How to Establish Yourself Online – Part 1: Plan

Posted: August 18, 2009 at 4:55 pm by Nathan Driskell
Filed under Computers SEO Social Media

With billions of people on the Internet daily, it is becoming important for businesses and individuals to become established on the Internet. It is a great challenge, as many Internet users are already established, providing competition for users. Establishing yourself online will be a difficult challenge, but one you can overcome if you have time, patience, and a willingness to learn. It will not be an overnight success story, however within six months you can enjoy many visitors, increasing exposure for yourself or your product.

What is the best way to begin building an online presence? The first step is to make a compressive plan and stick to it. It may take weeks or months to fully create all the tools needed to establish yourself online. A plan of attack is needed to help avoid yourself from being sidetracked.

This article is the first of a series of articles designed to instruct you on how to establish yourself online. At times these articles may be simple, and at time complex. I will do my best to instruct you on the more difficult portions, however if you have a willingness to learn, you will succeed. This series of articles will begin with the creation of a domain name and web host, to the creation of a blog and other social media sites.

To begin, start thinking on what you want to establish online. Are you selling a product? Are you marketing yourself for future employment? Are you wanting to make money as a blogger, or do you just want exposure? The first thing to create for yourself is a brand. Think of yourself as a product, and think of ways you can promote your product. If you are selling a physical product, this is self evident, as the more people who are exposed to your product, the more sales you will earn. Ask yourself, “Why would someone want to visit my website or want to listen to what I have to say?”. If you have many answers, then you are on track. If you have no idea, start thinking of what you want to represent.

Begin thinking on topics you find interesting. If this is for professional reasons, begin thinking about current trends and news within your industry. Start reading articles about your industry, and begin visiting websites and blogs of people within your industry. This will help you gain ideas about what you want to do. You do not have to limit yourself to one topic, diversify to include many different topics you find interesting. The more topics you find interesting, the more topics you can talk about on your own site.

Once you have an idea of what topics you wish to discuss, it is time to begin a plan. The first step in this plan is to create a domain name. A domain name is a web address that is unique and will point others to your website. You want to think of a domain name that represents you, as this is the address people will go to for your website. Your domain name should also be your brand name, as such it needs to be unique. This is the name you will be putting out there for the world to see. This name will represent you. If you are selling a physical product, the domain name may be the product you wish to sell, or include the product. If you are looking for exposure, then your real name may be your domain name, and also your brand name. If you own a company, then your domain name and your brand should be your company’s name. The key is: Once you pick a brand name, use it everywhere! The more places your brand exists, the more exposure you will receive.

The next article will show how to set up the domain name and your webhost. It does cost money to host a website and buy a domain name, but for a year’s service it should not be more then $150. While this is not a large sum of money, some may be turned off on paying for anything online. You want your own domain, and your own webhost, as then you have total freedom to create anything you wish. Avoid free services, as they are often slow, lack features, and limit freedom.

Once a webhost is selected, you will be setting up a blog. Why a blog you ask? Simple: the blog is your #1 marketing tool. Blogs are not difficult to set up, offer great features, and are robust and improve over time. If you are selling a product, create both a blog, and your main website, and use the blog to market your main website. This series will focus on creation and modification of a wordpress blog. Setting up a fully functional wordpress blog will take the majority of your time, but it will be your primary tool.

Once the blog is complete, you will then need to link your blog to many social media services. The services we will be using are myspace, facebook, and twitter. You will create accounts on all these services, and will begin using these services to help sell your brand. This guide will cover the creation of these services and tips on how to use them.

The last step will be to link all your social media services together, and on how to promote your site. For example, it would be great for your blog to automatically update twitter, myspace, and facebook of a new article you have published. You will also learn how to submit your articles to large social media points like digg and stumbleupon, which will grant more exposure.

As of right now, I am unsure how many articles will be required to cover all this material. There may well be twenty articles in this series. I am also accepting suggestions if you know more ways to establish yourself online. My goal is to write one article a day. I encourage you check back each day to see if a new article is available. Please feel free to question or comment, I will help you.

Onward to tomorrow, where we will discuss selecting a domain name, and creating a hosting account.

Table of Contents: How to Establish Yourself Online
Part 1: Plan
Part 2: Domain Name and Web Host
Part 3: Setting up WordPress
Part 4: Customizing WordPress
Part 5: WordPress SEO

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About the author: Psychcomp is owned and maintained by Nathan Driskell, a Licensed Professional Counselor - Intern specializing in Internet Addiction and Asperger's Disorder. Nathan is also a Web Designer and Network Administrator. Contact Nathan at the following locations: dami ...@psychcomp.com">E-Mail Twitter

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