New to creating blog/website and marketing: need help and recommendations!

by Davke
19 replies
Hello everyone!

I hope I am writing this in the correct section of the forum. I have recently lost my job and thought I would keep busy and attempt to make some money by creating a blog to promote affiliate products (from e.g Amazon). I find all this daunting but I am intent on learning and driving this forward.

I have been researching for months now and I have looked at many threads on this forum. I have been tempted to use Thrive Themes and content builder (personal membership) to create my blog. The advantages of using this is that it is suppose to be easy for people like me who don't know how to create a blog from scratch using coding. However I believe that when my subscription ends and I don't renew then I am unable to sell my website to others (if I am fortunate enough to do well!)? Maybe I am looking to far forward!

I was wondering whether fellow Warriors do recommend Thrive Themes or is there a better content builder package out there? Does any one recommend any plugins that I can use to add products that I will be promoting to my site?

I will appreciate the help.
#blog or website #creating #marketing #recommendations
  • Profile picture of the author mrgoe
    Why not use Wordpress with a normal .com domain ? Wordpress is one of the easiest CMSs available online and you can use theme and plugins to build the perfect website. Take a look and see what I`m talking about.
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    Worked as a senior editor on ThePricer.org, experienced in financial topics
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  • Profile picture of the author webcashuk
    Hi Davke,
    Personally I think you are making the mistake many people make when they get started. Stop procrastinating and letting stupid little things get in the way.
    At this stage you need to be earning money and you won't earn any wondering which theme is best.

    In my experience I have found you will get so much more benefit from just getting started and taking action.
    Even if you make mistakes, which you will It actually doesn't matter, as you will have learned something.
    So personally I say just get things set up get some product out there and increase your chances 100 percent of earning some money

    Hope that helps

    Peter
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    • Profile picture of the author Davke
      Originally Posted by webcashuk View Post

      Hi Davke,
      Personally I think you are making the mistake many people make when they get started. Stop procrastinating and letting stupid little things get in the way.
      At this stage you need to be earning money and you won't earn any wondering which theme is best.

      In my experience I have found you will get so much more benefit from just getting started and taking action.
      Even if you make mistakes, which you will It actually doesn't matter, as you will have learned something.
      So personally I say just get things set up get some product out there and increase your chances 100 percent of earning some money

      Hope that helps

      Peter
      Thanks guys. Mrgoe the only problem with using Wordpress compared to a content builder (from what I understand) is that with Wordpress it will take longer to create a really cool looking blog. I guess with a content builder such as Beaver Builder and Thrive Themes I can do this quicker and I have more flexibility. Maybe I am overlooking Wordpress.

      Thanks Peter. I really do need to get the ball rolling in this. I assume you mean just go for it and subscribe to a theme content builder?
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      • Profile picture of the author webcashuk
        Ok I may be being a smartass here but I'm just trying to get you to take action.

        I don't care if you write your site on a piece of paper (sarcasm) just get it done and out there and worry about the semantics afterwards

        Peter
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        • Profile picture of the author malikai
          I have used Weebly.com to create a blog ( this is a free ) There are many tutorials to look at if you wish to change the theme or look of the site. You are also able to build a website not just a blog .

          There are also other free site builders you may wish to look for through Google. You have many options with free sites to have the look you wish .

          I have a WP site now which is hosted through hostgater . I simply purchased a domain name and then hosting . The time it took to download and install WP was less than 30 minutes , although it could very well be done in 15.

          There are many themes to choose from as well as different plugins . Combining these two you could have any kind of look to your site you wish . You could add a membership area , store (amazon ) ect...
          Youtube is a wonderful place to find tutorials about building or changing a site no matter the brand , be it WP , Weebly , free WP sites or others.
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          • Profile picture of the author Davke
            Originally Posted by malikai View Post

            I have used Weebly.com to create a blog ( this is a free ) There are many tutorials to look at if you wish to change the theme or look of the site. You are also able to build a website not just a blog .

            There are also other free site builders you may wish to look for through Google. You have many options with free sites to have the look you wish .

            I have a WP site now which is hosted through hostgater . I simply purchased a domain name and then hosting . The time it took to download and install WP was less than 30 minutes , although it could very well be done in 15.

            There are many themes to choose from as well as different plugins . Combining these two you could have any kind of look to your site you wish . You could add a membership area , store (amazon ) ect...
            Youtube is a wonderful place to find tutorials about building or changing a site no matter the brand , be it WP , Weebly , free WP sites or others.
            Thanks for the recommendation Malikai. I believe free site builders have their limitations however they are usefull
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        • Profile picture of the author Paul Graham
          Just to clear a point up for you. Wordpress is a content management system that vast numbers of websites and blogs are constructed with. You can add things such as Thrive Themes to wordpress as a plugin to improve the functionality and look.

          I use thrive themes and I find it can do most of what I need it for (I have an extensive membership site with blog) and it works well, with good support. Most good looking wordpress sites use some kind of paid plugin so I shouldn't worry about what happens if and when you might decide to sell, that won't be a problem.

          webcashuk is absolutely right though. Don't worry about what might happen sometime in the future. Decide what it is you are going to do, choose the tools that can make it happen (wordpress or whatever) and then get started, take action.
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          • Profile picture of the author Davke
            Originally Posted by Paul Graham View Post

            Just to clear a point up for you. Wordpress is a content management system that vast numbers of websites and blogs are constructed with. You can add things such as Thrive Themes to wordpress as a plugin to improve the functionality and look.

            I use thrive themes and I find it can do most of what I need it for (I have an extensive membership site with blog) and it works well, with good support. Most good looking wordpress sites use some kind of paid plugin so I shouldn't worry about what happens if and when you might decide to sell, that won't be a problem.

            webcashuk is absolutely right though. Don't worry about what might happen sometime in the future. Decide what it is you are going to do, choose the tools that can make it happen (wordpress or whatever) and then get started, take action.
            Thanks Paul. I think its best just to get the ball rolling and sign up to their membership. I need to get started! I guess I will figure out what extra plugins I will need after I set the blog up. From what I believe the plugins they offer are really good?

            One more thing.. how do you thank people for their posts (apart from replying back to them!)?! I am trying to get used to this forum!
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  • Profile picture of the author EPoltrack77
    Fantastic, You want a blog for branding purposes. Yes on your blog you promote affiliate products.

    Just building a blog alone is not going to bring you income! You need to send targeted people to your blog. Don't just rely on the search engines because that is not a real business!

    Learn to get traffic on demand!

    Also with a blog make sure to add the social buttons on your pages so your post can get shared for more viral traffic.

    After you build and set up your blog and start to send traffic you need to then optimize it.

    Set goals and create a set of plans.
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    Working to achieve higher results...
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    • Profile picture of the author Davke
      Originally Posted by EPoltrack77 View Post

      Fantastic, You want a blog for branding purposes. Yes on your blog you promote affiliate products.

      Just building a blog alone is not going to bring you income! You need to send targeted people to your blog. Don't just rely on the search engines because that is not a real business!

      Learn to get traffic on demand!

      Also with a blog make sure to add the social buttons on your pages so your post can get shared for more viral traffic.

      After you build and set up your blog and start to send traffic you need to then optimize it.

      Set goals and create a set of plans.
      Thanks so much for your information EPoltrack!
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  • Profile picture of the author alicenichols
    Hi,
    Have you bought a domain. First buy a domain name. For example, take a website name
    www.xyz.com and www.xyz.org. So, here .com and .org are domain names for the websites. Or in simple words you can say address for the website. If you have not bought then you buy from any many sites available on internet. Then look for hosting from sites such as host preneur. Hosting for storage space for the websites so that website can get some storage space online.
    It can handle large traffic on website and then you need to point your domain to your hosting and then you can start creating your website. You are then done. Select a theme appropriate for your website and stark working. Enjoy.
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    • Profile picture of the author Boris Qs
      People go to blogs to read infos a great looking website is just an addon. You can do that when you start making money.What is important is concentrating on providing valuable content to your targeted market.

      By putting all that in action you will be learning as you move adding plugins and all those goodies.When researching for your next valuable blog post for example, you will come across tips that will help you improve your blog and the steps you did can be written at the end as a post on itself. So the bottom line is taking action. Hope that made some sense.
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      Learning and Growing as an Affiliate Marketer with My Secrete Tube Mechanic Notes
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  • Don't worry so much about the "start", except your own resistance to "starting".

    As for what your site should be built on, look no further than Wordpress. If you have a hosting account, login and set it up. If you can't do that, go to fiverr and have someone do it for you for $5.

    After that, it should be all about writing, social media, and email.

    Ash
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    • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
      Originally Posted by Davke View Post

      Mrgoe the only problem with using Wordpress compared to a content builder (from what I understand) is that with Wordpress it will take longer to create a really cool looking blog.
      Heh. You've got much larger issues to deal with. And yes, you are overlooking Wordpress.

      Do you have a theme/niche to your blog? Will this be a review site or some general all over the map kind of blog?

      Have you decided on a domain? Grabbed some hosting? Signed up for these affiliate programs? Know how you're going to get people to buy?Have a plan to drive traffic? Know how you will monitor traffic, clicks, pages? Got a blogging schedule prepared with your content ideas? Signed up at all the social media sites?

      I have recently lost my job and thought I would keep busy and attempt to make some money by creating a blog to promote affiliate products (from e.g Amazon)
      Well, if you don't have a good 6 months income saved up to carry you for a bit, I'm going to advise you to drop the whole blog thing as an income source. Spend your free time looking for a new job. Spend your evening down time playing to make the blog.

      When you don't know what you are doing it typically takes a lot longer to start seeing returns.Six months may not even be long enough.

      Take off the rose colored glasses.
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      "May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"

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      • Profile picture of the author Davke
        Originally Posted by Jill Carpenter View Post

        Heh. You've got much larger issues to deal with. And yes, you are overlooking Wordpress.

        Do you have a theme/niche to your blog? Will this be a review site or some general all over the map kind of blog?

        Have you decided on a domain? Grabbed some hosting? Signed up for these affiliate programs? Know how you're going to get people to buy?Have a plan to drive traffic? Know how you will monitor traffic, clicks, pages? Got a blogging schedule prepared with your content ideas? Signed up at all the social media sites?


        Well, if you don't have a good 6 months income saved up to carry you for a bit, I'm going to advise you to drop the whole blog thing as an income source. Spend your free time looking for a new job. Spend your evening down time playing to make the blog.

        When you don't know what you are doing it typically takes a lot longer to start seeing returns.Six months may not even be long enough.

        Take off the rose colored glasses.
        Hi Jill,

        Many thanks for your reply and recommendation. It is taking me longer than I thought to create my review blog but hey im going to give it my best shot and yes I am looking for a job! Its all a good lesson.
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  • Profile picture of the author LittleSparrow
    In my opinion You ought to go for wordpress site and create your blog website there.
    it is the easiest way to do so..
    Everything there is simple and pretty easy to use
    many a lot templates there that you can use.
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  • Profile picture of the author C G
    Go wordpress. Check this out

    Top 50 Affiliate Themes For WordPress - WP Mayor

    Cheers,

    C.G.
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  • Profile picture of the author deekay
    Wordpress is the best site to be building a blog. You can also use blogger.com which a part of google so it ranks better than what you are in right now. Yes that is also a great platform to be building a blog but wordpress and blogger are on top of the list.

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author koksalatik
    If you can spare some money, my suggestion is optimizepress.

    I am using it for my sales pages and will setup my blog with it in a week if I can find time enough.
    It has also a built-in membership plug in. It is very easy to create anything. Just drag and drop.
    Will need 1-2 days to become familiar that is all..

    I hope this helps,
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