Learning How to Blog …

Beginner to Blogger in 4-wks

I want to talk about different Blogging packages.  This  is a series of 3-articles that will cover programmes I’ve used and tell you about my experience in using them to get my blogs optimized and monetized etc.

Traci Knoppe is a bit of a WordPress Queen and brought out her package Beginner to Blogger at the beginning of June this year.  It consists of a 4-wk course on how to get a WordPress blog (using your own domain and hosting).

It arrives into your email one week at a time and each one consists of 5-Lessons – the intention being to have something to work on each day.  Of course if you’re enthusiastic or prefer to do things in one fell swoop,  you’ll probably go at it and have them out of the way in a couple of days, dependent on your knowledge from the outset.  This course is designed for you if you’re newly online and want to have an optimized site where Traci’s follow-up course will take you to profit in Blogger to Profit.

Traci’s style

Traci’s voice is quite natural and conversational in approach as she takes you through the course.  She’s highly knowledgeable (with a 10+ years background as a web designer) working with independent business clients, and for her describing the how-to of getting your blog up and running is a doddle.  But hopefully once you’ve done it once or twice and got a bit of a system together, with Traci’s help, you’ll find the same.

There are a plethora of plugins that she includes as recommendations.  These are the oxygen of improving performance in running a blog.  She also asserts the philosophy of not installing tons of plugins just for the sake of it … instead she recommends only installing anything above what she includes with the programme on a needs-must basis.  If you find the need they’ll be a plugin that will fill the need   She takes the practical approach and its very welcome, especially when you compare it with a lot of the over-the-top ‘blag’ and ‘blarney’ that a lot of online courses tend to perpetuate.  That’s probably a topic for another day!

Too much information

As someone who can relate to the overwhelm and information overload experienced when first getting online, the only niggle with the program (and maybe its a transatlantic thing) is that there were times when she gave the newbie more credit than warranted.  This is demonstrated where she gives choices, when I may not have the experience to draw from, i.e. when choosing the type of domain for a business or hobby, and whether it should it be a .com .org etc.  It may be me being too literal  and  as Traci’s probably forgotten more than I’ve yet learned, its perhaps not too bad of of a thing, that she imagines her students bright enough to know what they want!

And to address that … my understanding is that SEO (search engine optimization) prefers a .com (as numero uno).  However if you live outside the USA then by all means take a .co.uk or .aus when you are wanting an online presence for your local offline business.

Traci is a kind and generous soul and her customer service is responsive and willing and any queries will be answered within a reasonable period, she’s a conscientious lady who likes to help.  When I got online just over a year ago if they’d been a package around like this I’d have snapped at it. Unknowingly I took a rather long and laborious route (when I built my first blog following a so-called ‘guru’ whose simply dropped off the radar!  Longevity rules!

And the problem with learning from someone who adds all the frills and nonsense is that you get lots of unnecessary information and finally require a course like Traci’s in order to check you haven’t missed any vital steps.  Because you can guarantee that all the padding in the route I took was sure to act as a replacement for more vitally important information, that a marketer like ‘the guru’ would have no qualms about omitting … Here today and gone tomorrow … whereas Traci Knoppe (@traciknoppe) is in it for the long-haul.   She’ll continue to be online in another 10-yrs, still giving great service and sharing her extensive knowledge with other people.  Its in her nature, she can’t help herself.

In Summary

The service for the product is swift … everything arrives immediately through auto-responder, therefore you won’t have to wait for a parcel to arrive – and when you have to wait for something to travel all the way from the USA to the UK it can be tedious.  Nor will you have to wait very long for the email with Wk 1 Lessons1-5 and you dive straight in.  The product is clean and clear and the rest is up to you.

If you want to start your first blog in 20-easy steps then you won’t go far wrong with Traci Knoppe’s Beginner to Blogger in 4-wks check this out …

Jane