We continue our series on blogging for business with this 5-step guide to launching your blog.  Go to our page on How To Blog  for all the other articles in this series.

1 – Identify your primary topics (niche)

• Think of your blog as a book – in fact it could lead to actually publishing a book one day! Ideally 3-5 primary topics and 10-12 overall categories What are you truly passionate about?
• What is your niche or specialty?

2 – Choose a blog platform

• Built-in blog on your existing website
• WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
• Blogger (Google)
• Typepad (movable type)
• Active Rain – Rainmaker account ($39/mth or $199/yr) Open your blog to consumers Get your blog posts found on Google Share your blog posts on social media

3 – Get a domain name and hosting

• Go Daddy (domain and hosting options)
• Host Gator / Blue Host both support WordPress hosting
• WP Engine
• Read this article from Problogger: 4 perspectives to consider for naming Human (easy to remember), Brand, SEO, Legal (copyright/trademarks)

4 – Setup & Design your Blog

Do it Yourself or outsource to an expert.  Wordpress tutorials generally come with all the major WP hosting solutions.

Find a Theme You Like – some recommendations:

DIVI – Elegant Themes

StudioPress Envato Market – Theme Forest

Real Estate – Agent Evolution Equity Theme

Logo & Branding Remember to be in compliance with your State & Company advertising rules

Pages vs Posts

• If you are creating a standalone blog site, then you could include basic pages like About Us, Contact Us, and other applicable content as a part of your overall navigation menu
• Categories can also be added to a main nav menu
• Categories organize your blog posts into the main topic and focus areas of your blog

Plugins – add functionality and features to your blog

• Akismet (anti-spam) – Jetpack
• SEO (All in one or Yoast)
• Contact form – integration to your email service
• Image Gallery / slideshow
• Email opt-in to add forms from your email marketing service:
• Mailchimp
• Aweber
• Convertkit
• Two specific plugins for optins and email campaigns: SumoMe Optinmonster
• Social Sharing (Jetpack)
• Google analytics

Sidebar

• Categories
• Recent posts
• Recent Comments
• Facebook, IG, Twitter feeds
• CTAs
• Your photo and contact info

Navigation – make it easy for readers/visitors to find your content

• Main Menu (pages and/or categories Categories Tags Search bar (Header and sidebar)

5 – Start writing posts!

• Brainstorm topics now – create a list of posts to write
• Write 5-10 blog posts – Go live with at least 3 posts
• Keep a notebook or online list for recording ideas for posts
• Always include an image, photo or video in your post

Visit our Family of Websites & Blogs:

• Real Estate Team Builder: http://realestateteambuilder.com/
• WBNL Coaching: http://wbnlcoaching.com/
• Wandering But Not Lost: http://wanderingbutnotlost.com/
• Wandering But Not Lost Podcast: http://wbnlpodcast.com/
• Real Estate Coach Blog:  http://www.janobrien.com/

Real Estate and Reality meet as co-hosts, Jan O’Brien and Matt Emerson bring you Tips, Tools, & Topics to supercharge your business. They'll share their insights along with interviews with industry thought leaders. The ethos of WBNL Coaching is helping you to align and connect so that you can prosper. The Wandering Zen segment will offer you some inspiration so that you can disconnect and recharge.

Visit WBNL Podcast for all of our Episodes, Show Notes, Videos and Links to Resources

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