As you’ve heard me mention in some of my other posts and videos, having your own blog is KEY to your success on the internet.
The best way for people to be able to develop a realtionship with you online is to have a place where they can come to access your valuable content (articles, videos, etc) so that they can start to know you, like you, and trust you.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc are a great way to share yourself as well… but the thing about all of these free sites is that you don’t own any of the content that you post on there, because you don’t own those sites. Even the free blog services do not give you a way to own your content, and any of these sites can shut your account down at any time and take all of your hard work with them.
What’s great about having your own hosted WordPress blog is that:
1) You own it and all of the content you post on it
2) It acts as a central hub where you can send all of your web traffic to so that people can start to develop a relationship with you.
3) You can use it to start to develop your marketing funnel (we’ll go into more detail about this in a later lesson).
I’m going to show you how to set up your own WordPress blog in these videos. It’s easy… and the other thing about it is that IT’S FUN! You can be creative and create something that adequately represents you.
Here you go (there are 2 videos, be sure and watch them in the correct order!):
Part 1
Part 2
Here are some links to help you get started:
Dreamhost– You can click here to get your hosting set up if you’re interested in using Dreamhost.
Woo Themes– This is where I bought my theme… they are my favorite source for themes…. they have TONS and they’re all awesome.
WordPress.org – This is where you can go to access lots of training tutorials, themes, plugins, and information about WordPress.
There are loads of people online who would probably love to learn what you just did… so feel free to share this lesson by clicking the Facebook and Twitter links below. And feel free to leave your comments as well… I’d love to hear from you!
To Our Success Together,
Amy
Comments
Hi Amy
While I concur with your point about:
“Even the free blog services do not give you a way to own your content, and any of these sites can shut your account down at any time and take all of your hard work with them.”
I still have a problem – the only way to “own” your own content is to have that content stored on your own computer, on your own Internet connection.
Further – every piece of content (status update, blog post etc) you post on any external service (Twitter, Facebook etc) remains the content of that service provider. You don’t own that content, as you’ve described.
Even a host such as BlueHost will have terms of service about what content you can have on your website, “hosted” by them – violate those, and there goes your content – again.
Self-hosted, to me (amongst other meanings…) means:
“Self-hosting is also a term used for any individual who hosts their own website themselves rather than use the services of an ISP (Internet Service Provider). Self-hosting is gaining popularity as broadband speeds increase and the necessity to retain privacy of information or intellectual property increases. There are several benefits to self-hosting including unlimited file storage space, ease of access to a home network, privacy of information and speed of access when on a local home network.”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-hosting
I may be having a rant, (and I apologise) but my blood pressure rises when I see the term “self-hosted” used in conjunction with a paid hosting company.
The only way to retain the rights to your own content, to be able to voice your own opinion (regardless of legal ramifications), and a myriad other options – is to host your own website on your own computer on your own Internet connection.
And its easy to do!
Cheers
Brad
Brad,
Thanks for clarifying. These are all really good points and I apologize for any misunderstanding. I’m in Las Vegas about to head into my event, but once I return I’ll edit the post…
Thanks!
-A