Carl Willis

Blogging for Network Marketers Step 2 – Developing the Infrastructure

Yesterday, I talked with you about determining your address.   Today I’m going to take you through the next in the process, the development of the of your network marketing blog.

So you’ve chosen your new domain name; for the purpose of this teaching we’ll assume that you are going to use yourname.com as the domain.  You now need to set up the structure that your readers will arrive at when they enter that domain name.   This can be accomplished using no-cost tools or paid tools.

On the no cost side you could use Blogger or WordPress.com.  Both are free blogging platforms and you could redirect your domain name to either .   This is a great first step for someone starting out, who is limited on resources.   This step will at least get you started and get your name out in front of people.   The primary drawback of this course of action is limited functionality.   Storage of content, members only areas, tracking, etc… are some of the limitations issues you will face.   WordPress.com is also very particular about blogs that seem to be geared towards affiliate and MLM promotions, and may even remove those sites.

Because your blog is going to be the epicenter of your marketing efforts, I would recommend spending a few dollars each month.  The added functionality will be well worth it.   Today I’m going to give you two viable, low cost options:

Let me step you through the first option.  In this option you would first need a hosting account.  I personally like Hostgator for this type of setup, because the allow unlimited blogs, domains and traffic for a low monthly price.   Once you have your hosting account secured, you would want to point your domain (which you purchased in step 1) towards your new hosting account.  Both your hosting service and your domain provider have easy to follow instructions on how to do this.  You would next want to download the WordPress blogging files from WordPress.org.   WordPress has a 5 minute installation guide that will walk you through how to set up your WordPress blog.  Once you have set up the blog, you simply send those files via FTP to your hosting server.   Now when you enter your domain, you should see your blog.

The WordPress blog script is highly functional and there are numerous plug-ins available that will allow you to use your blog as a true list building tool.  Probably the most valuable plug-in would be a members only section of your blog, where you could offer paid content.   A quick way to truly monetize your blog.

The second solution is the solution that you are experiencing right now.  That is the Quickblogcast platform offered by Go Daddy.  For a low monthly fee, this platform allows multiple functionalities, video casting and podcasting.  It can also be upgraded to a membership site as well.   The advantage of Quickblogcast is that it is truly plug and play.  There are no scripts to upload, modify, etc…  Hosting can be added as an option if it is desired, but there is adequate space with the basic account itself.

Once you have your blog set up, it is time to generate some content.  I will cover that for you in step 3.