before

after

Q: Lena, what are your goals for 2012?

A: Its going to be a great year for ListentoLena (knock on wood)!  I’m going to make the blog my full time income.  This is my business!  Thats why I need the retainer- because I don’t have time or energy to worry about whats going on in the background.  I just want to get online and write!

Q: How did you get to this place where you can monetize your blog?

A: I started just blogging about things I love.  I would find something I loved and take pictures.  I took a lot of pictures of my boys in 2008.  Then I found something I loved at a well-known food store.  And I just emailed them to let them know that I wrote about them; I simply thanked them and said to keep up the good work.  That Christmas – 2008 – I received a gift basket thanking me!  So when people ask for my advice, I always say to let companies know when you write about them!

Q: How did you build this audience?

A:  I’d say in the beginning when I was building up my audience, I wrote every single day.  People have started to form a habit – I can see it in my analytics.  Between 8:30 – 10:30AM, people are settling into their day, they check their email, sort things out.  Get bored and visit ListentoLena!  So I always make sure there is fresh and relevant content on there.  Every morning.  Thats why I blog in the morning – I get up early to be sure its ready for them.

Also, I think you have to have fresh content, a knack for writing – be witty and humorous.  There’s a lot of witty humorous writers out there.  You have to have a knack for it.  And keep it relevant.

And always, always, let companies know when you’re writing about them.  If you get your name out there, they’re more likely to reach out to you in the future.

A little about ListentoLena.com:

• Winner: 2010 Canadian Blog Awards, Best Blog and Best Family Blog
• Winner: 2010 Mom Central Blogger Grant – “Big Brother Blues”
• Winner: 2011 Ultimate Sandwich Contest, Black & Decker
• Toronto’s Most Trafficked Blog: Swingcat Productions, June 2011
• Top 35 Mom Blogs We Love: SavvyMom.ca, October 2011
• Winner: 2011 Motorola Canada’s Social BLAZR
• Winner: 2011 Canadian Blog Awards, Best Family Blog

Visit ListentoLena, Follow Lena on Twitter, or Facebook.

You will need 3 things in setting up your first website.  You will need a website host, a domain name, and software.  This video explains those 3 in a little more detail along with some warnings in your selections.

Hosting, Domains, WordPress

1.  DSWP – our boutique hosting service is every bit as legally valid, except with the service you can expect from a personal relationship.  Once you get to the size that you need your own dedicated server (several years into your first website usually), we recommend WebSynthesis.  (they are picky with their clients, but you’ll be accepted and in good hands if you follow our recommendations when setting up your site)

2.  Domain Names – from us too of course!  We offer competitive rates at $15 per year for the most popular top level domains (.com, .net, and .org)

3.  Software – This is where we get a bit crazy.  We love WordPress.  Give me 60 seconds to tell you why I’m a WordPress groupie.  Because its an Open-Source project.  Frankly I didn’t get all the fuss about open-source until a WordCamp a couple years ago where I got an earful by these guys.  But thats an earful for another day.

More about WordPress & Open Source

In a nutshell open-source means that the source code is not hidden.  It is open for anyone to have a looksee.  This is the single most important thing about WordPress.  10 year old kids all the way to brilliant full-time coders are submitting cool pieces to make it better every day.  And with all those people testing and developing it, it becomes the safest, bestest, coolest software.  And it isn’t owned, hidden, or offered to the highest bidder.  The development cycle is short and the user base HUGE.

Have I mentioned that its FREE?

And as I mentioned in the Intro to Brochure sites, it is infinitely extensible (think blogs, shops, FAQs, Forms, Emails, Events, Classrooms, etc).

Set up WordPress

To get WordPress onto your web host, you’ll need to follow these instructions.

Plugins

There are 12 plugins that we recommend for every installation of WordPress.  They will cover the basics like anti-spam, backups, security, ease of use.  After the basics, you’ll need to select the plugins that enhance the function of you site.

Themes

And lastly, you’ll need a professional theme to ‘dress’ your site.  The answers to your goal and marketing questions (from last week’s article) will determine what theme will work the best for your website.  In the fourth article in this series we will cover selecting and installing a theme in more depth.

In the next article, we’ll discuss what plugins are, how to use them and how to keep your site secure at the same time.

Do you sometimes get caught up in customer service, and feel like it gets out of control? I do!

I was looking through the feeds tonight, getting a feel for the new and trendy and stumbled upon a video of Chris Brogan being interviewed about his new book.

In reference to Social Media, specifically Google Plus, why does Chris share about his new toy – a juicer??   Which leads me to wonder, how much do you really care about the newest thing in my kitchen?  (Don’t answer that! )

Then, Chris said this:

“I want to do business with people who like me, and people who are like me.”                                                       ~Chris Brogan

I stopped the feed and immediately came here to share this!

This is revolutionary, at least to me!  Why target everyone with our marketing efforts?  Why not go out and find those readers/clients/leads/customers who we want to work with?

How much nicer would your day be?  How much better could you serve those people?  How much of a difference can you make with your little biz?

Now, go get ‘em!

Need More?

• Are you You Online?
• ProBlogger writes How to Create a Reader Profile (same thing applies to a client/customer).

This video covers the answer to “Is WordPress easy to use?”

For more about using WordPress, its setup, and what you’ll need to get started, see our Getting Started with Web Hosting page.