So you want to learn how to create a website, blog, or forum huh? Well, I have some good news for you–I’m going to tell you all of my dirty secrets of success. But before we get into all of the details, I would highly recommend you take a second to add this site to your favorites bar so you can easily come back to find all the information you need. It will likely take you weeks (or even a month or two) to create your project, so you will definitely want to come back and get the info you need. On this page I am going to give you a brief overview on the benefits of creating a website or blog. I am also going to tell you a little about my own journey as well as a webmaster/entrepreneur. Then we will get into the technical details.
I have experienced a lot of failures along the way, but I now successfully earn a full-time income from my websites. If you follow my lead, you stand a good chance of doing the same. You can learn the RIGHT way to do it the first time, and save time and grief in the process.
Why Make a Website or Blog?
There are a lot of good reasons why you may want to create your own website or blog. Maybe you are a small business owner and you want to create a website to market your product. Perhaps you want to connect with your friends and family. Perhaps you enjoy writing, taking pictures, or creating videos and you want to share your talents with the world. Or, perhaps you read some slick eBook (or read some hype online) and you want to make money blogging.
Those are all valid reasons to start a website. We all have our reasons, and that is fine. However, I just wanted to let you know that I am going to assume you are building a website to make money. The good news is that all of this information still applies to you (even if you just want to create a blog for fun). This way, if you ever decide to turn your website into a profitable business plan, you will know exactly what to do. But as I said, you will get the complete plans to create a successful website. What you choose to do with it is up to you. If you want to read my own brief journey, then you can scroll to the end of the page (below the main tutorial links), and read about it.
How to Create a Website: A Brief Introduction to This Tutorial
Planning Your Website, Blog, or Forum: How to Plan Your Website Project
Niche Websites: How to Find a Niche Topic to Build Your Site Around
Website Business Plan: How to Develop a Business Plan for Your Website Project
Registering a Domain Name: Choosing a Domain Name for Your Website or Blog
Website Design Software | Best Software for Websites, Blogs, and Forums
Web Hosting: Finding Hosting Company for Websites and Blogs
How to Upload a Website or Blog on Godaddy | Prepare Your Hosting for Your Website
WordPress Setup | Preparing WordPress For Use in Websites or Blogging
Writing Articles for Your Website or Blog | How to Arrange Content for SEO
Creating Hyperlinks on a Website: How to Create Internal Links for Good SEO in WordPress
Make Money With Websites: How to Make Money With Your Blog or Website
Marketing Websites | How to Market Your Blog or Website Online & Offline
Website SEO | Search Engine Optimization Tips for Blogs & Websites Introduction
Internal On Site SEO Tips | How to SEO Your Website or Blog Internally
External Off Site SEO Tips | How to SEO & Build Links for Your Website or Blog Externally
My Own Journey and Background in Blogging & Websites
My journey in websites started back in early 2007. I was 24 years old at the time, and I had absolutely no direction in my career. I had just decided that college wasn’t for me (just a semester shy of graduation), and I was horrified at the though of doing accounting work the rest of my life (which was my major). I knew there HAD to be something else I could do–but what?
The Beginnings of a Small-Time Entrepreneur
My entrepreneurial pursuit began with eBay. At the time, I had no business plan, no real money (just a credit card and solid credit history) but I did have experience selling my own stuff there. I had sold many things over the years that I no longer needed/wanted, and I was always amazed at how much money people would pay for these items. So this began my business journey. I started selling anything I could find. I visited local thrift shops, scanning the newspaper for rummage sales, and more.
Within a couple of weeks I got lucky–my local library was having a technology sale. They had laser printers, computers, and all sorts of merchandise. Luckily, very few people showed up to the sale. The man in charge asked what I was interested in buying. I told him I was buying for resale purposes. At this point, he said, “what if I make you an offer for all of this merchandise in one bulk transaction?” I said, “sure.” He quoted me a few hundred dollars. I immediately knew I could profit from the deal, and I accepted. That month I made $3,000 in pure profit, and a couple more thousand over the next 2 months. I wasn’t rich, but that was already a decent living.
But I quickly learned the retail business was tough. Finding profitable inventory like that was not something I could replicate consistently. I got lucky and found some more sources (mostly local thrift shops), and I was able to make money selling some guitars. But I knew I needed to find something else. This is where eBooks entered the picture.
I had read a lot of hype online about how you can make thousands selling eBooks. So I brainstormed a few things I knew how to do, and I wrote an eBook on it. I started selling this through eBay. It did well, and I quickly expanded by buying other eBooks with resale rights. At this point, I was selling retail items and eBooks.
But I had a problem with my eBooks: How could I set up a system so they can download them instantly? This is how I got into the website business. I needed a way to upload eBooks so people could download them. So I registered some domain I thought was catchy (wildtips.com), and over the next month or two, I created my first (terribly ugly) HTML website using Microsoft Frontpage software. I uploaded my eBook to my hosting account, and linked it up to eBay so people could download it right after buying it. I also decided to write a few “tips” on this site, and place Adsense in the code to earn revenue. At this point, I knew that this wasn’t going to make a lot of money, but being an entrepreneur, I wanted to maximize all of my revenue sources. After all, you can never have too much money can you?
Over the months I added more articles, and I slowly started earning a very pathetic average of $0.50 a day in ad revenue. Throughout this time, I actually found that I enjoyed writing content, and I was also intrigued at how websites worked. I wanted to find out more, so I spent a couple of hours each day reading all I could about it online. I also checked out a lot of books at the local library.
Around this same time, I was slowly realizing that my eBay business simply wasn’t going to work like I had hoped. It wasn’t scalable at all, and I could not find a way to make it that way (despite agonizing over it trying to create a plan daily). Plus, the constant customer questions, people trying to get free products from me, and a medical condition that I was developing (cholinergic urticaria), was making my life terrible. Around this time, I decided I was going to focus less on retail, and more on websites. Don’t get me wrong, I was making money. But I didn’t want to be in a business that couldn’t expand and grow. I wanted to make unlimited earnings, and unfortunately, retail wasn’t doing it for me.
Even though I was learning a lot, I had no idea what I was doing with my websites, and my revenue was reflecting that. I became very discouraged some days. I would crank out article after article, and my traffic never seemed to increase. In fact, I remember walking to my mailbox one day, and on the way there, I found $0.75 on the ground. When I came back up, I checked my adsense earnings–and they were just $0.60 for that day so far. I thought to myself, “What a failure! I made more walking to the mailbox than I have for all this time writing articles!”
To make a long story short, over the next year or two I learned more and more. I soon realized that I had done just about EVERYTHING the exact WRONG way! In fact, once I discovered the secrets of success, I began applying them to my old websites–which was an exhaustive effort correcting my previous mistakes. I also created a few more blogs and sites, and they were much more successful from the beginning.
What About Now? Did I Ever Succeed?
Thankfully, my websites finally started building some serious traffic. I expanded my revenue sources, and maximized the profitability. I soon found that my business was growing, my earnings were growing, and I had a “real” business plan on my hands. Since then I have not only made thousands with my websites, but I have also made thousands buying and selling domain names. This has given me a lifestyle I have always wanted, while giving me a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment in my career as an entrepreneur and writer.
That is what this website is really about. I want to share all of my successes and mistakes with you. I want to tell you the RIGHT way to create a site, and save you the headache and failure that most website owners out there experience.
So if you are ready to take this journey, then let’s dig into the juicy stuff. WARNING: This free information I am about to tell you may just change your life (or at least career path). Best wishes, and God bless!
Ben