    Thank you for the encouragement and the quick response..It was tough to properly paste the html code from amazon.But I got it and right now I feel great.

  • 55 Sue Bledsoe // Aug 4, 2010 at 10:55 pm

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I am going to do a blogger blog soon and and am wondering for the url for the blog do you want to use your keywords or a domain name ? Or does it matter which you choose?

    thannks
    sue

  • 56 Sue Bledsoe // Aug 5, 2010 at 12:31 am

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I have really good news, I just finished setting up a blogger blog and signed up for Amazon. i figured I might as well try Amazon, since it seems like it might a little easier to physical prodcuts than CB right now.

    I have a question about Amazon’s signup, not sure if you can answer it. When you get to the payment screen, it asks for your tax id, would that be your social security #. Also, do you know, if on the payment method if you choose direct deposit does that mean it goes directly to your bank account or paypal?

    I already signed up and set the payment method later. I wanted to know about those two items before I do.

    thanks
    sue

  • 57 Jackie and Andrea // Aug 5, 2010 at 8:03 am

    Hi Sue ~ Congrats on taking action!

    I would probably go with a wide topic for your blogger blog ~ something that will cover a lot of topics.

    I like to do “gift related” or “holiday” related blogs for my support blogs so I can add any physical product ~ and say why it would be a great gift. If you tend to stick with a similar topic of product you could do a general topic blog about it. You just want something you’re going to be able to use to link to as many of your lenses as you can.

    Tax id is your social security number, and if you choose direct deposit it will go into your bank account. I don’t believe paypal is an option.

    Jackie

  • 58 Sue Bledsoe // Aug 5, 2010 at 4:22 pm

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I am not sure if I asked this already, but when I set up a blogger blog for the URL would I want to use a my domain name or my keyword or does it matter which choose? I already did a blogger blog so I could getr approved for Amazon. I am wondering for the future blogs I will do.

    This is another Amazon question. Do you know if you can change the way get you paid? Like if I chose to get a check, could I than change to direct deposit?

    I would guess that Aamzon has a strong privacy policy and encrypts information that goes through the website. Probably being paranoid figuring that I would give them my social security # or bank info.

    I also have more good news, I was approved for Amazon this morning and first article approved and published this morning, finally.

    thanks
    sue

  • 59 Sue Bledsoe // Aug 7, 2010 at 2:46 am

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I psoted a comment the other day, maybe you missed it-no worries. I just had two quick questions.

    1. For Amazon, can you change the way you get paid,like if i chose a check,could than change to direect deposit?

    2. I am wondering for a blogger blog, for the URL would I want to use my domain name or keywords, or does it matter? I may have asked already.

    I also have more good news, I was accepted by Amazon yesterday and my first article was approved and published-finally. Amazon is really quick to let you know if you have been approved or not.

    thanks
    sue

  • 60 Jackie and Andrea // Aug 7, 2010 at 8:25 am

    sorry, thought I’d answered it, but guess not ;)

    I did answer the domain name question in the answer above your aug 5 question.

    You can change your payment method via amazon ~ you just have to change it in your account area. I think they offer check or direct deposit.

    Congrats on being accepted and your article getting approved. Did you look in your amazon account to get it set up? If you don’t set it up you won’t get paid. You should see the payment info in there.

    Jackie

  • 61 Sue Bledsoe // Sep 25, 2010 at 6:58 pm

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I have been having a hard time trying find a product to promote in Amazon. I was originally thinking of a product in the electronics category, than I figured that would be too competitive. I would like toe find a category that would have some competition, but not too much. Maybe, you could suggest some categories I could try, not a specific product, just a genreral category.

    Happy Saturday.
    thanks
    sue

  • 62 Jackie and Andrea // Sep 25, 2010 at 7:17 pm

    Hi Sue,
    You might check out this video on I did on this topic. http://www.squidoochristmascash.com/startingresearch/

  • 63 Sue Bledsoe // Sep 27, 2010 at 12:03 am

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I thought the video on the squidoochristmascash site was really good. I think it may have helped me. I have a product in mind and had gotten some keywords. I did some Google competition checking and they seem really low. For example, one of the keywords is “keyword” in the Google search box with results of 2 and intitle is 2 and inachor is 0. I just want to make sure I am finally on the right track before doing articles.

    thanks
    sue

  • 64 Jackie and Andrea // Sep 27, 2010 at 3:34 pm

    Sounds like you’re on the right track Sue.

    Jackie

  • 65 Sue Bledsoe // Oct 18, 2010 at 3:47 am

    Hey Jackie and Andrea,
    I am wondering if you know of a good keyword tool to buy?

    thanks
    sue

  • 66 Jackie and Andrea // Oct 18, 2010 at 9:12 am

    Hi Sue,
    Personally I use Micro Niche Finder. It’s the one I find easiest to use for keyword research. You can see it here: goo.gl/4ia7 There are others but and I’ve tried them but this is my favorite because you get all the info you need on one page and it’s really easy to do your research quickly.

    Jackie

  • 67 Sue Bledsoe // Oct 19, 2010 at 1:52 am

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I checked out Micro Niche Finder, and I have two questions about it. 1. Does it help you pick a niche? 2. Does it help you with niches and keywords for Squidoo, Clickbank, and Amazon?

    I am wondering do you know of any internet marketing forums that would be free to join or not too expensive. If one joined a forum, do they actually get help, like if one asked a question or wanted something critiqued?

    thanks
    sue

  • 68 Sue Bledsoe // Oct 19, 2010 at 8:18 pm

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I got your email in response to my questions. I just have a quick question for today. Do you have any interneet marketing blogs besides the learn it step by step blog?

    thanks
    sue

  • 69 Jackie and Andrea // Oct 19, 2010 at 8:23 pm

    I have 2. http://www.internetmarketingformommies.com ~ which is internet marketing with a slant toward blogging (with lots of niche marketing info in the archives) and my squidoo blog http://www.squidoochristmascash.com ~ I’ll let Andrea share hers with you. :)

    Jackie

  • 70 Jackie and Andrea // Oct 19, 2010 at 9:09 pm

    Well … online marketing specific …

    http://Amsherpa.com

    And I have one I’m developing that’s a mixed bag:

    http://thegiftofinspiration.com

    Jackie’s have way more content on them though ;-)

    Andrea

  • 71 Sue Bledsoe // Nov 24, 2010 at 7:17 pm

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I wanted to stop by and wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and everbody else in the learnit program.

  • 72 Sue Bledsoe // Dec 21, 2010 at 6:27 pm

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I wanted to stop by and wish you a Merry Christmas and everybody else in the learnit program.

  • 73 Sue Bledsoe // Dec 31, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    Hi Jackie and Andrea,
    I wanted to stop by an wish you a Happy New Year and a prosperous one and everybody else in the learnit program.