# Starting a blog



## silvertree (Jul 22, 2007)

Some of you may have done this, I started a blog. My expectations are to use it to drive people to my website, or if its no good, drive them to someone else's website. Anyone tried this yet. I will be answering questions if I get any and plan to use a little humor to do that.
Right now its "Bang with the Hammer" until I come up with a good title.
I considered "Swing with the Hammer", but I thought that might attract the wrong crowd. Any bloggers out there?
Blog comes free if GoDaddy hosts your site.


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## DavidC (Feb 16, 2008)

I've thought about it but haven't done it. The excuse I cling to is losing the anominity. Too many wandering flamers looking for a place to blast the innocent, or what if a disgruntled client gets on there. Either one could just be negative press for your business on the internet.

Have you thought of a way around it if it did occur?

On the surface it's a good idea, maybe I worry to much about the other. Keep us posted on how it goes for you.

Good Luck
Dave


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## justinae (Feb 10, 2008)

blogging is also a good way to bump up the ratings of your main website.


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## Crete Buster (Dec 5, 2007)

I am definitely going to launch a blog. I'm still researching and developing strategy at this point. Check out hubspot.com for some interesting articles and tips on blogging.


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## RPortinga (May 5, 2008)

The one recommendation I would make... have LOTS of topics at least outlined and such before starting.
There's nothing worse than scrambling at the last minute to write up a post that ends up being junk.


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## silvertree (Jul 22, 2007)

RPortinga said:


> The one recommendation I would make... have LOTS of topics at least outlined and such before starting.
> There's nothing worse than scrambling at the last minute to write up a post that ends up being junk.


I already found that out, having a bad day, pop in the article you've been saving! Writing in itself, good or bad is work.
I think this will work itself out and like anything else, its not worth doing unless its done well. I just have to give it a try.


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## orson (Nov 23, 2007)

DavidC said:


> I've thought about it but haven't done it. The excuse I cling to is losing the anominity. Too many wandering flamers looking for a place to blast the innocent, or what if a disgruntled client gets on there. Either one could just be negative press for your business on the internet.
> 
> Have you thought of a way around it if it did occur?
> 
> ...


DavidC,

Any comment that is submitted on your blog can only appear pending your approval.


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## silvertree (Jul 22, 2007)

Heres what I did so far, I have the blog site, I am kicking around ideas for a name for the site. I started with a paragraph about when I joined the building trades.Thats it so far. 
When I google my blog, it doesn't come up most of the time so I got my website guy working on helping my blog site look and work better.
I can see this will take some effort on my part.
Main content will be the blog and a Q&A from homeowners when I get some action.
Humor will be used in answering the questions.
Right now my blog link doesn't work, the website guy will fix that for me he says.
http://blogsilvertreeconstruction.com


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## orson (Nov 23, 2007)

Hey Silvertree,

Who is hosting your blog? Did you think about having the blog set up as a page on your website? My impression is this will help your site rankings. I'm still learning though.


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## silvertree (Jul 22, 2007)

Go Daddy is hosting the blog, comes free with my domain.
I now have SilvertreeConstruction.com which GoDaddy hosts.
I just bought 2 domain names-------------

WOWkitchenandbath.com and WOWkitchen.net

All this is for my coming kitchen display truck which will be on the road in a couple of weeks, or 3.
My plan is for HO's to go to Silvertree, then maybe WOW kitchens then my blog. Or not, but I want all accessed from my main site, and all to point back to my main site.


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## dougchips (Apr 23, 2006)

silvertree said:


> Go Daddy is hosting the blog, comes free with my domain.
> I now have SilvertreeConstruction.com which GoDaddy hosts.
> I just bought 2 domain names-------------
> 
> ...


http://whois.domaintools.com/wowkitchenandbath.com are those the correct domain names?


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## RCPainting (Jan 29, 2006)

FWIW, I read several blogs on different topics. I usually bookmark them and check every few days. I hate when someone starts a blog, I get interested and they don't post for weeks. I usually remove them then.


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## thefencepost (Aug 18, 2008)

*Content, Content, Content*

The best advice I can give to you (I write 2 blogs currently and have had a couple others)is be prepared to dedicate time to it. It takes dedication, good content, and lots of research. I spent months researching as I tested the waters for my blog before having one professionally built (the blog i part of my website). I have found wordpress to be very user friendly, and there is plenty of sites dedicated to helping to understand how to use it. 

Since I own and operate a fence contracting company, my time spent blogging is time away from other activities (family, fishing, NASCAR, sports, music, etc..). I write one blog about the fence industry, and another I recently started about the Sprint Cup NASCAR series. 

Be careful, blogging can be addictive!


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## Hammer_Nail (Jun 16, 2008)

*I have a Blog*

a Wordress Blog, currently it is a PR3. I don't take it that seriously. I make entries 2 or 3 times a months, and it has helped my SEO. :thumbup:


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## silvertree (Jul 22, 2007)

dougchips said:


> http://whois.domaintools.com/wowkitchenandbath.com are those the correct domain names?


 I registered with GoDaddy a few days ago. Wowkitchens.net
and wowkitchenbath.com not kitchen and bath as I had thought.
So now I need to decide which sounds better or which one might work the best.
The plan is to keep my main website, add the link for wow kitchens, and then the blog.
I plan to do kitchens between 40K and 75K. Thats the midrange in this area.


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## wizendwizard (Nov 11, 2007)

Just my opinion but maybe you should work on some optimization before doing this blogging thing. You have a great looking main website but it is poor in the SEO dept.

I've driven my site to page 1 on 12 search engines in 2 weeks just by working with a free seo tester.


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## Crete Buster (Dec 5, 2007)

wizendwizard,

If you don't mind sharing, which free seo tester do you use? Thanks.


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## dougchips (Apr 23, 2006)

wizendwizard said:


> Just my opinion but maybe you should work on some optimization before doing this blogging thing. You have a great looking main website but it is poor in the SEO dept.
> 
> I've driven my site to page 1 on 12 search engines in 2 weeks just by working with a free seo tester.



Since wordpress is almost idiot proof his main site would not matter, his blog can drive traffic to it when/where the site fails.


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## caustin (Oct 22, 2008)

Your blog should be "free" no matter where you have your site hosted, you just install the software in whatever directory you choose & go from there. What GoDaddy probably means is that they have pre-installed the blog software for your site (which may limit your options there).

When you host your domain, your control panel should have Fantastico installer or there's a new one I can't recall the name of, and if you go this route you can choose which blog software to install (I use Wordpress as it's FREE and very well developed at this point). Generally, with your own domain, you can install just about any software you like to perform any function you like, and your pricing will mostly be based on how much traffic there is on your site (pictures and videos are another issue entirely and are beyond the scope of this Quick Reply).

Ditto the comments about posting regularly, and ditto the comments about ensuring relevant content. Sometimes I'll sit down and write about 4 posts at once, keep them as pending posts, then go in every week (or whatever) and make one of them active. This gives me a little time to edit, and flexibility if something more interesting comes up, or I can expand if I find more detail about something.

Edit: Also, if you're hosting at GoDaddy, don't buy your domain from them too. If their servers go down, you can't access your domain account to move to another hosting provider and your website is down as long as they are. And, if someone hacks your domain and they shut you down, sometimes you can't get your domain back without a big huge fight. Always purchase your domain and hosting from two separate companies.


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## MSS Contracting (Oct 20, 2008)

I was going to throw in my $.02 but it is worth nothing compared to a brief visit to Raleigh Fence Contractor's website.

His site does everything right:
-Valuable content for anybody. I would visit his sight just to _learn_ something.
-Content updated once a week.
-His latest post links out to another in the same industry.
-It's rigged for all the social media bookmarks.
-Much, much more relating to design and static content.

Really Keith - it is not often that I see someone doing so many things so well. Your Contractor Web Consulting is going to do awesome work.


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