Archives for posts with tag: Blogging

The Truth About Seth Godin and Indirect Benefits of Blogging

November 22, 07 //
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Seth Godin on the Indirect Benefits of BloggingWhen I first took an interest in internet and marketing as a whole, people kept referring me to the blog of this guy who had posted a strange image of himself (look to the left), saying that it was a must read, because he offered great advice on the niche. That guy was of course Seth Godin.

If you are not familiar with it, I suggest that you subscribe right now, because this guy certainly knows what he is talking about. He is also the master of sticking to the point, and providing value, even with posts no longer than a single paragraph or two. Read the blog, and you will understand what I mean.

Yesterday Seth posted another short post, where he answered a question from one of his readers who asked why he doen’t monetize his blog. This was his response (full post):

Not only can’t I imagine charging for my blog, I’m practically in debt to the people who read it. I ought to pay them, not the other way around.

Certainly a noble response from a humbled person, and while it is true that his blog would most likely be non-existant had it not been for his readers, certainly there must be some incentive for Seth to keep his blog alive? After all the blog is ranked as the 16th most popular blog of them all over at Technorati.

And yes, Seth most certainly has plenty of incentives to keep posting and promoting his blog, but seeing how he doesn’t monetize it directly, it is safe to say that he is more concerned about the Indirect Benefits of Blogging, which is also sometimes referred to as the Non-Monetary Benefits of Blogging.

You see, Seth Godin is actually the author of several successful books, a renowned speaker, and on top of that founder of a online service called Squidoo. By continuously updating his blog and demonstrating his knowledge with his posts, he is reaching out to new people, and proving the worth of his other products. I know I for one learned about him for the first time through his blog, and as a result of it I have also ordered a couple of his books.

I am also willing to bet my bread and butter for the next year on the fact that I am by no means unique in this, and that Seth has sold hundreds if not thousands of copies of his books as an direct result of his blogging ventures. Are you still convinced Seth blogs because of the goodness in his heart?

Please don’t misunderstand what I am trying to point out here. There is nothing wrong with this approach, and blogging because of the indirect benefits is something that many bloggers out there should consider, especially those who brand themselves with their own names. In the long run, it can probably mean much more beneficial results than what you can harvest from a few AdSense and WidgetBucks ads on your blog.

Another great example of this is Nate Whitehill, who has even pointed out this himself at several occasions over at his own blog. Nate started blogging, and used his blog as a tool for branding himself, and when the time was right, he launched his latest project Unique Blog Designs. Needless to say it became an instant success, partly due to the work Nate had already done to promote himself and his brand through his personal blog.

There are many bloggers out there who spend too much time obsessiong over PPC clicks and the easy dollars they can generate, who could benefit from considering the potential indirect benefits their blogging ventures can give them. To help you get started, I will give you a quick guide to how you can maximize and control the indirect benefits of own blog:

  • Who are you? A big part of blogging is showing people who you are. If you make a conscious decision about who you are, and how you present yourself through your blog, people are more likely to gain a perception of you that matches how you see yourself.
  • What do you know? If you to be famous, or at least somewhat known for something, you need to identify what you know, and demonstrate that you know more than most people about a certain field. Just like Seth does with his blog and the field of marketing.
  • What do you want? Do you have anything you want to achieve by blogging? If you know what you want, it will certainly increase your chances of getting it. Are you blogging because you want to sell your books like Seth, or are you an aspiring web designer like Nate who wants to sell his work? Find out what you want, and show everybody why you should get it.

Those are the three most important things to think about if you want to directly influence the indirect benefits of your blogging efforts. It isn’t hard, it doesn’t take a whole lot of starting capital, all you really need is dedication and persistence, and your blog can get you the things you crave the most!

How to: Move your blog to a new host

November 9, 07 //
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Move to a new hostAre you tired of your host because of too much downtime and slow loading times, but one of the many who have not made the switch to the greener grass on the other side because you are afraid of the technical difficulties of moving your blog?

If that is the case, then this quick guide is just what you need. It will show you how you can easily move your blog to a new host with just a few relatively simple steps, and it even includes a short illustrational video which highlights the steps.

The first thing you should do is to make sure that your new host has the required specifications to host a blog. In particular you want to be sure that your host supports MySQL databases, and that you will be given access to phpMyAdmin, which is the interface you will use to export the contents of your database from your old host, and import it to the one you create at your new host.

Step 1: Copy all the files of your blog from your old to your new host.

You will obviously want to include all the files of your blog at your old host. As you can see in the video, the easiest way of doing this is to simply log in to your account through FTP, and directly download all the files to your computer. Once you have successfully downloaded all files, you simply connect to your new host and upload the same files. No need to tamper with any of the files or the directory structure, just upload them just as you downloaded them.

Step 2: Create a new database at your new host.

Now that all the files are in place, the only thing that remains is to get the database ported over to your new host. What you can do is open your wp-config.php file (if you are using WordPress) and see the specifications of your old database. The easiest thing is to simply duplicate the details, and create an identical database and database-user at your new host.

This is not always possible however, because your database name and username might be given a different prefix at your new host. If that is the case, then you need to modify the information in your config file. If you do this, don’t forget to re-upload your config file and overwrite the old one, which should already be in place at your new host after completing the first step.

Step 3: Export your database from your old host.

This is often the most confusing step for those who have no experience with phpMyAdmin, the interface you use to manage your databases. Don’t be afraid however, as shown in the video, you simply login to phpMyAdmin at your old host, select your database, and go straight to the Export tab.

Once there, hit select all in the left menu, and just scroll down to the bottom. Here you will give the export of your database a new, and choose if you want to have it compressed. For no specific reason at all, I like to compress it in a tar.gz format, but it makes no practical difference whether you choose no compression, zip or gz – When importing the database, which is the next step, phpMyAdmin will automatically detect the compression and decompress it.

Step 4: Import your database at your new host.

When you’ve successfully downloaded the contents of your old database, just login to phpMyAdmin at your new host, pick the correct database and go straight to Import. Here you will be prompted to select the file with the contents of your database, which is of course stored locally at your computer. Just pick this file, and don’t worry with the other settings. Execute the import, and you will then get a short message telling you that the import has been successful.

Step 5: Update the your domain’s DNS settings.

This is the final step of the move. We have already moved the blog to your new host, and all that remains is to update the DNS (Domain Name Servers) of your domain. This is done from your control panel at your domain registrar, and not at your old host. Unless of course you registered your domain at your old host.

Once you have updated the DNS, it will take some time before your domain is actually pointing to your new host. It can take as much as up to 48-72 hours for the changes to propagate, but normally it takes no more than 24 hours.

Finally, I have included a short video documenting and showcasing the steps as I recently moved my own blog to a new host. If you have any questions regarding the procedure, don’t hesitate to ask through the comments!

Illustration icon by FastIcon

Best blogging tip you’ll ever get.

October 21, 07 //
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Want to be a better blogger? Start thinking about what you want to say with your posts. Before you compose your post, know the message you are trying to communicate. People come to your blog to get information, not because they want to read words you’ve thrown together because you feel that you need to give them their daily fix. Communicate something, get a message across!

That’s all, hope this helps.