How to Blog: Blogging 101--A Free Online Seminar for Women

Class 1

You have just entered a free online class for women by Cindy Adkins, author of “Blogging: It’s a ‘Woman’ Thing” and “Blog from the Heart: A Woman’s Guide to Blogging.”

While this class was designed for women, men are absolutely welcome too! While researching for my books, I came across a great deal of information, BUT it is not all in one place. So, I created this seminar to provide you with tips that you might not know about--and these can help you on your blogging adventure.

From this class, you will learn:

1. How to obtain your blog ranking

2. The importance of back-links

3. The importance of having a blog button

Part 1

We all know that there is plenty of social media to access on the internet. But, with a blog, YOU are the star of your own show!

Want more followers? Here are 3 QUICK TIPS for today:

1. Put your “Followers” widget up at the top of your sidebar so people can find it quickly. If visitors have to hunt for it, they may not join. Make it visible and get more followers. (If you are new to this blog, please become a follower.)

2. Make sure that your blog address is embedded in your email so that when you write someone a letter, they will be able to find your blog at the click of a button.

3. If you have “word verification” on your blog when people leave comments, they may not be as likely to leave comments. So, unless you are really worried about receiving comments from bots, go into your template designer and get rid of “word verification.”

Now, let’s talk about back-links. Did you know that your blog has a ranking on Google? The higher your ranking, the more visibility you will receive in search engines. Yes, it’s true!

Exercise 1:

To check YOUR ranking, just click here.

Put your complete blog address into the box.

Push the button that says “Search PR.”

When you come to a new page, fill in the code box (so that they know you’re a person.)

You will receive your ranking for free. Easy!

The results could surprise you!!!

Before you proceed to Part 2, please scroll down to the bottom of this page--ALL the way down until you reach a gray area where you will see a music player box. Right above it is a widget for you to check your stats. I will always keep it there. So, whenever you want to check yours in the future, come to my blog, scroll down to it and put your info. in. It will take you directly to the SAME page ranking site you were just on. It is ALWAYS a good idea to check your page rank periodically and I will have this available for anyone who visits my blog so that they can check their progress.

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Part 2

Let’s see one method of creating ever-important back-links for you. You know how we have blog buttons for each of our blogs? When you grab a friend’s blog button and place it on your blog WITH a link to their blog, you have JUST created a back-link for them.

BUT, you did not only help them. You could have just helped yourself too. Do you want to know why?

Exercise 2: Try it and see for yourself!

Go to your Google search bar (you know, the place where you go to find things on the internet), click “Images” up at the top left, and put in the words Cindy Adkins Whimsical Musings into the Google search bar and click “search images.” You will see images from my blog. But, look carefully because you will also see pictures of other people’s art.

If you already put my blog button on YOUR blog with a link to me or if you have mentioned me on your blog with a link to my blog, most likely, you will also come up under a search of my name under “images” and vice versa.

A quick glance at my page on Google and you will see artwork from Dorthe at Den lille lade, Terry at Terry 2 Dogs, Lynne from Adorn, Donna from My Shabby Chateau--and more!

If people are searching for my blog in Google, they could also come upon many people that link back to me. How neat is that?

Now you can see why you want your button on your friends’ blogs and why you want theirs on yours. Exposure is the name of the game and as you get more back-links, you will get higher ranking on Google!

Also, when you visit a blog and become a follower, the same thing happens, so don’t forget to follow as many blogs as you can.

If you need to know HOW to insert a button on Blogger, just click HERE. I have complete instructions!!!

Tomorrow in Class 2, I will reveal a little-known fact about blog content.

Just to let you know--All other classes are extremely short and do not contain exercises for you to do!

As a graphic artist, I design blog buttons and would be happy to design yours if you don't have one. Just email me for the price at: Cindylou_20@hotmail.com They're not expensive! Just let me know your blog address so I can visit and give you advice on what I would suggest for the design of it.

Was this class helpful? If so, please tell your friends about it. Thank you, Debbie of Simply Debbie for announcing it on your blog.

If you have a Facebook page, would you mind posting this on Facebook? The Facebook button is right below this post and says "F." Thanks SO much! I am hoping that this class will reach thousands of people!!!

Linking this to Pink Saturday!