Here’s a sequence of steps to take the site from “skeleton” to sufficiently clothed to come out of the closet into public view.
The basic idea is to provide an outline plan to get from “A” to “B”, which you can detail for yourself each Friday for the following week.
“Sufficiently clothed” is when you have have enough content to clearly establish the theme of each category included on your site.
The rule of thumb we’ll work with is that 3-5 items (articles, or substantial posts) will be needed to achieve this for any given theme or category.
Once there is sufficient initial content, we can start promotion – get the site listed in the blog directories and the SE’s will pick it up from there. We’ll cover how to do that when we get there…
Â
There are several skill areas to become familiar with on the way:
- Word Press Master (the basics of your web site); ContentPress
- BlogDesk.org – allows you to prepare posts off-line, in advance (and publish to a pre-defined date & time)
- Content Composer
- Tagging – using Ultimate Tag Warrior (UTW) and Tagalizeit
Sign up with Technorati, IceRocket and other Social Networking or Bookmarking services - Set up OnlyWire account and use to post to other blogs
- MySpace and BadderAdder – learn to use
- Using ThemeZoom to find effective keywords to use…
- How to use ThemeZoom to help you select the best monetisation strategy for your page
Ongoing market research:
For top 5 sites, review:
- use of colour on site
- monetisation strategies
- traffic sources
Qualitative Research of your market – use RPMI checklist
New Market Research:
Research 2 new niches ideas; compare results; pick one
Â
And several content types to develop and monitor (where it’s automated)
- Your Articles – published on site and off-site
- Your own Posts on site and off-site
- In-bound content feeds – where you want to publish other people’s content on your site
- News feeds
- Public sources of photos
- Content partners – to provide articles, or regular posts, as well as project examples
- Advertisers – who may also provide useful content
- Use of audio and video content
- etc.
Steps to “dressing the skeleton”:
Week 1:
- Create (or adapt) at least 1 article (500-1000 words) for 3 of your (5) main topics
- Identify relevant news service(s), and enrol in at least 2
- (eg a general news service covering topic, and a major supplier’s newsletter)
- Create at least 2 short posts (50-250 words) based on news items of interest
- Learn how to tag your posts (using Ultimate Tag Warrior & Tagalizeit)
- Identify relevant forums, or social network groups, and ask (or better, answer) at least 2 questions.
- Learn to use Trackbacks
- Find 2 new content sources eg. News, articles, RSS feeds etc
- Add new visitor interaction method – survey, poll, opt-in offer, competition, etc
- Add HitTail code
Week 2:
- Create 2 articles, one for each remaining main topic
- learn how to use Content Composer
- Create a summary article touching all 5 main topics
- could be used eg on the home page of your site as an introduction
- Create at least 2 short posts (50-250 words) based on news items of interest
- learn how to use BlogDesk
- Identify at least 2 sources of relevant examples, and request permission to use on the site
- Create detailed plan of remaining initial articles and posts for each of your (5) main topics
- (20 additional articles in total)
- Set up MyBlogLogs account
Week 3:
- Select 3 of your main topics, and create and publish at least 2 articles for each
- Create at least 2 short posts (50-250 words) based on news items of interest
- Research market to create list of on-topic “authority sites“
- Add outbound links to at least 2 of these from your site
- Review HitTail for content suggestions, and cPanel stats for visitor volume
Week 4:
- For other 2 of your main topics, create and publish at least 3 articles for each
- Create at least 2 short posts (50-250 words) based on news items of interest
- Identify and contact potential content partners
- Plan auto-responder sequence with 5-10 parts
- Introduce controversial topic, if possible
Week 5:
- For same 3 of your main topics as week 3, create and publish at least 2 articles each
- Create at least 2 short posts (50-250 words) based on news items of interest
- List monetisation options and potential strategies
- Add ContentDesk Afilliate link.
- Set up auto-responder and opt-in form
Week 6:
- For same 2 main topics as week 4, create and publish at least 1 article for each
- Create at least 2 short posts (50-250 words) based on news items of interest
- Submit site to RSS and Blog directories
- Learn RSS Submit
- Review PheedPress feeds, and update as necessary
- Review Content Press feeds, and update as necessary
- Develop promotion schedule for next 6 weeks
- Develop content publishing schedule for next 6 weeks.
Daily tasks:
- Check site for unwanted News or other posts
- Modify site setup, if necessary, for better relevance or control
Weekly tasks:
- Each Friday morning, 1st task is to create a daily plan for the next week.Â