Leave My Blog Alone! | Tips from Gary Vaynerchuk Part.1
December 29, 2011
31 Comments
As you all know your passions can be turned into a profitable online business. Getting there takes a hell of a lot of diligent work.
The book “Crush It” by Gary Vaynerchuk is an excellent read for you if you’re serious about building an online presence around “your brand”.
He shows you a step by step process of what you should be doing (even if you’re a complete newbie) to build “your fortress” on the world wide web:
Here they are:
1. Buying Your Domain.
There are several resources where you can buy a domain but he recommends GoDaddy; and that’s what I have been using. Buy your firstnamelastname.com or .tv (.coms are becoming scarce, so if you have a popular name like Robert Smith, chances are you’re screwed; sorry Robert!) It’s time to be creative and find an available domain name that has to do with your niche like: OnlineCoachRobert.com, or something like that.
Let me add one little twist to it. I’d buy a couple of domains with my name just in case. (PS: a .com cost about $10/year, but if you want to save $3 on it feel free to search google for a GoDaddy Cupon Code; there are tons of sites giving away codes that you may use to enter the Godaddy site.)
Every time you hear about a new platform ( Orkut is huge in Brasil) you may want to go and register yourself as a user ASAP.
2. Start Your Own Blog.
Yep, it is WordPress or Thumblr . Now I’m not familiar with Thumblr but I know for a fact that WordPress is going to blow your socks off. If you’re new you can (however I strongly urge you to do everything yourself at first, so you know what you’re doing and what exactly needs to be done) outsource the whole thing. ( I rarely outsource something that I can do myself; and when you come from that place you will be able to give very clear instructions on tasks you want to hire out for. )
Setting up your blog on your domain is easy; you will need to find a tutorial video on how to do that.
3. Hiring a Designer.
Customizing your website is a different challenge. This is something that I recommend you spend some money on. For this project do NOT hire from Odesk. Instead, choose the Google “custom wordrpess theme” and find a company that floats your boat.
If you are very serious about your site, I advise you to check out 99designs. These guys are no joke! (Which by the way you can tell by looking at the price tag on their cheapest logo design ($295).
If you’re on a budget don’t sweat the custom design for now. Pick a neat, free, theme from your backoffice of your WordPress blog.
4. Video Blog – If You’re That Good!
If you pick a video blog platform go out and by a cheap $150 Flip HD camera. I use my phone for now 
.
5. Creating a Facebook Fan Page.
There are services out there who will design a page for you and generate up to 300 “likes” for $100. Google it! You may find better deals.
6. Opening a Twitter Account
Do that using your own domain name, or your name.
7. TubeMogul & Ping.fm
Gary stands by TubeMogul, I don’t. I used this free video distribution service 2 years ago and it was just a pain in the…..I ended up distributing videos a lot faster manually than with TubeMogul. I don’t know if they evolved since then, but years back it did not work for me. There is another great service called Traffic Geyser that cost $100/month with a free 21 day trial. With this baby you can distribute videos, blogs, and podcasts all over the net on autopilot (after filling out the forms).
Ping.fm as you may have guessed pings social network ( i.e.,Twitter, Facebook.) Provide some sort of description and the link to your site; then just hit “Go”! People will know what your up to right away. It takes some time to sign up to all the sites but you only have to do it once. So DO IT!
Part II is here with 6 more crucial steps!
Share with others and make your voice heard below!
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Akos I am right with you on TubeMogul – I can’t see using Traffic Geyser either the cost just seems a bit much. I do the old manual thing.
Hello Tim,
TubeMogul should change their game. They have a great service but it does not work
. I used to use TG. it is not bad at all but it’s mainly a video distribution service and I’m mainly blogging. 
appreciate your feedback!
Akos
Hi Akos,
Thanks for sharing these awesome tips, man. While I’ve done all of them except the Ping tip, I totally agree with you that somethings we have to do to start our blogs are definitely meant for the experts.
I wasn’t able to hire anyone to build my site or design it; nor did I have help for the other tips… what I would add to these most excellent tips is for the new blogger to expect to put some elbow grease to their site if the don’t have the option of hiring someone. I haven’t begun to even get into the customization of my site, but I’ve been lucky to have connected with some other helpful bloggers that have been kind enough to contribute their expertise. They were definitely lifesavers too.
I am glad that I did most of it on my own though, because it taught me some valuable lessons that I would not have known otherwise. People would be amaze if they’d just Google a lot of their questions. The answers are all there.
Thanks for sharing though, my friend. I am sure this will prove useful for others. Great post!
Hello Deeone,
I think it is very cool what you have been doing. I used to do a lots of thing myself and it gave me a ton of insight and growth. Now If I get to hire somebody for a gig I really appreciate their work because I know how much value they’re providing me with the expertise they possess plus they save me precious time and headache.
Yes, you’re right! The information is out there. “Seek and you shall find” – that should be Google’s slogan —- Damn, should I call them and try to sell it to them ?
always a pleasure when you’re around!
Hi Akos, You sure have explained this well. When its written like this anyone can understand how easy it is. Thank you for sharing. Warmest Regards Shirley
Hey Shirley,
This is NOT rocket science by any means. I’m real happy if it helped you in any way.
Thanks a bunch for dropping by
Hi Akos, ive been following Gary for a while now and am lovin’ his insights. Thanks for the tip on traffic geyser-I have been meaning to check them out. Regards from Toronto
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Hey Suha,
Yep, Gary is cool a little bit over the top for me but has a great message and he makes sure he gets it across.
thanks for dropping by