Wanna START YOUR OWN Blog check this out

u want to start a blog huh? Great idea!
But…how the heck do you get started? There’s so much info out there on the web, and everyone’s telling you to do different things. Who do you listen to? Where’s the starting point?
Damnit, maybe you should just forget it – it’s too confusing!
I promise it’ll be simple, relatively easy, and definitely easy to understand (no stupid jargon). Sound good? Awesome, let’s move on.
 Why you should start a blog and join bloggers community
So below, I’m going to outline exactly what you need to do to get started and set up your own personal blog. Before we dive in though, I really want to talk about WHY you should start a blog.
Note: If you already have a solid idea of the whys, then skip this and go right ahead with the guide.
  1. Blogging has quickly become one of the most popular ways of communicating and spreading information and news. There are literally millions of blogs online (don’t worry, you can make yours stand out and get noticed!).
  2. It’s a great way to express yourself and also a fantastic way to share information with others.
  3. You become a better person and a better writer.
  4. The best reason? You can make money doing it!
I bet you already knew all of that, but it’s nice to be reminded.
One very last thing before we get started:
Creating your own blog can take a little while, probably up to 30 minutes. So grab yourself a coffee or juice (whatever you fancy) and let’s get stuck in. If you need any help during the set-up process, get in touch with me here and I’ll help as best I can and answer any questions you might have).

The Steps Covered In This Guide

There’s five main steps you need to go through in order to set up a blog. If you follow this guide and the five steps, you’ll have your own blog set up in 30 minutes or less. It’s nowhere near as difficult as setting up a website from scratch (there’s very little technical ability needed here). In fact, there’s no coding required by you. Good news, huh?
The Five Steps:
  • Choose your preferred blogging platform
  • Choose whether you want to self-host and a paid domain, or get a free blog
  • Setting up a blog on your own domain (if you choose self-hosting and a custom domain)
  • Designing your blog (the fun bit!)
  • Useful resources for blogging
So, we made it. Phew. Better late than never! So, without further ado, let’s jump into step 1.

Step 1 – Choose your preferred blogging platform

Choosing where you want to blog is pretty much the first thing you have to do. I’m going to take a leap and assume you’ve heard of WordPress, and this is the platform I advocate. It’s massive. It’s by far one of the biggest blogging platforms in the world, with countless plugins and add-ons and almost infinite ways to design and layout your blog.
There are more than 82 million active users using WordPress – a lot, basically.
wordpress
There are other alternatives however, and they’re listed below:
  • Blogger – Definitely the next best thing to WordPress.
  • Tumblr – Half social network, half blog. Interesting, and very simple to use.
Even though WordPress is bigger (and probably better) than those two, here are my reasons why you should still go with WordPress:
  1. Super easy set-up.
  2. Tons of free themes and layouts (I’m not kidding, there’s gazillions).
  3. There’s a massive support forum in case you get stuck (you won’t, but it’s nice to have it there if you need it).
  4. Your blog will be insanely fast and it’ll also look Functionality and form – perfect!
  5. People can interact with you easily. Your content can be shared, commented on, and so on.

Now, Step 2 (see, we’re moving fast now!)

Step 2 – Self-hosting or a free alternative?

Whoa, slow down there! This is the biggest decision you’ll have to make before we go any further. You need to decide whether to pay for your blog or grab a free one.
WordPress, Tumblr and Blogger all offer free blogs for anyone. Awesome, right? It’s perfect for those of us who aren’t super serious about blogging. But it does have downsides:
1) You won’t be able to get your OWN domain name
On a free blog, your blog’s web address (your URL) will be butt-ugly. Like, really ugly. In short, create a free blog with any other the above free blogs and it’ll look like this:
  • yourblog.wordpress.com
  • yourblog.blogspot.com
  • yourblog.tumblr.com
I know, ugly right?
2) Limits and more limits
There are some limits to free blogs. You can’t fully monetize it, and you don’t have the possibility to upload all those videos and images you want to show everyone – it’s all limited. Worse still, you won’t even have access to the free themes offered by WordPress.
3) You DON’T OWN your blog
It might sound silly at first, but you don’t actually own your blog. It’s hosted on someone else’s web property and they can delete it if they want so. They have done so in the past, and keep doing it in the future. Which means all your hard work on your blog, all those countless hours of writing blog posts might be vanished within seconds. Sad…

On the other hand, with a self-hosted blog on your own domain name – you are the REAL owner of your blog. You’ll be able to name your blog whatever you want, for example “YourName.com” or “YourAwesomeBlog.com. You can end it with .com, .co.uk, .net, .org, or virtually any other web suffix. Add to that unlimited bandwidth for videos, images and content plus the free themes and you have a winning combo.
So how much is hosting and a domain name? Not as much as you’re thinking, fortunately. It usually works out to about $4 per month, depending on your hosting provider. Any more than that, and you’re getting robbed.

Step 3 – Setting up a WordPress blog on your own domain (if you chose self-hosting and a custom domain)

wordpress blogging platform
I’m going to push ahead based on the premise you’ve chosen WordPress, and if you haven’t, you should. Seriously, it’s the best.
If you’re still a little confused by what a self-hosted blog is, allow me to explain and how you can go about setting one up for yourself.
You’ll need to come up with a domain name you like and also choose a hosting company that can host your blog.
  • Domain: The domain is basically the URL of your website. Examples: google.com (Google.com is the domain), Facebook.com (Facebook.com is the domain). See? Simple!
  • Hosting: Hosting is basically the company that puts your website up on the internet so everyone else can see it. Everything will be saved on there. Think of it as a computer hard-drive on the internet where your blog will be saved.
 Step 4 – Designing your blog
Now, the fun bit. Let’s make your blog look exactly how you want it to. To choose a new theme, you can either head to Appearance > Themes or you can head to a premium theme website like ThemeForest.net.
I usually choose something that looks professional and pretty easy to customise. WordPress also has this awesome feature that allows you to change themes with just a few clicks. So if you start getting tired of your current blog template, you can just switch to another one without losing any precious content or images.
choose-blog-theme
Remember, your blog’s design should reflect both you and your personality, but also what the blog is about. There’s no point having a football-orientated theme if your blog is about tennis, understand?
On top of that, it should be easy to navigate if you want people to stick around. If it’s tricky and difficult to move around it, people won’t stay. Design is a subjective art; meaning everyone likes different things.
But no one likes ugly websites, and they especially hate websites that need a university degree to navigate. Make it easy for them.


Step 5 – Useful Resources For Blogging

 Bloggers come to blogging arena with varying degrees of online and social media experience, but we’ve all made more than a few newbie mistakes – there’s always room for more learning and improvement, whether you’re a beginner or you’ve been blogging for years.
And that’s it! I’m more than confident that your initial blog set up should now be finished and ready to go, and all that should have been really damn easy (unlike my first time, lucky you!).
If by some unfortunate chance you get stuck or have any questions, just get in touch with me. I’ll help you out with any problems.
Enjoy your new blog!

PERMALINK do we really need it?

A permalink is the link to an individual blog post. These are important because if you ever need to link to an exact blog entry (e.g., as part of a carnival), you use the permalink as your link. It’s poor blog etiquette not to use the permalink.
If you don’t use the permalink, you’ll just be linking to your main blog page. The problem with that is that, as you post new blog entries, the newest entry appears at the top of your main blog page and the other entries are pushed down on the page. The entry your readers are looking for may be down at the bottom of the page or already in the archives; your reader has no idea where to find the entry! If they click over to your site expecting to see a specific post related to a carnival and they see a different post, they may not take the time to find the “real” post they’re looking for.
You can find the permalink link under any blog entry. However, not all blog hosts/designs handle permalinks the same way.
  • Typepad blogs: There’s a link that actually says Permalink under the entry.
  • Blogger: The link varies. It’s usually the time stamp of the post or the actual post title.
  • Other blogs have other links; many times the permalink is the title of a given post.
One way to figure out which link is the permalink of a post (if it’s not obvious) is to put your curser over each link under or above a post. As you hover over a link a little box should come up that says permalink. If it doesn’t, that link probably isn’t your permalink and you should move on to the next link.
Once you find the permalink, click on it and you’ll be taken to a page with just that blog entry on it. Snazzy, huh? Now, to link to that page you just need to copy the URL in the address bar and use it where ever you were inserting your link (e.g., a Mr. Linky or a blog contest).

The easier way

As you might have noticed, I’ve been suggesting people to use WordPress. You probably already know that you can build a blog or make a website with it. In case you are planning to start a blog/website with WordPress (or you already have), then just log in to your WordPress dashboard and look for:
Settings -> Permalinks and use “Post name” – this should be the most user and search engine friendly way of dealing with permalinks. See the picture below:
permalinks

HUGE TRAFFIC BY OPTIMIZING BLOGGERS BLOG

Blogger is a free blog provided with your Google account. You must make sure your blog is optimized for traffic before you launch it. This includes minimizing the content that is not necessary to load faster. This also includes the addition of important add-ons, such as search for blogs, RSS subscription options and a list of recent posts, to your blog, that will improve the way your visitors interact and discover new content.

  1. Optimize a Blogger Blog to Get Traffic Step 1.jpg
    1
    Log in to your Blogger account and click settings "Design" with the blog you want to edit.
  2. Optimize a Blogger Blog to Get Traffic Step 2.jpg
    2
    Click the 'Add Device "in the top sidebar and add the" Search Box ". This is a search text box on your blog, which allows visitors to better find topics that are looking for.
  3. Optimize a Blogger Blog to Get Traffic Step 3.jpg
    3
    Click the 'Add Device "in the top sidebar and add the "Subscribed for RSS". This creates a graphic object that allows your visitors to find and subscribe to your RSS feed easily.
  4. Optimize a Blogger Blog to Get Traffic Step 4.jpg
    4
    Click "Add device" on the sidebar, and then select the "More devices" tab. Add the "Recent Posts" in the sidebar of the blog. This allows visitors to view a list of all the new entries and encourages them to navigate your blog.
  5. Optimize a Blogger Blog to Get Traffic Step 5.jpg
    5
    Remove devices that do not improve the experience of your users. Too many aggregates or ads on a blog will make pages load slowly.
  6. Optimize a Blogger Blog to Get Traffic Step 6.jpg
    6
    Click the "Save" button to save the changes to your design once you've finished editing your blog.
  7. Optimize a Blogger Blog to Get Traffic Step 7.jpg
    7
    Click "Settings" and then select the tab "Format" option.
  8. Optimize a Blogger Blog to Get Traffic Step 8.jpg
    8
    Make sure the number in the text box next to "Show posts" is between 5 and 10. The default is 7. This controls the amount of messages Blogger shown in front of your blog. You should put enough messages to display a wide range of topics of interest, but not too many to avoid longer load times.
  9. Optimize a Blogger Blog to Get Traffic Step 9.jpg
    9
    Click on the "Save Settings" at the bottom of the page when you've finished editing your blog.

How to add A page in BLOGGER

Blogger pages are designed to allow users to publish content on stand-alone pages that are linked to their blog's home page in Google Blogger. Pages are a good way for bloggers to highlight key features of their website without having it added to the timeline of the blog, such as contact information or an "About Me" section. Here are some steps on how to add a page to Blogger.

Steps

  1. Add a Page to Blogger Step 1.jpg
    1
    Log into your Blogger account. Once you are logged in, make sure you are at your Blogger's Dashboard, otherwise click on the "Dashboard" link, which will take you to a list of your blogs.
  2. Add a Page to Blogger Step 2.jpg
    2
    Add or write a new page. On your Blogger Dashboard, click on the "Posting" tab, then click on "Edit Pages." You will see a list of your current pages if there are any. Click on the blue button that says "New Page."
  3. Add a Page to Blogger Step 3.jpg
    3
    Publish your page. Write the content on your page just as you would do for a post, and click on Publish Page on the bottom to make it public for readers.
  4. Add a Page to Blogger Step 4.jpg
    4
    Add the Pages gadget. In order for readers to find and click on your pages, you will need to add their links to your blog, which can be done by adding the Pages gadget. The Pages gadget will allow you to add the page links to the top of your blog or in a sidebar.
    • Go to Blogger and click on the "Design" link from the main Dashboard. From the Page Elements link, click on "Add a Gadget." Scroll down until you locate Pages. Add this gadget to your blog by clicking on the blue icon with a plus symbol inside.
    • Move the Pages gadget within your layout either to the top of your blog or to the sidebar, depending on your preference. Click on the orange "Save" button for Blogger to accept your changes.
    • Modify the Pages gadget. The Pages gadget will allow you to customize the details of how you want your page links to appear. Optional modifications include re-ordering the pages, giving the Pages section a title, and having the option to rename the Home page where all your blog posts appear. You can also choose if you want new pages added to the list of links by default when you create new pages.
  5. Add a Page to Blogger Step 5.jpg
    5
    Add HTML to create Pages tabs with custom templates. If you are using a custom template and not a Blogger template, Pages may not show up unless you modify the HTML code.
    • Remove the Pages gadget from your Blogger layout if it does not work. Go to Blogger and click on the "Design" link from the main Dashboard. From the Page Elements section, locate the Pages gadget and click on the "Edit" link. Scroll down to the bottom of your Pages gadget and click on "Remove."
    • Edit the HTML. Click on "Edit HTML" next to Page Elements on your Layout screen. Place a check-mark in the box next to Expand Widget Templates.
    • Locate the string of HTML to modify. Visit Google's Blogger Help website to view the current HTML you will need to modify at www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=165955.
    • Preview your blog before saving modifications. Once you have modified the HTML, click on the blue "Preview" button to make sure your Pages tabs are showing. Click on "Save Template."
    • Re-add the Pages gadget to your blog. Now that you have modified the HTML code for your custom template, revisit the Layout screen and add the Pages gadget to your blog.


Simplest way to ADD Google Analytics in Blogger


Install Google Analytics
Once you set up your blog and start publish quality content, its time to track the traffic statistics to know more about the visitors that who are visiting your blog, from where they are, how much time they spend on your blog etc. Google Analytics is the best tool provided by Google to easily track and check real and accurate stats of our blog traffic. Except this you can also check your blog’s bounce rate, unique visitors, page views and visits by adding Google Analytics to your blog. Tracking the traffic statistics of blog is very important if you want to know that what’s going on your blog and the behavior of your visitors. Now you are aware with the benefits of installing GA in blog so let’s see how to install it.

Create Google Analytics Account

Before adding GA tracking code to your blog you need a GA account. Follow below steps:
  1. Go to Google Analytics.
  2. Now sign in with your Google or Gmail account.
  3. Click on “Sign Up” button on the next page.
  4. Google Analytics Sign up
  5. Once you click the sign up button you will redirect to next page there you have to fill a simple form by entering your Blog Title, URL, your Country, Blog Category and Account name. You can enter your blog title as your account name or can choose anything else which helps you to recognize your blog. See below screenshot for complete process.
  6. Setting Up Your Web Property
  7. Once you fill all the details click on “Get Tracking ID” button.
  8. Now click on “I Accept” on “GOOGLE ANALYTICS TERMS OF SERVICE” pop up page.
  9. If everything is fine then you will get a Tracking ID like “UA-39654221-1″ at the top left corner and a Tracking code in a box. Now let’s go to the next step.

Add Google Analytics to Blogger

To add GA in your blog you have to perform 2 steps. First you have to add your Tracking ID in blogger settings and then put the tracking code in your template.
Adding Google Analytic ID to Blogger
  1. Go to Blogger >> Settings >> Other
  2. Now under the “Analytics Web Property ID” enter your Tracking ID in the text field.
  3. Tracking ID
  4. Click on “Save Settings” button.
Adding Tracking Code
  1. Go to Blogger >> Template >> Edit HTML
  2. Backup your blog template. 
  3. Now search for
  4. And paste your Tracking Code just above it.
  5. Save the template.
  6. You are done!
Now you have completed all the process of installing and adding Google Analytics in blogger. It will take approx 24 hours to show your traffic report in Google Analytics. Happy Blogging!

Today I will tell you How to reduce Bounce Rate and Exit Rate on Your Blog

Your site is up, and your product is out there for the world to see. Before you know it, you have visitors trickling in to see what you have to offer.

Despite the depths of the Internet and the billions of pages offered, users are arriving at your website, and then without any explanation—they’re leaving.

They come and then they go, maybe after a minute, maybe even less. After all of the hours you’ve put in, the majority of your visitors aren’t staying around long enough to get past your landing page. Many of them visit once and never return.

Do not immediately move through the five steps of grief; in this chapter we’re going to go over some ways to change this trend for the better. Tweet this!
Exit Rate
An Exit Rate is specific to each page; it’s the percentage of people who leave after viewing the page. Your exit rate lets you know the last page that users view before they move on. A very high exit rate on a specific page can be a red flag.

For example, if your product tour page that details the benefits of what you sell has one of the highest exit rates, you are likely not connecting the true value of your product with your visitors.

Bounce Rate
Your Bounce Rate is the number of visitors who leave your website after visiting a single page. Each page has its own bounce rate, but initially you probably want to address look at the bounce rates for three pages:

Landing pages that you’re sending paid traffic to through ads
Pages where you are attempting to make conversions happen
High traffic pages–pages that most of your visitors see
The higher your bounce rate, the lower your percentage of engaged users. Your bounce rate can be affected by your page, but also by the quality of the traffic coming to your site.

All of the following ways of leaving your site constitute a bounce:

Hit the back button
Type a different URL
Close the window or tab
Click on an external link

But how do you find your bounce rate?

This is where your analytics come in. We touched briefly on analytics . A basic analytics report will give you an overall bounce rate, with options to dig deeper and find out the bounce rates for individual pages. In Google Analytics, you’ll find this by going to Content > Site Content > Pages.Once you have a grasp of what your bounce rate is, it’s time to figure out why visitors aren’t sticking around in the first place.
Your toolbox for determining what’s causing your high bounce rate contains many of same tools .
Analytics – Figure out bounce rate and traffic sources for your most popular pages. Your website’s overall bounce rate is too vague a number. A detailed page-level report will help you identify your highest traffic pages and your worst offenders when it comes to bounce rates. Analytics also delivers insights regarding where this traffic is coming from.
User Testing – Figure out what users are doing on your site. The ability to observe how users interact with your site is invaluable in determining the cause of high bounce rates. 
User Surveys – Ask users what they are looking for and whether they can find it. Analytics and testing will only tell you so much. Some stuff you can only figure out by asking visitors directly.
Here are some of the most common culprits:
Your website is visually unappealing. Sometimes the fix is obvious. A visitor has stumbled across your site, and they are unimpressed by your cheesy stock images and choice of Comic Sans as a font. Never underestimate the power of an attractive, easy-on-the-eyes website compared to a cluttered eye-sore. Great design creates credibility.
Your website is difficult to use. Maybe your site copy makes perfect sense to you, but visitors are left confused or, even worse, offended. It could also be that users are not visiting more pages because they can’t find them. Either because of poor layout, poor information architecture, technical errors, or malfunctioning buttons and page errors, users are left stranded.
Your website doesn’t meet user expectations. Unlike in the previous scenario, in which the user can’t easily leave the landing page, in this situation someone visits your website based on a promise that isn’t kept. If you do offer what they’re looking for it might not be easily located from the page they landed on. Users lack the motivation or time to scour every page you have, so it is crucial to remove the obstacles that cause them to give up and look elsewhere.
The people coming to your website aren’t the right people. The type of person viewing the page is just as important–if not more so–than the page itself. If people are bouncing it may be because they arrived based on a false promise. This is traffic you can’t really optimize, because they are going to bounce regardless. To avoid this, be sure your ads accurately represent your product and keywords align with your site’s mission.
There is no Call to Action. This issue is quite comparable to  the “lack of usability/navigation” issue, though likely even more detrimental to your bounce rate. Users arrive to your site one way or another, and simply don’t know where to go next—the shopping cart is nowhere to be found, it’s not clear how to subscribe to your blog, etc. Whatever the activity you’ve designated as conversion, if the user has no idea what you want them to do, there is a huge problem.
For example…

You own a sporting goods store that’s having an awesome sale on fishing reels. You advertise in the newspaper, put banners on the storefront, and send out a mass email. The turnout is great! A thousand customers show up, but only ten customers are able to locate the reels on your cluttered, disorganized sales floor.

The remainder is left alone at sea, struggling (mind the pun), and more often than not, this struggle is all it takes to make your customer head for your competitor across the street (whose fishing reels are prominently displayed in the front window).
This is how e-commerce works, except it’s far easier to make a few clicks over to the competitor compared to crossing the street. If you’re making it hard for your users to take advantage of what you’re offering them, you’re essentially sending that competitor business.

Too Many Calls to Action (the flip-side of the “No Call to Action” coin). After reading about the last issue, it may seem impossible to offer too many calls to action, but this is quite often the case. On a site with too many calls to action, the user is overwhelmed by the possibilities—buttons and links are everywhere, and the user has no idea which one will deliver whatever it is he or she is looking for. Before you know it, they are seeking the comfort of a simpler, less cluttered site.[2] Tweet this!


Do not get bogged down by all of the negative though. For each potential reason for a user to bounce, there are a number of fixes to help guarantee future users stick around.

When attempting to lower your bounce rate, keep your conversion goals in mind—what exactly is it you want users to do? You aren’t lowering bounce rates because bounce rate are inherently bad. You’re lowering bounce rates so people stick around long enough to subscribe to your email newsletter, download a document, make a purchase, and so on.

Now, lets take another look at the above issues:

Your website is unattractive.

When a user arrives at your website, is he or she greeted with a simple, easy-to-navigate site? Or is the user bogged down with pop-up ads, dated graphics, and a disorganized layout? Your goal is to provide exactly what they are looking for. If any visual element of your site stands in the way of this, you are creating friction, and friction kills conversion.

Your website is unusable or lacks navigation.

The easiest fix here is to actually put yourself in your users’ shoes and explore your site.

Does every link work?
Do you run into any technical errors?
How is the load time?
Can you easily follow your own navigation to your desired goal?
To take it a step further, consider asking a few close friends to try out your site and complete a task. Watch them and document their experience—specifically any problems they have. For the best possible representation, use friends from all over the spectrum, those inside your field and those who have no idea what you do or sell. Tweet this!

Your website doesn’t meet user expectation.

First, ask yourself these questions:

What search terms did visitors use to get here?
What website or ad did your visitors come from?
If the answers to these questions are readily available, you can make some assumptions about what visitors are looking for and expecting to get from your site. Again, this will come from analytics. To find this out in Google Analytics, you’ll use the All Traffic, Referrals, and Search Engines reports under Traffic Sources.

Many users will arrive via search engines, so it is important to know the their intent and make sure your site matches those expectations. For example, if you are sell marketing automation software but have a large percentage of visitors showing up looking up performance-based marketing agencies, you have a percentage of visitors who will never buy from you, no matter how optimized your landing pages are.

In addition to analytics, you should ask visitors what they’re looking for when they arrive on your site. This lets you determine visitor intent, going beyond keywords to the actual reasons a person is on your site.

For example, if you have a mobile photography iOS app and a visitor arrives on your site from searching “iPhone mobile photos” you don’t know if they’re looking for a photo taking app, photo editing app, how to backup their photos, or how to take better pictures with their phone. You can only get that information by asking.

There is no Call to Action.

If a user is lost, the best tip is for the site to be a guide. You need to guide the users towards your goal. The users shouldn’t have too think too much or look too hard when arriving at your site. Make certain that your Call to Action is prominently placed on your landing page. Also consider these tips to help guide your users to your CTA:

Situate a “search function” in clear view for users
Match keywords in ads you run to your CTA, this way the users naturally spot what they expected to find
Too Many Calls to Action.

With too many distractions comes the potential for the user to get anxious and hit the back button. There are many tools you can use to figure out exactly where you users scroll on the page, which will be covered in Chapter 9. But know for now that the most sure way to guide your user to your CTA is to give them little other choice. There should be a clear path upon the user arriving on the page to fulfilling the goal you set out.

Back to the fishing store example…

Upon advertising the awesome sale of fishing equipment, you would have every reason to prominently place all of that merchandise, so as soon as customers opened the door to the store they saw what they expected to find. There is no reason for anything else to block this pathway. No other merchandise. No other announcements for later sales cluttering the customer’s view. Nothing between the fishing reels and your customers.