Ileane Smith, top blogging expert, started her blog by accident and has become one of the top social media experts about how to turn your blog into a money magnet.

You can read her work at basicblogtips.com and ileanesmith.com.

Ileane presented a wonderful slide show to our group at www.whatissocialmediatoday.com. You can read the PDF slide show from Ileane Smith at this link: Start Blogging in 2017.

She has some unique personal perspectives about blogging:

Unlike many people who contend that content is king, Ileane says, “Nope! Connections, collaborations and your confidence – those things are king.”
And instead of starting her blogs by writing, she creates a Youtube video first and then writes the blog second.

Ileane Smith didn’t start her first blog until 2010 and now she’s a blogging expert!

When you start a blog to begin with, Ileane says you must start with a clear concept on your goal.

What kinds of goals can you accomplish through your blog?

● Establish thought leadership

● Build brand awareness

● Sell products or services

● Grow your email list

● Connect with your audience

● Promote a cause or interest

“You can’t know if you are reaching your goals if you don’t have the goal,” Ileane observes.

“The type of content we want to create will be dictated by those goals.”

While you are setting up your blog, you can read a book that Ileane has found to be extremely helpful – Known:The Handbook for Building and Unleashing Your Personal Brand in the Digital Age by Mark Schaefer.

Choose your domain name and platform. She originally started ileanesmith.com because someone advised her to obtain the domain for her name. If you don’t own your personal domain, she said others could potentially use that to slander you or spread false information.

A dot com website would be preferable, though if you can only obtain dot net, you may follow the example of Darren Rowse, one of the top blogging teachers in the world, who started with a dot net.

In addition to a free or hosted WordPress site, you can also use:

Medium
Wix
Weebly
Blogger
Tumblr

Ileane recommends blog posts be at least 500 words in length. Although she acknowledges we can all publish longer pieces, she said that she herself prefers not to read longer articles.

Once you have published your articles, you want to promote your blog online through:

SEO
Social Media
YouTube
Live Video
Pinterest Discovery
Blogging Networks

Although many people think of Pinterest as a social media platform, Ileane says that consumers use Pinterest as a discovery tool. You can walk around a store looking for a product, take a photo and Pinterest will advise you where to buy it.

And you can promote your blog live and in person through:

Meetups
Conferences
Events
Public Speaking
Sponsorships
Charity

“When google doesn’t send you traffic you have to drum up traffic somewhere else,” Ileane says. “That’s why social media is the place that is why connections and collaborations are so important.”